The Stanford Daily

An Independent Publication
THURSDAY July 19, 2012

SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

Volume 242A Issue 3

Opinions 6
Obamacare lacks benefits for Americans working to make themselves healthier through diet, exercise

Sports 8
Tennis legend Serena Williams defeats Coco Vandeweghe to take Bank of the West Classic

Intermission 12
HBOs The Newsroom examines the faults of modern-day investigative reporting

NEWS
ACADEMICS

SIEPR director applies economics to global issues

By HAELIN CHO
DAILY INTERN

Shoven seeks solutions with econ

The word economics can bring to mind different images. Wall Street. Men and women in grey suits. Views of towering skyscrapers, stock prices and fluctuating lines of the Dow and NASDAQ coasting up and down large monitors. But those images intense and colorless on their own fail to fully paint economics or, for that matter, John Shoven: a man whose passion for economics has stretched across an illustrious 39-year career at Stanford University. The Charles R. Schwab Professor of Economics and Wallace R. Hawley Director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Shoven has dedicated much of his life to economics. Even much of his office space is dedicated to pictures of and gifts from previous classes and advisers. Economics is about efficiently using the resources that you have, Shoven said, as a country or, for that matter, as a globe. According to Shoven, economics can help solve many of the problems facing the next generation. For instance, Shoven is currently working on a research project that provides a model by which individuals can maximize both their private savings and Social Security after retirement. According to Shoven, most people immediately apply for Social Security when theyre eligible, which he calls leaving money on the table. Instead, Shoven suggests that people use private savings to put off, rather than supplement, their Social Security. Say they retire at 62, he said. Maybe they should start their Social Security at 68 and use those first six years and live off their pension, savings and assets. And the reason they should defer Social Security and some people should defer it to 70 is that the government gives you larger monthly benefits if you start later than if you start early, and the difference between starting late and starting early is actually quite significant. Another problem Shoven believes can be solved through economics is deciding when to retire given the increasing life expectancy in America. In his opinion, people will soon have to work until at least age 70 in order to be able to support themselves after their retirement. He highlights this as a factor that contributes to the poor U.S. economy, since the government cant afford to support the mass of retiring baby boomers living well into old age. What is at the heart of it, or at least a big part of it, is the retirement benefits that [the government] just cant afford, Shoven said. The good news is were living a lot longer. The bad news is we have not adjusted our finances and our retirement [policies] for that fact. In addition to Social Security and retirement, issues such as global warming and health care costs are also what Shoven calls economic problems, and he argues they can be solved using economic incentives. Along with his research, Shoven

Courtesy of Steve Castillo

Please see SHOVEN, page 5

John Shoven is the Charles R. Schwab Professor of Economics and the Wallace R. Hawley Director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

ACADEMICS

Treharne brings medieval flair to English Department

By SAMANTHA GILBERT
DAILY INTERN

Courtesy Elaine Treharne

As depicted in this elementary school sketch, Treharne had early writing and teaching ambitions.

For Elaine Treharne, the Stanford English Departments newest addition, its all about the past or in Treharnes case, medieval studies, her discipline of choice. For me, [medieval studies] is about connecting with people from the past, and also recognizing that people from the past are affected the same as us, even if the things around them and the environment in which we live is so different.

Treharne, who has been in the field for over 20 years, specializes in the cultural contexts, contents and languages of early English manuscripts and as a result has become an expert on medieval texts and teachings. Treharne, 47, was born in Aberystwyth, a small town in Wales. She grew up as an active member of her congregation at St. Peters Church in Carmarthen, along with the rest of her family, including her stepfather, who played organ during church and served as choirmaster. Treharnes mother and brother were in the

church choir too, and so the family spent much time performing at church services, weddings and Christmas specials. Treharne recalls that most of her childhood was spent cycling around her neighborhood with her friends, adventuring all day long with only biscuits and orange juice and returning at night to tea with her family. I had a busy childhood thats the best way to put it, Treharne said. Reading was also a cherished pastime for the budding academic. She read everything from

Edith Blyton to any classic novel she could get her hands on. Between pursuing a vibrant intellectual life and performing in her church choir, Treharne led an active life. Treharnes mother, a history teacher, profoundly influenced her interest in medieval studies. She had always been fond of writing, but it was the numerous medieval cathedrals and the monasteries her mother took her to as a young child that really piqued Treharnes interest.

