Show Me the Money

THE STUDENT WEEKLY SINCE 196909.16.10

Inside: Common Casting, Glee, and the new NFL season.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

09.16.10 vol. xlii, no. 2

2 [email protected] 09.16.10 • The Harvard Independent

The Indy dives into thenew season.

Cover art by PATRICIA FLORESCU

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Co-PresidentsPatricia Florescu ‘11

Susan Zhu ‘11

Editor-in-ChiefFaith Zhang ‘11

Staff Writers Peter Bacon ‘11 John Beatty '11 Rachael Becker '11

Ezgi Bereketli ‘12 Andrew Coffman ‘12 Levi Dudte '11 Ray Duer ‘11 Sam Jack ‘11 Marion Liu ‘11

Hao Meng ‘11 Alfredo Montelongo ‘11Nick Nehamas ‘11 Steven Rizoli ‘11 Jim Shirey ‘11

Diana Suen ‘11 Alex Thompson ‘11 Sanyee Yuan ‘12

ColumnistSam Barr ‘11

Graphics, Photography, and Design Staff Chaima Bouhlel ‘11 Eva Liou ‘11 Lidiya Petrova ‘11

For exclusive online content, visit www.harvardindependent.com

FORUM3 NO HOlds BaRRed: CaMpaigN FiNaNCe

4 FResHMaN YeaR sO FaR

aRTs5 Eat Pray LovE

6 GLEE

7 COMMON CasTiNg

8 LEah, iN TRaNslaTiON

9 sUMMeR wiTH THe diNs

spORTs10 COMiNg TO TeRMs wiTH leBRON

11 NFl pROgNOsTiCaTiON

News and Forum Editor Arts Editor

Sports Editor

Associate Sports Editor

Graphics Editor

Associate News and Forum Editor

Riva Riley ‘12

Pelin Kivrak ‘11

Daniel Alfino ‘11

Brett Giblin ‘11

Sonia Coman ‘11

Weike Wang ‘13

[email protected] 3The Harvard Independent • 09.16.10

indyForum

It was a little skirmish in a summer of big political battles — but the defeat of the DISCLOSE Act,

a modest campaign finance reform measure pushed by President Obama and the Democrats, might have lasting importance. If Congress can’t even require transparency of the corporations that fund our elections, what hope is there of diminishing the power of money in politics?

The question, of course, answers itself. In January the Supreme Court blew the starting gun, and since then the big-money donors have been racing to the November finish. Spending on political TV ads is on track to top 2008 levels, and one analyst predicts it will exceed $3 billion when all is said and done.

Especially unnerving is the fact that Republicans and Democrats have raised and spent eerily similar amounts (the Dems trail by just a few million). What this suggests is that the parties are in a financial arms race, matching each other dollar for dollar. To end the vicious circle, both sides need to cooperate and back down; unilateral disarmament is a pipe dream. Unfortunately, at this time, only one side thinks there’s a problem here. You can call Democrats hypocritical for raising funds from special interests and big donors and then railing against the corruption of American elections, but I’ll take hypocritical over malevolent any day.

And direct election spending is only the beginning. As Jane Mayer of The New Yorker recently reported, Charles and David Koch (the billionaire owners of Koch Industries, an enormous but little-known conglomerate, and longtime libertarian sugar daddies) have been funding the anti-Obama backlash from day one. It’s more than TV ads; it’s leadership training seminars, buses and supplies for protesters,

stipends for think-tank shills — all of it coming from a treasure chest of oil and chemical money.

Of course, liberals and Democrats have their big donors, too. George Soros, the billionaire speculator, helped found the Center of American Progress, the liberal counterpart to Koch-backed think tanks like the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation. But Mayer suggests that the Koch brothers are more insidious because their donations directly promote their corporate self-interest. When the owners of oil refineries support climate-change skepticism and the producers of toxic carcinogens lobby against the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s fair to say their reasons aren’t purely ideological.

Digging into motivations is, of course, tricky business. Tim Mak, a reporter for FrumForum.com who was previously a Koch Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, defends his benefactors by arguing that “funding a plethora of free-market groups seems like an odd path to profit.” Mak continues, “If these organizations exist to serve the corporate interests of Koch Industries, why not replace them with a lobbying firm that would directly advocate on the niche issues that affect their businesses?” But Mak’s question is easy to answer: lobbies that promote corporate interests garner suspicion, but think tanks with scholarly veneers and “grassroots” organizations seeded with corporate money seem a lot less fishy to most people.

Still , Mak is probably right that the Koch brothers “genuinely believe that free-market methods are the path to prosperity.” Very few people are so cynical that they can’t even convince themselves of their own integrity. The point isn’t that

libertarian ideology is a mere cover for corporate interests; it’s that the overlap between them shows that the ideology isn’t very good. For instance, Koch Industries has opposed the EPA’s classification of formaldehyde, of which it produces 2.2 billion pounds a year, as a carcinogen (which it is). Whether the Koch brothers’ anti-regulation ideology is sincere or not is sort of beside the point.

The brothers have also been major financial supporters of the Tea Party movement. The Tea Party-backing Americans for Prosperity, a group founded and heavily funded by the Kochs, plans to spend $45 million on the midterm elections. It’s not that there wouldn’t be a Tea Party without the help of big donors like the Koch brothers; there was an egg of conservative cultural resentment before there came the chicken of the Tea Party movement. But there’s no doubt that the Kochs are getting their money’s worth. As David Koch said at an Americans for Prosperity meeting last year, “Days like today bring to reality the vision of our board of directors when we started this organization, five years ago.”

