The College Hill Independent: November 17, 2011

8/3/2019 The College Hill Independent: November 17, 2011

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THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENT17 NOVEMBER 201 1

BROWN/R ISD WEEKLYVOLUME XX I I I I SSUE IX


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EPHEMERA

EPHEMERA

WEEK IN REVIEWSETH KLEINSCHMIDT, ALEX RONAN, STONI TOMSON

N E W S

LA TRAFFICKATE WELSH

MUHAMMAD SAIGOL

POLITICS ON THE SLIDE?

M E T R O

I CHOOSE YOU, PVDMIMI DWYER

F E A T U R E S

DEBT LIKE NO OTHERDAVID ADLER

ARTS IN REVIEWANA ALVAREZ, EVE BLAZO, EMMA JANASKIE

A R T S

CORRECTION: RK + XVANA ALVAREZ

$$$ TALKS...4 REALBY JEANNE JEONG

O P I N I O N S

MOBY ARTTIM NASSAU

I N T E R V I E W S

A DANGEROUS CYCLECHRIS COHEN

S P O R T S

BAD ASSESASHTON STRAIT, JOANNA ZHANG

S C I E N C E

SLEEPING AROUNDRACHEL BENOIT, AFRICANUS OKOKON, KATE WELSH

X

FROM THE ED ITORS:

T H E C O L L E G E H I L L I N D E P E N D E N T

ABOUTFALL 2011

MANAGING EDITORS Malcolm Burnley, Jordan Carter, Emma Whitford NEWS David Adler, Erica Schwiegershausen, Kate Welsh METRO Sam

Adler-Bell,Grace Dunham, Caroline Soussloff OPINIONS Stephen Carmody FEATURES Belle Cushing, Mimi Dwyer, Max Wiggins INTERVIEWS Tim-

othy Nassau ARTS Ana Alvarez, Eve Blazo, Emma Janaskie SCIENCE Ash-ton Strait, Joanna Zhang METABOLICS Chris Cohen LITERARY Michael

Mount, Scout Willis OCCULT Alexandra Corrigan X PAGE Rachel Benoit,Audrey Fox LIST Allie Trionfetti BLOG Max Lubin, Jonah Wolf DESIGNEDITOR Mary-Evelyn Farrior DESIGN TEAM Andrew Beers, Jared Stern,Olivia Fialkow, Joanna Zhang COVER EDITOR Annika Finne ILLUSTRA-

TIONS EDITORS Robert Sandler, Becca Levison SENIOR EDITORS GillianBrassil, Adrian Randall, Erin Schikowski, Dayna Tortorici STAFF WRITERS

Madilynn Castillo, Barry ElkintonMVP Chris Cohen v

Cover Art: Mary Craig

Letters to the editor are welcome distractions. The College Hill Independentis published weekly during the fall and spring semesters and is printed by TCIpress in Seekonk, MA.

The Independent receives support from Campus Progress/Center for Ameri-can Prgress. Campus Progress works to help young peopleadvocates, activists,

journalists, artistsmakes their voices heard on issues that matter. Learn moreat CampusProgress.org

THE COLLEGE HILL INDEPENDENTPO BOX 1930 BROWN UNIVERSITY

PROVIDENCE RI 02912

[email protected]: maudelajoie

-CAC

SCOPIN IT OUTALEXANDRA CORRIGAN

O C C U L T

GLACE CHOCOLATENICK CATONI

L I T E R A R Y

The more toppings a man has on his pizza, I believe, the more manly he is, HermanCain, candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, told GQmagazinein this weeks issue. Because the more manly man is not afraid of abundance. A veg-gie pizza, on the other hand, is a sissy pizza. He explains that, A manly man dontwant it piled high with vegetables! The sexism presented in this analysis should beobvious. His characterizations of Mitt Romney as vanilla ice cream and of Rick Perry

as rocky road seem accurate, though.After improbably vaulting to the lead of several national polls in the last month,

Cains campaign has run into trouble. Aside from underwhelming and clichd pizzaanalyses, Cain has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment, and an awkwardvideo of his bewilderment after being questioned about President Obamas handlingof the Libyan revolution. Add his trademark know-nothing devotion to the 9-9-9tax plan (which nonpartisan analysts have said will both increase deficits and force lowincome Americans to pay a greater share of overall taxes) and its hard to imagine Cainin the Oval Office in 2013.

The staff of the Indy just polished off a Nice Slice vegan barbecue chicken pizzaa few minutes ago. That might make us sissies, but we do know what we think aboutLibya, and thats okay with us.


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WEEK IN REVIEW

FIGHT BACK APPby Stoni Tomson

Although todays most popular smartphone app provides users with an arse-nal of angry birds to battle apple-stealingpigs, its beginning to seem likely that thefuture of apps will address more seriousconcerns. This month, Whypoll, a not-for-

profit citizens networking group thataims to facilitate greater civic engagementin India, will release the Fight Back App.The app is described on Whypolls web-site as Indias first womens safety SOSmobile application.

For the price of 100 rupees, about$2, the app helps women report threatsof harassment and violence by sending atext message with a GPS location to up tofive pre-selected contacts, including thepolice. In an attempt to protect privacy,

users may send these texts anonymously.In addition, users have the choice of al-lowing the app to send out instant alertson social networking sites like Facebookand Twitter. While at first glance the easewith which one can make a report seemssurprising, Whypoll co-founder Hindol

Sengupta explains that Women are ha-rassed and molested everywhere on buses,at metro stations, in markets ... we believethis is Asia's first phone application aimedat making women safer."

Part of Whypolls Safe in the Citycampaign, the data from the SOS appalerts will be compiled in an online (UN)SAFE Map of New Delhi to create a liv-ing database of gender-related crimes. Ascertain places become clearly defined as

high-risk areas, Whypoll will notify thepolice and the press so that there is a per-manent, sustained pressure on the systemto solve problem areas, according to thecampaign website. This practice is con-sistent with Whypolls goals of creatinga feedback mechanism and research pro-

cess between citizens and government.Within New Deli, one-fourth of all

reported rapes in India are committed, ac-cording to statistics in the National CrimeRecords Bureaus 2010 report. Moreover,many Indians believe that these numbersare low, based on high rates of underre-ported gender-related crime. For exam-ple, the National Commission for Womenhas recorded more than 500 complaints ofharassment by women from Delhi so far

this year that went unreported to police.The agency has also noted that complaintsof police apathy were common. EnterWhypoll, which attempts to address theproblem by allowing Fight Back App usersto remain anonymous.

While the app is currently being test-

ed by a small group of users, its effective-ness remains to be seen. Sengupta is hope-ful but realistic about the apps impact:Fight Back is not a complete solution.It wont solve the problem of violenceagainst women per se. But were hoping...that it will give us a clearer picture of thescope of the problem.

by Alex Ronan

MYTH BUSTERS?

Santa, Jesus, Poseidon, and the devil walkinto a bar. Or rather, a huge billboard.The American Atheists holiday MYTHcampaign, launched on November 14, in-cludes a sign above the Lincoln Tunnel, onthe New Jersey Side, depicting the fourfigures with the accompanying message37 million Americans know MYTHSwhen they see them. Billboards willappear in several other locations nation-wide, including Florida and Ohio. Pho-tographs of a Poseidon statue, a figure ina suit and devil mask, a painting of Jesusand a Santa bookend the question Whatmyths do you see? The 37 million fig-

ure presumably refers the number of athe-

ists in America, though this figure is diffi-cult to confirm. A 2011 Gallup poll foundthat eight percent of Americans dont be-lieve in a god, putting the figure closer to25,000,000.

Dave Silverman, president of Ameri-can Atheists, told Opposing Views that hehopes the groups signs are thought-provoking and spark plenty of conversa-tion nationally. In the same interviewcommunications director Blair Scott in-sisted that the signs arent meant to offendpeople. However, he admitted, Whenyou question someone's long-held beliefsand doctrine, they are going to be imme-

diately offended and be on the defensive;

it's a known psychological phenomenon.One Pastor told the Christian Postthat thesigns were ignorant since only themost dense and simple-minded personwould put [Jesus] in the same category asthe other three. Clearly, even those wholack a personal commitment to Jesus rec-ognize that there was in fact some histori-cal figure [who went] by this name.

The American Atheists first cam-paign, carried out last holiday season, wasin response to the American Family Asso-ciation and the Catholic League. Accord-ing to Scott, such organizations reporteda War on Christmas. In an announce-

ment, Scott said, we thought we would

give them what they seemed to want andfired the first shot in the war on Christ-mas with the billboards declaring YouKnow It's A Myth. This Season, CelebrateReason. The Catholic League retaliatedwith a billboard that read You know itsreal. This season: Celebrate Jesus. As forthis year, Scott says, to both groups wesay, 'Happy Holidays!'"

POACHED OUT OF EXISTENCEby Seth Kleinschmidt

duction through captive breeding.According to the International Rhino

Foundation (IRF), a rhino research andconservation group, Africa was home toroughly 65,000 Black Rhinos of all sub-species in the 1970s, but indiscriminatepoaching dropped that figure to 2,300 in1993. Black Rhinos, who take their name

from the dark mud they wallow in, aremassive creatures, standing around fivefeet tall and weighing up to one-and-a-halftons, but poachers are only interested inthe animals horns.

