The College Hill Independent Vol. 38 Issue 5

07 Latvian humor beyond ‘Slav squatting’

09 Building trade unions and the left

17 Indy March Madness

Volume 38 • Issue 05

March 08, 2019

the College Hill   Independent

the Indy

a Brown * RISD Weekly

R

ly Week

A B row

n*

D IS

Contents

From The Editors

Cover Untitled Isabel Robledo Rower

The sensation half a foot of snow overdue

News 02 Week in Upgrades Grace Keefe & Gabby Bianco

of the ducts. Having left the cistern we

all landing at once. I spot the trough at the end

labor upwards. New system altogether functional,

03 Captioning Fascism Adam Fertig

specialists envisioning sea battle in the desert. Can I reconcile

Metro 05 A Lawyer on Broad Street Lucas Smolcic Larson

ancient machines to this one? The Romans sprawl

09 “To Hell With the Stadium” Harry August & Michael Shoris

would be my kind of directionality if they’d thin far enough.

a rectangle out to align their compendium of roads

-JH

Features 07 Scenic Depictions of Slavic Life Alan Emory Dean

Mission Statement

Arts 11 Cybernetic Ghost Towns Alexis Gordon

The College Hill Independent is a Providence-based publication written, illustrated, designed, and edited by students from Brown and RISD. We are committed to publishing politically engaged and accessible work. While the Indy is financed by Brown University, we hold ourselves accountable to our readers across the Providence community. The Indy rejects content that explicitly or implicitly perpetuates racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism and/ or classism.

Ephemera 12 Jennifer Aniston Claire Schlaikjer & Nicole Cochary Science & Tech 13 Modern Mind Control Griffin Kao

Though this list is not exhaustive, the Indy strives to address these systems of oppression by centering the voices, opinions, and efforts of marginalized people in Providence and beyond.

X 14 How to Beat HUAC! Ben Bienstock

The Indy is constantly evolving: we are always working to make our staff and content more inclusive. Though our editing process provides an internal structure for accountability, we always welcome letters to the editor.

Literary 15 5x5 Eduardo Gutierrez-Peña Sports 17 March Madness The Indy Staff

Week in Review Sarah Clapp Maria Gerdyman News Jacob Alabab-Moser Jessica Bram-Murphy Giacomo Sartorelli Metro Julia Rock Lucas Smolcic Larson Sara Van Horn Arts Ben Bienstock Alexis Gordon Liby Hays Features Tara Sharma Cate Turner

Shannon Kingsley Lily Meyersohn Literary Shuchi Agrawal Justin Han Isabelle Rea Ephemera Nicole Cochary Claire Schlaikjer X Jorge Palacios Alex Westfall List Ella Rosenblatt Signe Swanson Will Weatherly

Science & Tech Miles Guggenheim

Special Projects Harry August Lucas Smolcic Larson

08 MAR 2019

VOL 38 ISSUE 05

Correction: In our “Beyond Screens” interview in Issue 4, we implied that the Black maternal mortality rate (MMR) has not changed since the pre-Civil Rights Era, when in fact the rate has dropped but the disparity between Black and white MMR has stayed consistent over time.

Eve Zelickson

Caroline Sprague

Staff Writers Jesse Barber Jessica Dai Brionne Frazier Eduardo Gutierrez-Peña Mohannad Jabrah Nickolas Roblee-Strauss Sophie Khomtchenko Emma Kofman Alina Kulman Dana Kurniawan Bilal Memon Kanha Prasad Star Su Marly Toledano

Design Editors Lulian Ahn Bethany Hung

Copy Editors Grace Berg Seamus Flynn Sarah Goldman Matt Ishimaru Sojeong Lim Yelena Nicolle Salvador

Designers Amos Jackson Cecile Kim Ella Rosenblatt Katherine Sang Christie Zhong Illustration Editors Pia Mileaf-Patel Eve O’Shea Ilustrators Sam Berenfield Natasha Brennan Natasha Boyko Bella Carlos Julia Illana Angie Kang Jeff Katz

Halle Krieger Katya Labowe-Stroll Sophia Meng Sandra Moore Rémy Poisson Mariel Solomon Miranda Villanueva Claribel Wu Stephanie Wu

Managing Editors Ella Comberg Tiara Sharma Wen Zhuang

Business Maria Gonzalez

MVP Ben Bienstock

Web Ashley Kim Social Media Ben Bienstock Pia Mileaf-Patel

Katrina Northrop Chris Packs Signe Swanson Will Weatherly

*** The College Hill Independent is printed by TCI Press in Seekonk, Massachusetts.

Alumni+Fundraising Katrina Northrop Senior Editors Olivia Kan-Sperling

@THEINDY_TWEETS

WWW.THEINDY.ORG

WEEK IN UPGRADES

BY Grace Keefe and Gabby Bianco ILLUSTRATION Sophia Meng DESIGN Christie Zhong

Robots Hit the Rhodes Years from now, in the throes of the Artificial world may be ill-prepared for a Jetsons reality of Intelligence Takeover we all know is coming, when flying cars and robot maids, but projects like the May historians investigate the buildup to the robot crusade Mobility partnership may soon usher in a new way of for world domination, they will inevitably single out travel, serving as an instructional precursor for the 2019 as the beginning of the end: the year public trans- future. And, even though the threat of malevolent portation went autonomous (at least in Rhode Island.) Transformer-type automatons still looms in the back Indeed, it is here in Providence, the beloved hometown of the public’s mind, there’s no immediate reason to of the Independent, that driverless transport vehicles let this fear hinder the people’s access to cheap transwill make their next public appearance, for better or portation. So, for now, we will welcome the Little worse. Last year, the Rhode Island Department of Roady’s with open arms. Nevertheless, as new techTransportation (RIDOT) announced it was accepting nologies grow increasingly independent-minded, the proposals for the state’s first autonomous public transit Independent will definitely be sleeping with one eye system. In a recent press release, the city named open. Michigan-based vehicle manufacturer, May Mobility, as its chosen partner in the endeavor to introduce - GK self-driving buses to the Providence circuit. Once in effect, the six-seat golf cart–esque shuttles will offer Babe Lincoln free rides along a 12-stop route between Olneyville and Downtown Providence. In a world where the lines between fact and fiction are The RIDOT hopes to launch their fleet of “Little so often blurred, it seemed like Abraham Lincoln’s Roady” shuttles sometime this spring, as soon as unattractiveness was one shred of information that they’re certain the buses won’t take any impromptu could be relied on as invariable. Physical descriptions off-road detours, a possibility that manufacturers of Lincoln often include the word “homely,” or the and political level, his agenda during the Civil War was have been working diligently to avoid. May Mobility fact that the Civil War aged him terribly. Little did not as focused on emancipation as some may believe. CEO Edwin Olson has assured the public that the shut- the American people know what national treasure In his letter to Horace Greeley he wrote, “My paratles’ 30 plus sensors are fully equipped to deal with had been hiding in Los Angeles for decades. An image mount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and all that Rhode Island has to throw at them, including has recently been circulating on Twitter of a statue of is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save Providence’s infamously erratic drivers. According to Lincoln located in the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and Olson, the shuttles have been programmed to “follow by artist James Lee Hansen. Hansen won a contest if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; the rules of the road, just like a human driver would.” in 1939 commissioned by the Fine Arts Section of the and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others They stop for pedestrians, they stick to a 25 mph speed US Department of the Treasury to create the statue. alone I would also do that.” A quick Google search of limit, they boast the occasional fit of road rage—you Lincoln’s bangin’ body is reportedly based on Hansen’s the phrase “young Lincoln statue” shows that Hansen know, the usual. Regardless of the shuttles’ suspi- own physique and sources say he used the prize money was not the only artist to take up the challenge of ciously anthropomorphic abilities, ongoing safety he won to buy a car, which he subsequently crashed glossing history with their own dreamy renditions. inspections are currently underway at the North and had to serve jail time for. If that’s not the American While this may warrant a different degree of Kingstown Golf Course. And, while the city turned dream, I don’t know what is. analysis than other historical lore such as George down the Indy’s offer to personally test the latest This rendition of Lincoln has truly been given the Washington chopping down the cherry tree, it does shuttle prototype, we can at the very least report that LA treatment as it features him looking down right make one question how complete the accounts we no major glitches—or, more importantly, signs of robot swoon-worthy. He holds a book in his left hand and the believe to be true really are. (In Washington’s case, aggression—have yet to occur. other suggestively tugs at his waistband. He seems to no amount of creative license can make a man with The introduction of self-driving transportation have emancipated his shirt, and his expression is blue wooden teeth seem desirable.) And furthermore, it into busy traffic routes like Providence’s city center is steel-adjacent. This statue is not of Abraham Lincoln, causes us to think about what institutions that have part of a larger ongoing study focused on the assimi- the 16th President of the United States. No, this is Abe, prevailed in curating a sort of common knowledge lation of driverless vehicles into the mainstream. As the smoldering law student who wants to make a differ- history. Surely, whoever decided that the image of old of now, individually owned autonomous vehicles are ence. The one who just finished cutting down trees bearded and stove- top hat wearing Lincoln should be few and far between, but tech giants like Elon Musk to build his own log cabin. He is so sensitive, but also more popular than hot, young Lincoln is out of their have been increasingly pushing for a mass adoption isn’t afraid to declare war on the American South if he mind. A commemorative statue quite literally sets in of Teslas and the like. In truth, the self-driving vehicle needs to. It’s like looking at one of former President stone one’s legacy. Just as it is easier to think of Lincoln industry is just beginning to take flight—not literally, of George W. Bush’s paintings. The work is so beautiful, in terms of his accomplishments, it is more pleasant course, although Providence did receive a proposal for you almost forget about his politics. to see him as a young hunk. A campaign to commisa “flying pod” system, an emerging type of infrastrucThe popularity of this statue not only raises ques- sion Hansen to recreate his art piece on a larger scale ture resembling something of a giant ski lift. For Rhode tions as to why this version of Lincoln isn’t on the to replace the current Lincoln monument would surely Island, shuttles are just the beginning; and, while five-dollar bill, but also about what versions of history gain much attention–and he should throw in a Barack RIPTA won’t be going anywhere for a while, city offi- prevail. Lincoln’s presidency was marked by numerous Obama statue while he’s at it. cials hope to use the Little Roady project to gauge what achievements, but certain elements of his legacy seem types of steps would have to be taken if the city eventu- to have been forgotten or possibly even omitted from -GB ally chose to transition to all-autonomous vehicles. popular memory. For example, while Lincoln did In any case, Providence and cities around the strongly oppose the institution of slavery on a moral

FUCK STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, OR SOMETHING ABOUT ANIMAL LOVE

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

BY Maya Bjornson

NEWS

02

CAPTIONING FASCISM Memes, misinformation, and political fatigue in Bolsonaro's Brazil