This is the central irony of contemporary conservative politics: here’s a mass movement whose essent ia l theme i s popu l i s t , which is motivated by pangs of powerlessness and alienation, yet which is underwritten by wealthy, powerful, cosmopolitan ideologues. When the conservative movement scores a success, as it is primed to do in November, the check-writers’ economic interests are invariably advanced; the social and cultural interests of the foot soldiers are usually not.

To point out its big-money backers is not to dismiss the Tea Party as a mere “Astroturf” movement, as many liberals do. Money helps, but it isn’t

everything. Where money really does the most work, or the most damage, is during the immediate election season. That’s when it is used to fund appeals to the whole voting population, rather than for organizing hardcore activists and supplying protesters. Even when they’re enabled by the likes of the Koch brothers, the latter activities are hard to get riled up about. It is essentially democratic behavior. But when the big money goes towards slippery, mendacious advertising, its supporters coyly hidden behind innocuous names like Americans for Prosperity, the democratic decision-making process is corrupted.

The first step in fighting this corruption is to require complete transparency. In Minnesota, we recently saw a good example of how this should work. Target and Best Buy each contributed six-figure sums to a group supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, a far-right social conservative. The retailers liked Emmer’s pro-business policies, but didn’t consider the full set of positions to which they were lending their support. Thanks in part to Minnesota’s strong campaign-finance laws, the donations were revealed, the companies were embarrassed, and their shareholders demanded a review of their political contribution policies.

This is a model of how campaign finance laws ought to work. We need stronger disclosure requirements to make sure that, if corporations are going to give freely to political causes, the people at least can hold them accountable. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ attempt to pass the DISCLOSE Act fell short, and, if corporate donors like the Koch brothers have their way, the midterms will make progress on campaign finance reform even more unlikely.

By SAM BARR

NO HOLDS BARRED

THE EMPERORS HAVE NO DISCLOSE


Forum

What can be said about the first two weeks of freshman year? That they were confusing?

Yes. Exciting? Absolutely. Freshman Week and the week that followed rushed by in a maelstrom of activity and energy. Freshmen were occupied day and night by lengthy official meetings distinguishable only by their acronyms and Crimson Key planned events that shook Sanders Theatre with applause. Our days were filled with lectures, tours, free food, and flyers, and with names learned, forgotten, and then, after a second, slightly awkward reintroduction, forgotten again. In the whirlwind of people, activities, and information, Harvard took on a festival atmosphere. As Stephanie Charles ’14 described it, “It was all so social, those two weeks. The Yard was always covered in people. Everyone wanted to meet everyone else and no one was stressed about anything. It really wasn’t college. It was Camp Harvard.”

Yet, each day in the two weeks of Camp Harvard arrived with an increasing sense of urgency as advising meetings were scheduled and the freshmen began preparations for the academic semester. Balancing socializing, events, and schedule-planning was a circus act that few managed to perform gracefully. Freshmen rushing off to one event with a group of newly-found friends would stop dead in their tracks, whirl around and then rush off in the opposite direction having realized they had forgotten an appointment with an adviser. Still, rather than feeling overwhelmed in the face of all this activity, many freshmen

embraced the energy of the opening days. A freshman who did not wish to be identified said of the busy schedule, “Honestly, I liked it. If there weren’t so many things to do, so much of the day would be ridiculously awkward and pointless.”

Will Simmons ’14 agreed: “The first two weeks were kind of stop and go, but in a good way. You would have meetings and fairs and lectures all on top of each other, which was kind of rushed, but then you would have hours to just chill. And you couldn’t go anywhere without meeting somebody new.”

Of course, freshmen had a good deal of help in navigating the bustle of Camp Harvard in the form of PAFs (peer advising fellows), academic advisers, proctors, faculty members, and administrative staff. At both official events and casual meetings, these friendly and experienced members of the Harvard community were available to offer advice to students as they settled into their new lives at college. The Divisional Academic Fairs proved very helpful for all freshmen interested in multiple concentrations or looking to explore their intended concentration further. Equally helpful were the Foreign Language Advising Fair, the math panels, and various other academic panels and open houses.

Among advisers, PAFs were especially helpful as they were able to relate their own experiences as freshmen to their advisees. Katie Miller ’13, a PAF often seen in a bright orange “Freshmen are friends, not food” t-shirt, said of her advisees, “[They] were enjoying the experience of meeting new people […] even

though the general busy-ness of the first few days could be a little bit stressful. I thought that all of my advisees handled the transition very well and seemed to adjust without too much difficulty.”

Life at Harvard is more than academics and stress, however, as many extracurricular events and open houses during Camp Harvard proved. The Student Activities Fair at SOCH fully demonstrated Harvard’s diverse extracurricular offerings, hosting hundreds of tables ranging from Quizbowl to the Dunster House Opera. Alice Zhao ’14 was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of clubs and organizations at the fair, but was excited by the possibilities they represented. “I love that the clubs here are so energetic and so enthusiastic about their activities or causes. I can’t wait to get involved.”

The Phill ips Brooks House Association (PBHA) held an open house of its own during the aptly named Get Involved Weekend. Freshmen streamed out of the bustling building on September 3, newly imbued with the desire to serve Cambridge and the community at large.

