Midnight at Yale

Remembering My Past at Passover

2011-04-22T00:00:00.002-04:00

By Kate McDermott

It came to me last week – the worst idea I’ve had in a long time – “What if I obey the Passover dietary restrictions this year?” It popped into my head out of the blue, and I couldn’t really figure out why. Was this the beginning of masochistic tendencies? Should I start looking for a good psychiatrist?

To clarify, I am not religiously Jewish. I’ve been in a synagogue twice in my life, once for a friend’s Bat Mitzvah and a second time when I played piano for a Jewish wine tasting (twenty bottles of Manischewitz anyone?). But I’m half Jewish ethnically, and it’s the right half even – my mother’s family fled pogroms and Nazis, coming to the U.S. to find respite, and losing most of their identity in the process.

From being at a college full of Jews or watching the best Rugrats episode ever made, you probably know that Passover is a time to remember the escape Jews made from slavery in Israel. It’s a time to remember ancestors, my ancestors. Perhaps my decision would be a little more ridiculous if I were 100% Irish. But I’m not. According to Jewish law, I am Jewish, end of story.

Still, when I asked practicing Jews what they thought of my decision, I got the general, “Why? Is there something wrong with you?” response. When I told my suitemate in the dining hall on Monday, the first day of Passover, she promptly took me to the soup of the day and handed me the ingredient card. I read, “Matzoh Ball Soup. Ingredients in descending order: Matzoh balls, water.” She asked, “Is this what you want to be eating every day?” I began to have my doubts.

But at my friend’s Seder that evening, I made the final decision to commit. The Seder was social justice themed, which meant in addition to the Haggadah, we also read passages from the modern era challenging us to honor the oppressed in our past by making sure there are none like them in our time (a tall order, to be sure). My favorite passage was a line by Leonard Fein, founder of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. He said, “We are slaves because today there are still people in chains around the world and no one can truly be free while others are in chains. We are slaves because freedom means more than broken chains.”

With a noble purpose in mind, I set out on Tuesday to find Passover appropriate food for the first time in my life. I’ve heard the stories of misery - what if there’s nothing and I starve? Thankfully, I found meat and fruits and vegetables to sustain me. And I began to notice, as I was eating my supposedly meager meal, that I was immensely grateful for everything on my plate. It was just the beginning of the week, but I began to get a sense that maybe I wasn’t so crazy to try this experiment after all.

I went to a second Seder in the Calhoun master’s house that night, filled with food, wine, and friends who at this point feel more like family. This is the other part of Passover – giving yourself the time to relax, with loved ones close by, and always an immense sense of gratitude for the enjoyment life brings us.

But this Seder, as many do, left room for serious thought and discussion. At one point my friend, who was leading, explained that her grandmother who fled Nazi Germany always begins to cry over a specific passage detailing the Jews’ exodus from Egypt. At the mention of this, I started to understand why I’d felt this strange urge to connect to my past. For my friend’s family, just as the Seder has religious significance so too does the Holocaust, in their remembrance of the miracle God granted this woman and the ability of the Jewish people to survive.

For my family, things are very different. Not only was I not raised Jewish, but my mom was not as well. She also never heard a word about her father’s experiences in Nazi Germany before he escaped in 1937. He allowed me to speak with him about it once, but only because I needed to for a school project. I learned that he was attacked by a mob of students for touching a gentile’s books. I learned that his brother was nearly killed for removing a Nazi poster off their father’s storefront window. I learned that his brother had to flee to Israel, alone, without the rest of the family. I learned that my grandpa had to say goodbye to beloved friends and relatives, including his grandparents, knowing he would never see them again. I learned that when he reached the U.S., he refused to speak a word of German. I learned that when he read about the Holocaust in the papers, he felt immense guilt that his good fortune had allowed him to escape. And I learned never to bring any of this up with him again.

In many ways it feels right to reconnect with my past now, with more than a generation of calm to ease the pain that stripped me of Judaism. But of course everything must be redefined for me. I do not honestly believe that by not eating rice, bread, or corn for a week, suddenly all the hardship will be forgotten, and I will instantaneously become the Jew I should have been. In a similar vein, I do not believe that by abstaining from a few foods I will suddenly cure the world of all its social injustice. This has to take on separate meaning for me than maybe it does for other Jews. What I want, at least for this short moment in time, is to feel what my ancestors felt, maybe not so much because I want to connect to the slaves of Egypt but more because I want to remember the people my grandpa loved and lost. I won’t be able to tell him what I’m doing without bringing up a painful past, but I’ll be thinking of him while I’m doing it nonetheless.

The One Button Wenzel

2011-04-20T00:00:00.005-04:00

By Sharon Qian

The One Button Wenzel was released on Friday, April 15 as Alpha Delta’s Pizza Restaurant official online ordering site for the restaurant’s most popular item: the Wenzel. This button, developed by two Yale students, allows anyone to order a Wenzel from Alpha Delta. There is the standard option of the classic Wenzel: lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayonnaise, and chicken, all covered in hot sauces. This button also gives people the opportunity to customize their Wenzel with garlic bread, ranch dressing, blue cheese or bacon and save their personal Wenzel as their default order. The One Button Wenzel even offers the new vegetarian version of the Wenzel, replacing chicken with eggplant.

The Wenzel, an invention of Yale alumnus Eric Wenzel (’04), began eight years ago.

“Wenzel put hot sauce on everything he ate,” says Alpha Delta manager Mahmut Turan.

When the Yalie put hot sauce on an Alpha Delta chicken sandwich, the Wenzel was born. It is rumored that Wenzel constantly ate the sandwich while he was at Yale, up to three times a day. Soon, the delicious sandwich became a sensation on campus.

The Wenzel was officially named after the Yalie during Wenzel’s hospitalization after a car crash involving members of the DKE fraternity. Three members in the car crash were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Another member of the fraternity died in hospitalization. Wenzel was in critical condition and made a miraculous recovery. Alpha Delta showed their support by naming Wenzel’s sandwich after him.

Eight years later, the Wenzel has become a word in the Yale vocabulary and the sandwich has not declined in popularity. Turan said the restaurant usually serves 80 to 90 Wenzels a day during the week and 160 to 180 each day on the weekend.

Alpha Delta’s free delivery policy adds to the popularity and convenience of the sandwich. Although it offers free delivery to New Haven and its surrounding towns, the popularity of the Wenzel has not yet spread beyond New Haven. However, Turan hopes that this will change. But for now, the Wenzel’s popularity has kept Alpha Delta busy. On average, it takes 35 minutes to deliver a Wenzel in optimal conditions. If weather is poor, it may take up to one and half hours to deliver.

Turan said that many people have asked if the restaurant will expand and Alpha Delta is currently looking to expand into New York, where many Yalies eventually end up. That way, Yalies can still enjoy the Wenzel even after leaving New Haven.

Alpha Delta is located on 371 Elm Street.

A Grocery Store That is More than Just Four Walls and a Roof

2011-04-18T00:00:00.004-04:00

By Drew Morrison

This past week, the long-awaited replacement for the shuttered Shaw’s grocery store opened on Whalley Avenue. The Stop and Shop’s arrival was met with much fanfare, and it is clear why: for over a year, the Dwight neighborhood to the west of campus was left without a full-service grocery store. The entire downtown, in fact, was considered a “food desert,” forcing Yalies and their neighbors to travel to Hamden or Westville in search of sustenance. In addition to the Stop and Shop, the Elm City Market, a co-op on the ground floor of the new 360 State Street apartment building, will open later this year, meaning downtown residents will go from having essentially no viable grocery options to two excellent ones.

This food desert may seem incomprehensible, but in fact the problem of access to quality food affects many poor areas across the city and the country. For example, Dixwell Plaza, a strip mall on Dixwell Avenue, was once home to a C-Town grocery store that has now been replaced by a church. The strip mall has fallen into disrepair, despite the continued presence of several tenants.

Even though the Stop and Shop is located in a poor neighborhood, its original incarnation was incredibly profitable, and was Shaw’s second-most successful site in the state. Larger financial issues in the company forced the closure of all of Shaw’s Connecticut stores.

The block of Whalley leading up to the grocery store is a sad sight to see. Pass the Courtyard by Marriott hotel and you see abandoned Rite-Aid and Staples stores. The sidewalk is in disrepair. Even as traffic speeds by on one of New Haven’s main east-west roads, shoppers from the Stop and Shop dart across traffic to reach the grocery store. The return of a grocery store has brought an increase in foot traffic to the parts of Whalley Avenue nearest to campus. Hopefully, this change will encourage more merchants to return to what could be a center of commerce in the city.

Most importantly, though, the return of a grocery store reminds us that the best way to make lasting change in a community is to improve elements at the core of society. The arrival of a Stop and Shop affects the ability for New Haveners to eat quality food that is not available at the corner store. Anything that this city aims to do to improve the health of its residents depends first and foremost on access to quality food. As with any issue, we have to get to the root of the problem.

Two experiences I have had recently have reminded me of the necessity to always look for the root of a problem when looking for solutions: a day at a charity squash event and discussions in my Spanish for International Relations course about the War on Drugs.

On Saturday, I participated in a fundraiser for Squash Haven, a charity based at Yale that provides tutoring and squash instruction for New Haven youth. It is a well-funded and successful program that certainly does good work. On a wall at the squash courts, they were celebrating the acceptance of four eighth grade girls in the program to New England boarding schools. Notes about one girl explained that her father had served as a chaperone on several team trips.

While I am happy that this girl will be able to pursue her education at a high-quality boarding school, we have to realize that a large part of her success stems from the fact that she not only knows who her father is, but her father is a part of her life. Many children in America’s poorest neighborhoods do not have this luxury. Trying to build stable families in every American household is not a “value voters” issue. It is a way to improve the future of all American children.

As we discussed drugs and how to deal with their influence throughout the world in class, my classmates and I opined that we needed to improve education about drugs or target drug processing plants. The truth is, though, that both of those solutions are inadequate. We spend millions on anti-drug advertising already, and drug use has not gone down. Targeting processing plants attacks a symptom of the drug trade, but not the cause. The vast majority of drug users did not come from stable homes, lived carefree lives, and had good economic prospects. Until we deal with the societal issues that lead to drug abuse, we will have trouble winning the War on Drugs.

Just as improving health is dependent upon having a good food supply, ensuring that every child does well academically and lowering drug dependence in our country are dependent upon attacking larger issues in our society that cause people to stray academics or turn to drugs. If we only try to deal with the symptoms of the problem, we will never truly cure the patient.