“Don’t worry, everybody, everything will get better the immense power of social media in the public prominent left-wing accounts began posting warnings after the 2014 World Cup.” This tweet has been sphere. The protests were predominantly organized on against Papinho’s ultraconservatism and pedophilia. immortalized in reaction GIFs, YouTube comments Facebook by the Free Brazil Movement (Movimento This, in turn, gave MBL pundits the opportunity to and memes across Brazilian webspace as hilariously, Brasil Livre or MBL), which billed itself as a non-par- decry the Left’s smear campaign against a sweet old tragically wrong. Since Brazil’s loss to Germany at the tisan, anti-corruption movement. They received broad slime-making man. World Cup, the country’s political system has experi- popular support across the political spectrum, with One reason behind these convoluted transitions enced a dramatic upheaval, culminating in the elec- hundreds of thousands turning out in cities across from popular to political to far-right is the versatility tion of Jair Bolsonaro to president in October 2018. Brazil to protest high bus tariffs, bureaucratic excess, and easy distribution of memes. An image template Bolsonaro, an ultraconservative ex-military officer, is and nepotism. Online, the protests coincided with the can be easily re-captioned or re-worded to mean someoften referred to in US media as the “Brazilian Trump.” explosive popularity of Brazilian Corruption Memes thing entirely different than how it was originally While there are definite parallels between the two, in (Corrupcão Brasileira Memes), a Facebook meme page intended. Perhaps in an effort to avoid these appropriamany ways, Bolsonaro poses a far more serious threat that heavily echoed MBL rhetoric. tions, several leftist meme pages have sprung up in the to everyone who is not white, wealthy, male, straight, As the protests progressed, they became increas- aftermath of Bolsonaro’s election that are dedicated Christian and pro-imperialist. ingly partisan and anti-PT, and by early 2015, the MBL to hyper-specific content. For example, Barbie and I want to emphasize that attention to on-the- was the driving force in Dilma’s impeachment. A report Ken, Good Citizens (Barbie e Ken Cidadãos de Bem) ground political events in Brazil is incredibly important. from Vice revealed that not long afterwards, MBL is an account that only posts images of Barbie and Ken Yet, it’s important to look not just at the crisis of his leaders actually bought control of Brazilian Corruption dolls captioned with far-right slogans like, “A good election as an event, but at the conditions that enabled Memes from the non-MBL administrators (the irony citizen is an armed citizen!” It’s a satirical portrayal him to be elected, and the efforts of liberals and left- of an anti-corruption page being paid off is palpable). of Bolsonaro supporters as elitist, vapid, and overists to regroup in the aftermath. To do that, I think that As a mouthpiece for the MBL, the page underwent a whelmingly white, effectively turning their own rhetwe must look at a crucial component of how politics massive shift in demographics. The non-partisan base, oric against them. Another popular page is simply a play out in the public sphere: memes. Brazil has the as well as left-wingers who had initially supported an daily update on whether Bolsonaro has finally ended world’s fourth-highest number of internet users, and anti-corruption agenda, left in disgust, while ultracon- government corruption; the answer is always some social media is a primary sources of news, especially servatives found themselves in possession of a forum variation on “no.” among young people. Last year, Datafolha, Brazil’s with immense social media clout. Even though these Other pages, rather than aiming for specificity, largest polling institute, reported that only 10% of memes were never explicitly endorsed by politicians, have tried to appeal to a broad audience. The Brazil people aged 16 to 24 have faith in the press. Meanwhile, there is no doubt that the increased social media pres- that Worked Out (O Brasil que deu certo) is one of 66% get their news from social media. As in the US, ence had real-world effects: in November 2018, one the largest meme pages, with over 2 million likes for many of Brazil’s youth, news comes in the form of of MBL’s founders, 23-year-old Kim Kataiguri, was on Facebook. The page purports to share images of personal social networks, online videos, and above all, elected to Congress under the Bolsonaro regime. quintessentially Brazilian culture. A recent post, for memes. In this context, it becomes important to pay Kataiguri’s bizarre political trajectory is not the instance, was a picture of a detention slip for dancing attention to the tweet above, to the irony that masks only case where memes and social media have facil- samba while reciting the national anthem. Of course, disillusionment. itated the co-opting of popular movements by the what makes something ‘quintessentially Brazilian’ is Brazilians have plenty of reason to be disillusioned far-right. Last month, a YouTube video went viral of up for debate, and the page definitely relies on certain with their political system. A massive government 72-year-old Nilson Papinho ecstatically playing with cultural tropes to craft a national narrative. Yet corruption scandal known as Operation Car Wash his first successful batch of “slime,” a squishy goop according to Gabriela Lunardi, a PhD candidate at the (Lava Jato) culminated in the imprisonment of dozens used to make ‘oddly satisfying’ online videos. What Queensland University of Technology, these generalof high-profile politicians and businessmen, including, began as an innocuous video of a cute, elderly man izations are a key trait. Lunardi, who wrote her thesis in July 2017, beloved former Workers' Party (PT) presi- quickly turned sour as Twitter posts began to circu- on Brazilian memes, argued in an interview that “it is dent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula. late claiming that Slime Grandpa (Vovô da slime) was the lack of a structured cultural identity that shapes The arrests marked not just a political upheaval, but an a serial child molester. Others quickly made posts Brazilian humour on memes. One of my findings is that ideological collapse. Lula and the PT represented hope denying these accusations, all claiming to know Brazilian memes work as national identity shapers.” and grassroots change for much of Brazil’s population, Papinho personally. At the same time, Brazilian Memes allow young people on both ends of politics to especially the urban working class. Corruption Memes began churning out posts work out new definitions of ‘Brazilian-ness’ that may The unveiling of rampant corruption and bureau- portraying Slime Grandpa as a fervent Bolsonaro be different from those prescribed by the traditional cracy dealt a shattering blow to the PT’s legacy. Amid supporter, or “Bolsominion.” The catch, as reported media. huge protests, President Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s by The Intercept Brasil, is that all of these accusations Nevertheless, the subjects around which these protégé, was impeached in 2016. These protests, and accounts were fake: they were created en masse by identities revolve are changing. Matheus Laneri, one which began in 2013, and are collectively referred to Bolsonarist internet users hoping to stir up controversy. of two admins for The Brazil that Worked Out, told The as "Come to the Streets" (Vem Pra Rua), showcased The damage had already been done, though, as several College Hill Independent that he has noticed a general

03

NEWS

08 MARCH 2019

BY Adam Fertig ILLUSTRATION Sandra Moore DESIGN Katherine Sang

shift in the scope of memes after Bolsonaro’s election: content, you try to forget the depression and the stress “The way Bolsonaro's campaign happened, based on “Memes didn’t play the strongest role [on their own] in and the anxiety, and to find people like you and with fake news shared mostly on WhatsApp groups, has the recent elections; the real influence was fake news,” similar ideas.” He claims that this political fatigue and made the Brazilian Internet community (at least the Laneri says. “Now that we have an elected president, the need for emotional rather than intellectual connec- left-wing supporters) rethink the weight and power all the memes are focused on Bolsonaro. Both to praise tions feeds into the aesthetic style of many Brazilian of creating memes that will circulate among people him and to critique him. What used to be scattered political memes. “Nobody wants to spend more than from different social classes and levels of digital is now focused.” It is nearly impossible to produce 30 seconds trying to understand a meme. Our brains literacy.” Lunardi explains. “The average Brazilian content that does not reckon with Bolsonaro, whether don’t want to strain, so it’s easier to place your bets on uses the internet to be informed and may not get the in the post or in the comment section. And while The emotion. And laughing or finding something funny is irony of certain memes that criticize the government.” Brazil that Worked Out is not explicitly political, Laneri the best emotion you can offer.” Indeed, all of this means little to the large chunk of emphasized that memes of all kinds provide a relief Aside from comedic relief, Lani believes that the Brazilian population without internet access. And from the crises of current politics. “We are unbelievers, meme communities offer a space for young, radi- though Lani himself makes memes, he remains wary politically speaking, so the only thing left to do is poke cally-minded Brazilians to collectively re-examine of how easily they can be exploited: “Memes become fun at yourself.” He noted, “I think it’s an escape valve, notions of cultural identity. “People today have a much ideological tools for misinformation. The best way to because if we don’t laugh, we’ll just be living to live.” better notion of our history, we really understand our transform a truth into a lie, is to transform the truth This idea of an emotional “escape valve” was reality. Many people with liberal and leftist tenden- into a joke.” echoed by a recent study at FGV-RJ, measuring posting cies have stopped idealizing the ‘American Dream.’ It remains to be seen, then, how leftist movements activity by various political groups during the impeach- By informing ourselves, we can see things in Brazil as will regain footholds under the Bolsonaro regime. ment proceedings against ex-president Dilma. On the they really are, and abandon European social norms Especially with Bolsonaro’s support from far-right average day, there was a mix of posts by an anti-im- and behaviors, and begin to relearn and construct governments abroad, it will be an uphill battle. And peachment base, a pro-impeachment fringe and a our own identity.” In fact, some meme pages have memes may do more harm than good in this struggle, ‘neutral’ press corps. However, on days of important become spaces for reviving Brazil’s left in the wake of as “tools for misinformation” for a government built events in the proceedings—culminating in the actual Bolsonaro’s rise to power, for salvaging socialism and on misinformation. Yet, across the Brazilian web, impeachment decision—a fourth group emerged: social justice as legitimate ideologies in the political pockets of resistance have formed. They are places to people posting memes and satirical content in the sphere. Brazilian Revolutionary Memes, for instance, express, through humor, a resistance to the toll that “native language of the internet.” Pedro Lehnard, the is particularly adept at moving seamlessly between politics takes on the minds and bodies of the people it author of the study, told Nexo Jornal that it was a way to political and cultural commentary, exemplified by neglects. As Lani puts it, “Nowadays people in Brazil “depressurize” political emergencies: “since we have to an image of a chart showing “Things that Brazilians are thinking more about politics. They feel indignant, talk about it, since we can’t not talk about it, let’s talk don’t understand the concept of: communism, fascism, and in the end this has united a lot of people and made about it in a lighter way.” feminism, express lane—15 item maximum.” Others, them realize their realities and convictions. They It is important to note that this lightheartedness like Leftist Menes [sic] (Menes da Esquerda) and don’t want to change the world. The want the world to often co-exists with a deep frustration and resentment Socializing (Socializando), are equal parts enter- change for them and become a place that’s less lethal for the political system. This is a sentiment expressed taining and educational posting both memes and and unequal.” So, while memes are unlikely to directly by some of the more radically leftist meme pages, videos explaining concepts in Marxist, feminist, and incite political action, they are a small, bizarre, unapollike Capitalism that Worked Out (Capitalismo Que critical race theory. ogetic demand for a different world, a demand that Deu Certo). The memes are faster, cruder, and more Despite these advances, though, there is a deep may, perhaps, grow into a clamor. pointed: a recent Twitter repost reads, “I’m not great at anxiety among leftist meme-makers about the potentelling jokes but let me give it a shot: The United States tial consequences of their content. Part of this is a ADAM FERTIG B/RISD’19 wants you to join the U.S. offering humanitarian aid.” Oliver Lani, a 21-year-old concern for their immediate liberty and safety, as “the Network for Democracy in Brazil. from São Paulo, is the admin. Throughout our conver- authoritarian attitudes of the current government sation, he noted the exhaustion induced by living in a make the opposition more apprehensive,” says meme capitalist society under a far-right regime: “Most young researcher Lunardi. But there is also the danger of people are tired of their routine and are just trying to memes being co-opted, of posts repeating the errors get home alive by the end of the night. Through online of Brazilian Corruption Memes and Slime Grandpa.