As far as serving Harvard goes, the members of the wonderful Crimson Key Society were out in full force for the freshmen. They organized the tours, social events, and performances that made Camp Harvard the exciting and welcoming time it was. Many freshmen said that college did not officially begin until the Crimson Key sponsored First Chance Dance, which was held three nights after move-in. “Get down with 1600 of your newest friends in the Class of 2014!” the

Opening Days calendar read, and get down the Class of 2014 did. The dance floor was crowded and more than just a little bit sweaty, but clearly that did not bother the freshmen as they continued to get down in non-Crimson Key dances such as Rush Hour 2, Hotspot, and Ritmo Latino.

The Crimson Key Society did not stop at the First Chance Dance, however. They shook Sanders Theatre with events such as the Freshman Talent Show, LMAO, A Cappella Jam, and Dance Jam, and provided such delightful diversions as pizza-making and lawn parties.

“The Freshman Talent Show was incredible!” said Kevin Hernandez ’14. “That kid who beat-boxed was ridiculously talented. Actually, they were all ridiculously talented!” Kevin’s enthusiasm for the talents of his peers was matched throughout the audience.

Although the first two weeks of school were hectic, they served their purpose well. Speaking generally, the Class of 2014 came out of Camp Harvard well advised, properly socialized, and excited about joining the college community. Standing together on the steps of Widener Library immediately after convocation, the Class of 2014 was prepared for taking on course shopping and for jumping into extracurriculars, if not exactly prepared for letting go of the carefree, sometimes relaxed, sometimes rushed days that were Camp Harvard.

Meghan Brooks ’14 (meghanbrooks@college) is all for telling stories and eating marshmallows around a small, non-threatening fire in front of Widener.

By MEGHAN BROOKS

The Class of 2014 looks back on its first two weeks at Harvard.

Is This College or Summer Camp?


indyArts

Directed by ryan Murphy, Eat Pray Love is the film adaptation of a memoir of

the same name by the American author Elizabeth Gilbert. Elizabeth, played by Julia Roberts, finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage and leading an unsatisfying life until a spur-of-the-moment decision, to pray, sets her life on a new course. Emboldened by what she believes to be a divine imperative, Gilbert files for divorce, places all of her worldly possessions in a storage unit and decides to take a year away from the grind of everyday life and regain her appetite, for food and for life. The film takes viewers on her travels through Italy, India, and Bali.

The film creates intense hunger, hunger for an authentic Italian meal, of course, but also for the opportunity to get out and experience the world for oneself. As an observer, one cannot help but feel drawn in, tasting the mouth-watering food of Italy, hearing the foreign hustle and bustle of India and feeling the warm soft-sand beaches of Bali. The real power of the movie comes not from watching her journey unfold, but rather from allowing the viewer to envision him or herself leaving the familiar, often confining, trappings of daily life and becoming brave enough to truly experience life in a new way, halfway across the world.

As with all good films, Eat, Pray, Love makes one feel like an active participant in everything that happens, including Elizabeth’s spiritual awakening. It becomes a way to experience the joys of travel without setting foot on a plane. This utter fascination with her experiences is marred only by a fleeting sense of disappointment in the fact that sweeping shots of the beautiful Italian countryside, vibrant streets of India, and the gorgeous coastline of Bali are buried amidst long shots of food consumption, dinnertime conversation, and her hours of meditation, which only serve to draw out the film rather than add to the storyline. It becomes a shame that the three places are used primarily as backdrops rather than as features of the film or as characters

in their own right.Julia Roberts, as Gilbert, performs

at her usual level, which varies depending on whether one is thinking of her masterful performance in Notting Hill or her lackluster portrayal of a farmer’s wife in Fireflies in the Garden. This film runs more towards the lower end of the spectrum considering that Roberts tends to perform better in films that require more depth. Even so, Roberts is supported by a cast of seasoned actors including Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under, The Visitor), Viola Davis (Doubt), and James Franco (Spider-Man, Pineapple Express, Milk).

Unfortunately, this, too, serves as a source of disappointment as Jenkins and Franco are reduced to the roles of a jaded divorcé and an actor/yogi, respectively. Jenkins’ character’s main function in the film is to serve as her spiritual superior during her time at the ashram during the part of her trip spent in India. While he serves his purpose as a supporting figure, Jenkins speaks primarily in a series of clichés that leave even Gilbert accusing him of “speaking in bumper stickers.” Franco gives an ironic performance of a struggling actor, lacking in talent, who practices a more Eastern sort of spirituality,

but even his message is muddled by his awkward romantic relationship with Gilbert, and their occasional fight leaves the viewer feeling as if he or she has walked in on an awkward lovers’ quarrel.

Though the idea of having the freedom (and the financial resources) to travel anywhere at will sounds appeal ing at f irst , i t quickly becomes unsettling that the film has encouraged people to follow in Gilbert’s footsteps, abandoning lives of responsibility and productivity for what is, in its most basic form, a mere whim. Following the release of Gilbert’s book, each of the three places has seen an increase in tourists who arrive hoping to reenact Gilbert’s journey and gain some inner peace for themselves. According to The New York Post, most of these Eat, Pray, Love “pilgrims,” as they’re called, do not find inner peace—instead they find that the entire journey has been an overpriced waste of time, which has only served to help the tourist bureaus of the three places. One company has even started up a program that it calls the Micato Safari “Inspirational India Tour” that takes people around India wining and dining in luxury to try to attain “enlightenment,” a concept that flies in the face of any true spiritual journey. The price tag: $19,795 per person.