Whalley Avenue, along with Dixwell Avenue and Goffe Street, are named after three “regicides,” men who called for the death of King Charles I. These men were looking to tear down the institutions that existed in 17th Century England. The new grocery store on Whalley Avenue, meanwhile, reminds us all that we need to build institutions that go right to the heart of society’s problems and thus are able to help solve them.

National Health Week at Yale

2011-04-13T00:00:00.005-04:00

By Rima Abhyankar

With Bulldog Days lurking just around the corner and National Public Health week just through, this year’s pre-frosh will have even more opportunities to attend and participate, and public health will certainly be on their minds. National Public Health week, which took place last week, consisted of daily events that promoted the understanding of public-health related issues; Yale, as always, actively observed this event. Although the week of activities is complete, this week offers many opportunities for public health events that pre-frosh will be able to participate in, especially this Friday’s Relay for Life.

Ranging from Cancer Awareness to testing for STDs, the goal of the National Public Health week is to take some extra time to understand both the importance and power of understanding health-related issues. While the week is technically over, many of the events were scheduled for this week. For instance, a GH seminar with Peter Lamptey, “Expanding the Boundaries of HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment Programs” was on Monday’s agenda. Pre-frosh will have the chance to have lunch with Dr. Nikalson, one of the world’s leading tissue engineers in the Biomedical Society in the Silliman Dining Hall. Events such as these promote not only an awareness of health concerns, but also encouragement to students to pursue careers in health-related fields.

Most importantly, this Friday will mark the date of the annual Relay for Life, an event supported by the American Cancer Society, to raise cancer awareness. Students in the organization have planned the event since the first semester, and just as it was last year, they hope it to be a great success. Yale’s Relay for Life contributes to the total $400 million that the American Cancer Society raises annually; this amount is then allotted to various services for cancer patients – ranging from rides to patients who need transportation to their treatments, and appointments to laboratory cancer research.

Monday marked the day of a flashmob that the students organized in Commons during lunch time to encourage people to participate in the event; students, wearing matching Relay for Life T-shirts under jackets, busted out in song to “Dynamite (Relay for Life Remix),” a song written by Yalies in the group. The students who have organized the event have even added incentives for the teams that participate. The team that collects the most money, for instance, will get special backstage passes to meet Lupe Fiasco during Spring Fling. With all of the hard work that these students have invested in these events, everyone should come support out Relay for Life and other public-health events!

A Guide to the Best Study Spots at Yale

2011-04-12T00:00:00.025-04:00

By Sharon Qian

One of the greatest things about Yale is that there are so many nooks and crannies throughout the campus for studying. There are not only the traditional places in libraries, but cafes, lobbies, and classrooms. Here are just some of the places around Yale where you can cozy up with a book.

Becton Engineering Library in Becton Center on Prospect. Sun 1:30 PM - 10 PM, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 8:30 AM - 10 PM, Fri 8:30 AM - 5 PM, Sat 1 PM - 5 PM

Rosenkranz Hall on Prospect

Haas Art Library in Loria on York. Sun 2 PM - 11 PM Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 8:30 AM - 11 PM, Fri 8:30 AM - 5 PM, Sat 10 AM - 6 PM

Music Library Reading Room, 1st floor in SML. Sun 1 PM - 8:45 PM Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 8:30 AM - 8:45 PM, Fri 8:30 AM - 4:45 PM, Sat 10 AM - 4:45 PM

Law Library. Sun 10 AM - 12 AM, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 8 AM - 11:55 PM, Fri 8 AM - 10 PM, Sat 10 AM - 10 PM

LC, 4th floor


A Desk in the Stacks. Sun 12 PM - 11:45 PM, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:45 PM, Fri 8:30 AM -4:45 PM, Sat 10 AM - 4:45 PM

Southeast Asian Reading Room, 3rd floor in SML. Sun 12 PM - 11:45 PM, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:45 PM, Fri 8:30 AM -4:45 PM, Sat 10 AM - 4:45 PM

Why I Chose New Haven and You Should Too

2011-04-11T00:00:00.001-04:00

By Drew Morrison

When Bulldog Days arrives on Wednesday, the newly-accepted Yalies will descend on campus with many questions on their mind. For both the aspiring Elis, who are likely to have a few other esteemed universities gunning for them, and their parents, one of their principle concerns will be Yale’s environs. For most of them, New Haven will be a foreign place, one that they likely perceive to be a little “rough.” As students, we need to make the case to the prefrosh and to ourselves that the fact that New Haven has problems is a key reason why someone should come to Yale.

Over the past eighteen years, Yale, under the leadership of President Levin and Vice President Bruce Alexander, has done a lot to improve the area around campus. This has been important work. It is beneficial for Yale and New Haven to have downtown be safe, lively, and home to quality shops and restaurants. There have been negative aspects of this development. Yale has substantially increased the amount of land in owns in New Haven, which particularly irks a lot of townies. Broadway has been transformed into a premier shopping destination for New Haveners, Yalies, and suburbanites. But, many Yalies complain that the shops in the area, like Gant and J. Crew, are priced too highly for cash-strapped college students. Despite the criticisms that can be leveled against this development, we can highlight the interesting commercial offerings around us — from Thai food to preppy clothes, from independent booksellers to Ashley’s and Froyo.

While this economic development around us is nice, and should help to dispel some prefrosh fears about the city, we have to recognize that what is not so pretty about New Haven is a far more compelling reason to come to Yale than how many upscale clothing stores there are downtown.

Every city in America has problems. New Haven is no different. Many students that come to Yale are interested in being problem solvers. Focusing on issues like poverty, education, and health, students here really want to change the world. But, to fix the fundamental problems of this world, we cannot detach ourselves from them. Put differently, if you want to do something about urban poverty, do not go to school at Princeton. Go to a school where you can see firsthand the problems that affect people today.

Obviously, cities like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia all have problems too. But, New Haven is small enough for students at Yale to get involved at the highest level. This fall, one of my classes visited with Mayor John DeStefano at City Hall. If you go to Columbia, do not expect to get a meeting with Mayor Bloomberg your freshman year. The students who have served as aldermen have had large effects on this city. Rachel Plattus worked to build the foundations of New Haven Promise. Josh Civin introduced a living wage to the city.

On other levels, students get involved in the city by engaging in union politics, serving as legislative aides to the committees of the Board of Aldermen, and volunteering and tutoring throughout the city.

Going to school at Yale also can teach the important lesson that sometimes what is best for you as an individual may not be best for society as a whole. Yale and New Haven have long had very poor town-gown relations and many in this city believe that Yale’s position as the only show in town allows it to exert an inordinate amount of control. But, obviously, attending Yale means that our futures are bright and we will be able to do whatever we wish with our lives. As members of this institution, however, we are obligated to question whether it is really living up to the values it claims to uphold in the community in which it is situated.

It is true that when you come to New Haven, there will be shootings and muggings. All the dangers of the city will be there. The problems that New Haven faces have clearly driven people away from Yale. We need to change the conversation about the city-university dynamic. Yale is not a great school to attend in spite of being in New Haven. Yale is a great school to attend because it is in New Haven, because it affords us the opportunity to examine firsthand the issues of this world and to become involved in solving them.

And that’s why I chose Yale. And why the prefrosh should, too.

Noted: Weekend Calendar

2011-04-08T00:00:00.000-04:00

Art and Dance

Swing & Blues Dance Practicum

Free admission and open to all who want to enjoy an evening of the blues and swing dancing. As a plus, it’s in something called the “Enormous Room.” Yale Afro-American Cultural Center

Women’s Center Art Show | Friday 7:00PM

Hannah Zornow, Sarah Eidelson, Izzy Chafkin, Aaron Seriff-Cullick and Chika Ota will be decorating the walls of the Women’s Center with a personal artistic response to feminity. Fill up on food and conversation as they work!

Entertainment

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre | Saturday 9:00pm

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, called “a riotously funny and campy variety show” by Next Magazine, and "a rollicking, wry affair complete with funny political commentary on current events" by Gay City News, will present their Yale University debut at the Morse Crescent Theater.

Dorian Gray | Saturday 8:00pm

“A cautionary tale of art, death, and puppets.” Intriguing.

Do some good

Elm Haven Echo: Launch party | Saturday 2:00 PM

A new newspaper in New Haven written by homeless residents is releasing at Blue State. There will also be readings by some of the writers. Come, listen, donate.

AIDS Walk New Haven 2011 | Saturday 1:00PM

The seventh annual 5K walk to raise money for people and individuals affected by HIV/AIDS in the New Haven Area. A great walk up the streets of New Haven, and as an added bonus it’s supposed to be in the high 50s and sunny. Lace up those tennis shoes people.

Miscellaneous

Freshmen Olympics | Saturday All Day

Frosh, enjoy. Upperclassmen, you know what to do – avoid, avoid, avoid. Or pretend to be a freshmen and steal some food.

Hackhaven | Saturday 12:00pm

A Hacker’s paradise right here in New Haven. Cool prizes including Android handsets, blue tooth enabled watches, Solid State Drives or robots will be given away. The Bourse, 839 Chapel St, New Haven CT

Relay for Life: Yale Restuarant Week

2011-04-06T00:00:00.020-04:00

By Sharon Qian

Many of you have probably seen the Facebook Event titled “Dine for a Cause – Restaurant Week for Yale Relay for Life.” This riff off of New Haven’s annual Restaurant Week donates 15% of student’s dinner bill to the American Cancer Society. With the tagline of “Dine for a world with more birthdays,” it encourages students to try some of the many New Haven restaurants while helping a good cause.

Last week, Dine for a Cause – Restaurant Week featured three centrally located restaurants: Zaroka Bar and Restaurant, Est Est Est Pizza and Restaurant, and Bangkok Gardens. These restaurants have offered to donate a portion of their profits on Monday, Wednesday and Friday respectively.

Zaroka, originally named Nirvana, is a small restaurant on York Street that features Indian cuisine. Although it is relatively new, it has made its main priority not to make money but to give back to the community. It also has a history of fundraising for other charities and causes, including Relief for Haiti, other cancer-related funds, and most recently, for Japan. “We definitely like charity work here and we participate in many events. Giving back is one of the great things to do. Everyone should help, not necessarily monetarily, but socially too,” said manager Ram Shrestha. “We also hope that through our charity work, people will get to know our name.”

Est Est Est, located on Chapel, also contributed to this fundraiser. “It’s good to be nice and it’s good to help others,” said Sabri Gabriel, manager of Est Est Est. “When we collected and counted the 15%, we doubled that amount.” When asked if business increased during the day of the fundraiser, Gabriel said, “Yes. I saw increased business. It was also nice to see new faces.” Mr. Gabriel also recollects an incident where Yale students that day wanted to donate 15% of their bill and get the Special offer, which are mutually exclusive. They ended up giving up the opportunity for the special and donated instead to the American Cancer Society.