Please see ENGLISH, page 4 THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

2 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

the

BEHIND

SCENES ID scanners, alarms to

By KLAIRE TAN
DAILY INTERN

STUDENT LIFE

THE STANFORD DAILY PUBLISHING CORPORATION

ESTABLISHED 1892 I INCORPORATED 1973

be added in Row houses

nered many complaints from students living on the Row. Less than a day after the news was sent to the more than 300 co-op residents of the Row, students were already writing back to Co-op Living Peer Advisor Steven Crane 11 with strong opinions about the project. One student thought this might be a good thing, but the rest of the student email reactions ranged from the concerned to the adamantly opposed to the profanely enraged, Crane said. The decision to update house entry on the Row is part of a much larger, University-wide plan to reform building access. The project proposes that all residential and academic facilities will have alarm systems installed. Discussion of the project began in 2006, and Student Housing is currently in the process of adding card readers to all undergraduate residences. According to the initial proposal, updating the Rows security was slated for later in the multiyear, University-wide project.

LORRY I. LOKEY STANFORD DAILY BLDG. 456 PANAMA MALL STANFORD, CALIF. 94305 www.stanforddaily.com

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Billy Gallagher President and Editor in Chief Margaret Rawson Business Manager and Chief Operating Officer Caroline Caselli Vice President of Sales Dan Ashton Theodore Glasser Rich Jaroslovsky Michael Londgren Bob Michitarian Brendan OByrne

EDITORIAL STAFF
Billy Gallagher Editor in Chief eic@stanforddaily.com Joseph Beyda Summer Managing Editor jbeyda@stanford.edu Ed Ngai & Molly Vorwerck News Editors edngai@stanford.edu mvorwerc@stanford.edu George Chen Sports Editor gchen15@stanford.edu Andrea Hinton Intermission Editor anhinton@stanford.edu Mehmet Inonu Photo Editor minonu@stanford.edu Lorena Rincon-Cruz Graphics Editor lorenar2@stanford.edu Miles Unterreiner Opinions Editor milesu1@stanford.edu Matt Olson Copy Editor maolson@stanford.edu Cover art by Lorena Rincon-Cruz

Starting next semester, residents of the Row will begin using ID card readers instead of house keys to unlock their front doors. Installation of locks and alarm systems will begin in September and is expected to continue into the academic year. Once card readers are installed at Row houses, residents will enter houses with their Stanford IDs instead of keys. According to Rodger Whitney, executive director of Student Housing, participants in courses held at Row houses, eating associates and other authorized visitors can be programmed into the system for meals or classes without checking out another key or having a resident open the door. The [building access system] allows a great deal of flexibility in terms of access for residents and guests, Whitney told The Daily in an email. Row houses dont appear convinced, and the project has gar-

LORENA RINCON-CRUZ/The Stanford Daily

However, following an analysis of public safety that showed the majority of campus thefts and breakins occurred on the Row, plans there were prioritized. Row houses are located on the outskirts of campus and often have fire escapes that allow easy entry. Implementing alarm systems to monitor building access is intended to help prevent theft, breakins and unwelcome visitors. The use of door alarms has enabled a higher security level for residents, Whitney said. Doors are no longer accidentally or intentionally left open, which means that individuals who do not belong in a residence are pre-

cluded or have a much harder time gaining access. While many students thought that alarm systems will give Row houses an impersonal feel, the main source of student discontent is not the implementation of door alarms but the lack of student input in the decision, according to Crane. [Housing] make[s] [their decisions] in their own best interests, and the interests of the students that are impacted by this policy are an afterthought, an aspect of implementation, Crane said. We are not asked about