Despite its faults, Eat, Pray, Love is a poignant story of a life falling to ruin and another, richer one being built in its place. The story is supposed to inspire people to make the necessary changes in their lives needed to achieve happiness and fulfillment, not encourage people to shirk their responsibilities, go on a luxury vacation, and return home penniless and more unsatisfied than ever. It is a shame that what should have been viewed as a wonderful idea of spiritual rebirth has been turned, like so many other things, into a soulless industry.

Whitney Lee ’14 (whitneylee@college) doesn’t have enough money after tuition to travel, and so is eating, praying, and loving from Cambridge, MA.

Luxury and enlightenment in distant lands.

Running Away to Find YourselfBy WHITNEY LEE


Arts

As the new television season approaches, one event in particular seems to have critics

and viewers alike waiting with bated breath: the return of Glee. Since its premiere last year, the quirky little show about New Directions – McKinley High’s very own Glee Club - has belted its way to the top of every ratings and awards list, and with good reason.

Coupling an idiosyncratic, at times racy sense of humor with creative musical performances sung by an incredibly talented cast, the show quickly developed a rabid fan following and has earned its share of critical praise. However, as last year’s season progressed, it became increasingly clear that – like the eponymous club – Glee was far from perfect. As the second season premiere approaches (8pm September 21 on Fox), it seems fitting to take a look at some of its biggest missteps (warning: first season spoilers ahead).

It has been clear since early in the series that the majority of the characters consistently lacked development. The writers have instead largely chosen to paint in broad strokes, working with the abundance of clichés one generally finds in teen drama. At first, these stereotypes were effective in generating some humor and allowing these fictional people to become identifiable and memorable. However, as the show moved towards more dramatic story arcs, true character development was still missing, even for members of the main cast. The character of Mercedes has largely been reduced to that of the stereotypical “sassy black girl,” and while she did have a short

stint cheerleading with the Cheerios, that didn’t seem to have any lasting effect on her as a character. Tina and Artie’s only defining characteristics seem to be their (in Tina’s case, false) physical limitations and their love for one another – incredibly restricted, considering that they have been on the series since the pilot. Perhaps the most glaring examples of this, however, are Matt and Mike, better known as “the other football player” and “the other Asian,” respectively. Though they are by no means central characters, they have been present in enough episodes to at least warrant some stronger characterization.

A somewhat dif ferent issue surrounds the character that some would call the true star of the show: cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. Her problem seems to be not so much lack of characterization as faulty characterization. Sue is in her prime as a caricature, and as an audience we can accept, even laugh at, the cruelty of her actions because she is so clearly ridiculous and over-the-top. Making her character more realistic, then, only serves to undermine that fundamental strength in her character. This is especially true because of the rather heavy-handed way the writers have tried to make Sue sympathetic. Her disabled sister in particular is such a glaringly obvious emotional appeal that the character does not develop Sue so much as it simply draws attention to itself as a dramatic device. Hopefully this year, the writers can find a way to flesh out her character that still preserves the no-holds-barred, larger-than-life persona that viewers have come to love.

Characters, of course, do not amount to very much unless we get a sense of what they do and how they interact. Glee’s story arcs have generally focused on standard teen drama fare – trying to fit in, being yourself, awkwardly exploring sexuality – and while enjoyable (if, again, somewhat clichéd), a number of times the drama in these storylines seems particularly forced, often as a result of some odd pacing choices. Throughout the season I felt as if the writers had a need to burn through as many storylines as quickly as possible, whether or not it felt natural or logical. This reached an apex with the midseason finale, which saw conclusions to the pregnancy switch storyline, as well as both Will and Emma’s and Finn and Rachel’s romantic subplots, any of which could have continued developing into the second half of the season.

The writers perhaps realized that fact, since both those storylines were promptly re-opened at the start of the spring season, with Will and Emma and Finn and Rachel both breaking up in the first episode after the break. That decision ultimately made the earlier closure seem entirely artificial and rather meaningless; a cheap ploy to generate drama. The same compulsion seemed to affect the season finale. The Regionals competition ends with New Directions’ future up the in air, an uncertainty that could have carried over into the next season, starting off this year with some built-in tension. However, in the last minutes of the episode, the writers hurriedly resolved that plotline, getting Sue to give the club a second chance.

Both these faults – lack of character development and rushed pacing – seem to me symptoms of a larger issue. The show simply has no driving force behind it, no central direction. While some works might be driven by a character’s gradual growth, and some might focus around a large overarching plot, Glee doesn’t demonstrate either of these. The majority of its characters haven’t shown any development over the course of the season so far, and the plots are rushed in, one after another, with barely any overarching connection. The closest it comes to a broader focus is the need to reach Nationals, but this goal barely factors into the action of the show, and often seems to just be an excuse for the singing.

Which is, perhaps, the root cause for a number of the problems Glee seems to be dealing with. So much of the show seems to work around how to include the best musical acts (for example, Madonna or Lady Gaga) that the actual quality of the story suffers. The writers now just have to decide: do they want this to be a good show that also features great music, or do they want this to be a series of musical acts that happens to have a story in the background?

Whatever they decide, I know I will still be ready Tuesday nights to watch it happen. For despite my nitpicking, I cannot help but enjoy watching this group of people from Lima, Ohio, and I am certain that the show will still able to live up to the potential it showed last fall.

Marc Shi ‘14 (mshi14@college) won’t stop believing.

Hoping that the New Directions finally find a new direction.

By MARC SHI

The Gleeks Are Back


indyArts

“i love how vaguely eerie this place is,” My roommate and I agreed. Someone sitting across from us laughed. “You’ve never been

in a blackbox theater before?” he asked. I shook my head.