The manager for Bangkok Gardens could not be reached.

Est Est Est is located on 1176 Chapel Street. Bangkok Gardens is located on 172 York Street. Zaroka is located on 148 York Street and is currently participating in New Haven Restaurant Week. It is also hosting another American Cancer Society event this Friday for a dinner buffet.

Gen Silent: Aging in the LGBT Community and How We Are All Responsible

2011-04-05T00:03:00.000-04:00

By Kate McDermott

A woman is telling her story: “You expect losses…but you don’t expect to lose everyone…It was horrible. It was vial.” She’s asked about her prognosis. She has lung cancer, about a year ago they told her she had 18 months to live. “I’m stubborn so I’ll probably make it 19 months…I’ve done it alone, and things are getting worse and worse.”

Her name was Krys Anne. Unfortunately she’s no longer with us. “Us” being you, me, and the rest of the world that should have taken better care of her. Krys was transgender. Her story is one of six told in Gen Silent, a documentary screened tonight as part of LGBTQ (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/questioning) Pride Month at Yale.

The way Krys Anne talks, you’d think she was describing a natural disaster, something powerful enough to kill an entire group of loved ones. Rather, hers is a story of abandonment. Family, friends, any sort of support network – all disappeared when she transitioned from male to female. And she was left alone to face a debilitating, terminal illness, as no human being should.

There are five other stories of LGBT aging in Gen Silent. There’s Lawrence and Alexandre, a gay couple who met at Harvard and have been together 30 years. There’s Sheri and Lori, an activist lesbian couple who have been together 45 years. And there’s Mel, whose boyfriend Walter passed away after 39 years together.

Director Stu Maddox, who talked about the film after the screening, said the process of making the documentary was sometimes “really scary, sometimes it was really hopeful.” Indeed, on the surface the five people above seem not to be entirely different from their straight counterparts – in committed relationships for the majority of their adult lives, happily living with the person they love most.

But under the surface, life is hard for aging LGBT people, as they face this country’s rampant ageism and homophobia. The combination is really quite sad. American culture has mostly removed the dignity the aging process is afforded in other countries. But still, many straight elderly people can depend on the support of their families or of nursing homes.

Both can be difficult to navigate for LGBT people. Many are estranged from their families or never had children who could have taken care of them. They are alone in the places that in youth and good health were safe – their homes, couples, and LGBT community.

It’s different for each individual, but isolation is the common theme. Take Lawrence and Alexandre. They had become very comfortable as a couple in their suburban home, until Alexandre got Parkinson’s. His illness became, according to Lawrence, “a threat on their protected environment.” Illness meant facing the outside world and all the homophobia that comes with it. Lawrence, meanwhile, was set on suicide after Alexandre’s death – “Why can’t I kill myself? I have nobody in my life. I have all the pills ready.”

Lori and Sheri were afraid of having to leave their home because of the stories they heard. A gay acquaintance, Bill, had to go to a nursing home, where he “reverted to this whole internalized homophobia” that had been a trademark of the 1950’s, during which they came of age. Sadly, Bill passed away alone. Sheri remains concerned about the possibility of being outside of the LGBT community - “If anything were to happen to Lois, who would come to my aid? All I can think of is gay people.”

So far, Sheri is right – it is gay people who are predominantly trying to fix the problems of aging for those in the LGBT community. The LGBT Aging Project, featured in the film, is a group that provides aid to the elderly and sensitivity training to care facility workers. About 50% of nursing home management tell the project that its staff would not accept gay people. (And this is a group based in that liberal bastion, Boston…)

Still the work of the LGBT Aging Project has produced a great deal of hope for aging LGBT people. Krys Anne was able to get a support network, composed almost entirely of strangers, to give her care 24/7 as she succumbed to lung cancer. Lawrence was able to find a community of people, including a new boyfriend, which saved his life. And more and more nursing home workers are learning how to provide support for the LGBT people under their care.

Perhaps taking care of specific people within the community can remain a predominantly LGBT issue. (It certainly doesn’t have to be, but that’s where it stands right now.) However, it is the still the responsibility of any American with a hearty sense of morality to pay attention to what happens when discrimination takes a toll on someone’s life.

I was asked recently (with regards to the Christopher Yuan incident: http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/apr/01/controversial-minister-draws-outcry/), whether or not ideas in and of themselves can be damaging. Gen Silent is a testament to the fact that they most certainly can. Part of the problem in aging LGBT communities is having to face the homophobia that still exists in actions – in nursing homes, in families, anywhere outside of an LGBT home. But the other part of the problem is psychological. According to Lawrence, the homophobia he experienced every day in his youth became “internalized [until] now all of a sudden you’re at a point in your life where you’re becoming more vulnerable.”

To that end, straight people are often responsible for perpetuating an oppression they might not even realize they are complicit in perpetuating. It can be a hard process to overcome the entrenched cultural discrimination we are all accustomed to. For instance, even progressive college students still have a hard time accepting transgendered people. And just because that acceptance is incredibly important, doesn’t mean the process of getting there isn’t hard. Take, for example, Krys Anne, whose son did visit a few times before she died. He admitted that even though he was relieved when she transitioned because she had been so depressed as a male, he still wasn’t ready to accept her. His admission proves a very important point – it is not the people who struggle with these ideas who are necessarily evil and destructive but the ideas themselves. Still, it is our responsibility to pay attention to what is damaging in our society. Ageism, homophobia, and transphobia continue to exist in America, and it’s time we change that.

Links:

Trailer for Gen Silent: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV3O8qz6Y5g s
LGBT Aging Project: http://www.lgbtagingproject.org/
Stonewall Speakers, a Connecticut organization for anyone who wants to get involved during their time at Yale: http://www.stonewallspeakers.org/

So New Haveners Marched on Wednesday, But What Comes Next?

2011-04-04T00:00:00.001-04:00

By Drew Morrison

When I saw the flyers advertising the "We Are One" march, I was quite skeptical. New Haven is a city that clearly is not “one.” It is instead a city of significant economic disparities and racial divisions. We have the wealthy neighborhood of East Rock, and then nestled two blocks over Dixwell-Newhallville, a neighborhood that takes up only 20% of the city’s territory but is home to 80% of New Haven’s violent crime. There is a J. Crew on one side of Broadway and a soup kitchen on the other. Oh, and did I mention that Old Campus is adjacent to the Green, which serves as a home for many of this city’s poorest?

My skepticism was heightened further when I learned who the parties were behind the rally. It was typical union fare: Local 34, Local 35, SEIU 1199, and GESO, the graduate students who want to form a union. While the advertisements suggested that this rally was for all the people of New Haven, it was beginning to look more like a union rally than anything else.

Now, I know many people involved in union politics in New Haven who I like and respect. Two pastors who work with Luther House, the on-campus Lutheran church that I attend, were there, in addition to several undergraduates that I know well.

So, I decided to cover the rally for Midnight at Yale not to attack the unions, but because I had a few questions: would this fight yield a new force in the city that does not just play into the decades-old battle of union versus Yale or union versus City Hall? What politicians would take advantage of the new-found energy in the labor movement in New Haven? How many people would turn out to this event?

The march began at 5:30pm with supporters congregating on the Green near the corner of College and Elm Streets. More gathered in the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church on Elm Street, home to the New Haven branch of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, a pro-union organizing group. The unions made their presence felt from the onset, though they cannot be faulted for a lack of organizational diversity.

AFSCME Council 4 brought bright green flags, the American Federation of Teachers members wore blue shirts declaring, “I make a difference every day,” some Teamsters arrived wearing biker’s vests. Undergrads too were amongst the mix, through the Undergraduate Organizing Committee and the left-leaning parties of the Yale Political Union.

Then, after chants of “Whose streets? Our streets!” the New Haven Police cleared the way and the march headed down College Street, took a right on Wall, doubled back down Temple, and then turned left onto the Green and headed straight for City Hall. There has historically been tension between the Police unions and the unions present on Wednesday, but a number of the police officers seemed supportive of the rally. One officer on a bike honked his horn in time with the protestors’ chants.

Once the protesters reached City Hall, speeches began. The headliner was John Wilhelm, a Yale graduate who moved up from organizing Yale unions to lead the national UNITE HERE union. But, the boy who stole the show was seventeen year-old Isaiah Lee, a preacher’s son who gave a fiery sermon exhorting the City for firing teachers and social workers. The crowd cheered loudest for Lee, and I was impressed to see a new voice amidst some older ones, like Wilhelm, who has been seen marching in New Haven’s streets since the 60s.

The rally succeeded in drawing large numbers (The YDN said that over 1,000 people attended), but I was struck by the failure of New Haven and Connecticut’s aspiring political leaders to make their presence felt at the rally. If there ever were a time for local Democrats to fire up the base, Sunday was that time. The politicians that did arrive were quiet.

Clifton Graves, former NAACP activist and rumored mayoral candidate, stood among members of the Board of Aldermen, but did not speak and mostly kept to himself, waving to a few supporters but clearly remaining separate from protesters.

Susan Bysiewicz, former Connecticut Secretary of State and current U.S. Senate candidate, stood by the podium for about fifteen minutes silently before walking briskly away.

The political vacuum in this city came most to the fore during this rally. While it is clear that workers in this town are angry and opposed to the policies of John DeStefano’s administration, no one person has articulated an alternative strategy. No one is mounting an official campaign against him.

Given the outpouring of energy seen on Wednesday, it would seem that now is the time for someone to direct a way forward for this city. There are many problems in this town, and we will have to work as one to fix them. While some may be satisfied that so many voiced their concerns on Wednesday, electoral victories are more significant than large protests. New Haven is still waiting on someone to present a vision of the future not mired in the rhetoric of the past. New Haven is still waiting on someone to truly unite the city.

Noted: Weekend Calendar

2011-04-01T00:00:00.022-04:00

The Vagina Monologues | Friday @ 7 PM, Saturday @ 6 and 8 PM, Sunday @ 2 PM, Morse-Stiles Crescent Theater
This show is sponsored by the LGBT Co-op. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and all proceeds go to the Rape Crisis Center of Milford. To reserve tickets, e-mail Vmticketing@gmail.com

Salsa Night | Friday @ 9 PM, Calhoun Dining Hall
Want to dance the night away? Come to Calhoun Dining Hall to Salsa! Lessons start at 9. To come, find a Calhoun friend for a free ticket!