TRAFFIC, an IUCN partner orga-nization which monitors trade in wildlifeproducts, reports that as of early Novem-ber 341 rhinos have been killed by poach-ers in South Africa alone. This figure sur-passes the total numbers for the previousyear, and is reflective of the thriving tradein black-market ivory. Many traditionalAsian medicines, including supposed can-cer cures, make use of rhino horn, and soAfrican poaching provides a steady streamof illegal ivory that flows into China and

If you were thinking of visiting Africasometime soon to take pictures of rhinos,be prepared to search long and hard. TheInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a global conservationorganization and eco-watchdog group, re-ported last week that the Western BlackRhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) is offi-

cially extinct: none are alive in the wild,and none exist in captivity.A few surviving Western Blacks per-

sisted in Cameroon through the early2000s, but the IUCN has given up hopethat any remain alive. Rampant poach-ing is the main cause of the Western BlackRhinos slide into oblivion, so it is likelythat illegal hunters finished off Camer-oons last survivors. An exhaustive searchof the Western Blacks suspected habitatwas performed in 2006, but no individu-als were sighted and no tracks, dung, orother signs were found that would indi-cate a resident population of rhinos. Theabsence of Western Blacks from zoos andpreserves makes impossible any reintro-

Southeast Asia.There were very limited anti-poach-

ing efforts in place to save the animals,and anyone caught poaching was notsentenced, hence no deterrents were inplace, said Craig Hilton-Taylor, managerof the IUCNs Red List of ThreatenedSpecies, in a press release.

The most recent incarnation of theRed List also notes that Africas North-ern White Rhino is Possibly Extinct in theWild a handful still survive in captivity while Indonesias Javan rhino is now downto a rapidly-dwindling island population.Just a few week weeks ago the WorldWildlife Fund declared the Vietnam Javanrhino Extinct.

The IRF reports that there are around3,600 of the three remaining subspeciesof Africas Black Rhino, the majority ofwhich are concentrated in Namibia andSouth Africa, where conservation hasbeen moderately successful. White Rhi-nos are more numerous; around 11,300are still in the wild, mostly in South Af-

rica. The Northern White recently disap-peared from the Democratic Republic ofthe Congos Garamba National Park, butthe White Rhino is still the least-endan-gered of Africas population.

In the case of both the WesternBlack Rhino and the Northern WhiteRhino the situation could have had very

different results if the suggested conser-vation measures had been implemented,said Simon Stewart, Chair of the IUCNsSpecies Survival Commission said, in theRed List announcement.

These measures must be strength-ened now, specifically managing habitatsin order to improve breeding perfor-mance, preventing other rhinos from fad-ing into extinction.

Illustration by Robert Sandler


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L A I M M I G R A T I O N

by Kate Welsh

atia came to United States ille-gally from Jalisco, Mexico whenshe was two and a half years

old. She doesnt remember the journey,but her mother told her that she gave herNyquil so that she wouldnt cry when shehanded her off to a human smuggler out-side of Guadalajara, Mexico. As baby Ka-tia fell asleep, her mother feared that shewouldnt see [her] ever again.

But Katia made it across the border,where her fatherwho had been in theUnited States for a few monthspickedher up. Her mother followed shortly af-ter. The family established a life that wasdistinctly better than the one they hadin Mexio. Katia emphatically insists thatwhile she would maybe like to visit Mex-ico, she wants to live in the U.S.

Although both parents are currentlyemployed in LA (her mother as a cook in afood truck and her father as a construction

worker), they will never be able to hold jobs that keep them steadily above thepoverty line. Jobs available to illegal immi-grants tend to be below minimum wage,and paid in cashthe result of not having aSocial Security number. Katia says that thefear of being caught is a constant weighton my chest. She lives on the low-key,as she puts it. Unlike many of her teenagepeers living in South Central Los Angeles,she cant get a drivers license, anotherresult of not having a Social Security num-ber. When underage friends start drink-ing at a party, she leaves. Her friends ac-cuse her of being too straight-edge, butshe knows better than to find herself in asituation where she would have to showidentification to a cop.

Katia found solace when the Califor-nia Dream Act passed, which Governor

Jerry Brown signed in early October. Itallows undocumented students to accessscholarships at the University of Califor-nia and California State University sys-tems, as well as fee waivers at communitycolleges. Her top choice is Pomona, andshe wants to become a veterinarian. Herteacher, Ellie Herman, says that Katia, aswell as some of her other undocumentedstudents, view the Act, wrongly or not, asa next step towards legalization.

For some undocumented immi-grants, legalized citizenship remains a dis-tant dream, since the federal governmentdid not pass the national version of theDream Act. Additionally, the CaliforniaDream Act faces opposition in the formof citizens referendumsCalifornias in-famously oft-utilized method of overturn-ing or passing laws through the ballot box.And, especially in Katias neighborhoodof South Central, the Dream Act has re-

ignited a touchy discussion among someconservative African American leaders.As the black news and entertainmentmagazine, RollingOut, put it, Should taxpayer funds be used to support the illegalimmigrant population and would low-income, aspiring black college studentswould be dealt a devastating blow in se-curing funding if like legislation spreadsacross the country?

A CHANGING COMMUNITY

In South Central, proponents of tougherimmigrations laws have found unusualbedfellows: conservative leaders of theAfrican-American community. In a neigh-borhood that was predominantly African-American in the 2000 census, Latinosnow comprise over 87 percent of thepopulation.

In 2008, the late Terry Anderson, aformer auto mechanic and longtime Af-rican-American resident of South CentralLA, thundered from KRLA-AM station,I have gone on the streets and talked topeople at random here in the black com-munity, and they all ask me the same ques-tion: Why are our politicians and leadersletting this happen? Anderson wasntworked up about the Jena Six or nooseson Columbia University doorknobs. In-stead, he was fuming about the three il-legal immigrants who allegedly murderedthree African-American Newark collegestudents that August. And when he criti-cized politicians for letting this happen,he directed his anger at members of theBlack Congressional Caucus who support-ed open borders and amnesty for illegalimmigrants. Massive illegal immigrationhas been devastating to my community,Anderson told listeners, Black Ameri-

cans are hit the hardest.Unease about immigration has ex-

isted in black political discourse since the1860s, when Frederick Douglass warned Northern employers in an 1863 article,every hour sees the black man elbowedout of employment by some newly ar-rived emigrant, whose hunger and colorare thought to give him a better title tothe place. Douglass was referring to theinflux of Italian, Irish, and Chinese immi-grants arriving, but his quote contains asentiment echoed by some conservativeAfrican-Americans through time: immi-grants are displacing free blacks in the la-bor market.

Twenty-five years later, Booker T.Washington exhorted Americas indus-trialists to cast down your bucket, notamong new immigrants but among the

eight million Negros . . . who have with-out strikes and labor wars tilled yourfields, cleared your forests, builded [sic.]your railroads and cities. Another blackconservative, journalist George Shuyler,favored the immigration reform acts ofthe 1920s, which limited European im-migration, and also urged restrictions onMexican workers: If the million Mexi-cans who have entered the country havenot displaced Negro workers, whom havethey displaced? he asked in 1928.

But the 1960s brought a change in theviews of black political leaders towardsimmigration, especially after PresidentLyndon B. Johnson and congressionalsupporters of liberalizing immigrationclaimed the mantle of the Civil Rightsmovement for their reforms, which be-came law in 1965 and resulted in a 60 per-cent increase in legal immigration overthe subsequent decade. Martin Luther

King Jr. believed that blacks and poor im-migrants had much in common and couldbecome political allies. In 1967, he soughtto revitalize the black freedom struggleas explicitly based in class, not race. ThePoor Peoples Campaigna coalitionof African-Americans, Latinos, Native-Americans, and poor whitesaimed topressure the federal government to fulfillits promises on the War on Poverty. Re-lated to his desire for such a broad-basedcoalition, in the run-up to the passage ofthe immigration bill, Dr. King endorsedthe idea of letting Cubans fleeing Castroto settle in Miami. Jesse Jackson wouldlater herald the imminent arrival of amighty black-brown or rainbow co-alition that would, he claimed, propel himto the 1984 Democratic presidential nom-ination. As it turned out, Jackson failed

Illustration by Robert Sandler

California DREAM Acts cultural clashes

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to win much Hispanic support, which

mostly lined up behind Walter Mondale.But Jacksons dream continued to spreadamong black politicians, including thosein the Congressional Black Caucus, whichbecame one of Washingtons most vocalgroups opposing immigration restric-tions.

But since immigration returned asa national issue in 2006, ambivalencetowards immigration policy has increas-ingly given way to opposition and evenanger. Recent polling data reveal theshift. Though a 2006 Pew Center nationalsurvey showed some ambivalence amongblacks toward immigrants, it also foundthat in several urban areas where blacks

and Latinos were living together, blackswere more likely to say that immigrantswere taking jobs from Americans, andalso more likely to favor cutting Ameri-cas current immigration levels.

When the Reverend Al Sharpton ledthousands to the Arizona state capitolbuilding in Phoenix in May 2010 to pro-test the states controversial anti-immigra-tion laws, the black journalist Earl OfariHutchinson, aHuffington Postcontributor,noticed a small group of mostly African-American counter-protesters hectoringthe protesters on the periphery of themarch. Despite the opposition to the Ari-zona law of Sharpton, President Obama,

major civil rights groups, and nearly all

black Democratic state and local officials,there is a distinct strain of unease in blackcommunities toward immigration reform.

BORDERS TO BULLETS?Illegal immigration remains a hot-buttontopic on African-American stations likesatellite radio XMs The Power, withcallers demanding more immigration re-strictions. Some African-American blog-gers have criticized black politicians whofavor liberal immigration policies. In therealm of pandering black elites, there is nomore notorious public figure than [Texas]Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee,wrote Elizabeth Wright in the online

newsletter Issues & Views. Accordingto Jackson-Lee, those blacks who force-fully oppose mass immigration are simplynaive and are being baited [by white op-ponents of immigration] into taking suchnegative positions.