Actually, I had just never been in the EX at the Loeb Theater waiting to be called for Common Casting auditions. The lighting was dim. It was decorated thoroughly and not without humor according to an “Around the World” theme. Maybe “sketchy” was not the right word but the strangeness of the room added to the feeling of uncertainty I felt embarking on my first foray into Common Casting and the theater scene at Harvard.

Common Casting is the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s way of auditioning its hopefuls for the two seasons of shows- fall and spring. It’s a whirlwind week that when first explained, seems so complex that there would be no hope of getting the hang of it.

The shows, an impressive 19 in number this fall, all have try-outs in the same week. The auditions take place in three different locations: the Agassiz, The Loeb ex and the New College Theater. The shows rotate around the theaters, auditions running in two sections: 6pm-9pm and 9pm-12am.

What had seemed like it would be endless confusion and running around unfolded into a fairly straightforward week. Auditions began Tuesday at six. I armed myself with a booklet, audition schedule, location map, and many audition forms with a picture of my face taped haphazardly to the bottom of the page and went out into the fray each night.

Coming from a high school so tiny it wasn’t even listed as an SAT test center online, I was nervous. As far as theater went, I had always distinguished myself by being competent in a sea of relative incompetency. Over the four nights at three different theaters, I looked around and knew that this was going to be different. Let it be known that there are plenty of talented actors and actresses at Harvard and they know about Common Casting.

What I didn’t realize was that everyone involved would work hard to make it a relatively relaxed and fun process. There was chocolate and starburst on all of the sign-up tables, and music playing in each of the waiting rooms as people got called one by one to audition. People were friendly and I got to know people from all different years with varied experience in the arts at Harvard.

The auditions themselves varied widely. “Sides” or parts of a scene were read for all the ones I participated in, and the rest of the audition was generally up in the air. I did everything from singing Disney songs for Disney Revue to the classic balcony scene for Romeo and Juliet. I also did a bit of physical improvisation for Paradise NV, in which

I wasn’t allowed to say a single word, but had to break into a car using a toaster.

At the end of Friday night my roommate and I went out to get ice cream to celebrate a complete first round of acting. Little did we know that callbacks are the place where the madness lies. Callback lists are posted (as I was told by each director scooting me out the door to make way for the next person) on Saturday morning. Then comes the crazy. In two days, all the shows must make sure that they see all the actors they might want for their production, and all the actors need to make time to get to the shows that want them. Luckily, I had auditioned for relatively few shows and (luckily or not) was called back for fewer. Many people I talked to, however, spent ten hours on Saturday running around to different auditions. My own callbacks were rather enjoyable.

Having given the special summons, directors can do as they wish with their callback-ees. My personal favorite was for Inland Empire, in which I had to run up and down a flight of stairs until I was out of breath then deliver a monologue at top speed. After all of that, directors, producers, and all those involved will deliberate and post their cast lists on Monday.

All in all, Common Casting was a great new experience, which I would recommend to anyone with an interest in theater. But regardless of whether or not you give it a whirl in the spring, be sure to check out the shows. They promise to be excellent.

Zena Mengesha ’14 (mengehsa@college) is now a certifiably happy theater geek.

It’s All an ActBy ZENA MENGESHA

Experiencing Common Casting for the first time.


Arts

First of all, can you tell us a little bit about the show? I know that you produced it first at

Harvard and then translated the script into Slovenian. How did it all start, and whose idea was it?

Leah is an original absurdist play written by Sonia Coman ’11, a brilliant visual artist and writer. The core idea in the play is essentially Biblical: Leah, the mother of several of the tribes of Israel was, according to the Old Testament desperate to marry Jacob. While her sister Rachel was supposed to be the one to become Jacob’s wife, God fulfilled Leah’s wish, and Leah became Jacob’s first wife. It turns out, however, that instead of a life full of love with her chosen one, Leah is reduced to the role of a “mother-machine”: soon after the wedding with Leah, Jacob married Rachel as well. Since Rachel was unable to give birth for a long time, however, Leah gets to be the mother of seven of Jacob’s children.

Sonia’s play takes this basic idea as an inspiration, makes the story a contemporary one, and at the same time emphasizes its timeless aspect: one can really be only what one is — anything else will make a person’s life not-fulfilled. The text plays with such thoughts in an absurdist fashion: we learn about Leah’s story through a series of characteristic and traumatic moments from her life. The way in which the audience is given a chance to follow the tale is particularly interesting: instead of having a straightforward narrative, Leah hides its true meaning below its surface — it does exist, but the audience has to find it through secret passages disclosed by the language and by what is happening on stage. If you watched the show superficially, it might seem totally crazy, out of this world.

We first staged Leah during HRDC’s Spring ’10 season in the Loeb Ex. Sonia and I came up with an interesting question during many discussions in the production process: what would be

the consequences of staging the same crazy text in different cultural and linguistic environments? Towards the end of the last semester, we planned out a theatrical project that included staging Leah in a number of different countries in various different contexts. The first staging happened this summer in Ljubljana, Slovenia. We had a team of Slovenian actors and staffers, staging the show in Slovenian. After two successful performances to a sold-out theater in Ljubljana this summer, the show will remain in the repertoire of GGNeNi, the theater group that produced Leja.

What was the difference between the feedback the show received in Slovenia and at Harvard? How about working with different actors, in different languages? Did you stage the play in the same manner? What is so appealing about absurdist theatre?