Jook Songs Spring Show | Friday @ 7:30 PM, Saturday @ 7:30, Saybrook Underbrook
To RSVP, go to www.jooksongs.com/RSVPS

Erin Brockovich Screening | Friday @ 7 PM, Yale Women’s Center
This 2000 film is based on a true story of a single mother who went to court over the contamination of water, which lead to the illnesses and death of children in the town.

Romeo and Juliet | Saturday @ 2 and 8 PM, Yale Rep
Come watch this production of a classic love tale at the Yale Rep. To buy your ticket, go to https://apps.commerce.yale.edu/arts/yrt/showProductionDetail.do

Yale Jazz Ensemble | Sunday @ 2 PM, Levinson Auditorium

Yale Dramat Coalition shows

The Rainmaker | Friday @ 8 PM, Saturday @ 2 and 8 PM, JE Theater
Directed by Irene Casey, this show is a comedic fairytale about Lizzie, whose family’s farm is suffering through a drought. However, the appearance of the con artist Starbuck who claims he can make it rain, changes Lizzie’s life. To make reservations, go to http://www.yaledramacoalition.org/reservations.php?show_id=262

Night Train to Bolina | Friday @ 7 PM, Saturday @ 7 PM, Nick Chapel
This play uses magical realism to tell the tale of two children who intertwine the fantasy of their romance with the reality of their war-stricken country.

The Rainmaker: Overcoming a mediocre script, against strong odds

2011-03-31T00:00:00.001-04:00

By Neena Satija

The Rainmaker features superb acting, elegant staging and set design, and impeccable directing. The crew even chose some great music to play between the scene changes (seriously, it would make an amazing movie soundtrack). The only drawback? The script itself.

This isn’t to say The Rainmaker wasn’t popular in its day. First written as a television drama by Nathaniel Richard Nasbaum (better known as N. Richard Nash) in 1953, the fanciful story of a self-identified “rainmaker” (read: con man) waltzing into a drought-stricken town and sweeping spinster Lizzie Curry off her feet was soon adapted into a play. It was even made into a movie in 1965, with the much-loved Katharine Hepburn starring as Lizzie. But, perhaps especially in a more modern era, its many clichés – a woman who perceives herself to be plain is convinced to see herself as beautiful; dreams come true if you believe they will; con men have hearts too – ring a bit hollow. Does the audience really believe that Lizzie’s father, the warm-hearted-but-practical H.C. Curry, would decide to fork over $100 in the hopes that a man who shows up on his doorstep one night promises to make it rain? Can we get caught up in a story where Lizzie so clearly disdains the con man Bill Starbuck in the beginning of the play that their eventual romance is far too predictable?

Somehow this cast makes it possible. It seems far too easy for an actress to overplay the part of Lizzie – smart and snappy, but obsessed by her lack of beauty and stuck keeping house for her father and two brothers – to the point of annoying the audience. (And in fact, even Katharine Hepburn was called out by some critics for being “too theatrical” in her performance). But Allison Collins ’11 gives Lizzie enough strength and sass to force some admiration from the audience. The relationship between the brothers, too, seems awfully conventional in Nash’s script, with Noah Curry (who hates “always being right…but for God’s sake!”) ruling the family with an iron fist, and the hapless Jim Curry constantly dreaming of his new romance with the apparently “fast” and ditzy Snookie McGuire. And yet, Charlie Kelly ’14 plays Jim with such irresistible charm that we can’t help but root for him. Noah’s (Peter Kaufman ’12) gruff response to the general family foolishness is tinged with just the right amount of subtle affection. And Brian Hoefling ’12 plays H.C. with enough quiet desperation to make us hope that Bill Starbuck really can make it rain, rather than wonder why he’s throwing away a hundred bucks.

And then there’s the con-man-extraordinaire Bill Starbuck – a character who, in the script, comes off as a hopelessly over-stylized salesman who seduces the Curry family far too easily and predictably. But Jacob Backer ’14’s performance so fully embraces Starbuck’s over-the-top theatricality that it actually works for us. His grand gestures and claims become strangely compelling – and only all-the-more compelling when he starts to say things that actually make sense, challenging members of the Curry family to step out of their self-protective shells.

Despite stellar performances, there are still moments when the script seems like a little too much to bear – particularly at the end of the play, when every loose end is tied up a bit too neatly. But even if you’ve predicted what will happen to the characters five minutes in, you’ll find the characters compelling enough to stay thoroughly entertained – and maybe even learn a little bit about the value of a pipe dream.

The New and Improved Ay! Salsa

2011-03-30T00:00:00.014-04:00

By Rima Abhyankar and Sharon Qian

Between the smell of grilling arepas and portobello mushrooms, the energy of the painted red walls, Spanish tunes, and the shelves filled with rows of Mexican hot sauces, Ay! Salsa has plenty to offer. With their new expansion completed a couple of months ago, the Latin Cuisine Restaurant on High Street is busier than ever. Just within a one-hour period, the restaurant served students and New Haven residents alike, by the platefuls. Of course, the restaurant’s most popular item are the arepas, which sell like hot cakes – and quite literally at that – or Columbian corn cakes made with fresh corn and melted mozzarella cheese.

Q: How is business going since the new renovations?
A: It’s been doing well. As you can see, it’s really busy!

Q: Why did you decide to renovate and expand?
A: Well most of my customers asked why we didn’t have any seating? They wanted us to have a sit-down area. We bought the area from the landlord and we made a door to have this sit-down area.

Q: How long did the renovations take?
A: We took around 3 months.

Q: Are most of your customers Yale students?
A: Yes, especially before with the take out. They like to order things right away.

Q: With the renovations, did you change anything on your menu?
A: We added two things for right now, the Honduran Ceviche and the Black Bean Soup. We’re also going to bring in more stuff in a month or so, like salmon and steak.

Q: What is the most popular thing on the menu?
A: The arepas! Definitely. We have a food cart at the Med School and sell arepas there, and we always have a lot of people waiting for them.

Q: Is it there every day?
A: It’s out there Monday and Friday between 11:00 to 2:00. Eventually we’re going to open another cart on Prospect Street.

Q: Have you thought about making another Ay! Salsa?
A: Why not? Before we didn’t think about it, but after the expansion, that’s the idea.

So, if you are ever in the mood for some fine Latin cuisine or just want to try something new, definitely check out the newly renovated Ay! Salsa. It’s amazing!

Bulldogs Across America: Stellar summer jobs for fun, pay, and maybe more

2011-03-29T00:00:00.009-04:00

By Margaret McCall

In April of a whirlwind ten-credit freshman year where it was impressed upon me both how key it was to have a fantastic summer job and how key it was to do cool, exotic things (most of Yale somehow having managed to do both since high school without breaking a sweat), I was ready to do some serious screwing around. While everyone I knew seemed to be in a frenzy of applying for internships, I, a little nervously, proclaimed my intention to have one last summer of freedom before I settled down into the working world. Waffling between going hiking in Ecuador with my best friend and taking a train trip across the States (neither of which I had even remotely enough money to do), I was initially unenthused when my mother told me that her boss’s boss had very kindly offered me a summer job at another company of his, would I please think about this great opportunity. A nagging sense of responsibility eventually got the better of me, though, and I signed on for an internship in Louisville, Kentucky, at 21st Century Parks, only vaguely understanding that I would be folded into a Yale program called Bulldogs Across America. As it turns out, Ecuador will keep: participating in the Bulldogs program gave me the absolute best summer I could have hoped for, and it’s shaped my summers since.

Bulldogs Across America (BAA) is an internship program for Yale students, freshmen through graduating seniors, that is now in its twelfth year and operates in nine cities throughout the country. BAA essentially runs on the strength of the Yale alumni network, gathering enviable (and mostly paid) internships offered by Yale grads and making them available to the Bulldogs. Housing is free in most cities, and interns live together at nearby universities. This housing arrangements helps spur a sense of community that is furthered by the setup of the program: students are provided with not only a mentor family from the city but also a whole host of activities for all tastes (think museum tours, canoe trips, plays, baseball games, horse races, concerts, and swimming in Red River Gorge, among many other things). While initially I signed up for the job, I didn’t know how lucky I would be to stumble into this program.

My freshman summer at 21st Century Parks was uncommonly good. I had a paying job with an incredible boss. I had real responsibilities in a company that I believed in. I had a chance not only to meet fellow Yale undergrads, until then strangers but with whom I became great friends, but also to hobnob for the first time with Yale alums and get a taste of what might await me after college. The city, the job, and the program were each individually excellent and made for a summer well spent. Spending two months getting to know Louisville was delightful: it’s a charming, tight-knit city with much to explore, just Southern enough that the atmosphere is relaxed and the people are warm. My job, which was at a small nonprofit dedicated to creating a 4,000-acre park around the outskirts of town, could not have been better: aside from letting me make a real contribution to a valuable project, this job also afforded me the chance to explore Kentucky, meet a couple of the most influential people of my life, and go skeet shooting for the first time (as I said, just Southern enough). But the BAA program itself made this summer what it was, furnishing interns with uncommon opportunities (meeting mayors, congressmen, and filmmakers) and reminding me just how lucky I really am to go to such a great school. No surprise, then, that I reapplied for Bulldogs the summer after my sophomore year.

That next summer I ended up in St. Louis, Missouri, working for Bellefontaine Cemetery as a forestry intern, a job that has garnered more than a few raised eyebrows but that led me to another summer with BAA, which somehow even outdid the first. The group in Louisville consisted of 31 students, whereas there were only 7 of us in St. Louis, all living apartment-style at Washington University; the small size of this bunch fostered a real sense of camaraderie over the course of the summer. The jobs held by our group were varied and neat: my position at the cemetery consisted of everything from planning a prairie restoration to surveying state-champion trees, and even mowing the cemetery lawn one afternoon; my friend was helping found a charter school; another one of us was doing cancer research; and two of our number were working at Cardinal Stadium. Exploring St. Louis, though--an under-appreciated city--was the best part of the summer: we discovered trivia bars, art fairs, salsa dancing, all-night coffeeshops, museum-playgrounds made out of scrap metal, and endless great food (stellar BBQ and deep-fried corn on the cob, ice cream martinis, and Pi Pizza for the nerds in the crowd). The Bulldogs program, aside from furnishing the foundation for this bonding, also supplied us with several cultural outings (if having the best seats in the house for a Cards game counts as a cultural outing) and the first contact with some really amazing alumni. My choice to do Bulldogs for the second year in a row turned out to be an excellent one.