In poor areas, proximity can resultin conflict. Los Angeles tallied more than400 racial hate crimes last yearthe most,as a proportion of all hate crimes, for atleast a decade. Blacks fared worst: theycomprise just 9 percent of the populationof Los Angeles County but were the vic-tims of 59 percent of all race-hate crimes.Seven times out of ten, their attackerswere Latino. Hispanics, who make up al-

most half the population, were victimized

by blacks eight-tenths of the time. Thesenumbers greatly understate the violence.They do not, for example, include the vic-tims of a dozen interracial prison riots lastyear, which left two dead.

As the Hispanic population has ex-panded in formerly black areas, Latinoshave also vied more intensely with blacksfor affirmative-action slots, public-sectorjobs, and political power.

This battle over quotas for public-sec-tor jobs is a glaring example of how immi-gration is turning the race-based policiesof the last 40 years, originally designedto help blacks, against them. For African-American leaders like Claud Anderson,

head of the Harvest Institutea non-profitdedicated to black empowermenttheturnabout represents a betrayal of theCivil Rights movement, because: only Af-rican Americans deserve quotas. Whendid our government ever exclude immi-grants or deny them their constitutionalrights, as they did African-Americans?he asked rhetorically in an interview withhistorian Steven Malanga. But for otherblacks, the demands of Latinos and Asiansthat government set-aside programs in-clude them are further evidence that ra-cial preferences were misguided in thefirst place. Blacks who support skin colorprivileges now will be singing a different

tune later once government starts dis-

criminating against them once again, thistime in favor of Hispanics, writes colum-nist and blogger La Shawn Barber.

California city councilperson Acqua-netta Warren minced no words duringher 2011 campaign. She enthusiasticallycheered Arizona immigration law, citinga study that claims that the influx of Latinoworkers into a city increases unemploy-ment and violence in the African-Ameri-can community. However, as Hutchinsonpenned in theHuffington Post, fingering il-legal immigrants for black joblessness anddiscrimination wont change anything.

It is unclear if this debate will affectthe imminent citizens referendums on

the California Dream Act, or if conserva-tives will take advantage of this tension.Katia says that she understands some ofthe anger directed at illegal immigrants,but that she remains hopeful that somedayshe and other undocumented young peo-ple will become legal citizens. She said, Iknow how hard it is for people who didntchoose to come over here they didntdecide to for themselves.

KATE WELSH B 12 doesnt mincewords.


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SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

by Muhammad Saigol illustration by Robert Sandler

A new season of scandal

exual assault. Attempted murder.Evading the police. Battery. Thesemay sound like charges in a couple

of juicy Law and Orderepisodes, but, in

fact, they are just sound bites from thesoap-opera that is Rhode Island politicallife.

Scandal renewed on September 14,when Rhode Island state representativeDaniel Gordon (R.), 42, was arrestedin Tiverton, Rhode Island after beingcharged with evading the police, dodginghis longstanding criminal history. He wasreleased on a $1,000 bail.

After approaching the police aboutan unrelated incident on September 9to complain that an online blogger wasimpersonating him, authorities learnedthat he had a suspended license. Uponfurther investigation, they found a trailon Gordon: he had failed to appear in FallRiver, Massachusetts District Court inOctober 2008 on charges of driving witha suspended license, and failed to stop forpolice in April of that year. Then, in lateSeptember, it emerged in a WPRI Target12 report that Gordon had additionallybeen jailed three times in Massachusettssince 1999 and charged with more thana dozen crimes in the last 18 years. Mostof the charges pertained to assault andbattery, but there was one charge of at-tempted murder, apparently aimed athis then-girlfriend. Puzzlingly, Gordonwas elected in 2010, despite his extensivecriminal record and easily refutable lies.In a letter the to the editor of the Provi-

dence Journal, Providence resident repri-manded Gordon for his corrupt behav-ior that ultimately poisons Rhode Islandsgovernmental systems for which we thepeople pay, financially, psychologically,and spiritually.

Gordons criminal record was notthe only aspect of the Tiverton state rep-resentative that has been scrutinized. Hehad claimed that he had served in the GulfWar as a Marine and was awarded a Pur-ple Heart. In an investigation by the Provi-

dence Journal, it emerged that Gordon hadindeed served in the Marines from 1987to 1991 but as an airfield technician atfour bases within the US. He had never

been near any. Still, Gordon maintainsthat the records provided to the Journalby the Marines are false. I dont knowwhat to tell you, I was there, he told CBSNews.

Both House Speaker Gordon Foxand members of the GOP have made callsasking Gordon to step down. However,Gordon remains an active member of theRhode Island General Assembly. Staterepresentative John Edwards (D.) of Ti-verton has launched a Facebook groupentitled RI Rep Daniel Gordon PleaseResign From Office to encourage vot-ers to voice their distaste. If I hear fromenough of you, I will bring it to Fox andsee if there is anything we can do, he saidin an interview with the Journal. A callmade to Gordon was not returned.

CORRUPT COMPANY

Gordon is not the only state official whoseless-than-stellar history was revealed thisyear. John Carnevale (D.) is a 50-year-oldretired police sergeant on pensionbald-ing, heavyset, and stern-faced. On Octo-ber 28, Carnevale, the state representa-tive from Johnston, was formally chargedwith having sexually assaulted a woman inJuly. Carnevales lawyer, William Dimitri,maintains his clients innocence, althoughCarnevale, a sitting member of the HouseCommittee on Finance, has yet to issue a

statement himself. His arraignment tookplace on November 16. He pled notguilty and was released on a $50,000 bailwith surety.

When asked about Carnevales futurepolitical plans, Dimitri told the ProvidenceJournal, he is sure hell want to do whatis best for the State. Damien Baldino,a 35-year-old kindergarten teacher andformer Republican rival for the Johnstonseat, has called for Carnevale to resign.In an interview with WPRI, Baldino said

that Carnevale should step down in orderto stop him from becoming a distractionin the State House. Other state officials,including House Speaker Fox, have de-

clined to weigh-in until Carnevale had achance to defend himself in court. Fornow, Carnevale remains a member of theHouse, across the aisle from Gordon, whohas called for the same level of scrutiny forthe Democrat that he received in his ownscandal. If these things do not occur, it isproof positive of the culture of favoritismand cronyism in the State House, Gor-don said in an interview to GoLocal Provi-dence News.

This is not the first time that Car-nevale has been accused of such a heinouscrime. Behind the Blue Wall, a blog dedi-cated to bringing attention to domesticabuse cases nationally, compiled a list ofarticles on Carnevale that paint a dark his-tory of violence. His ex-wife accused himof having punched, choked, and whippedher with an electric cord, according to anarticle in the Providence Journalpublishedon October 13, 2004. She claimed that hewas visiting his children when he saw heroperating an electric saw in the basementand, allegedly, unplugged the saw andused the cord as a weapon after the formercouple got into an argument regarding thesale of their house. Carnevale denied theclaims, saying that he was forced to pushhis ex-wife to keep her from getting cut bythe saw.

The article also asserts that this par-ticular incident was the third time in five

years that Carnevale had been accused ofsexual assault or domestic abuse, all direct-ed towards his ex-wife. In 1999, he was ac-cused of assaulting her with a phone cord,and in 2001 she alleged that he threatenedto slit her throat and damage her car aftera dispute. Carnevale was never convicted.

In 2008, Carnevale was elected to thestate legislature representing Johnstonwith 70.6 percent of the vote, accordingto the RI.gov website. It is not hard to seewhy, given Carnevales voting record on

VoteSmart.org, which shows he is consis-tently liberal in a staunchly Democraticstate. Unsuprisingly in 2010, Carnevalevoted for the sealing of Rhode Island crim-

inal records in cases where the sentencewas deferred, reported theJournal.

SHADES OF CIANCI

Local political pundits and residents areincredulous about how such officials couldhave gotten elected in the first place. Youneed to pass a criminal background checkto get a job at McDonalds, Providenceresident Geoff Johansson mused aboutGordon in an interview with the Journal.What is his political connection? Why ishe getting away with all this?

In fact, one does not need a politicalconnection in the state to sweep past of-fences under the rug. In an interview withthe New England Post, John Marion, thehead of Common Cause Rhode Islandagroup that promotes government trans-parencyexplained the discrepancy al-lowing Gordon and Carnevale to keepoffice. The state set a standard that if youwere convicted of a felony or served morethan six months in jail for a misdemeanorin the last three years you would have todisclose it. Otherwise, no candidate isobliged to reveal his criminal history.

Carnevale and Gordon are far fromunique cases in Rhode Island, where Cian-ci is a brand name. Marion wants all can-didates to reveal their criminal historiesregardless of severitygiven how rampantand nefarious public officials can get in

the Ocean State. With the ninth-highestunemployment rate in the country, and acapital city with 60 percent more violentcrime than the national average (using2009 data), Rhode Island needs less shad-owy politicians to brighten the bleak sta-tistics.

MUHAMMAD SAIGOL B 12 cansmell Rhode Island a mile away.

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DEMOCRACY

FOR SALE

clever sign stands out among the

99%. Provocative and pointed, itreads, I refuse to believe corpo-

rations are people until Texas executesone. While general anti-corporate com-mentary has captured the streets, the In-ternet, and the mood of progressive soli-darity behind #occupy, the slogan's sensethat corporations can't possibly be peopleenjoys privileged appeal. Likewise, its jocular cousin asks, Would you let yoursister marry a corporation?