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

NEWS

04

A LAWYER ON BROAD STREET BY Lucas Smolcic Larson The mile-long boulevard of Broadway, in Providence, ILLUSTRATION & DESIGN Ella Rosenblatt is a den of lawyers. Over 15 private law offices occupy the hodgepodge of Victorian estates and Greek Revival mansions, leftovers from a more ostentatious time on Federal Hill. But, two miles south, across I-95 on Broad Street, there’s only José Batista. At 30, he practices law out of a rented space in a converted three-story home across from a bodega and an elementary school. It’s in the neighborhood where he grew up, surrounded by his clients—the predominantly Latino South Side. Batista has spent his career in the courtroom, first as a public defender, handling 25 to 35 cases a day for low-income defendants, and now with his own private practice. At least for the moment, though, he’s giving it up. On February 21, the Providence City Council unanimously approved Batista’s appointment as executive director of the Providence External Review Authority (PERA), the city’s recently revived civilian police oversight board. In the council chambers in City Hall, Batista beamed, his bald head gleaming, as applause erupted upon his confirmation. Then, it was over. No more than three minutes had passed since Batista’s name had been announced—a curt beginning to what will be a complicated two years for Batista, overseeing one of the most powerful institutions in the city. The police department Batista and PERA are tasked with holding accountable has a rocky past. In 1978, then-Providence Chief of Police Angelo Ricci told the Providence Journal, “You’re [not] going to stop crime by being nice to people. You have to push people around.” His comments reflected a period marred by instances abuse of citizens by certain officers: beatings, intimidation, racist slurs. The Providence Police Department of today is not that of several decades ago. A WPRI investigation from last year found that internal disciplinary actions against officers have risen since 2011, when current Chief Hugh Clements assumed his position, suggesting less tolerance for misconduct. But in 2017, the Associated Press published a report detailing abuses by a “third-shift terror squad” of white officers against Black and Latino residents of the South Side. The story resonated with the ongoing experiences of youth, people of color, low-income, immigrant and trans people with the police in Providence. In 2012, a coalition of community advocacy organizations formed to draft a police reform ordinance aimed at reducing police violence and prohibiting forms of identity-based profiling. The landmark clean-shaven except for the traces of a goatee. For his Harlem Renaissance,” he explained, “but instead of Providence Community Safety Act (CSA), rebranded appearances before the City Council during his confir- for black people, for Dominicans.” Batista’s father, part the Providence Community-Police Relations Act after mation process this month (and for our interviews), he of a wave of Dominican migration to New England, last-minute objections by the police union, passed wore a starched white button-down and a suit, an outfit was the “unofficial president of the Latino community” in Providence, says Batista, and helped found the in 2017. But Vanessa Flores-Maldonado, campaign that belies his down-to-earth friendliness. coordinator for the CSA, told the Independent, “We're Over rice, beans, and pork at La Gran Parada, a Dominican Festival, which packed Broad Street with still hearing that there are police officers who are still Dominican cafeteria several blocks from his childhood fancy cars for two weeks of pandemonium. Also during the ’90s, according to a Human Rights harassing folks and still even being violent towards home, where orders are placed in Spanish and the line them. We've still gotten those reports [since the regularly stretches 50 people deep, Batista told me Watch report, certain Providence police officers were passage of the act].” The drafters of the CSA antici- about his past, stopping only to wave hello to those he committing extreme violence while on the job, beating South Side residents on the same streets Batista played. pated this, writing an accountability mechanism into recognized coming in for lunch. Batista remembers the most high-profile case the legislation involving the revival of a long-dormant Batista was born in 1989, the first of six chilcivilian review board: PERA. dren. His father, Francisco José Batista, had arrived of police violence in his lifetime. Sitting in his sixth So now, at the helm of PERA, José Batista has his in Providence ten years earlier from the Dominican grade classroom at Roger Williams Middle School, he work cut out for him. He must create an independent Republic as an 18-year-old. Francisco Batista (also and his classmates watched the televised funeral of process for community members to submit complaints known to most as José) began working in a factory, 29-year-old Sgt. Cornel Young Jr., an off-duty black of police misconduct, preside over investigations shining and packaging jewelry, and met José’s mother, Providence police officer mistakenly gunned down by into these allegations, and, if warranted, hold court- Sylvia, a Puerto Rican who had come to Providence two of his white peers on a frigid night in January of room-style hearings with police officers. Many who at age eight. Batista’s father eventually became the 2000. Young Jr. was the son of Providence’s highest know Batista say he is the man for the job. But this owner of a popular club, The International Club, ranking black officer and had been eating at an all night lawyer stands at a crossroads, of his career and of which he eventually renamed “Club 30-30,” in honor diner on Atwells Avenue when he heard a commotion police oversight in his city. of Dominican baseball player Sammy Sosa. Batista outside. He exited the restaurant with his sidearm remembers Mondays spent helping his dad restock bar drawn (at that time department rules manded off-duty +++ shelves and clean up paper cups after raucous week- cops carry their weapons) and was shot three times by Officers Carlos Saraiva and Michael Solitro III. ends at the venue (the club burned down in 2001). The murder galvanized activists, many from the Batista is broad-shouldered, and completely The ’90s were a high point for Dominican culture in the US, says Batista. “I like to think of it as like the local nonprofit Direct Action for Rights and Equality

05

METRO

08 MARCH 2019

Providence lawyer José Batista takes on police oversight (DARE), to push for an independent accountability the original board, at a public meeting last June. Its rocket science. People just want to be heard.” mechanism for the police. Hundreds demonstrated members, one appointed by each city councilor and Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven outside City Hall in the days after the shooting, the mayor, “were politically put there, deliberately, to Paré told the Indy that he and Chief Clements have met chanting “stop police brutality” and “they’re the destroy PERA.” The 21-person board was clunky and with Batista. “We vowed to a build a working collabomurderers.” The protests developed into a year of prone to turnover. Its first executive director, Leon ration for our mutual goals: transparency and accountsustained advocacy, and organizers finally pushed Drezek, resigned a year and a half into his tenure and ability,” he said. through an ordinance creating Providence’s first- was replaced by his chief investigator, Kevin Dreary. Batista is clear that his role is to be independent ever independent civilian review board, PERA, in Both men were former members of law enforcement. and impartial. He will establish what is essentially a November of 2002. In September of 2006, the local Fraternal Order courtroom (although PERA’s rulings are only recomThen, Batista was 13, more concerned with his of Police and two officers under investigation by the mendations for discipline to the police department and application to Classical High School. He says his board sued PERA, asking the courts to declare the carry no legal weight). parents were strict. “We came to this country for you to agency unconstitutional for violating the state Law It’s clear Batista is reading voraciously—he go to school,” they told him: to be the first of his family Enforcement Officer’s Bill of Rights. A December describes himself as an introvert who would prefer to to graduate college. “Classical was a signal,” said 2006 PERA annual report, obtained by public records have the whole day inside to read and write. He cares Batista, “Classical meant success.” He made it in, and, request, notes that “the cases before PERA are in about the research, like a study that prompted Las eventually, landed a scholarship to Bryant University various stages mostly due to lapses in information Vegas to change police policy to restrict officers in in Smithfield. There, he studied business. During his from the PPD [Providence Police Department],” foot chases from actually touching pursued suspects last year, he flunked out of the accounting program. which, according to the report, stopped sharing infor- until their partner arrives, and the numbers, like the “Even the people who I had known who had gone to mation with PERA while the case was being litigated. resulting 10 percent reduction in use of force. college, never finished,” he said, “And so in my mind Eventually, the Rhode Island Supreme Court sided But those who know him well are worried. “It’s the I'm like, ‘Oh my God, I'm another statistic.’” with the board, but the difficulties had taken their difficulty of the position, especially in these times, with But Batista returned for a fifth year, and, on a whim, toll. The PERA board chose to dissolve sometime in policing all over the country experiencing and causing took a class on the TV show “The Wire” with Judith 2008, and by 2014 the agency’s budget had dipped to a lot of community pushback,” said McDonnell, his McDonnell, a sociology professor that he credits for one third of its original allocation, according to yearly professor and mentor. changing his life. Her classes focused on social ineq- financial reports released by the city. I ask Batista about the possibility of facing the uities: educational disparities and racialized police For nearly 10 years it lay dormant, until the coali- same kind of pushback from the police as the origviolence. Batista remembers thinking, “Wait a minute, tion responsible for the Community Safety Act wrote inal PERA board. “I don’t think it has to be as adverthat sounds like what’s happening in my community!” re-establishing it into their legislation, which passed in sarial,” he says, “Regulation exists everywhere. The McDonnell, still a professor at Bryant, told the Indy 2017. The new board, only nine people this time around, FEC regulates the banks. The FDA regulates drugs. that Batista’s upbringing in the South Side informed spent its first year learning about the history of its So it exists. The question is how are we going to do it.” everything he did. “It’s always traveled with him. No predecessor and hearing presentations from advocates Batista has committed himself to a meticulous process matter where he went. He’s never lost sight of that kind and law enforcement. Then, it interviewed a dozen in answering that question, but said he will begin with of familial foundation,” she said. candidates to fill the executive director role—deter- the basics: creating a website and phone number for Also at Bryant, Batista joined Lambda Upsilon mining the person who will design and run PERA’s PERA, and establishing operating rules for the body. Lambda, a Latino fraternity. “In my life, there is a B.C. day-to-day operations. At the end of the process, Paré, on behalf of the police department, said he and an A.D.,” he said, “and it coincides with my being Batista came out on top. “It was unanimous that he was committed to developing a good relationship with bald”—a consequence of the frat’s pledge process. nailed it,” said Alison Eichler, chair of the PERA board, Batista, “We think we can get to where the board and Batista says the frat gave him direction and forced in an interview with the Indy. Mr. Batista can perform their function under the law.” him to pay attention to what was going on in the world. Batista has also been praised by the advocates who “There was a young, charismatic senator out of Illinois fought to re-establish PERA. “This is the ideal candi+++ running for president and for the first time the frat date for us,” said Flores-Maldonado of the coalition, made me watch the news,” he said. “Someone who’s from Providence, who knows the city, Last year, before PERA was even on Batista’s radar, Out of this new-found social consciousness came grew up and has invested in this area.” he considered running for attorney general of Rhode law school applications, and then law school itself, at Island, to challenge the favorite for the position, Peter Roger Williams University in Bristol, where Batista fell +++ Neronha, from the left. Inspired by progressive prosin with a crowd of soon-to-be defense lawyers and legal ecutors like Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner, Batista advocates—“people who cared about social justice,” he Preparing for his new job, Batista says the combined 11 dreamed of big changes. He rattled them off to me: said. pages of the Providence Police-Community Relations abolishing cash bail, stopping marijuana prosecution, Act (PCPRA) and the PERA ordinance are gospel. “I eliminating money bail altogther for low-level offenses. +++ want to memorize those things,” he told me. He wants He spoke of the structural inequities of the courts he to stay “in the strong position where I’m doing things has worked in for three years. While Batista was in high school, PERA, the civilian that are supported by law.” But he was a political outsider, worried about review board he will soon head, was locked in conflict, That law has drawn the ire of the police union. “The giving up his private practice, and decided against the with itself and with the police. FOP makes no secret in its opposition to the PCPRA," run in the end. “Lo and behold, I think it was the right PERA, like the approximately 150 similar bodies said Providence Fraternal Order of Police President thing to do,” he said. “But I got to tell you that fire is still across the country, is tasked with administering an Michael Imondi at a presentation to the PERA board there.” The success of PERA depends on it. independent grievance process for citizens. The police last October, before Batista was hired. “There is no department has an internal complaint process, but a need for additional rules, regulations, or outside over- LUCAS SMOLCIC LARSON B’19 believes in Batista. 2015 study found that external investigations are 78 sight,” he added, characterizing community experipercent more likely to sustain misconduct allegations ences of police harassment or violence as not based than internal ones. (Nationally, the Bureau of Justice in fact, before finally affirming the legal backing of Statistics reports that only one in every 12 internal PERA and acknowledging that officers will cooperate complaints results in disciplinary action.) with the board. (The Fraternal Order of Police did not Independent review boards are usually borne out respond to a request for comment on this story sent to of community advocacy for police accountability. But their Facebook page and a message left at their publicly across the country they face opposition from police listed phone number. They have issued no public stateunions and underfunding from city governments. ments on Batista’s hiring.) Many, PERA included, are only able to issue recomFor Batista, maintaining PERA’s legitimacy mendations for disciplinary action to the police, should means focusing only on three charges outlined in the misconduct allegations be confirmed—making them ordinance: community outreach, accepting and invespolitically toothless. tigating complaints, and reviewing police policy. Facing these obstacles, the PERA of Batista’s He officially assumed his post on March 1, but youth may have been doomed from the beginning. weeks before his schedule was already filled with “Politically, it was supposed to fail,” said Providence meetings with PERA board members, city councilors, City Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris, who sat on public safety officials, and activists. “I don’t think it’s