Though, unfortunately, characteristic poor planning has left me with a writing requirement to fill this summer, Bulldogs Across America is still accepting internship applications, including from graduating seniors. Some fantastic positions have yet to be filled -- for those interested in education, the job at 55,000 Degrees, a start-up organization tackling education attainment in the Louisville community, offers interns a chance to do truly meaningful work in close collaboration with high-powered business, civic, and education leaders. The Mary Byron Project, a Louisville-based charity seeking to end domestic violence, is looking for a writing intern to tackle a heavy and important problem. Other opportunities abound in Louisville, New Orleans, San Francisco, Cleveland, Denver, Minneapolis, Houston, Santa Fe, and St. Louis, and can be explored on www.bulldogsacrossamerica.com. On the whole, as I think is clear, I am fairly smitten with BAA; though I still haven’t gone hiking in Ecuador or taken that cross-country train trip for comparison’s sake, I really couldn’t be happier with my past two summers spent as a Bulldog.

The History of Hockey in New Haven

2011-03-28T00:00:00.015-04:00

By Drew Morrison

On Saturday night, Yale hockey’s magical run to the upper echelon of college hockey ended with a 5-3 loss to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The game was a bitter one, with Yale going down 1-5 at the end of the second period after a rash of penalties gave Duluth the advantage it needed to put the Elis away. The game was a raucous affair, with the Yale partisans in attendance dismayed and angered by some of the calls that seemed to give the tilt to the opponents from northern Minnesota.

One night earlier, though, the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport had been a scene of jubilation, as Yale edged out Air Force 2-1 in overtime. Chad Ziegler’s individual effort on his own rebound sealed the deal for Yale, giving the Bulldogs their second-ever NCAA tournament win.

Yale’s recent success on the ice is well-documented. What many Yalies might not know, however, is the long history of both hockey in New Haven and the statewide stadium game that led to the demise of one of New Haven’s most notable landmarks: the Coliseum.

Any mention of hockey in Connecticut, though, must be first accompanied by reminiscing about the Hartford Whalers, the only professional sports team to be based in the state. They played in the NHL from 1979 until 1997, when they moved to North Carolina and became the Carolina Hurricanes. While the Whalers were never a particularly successful team, they had a strong following throughout the state. Connecticut’s refusal to build a new stadium to replace the Hartford Civic Center led to the move.

Now, back to New Haven.

The New Haven Coliseum was built between 1968 and 1972, during the infamous period of urban renewal in New Haven. Some of its contemporary structures include the Knights of Columbus building and the Omni Hotel. A downtown mall, comprising three blocks, was also built and later largely torn down. The new campus of Gateway Community College will be built where two department stores once did.

The Coliseum had a strange design element: its parking garage was placed on top of the arena. This decision would eventually lead to the structure’s demise, as the garage began to corrode after years of New Haven winters. The Coliseum was, overall, a building whose architecture reflected many of the excesses of the architecture of the era: it looked like something out of a future that never arrived.

Inside the stadium, the most famous tenant was the New Haven Nighthawks, a minor league hockey team that played in the Coliseum from 1972 to 1992. While the Nighthawks were successful on the ice, they were also quite violent, known more for landing punches than scoring goals. Youtube videos of the team show that some members were more than willing to engage the referees in the melees, as well. As rowdy as the student section can get at Ingalls, Nighthawks fans in Section 14 were notorious for their raucous behavior and boorish demeanor, egging on the fights and heckling opposing goalies.

But, as you may have noticed, the Coliseum stands no longer. It is now a large surface parking lot, used by many Yalies as a shortcut to the train station. Its ultimate demise was fostered largely by competition between the many municipalities in southern Connecticut to gain revenue from having a new stadium. As the main stadium in southern Connecticut, the Coliseum attracted major bands throughout the 80s, including Bob Dylan, Van Halen, and the Rolling Stones. Then, the town of Wallingford received state money to upgrade their outdoor concert venue, and Bridgeport received money to build the Arena at Harbor Yard, where the hockey regional was just played. The owners of the Mohegan Sun Casino constructed an arena as part of their complex.

These modern, luxurious venues left the Coliseum looking old, and competition from such nearby sites meant that a new stadium had limited chance of being built. And so, as New Haven’s arena went (it was torn down in 2005), some thought that New Haven’s hockey fervor would dissipate as well.

Instead, many former Nighthawks fans have turned into Yale fans, buying standing-room tickets and watching the much-more civilized Yale team play in the attractive Ingalls complex. But, though Yale’s style of play might differ from the team that came before them, they uphold the legacy of hockey in New Haven.

Noted Spring Break: How to Procrastinate Effectively

2011-03-04T00:00:00.001-05:00

By Rima Abhyankar

While it may not yet feel like spring outside, Spring Break is finally here! Looming papers and exams aside, the next two weeks are perfect to catch up on those z’s and have some well-deserved fun. For those of us who are not so lucky to be basking in the Floridian sun or cliff-diving in St. Tropez, finding ways to pass the time at home or Yale is simple. Check out these fun ways to spend your time (a.k.a. procrastination at its finest). You’ll come back from break with a rejuvenated, well-rested, and seriously amused mind.

Trending now: Catz.
Lots of them. These cat videos are absolutely the best! “Kittens Inspired by Kittens” is an instant classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU (Kittens inspired by kittens)

http://www.funnycatvideos.net/ (self-explanatory)

Coolest online shopping:
Whether you are looking for a gift or just window-shopping, these sites are very entertaining.

http://www.worldwidefred.com/products.htm (Fred Products) Ice cubes shaped like dentures? A sock-money wine-holder? Just a sample of what Fred Products have to offer. Even if you are not looking to spend, browsing the catalogue is quite the experience!

http://www.oddee.com/item_95373.aspx (Weird shopping bags) Optical illusions that put spin on the regular plastic bag.

Weird games:
Sitting at home on a rainy day? (God forbid this happens to you, but never fear, you will be prepared)

http://cheeseorfont.mogrify.org/ (Cheese or Font?) Identify the name as either a cheese or font! Trickier than you would expect.

http://games.adultswim.com/robot-unicorn-attack-twitchy-online-game.html (Robot Unicorn Attack) Midterms are on pause, so what better time to revisit this crazy game? Don’t play too long, though – the theme song is dangerously addicting!

Procrastinate away!

The Beauty of Not Talking

2011-03-03T00:00:00.017-05:00

By Neena Satija

Photos by Neena Satija

For all the incessant talking that goes on in Açude – from bickering among siblings to the incessant complaints of an overbearing mother to the heart-to-hearts between uncle and nephew – some of the most poignant points of dialogue in the play occur between character and mosquito. Or in a language other than English. Or, without any verbal communication at all. This remarkable trust in the production and the audience that Zachary Fuhrer ’11 clearly had when he wrote Açude is what makes the play, a story of the cosmopolitan and the complex clashing with simplicity and silence, so compelling and worthwhile.

Born out of Fuhrer’s experiences abroad in Brazil last spring, Açude follows Marie (Allison Collins ’11) and her son, Michael (Brannack McLain ’12) as they travel from their comfortable home in New York City to a small town in the Brazilian sertão (the dry “backlands,” as Fuhrer calls them). Marie hopes to collect the family’s matriarch, her late husband’s mother Caliny (Alda Pontes ’14), and bring her back to New York to enjoy the conveniences of modern life. But she faces resistance from her husband’s brother, Pedro (Colin Murphy ’11), and eventually from her own son as Michael grows to enjoy the simple and quiet life of the sertão.

Collins is deliciously annoying as the proud, stiff mother who can’t abide the little inconveniences of life in small-town Brazil, loudly protesting the cold showers and slathering herself in mosquito repellant. Murphy provides a compelling character as her rustic brother-in-law who, after trying life in New York with his brother as an accountant, found the need to move back to the middle of nowhere. “You cannot hear anyone but yourself,” he accuses Marie, as he insists that his mother is perfectly happy where she is and has no need to live the glitzy life of a New Yorker. As Marie’s son, McLain does a fine job balancing the role of a pushover son who asked his mother to move in with him to a 20-something dreaming of independence and something new. But it is Caliny – the grandmother who appears onstage the least, and who doesn’t even speak English – who is somehow the most riveting character in Açude. As her family bickers all around her in a language she can’t understand, she shuffles quietly along, an anchor of tranquility that Michael clearly finds appealing. “I feel weak beside her,” admits Marie.

Fuhrer’s decision to include a large portion of the dialogue in Portuguese is clever and pleasantly easy to follow – if anything, the scenes in a language we don’t understand are far more moving because we are forced to rely on body language, facial expressions, and context to decipher their meaning. Director Alex Klein ’12 also made smart and ambitious staging decisions for a play that’s just over an hour long, converting a simple house into a Brazilian dance club by simply emptying the stage of props and using waxing and waning purple lights. I found myself caught up in the play’s facades – I believed I was in a Brazilian dance club with Pedro and Michael, and I believed that Pontes’ character Caliny was a good sixty or seventy years older than the actress. Açude will give you a taste of what Fuhrer experienced when he went to the sertão of Brazil, and it’s tantalizing.

Açude opened last night at 8 p.m. and will run through Friday night at the Off-Broadway Theater.

The Yale Lure: Freedom and Resources

2011-03-02T00:00:00.005-05:00

By Ricky Johnson

Four years ago, aboard a ship off the coast of Ecuador, I had a conversation that would forever change my life. Touring the Galapagos Islands on an Association of Yale Alumni-sponsored trip I was, of course, surrounded by Yalies. Most of the alums were older, hailing from a different time at the university, before the coeducational learning environment was instituted, far from the Yale of today. In my high-school-aged eyes, many of these Yale graduates were rich, old, stodgy men, and while most were pleasant on the surface, I distinctly recall questioning my desires to attend Yale given my encounters.

One evening though, after a particularly long dinner with members of the old school Yale contingent, I posted up at the ship’s bar hoping for some time alone. Most Yalies aboard, sedated by the night’s wine and feasting, would head back to their cabins after eating, leaving the bar deserted except for some of the vessel’s staff and the occasional insomniac.

The crowd at this hour of the evening was much more manageable than the hordes of older Yale alums, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly, drinking and joking with the staff. In the midst of merriment, an unfamiliar and markedly young face appeared. Given that the average age aboard the AYA trip was well above fifty, I was surprised and quickly started up a conversation with the girl.

Her name was Sandra, and she had just graduated from Yale the year before. She was on the trip with her parents, who were also Yale alums. Ecstatic to converse with someone closer to my age and admittedly energized by the evening’s beverage consumption, I ordered another drink and we talked.