Last month, Princeton professor andpublic intellectual Cornel West spoke outon this issue. Arrested for occupying thesteps of the Supreme Court, West blamedthe Citizens United v. FECdecision of Janu-ary 21st, 2010 for opening the dams tocorporate takeover of government. Thefamous decision, narrowly passed by a 5-4vote, ruled that First Amendment rightsextend to corporations and unions as wellas individual people. Arguing that spend-ing money can be an act of speech, theCourt struck down a provision in the Mc-Cain-Feingold Act that limited corporatespending on election-related communica-tions 60 days before an election.

For the protestors on Wall Street,the peculiar notion of corporate person-hood invites anger, bewilderment, andan uncomfortable sense of injustice. Theirintuitive suspicion is that the corporate in-fluence in politics that spawned too big

to fail and loopholes for the wealthy isentangled with this view that corporationsare people. Easily converted into wittyone-liners, this intuition stems from thesneaking hunch that Goldman Sachs is dif-ferent, somehow, from you and me.

FAMILIAR METAPHORSCitizens United has produced two catch-phrases that have since shaped contem-porary political rhetoric corporationsare people, and money is speech. Un-palatable to most Americans, these ideasprovoked public backlash, ranging frommild distaste for corruption, to visceralrejection. An ABC News/Washington Post

Poll released weeks after Citizens Unitedfound that 80 percent of Americans op-posed the decision, including 65 percentwho 'strongly' oppose it. Perhaps mostnotably, disapproval crossed party lines.Traditionally unfriendly to corporatepower, many members of the liberal leftpredictably expressed their oppositionto the ruling. Even President Obama, ina rare criticism of the Court, reproachedCitizens United in his State of the Unionaddress in 2010. More surprisingly, how-ever, according to the same poll, 73% ofthose who agreed at least somewhat withTea Party views disapproved of the loos-ening of spending regulations. In a politi-cal climate rife with heated partisanship,

the mutual outrage of Democrats and Re-

publicans on this issue is unusual.Yet despite what such shared public

sentiment might imply, the ideas of cor-porate personhood and money-as-speechare neither novel nor baseless. From thenation's early legal history, corporationshave enjoyed at least some of the samerights as natural persons in ways we nowview as rather uncontroversial. In the1819 case, Dartmouth College v. Wood-ward, the Supreme Court recognized cor-porations' right to make and enforce con-tracts. Although different justices' viewson the personhood debate have since os-cillated, corporate rights have long serveda practical, necessary purpose. Corpo-rate personhood considers corporationsas groups of individuals exercising theirrights to associate with others, protect-ing them from excessive government in-tervention. What appears to be the morepressing question facing the public nowis one of degree, not absolutes. It asks towhat extent corporations should receiveprotections, not whether they should re-ceive any protections at all.

The idea that money is speech has alsobeen present throughout American con-stitutional history. In the 1976 case, Buck-ley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court ruled thatsome parts of a law outlawing campaigncommunications made independent ofcandidates violated the First Amendment

right to speech. In doing so, the ruling in-cluded spending in a broader category ofpolitical expression. Though it held thatrestrictions on individual contributionsto candidates did not violate the FirstAmendment, the majority decided thatlimiting expenditures by candidates them-selves violated free speech. Extending theCourt's logic suggests that money has anexpressive quality. In short, it's a form ofspeech.

Both of the ideas are dubious. In hisdissent to Citizens United, Justice Stevensnotes ...corporations have no conscienc-es, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, nodesires... they are not themselves mem-

bers of 'We the People' by whom and forwhom our Constitution was established.With the #Occupy movement targetingbig business and the financial sector, cor-porate personhood appears in the pub-lic eye as the greater of two evils behindCitizens United. After all, corporations arealmost always wealthier than individu-als. Even worse, they're often consideredprofit-seeking behemoths unconcernedwith the general welfare of those citizensof ordinary means.

BEGRUDGING ADMITTANCEThose opposed to Citizens Unitedfear thatby extending the free speech rights of cor-porations, the ruling will drown out the

speech of average citizens. Before elec-

tions, corporations will boast unfair ad-vantages in the game of buying and sellingpoliticians' limited attention and time, es-pecially since the financial sector alreadyheld a strong lead before the ruling. Postelection day, politicians backed by thesedeep pockets will then listen primarily tothe voices of big business. Supporters ofCitizens Unitedpoint out that while corpo-rations tend to support the right, unionsand their leftist counterpart are also freeto run ads to the benefit of certain partiesand candidates. But it's a well-understoodfallacy that corporations and unions willhave equal opportunity in the corrupt ex-change of crony capitalism. A potentialremedy for the decision's partisan effects,critics propose, is to pass a Constitutionalamendment abolishing corporate person-hood.

The commotion surrounding CitizensUnited, along with its seizure by the #Oc-cupy movement, creates an illusion of ur-gency and momentousness to the cause.Not all of that sense is undeserved. Yet theshallow implication that this case aloneopens the floodgates to masked briberyand unscrupulous governance is misguid-ed. American democracy was far fromperfect before the ruling; the pamperingof banks in the financial crisis should serveas clear evidence of that. Certainly the Cit-izens United case is in part a blow for that

imperfect democracy, but the root of thatblow lies primarily in the assumption thatmoney is speech, not that corporations de-serve some protection.

The quintessential corporation mayevoke imagery of unfeeling skyscrapersand airy boardrooms filled with profit-hunting, dark-suited businessmen. Cor-porations of this sort cause oil spills andtake weeks to express any inklings of trueremorse. They force hometown mom-and-pop stores to board their windows.They offer hotel lodging prepared by un-derpaid workers who are in turn harassedfor union organizing.

At the same time, corporations of

another sort exist. For example, thereare those that protect civil rights or ad-vocate for women's rights to choose andprovide reproductive and maternal healthservices. Indeed, the American Civil Lib-erties Union is incorporated, as is PlannedParenthood. Like Citizens United, Inc.,the ACLU and Planned Parenthood arenon-profit corporations, though they siton the other side of the political fence.Ira Glasser, former executive director ofthe ACLU, cautions against unequivocallydemonizing corporations. Glasser cites a1972 case that arose when the ACLU wasprevented from advertising in the NewYork Times, because it was too critical ofthen-President Richard Nixon. The ad at-

tacked Nixons opposition to school bus-

ing for integration.If corporations weren't protected by

the First Amendment at all, the govern-ment could hardly be restrained fromlimiting their advocacy. Whether thatadvocacy is for the tobacco lobby or foran anti-smoking campaign, potentially un-bridled government interference seemsdangerous, especially considering thatthese organizations are in many ways, as-sociations of individuals expressing com-mon views. Considering Citizens Unitedinthis light, restricting the speech of somecorporations and not others is unfair,but restricting the speech of all limits theviewpoints accessible to the public in thecrucial days before an election.

CLEANING UPThe potential flooding of airwaves bycorporate-funded ads is an egregious con-sequence ofCitizens United, as is the newallowance of SuperPACs, which can useunlimited donations to produce attack adsand other communications. But these arenot problems inherent in the notion of cor-porate personhood. What Citizens Uniteddoes that is so disagreeable is combinethe two concepts, corporate personhoodand the metaphor that money is speech,into one decision. The fact that corpora-tions might need First Amendment pro-tections might be less controversial taken

alone. That those rights extend to spend-ing unlimited amounts of money, an areain which corporations clearly have an ad-vantage over ordinary citizens, is moreoffensive. Wealthier citizens by no meanshave more to say than the poor or disad-vantaged. Nor are they in greater need ofhaving their interests represented.

Rejecting money as speech and ad-mitting some aspects of corporate per-sonhood would present a new, much-improved paradigm for clean elections.If money isn't speech, for-profit or ad-vocacy corporationsas well as wealthycandidates and individualswill have toexercise their First Amendment protec-

tions only through real speech that's notcontingent on social class or personalwealth. Eliminating corporate rightswon't prevent politicians from panderingto the business elite as long as spendingis considered a fundamental right of indi-viduals and PACs. Only through regulat-ing potential corruption by dollars, odiousto a democracy of equals, will the systemforce politicians to pay attention to theirconstituents, not just their constituentswho pay.

JEANNE JEONG B 12 thinks that if cor-porations are people, they should prob-ably pay more taxes.

by Jeanne Jeong

An Ambivalent Analysi s of Citizens United

Illustration by Annika Finne

A


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F E A T R U E S7 1 7 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1

ewsflash: Charizard is dead. I hadno idea. This was my first mistakewhen I tried to enter the Pok-

mon Autumn Regional Championshipsat the Rhode Island Convention Centeron November 12. Youre trying to playwith those things? a kid in full-body Pi-kachu suit scoffed when I flashed the oldcards. We original Pokmon collectorsare living, whether you know it or not,in the fifth Pok generation. So much haspassed us by. The Pokmon of yoreSnor-

lax, Bulbasaur, Eeveeare relics. Theyvebeen phased out and are no longer eligiblefor gameplay.

Second mistake: I never learned howto play the game, and it is scarily complex.It now involves dice and coins in additionto cards. Like most American kids circa1998, I collected the 150 cards for a pe-riod of three or so months, horded themobsessively, and promptly forgot them.They lie in wait in my basement with le-gions of Tamagotchis and Furbies. But noone here is impressed that I once owned aholographic Charizard. Like the Montre-al nine-year-old who stabbed a classmatein a Pokmon dispute in 2000, they have

a stake in the game. They have sold theirirrelevant Charizards. Theyve danced onhis flaming 120 HP grave.