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

METRO

06

SCENIC DEPICTIONS OF

SLAVIC LIFE

BY Alan Emory Dean ILLUSTRATION Rémy Poisson DESIGN Cecile Kim

Buidling an language of irony in Latvian counter-culture

“The Slav Squat is not just about squatting down—no, a sarcastic, absurdist show. In so doing, they seem The raw nationalism that was and is the basis of the no. It is about technique. About showing your Slav to immerse themselves in irony almost as a means modern liberal state now serves as proof of their not levels,” explains YouTube star Life of Boris in his May of defense or insulation from reality—a troubling quite equal status. As often happens due to cultural 2016 video “How to squat like Slav,” a viral success phenomenon in light of the growing power of far-right imbalances of power, much of this rhetoric is interwhich has since reached over 7 million views. While movements in the region (and around the world) and nalized and adopted by its targets, both politically in this video Boris attempts to sketch out just what the the increasingly common intersections of ironic and and in cultural depictions, as demonstrated in the ‘Slav Squat’ is actually all about, this trend extends real uses of hate language. case of the ‘Slav Squat.’ Non-Russian Eastern Europe far beyond one YouTuber, having become a cultural The Eastern European youth culture that I know seems to suffer from this phenomenon doubly so, for symbol recognizable worldwide in its own right, if firsthand is that of the shared space of the center city Russia at least has found the outlet of embracing their not the dominant contemporary representation of kids, Instagram stylists, SoundCloud rappers, artists, ‘outsideness’ as militant, renegade power disrupting Eastern Europe in Western mass culture. While the writers, and centra bērni (grunge kids); the youth today’s imperial order (though this is hardly a positive, stereotypical image of the ‘Slav Squat’ originated in culture of the strange and wonderful city where I spent sustainable course of action). This is not an option for the economic crises and social upheaval of the Soviet my high school years: Riga, Latvia. The alternative the weaker states, however, who very much depend on Union during the late 1980s and early ’90s, its Western culture of Latvia is one that is hard to imagine devel- being let into the club. While both the European Union explosion in popularity is much more recent, with oping in any other historical moment than our current and the states themselves have undertaken an effort to Google metrics showing searches for the term rapidly one; it is also, like Eastern Europe as a whole, deeply geographically redefine the Baltic States as belonging rising from almost zero prior to 2013, until a peak in dependent on irony as a mode of relation. While the to Northern Europe, rather than Eastern Europe, late 2017 and a slow decline since. adoption of ironic distance allows for the repurposing cultural associations require much more than a change As can be seen in the picture above, the term ‘Slav and redirecting of stereotypes and creative adaption to the map to break down. This national anxiety over Squat’ suggests several key elements that, together, of global culture, it carries with it limits and conse- self-perception and agency, rooted in a history of form an instantly recognizable visual scene: young quences of its own, most critically the difficulty in domination, seems to be the primary instigator behind men, tracksuits, alcohol, sunflower seeds, and dilap- maintaining the dangerously thin line between ironic Latvian and Eastern European youth culture’s reliance idated stores, block housing, or train stations in the representation and reality. on irony, insofar as it is coupled together with, and fed background—in other words, a stylized and aesthetby, the role of the internet. icized Eastern European poverty. While exploitation, +++ reproduction, and consumption of working-class +++ imagery in Western culture and media is hardly To further investigate irony’s function in the defining unique, the degree to which such depictions of Eastern of the identities of young Latvians, it is crucial to under- A crucial aspect of these shifts is the significantly more Europe are consumed almost entirely uncritically is stand the context in which Latvia finds itself today. As a dispersed cultural landscape created by digital forms shocking, and reflects the extent of the region’s polit- small Baltic nation that is both a former Soviet Republic of communication and social media, which have both ical and cultural marginality. and a member of NATO and the EU, it sits, in many increased access to Western culture in places like While the West’s paternalistic relationship with ways, right on the fault line of what is generally consid- Latvia and allowed their own penetration into their the former Communist Bloc deserves much critique, ered to be our modern East/West divide. A 200-year fringes. It is these structural changes that enabled what is perhaps more interesting in this case is the history of Russian rule—both Imperial and Soviet— the development of memes like the ‘Slav Squat’ into a move towards self-representation within Eastern has left the country with a significant ethnic Russian wider ‘Eastern European Aesthetic,’ which has since European youth culture, with the ‘Slav Squat’ serving minority. Because of this, the current Westernizing shown itself capable of morphing into a variety of as a useful example. Life of Boris demonstrates impulse is often seen in direct conflict with the long arc new forms. One example of this is the world of high this well through his social media presence, as an of Russian imperialism and Russian culture’s role in fashion, where a variety of designers and brands, most Estonian-based creator of Russian origin riffing off of Latvia today. Because of this positioning, Latvia finds famoulsy Gosha Rubchinskiy, Vetements, and Adidas stereotypes of Eastern Europeans for comedic effect, itself at the intersection of several different marginal- have quickly capitalized on the popularity of post-Sowith his content primarily marketed towards Western ities, whether they be economic, cultural, or political. viet styles. The widespread consumption and visibility audiences. These aesthetics, however, also exist inter- Like much of the former Soviet Union, is today strug- of these styles in the fashion world reveal the degree to nally, independent of such audiences, having become gling to define an identity for itself when so much has which the imagery of Eastern Europe has been able to a significant cultural object within Eastern Europe and is being imposed upon it from the outside. proliferate. itself. This suggests that a sense of internalized otherNonetheless, they are also, to some degree, fundaLatvia, like much of the former Soviet Union, has ness has taken an increasingly important role within witnessed a strong revival of previously repressed mentally exploitative; in many ways these aesthetics post-Soviet culture as the process of integration with ethno-nationalism, largely as a backlash to Soviet are still those of poverty, both Soviet and post-SoWestern Europe moves forward, since the collapse of Russification policies. That it is happening alongside viet, and serve to further typify Eastern Europe as the Communist Bloc and the expansion of NATO and and together with Westernization creates a paradox of lagging behind modernity. In the case of designers the EU. sorts, at least on the surface. How can a nation ethni- who are themselves Eastern European, such as The key to understanding this otherness and cally define itself at the expense of minorities (Russian Gosha Rubchinskiy, the situation is less clear cut, but Eastern European culture’s reaction to it (as well as or non-European) and simultaneously emulate the the function of the capital investment of Western its reproduction and reclamation of it), lies in how modern, cosmopolitan model of Western liberal European brands remains the same. The ‘cool’ parts the stereotypes exemplified by ‘Slav Squat’ reveal the democracy? Of course, a discerning reader would of Eastern European style are extracted and made mentality with which the cultural symbol is treated. note that Western states themselves seem to main- profitable, with the profits largely staying in the West. Unlike Western consumption of these images, the tain this contradiction quite well, and are by no means At the same time, the notion of Eastern Europe as a Eastern European mode of engagement fundamen- above the racist nationalism allegedly characteristic backwards place unable to keep up with modernity tally relies upon an ironic, tongue-in-cheek approach of Eastern Europe, and never have been. Nonetheless, persists, further entrenching the unequal distribution to the subject at hand: themselves and their material the belief that Westernization means a move towards of economic and political power. conditions. Of course, this process is complicated by the fact cosmopolitanism rather than nationalism is critical This method of interacting with culture extends to understanding the position in which Latvia and that oftentimes the very same derogatory content is far beyond the ‘Slav Squat,’ with an ironic affect being Eastern Europe as a whole find themselves. made by its subjects themselves. A specifically Latvian used to make sense of the world, and then incorpoIn some sense, these states have escaped their example of this style of humor is the Facebook meme rate a variety of cultural objects in the construction long historical position of subjugation in the Russian page “Riga Trash,” which creates its content out of of identity. In my own experience, such objects can sphere of influence, only to become similarly marginal explicitly classist mockery of Riga’s least presentrange from hip-hop to anime, to 4chan memes and players in the Eurosphere. To many of those who domi- able. Several undercurrents run beneath such images; fascism, creating a bizarre kind of life-theater of 16, nate the political alliances and shared culture they’ve the connotations of “trash” are much the same as in 17, or 18-year-olds building a youth culture in (what now gained entry to, they remain backward, unde- the West, but are also inextricably linked to a kind of they consider to be) an apolitical vacuum, putting on veloped and tied to all the connotations of their past. ‘Soviet-ness’ or inability to adapt to the new society