Like me, Sandra was somewhat overwhelmed by the older Yalies. We agreed that while most were nice enough, some were a total drag. After exchanging a couple of our funnier stories about a handful of the more entertaining alums aboard, I told her about how my time on the trip was somewhat making me question whether or not I even really aspired to graduate from Yale.

Sandra’s reaction was laughter. “Yale is one of the greatest places on earth,” she said.

“But some of these people!” I exclaimed.

“Stop,” she retorted, cutting me off before I could say more. “Yale really is an incredible place. It’s changed since their time. You’d be doing yourself a horrible disservice by dismissing the school!”

“Really?” I asked. “Explain...”

“It’s simple,” she replied. “Freedom and resources.”

And that is when she told me about her Yale career. She explained how she had come to the university with many of the same feelings of unease I was expressing, and how unfounded they actually were. Instead she described a realm of unmatched opportunity at Yale, where a student is limited only by his or her own level of enthusiasm or ambition.

For hours, Sandra spoke to me at an almost rambling pace. Her eyes lit up as she described the research work she did while in New Haven. Gesticulating excitedly, she told me how anything was possible at Yale.

“Ask and you shall receive,” she proclaimed. “Yale has so much money, so many great professors, and they actually want to work with you! Anything you desire to study -- any thing at all -- you can.”

Four years later, sitting here in New Haven today, far from the giant tortoises and swimming iguanas of the Galapagos, I can confirm that freedom and resources are indeed what make Yale a very special place. Still, not every incoming freshman has the advantage of talking to someone like Sandra. Too often, Yalies are unaware of, or outright ignore, the vast opportunities a place like Yale can afford them. With only a few years in the undergraduate program, time rushes by at an unimaginable pace, and students can and do easily miss out.

Take advantage of your Yale career. Pursue that which enthuses you. Even if the university does not offer the course, program, or opportunity you seek, there is almost always a way to work something out. Yale can and allows you to make it happen.

Take, for instance, the independent study courses offered in most departments to mainly juniors and seniors. They offer a very unique way to create your own Yale trajectory, and it is a simple process. First, come up with an idea -- normally something not offered at Yale but capable of scholarly scrutiny. Then find an advisor; professors teaching any classes somehow related to your topic are a good choice. Discuss the idea with your potential advisor, and they help you come up with a prospectus for presentation to a department’s DUS. Nothing arduous required. Taking full advantage of your own Yale experience is easy with a little initiative.

This semester I am working on an independent study course on early 19th century material culture and architecture in Texas and could not be happier. I work closely with my advisor, meeting frequently to discuss my ongoing research. Our conversations are not only intellectually stimulating, but quite helpful to further hone my studies. Most of all, though, I am amazed at how closely I work with my adviser, a truly respected mind in the field, and all of this is mine simply because I asked.

Unimaginable opportunities abound at Yale, and independent study is only one facet of everything available. Countless grants, fellowships, and other means exist for students to take advantage of the university’s vast resources. Really owning your time at college, especially somewhere as well-equipped and eager as Yale, can be an awesome experience. Bask in the environment of academic freedom and wealth of resources. Talk to deans, your DUS, or even fellow classmates to learn more.

The Liberal Art of Bullshitting

2011-03-01T00:00:00.008-05:00

By Anonymous

The liberal arts aim for breadth instead of depth. We are supposed to become prepared for life, to acquire skills and competences. What are those skills? Versatility. Tolerance and an open mind. A broad perspective and view for the big picture. The ability to bullshit. Arguably, the ability to bullshit, i.e. to pretend to know what you are talking about when you don’t, to have done the reading when you haven’t, and to keep taking on tasks when you shouldn’t, is the one competence that Yale-educated kids develop to a veritable art, and one they employ with great liberality.

Whence this proclivity to bullshit, whence the near-perfection with which we and our fellow students (including the humble writer of this piece of …, well you get it) engage in this enterprise?

Take the hypothetical representative of a typical Yalie, call her Philomela. Philomela is taking five classes: PHYS 402: Advanced Classical Physics II; HEBR 140: Intermediate Modern Hebrew II; MATH 300: Topics in Analysis; PHIL 301: Causation; and RUSS 255: Studies in the Novel: Tolstoy. Don’t ask for a coherent plan behind her choice of courses. (Do note, however, that she could certainly produce such a plan for you.) Philomela has two problem sets and 450 pages of reading a week. One reading response. One group project next week. A midterm and a paper this week. Philomela is the Chairwoman of the Democratic Party on Campus, while working closely with a Senator from her home state. She is also a managing editor for the Yale Globalist, and two of her Assistant Editors have not sent in their edited versions of Jeff’s and Chidi’s articles. Her third editor has sent it in; it is bullshit and needs to be redrafted from the ground up. Next week is the cultural show for her international student group, and there is no venue yet, no program, no one to take care of advertising, they are short of funding, and three participating acts have already bailed on Philomela. Oh yeah, Philomela works as a Master’s Aide and as a writing tutor, and tonight there is a movie screening at the Yale Law School. Speaking of which, she should soon start preparing for the LSAT. When will the employers she applied to internships for the summer get back to her? Should she figure out a plan B before it is potentially too late? Philomela’s friend is mad at her because she started dating her best friend and now the friend feels isolated. It’s ok though, it is getting awkward anyway, so they will soon break up again. There is no time for a relationship anyway.

We do not have to have heaved ourselves through Math120 to be able to integrate Philomela’s commitments over a given time interval t to prove that it is simply not possible for her to do it all. Not possible. The question, “Whence the bullshitting?” thus turns into “How on Earth can Philomela do it all without bullshitting on five fronts at once?” What would you expect from a high-pressure environment like Yale?

So we are beginning to trace a pattern here: Take a bunch of ambitious and aspiring students and put them into a liberal arts jungle of opportunities. To survive, you better grow some claws and develop a sleek gait: You want to seize as much as you can, as fast as you can, as subtly as you can, and haul it all up into your tree (or into your lair, I don’t know). But what then? What to do with all the booty, way too much booty to stomach? Bullshit.

So every year, we and our peer institutions graduate thousands upon thousands of leaders of their generation, thoroughly versed in the liberal art of bullshitting. What to make of it? I guess what we can take away from this (and of course I am bullshitting) is a slightly more detached and serene perspective on College life – and life in general for that matter – knowing that you, Philomela, and I are all playing a similar charade. Which need not be a bad thing. After all, what could be a more effective prep for real life than an education in the liberal art of bullshitting?

Heading out of Town Without Breaking the Bank

2011-02-28T00:00:00.003-05:00

By Drew Morrison

Spring Break is coming up, and soon our minds will be freed from thoughts of midterms and papers, supply curves, and the thoughts of Kant. Well, at least temporarily. But, while Spring Break should be a time to relieve stress, the costs associated with actually making it back home can dampen the experience.

Given this situation, I have scoured the internet in search of some of the best deals for Yalies leaving the Elm City for sites across the country. But, before you read the list, one thing to always remember is that the earlier you book, the cheaper your flight/bus/train/magic carpet will be.

Air

Given the limited service at Tweed, New Haven’s regional airport, most Yale students head off to one of New York’s airports (JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark). While deals can be had out of those airports, and I will discuss them, Yalies need to give a second thought to Hartford-Springfield Airport, known as Bradley. Southwest and JetBlue have significant operations out Hartford, and while you might have to change planes to reach further destinations like California or Texas, Southwest almost always offers a cheaper alternative to carriers like American, United, or US Airways. For example, Southwest offers flights from as low as $134 each way between Hartford and San Francisco. Check out all of Southwest’s offerings on southwest.com. They do not post their prices on sites like Expedia.

Getting to Bradley can be done in a couple ways. Connecticut Limo offers its van service for $94 round-trip, compared with $134 for their service to JFK. Amtrak offers service to Windsor, CT five times a day from New Haven for only $15. Then take CT Transit Bus 34 from the train station to the airport. The bus fare is $1.25

JetBlue offers cheap service out of both JFK and Hartford. Their website is advertising fares as low as $99 each way between Fort Lauderdale and Hartford. Unfortunately, at this point, heading to the west coast is going to cost you a minimum of $300 each way, either on Southwest or JetBlue. Virgin America also offers similar prices to the west coast, and offers wi-fi onboard.

There are deals to be had getting to the New York airports, also. The new QCONN Shuttle offers direct service between New Haven and New York airports, as opposed to the multiple-stop service offered by CT Limo and others. There will be three stops in New Haven, and the roundtrip fare is around $98, almost $40 less than that of competitors.

If you’re traveling light, using public transportation can get you to JFK cheaply. Take Metro-North from Union Station in New Haven to Grand Central for between 14 and 18 dollars one way. You can then take a bus to the airport for $15 each way (nyairportservice.com). Or, if you are feeling more adventurous, get on the subway, head south on the 4, 5, or 6 train. At Union Square, get on the L train and head east. At Broadway Junction, take the A train to Howard Beach where you connect to the AirTrain. And, boom, for two dollars, you are at JFK.

Train

If you live between in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic regions of our fair land, taking Amtrak might be the most sensible option. Because trains are heavily-used by businessmen, fares are always cheaper on the weekends. Leaving on Saturday, March 5, you can go to Norfolk for $86, Philadelphia for $55, Washington for $76, and Boston for $48. Amtrak also offers service to Upstate New York and Western Massachusetts, though you have to connect in New York or Springfield, respectively. Outside of these Northeast routes, Amtrak becomes expensive, slow, and not worth the effort. But, for those who live in the Northeast Corridor, check out Amtrak.com

Bus

Bus travel is often the cheapest way to travel, but it might not be the most convenient. New Haven is located along the Boston to New York route for Peter Pan and Greyhound. They offer fares of $33 to Boston. Going south, however, is strangely more complicated and expensive. So, you will want to take Metro-North into the city and then take the subway to your bus line’s hub to save money and time. You can head from New York to DC on Greyhound for $15 each way; Bolt Bus, with wi-fi on its buses, heads between New York and DC for as low as $17.50. Megabus goes for as low as $13.00. Greyhound, Bolt, and Megabus all offer varying levels of service to destinations between New York and D.C. You can also take Greyhound all the way across country, but while that option might be the most cost-effective, I feel bad recommending, for example, the 70 hour journey between New York and Los Angeles. To check bus fares, visit greyhound.com, boltbus.com, or megabus.com.

If you want to go to Boston, and Boston alone, you can take Transport Azumah on the weekends for only $25 each way. Visit newhaventobostonbus.com.

So, there you have it. Here are some deals to get out of the Have. If you have questions or want advice, email me at my Yale email account.