A caveat: Charizard is not dead, perse, because Pokmon dont die. Theyfaint. The Pok-gods want to avoid childtrauma, even though the average Pok-mon card game player today is 19. Ap-proximately 200 players line six longtables in the sparse Convention Center,competing in three divisions: Juniors(10 and under), Seniors (11 through 17)and Masters (everybody else.) They arebattling for Pokswagger and points toqualify for the world championships inHawaii this August. They sit across fromeach other, looking deep and menacingly

into their opponents eyes and laying theirnon-proverbial cards on the table.

Kids fill out the first table, but thenumber of adults playing in the Masterscategory today dwarfs them. Which feelsstrange because Pokmon, unlike Magic:The Gathering or Settlers of Catan, is mar-keted towards kids. Its PG-rated and was,at a point not too far in the past, all therage. No one will be impressed by yourPokmon proficiency, whereas Magicand Settlers have some undergroundcred: The majestic world of Magic: TheGathering has lived on throughout thetrendy games such as the Legend of theFive Rings, Pokmon, and Yu-Gi-Oh,

writes uncertified game expert Nicho-

las Pelak in a Myspace blog post. Magicboasts creative art, impressive age-oldthemes and gameplay rivaled by chess.Whats more, you can win $45,000 atMagic World Championships, but theprize for winning Pokmon Worlds is$7,500 in scholarships.

EVOLUTION OF A POKMASTER

The least-evolved Pokmon player at thetournament, Rachel Clarke, is four andcant read. But she has memorized all

sixty cards in her deck and can recite theirnames and powers on sight, plus do themath for their attack damage. In the ten-and-under division, shes won two gamesand lost two today. She has a blonde bowlcut and her voice is inaudible. She runsup to her mother after her fourth matchand gives her a high-five. The Pokmonshe most resembles, in my opinion, isJigglypuff. But her favorite is Zekrom, ared-eyed, menacing, robot dragon. Shesall about Zekrom because he can do boltstrikea massively damaging attack. Cub-choo, on the other hand, is a cuddly runny-nosed bear that Id assume would be herfavorite. He doesnt do anything, she

says. His only attack is powder snowlame. She says she doesnt feel sad whenshe loses. Well keep that attitude as longas we can, says her mother, Sue. Thegame teaches sportsmanship. And thereare bonuses for Rachel besides wield-ing power to strike fear in the hearts ofher opponents: Pierce, a nebulous friendfrom preschool, also plays Pokmon. Shebrings the cards in for show-and-tell andthey play together.

Jack Sjoberg, 10, has traveled from Con-necticut to qualify for World Champion-ships in Hawaii. Hes made the top cutof four kids in the junior division this af-ternoon, and a group of adults dressed in

polos with embroidered Pokball insig-nias has shuttled them into a corner of thehall divided off with velvet rope. They sitthe kids down at a table, prepare them tobattle. Jack is composed. I try to act coolaround my opponents, he says. Becausethen theyll think that Im just bigger be-cause if you act calm theyre like, ooh,this guy doesnt have anything to fear.A parent on the other side of the rope haspulled out a video camera and is zoomingit in on Jacks opponent, who is nervouslyfiddling with his Pikachu shirt. Jack seemslike an old hand. Hes come to terms withPokmon culture, even outside the con-vention. Im called a nerd sometimes,

he says. But not in a mean way, not like

theyre bullying me. In a friendly-ish way.He dominates the match.

Dylan Moran, an eloquent twelve-year-old gamer, agrees: It kind of getsyou teased a lot, he says. People thinkits a kids game. But its better than play-ing Black Ops and sitting on your couch allday! Youre actually using your head! Atthe risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, Iwould not file my Pokmon memories inthe educational cabinet of my childhood.My parents certainly didnt. But here,

kids and parents here resoundingly agree:Pokmon teaches strategy, organization,math, and sportsmanship. I could trickpeople into trading good cards for badones, says Dylan. But I dont feel likeit. The Pokmon community, perhapsbecause it is family-oriented or perhapsbecause it cant pretend to be cool, is rath-er friendly, as competitive battle-basedsubcultures go. Dylan has built two decksfor players at the tournament today, andthough players whove been caught cheat-ing in the past are in attendance, theyrewatched closely by the tournament judg-es.

The Masters, the five long tables of teensand adults flipping cards and rolling dice,arent as open about their war methods.One of these serious players is Dylan Le-favour, 17. He was the 2008 PokmonWorld Champion. And he is currently,according to the official Pokmon web-site, the 20th-best card game player inthe world. Hes part of a wave of youngAmerican talent that has dominated Pok-mon gameplay over the past few seasons.(Other top Pokmon nations currentlyinclude France and Denmark.) Today,he wears an airbrushed trucker hat thatreads Dylan in bulbous letters next to aPokball. It is the same outfit he is wear-ing in his 2008 World Championships in-

terview videos, and his Facebook profilepicture. My girlfriend gave it to me,he says, then pauses. Wellshes not mygirlfriend anymore. They met throughPokmon. Shes not here today, but Lefa-vour says he doesnt care. He also saysthat hes not nervous about the tour-nament. Perhaps its because this activitydoes not inspire the same terror as debateor chess. Theres less at stake since Pok-mon is not a traditionally serious game.Everybody seems vaguely interested inmaking friendsDylan met all his bestfriends through Pokmon. They have tolaugh at themselves a littleits just a cardgame, right?

In the Pokworld, Dylan is in with the

right crowd, the champions, because hehas medals under his belt. At first peoplewere kind of mean, he says. Pokmonused to be kind of cliquey. The best play-ers congregate together. I talk to the bet-ter players, not the lesser ones. But Im notmean like they wereshouting N00B!Now, he says, the scene is less exclusive.But he acknowledges that this feelingmight stem from his success. When Iwas hot off my win, he says, kids wouldsometimes ask me for my autograph.

Lefavour is interested in the perks.There are more girls at this game thanother games, he says. There are actuallyquite a few girls in Pokmon. There areprobably ten girls, not including mothers,at the convention. Good pickins? I ask.No, he says--no Pokbiddies today.

Dylan has only eaten peanut chunksand water all day. (Protein, he says sol-emnly.) He also slept in the hotel bath-room last night to achieve total silence.At home, he doesnt have a Pokmon bed-spread, but his trophies line the walls. Fewof his schoolmates know he plays. Hes ajunior in high school, and next year, hellwrite his college essays about the extra-

curricular that he cares about most: thePokmon Trading Card Game. Otherkids play soccer, he says. I play Pok-mon.A postscript: Pokmon cannot procreate,but Pokmon couples can. Tim and ClaireMcTaggart, who judged the tournamenttoday, met at Nationals in 2010, married,and now have a four-month-old namedRowan. Rowan has been to three tourna-ments. Tim and Claire still play Pokmon.They have birthed and are conditioningthe optimal genetic Pokmon child. Thepossibilities are limitless: by the hun-dredth generation, will the optimal Pok-mon just be a human with the power to

realize all the cards are imaginary and flipthe chessboard over? What would such aworld look like? Is a Pokmon revolutionimminent?

MIMI DWYER B13 XOXOIRRELEVANT SUBCULTURE.

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O C C U L T8T H E C O L L E G E H I L L I N D E P E N D E N T

HOROSCOPES by Alexandra Corriganh, love. It's all you need. Isn't that

right, @YokoOno? Easier said than done,sadly. So while we proclaim to be no ex-pert in the matter (unless one counts abil-ity to do ineffective love spells with Trader

Joe's-brand sage?), we've learned to readup in the meantime. You know, for the fu-ture. Or whatever.As it turns out, love in the universe is nota complicated thing, dear readers! Com-patibility rests on two factors: similarity ofelement and difference in personality. Forour purposes, we will concentrate on thematches of the sun signs. (And, disclaimer,we realize the limitations of looking atonly where the sun is when one's born. It's just that the moon and the other planetsmove too fast to give an overview! So don'tbreak up just yet. Give it like a week.)First, each sign has an element. Matchingelements with your lover is key.Fire signs are enthusiastic, romantic,bossy and spontaneous: Aries, Leo, Sagit-tariusEarth signs are practical, earthy, physicaland materialistic: Taurus, Virgo, CapricornAir signs are intellectual, communicative,idealistic, cold and impractical: Gemini, Li-bra, AquariusWater signs are emotional, intuitive, sen-sitive, moody and self-indulgent: Cancer,Scorpio, Pisces

Second, romantic liaisons do not oftenwork out when personality styles are alike.For example, two flexible types or two ini-tiator types will compete rather than jive.So mix and match!

Fixed signs (Persistent):Leo, Taurus, Aquar-ius, ScorpioMutable signs (Flexible): Sagittarius, Virgo,Gemini, PiscesCardinal signs (Initiator): Aries, Capricorn,Libra, Cancer

Capricorn (12/22-1/21)Your days of love are finally upon us! TheTaurus who was dressed in full drag hasstuck around until now. Since that sign isyour ideal lover, I suggest ordering take-

out from Mills Tavern, putting it on someplates, and invite him over for a "homecooked meal".

Aquarius (1/22-2/19)Your love life is filled with two extremes-- the emotionless airy types (Geminis, Li-bras) and the opposites you're attracted to-- Cancer and Virgos. Your time has...notcome. You'll think a Leo is more sensitivethan he is, and he'll end up boring you todeath over details from his thesis.

Pisces (2/20-3/20)Oh, sweet Pisces! You could love anyoneyou'd like, and make it work, too. Howev-er, you should probably stick to Cancersand Scorpios during these serious, snow-ridden months. Their mood swings andfierce loyalty both freak you out and keepyou interested. And if anyone can stopyour raging ADD, it's them.