07

FEATURES

08 MARCH 2019

post-1991. Even the seemingly straightforward (and quite upsetting) pictures of disheveled old men passed out drunk on the street, presented as a joke, all on their own carry this history, as a continuation of the trope of the бомж (bum), a demeaning Russian term for homeless alcoholics. These memes are not, however, all just mean-spirited mockery (though many are, at least on this particular meme page); there is also a kind of nonetheless a useful framework to keep in mind when but also allows us to use it as a mirror to the Western sardonic embrace of all things Soviet and dilapidated, considering the state of Eastern European alternative world that is assisting, developing, appropriating, and as the ironic withdrawal holds it all together. This can cultures today. Despite the political reasons for its exploiting it, all in the same historical moment. be clearly seen in the image above, sourced from the denial, the shared history of the Soviet Union has had While the ironic affect adopted by Eastern same page. a deep impact on all its former members’ cultures and European alternative culture has inherent flaws, some Thus, it can be seen that irony functions in this identities, and the cultural challenges they face have of which carry truly dangerous possibilities, it would be context as a sort of shield, a way to safely engage with far more in common than not. The example of the both ignorant and wrong to moralize and judge. Irony a world in which your identity and wider sense of NBP in particular can serve as a direct analogy, or as a as a way of interacting with the wider world is very community have become fundamentally unmoored warning. Images, rhetoric, and symbols have power of much a defense mechanism, coming from a place that by the processes of globalization and modernization. their own, and it would be deeply naïve to believe that has experienced immense historical trauma, and in its With this defense measure one truly can embrace their irony is always going to be able to seal them off from process of reconstruction is being told it must abandon status and position, however degraded it may appear or application and consequence. itself, to become itself. Culture in the former Soviet have been made to seem. Union is truly trapped between a rock and a hard place, +++ youth culture most of all. All of us around the world, +++ the West included, may be feeling the contemporary Where, then, does Latvia and the rest of the former moment’s identity crisis, but not all of us have the same This use of irony as a safe way to engage with a frag- Soviet bloc go from here? A friend of mine currently stakes in this game. mentary world, while indicative of the contemporary working in Riga’s arts and fashion scene told the moment faced by Eastern Europe, has an older history College Hill Independent that both the ironic embrace of ALAN EMORY DEAN B’21 is tired of squatting. within Soviet culture. Стёб (pronounced st-yo-b) is a fascism and the romanticizing of post-Soviet aesthetics Russian term for a style of humor that, while primarily have outstayed their welcome and are receding, no drawing upon irony, sarcasm, and absurdity, cannot longer capturing young people’s interest the way exactly be translated by any of those words. The origin they were able to a year or two ago. While this seems of стёб dates back to the economic stagnation and to be a clearly positive shift, it also troubling in what slow fracturing of institutions characteristic of the it reveals about how these ideas were engaged with Late Soviet Period. As an increasingly weak Soviet initially. Nazism, as the most extreme case, is seen not leadership attempted to double down on hardline posi- as a real ideological object with real historical consetions, particularly during Leonid Brezhnev’s adminis- quences, which included the extermination of over tration, a sharp divide between official and unofficial 95 percent of Latvia’s prewar Jewish population, but a culture began to take root. The ruling powers were ridiculous cultural object, floating in a vacuum. This is considered to be so clearly intellectually bankrupt that exemplified by another individual running in similar mockery via imitation became the outlet of choice circles who, several years ago, had a swastika tattooed for dissent, creating стёб. To practice стёб, then and on himself, not as a genuine political statement but as now, one adopts the language and style of the chosen an extreme joke, inspired more by American 4chan subject and exaggeratedly plays it out to demonstrate culture and shock humor than Latvia’s actual history the absurdity inherent in it. of fascism. Of course, one of the most important parts of Latvian cultures of oppositions, emblematic of the practice of стёб is the consistently blurred line the entire region, thus seem to be at present trapped between mockery and sincerity. To see this phenom- in an uncomfortable growth period, as wider geopolitenon and its potential dangers, one only needs to look to ical changes send powerful ripples through their own Eduard Limonov and the Nationalist Bolshevik Party culture. Irony as a prevailing mode of expression can (NBP), an arts and protest group that, in the 1990s, only go so far, and has proven to be far more effective adopted the aesthetics of fascism for its taboo shock at sabotaging the old than it is at constructing the new. value. The NBP initially sought to unite the far-left and This is not to say by any means, however, that what is far-right, along with other punk and countercultural currently happening in Riga’s alternative scenes is scenes, as a means of resisting Russia’s transition into lacking in energy or creativity, in fact it is exactly the capitalism. The group, however—banned in Russia opposite. What we see today is a part of the world that since 2007—has in many ways morphed into a genuine has long been a cultural crossroads, often via political fascist organization. They seek an end to the current domination, attempting to grow into its own. oligarchy in Russia through a language coded with The contemporary crisis of identity, however, is racism, misogyny and ethno-nationalism that speaks far from unique to the region. The current state of to the мужик (mu-zh-ik), or common Russian man youth and alternative cultures in Eastern Europe, one (emphasis on man), explicitly at the expense of ethnic of the frontlines of globalization (and the closest to its minorities and women. Notably, Limonov’s rhetoric on source), can be seen as an exaggerated example of the Vladimir Putin since the annexation of Crimea and the state of such cultures everywhere. While perhaps less war in Donbass has shifted from hostile to endorsing; acute and obvious elsewhere, the vacuum of identity to the former NBP, a crony capitalist mafia state may that forces us to develop methods of self-construction, be bad, but Russian neo-imperialism, even if practiced ranging from ironic absurdism to ethno-nationalist by the very same state, is undoubtedly good. fascism (or both!), permeates the entire world today as While the concept of стёб is a very Russian one we are all brought closer and closer together through and does not necessarily translate perfectly to the new technologies. Looking at it from this perspective Latvian or wider Eastern European context, it is reveals not only a good deal about Eastern Europe itself,

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

FEATURES

08

"TO HELL WITH THE STADIUM" At a July 19 Providence City Council hearing, afford- and from this unity might arise a way out of the coun- the Civil Rights Movement. Fierce debate over the able housing advocates and local construction unions terproductive divide between Rhode Island’s construc- Vietnam War reawakened lingering fears of commuclashed. Chants and shouts from the building trade tion unions and its progressive activists. nism, and protests over the ongoing war divided the unions dominated a chamber packed with critics of the party even more deeply. Republicans savvily seized proposed Hope Point Tower construction on vacant +++ onto fractured pieces of the former Democratic coaliI-195 land. Hand-scrawled signs of local activists, most tion, winning broad support from formerly liberal calling for affordable housing, vied for space with Construction unions, Michael F. Sabitoni explained to union groups. By the end of the 1960s, divergent posters printed by the Laborers’ International Union the Indy, are “practical organizations.” Sabitoni, pres- ideologies, demands, and backgrounds within the (LiUNA). Construction workers wore high-visibility ident of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Democratic party led to increased tensions. Democrats green shirts and white hard hats, holding signs printed Trades Council and business manager of the Laborers’ lost their political majority, and some clashes between by the Union: “Support the Fane Tower.” Local Union 271, leads many pro-development fights, former allies turned violent. The fight wasn’t confined to the hearing floor: up writing op-eds in the Providence Journal, speaking at Perhaps the clearest embodiment of this political in the balcony, individual tensions boiled over. In one public hearings, and meeting with state legislators. (In schism came in New York City during an ugly conflict testy exchange, a local activist and Brown University fact, state representatives from the town of Burrillville known as the Hard Hat Riots, which also marked the junior, “NO NEW TOWER” sign in hand, confronted left Sabitoni’s office just before his interview with methods by which Republican leadership drew upon one of the many construction workers in attendance. the Indy.) The loss of the PawSox, which recently antagonism between Democratic factions in order to The activist argued that Providence should not subsi- announced plans to move to Massachusetts, seems solidify working-class support. dize luxury housing; the construction worker defended to have gotten under Sabitoni’s skin. Before our interOn the morning of May 8, 1970, hundreds of development as a job source, and wondered aloud view, he looked around his office and wondered aloud students gathered in downtown Manhattan to protest whether any construction at all might win activist whether it was time to take down his office’s locker of the ongoing war in Vietnam and mourn the murder support. As Norbert Oliveira, representing the local PawSox paraphernalia—multiple jerseys, a bat, and a of four anti-Vietnam War protesters at Kent State International Union of Painters and Allied Traders stack of team schedules. University earlier that week. All proceeded peacefully (IUPAT), told the College Hill Independent, “When Sabitoni is generally unfazed by the frequent until hundreds of local construction workers violently we do a job, we finish, and we need another one.” A opposition he faces from activists opposed to new stormed the protest. Clad in work gear—hard hats, project like the Hope Point Tower, the developer and projects; his members’ needs remain at the core of his overalls, steel-toed boots, belts with pliers and metal unions have claimed, would provide over a thousand organization’s policy demands. Construction work is tools—the men burst into the crowd and attacked the construction jobs. dependent on development within the local economy, ‘unpatriotic’ students, beating them with helmets and Arguments like these are emblematic of a larger and, in turn, any lulls have direct and sometimes dire tools. The New York Times reported that workers sought division between the state’s building trade unions and consequences. At that July Council hearing, IUPAT’s those with the longest hair, proposing to “kill the its progressive activists. Hope Point (better known Oliveira put the reality plainly: “Our work is not Commie bastards,” and shouting “[Mayor] Lindsay’s as Fane) Tower is one of many recent ‘mega-develop- steady.” IUPAT workers are paid by the hour, and if no a red!” ments’ to split two factions which both claim to fight for job is available after a project finishes, they’re someAs the construction workers beat the students, the the working people of Rhode Island. Before the Fane times forced to collect unemployment insurance. In Police Department looked on. The workers stormed fights, the building trades clashed with a variety of other words, Oliveira says, “we need another job to put City Hall, raising flags lowered in honor of the Kent progressive (and less progressive) groups opposed to my guys back to work.” But, he said, referring to proj- State victims. Chants shifted to “USA, love it or leave new developments. Disputes centered on a proposed ects like downtown hotels and construction on college it!” as the counterprotest became a larger statement of fracked-gas power plant in Burrillville and (failed) campuses, “Right now, all my guys are working.” union support for the war. Over the next week, a series plans to construct a PawSox baseball stadium in This staunch commitment to development of pro-war, anti-Lindsay railles called for the impeachPawtucket. In each debate, the same conflict appeared often pits construction unions directly against local ment of their ‘traitor’ mayor and rallied en masse in to repeat: leftists’ broader foes—corporate subsidies, progressives. Nate Carpenter, state coordinator of support of Nixon and his war. Involved in all of these tax breaks for luxury housing, investments in fossil the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats, criticized rallies, and directly responsible for the violent countfuel infrastructure—were pitted against trade unions’ the Fane Tower, telling the Indy that he could not er-protest on the March 8, was Peter Brennan, leader of immediate need for construction jobs. support “luxury homes in low-income areas.” Aaron New York’s Building and Construction Trades Council. In many ways, progressives and labor unions make Regunberg, former state representative and one of the Rather than facing condemnation for the violent unnatural enemies. Each group fights for an empow- leading voices of the progressive movement in Rhode conflict, Brennan was rewarded. President Richard ered working class with living wages, comprehensive Island, wrote in an email to the Indy, “you cannot be Nixon, grateful for the support of the construction benefits, and jobs with dignity. And their political rela- progressive if you don’t fully support the labor move- workers during and after the Riots, invited Brennan tionship is often symbiotic, for progressives regularly ment.” At the same time, he said, “we cannot afford to the White House with a group of union leaders. The rely upon union support. But just as a broad leftist coali- to build massive new fossil fuel power plants if we're meeting confirmed union Democrat support for the tion cannot exist without labor unions, labor unions’ going to be able to keep this planet livable.” war in Vietnam, solidifying a key allegiance in Nixon’s very existence often hinges on legal protections under Sabitoni understands the opposition, but he wide base. attack by the American right. “The most progressive remains unconvinced. “Whatever it is,” he says, Having lost the unions, their working-class construction trade unions,” warned leading labor “there’s always a group that’s against. As the Building members, and the working-class unemployed, little historian Nelson Lichtenstein in an interview with the Trades, we’re always out to support it.” He says some remained of the former ‘party of the working man.’ Indy, “have come to realize that going it alone, they’re progressive groups are simply “naysayers.” Activists, As the union vote shifted to the other side of the aisle, going to be destroyed.” he argues, put political values before practical ideas, Nixon enjoyed a historically decisive victory in 1972. However, as Lichtenstein told the Indy, these and at the end of the day, working people lose job Peter Brennan kept Nixon’s ear, and after the election conflicts between the left and construction trade opportunities. was appointed Labor Secretary. Leftward progress for unions in Rhode Island are not new developments labor stalled, as Brennan personally fought against either: “That’s been going on for many decades.” At +++ affirmative action and progressive wage reforms in the the same time, forging a path forward in Rhode workplace. Nixon kept the gift Brennan offered to celeIsland means looking towards the innovative coali- The risks of this division are serious, for a fractured brate their allegiance: a white hard hat. tion-building in recent labor movements across the American left has historically enabled the rise of a country, as well as considering the compatibility of decidedly right-wing political majority. Through the +++ progressive policy interests and trade union necessi- 1950s, the Democratic party enjoyed a broad coalition ties. But a coalition between the two groups shouting of labor support, but that unity collapsed in the 1960s. Forty years later, the shouting matches at Providence each other down at City Council hearing is possible, Southern Democrats first broke from the party during City Council meetings may be tamer than any violence