When you have the same director putting on the same show twice, even if it is in two different contexts, the staging will inescapably include a number of common points. In this sense, I was looking for confusion to be one of the main audience’s responses in both of the shows. However, it was interesting to see how languages dictate different contexts. From the translation itself, which had to transform some wordplays completely, to the general “feel” a particular language creates for the spectator, to a different understanding of the textual context, and of theater in general — we needed to go for two distinct shows in the US and Slovenia. For instance, I aimed for confusion via theatrical spectacle by using a number of different media in the Loeb Ex, a black box theater setting with the audience placed around the space of

where the action was happening. I had a more traditional starting point for the show in Slovenia: a traditional theater hall, with the audience seated in front of the stage.

In the US, I created confusion by using and inventing different media such as hugely varying sound design, scent, a number of props, object, and puppets. In Slovenia, I worked with a more limited number of media and motifs, but went more into depth with their application. For instance, I took the motif of a photo album from the play, and applied it to the stage itself: the whole set design was essentially an

accordion of side-curtains, resembling the shape of an ancient photo camera. Particular scenes in the play started as old memories, stored on photos perhaps long lost. I didn’t want to show the relationship between the implications of the setting very clearly: I wasn’t aiming for pathetic theatrical relationships. Instead, I wanted to give the audience food for thought.

Absurdist confusion might have, in this sense, led the audience to find a meaning in this jungle of nonsense. This is true for both the American and the Slovenian audience. However, the types of confusion, and the ways the confusion was created, were different. I used this as a theatrical device to individualize the show for each spectator. Because we didn’t make anything totally clear, the audiences had to find their way in this theatrical mist. To find the way out, they followed their instincts, and trusted only their own senses — through a kind of alienation in the whole theatrical experience, they were able to relate the play to their own lives on a very intuitive level. The craziness of the theater of absurd can lead in many different ways, and

makes the production process more open to theatrical experiments, which is more than anything a lot of fun and can lead in new, unexplored directions. What comes next for you? Are you planning to translate the script into other languages and stage the play in other countries? Will you continue to be involved with theater at Harvard?

First of all, we are planning to continue our project of internationalizing Leah: the next production is happening this fall in Romania at a local university. Both Sonia and myself will be in regular touch with the director and the crew to advise them and have conceptual and interpretative debates with them. In January, we are traveling to Paris to stage Leah in a marvelous setting at the University of St. Denis and on the professional stage at Parisian experimental theaters.

We hope to extend our fascination with the absurdist theater to the general context of a student group we founded last spring, Absurdist Theatrical Company at Harvard College. We hope to share our excitement with other students by working together on new stagings of other (potentially student-written) absurdist plays, as well as through debates and seminars on absurdist and other alternative types of theater. We are currently planning to organize a symposium on contemporary absurdist theater in the spring term.

Apart from these absurdist plans in the future, I am currently working on a couple of intriguing shows that will be happening at Harvard this semester: Inland Empire and Six Characters in Search of an Author. Six Characters will be an unconventional staging of a unconventional and modernized original translation of Pirandello’s classic. Inspired by a movie by David Lynch’s movie, Inland Empire aims to push the boundaries in Harvard’s theater scene — we will stage a theatrical parade through Adams House this December. In an hour-long show, the audience will follow the actors through more than ten spaces all around the house. You don’t want to miss it!

LANGUAGES OF THEATRICAL ABSURDITY

Jan Luksic ’11 talks about the play he directed in Slovenia over

the summer.

By JAN LUKSIC and PELIN KIVRAK

The audiences had to find their way in this theatrical mist. To find the way out, they followed their instincts, and trusted only their own senses — through a kind of alienation in the whole theatrical experience, they were able to relate the play to their own lives.


indyArts

As a MeMber of the harvard din & Tonics, I had the privilege of embarking on an all expenses

paid 22-city world tour last summer with the rest of our 12-man a cappella group. For over ten weeks, we sang more than 80 performances across Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. The range of our audiences could not be broader, and their ability to understand English varied from one country to the next.

Making our way across the globe, any given Din may have hurdled over, crashed into, or run away from language barriers. Each one of us brought his own special skill set. As for me, I studied four years of French before selling my soul to Mandarin. In Luxembourg, the gears of French began to turn. I grew frustrated, as it would take me a good five minutes to construct a grammatically unblemished sentence only to lapse into Chinese if my conversation continued any further. But even with my tongue and my mind on different continents, I survived easily.

Our stay in Saarbrücken put the spotlight on junior linguistic concentrator Dave Sawicki ’12. From song intros at

concerts to disgruntled cab drivers on the side of the road, Dave handled all our official German business (not to mention having learned Icelandic for fun a few weeks earlier). While our English song introductions fell on ears deaf to the language, Dave’s German humor had the Saarland audiences calling for two or three encores every night. I could not imagine us surviving Germany without him. That is, until I had to. On our last night, which we spent in the quaint town of Saarlouis, the Dins split up into six different homestays, all organized by German-American friendship groups. Although we had the comfort of meeting in the town square with several bilingual members, not every host family could speak English.