Aries (3/31-4/19)You are the most conceited and romanti-cally thrill-seeking of the signs. Meaning,its not like you're doing anything bizarrein the bedroom....but you're definitelynot averse. You're not quite ready tosettle down, so we suggest you use thisboring month to get cozy with the freak-ier of your compatible signs: Geminis andAquariuses. Don't get sassy, though, Ar-

ies, or else you'll end up with that boringLibra who goes to Starbucks.

Taurus (4/20-5/20)You have a truly stellar fortune for thenext eight monthsespecially in love!You're a workaholic, but this month iswhen you get in touch with the sweeter

side of life. Watch for a fellow earth signwho has you romantically interested, be-cause that one will last until spring. Or atleast until #OccupyWallStreet ends.

Gemini (5/21-6/20)Gemini, you are playing with fire. Yourleast compatible sign, Sagittarius, has gotyou on a hook and refuses to let you go.If you're not serious, you can play around,but realize it's only a matter of time tilyour heart hardens or gets crushed. Some-times it's better to be silly with a less philo-sophical type. A Libra could be fun andcan always be found lurking outside Salonfor an easy pick up.

Cancer (6/21-7/21)Sensitive Cancer, what are we going todo with you? The loyal, fashionable Scor-pio you've been lusting after for monthsdoesn't love you. Learn from it, move on,and maybe try sleeping with another Can-cer. They'll never impress you with theirforward sexts, but you can both cry to-gether during the mom scene in The Dar-jeeling Limited.

Leo (7/22-8/22)Leos, this astrologist is going to go outon a limb and say you need more of anintellectual counterpart than anyone--sopursue that Virgo with nerd-chic sarcasm.

He'll make fun of you for being so loud inthe library, but will join you happily at allof your parties. This one could last, if youtreat it right.

Libra (9/23-10/22)You're balanced, and don't care muchfor intellectual stimulation, so find a funAquarius. Look for her at your next liter-ary magazine's meeting or RISD opening.

She'll be the girl knocking back her thirdglass of expensive wine. Just roll with it.

Virgo (8/23-9/22)You are not the type in the limlight. Infact, you want to do nothing but worry.And worry this winter you will! Instead ofpursuing your stable lovers (Taurus, Can-cer), youre more freaked out by a par-ents love life. SRY Virgo! Your advice isto stop thinknig so much, and by Januaryyoull make out with acute Sagittarius.

Scorpio (10/23-11/21)Despite what you think, you don't getaway with being anonymous very often.Intense, loyal, and, dare I say it, sexual, wethink of you as a great red-brown/burgun-dy color. Which is why we're thinking thatyou might go well with that witty nerd(Virgo) from your Contemplative Studiesclass. Whatever you do, stay away fromthe good-looking Taurus from Coffee Ex-change. That love is boring and painful.

Sagittarius (11/22-12/21)Oh Sag, philosophical and idealistic, youbelong in the arms of a thinkerly Aquariusor a genius Leo. You'll find one in the des-ert in the sands of vacation, while doingresearch on esoteric forms of trance mu-sic. Be careful Sag, because you're like abird--you always fly away. Avoid boys with

cages.

O


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I N T E R V I E W S9 1 7 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1

Itwasth

ew

hitenessofthew

halethat

TheHindoowhalereferredto,occursinaseparatedepartme

ntofthewall,depictingtheincarnationof

PAGE 181 PAGE 550PAGE 463

Vishnu in the form of Leviathan, learnedly known as the Matse Avatar.

PAGE 250

above all things appalled me.

butbaselittlePip,hediedacoward;diedallashiver;outuponPip!

Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale;tothelastIgrapplewiththee;fromhellsheartIstabatthee;forhatessake

Ispitmylastbreathatthee.


11/20

I N T E R V I E W S 10T H E C O L L E G E H I L L I N D E P E N D E N T

I l l u s t r a t i n g M o b y - D i c kINTERVIEW BY TIMOTHY NASSAU

hands on. I like to use found paperpaperthat I harvested from old books, thingsthat were going to be discardedbecauseI kind of like the idea of giving it a secondlife in a way. In terms of media, prior tothis Moby-Dick project, I was only usingpen and ink or colored pencil. And sowhen I began this project, I wanted to givemyself total freedom to use any media Iwanted because I was curious about it, butI was also really intimidated. I had neverpainted anything. I dont think I had useda paint brush since junior high. So I usedeverything from acrylic paint to ballpointpens to nail polish, spray paint, crayons,colored pencils, pen and ink, collage,charcoal there was nothing I wouldntuse if it was on hand.

Indy: Over the course of this project didyou learn about other illustrated versionsof the book?

MK: I was actually aware of them before Ieven began the project because I had seen

so many illustrated editions. I was alwaysin awe of them, but what fascinates meabout them is that the illustrations thatI had seen were so vastly different fromone another. You have these fairly realis-tic engravings by Rockwell Kent and thenyou have these incredibly abstractprintsor sculptures that Frank Stella is doing.Theyre like six feet by ten feet and theyhave three-dimensional elements but alsoprint-making elements. Its so abstractthat had you not been told this was basedon Moby-Dick you might almost miss that.Then there have been these comic adap-tations. Bill Sienkiewicz did one. WaltWhitman has that line, I am large, I con-tain multitudes, and in a sense I thinkthat thats very true ofMoby-Dick. Its sucha big book, such a giant book, that I trulyfeel there is room for all of these differentinterpretations, these different expres-sions of the novel.

Indy: Did you ever refer to those workswhile doing your own illustrations?

MK: I tried very hard to keep that frommy mind. I didnt look at any of them, Ididnt reference any of them other thanat one time: theres a piece I did whichis a direct homage to a Rockwell Kent il-lustration that I was really taken with. Butbeyond that, I really wanted to keep it ex-

tremely personal and have it be my ownvision.

Indy: Does your version do anything theothers dont?

MK: Historical accuracy is somethingthat has been done in not only illustratedversions of the book, but illustrations sur-rounding the book. Its not difficult to goto any bookstore and pick up ten randomeditions ofMoby-Dick from ten different

publishers, and inevitably nine of thoseten are going to include either an actualhistorical photo or engraving from thedays of American whaling. Perhaps evena modern painting or illustration, butone that is historically accurate:the shipwill have the proper number of sails andmasts, rigging will be accurate, and so on.I have nothing against that, but it kind ofbores me a bit. So when it came time forme to begin really visualizing and creat-ing on paper my version, this version Ihad always wanted to see, I started tothink more about the ideas behind thesethings. For example, one of the things thathas constantly astounded me about thesewhalers in the 1850s, 1840s: they werefairly young men and they would get onthese boats and they would set sail andthey would not set foot on familiar landagain for three or four solid years. Theonly thing they would see would be theocean, whales, and the men on the ship.That just astounded me because I couldnot even conceive of the absolute will-

power and discipline that might take. Italmost seemed inhuman to me, so when Ifirst began, within the first ten pages I wascalled upon to depict some of these sailorsand I couldnt see them as really anythingother than almost resembling the ship thatthey sailed on. If you look closely at manyof the images of the sailors and the sea-men, they are almost ship by shape. Theyare made of metal and wood and they havethese sort of curved, prow-like bodies andheads, turreted heads and rivets all overtheir body. That was the way I saw it, thecourage and the willpower of these menand what they were willing to do, goingout into the middle of the ocean and ba-sically stabbing to death monsters 70, 80,90 feet long that could shatter them withone twitch of the tail. That was somethingI had never ever seen before. My sailorslook almost like robotic ships, not at alllike men.

Indy: Why illustrateMoby-Dick in particu-lar and not another epic novel?

MK: It is absolutely my favorite book.It is the book that has meant the most tome and shaped my life the most. Ive readit seven or eight times and every singletime I read this book its this incrediblychallenging read, but its so immensely re-warding. It seems to reveal not only more

and more to me every time I read it, butits almost a completely new experiencereading it each time. I have never found abook to be as giving and as rewarding andas endlessly fascinating asMoby-Dick is andI truly do feel that everything one wouldneed to know about life and how to be hu-man is contained somewhere in that bookif youre willing to look for it.

TIMOTHY NASSAU B12 stabs mon-sters to death.

All images by Matt Kish, published inMoby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page (Tin House Books)

W H I T E W A S H E D

W H I T E W A S H E D

W H A L E

W H A L Eam absolutely bizarrely ob-sessed with Moby-Dick and withthis art, says Matt Kish. From

August 5, 2009 to January 29, 2011, Kishdrew, in order, an illustration for everypage of Moby-Dick, all while drivingthree hours to and from work five days aweek. His illustrations were published in

October as a book (Moby-Dick in Pictures:One Drawing for Every Page) and can alsowe seen on his website, spudd64.com.Obsession indeed, but an obsession for abook about obsession is fitting, almost as ifKish were part of the book. The first time Iemailed him, I addressed him as Mr. Kish.Call me Matt, he replied.

The Independent: How did you startmaking art?

MK: Even now I dont consider myself anartist, I dont like to use that term. Im alibrarian, and thats something I feel verycomfortable repping because Ive alwayshad this lifelong connection with books.

I would pull books off the shelf and therewere these amazing pictures: childrenspicture books, illustrated story booksFor me, very early on the idea of the bookas an illustrated object, as a synthesis oftext and images, was fixed in my head. Im42 now. I can remember bringing homepictures from kindergarten when I wasfour or five years old. Every kid is thrilledwhen their mother puts them on the re-frigerator, but that was something thatwent on and on and on through elemen-tary and middle and high school and reallyjust never left me.

Indy: But you didnt want to study art in

college?