09

METRO

08 MARCH 2019

BY Harry August and Michael Shorris ILLUSTRATION Justin Han DESIGN Christie Zhong

Can building trades and the left find common ground?

of the ’70s, but the cast of characters is not all that expansions of after-school opportunities. When the they’ve got enough work, they’re not going to push for different. The hubris of college students dictating L.A. teachers went on strike, parents and students these unpopular, divisive things. If they’re building policy to union members with jobs and families at lined up behind them, joining the teachers in demon- unionized housing, new roads—then to hell with the stake is undeniable, and the canyon between the aims strations and skipping work themselves to stand with stadium,” Lichtenstein said. That just might be enough of construction unions and progressives in Rhode the union. With this broadened coalition, the UTLA to settle the tempers at the next contentious Council Island remains deep. won smaller class sizes and new hiring of support staff. hearing. The division does no favors to either side. And During February in West Virginia, a similar teachers’ the stakes of the split, argues historian Nelson strike met parallel success. MICHAEL SHORRIS AND HARRY AUGUST B’19 Lichtenstein, are higher than they’ve ever been, as a These case studies offer a reason for optimism in think workers (and progressives) of the world ought to result of decades of disintegrating protections in labor the face of diminished union power across the United unite. law. In the wake of Janus v. AFCME (the 2018 Supreme States. The basic message is clear: labor organizing Court decision which ended compulsory union dues for efforts to build coalitions with the broader left can lead public employees), Lichtenstein warns that traditional to real gains in what unions can win at the bargaining models of collective bargaining (“between workers table. Whether or not these lessons can translate to in this factory, or that hotel, or that chicken plant and success in the less historically progressive building the owner”) have become practically impossible. “If trades remains unclear, but Lichtenstein remains you’re trying to organize a private sector employer with hopeful. “Success leads to success,” he told the Indy, multiple sites—Wal-Mart is an example—you can’t do “When these teachers strike and win, everybody sees it,” he told the Indy, “You can be revolutionaries, but that.” you don’t have the leverage any more.” Many unions, Lichtenstein said, have begun to +++ rethink their strategy, broadening their goals and forging larger coalitions. One of the new, more ambi- At his desk at Laborers’ Local 271’s busy South Main tious models (widely practiced in Europe) is sectoral Street offices, Sabitoni is not about to give up any bargaining, through which unions negotiate as polit- ground. But he sees the power in this type of coaliical actors on behalf of all workers in an industry (like tion building. His old approach to working with state builders or teachers), instead of within one company progressives groups, he admitted, was often “just or workplace. As Lichtenstein explained to the Indy, forget it, don’t even waste your time.” But he told the construction unions could join together to fight for Indy he’s changed his tune. “I’ve looked at the way project-labor agreements which heighten safety we’ve conducted business to say that maybe that wasn’t requirements on worksites or establish better bene- the smartest thing to do.” Now, he said, “my intention, fits for workers. In the future, sectoral bargaining and the intention of the Building Trades Council is to could mean the building trades advocating for policy have more interaction with the ‘far progressives.’ If changes which would both facilitate new develop- they’re willing to sit down, I’d be willing to try.” ment and achieve progressive initiatives. Supporting Carpenter, for his part, says he’s also open to these sorts of projects, like affordable housing or sitting down. “Bringing people to the table is incredclean energy infrastructure, might allow development ibly important,” he said the Indy. “We want to work imperatives for union job security to go unopposed at with them.” The tension between trade unions which local Council hearings. rely on development for their members and progresSectoral bargaining might also begin to chip away sive groups reticent to support projects they equate at what Carpenter describes as a more structural with gentrification, overcrowding, or environmental problem. The most important division is not between damage will always exist. But facing an increasing unions and progressives, he says, but between workers imperative for unity and recognizing the useful and developers: “Those people that direct [the unions] potential in a coalition, finding common ground is on have one goal in mind and one goal only: profit. They the labor agenda. “You shouldn’t need one hundred are giving the orders. The people appointed and asked percent alignment with someone to partner with to work on these jobs have little say in what they’re them,” Regunberg wrote in an email to the Indy. building.” Fighting in coalitions, unions might be able And when it comes to some infrastructure projto reimagine this relationship. ects broadly popular among progressives, the pragSome campaigns, like the Service Employees matism of the trade unions may prove fruitful for International Union’s (SEIU) “Fight for $15” campaign, coalition-building. “We’re a practical organization,” have used sectoral bargaining to merge widespread said Sabitoni. “I’m for renewables; I build the renewprogressive goals with practical union demands. able projects. What we say is we want a practical Green Rather than organizing at each individual franchise, New Deal: improvements in rail, improvements in the SEIU and other major unions convinced the transportation, mass transit—that all lends itself to the National Labor Relations Board to recognize parent reduction of emissions as well.” Regunberg supports company McDonald’s as a joint employer of its fran- the Green New Deal, and he wrote to the Indy that chise workers, allowing the SEIU to negotiate on a far when progressives focus on “shovel-ready projects,” wider level. they can finally expect “support from the building The United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) trades.” successfully employed another coalition-building Hard hats and green thumbs, in other words, strategy this past January which some call “Bargaining might find something to agree on. And Lichtenstein for the Common Good.” Instead of focusing solely on argues that recent local battles in Rhode Island, like traditional concerns, like low wages and large classes, those over the Paw Sox Stadium and the Fane Tower, the union prioritized improvements in the general might grow less common as trade unions find steadier quality of schooling, demanding meals for low-income employment in the wake of new environmental and students, limits on random searches of students, and other infrastructural projects. “The building trades, if

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

METRO

10

CYBERNETIC GHOST TOWNS BY Alexis Gordon DESIGN Amos Jackson

New pathways of communication, histories of warfare, and the practice of listening

Norbert Wiener first outlined the theory of cyber- out Extremely Low Frequency waves, but what about ghostly apparatus of violence, the oars and the boat netics in his 1950 book The Human Use of Human Beings. receiving them? As it turns out, there is a little-known left behind. As Hastings approached the base, her Cybernetics describe a system of communication and history of listening to ELF waves, with hopes of inter- goal was ultimately to develop a meditative practice of control where humans, machines, and the environ- cepting not only man-made communication but feed- deep listening, thereby reconstructing the purpose of ment act on each other through information. Wiener back from stars, comets, and other cosmic entities. In these devices outside of the military complex and reinconcocted the idea of the “steersman” to describe how the book Handmade Electronics, composer and writer scribing systems of dominance with new relationships messages control society—in this formulation, the Nicolas Collins briefly describes 'hermits' who built to communication. steersman’s communication commands and directs antennas out of two pieces of wood and wire to ‘listen Deep listening is a concept pioneered by Pauline the boat. to the universe’ in the post-WWII US. Oliveros, who describes it as an “aesthetic [that] It is perhaps shocking to realize that the pioneers of is designed to inspire both trained and untrained new networks of communication are often the perpe+++ performers to practice the art of listening and [respond] trators of violence—to sustain colonial and neo-coloto environmental conditions in solo and ensemble situnial practices, wider nets of information must be cast I recently sat down with a local research practice artist ations.” Her work was foundational to Hastings’ exploand linked. To help conceptualize this, think about and Rhode Island School of Design student Molly rations in the void of violence, in the ghost town of undersea wire networks, whose fiberoptic cables carry Hastings to talk about her attempts to build her own military technology. This deep listening becomes then the internet. These lines were laid along telegraph version of these hack receivers and the theory behind a new ecological practice in which an awareness of the lines, which developed under colonialism to aid impe- them. Hastings told me it took her multiple tries to marks humans have left on the environment opens and rialism. In this way, in their functionalities, as well as construct the device, and she eventually reached out equalizes the information flow through a deep meditatheir entrenched physical pathways, communication to Collins to ask what he knew of the receivers. Collins tion on and respect for the world around us. This cyberand information networks restage power dynamics of told her that while he wasn’t “a radi0o guy” [sic] he netic process of feedback distinctly differs from the Western imperialism. did have some thoughts, and Hastings set out to build work of famous cybernetic artists and poses a critical Another useful way to explore this phenomenon a wooden cross with very thin wire wrapped many intervention. is through the history of Extremely Low Frequency times around. This way, the resistance could build up For Hastings, it was not a matter of finding some Receivers, or ELF Receivers. Extremely low frequen- to about 200 ohms, enabling interception of extremely answer in listening or hacking the system to send new cies are a range of electromagnetic frequencies that low frequencies. messages, but of formulating a practice along the are, as their name might imply, very low. The spectrum When I asked Hastings what she was hoping to contours carved out by violence. This methodology of electromagnetic frequencies humans began using find, she expressed to me that her desire wasn’t to find not only reconstructs networks of communication in the late 19th century for signal transmission spans anything at all, but rather to listen. Such a practice of that previously enabled violence (toward both people FM radio, AM radio, and HAM radio and walkie talkie listening taps into one arm of cybernetics, a branch and the environment), but also allows for the developrange, among others. During the 1950s, the federal wherein feedback in systems of communication opens ment of a relationship with such histories of violence. government reserved an “extremely low frequency up truly radical networks, allowing the receptor of a Building an ecology, for Hastings, is personally affecrange” at the bottom of the spectrum for the military, message (i.e. the receiver of control) to send a message tive—deep listening is an internal and external experipartly because these broadcasters were of real benefit back (i.e. to equally influence and control). Committed ence—and, most importantly, a way of accessing and to the developing military technology of submarine to letting sites of now abandoned military structures processing information without taxonomizing either warfare and partly because they were extremely diffi- talk back to her, Hastings took her receiver to an arms that information or our emotional response. Hastings cult to build. During World War II, the Soviet Union, depot on Prudence Island, in Narragansett Bay, which felt physical strain, anticipation, excitement, confuIndia, and the United States undertook the task of faces a now defunct submarine naval base. She imag- sion, reverence. Radically, in a world that inherently digging a metal rod about a mile into the earth and ined there could be an ELF broadcaster there and that discriminates as it categorizes, this process demands connecting it above ground to distant nodes. This the island would be far enough away from the electric that one hears the noise of histories and relationships converted the earth itself into the antenna and made grid. What did she hear? “Obviously, nothing,” she said, without ordering, listening and respecting without the broadcast wavelength as big as the diameter of the “mostly just vrrrrrrrhhhhh.” Seeking radio emissions demanding an assimilation of information into hegeearth. But even then, these broadcasters could only from the world around her and from the now aban- monic taxonomies. Hastings’s work, likewise, asks us transmit ASCII text, a code in which numbers stood doned submarine base, Hastings dove directly into the to hear what we cannot understand and to build a relafor letters. For the most part, the military only ever apparatus of this cybernetic power. But for Hastings, tionship with it all the same. To recognize our effect on transmitted short messages, often requests to change it’s not just about networks of communication, but “a each other, the environment, and machines without to a different form of military communication. The listening practice.” This reception of incomprehen- dominating through a promotion of feedback. This transmitters were phased out when the landscape of sible noise lies at the heart of her work. reinhabitation and reterritorialization is the work of technological warfare began to change, and all but one She described the landscape of the site, and the listening and the work of radical networks. It is also the transmitter in India have been dismantled. They none- extremely low frequencies themselves, as a ghost town, work of Molly Hastings’s Extremely Low Frequency theless existed as nodes within a new military commu- a network of interlocking structures left behind by the Receiver. nication network, a grandiose manifestation of the military after World War II. But rather than just trying World War II cybernetic military complex. to reconceptualize those structures as a steersman, ALEXIS GORDON B’20 wants everyone to build their One might need megalithic broadcasters to send Hastings attempted to develop a relationship with the own ELF on a Shelf.