Noted: Weekend Calendar

2011-02-25T00:00:00.007-05:00

Films, Talks, and Get-Togethers:

“Without Memory” Screening | Friday 7:00 PM

Auditorium, Whitney Humanities Center

This Japanese film is about a man who suffered from severe memory loss due to medical malpractice. It will be screened with English subtitles and a Q&A with the Film Director Koreeda Hirokazu will follow the screening.

The Psychology of Eating Meat | Friday 7:30 PM

WLH 119

Melanie Joy, Ph.D., Ed.M., a Harvard-educated psychologist, will be giving a talk on the psychology of eating meat. She will also talk about her book, Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism.

Open Slam | Friday 8:30 PM

Branford Trumbull Room

Come to this event hosted by the Teeth Poets if you want to perform or if you just want to snap to some rhymes. Those who want to perform should arrive by 8:15.

Open Mic Stand-Up Comedy | Friday 10:00 PM

JE Theatre

Join the Yale Record for a hilarious night. Feel free to test out your jokes or just sit back and laugh!

Moolaadé | Saturday 7:00 PM

York 212

Moolaadé is the last screening of the Yale Film Society’s February film series. It is a powerful film about the circumcision of young African girls and how some young girls try to escape this procedure by seeking “magical protection” (moolaadé).

A Performance-Filled Weekend:

Transmission: Annual Arts Festival | Friday 7:30 PM

Sudler Hall, WLH 201

Come to this arts festival for a variety of performances, including Yale’s first Hindi a capella group, Regie Cabico, a spoken word artist, and a rap band.

The Benefit A Cappella Concert | Friday 8:00 PM

Dwight Hall

Come and listen to TUIB, Out of the Blue, and Shades in Dwight Hall. There’s a $5 admission and all proceeds go to support YHHAP.

Concertante | Friday, Saturday 8:00 PM

Morse Recital Hall

Join the Yale Philharmonia for some twentieth-century music performed by the chamber orchestra and soloists.

Hips Against Hunger | Saturday 8:00 PM

Harkness Auditorium

The Yale Belly Dancers Society are putting this annual belly-dancing show in Harkness Auditorium. Admission is $5 and the proceeds go to a good cause.

Shows Going On This Weekend:

A Streetcar Named Desire | Friday 8:00 PM, Saturday 2:00 PM, 8:00 PM

Crescent Underground Theater (Morse-Stiles)

This play by Tennessee Williams is Isabel Siragusa’s Senior Project and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. Make reservations.

Harvey | Friday 8:00 PM, Saturday 2:00 PM, 8:00 PM

Iseman Theater

A part of the Freshman Show, this play is about a man who believes an invisible rabbit, Harvey, is his best friend. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945. Make reservations.

Gutenberg! The Musical! | Friday 8:00 PM, Saturday 8:00 PM

Off Broadway Theater

This musical is about the invention of the printing press, one of the most important events in history. Make reservations.

Seat Yourself | Friday 9:00 PM, Saturday 2:00 PM, 8:00 PM

Saybrook Underbrook

Written by Yale students, this play is composed of vignettes about how people continue to “surprise, entertain, and delight each other.” Make reservations.

Freshmen Bring Magic to Harvey

2011-02-24T00:00:00.010-05:00

We talked with Molly Houlahan and Ethan Karetsky about their all freshman production of the play Harvey.

Sharon Qian: First of all, why did you choose Harvey?
Molly Houlahan: I chose Harvey basically because I love the show…I am obsessed with it. I think it is a beautiful balance between comedy and drama that also deals with a lot of things we all deal with every day. What is normal; what isn’t normal? Why do we adhere to normalcy and why don’t we? I also chose Harvey because I thought it would be a really good freshmen show. It’s an enormous cast; it’s an ensemble piece and it really gives a group of a dozen freshmen a chance to delve into their characters and have fun. The show also has a good base for designers because it has the magical element to it, so it really allows for them to have artistic freedom and they can create a really interesting view.

Ethan Karetsky: When we read Harvey, we realized that there were so many possibilities. It’s an older show and won the Pulitzer in ’45. The fact that Harvey is so popular today and that so many people still produce it means clearly the show can be interpreted in a lot of ways. I think that’s what presented so many nice opportunities for us. We can really make Harvey our own, and there are so many questions that we can wrestle with and answer.

Molly: It’s also something that’s politically timely in terms of mental health, covering questions like whether you force someone to take treatment or whether you don’t, or whether it’s better to take treatment or not to, and who gets to decide what sane is, and if that’s okay. Harvey was something we could all appreciate. I also thought the show would be good for theater freshmen in particular because we all appreciate the fact that some of the most real things in our lives are the things that are unreal. I thought that would be good with Harvey.

SQ: So are all the people involved freshmen?
MH: Yes. It’s produced, acted, directed…
EK: ...Designed and built by freshmen.

SQ: Do you like the cast and designers?
MH: We’re all best friends!
EK: The freshmen show group is such a tight group. When we put together a proposal, we were kind of meeting people and talking to them, and now--two months later--they are our best friends. How could we imagine not working with them? It’s a really, really great group!
MH: It’s come to the point where certain actors will come in during times I didn’t call them and I will ask, “Why are you here?” And, they say, “Well, all my best friends are here so I might as well come…”

SQ: Are there varying levels of experience?
MH: Basically, the greatest thing about the freshmen show is that you don’t have to come in with a lot of experience. We have people who are TDing but have never been technical designers before and people who are acting who have been in very few shows before. It’s just based on your enthusiasm, dedication and how much work you’re willing to put into it. The show's a really good opportunity for freshmen.
EK: We have a lot of people on our sets and technical crews who haven’t had any experience. They came in, were willing to work and really wanted to learn, and now, this is a great jumping board for them to jump of onto new projects. They might work on the Dramat mainstage, with a larger crew and set, so that will be a nice project for them. That’s kind of why the Dramat does the freshmen show, and why I think it’s such a great opportunity for us because it really allows us to get involved in bigger roles. As we move on in our careers, it’s nice to have this really formative experience.

SQ: How did you adapt Mary Chase’s original play?
MH: Well, we haven’t changed any of the original text, and I really wanted the magical element to inform everyone’s artistic vision. So, I talked to the original composer, set designer, and costume designer about allowing that magical element to inform their decision. For example, our lighting designer creates a light change of different infused colors every time Harvey the invisible rabbit comes in, and the set designer has put little rabbits all over the place. That was the main thing I wanted them to do. I wanted them to also stay true to the 1750s. Allowing the characters to delve into it was what my vision was in the first place.

SQ: There are already a lot of adaptations to Harvey in various films. Did you use any of those as inspiration? Were you influenced by any of them?
MH: No, I did watch the movie Harvey. I couldn’t resist…I just love Jimmy Stewart, but our version is very different. I don’t think anyone in the production crew or cast has seen the movie and it was intentional that they haven’t seen it. I wanted them to create on their own. I haven’t seen any other version of it.
EK: I hadn’t even heard of the play. One day, Molly came up to me and she says that she’s found this play, Harvey! I’m like, “Harvey?” And she says, “It’s about this guy…he has a rabbit...” and she got so excited. It got her so excited and I read it and got excited about it too. I think it’s a really great show. Every time I come back to the script I notice new things and every time I go to rehearsal I see different things. The second time I read it, there were so many jokes and nuances that I missed the first time. I think that it’s a show that opens up to you as you continue to experience it and work with it.

SQ: Are you happy with your product?
MH: I have so much faith. It’s been such an honor and a privilege. The people who are in this are so talented on every level. It’s been such an opportunity to work with these people. It’s stressful with school work, but I have the utmost confidence in Harvey. I am very, very pleased with how it’s turned out. Such a competent group of people…they’re all going to be Oscar winners one day!

SQ: Anything interesting you would like your audience to know about Harvey?
EK: We should let the audience discover it themselves…Just let themselves be open to Harvey the play and Harvey the character.
MH: Something I wrote in my director’s notes was that what Harvey helped me do was transcend and find the next level of opening your mind and looking around and assessing how we all adhere to certain rules. We all agree to these rules, but should we? Or should we allow ourselves to expand and transcend?

The State of Black Yale: Learning the Content in Color

2011-02-23T00:40:00.001-05:00

By Kate McDermott

It was disappointing to be one of the few white students at the Second Annual State of Black Yale discussion tonight at the AfAm House. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from the Yale blackness tumblr or the responses to Nicolas Kemper’s YDN article and subsequent apology, it’s that people have a lot of opinions about blackness at this school. The tumblr was created with that in mind, and tonight A.T. McWilliams ‘12, the president of the Black Student Alliance At Yale (BSAY), spoke to the necessity for its anonymity. BSAY wanted to hear what was honestly on the minds of Yale students. The idea is that anonymity is the comfort zone, and the hope is that by individuals taking steps outside of that zone, eventually it will shift. Eventually, we can talk in an honest fashion to each other’s faces. And through real conversation we can connect to each other as human beings.

Yale Blackness: the tumblr homepage

One quote from the tumblr stuck out in particular to me – “I hate it when random non-black Yalies ask me absurd questions about ‘blackness’: my hair, can you show me this dance, my skin – aaah! Yale has one of the greatest Af-Am departments in the world. Take your questions there because I’m not here to be your cultural experience.” This quote speaks to the frustrations of people from all sides of the racial divide. A black Yalie may feel as though it’s a burden to have to be responsible for the cultural education of every white student who seeks information. (And isn’t it ridiculous that there’s ignorance about how offensive this is?) A white Yalie may feel like they’re just trying to educate themselves so they can no longer be ignorant. (And isn’t that what the “black community” wants in the first place?)

But ignoring all of that for a second, the operative word in this quote really seems to be “random.” That’s where the racial divide hits us like a ton of bricks. Awkward conversations, sensitive subjects, personal identities – these are always easier to deal with when you’re talking to a friend, not a stranger. During the questions session, a white student asked the The State of Black Yale panel how you can reach out across the racial divide to facilitate learning without being offensive. The response was that learning about other people’s experiences should always be a give and take. People should learn about each other’s racial identities in the same way that they learn about other aspects of an individual’s identity.

The problem with bluntly demanding information from somebody to learn more about his/her race is that you’re taking the person out of the identity. This is just as troublesome as declaring a color-blind society, thereby taking the identity out of the person. People are individuals and they are part of groups. The real trouble with racism in our country and at Yale is not that we see race. It’s that we see race differently. You can be proud to be Italian American and keep your individuality simultaneously. Having that ethnic and cultural pride doesn’t mean you’re in any danger of being asked what life is like on the Jersey Shore.