MK:Im not sure that art school or an artdegree would have really made me anyhappier than I am now. The nice thingabout not having the weight of that BFAor MFA is that I dont really have a lotof expectations one way or another; Ihavent been indoctrinated into any par-ticular kind of representation. Ive alwayshad total freedom as someone who likesto draw to just do whatever it is I want.In a weird sort of way, that total freedomis what led me to tackling this immenseproject: I just basically wanted to createthe illustrated version ofMoby-Dick thatI had always wanted to see, the way it al-

ways looks to me in my own head. And Iset out to do it, and I did it. It sounds kindof simple and kind of pat, but that is it in anutshell. I wanted to do it. I sat down. I didit, and Im really proud of it.

Indy: How closely were you able to stickto a schedule of one drawing a day?

MK: I would like to say that I kept to thatrigidly, but that got pretty elastic. Onmany days I would begin and complete

one illustration. There were some days,especially on the weekend, when I would,if feeling especially inspired, completetwo or three illustrations per day. Thatgave me the flexibility, especially near theend, to spend more time than I had on anyparticular day to finish a piece. So it waskind of an elastic timetable by the end, butthe two things that matter are: I workedevery day on art and I completed 552 illus-trations in 543 days.

Indy: So some pages were more of a chal-lenge than others?

MK: It was actually surprisingly dif-ficult for maybe the first 100 pages orso. Theres an entire chapter just aboutchowder. Forcing yourself to create oneillustration for every page means for thatthree page chapter on chowder, you haveto find some creative and exciting wayto visually represent chowder. Therewere some pages at the beginning whereI found myself reading the page over and

over again just looking for some access,something that provoked some kind of re-sponse in me. I look back at those piecesand theyre some of my favorites becausethey are so obtuse, and they forced me toreally think about things in a very lateralway, a way that I might not have ever ap-proached the novel or my art. I was grate-ful for the challenge but man, at the time,I was pulling my hair out.

Indy: Why did you work chronologicallyinstead of skipping around?

MK: That was very important to me be-cause I knew that with this project, I was

going to be entering new artistic territory.I knew that I was going to be exploring allkinds of different media, and I also knewthat I was going to be revisiting some ofthe same characters over and over again.I knew I was going to draw Ahab dozensof times and so it was very important tome to see how the art would evolve overthe course of the novel. I knew that myfirst illustration of each character as theyappeared were going to be important be-cause they were going to set the tone, theywere going to be that primal image fromwhich every other image could spring.But I also knew that they would be themost loosely formed and the most basic.I wanted to see how my exploration of

these characters visually would continueto evolve over the course of a novel thesame way a plot evolves for a reader. Itwas really to visually parallel the way thata story unfolds for a reader.

Indy: You mentioned before the new ar-tistic territory this project took you to.What kinds of materials and techniquesdo you use for your illustrations?

MK: Everything analog that I can get my

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F E A T U R E S11 1 7 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1

NECK DEEP

Three Tales of Student Debtby David Adler

omes out to about $30,000,she says with a sigh. And itsall on my shoulders. Malio

Kodis B14 is among the 36 million studentborrowers who look forward to a futureof debt. So far, she has managed to navi-gate the maze of federal loans, scholar-ships, and university financial aid to makeit through her first two years at BrownUniversity. But sitting on the floor of herdorm room, she wonders what her futureof debt will hold. I have access to so manygreat things, but at what cost?

The current student loan process isthree-tiered. First, there are grants, schol-arships, and university financial aid pack-ages that help to bring down the cost ofeducation without piling debt on students. Next, students apply for federal loans,comprised of subsidized loansfor whichthe government will pay interest duringthe students educationand unsubsidizedloans, for which they will not. However,the ceiling on federal loans for students isrelatively low: federal loans cannot exceed$7,500 annually. So, students have look tothe third option of private loanswhichcome with high interest rates and hiddenfeesto fill out the rest of their tuition and

costs of living. Upon graduation, studentshave an average of six months to begin re-payment.

On October 26, President BarackObama announced new regulations forfederally subsidized student loans. Underhis new program, there are two differenc-es: lenders can charge a graduate a maxi-mum of 10 percent of his monthly income,down from 15; and federal debt will be for-given after 20 years, down from 25.

The most obvious flaw in Obamasprogram is that it addresses only a fractionof the debt of a minority of students. Theplan will affect about five percent of stu-dent borrowers: it only deals with income-based repayments (IBRs), failing to ad-dress plans where payments are based on afixed number of dollars. The changes alsoleave untouched the $26,000 in privateloans that the average student incurs, not-withstanding the federal loans addressedby Obama. In the face of these numbers,Obamas plan appears to be nothing more

than a Band-Aid; the wounds of studentdebt run far deeper than federal aid.

THE UNDERGRADUATEMalios matriculation to Brown Univer-sity required financial acrobatics. Therewere state scholarships, national scholar-ships, financial aid from the university, fed-eral loans. Growing up in a low-income,single parent household in Hawaii withtwo older brothers, Malio often doubtedthat she could compete with wealthier ap-plicants from across the nation. But afterbeing accepted through Browns need-blind admission processin which the uni-versity admits American students without

knowledge of their financial situationshe was determined to go there no matterthe cost. With that kind of opportunity,you dont say, Well, I cant afford it, soI should just stay in-state. She workedclosely with Browns Office of FinancialAid, dedicated to assisting her in her effortto pay Browns $54,370 annual fee.

Yet even Malio, who has navigatedthe complex inner workings of Brownsfinancial-aid process, has almost no un-

derstanding of how the whole operationworks. I think they plug me into some su-per computer, she explains. The universi-ty financial aid system is opaque. BrownsFinancial Aid Calculator asks for boththe student's as well as parents' latest taxreturns and information regarding sav-ings, investments and other assets. Afterstudents plug in these values, out pops anestimate (their words) of a financial aidpackage. Very little of the internal logic isset forward.

This opacity has serious consequenc-

es. The apparent accessibility of Maliosfinancial support masks the reality thatawaits students upon graduation. Yet thesolution is not obvious. On one hand,administrators have the responsibility toinform teenage students of the harsh re-alities of debt acquisition. On the otherhand, doing so would run the risk of alien-ating a student population that they workhard to integrate into the social fabric ofthe university.

Beneath the surface however, is asystem that works against both Maliosfinancial interests and those of her family.For students that do not receive very muchfinancial support from their families, the

algorithm employed by the university, inMalios words, makes me want to makemy parents poor. By reducing her finan-cial aid for every extra dollar her parentsreceive in income, the university actuallycreates a disincentive for Malios parentsto take a promotion.

The same goes for Malios personalcapital. Her financial aid package is alsocontingent on the contents of her savingsaccount, meaning that for every extra job

she takes to earn more moneypresum-ably to accrue funds to help her pay backthe debt she will face upon graduationthere is a commensurate decrease in fi-nancial aid. This is the paradox of Maliosposition: she is steeped in debt that shewill need to repay, but unable to work to-wards repaying it, her earnings siphonedoff by a shrinking financial aid package.

THE MED STUDENTAs an undergraduate, Jessica KremenB05 also put her faith in the University

supercomputer, and bit her lip as she ac-quired debt throughout her four yearsat Brown. She is currently a student atMount Sinai Medical School in New YorkCity, where she is finishing her medicaleducation. Now, the thing I am lookingforward to is my repayment plan, shesays. Thats where the fun begins.

Of course I cheered when I watchedObama on the television, Jessica says.No, his new policies wont provide muchsupport in terms of repaying my debt, butany relief is welcome. Jessica highlightsthe positive side of the Obama program:he brought attention to the growing issueof student debt and started the govern-

ment down a road of progress towarda reevaluation of student loans. Yet theObama program should be consideredin its political context as well. The an-nouncement of the new program comesin the midst of the Occupy movement thathas been projecting grievances about stu-dent debt over the loudspeaker. MelodyBarnes, director of the Domestic PolicyCouncil, reports that over 30,000 peoplesigned a petition on the White House

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Illustration by Becca Levinson


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S P O R T S13 1 7 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 1

The Ambiguities of Doping in Professional Cycling

by Chris Cohen

TAINTED MEAT

Illustration by Becca Levinson

n July 21 2010, drug testers atthe Tour de France found traceamounts of the banned weight-

loss drug Clenbuterol in Spanish cyclistAlberto Contadors blood. The result wasnot announced for more than a month,well after Contador wrapped up victoryin the main classification of the race. Thenews was a scandal in the cycling world,as Contador is the most talented cyclistof his generation: he has won the three-week Tour de France three times, anddominated manysmaller races. At 28, stillin his prime by cycling standards, Conta-dor seemed poised to become one of thesports greatest riders before the positivetest.

The case against Contador seemed tobe straightforward at first. He explainedthe presence of clenbuterol in his bloodby advancing what has been called thetainted meat defensehe claims that afriend brought him a Spanish steak con-taminated with the drug for dinner on arest day. To some fans, this echoed Amer-

ican cyclist Floyd Landiss denials aftera positive test in the 2006 Tour, and hishalf-joking suggestion that he tested posi-tive from drinking Jack Daniels. (Landishas since admitted to doping, and accusedmany other American cyclists of his gen-eration, including Lance Armstrong, ofsimilar violations.) The letter of the law isunfavorable to Contador: national federa-tions, which carry out the first round of ahearing, are instructed to decide dopingcases based on the principle of strict li-ability, which presumes guilt in the eventof a positive test. It is up to the athlete toestablish his or her innocence in the eventof any positive test. In cycling and in othersports, athletes who unknowingly ingestbanned substances, including those whichprovide no performance benefit, areroutinely punished with suspensions andbans.