11

ARTS

08 MARCH 2019

MO D

L RO

Our era of

N D I C M O N NT R E

BY Griffin Kao ILLUSTRATION Sarah Clapp DESIGN Amos Jackson

addictive products

Mind control in its various forms—hypnosis, posses- effective products—indeed, nothing makes me click For apps like inKin, guidelines that may dictate that sion, brainwashing—has captured our imaginations “purchase” faster than seeing “Only 1 left in stock!” product designers create products in the best interest for centuries in literature and in film. George Orwell’s on Amazon or finish filling out a profile like the half- of consumers are impractical because, again, that 1984 famously conceptualizes means of ideological way-full progress bar on LinkedIn (despite the fact “best interest” remains subjective. indoctrination that allow a government to brainwash that I’ve given them only my first and last name). Due Worse, product designers might not be inclined to its subjects, while Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork to massive growth in the technology sector, product care that their actions are ethical. Dempsey explained Orange describes a fictional conditioning technique designers increasingly work at companies producing that not every designer will “believe they should share used to psychologically rehabilitate a serial crim- consumer tech, and with the power bestowed upon power with the people they’re designing for,” a chilling inal. Similarly, movies like those in the X-Men series them by consumer psychology developments, they’ve thought for consumers, since designers hold the construct storylines that affirm mental manipulation ushered in a new era of addictive technology. Their potential to rot the brains of future generations. The as the purest form of power. They depict mind control influence on Generation Z, those born in the 1990s and instinct here might be regulation, but holding product as the ultimate way to subjugate the opposition, by 2000s, is undeniable. According to Common Sense designers and the companies they work for accountdepriving them of the sentience that makes them Media, the average teen maintains a whopping 6 hours able is nearly impossible right now, given the legal human, and thus position it as something to be deeply and 40 minutes of screen time a day. limits. The same ambiguity in defining what’s ethical feared. and what ethical considerations should look like in As our understanding of human psychology has +++ a product makes proving mal-intent out of the quesdeveloped, mind control has rapidly expanded past tion—Taylor pointed out the difficulty in identifying the confines of science fiction and our imaginations The product designer is faced with a difficult dilemma. culprits as an obstacle to regulation. She made the case into reality. Famously, the psychologist B. F. Skinner While they work in a variety of industries and come that “the structure of how designers work with each conducted an experiment in which he taught pigeons from a variety of backgrounds like computer science, other… it doesn’t seem as clear cut as if a surgeon cuts to tap a lever to receive food. He found that when he art, or even economics, product designers all share the wrong organ out of you.” changed the machine to dispense food after a random the same employment objective. The companies that In the absence of regulation as an immediate number of taps, the frequency at which pigeons would hire product designers want to generate revenue which viable solution, consumer conscientiousness may be tap the lever dramatically increased. His experiment then necessitates the increased usage of their products, our best bet. While our mass addiction to technology established the idea that variable rewards could be so the nature of the job compels designers to create is driven by methods of product design, such methods incredibly addicting, and psychologists began to products that people will use as frequently as possible. are effective because they capitalize on our own lack of observe similar behaviors in people. They found that It’s this part of the job description that is often at odds circumspection; they give validity to seemingly trite an element of unpredictability in the result of a given with ethical considerations; on one hand, product and overdone phrases like “be mindful” or “think action made people want to do it again and again, designers want users to use their products, but on the before you act.” But when I asked how users might be which is partly why activities like gambling can be other, using their product might not be a good thing— able to resist these products, Taylor and Dempsey simiextremely addicting. Game makers began to use this and all the while, this bind is further complicated by larly talked about “living intentionally.” They pushed knowledge to compel people to continue playing their the basic subjectivity of “goodness” itself. Take inKin, for “constant vigilance, or really being aware of how games when they wouldn’t otherwise. a social fitness app that takes advantage of the our need we want to live our lives and making conscious choices When it comes to methods used by product for peer affirmation in order to get users to exercise. about that.” Their perspective offers insight into how designers to create products that grip consumer atten- Many may interpret the app’s friendly reminders that product designers assume we can and should disrupt tion beyond personal control, the idea of variable you’re running less than your friend Karen as a healthy the orchestrated relationship between consumers and rewards is just the tip of the iceberg. In Hooked, Nir Eyal thing, but others may dislike how it feeds into the need the products they use. outlines what he calls the “Hook Model.” Eyal is one for external validation. Right now, collective change may seem too far of the most prominent figures in the world of product Samantha Dempsey and Ciara Taylor, two user off or daunting to consider, regulation is logistically design, having taught at Stanford’s school of design experience designers who have worked on the inter- unfeasible, and products are increasingly persuasive in and founded a number of successful tech startups. faces of a number of healthcare companies, struggle demanding our attention. Within this environment, it His model for design, used by product designers in a with this very dilemma and are working to clarify the may be helpful to keep in mind that the effectiveness wide array of industries, describes a four-step cycle to ethical considerations that designers should take into of addictive product design often hinges on our mental cultivate desired customer behavior. The four steps— account. Some product designers have argued that shortcuts—not on physiologically addictive stimulants, trigger, action, variable reward, and investment—rely those in the profession should be required to take an like nicotine. Smokers certainly can’t “just quit,” but on a vast body of psychological knowledge to exploit oath like the Hippocratic Oath, which physicians take when it comes to mind control, due diligence may, for recurring human thought patterns. To manipulate to pledge they will provide each patient with the best the time being, be our most effective policy. consumers, the process leverages detailed Pavlovian medical care possible. In response, Dempsey and conditioning which describes the usage of rewards to Taylor created the Designer’s Oath tool, which has GRIFFIN KAO B’20 is trying to get his screen time positively reinforce desired behavior. The Hook Model evolved from a fill-in-the-blank agreement to role- down to 2 hours a day. also borrows heavily from the Fogg Behavior Model, playing software that enables teams to think more the product of years of psychology research positing consciously about how the products they’re creating that the desired behavior is achieved in the simulta- fit into their shared values. They told the College Hill neous presence of a trigger and sufficient quantities of Independent that engineering and product teams use motivation and ability. the prompts given in the latest version of the tool to Product designers also utilize many of the heuris- engage in discussion of team morals. In their words, tics or mental shortcuts we take in making decisions the goal is to “help multidisciplinary teams define the or forming opinions, like the “scarcity effect” and the ethical guidelines of their engagement.” But when “endowed progress effect.” The former explains the probed further, they admit that it’s more of a stopgap tendency for consumers to value the same product measure, since it can be tricky to put these words into more when it appears less abundant and the latter practice. Even if we have some standard set of ethical describes how motivation increases when people considerations were agreed upon across a given believe they are closer to a goal. Since product designers industry, what exactly do they look like in a product? want people to use their products, the knowledge of It’s hard to say and harder yet to define a threshold such irrational tendencies produces unbelievably where the guidelines are met by the design process.