Kirk Benson ’13 and I stayed with one such family. Their teenage daughter Susanna spoke conversational English, but she soon had to leave for a theater rehearsal, leaving Kirk and me at home with a vocabulary of “Danke schön,” “Auf Wiedersehen,” and “Weis bier.” Using hand signals, we asked to eat a quick bite before our evening concert. Yet, the time did not pass idly, and our host made jokes about the inferiority of

French sausage. An untainted happiness lingered about her, as she laughed after most every one of her sentences. Maybe she was thinking of how we could not understand a word of what she said. Still, I used a map to show her where Kirk and I live, as well as Boston and our tour itinerary. She then made it clear she wanted to come along with us in Kirk’s gargantuan suitcase, nicknamed “The Star Destroyer.” Our host mom told us she would speak English the next time we came to Saarlouis. We reciprocated the offer, vowing to learn German before our next visit.

In Strasbourg, I could feel my French improving. Still, anything close to rapid-fire would send my mind into Mandarin mode, as I blabbered mutant sentences that have confused grammar and a collusion of vocabularies. What a mess. After our expedition to the top of the gothic cathedral, we headed to a small café for lunch in the shade where I did my best to help our table order.

After leaving the café, I heard a tongue all too familiar. “哈哈?” A Chinese-speaker had read the text on my crimson t-shirt, which is a translation for Harvard. The man, leader of a Taiwanese

tour group, soon struck up conversation with me as well as Sam Galler ‘12, who has impeccable Mandarin. As the tour group slowly coagulated around us, we heard calls for a song. Defying convention, we gave an impromptu curbside performance, after which we posed for a seemingly endless photo shoot.

In the end, the tour guide exchanged business cards with us and invited us to Taiwan, offering to pay for all our accommodations. But soon we parted ways, and I was back to my choppy French. Sam and I would have to wait a few more weeks before speaking and performing in Mandarin onstage at the Shanghai World Expo, an experience I remember fondly. But I will cherish those miscommunications just as much.

Dillon Powers ’11 (powers@fas) aime bien 哈哈.

Founded in 1979, the Din & Tonics are Harvard’s signature a cappella ensemble. For more information on world tour, upcoming performances, and undergraduate auditions, please visit www.dins.com.

LANGUAGES OF THEATRICAL ABSURDITYPhotos by JAN ANTONI

Lost in Translation By DILLON POWERSHow the Dins survived their world tour.


SportS

Due to the astounding ratings for the One Hour ESPN special, “The Decision” it bears

noting that the event I refer to as the LeBracle indubitably captured the country’s collective imagination. It seems safe to assume that with the way ESPN media blitzed and promoted the event, every person who reads this article has probably heard about “The Decision” ad nauseum.

Regardless, as a resident of the North Coast and a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, I want to use this space to rationally explain why “The Decision” was stupid and seen as such an affront to the city of Cleveland, as well as to vent some frustration.

LeBron James is an extremely talented professional basketball player. He is a grown man, is usually well-advised (except in this case), and is smart enough to understand that basketball is a business. Let me be clear: He has every right to decide where, and with whom, he wants to play basketball. As a Cleveland Indians fan, I have seen many of my favorite players, such as Manuel Aristides Ramirez, Jim Thome, and Carsten Charles Sabathia leave town and find great success elsewhere. I understand that these men have to act in their best interests to make money, provide for their family, and pursue championships.

The motivating factor throughout his career, however, has not been the pursuit of a championship. It is the promotion of the LeBron James Brand. LeBron has consistently taken the position that his ultimate goal is to be a global icon. It is apparent by the way he dances around and puts on a show for the fans before playoff games, why he appears on giant billboards to which we are all “witness,” and why he had Nike officials confiscate a videotape of Jordan Crawford dunking on him at James’ summer camp. For how well James has presented himself in the public eye – well-dressed, well-spoken, and free of scandal – his public relations team cannot have advised him more poorly on this Decision.

One would think that the best way for him to grow his brand and his exposure would be to head to New York, to play for either the Knickerbockers or the Nets. There he could not only be in the United States’ largest metropolitan area, with easy access to the advertising Mecca of Madison Avenue, he could also team up with the likes of Derek Jeter and Eli Manning to form an image triumvirate the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since ancient Rome.

However, in the scheme of things, LeBron may figure that he can grow his brand anywhere, and if LeBron wants to play basketball with his buddies and party on South Beach, he absolutely should. He is wrong, though, since Miami does not offer nearly as many marketing advantages as New York, Los Angeles, or even Chicago does. Worse, in the process of his divorce, Lebron managed to write a laundry list of things that you shouldn’t do along the way.

First, one should come to an agreement with a team, inform them, and then either disseminate the news via an agent or press secretary, and have a news conference with the team. This is how every free agent signing across every sport is done. LeBron did completely the opposite, setting up a press conference completely independent of a team, days before actually telling a team that he would, in fact, be playing for them. When LeBron stated his 8:10 PM “deadline” the front offices of the Heat, Knicks, Cavs, etc. could

only assume that he had come to a decision and had planned on signing with another team. This is extremely disrespectful to each team, and could be seen as exploitative. As such, LeBron basically told his new team and his potential suitors, “I am bigger and more important than your entire organization.” Make no mistake, “The Decision” was “The LeBron Show.”

Not only did LeBron fail to notify the front office of the team he would be signing with until a few minutes before his ESPN special aired, he failed to act with any tact with regards to his former team. This team had not only drafted him and paid him handsomely (as he deserved) for seven years, it had pandered to his every desire, allowing his entourage to sit in on practices and team meetings and filling the roster around him with players he personally chose, among other preferential treatment that his teammates could only dream of receiving. Even yet, when he decided to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers, he did not bother even phoning the front office. Instead, immediately before the special, he had a member of his entourage call owner Dan Gilbert. The unwillingness to deal with the situation personally showed a lack of maturity that may be the result of the yes-men who have unfortunately surrounded him since high school.