However, the Contador case has notplayed out according to the strict letterof the law. The Spanish national cyclingfederationa governing body with a fairlyobvious conflict of interestfound Con-tador innocent of all wrongdoing in hisfirst hearing, and cleared him to competeimmediately. Contador raced a full sea-son this past summer, winning the Giro

dItalia, the three-week-long tour of Italy,possibly the second most prestigious racein the sport. The case did not go away,however: the international Court of Arbi-tration in Sport (CAS) has agreed to hearan appeal of the Spanish federations deci-sion, and will finally hear arguments theweek of November 21 in a case that mayrewrite recent cycling history, or chal-lenge the absolute authority of the posi-tive test.

Cycling and doping share a long historytogether. Some of the first competitiveevents, at the end of the 19th century,were six-day races, where riders wouldcomplete as many laps of an indoor trackas possible over six days, with as littletime for rest as they could manage. Theseevents fostered a culture of drug use:the riders would fortify themselves withbrandy or primitive stimulants in order tokeep their legs turning for days at a time.Though these sorts of races were eventu-

ally banned as inhumane, both the diffi-culty and the drugs remained a part of thesport. Dr. Mark Greve, Brown MedicalSchool professor and the medical direc-tor for an American professional cyclingteam, suggested in an interview with theIndependentthat the brutality of the sportmight have contributed to its history withdoping.Professional marathoners mightrun six events in a year, he points out,while pro cyclists ride 80 or 90 race days.Its a part of the sport to test the limits ofhuman endurance. In light of this tenden-cy, he suggests, athletes might be temptedto push the limits in other ways.

Before the 1990s, doping cyclistswere limited to stimulants and anestheticsof dubious performance value. In 1989,the release of Epogen, or EPO, changedthe character of doping. The drug, devel-oped to combat anemia in patients withkidney failure and cancer, increases thebodys capacity to carry oxygen throughthe bloodstream, allowing fatigued mus-cles to work harder. There was originallyno test for the drug. Dr. Greve explained,There are all kinds of stories about theshit people were doing back then. Takingan extremely dangerous blood thinner,[for example] to counteract the EPO, with

no clinical baseline.Riders blood wouldapparently get so thick that they wouldhave to ride a session on a stationary bikein the middle of the night to ensure theirblood circulated properly. Races saw adramatic increase in speed after the intro-duction of the drug.

Doping continues to be an importantissue in cycling: a federal grand jury is cur-rently assessing the case against LanceArmstrong for doping during his record-breaking Tour de France run, and the Ital-ian cyclist Riccardo Ricco nearly died thisseason when he re-injected his own blood,which had become contaminated after sit-ting in his refrigerator. Sponsors are reluc-tant to associate themselves with a teamthat could implode in controversy, yet Dr.Greves research has indicated that thereis doping at all levels of the sport, amateurand pro.

There is the sense, however, thatcycling is cleaning up its act. Dr. Greveagrees: I cant say that cycling is thecleanest sport in the world, he says, but

its definitely not the dirtiest, and we cer-tainly know more about the problem thanany other sport. Year round random test-ing is the norm, and the top finishers ofvirtually every race have their hair, blood,and urine checked. Individual teams havebegun their own independent testing.These advances seem to be reflected inthe reality on the road: speeds up the wellknown mountains of the Tour de Franceare decreasing, in spite of advances in bikeand training technology.

In light of this history, the Contador caseseems even stranger. There would be littlequestion of his guilt if he had tested posi-tive for EPO, or a bag of his blood werediscovered in the refrigerator of an un-scrupulous doctor. Clenbuterol, through,is a weight loss drug. It is hard to imaginethe advantage of taking a weight-loss drugin the middle of a grueling three week racelike the Tour de France: riders generallyhave to force themselves to constantly eatin order to replace the calories they areburning. When asked if it made sense fora rider to use Clenbuterol in Contadorssituation, Dr. Greve was emphatic: No.

No way. Before a race, yeah, maybe. But,based on the drug, and how little therewas, I knew this was going to be a fiascofrom the moment the story broke.

There may, in the end, be somethingto the tainted meat defense. Clenbuterolis in widespread use by unscrupulous meatproducers, who administer it to livestock

to produce leaner meat, particularly inChina and developing countries. SeveralMexican soccer players had their casesdismissed by the World Anti-DopingAgency under the assumption that theirpositives were caused by tainted meat.Spanish cattle ranchers have suggestedthat unscrupulous links in the meat supplychain could have introduced clenbuterol-enhanced beef. It seems possible that Con-tador is telling the truth.

Contador, however, has been unableto show that the positive test undoubtedlyresulted from eating the steak, and ac-cording to the principle of strict liability,it is up to him and his lawyers to convinc-ingly prove that the Clenbuterol could not

have come from anywhere else, an effec-tively impossible task. The Court of Arbi-tration for Sport, which is handling Con-tadors appeal, may be open to challengesto the prevailing doctrine of strict liabil-ity. As the law stands, though, Contadorcould well be stripped of his 2010 Tourde France and 2011 Giro dItalia titles,and be banned from the sport for up totwo years. Drug testing in cycling is sup-posed to ensure a fair contest by identify-ing the cheaters, but sometimes the realityis more complicated. As Dr. Greve pointsout, People want there to be heroes andvillains. Sometimes there really is clearblack, and clear white, but in between,

there are many, many shades of grey.

CHRIS COHEN B12 blames the EvanWilliams.

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S C I E N C E14T H E C O L L E G E H I L L I N D E P E N D E N T

BADASSES

by Joanna Zhang and Ashton Strait

Marie Curie

Tycho Brahe

Eric Pianka

In 1952, Eric Pianka was a curious 13-year-old ex-ploring the mountainous border between California andOregon. The Pianka home was near an army base, andafter military trainings Eric and his brother would col-lect leftover shrapnel and shell casings. One day, the twocame upon an intact bazooka shell. When they brought ithome to his front yard, Eric dropped it, and the explosionleft him seriously injured. His leg wound became gangre-nous, and he was left with a partially paralyzed, shorterleft leg.

Pianka was bedridden, and a teacher visited him dailyat home to go over English and typing. In high school, in

another early assertion of his badassery, Pianka becamea lifetime member of the American Society of Ichthyolo-gists and Herpetologists, a society dedicated to the studyof fish, reptile and amphibian scientists. And he hasntlooked backhe has since devoted his life to the study ofevolutionary biology and ecology and (literally) writtenthe textbook (the classic,Evolutionary Ecology).

Despite his partially paralyzed and seriously injuredleft leg, Pianka went on to travel and conduct intensivefield research in vertebrate ecologyhiking harsh envi-ronments and deserts on three continentsin the GreatBasin, Mojave, and Sonora in North America; the Kala-hari in Africa; and the Great Victoria in Australia. Cur-rently, Pianka is studying lizard communities in Australiaand has produced over 100 scientific publications.

In 2006, after a speech accepting the DistinguishedTexas Scientist Award, Pianka became the focus of some

media attention. He reasoned, In addition to our ex-tremely high population density, we are social and mo-bile, exactly the conditions that favor growth and spreadof pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes. I believe it isonly a matter of time until microbes once again assertcontrol over our population, since we are unwilling tocontrol it ourselves. Amateur scientist and creationistForrest Mims interpreted this as endors[ing] the elimi-nation of 90 percent of the human population through adisease such as an airborne strain of the Ebola virus.

But Pianka clarified his opinion in an essay on hisfaculty website: I do not bear any ill will toward people.However, I am convinced that the world, including allhumanity, would clearly be much better off without somany of us. What nobody wants to hear, but everyoneneeds to know. Spoken like a true badass.

-JZ

Sure, we all know Marie Curie as the token femalescientist (aside, of course, from Rosalind Franklin, whoassisted James Watson and Francis Crick, the discoverersof the double-helix model of DNA). Curie was the firstwoman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win two,and the only person to win in more than one category

(Physics and Chemistry). Sure, Marie Curie was a coollady, but she was also a badass.

Childhood was a struggle for Marie and her siblings,who grew up in a poor Warsaw family. While workingas a governess to support her sisters medical studies, shefell in love with the son of the family, Kazimier Zorawski,who would later become a preeminent mathematician.But his parents disapproved of the relationship did notwant to see their future preeminent mathematician sonto marry a working class girl.

In the late 1880s she tutored and studied at the Fly-ing University a secret underground school started in1885 in Poland for women who wanted to take college-level courses but could not afford to go abroad for theirstudies. At 24, after six years of self-study, she moved toParis and enrolled in the Sorbonne. She would later meetthe physicist Pierre Curie during her graduate studies,and the rest, as they say, is history.

While studying the properties of radiation and itsatomic origins, Curie discovered polonium and radium,which netted her a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Sheshared the honor with her husband-cum-research part-ner, Pierre, and prominent physicist, Henri Becquerel.

By the time she won her first Nobel, Curie had beenworking with radium for years. At the turn of the cen-tury, the effects of radiation were not well understood.In fact, the prevailing thought of the eraa belief Curieheld herselfwas that radium had therapeutic proper-ties. Poisonous radon gas was even used to treat wound-ed soldiers in the field during WWI.

In pursuing their investigation of radium, the Curiesignored increasingly deleterious effects on their health.During the course of her research she lost a great deal of

weight, struggled with bouts of depression, and sufferedulcers on her skin beneath the pockets where she carriedvials of radioactive salts. Her fingertips were also perma-nently scarred and pained from touching and carryingradioactive samples. Estimates place her exposure to theharmful gamma rays emitted by radioactive elements atabout 1 rem (the designated unit of radiation) per week.Today, exposure to .03 rem or greater is considered haz-ardous. Indeed, Curies entire lab was shockingly con-taminatedenough to turn

Documents

The College Hill Independent: November 17, 2011