13

SCIENCE + TECH

MARCH 8 2019

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Ə ų = / i a / ? ] Y E / = / ? / Ǝ Ű a i / E ] M ? ?/ i

ĝĤĥĥƇĝĥġģ

5×5 BY Eduardo Gutierrez-Peña ILLUSTRATION Kela Johnson DESIGN Bethany Hung

15

LITERARY

Bingo night is every Thursday. I will never go. The game is a purgatory for squares and number counters, and worse yet it is a game without stakes. The grand prize could be a can of beans and yet it always draws a crowd. The retired accountant lays his head to rest, exhausted from looking for tax breaks on his card, while the old gambler lifts his head, wipes the saliva from his card and cashes out. Maybe because I hate bingo, they sentenced me to the burgundy corduroy chair in the corner of the other room. The pale green walls amplifies the delusional wins in the game room. From here I can see the other members, the checkered floors, and the sunset beaming onto the dust in the home. It’s important to get out of my room. Clarice comes by everyday and asks, “How are you feeling today?” I wish she would use her elegant stride for something other than surprising the shit out of me. She is wearing a new perfume. The lavender alone would have suited her, but the man was thinking of another woman when he asked the perfumist to add rose. Why she insists on asking me questions she will never get answers to, I will never know. Maybe it's because she knows I hate bingo. On the dusty orange steps of the Cholula Cathedral, I saw the guitar being played for the first time. This is where I spent my childhood, or more precisely, where I herded its skeletal memories. The

08 MAR 2019

5×5

O M O N A E M N R A T E D R O T D D N O D P A OF N P A D OF R F D E R R F R H E T R E R H O R T U E A O R F M U A M F M M W A A M II AM W , A O , OR RD D..

guitarist would move between frets with quick ease. imagine: Mother pops out two and gives them the same the butterfly that she had a jeweler cutout swearing it Passerbys left black shells in front of him, their rocky name. Pedro has been here longer and is lonelier than was trying to escape. The butterfly had all of eternity jagged exterior hid a milky translucent interior. He most people here. His stories trail off into tangents, to escape, yet it waited for Alice, both of them underplucked at the strings making each note sting and and uneasy with their conclusions are cut short. I can’t standing the nature of the transaction. I told her that cry before moving his fingers to the next position. To help but think he is the smartest person in the home. as a boy my body fell asleep before my mind did and I him of course, these were not just notes. He doesn’t He tells different stories about his eye, revealing what spent the nights counting, not by choice, the numbers remember how he knows what to play. He could never he thinks of you on the given day. From my seat, I once always showed up under my eyelids. “It’s because tell you about chords or harmonies, just as I could never saw him put an imaginary ball in the hand of a guest at your parents taught you how to read with a phoneexplain breathing. the end of a story; the guest squeezed the ball and let book,” she teased, knowing that it was the only way to All I have is me and my chair in front of the televi- the fluid drip between his knuckles, horrified he could make me comfortable, and knowing that the numbers sion. There are chairs in this room and people sit and only let go a faint scream. Pedro never stopped being a would eventually return. Even as her head dropped leave. After Clarice takes care of me my eyes follow her kid, and a little bit of play helps run the place. to her right shoulder, she had a plan. Nothing left to and stop at the camera in the corner of the room. What Foolishly, I forgot what the fortune teller on the understand. do these people think we are capable of besides with- bank of the river told us while we were in our 20s, but Clarice says it’s time for me to sleep, but I don't ering? Staring into the camera, I can feel my own gaze years later, our hairs started to gray and Alice started want to. She tells me that I need to sleep if I want to feel coming from the television. My eyes dart back to the waking up pleading, “The kids, the kids." She looked better. Life here moves at a boring but agreeable pace. television. Golf. over, slightly embarrassed, knowing my awful sleep But when the ceiling fan and lights are turned off and I best understood Alice in the alley next to a chur- habits had woken me up before she had said anything. I fall asleep, I feel like a thrashing newborn experireria. In those nights while the breeze settled, the heat She sat up, accidentally pulling the sheets up, uncov- encing light and sound for the first time. A dream could diffused the aroma of chocolate and cinnamon that ering her upright feet. She looked at her toes like a seat me in front of Alice or my friends or my grandwould stick to the alley road after hours. After hours, lighthouse keeper searching for a rowboat in fog. Alice father, but it's up to me to speak. And dream on top the gnats dive into the cobblestone to feast, the lucky massaged her forehead with the pads of her fingers of dream, I am further from a word. And yet tonight, ones struggled to escape with legs and wings missing, before saying anything. a freshness moves over my tongue, ridding it of its others were preserved in the worn-down chocolate. “I’m not quite sure what’s tying me to this world lingering staleness. I feel the starchy peaks and creases Her parents were expats, only recognizable in her anglo anymore.” Her words settled. Smoothing out the of my sheets, gently poke into the sides of my chests. O’s. She held her parent’s identities close. And even sheets, she looked up and back down, “There are these The tips of my fingers and big toes tingle, feeling the knowing that she is from the place that she knows, she faces that I see, ones I recognize but can’t pin names to. breeze just once more. The numbers trickle back, and I had doubts. She enjoyed guiding me through the night, It feels like im giving myself up to them, but I see now I remember what to say. renaming the streets in ways that made me forget. She don’t know who they are or how to give them what they leaned on the golden wall behind her and allowed the want.” night to settle on her face. She pulled a page from her “Well, what are they asking of you?” journal, and I saw part of a title, “Muerte y mem-” she “Well, these faces they look at me and they offer sprinkled tobacco on the rest of writing before I could themselves. But when I look at them, they drone on at read it. The ember at the end of the cigarette illumi- the other faces. And the droning—it only gets louder nated each word before turning them to ash. the more I look.” That night, Alice dreamt of a pigeon in an iron cage, Three-quarters: Hombres—This all feels so familiar. whose jutting head kept its eyes fixed on her. A lifetime And yet, my feet are planted. My body has decided of showing strength meant she could only be fragile in to stay a little longer. abstractions. Half: Golondrinas—The breeze whispered between It was a blessing that my room came decorated. I the cobblestones and past our ankles. think collecting new things to put in the room would’ve My stomach meets my throat, and I can only hope been hard to go through again. I put my collection of that her gaze ends at skin. shells on the mantle and a vase on the nightstand. One-quarter: Silencio—The smoke filled my hesd Later, I moved the vase by the floor near the crack on like a balloon. I stumbled both in step and in words. the wall, hoping it would grow out of it. And the crack does grow, but never as fast as I would like. I hear voices The cigarette was the last thing in-between us. on the other side of the wall, voices I have heard. I hear my friends here, Jane and Jameson and Paul, and if I I have friends here. I have James, Pedro and Janice. listen a little longer there is Alice. They mull around the room and they talk to me. None And even while dying, Alice consoled me. She of us know where the others came from. We sit in the spent her last days trying to find out what my life same ward where the cracks in the tiles are a little wider. was like before her, which she would use to prepare They are surprisingly good company. James and Janice me for what life would be after her. She pinched her are always together. They look related, which is easy to amber necklace when she asked me, as if lamenting

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

LITERARY

16

AOC

MARCH M

BDE Urbanism Orbanism Blue wave Blue waffle Green Book Green New Deal Pulling out of Queens Pulling outta queens Sheldon Whitehouse Young Sheldon Diane Feinstein Mr. Burns Warren Kanders Colonel Sanders Bezos dick pic Sick kick flip Gaslighting Bunsen burners Birthchart Birthright The Granoff dinner The Slug Club PostPost-apocalypse TikTok The Doomsday Clock Brooklyn DSA Brown Alumni Assoc. They did surgery on a grape Universal health care

17

SPORTS

08 MAR 2019

MADNESS

Slavoj Žižek Jordan Peterson Seize the means Lean cuisine Semiotext(e) Sending a risky text Sunrise Movement Bowel movement Owning the libs Mad Libs Amazon Cuomo Rivers Cuomo Big blue bug smol bean The Gap The wage gap Kill all normies #NotAllMen Beto O'Rourke Keto diet Venice bitch Pasta Bitch No ethical consumption under capitalism Eating a*s Women's March March Madness AirPods John Podhoretz Draining the swamp Masturbation Muller investigation

BY Indy Staff ILLUSTRATION Nicole Cochary DESIGN Amos Jackson

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT

Mulled wine SPORTS

18

PPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY ~ HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

FRIDAY 3.8

International Women’s Day // lululemon Wayland Square // 8AM-6PM International Women’s Day originated in 1909 as a day of organizing for socialist women, far preceding feminist movements around women’s social and symbolic labor later in the century. You may think that this lululemon celebration might represent how commercialism has declawed this sentiment, but this event is branded with the reminder that “The Other 364 Days” are just as filled with eternal toil. Plus, yoga gear is a sensible, flexible choice for an uprising. International Women's Day with DJ Slick Vick! // Troop (60 Valley Street) // 10PM-1:30AM If you’ve ever been to a Downtown Boys concert, you’ll be familiar with their practice of making tall dudes “fall back” from the stage, and this List Writer thinks this dance party is a great opportunity to borrow that habit. According to the event description, DJ Slick Vick “values the dance floor as a sacred space where human connection is not only found but amplified,” so go dance the bros off the floor—not doing so is sacrilege!

SATURDAY 3.9

Doggos, Donuts, and Drafts // PVDonuts (79 Ives Street) // 5-8PM This is a birthday party for what appears to be a man running a donut blog, but also a benefit for Providence Animal Rescue League, so you take some and you lose some. Do you think if they raise enough money for the “doggos” we could fund a lobby to get everyone to stop calling them that? Modern Sounds // Tea in Sahara (69 Governor Street) // 8PM A rare earnest moment from your dear List Writer: Tea in Sahara is my favorite place to read the Indy, and they always show us love by having some floating around their beautiful café. Perhaps you can peruse a copy while attending this very soothing weekly improvised music night. Maybe you’re reading this there right now!

SUNDAY 3.10

Mark Steinbach, organ // Sayles Hall (Brown University’s Main Green, 75 Waterman Street) //4-6PM The title of this concert makes it sound like the organ is named Mark. It might, or it might not. Come Sunday evening and it might, to the tune of Bach and Hindemith, bellow out its name, deep, ancient, primordial…

MONDAY 3.11

Impeachment, Recall, and Removal //Lippitt House Museum // 6:30-8PM Join the Fox Point resistance at this talk on the legal protocols surrounding the impeachment of government officials. Hosted in partnership with the Providence League of Women Voters. Anyone else think it’s amusing that the East Side Mueller-brigade looks like a partnership between historical preservationists and 21st-century suffragettes?

TUESDAY 3.12

Siksa. Stabat Mater Dolorosa: Musical About Death and the Maiden // AS220 (115 Empire Street) // 9-10:30PM On AS220’s website, an event description for the Polish punk-artist Siksa’s experimental play “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” concludes like this: “A gun, a girl and death – those are the times we live in.” Reimagining girlhood as a site of power, Siska’s show offers a phantastic exploration of the artist’s own childhood obsessions with dressing up as other women from history and making believe that gender could be anything other than a mode of violence. Treasures in the Attic: A Tour of the Museum’s Archives //Museum of Natural History and Planetarium (Roger Williams Park, 1000 Elmwood Avenue) // 10-11AM // $3 By “museum’s archives,” the curators at Providence’s Museum of Natural History actually just mean “rows upon rows of manila folders in file cabinets containing postcards and scrapbooks of how the museum used to look at the time of its erection.” Unless you’re a total archive-head, you might not enjoy this $3 trip down literally no one’s memory lane…

WEDNESDAY 3.13

Artist Talk: Cecilia Vicuña // List Arts Center (64 College Street, Room 120) //5-6P Cecilia Vicuña is a multidisciplinary Chilean artist and poet embracing the disruptive, anticapitalist potentialities of indigenous knowledge and traditionally feminized forms of labor. Her most recent work, The Red Thread, explores the significance of red-colored thread in Aboriginal Australia, South Africa, Paleolithic Europe, and pre-Columbian America.

THURSDAY 3.14

Thursdays at The Parlour // StrangeCreek Battle of the Bands //The Parlour (1119 N Main Street) 9-11PM Has anyone gotten famous off winning their local battle of the bands competition since like… ever? (Especially now that the four-piece rock outfit and its enabler, the radio station, are archaic concepts.) Probably not, but that’s what makes this low-stakes excuse to drink beer across the street from North Burial Ground all the more enticing. At round one of three, Kooked Out, Six Fox Whiskey, and The City Limit are all on the chopping block.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S ~ DAY MARCH 6 ~ HAPPY