By heading to Miami in the way he did, LeBron James has done irreparable damage to his image. He will continue to be one of the premier athletes in the world, and a highly marketable star. However, he has begun to be portrayed as having himself taken out of the running for best ever, as he has become Dwayne Wade’s “sidekick.” He has also been written off as narcissistic and cowardly, as well as villainous for how he broke the heart of an already hurting city in such a reprehensible manner. Like many other residents of the North Coast, I was unhappy to see LeBron leave, but was shocked and devastated with the way that he chose to do so.

Brett Michael Giblin ’11 (bmgiblin11@college) looks forward to taking his talents to Avonia Beach (in Fairview, Pennsylvania) next year.

North Coast HeatWhy LeBron’s “Decision” was truly, remarkably rude and stupid.

By BRETT GIBLIN


indySportS

Let me start by saying this is by far my favorite time of year. Yes, the J.Crew Fall Line is

now out in stores, and I am very excited, but that is not the main reason why I always love the first weeks of September. Professional football is finally back, after months of (im)patient waiting and slowly getting over the bitterness and resentment of my Colts’ loss in the Superbowl (I’m getting a little better ever day, although the wound is still fresh). There’s just something about the beginning of football season that makes things inherently better: the lingering smell of Astroturf, belligerent fans with painted faces and/or chests, the heated late-night dining hall debates about power rankings (maybe that’s just me), and of course, the sweet speculation of what is to come from this NFL Season. Wil l Peyton Manning be able to capture a Superbowl win this season, and if so, will he host SNL again? Will sometimes-injured QB Tom Brady be able to recapture the “quarterback magic” he has seemed to lose in the past few seasons, and more importantly, how long will he continue to sport the Justin Beiber haircut? Will the Jets’ defense actually live up to their solid reputation, and the most burning question of all, will Mark Sanchez still be as hot as he was last year? So many questions to be answered, although I think we all know the answer to that last question…

So these are just three of my NFL Predictions for the 2010-2011 Season. I may or may not have a great track record for predictions (see my Superbowl prediction for last year) but, fingers crossed, I did in fact win a playoff pool last year. I can still pick ‘em.

1. This is the Packers’ year. Green Bay has never been in a better position to do as well as they will this year. I’ve always been a big Aaron Rodgers fan since he played at Cal back in the day; when you have a dad who has Cal season tickets, you become very acquainted with the players (go Bears!). Rodgers has shown himself to translate very well into the NFL, with a 103.2 career QB rating and only 7 interceptions. In fact, I’d say he’s definitely in the running for

NFL MVP this year, and others have speculated he could have a 5,000 yard passing season. As long as his offensive line can protect Rodgers and give him enough time in the pocket to scope, I think Green Bay will put more points on the board than any other NFL team this season. In fact, I think I’ll go as far to say I see them as one of the two teams in the NFC championship game this year, and may even meet my beloved Colts in the Superbowl.

2. My San Francisco 49ers will FINALLY make the postseason this year. It’s been eight years, multiple head coaches, and a line of unreliable quarterbacks since the Niners have tasted the playoffs, and it’s been really tough for all of us in the Niner Nation, although we still sell out every home game. With a new stadium in the works and QB Alex Smith finally beginning to show some potential, I think the waiting has finally paid off. We also have Patrick Willis (who sacked Favre HARD in our Vikings preseason game), RB Frank Gore, TE Vernon Davis, an improved offensive line, Mike Crabtree, and Mike Singletary, who has whipped the Niners into post season shape by his “Physical with an F” coaching style. How far will we go? I’d say one or two games into the playoffs, but it’s a start for us. Plus, it shouldn’t take more than nine wins to walk away with the division title. We’re winning the NFC West this year.

3. Peyton is still Peyton. He still plays like what he actually might be: the best quarterback of all time. He was NFL MVP last year, looked as amazing as ever, and he will not disappoint with his performance this year. My worry? He holds the Colts up almost single handedly, and the Colts still lack almost any running game. Yes, there’s Joseph Addai, Dallas Clark, and Dwight Freeney, but with a somewhat shaky offensive line, and a middle of the road Defense (last year they were rated last in the league), games could become close, and wriggle away from the Colts. The Niners almost beat the Colts last year in mid-regular season, and as much as it pains me to say, that just shouldn’t happen. Peyton

is extremely quick and accurate in the pocket, so if he can connect and avoid interceptions, I think the Colts will be just fine this year, still reign relatively supreme, and will meet either the Saints or the Packers in the Superbowl this year.

So with that, there’s a lot of potential for this season; the big players will still be the big players, and I don’t think that there will be much of an upset in expectations when this season begins to play

out. My final predictions? Firstly, Mark Sanchez, at least in the looks department, will not disappoint. And if I were to make a Superbowl prediction now, I’d say the Packers and Colts will meet in February, and that would be quite a game. And by then, the J.Crew 2011 Spring Collection will be available, so that’s a whole other thing to get excited about, too.

Colleen Berryessa ’11(cmberry@fas) puts the “iron(ing)” in “gridiron.”

Opens Nationwide September 17, 2010FREE ADVANCE SCREENING

9/23 @ 8PM | Harvard AMCPlease Check out CampusU Harvard

on Facebook for details.

By BRETT GIBLIN

“It’s Back, Baby.”By COLLEEN BERRYESSA

Three predictions for the 2010-2011 NFL season.

captured and shotBy SCHUYLER POLK

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