The irony is that when a lot of white people see that race (and blackness in particular) is treated differently, the response is to push for a color-blind society. The underlying reason for this move is that if race is such a problematic category, we should do away with it altogether. But the surface idea is that skin color is a silly basis for an identity anyway because you don’t choose it. This is obviously an easy position for white people to take because racial identity for us is tied to a shameful history of oppression. A color-blind society does seem like the perfect solution to a racist past. Except this stance actually ignores the black experience in a way that will only ever lead to a further racial divide. It’s very ironic, but sadly so.

The panelists were asked whether they consider color-blindness to be a good thing. All responded that they did not. Ivy Onyeador ’11 referenced research in psychology that shows that a color-blind mindset is really damaging to black people. Jordan Rogers ’12 felt that color-blindness teaches people to be ignorant about history. He lamented the fact that he never read a slave narrative until he got to college and questioned, “We’re just going to pretend that blackness doesn’t exist…that slavery didn’t exist…well do we exist?” The dean of the AfAm House reiterated this sentiment later by commenting that erasing color is like saying, “you don’t even exist as a human being.”

This makes a great deal more sense to me as a senior than it did when I was a freshman. Coming from a pretty much all-white high school I had no sense of what constituted the black experience. And yet, there’s this idea at Yale that even though we’re here to get an education, we’re simultaneously expected to know everything, to be perfect. But sometimes confidence is a fundamentally unintelligent position. And in situations where confidence becomes arrogance, this can be quite damaging. One of the greatest gifts Yale has given me is humility, and this has been especially helpful as I continue to learn about racial identities that are different than my own. But there have also been times when I’ve been too humble, to the point of being afraid to ask questions or speak opinions that I know might be offensive. This silence is as damaging as blunt arrogance. There’s an important balance to be found between pretending you know everything and being ashamed that you really know nothing.

In the spirit of resolving ignorance, there was a suggestion made by audience member Kayla Vinson ’11 that Yale add a diversity requirement to go along with our other distributional requirements. I agree that people should take an African American history class (there’s nothing more shocking than realizing how many lies of omission your pre-college education gave you). But the goal is not that people should be forced to learn about diversity for diversity’s sake. Rather, Yale students should want to be educated about race because it’s a part of our history, our identities, and our friends’ identities.

The question on the table throughout much of the panel was – whose responsibility is it to educate the Yale population? Onyeador said that she was relieved as a freshman to hear that idea of not being anyone’s racial experience but that “at some point we have to take responsibility for dismantling…misconceptions.” And much of the event was concerned with finding ways of reaching out to people in the Yale community who weren’t present. But this cannot be a one-sided affair. The AfAm House cannot be solely responsible for educating the Yale population. McWilliams pointed out that Yale students are here because “we love to learn.” It’s time we take that love of learning out of the classroom. It’s time we stop settling for ignorance about racial identities. And it’s time we start treating complicated, sensitive issues with the humility and humanity they deserve.

The Shooting Life At Yale

2011-02-22T00:00:00.030-05:00

By Richard Johnson

Each Friday at the Yale Outdoor Education Center in East Lyme, Connecticut, the forest resounds with a distinctive cacophony. The sound, like a cardinal singing to its mate, features a preliminary call followed by a response, yet this volley of compression waves is like nothing found in any bird’s vocabulary nor the rest of the natural world. Instead, the clamor emanates from fifteen or so of Yale’s sharpshooting ladies and gentlemen, each bellowing out, “pull!” followed by the explosive rebuttals of their 12 gauge shotguns. A far cry from the typical Yale scene, this is the world of the university’s top shots -- the Yale Skeet and Trap Team.

Founded during the heights of the Victorian era, the team is part of a long-standing Yale tradition, which according to team archives began in 1888 with the university’s first shooting match against Harvard. Beating the Crimson boys back then, the Yale team -- today one of the university’s oldest club sports -- maintains its success against its Harvard rival, defeating the Cambridge shooters during the two teams’ most recent meeting at the New England Clay Target Championship in Boston last spring.

Skeet and Trap, despite the long history and demonstrated proficiency of the school’s team, is still a real mystery to many Yalies. Team members frequently find themselves explaining their beloved game to classmates and professors. Both skeet and trap -- along with the 5-stand and sporting clays events also shot by Yale’s competitors -- involve targeting orange disks made of a fragile clay-like material. Launched from machines, the clays -- also referred to as birds -- fly through the air after a call of “pull!” Then, if a shooter’s lead, timing, and path are all correct, a shotgun spray of pellets pulverizes the target, leaving in the air only a fine orange dust and the gun’s reverberating sound waves.

The Yale team competes in a number of shotgunning disciplines, each with its own subtleties. For instance, in skeet, targets fly across the shooter’s line of site from either a high or low house located on either side of the game’s semicircular field. In trap, targets fly out and away from a single oscillating thrower located within a bunker in front of the shooter. Sporting clays and 5-stand targets launch from a number of throwers and fly anywhere depending upon any particular field’s custom configuration.

Perfecting the entire gamut of shotgun games is not a problem for Yale Skeet and Trap at their extensive East Lyme practice facility. Located roughly 45 minutes away from New Haven, the site features two skeet fields as well as a trap field with a 5-stand overlay. Complementing the shooting setups is the team’s unique club house, a converted 100-year-old barn with a recently finished-out gun-cleaning room in the barn’s silo. Surrounded by trees and overlooking a trout pound, the Yale team facilities offer a truly unique practice experience.

Yale shooters compete in tournaments throughout the school year and across the country. This past fall, the team traveled to the Eastern Regional Championship in Virginia where they captured first place awards in both team and individual events. Yale also met one of its more serious rivals last fall, the United States Military Academy at West Point, where the cadets beat the Yalies out by only a handful of targets in a combined skeet and trap competition. This heated West Point rivalry dates back to the 1940s, when the two teams would battle for first place at intercollegiate competitions. Today, the tradition continues, with West Point hosting Yale at its fields each fall, and Yale hosting the cadets at its fields in the spring. On a point of pride though, it should also be noted that Yale has indeed defeated West Point in most of the teams’ more recent meetings over the past few years.

Looking ahead, the Yale shooters have a busy schedule; later this spring, they will meet again with West Point, hold an invitational shoot in Hartford, and defend their title at the New England Clay Target Championship in Boston. The team’s most anticipated competition, though, is the ACUI National Collegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio, Texas, where the Yalies hope to hold their own against nearly 40 other colleges from across the nation. This annual match is the team’s largest and offers rigorous competition over days of shooting in the Texas heat.

While many do not figure Yale as a place for competitive shooters, the Yale Skeet and Trap program is an impressive one. The team’s incredible facilities, competitive edge, and long tradition attracts many young shooters hoping to join the respected Yale squad each fall.

A Night on the Town: Some of New Haven’s Lesser-Known Restaurants

2011-02-21T00:00:00.007-05:00

By Drew Morrison

Looking for somewhere to eat on a Friday night? Aspiring for somewhere a little farther afield than Claire’s or Yorkside? Here’s a list for you. Most of these restaurants are quite close to campus, and all of them are walking distance away, but are often neglected by the Yale community. From Indian food to late-night coffee shops, New Haven has no shortage of hidden offerings.

This list does not, however, feature any Thai restaurants. If you can’t find good Thai in the immediate vicinity of Yale’s campus, there’s really no hope for you.

Koffee? – 104 Audubon Street (off Whitney near Undergraduate Career Services)

The area around central campus has no shortage of good coffee shops. Blue State, Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, Booktrader, Claire’s, Atticus, Willoughby’s and the Yale Bookstore (I’m sure I missed one) all offer a good cup of joe and space for working. These locations are not as convenient for denizens of Science Hill, who would have to trek five to six long blocks to get to the aforementioned locales.

Koffee?, meanwhile, is about two blocks to the east of Hillhouse Ave and a short jaunt for science majors coming down from Kline, Sterling, and other faraway lands. It offers free trade coffee and sandwiches during the day. Its most unique feature, however, is its nightly transformation from daytime coffee shop to nighttime wine bar. Called Koffee Afterdark, the store serves up high quality wines for a relaxing drink after a day of midterms and papers.

Libby’s Italian Pastry Shop—139-141 Wooster St (In Wooster Square by Pepe’s)

New Haven’s world-famous pizza is well-documented. Yale students often forget, unfortunately, that there is more to the Wooster Square neighborhood than just a slice at Sally’s or Pepe’s. Libby’s, in business since 1922, is the home to some of the best Italian desserts in a city that once housed an Italian consulate and elects politicians with names like DeLieto, DeStefano, DeLauro, and Giaimo.

A perfect evening for a traditional Italian New Havener begins with a pie and a beer at one of the pizza joints and ends at Libby’s. Try this evening routine out, and feel like an authentic Elm City resident. If you’re unsure of what to get, go with the cannoli, it’s their specialty.

Himalayan Restaurant—21 Temple St (Across from Criterion Cinemas)

While not as plentiful as Thai food, there are a good number of Indian food offerings in New Haven. Himalayan Restaurant offers good Indian food with an interesting menu and a very convenient location. Owned by a Nepalese-American, Himalayan offers a number of Nepalese specialties, as well. I mean, where do you get Nepalese food these days? The owner is a very nice guy, and will give a discount to any Yalie that walks in. It is located under the Temple Street Garage, across the street from the movie theater. So, make it a night out on the town and grab some Indian and go see a film.

L’Oricio—806 State Street

New Haven has a number of solid offerings for a nice night out. Whether you’re trying to impress your significant other, need to go out to eat with your folks on Parents Weekend, or earned some sort of free meal from a professor, you could hit the town at Ibiza, Barcelona, Zinc, Scoozi (my usual choice), or Union League Café (for those of you with deeper pockets and a desire for a real formal affair).

You need to add L’Oricio, an Italian restaurant a few blocks south of Modern Apizza on State Street, to the list of excellent Elm City spots for a nice night out. It offers some of the finest Italian food in the city, and features a Friday fix prix lunch special that can’t be beat: 3 courses for $19.

Chains, Baby, Chains

The last thing I’ll offer for desperate food seekers is a list of chain, fast-food restaurants in the area. As was seen in the YDN recently, some Yale students have that ardent need for a little mainstream, corporate America, and I’m here to help. Restaurants within walking distance are just accompanied by their address. Those that are a little farther afield have a quick direction there.

Buffalo Wild Wings—74 Church Street
Moe’s—46 Whitney Avenue
Popeye’s—35 Whalley Avenue
Burger King—169 Whalley Avenue
McDonald’s—250 Whalley Avenue
Five Guys—71 Amity Road
Take the B2 or the B3 CT Transit bus to the Amity Shopping Center