Please see ROW, page 6

NEWS BRIEFS Marissa Mayer 97 becomes CEO of Yahoo

By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF Formerly vice president of local, maps and location services at Google, Marissa Mayer 97 M.S. 99 has been named Yahoos new CEO. Mayer, 37, will be Yahoos fifth CEO in five years. In a statement posted Monday on her Google+ account, she declared herself incredibly excited to start my new role at Yahoo! tomorrow. As one of the highest profile women in business, Mayer has her work cut out for her she aims to soothe the financial wounds that have plagued the struggling company for years. In her 13 years at Google, she tackled leadership positions in numerous projects and played an integral role in product management. She has also led the production of some of Googles most successful features, such as Google Maps. Mayer graduated from Stanford with a B.S. in symbolic systems and an M.S. in computer science, specializing in artificial intelligence.
Jackie Gu

UNIVERSITY

CS becomes most popular major

DAILY INTERN

Stanford professors make progress in race to cure HIV

By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF Recent research conducted by the Wender Group, consisting of 19 chemists as well as Stanford professor Paul Wender, could point to the existence of potential cure for HIV. Although highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has prevented HIV from having a fatal effect for almost 20 years, it is burdened with a number of problems. The necessity for the treatment to be regularly administered not only brings about a number of neg-

By KYLIE JUE

Two hundred twenty students declared as computer science majors in the 2011-2012 school year, making it the most popular undergraduate major at Stanford. Interest in the major over the last few years has had its ups and downs, said Mehran Sahami, a computer science professor and associate chair for the departments education program. The enrollment during the past decade has been on a little bit of a roller coaster. [Enrollment] peaked in 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble, and during the next five years . . . they dropped by about 50 percent.

Please see BRIEFS, page 5

Please see MAJOR, page 4 THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 3

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

MAJOR
Continued from page 3
More recently, in the last few years . . . weve seen a pretty strong increase in enrollment. We have the largest number of computer science major declarations [in 2011-2012] that weve ever had, he said. He attributes a lot of this recent growth to a significant overhaul of the computer science curriculum in 2009. During that academic year, Sahami and a committee of his colleagues re-invented the program, changing major requirements and making it more interdisciplinary. Following that change, the computer science program saw an 83 percent increase in enrollment within the first two years. [The new program] was a significant revamp of the previous major requirements, which pretty much existed with some modifications here and there for the previous 20 years, Sahami said. [The new curriculum] reduced the number of core classes everyone was required to take, and weve put in a track structure where students can select the track they are most interested in. The tracks include systems, graphics, theory, biocomputation and more. Of the six core courses, three have a theoretical focus, while the others emphasize programming and systems. The new multidisciplinary electives include options outside the Computer Science Department and range from biology to studio art. With its greater flexibility, the new programs goal is to allow students to apply their knowledge outside the field. Professor Eric Roberts, who began teaching computer science at Stanford in 1990, emphasized the plethora of options within the major today and contrasted them with the much stricter requirements of the program when he first started teaching. The change thats critically important is that . . . we have increased the flexibility of the undergraduate program, he said. [Twenty years ago], the computer science major was entirely specified. Every course that you had to submit for your degree was

required. The track program has even more flexibility, and that, of course, makes it more attractive to a broader range of students. Of course, computer science has also undergone a comeback since the last dot-com bubble. Technology companies, especially in the Silicon Valley, continue to hire and pay graduates in the field.

ENGLISH
Continued from page 2
I had a clear idea that I wanted to work with literature and writing and teaching when I was extremely young, and it has to be because my mother was a history teacher, she said. By the age of 12, Treharne knew that she wanted to work with medieval records. [Medieval texts give me] a chance to connect with people who lived more than a thousand years ago in a way that is very difficult to do other than through examining texts, she said. To pursue her passion, Treharne attended the University of Manchester, where she majored in medieval studies and met her future husband, Andy, to whom shes been married for 21 years. From there, she was awarded a Procter Fellowship at Princeton University for her third year of doctoral studies, where she obtained her masters, also in medieval studies, before returning to the United Kingdom to attend the University of Manchester and then the University of Liverpool to finish her Ph.D. After attending college, Treharne got married, moved to Cambridge and taught at the University of Leicester, one of the United Kingdoms top universities, for what Treharne declared to be 15 glorious years. She went from being a lecturer to a professor to a dean, and it was then that she realized she wanted to take her talents elsewhere, and so in 2005-2006 she and her family of four moved across the pond. Upon arriving to the United States, Treharne secured a job teaching in the English Department at Florida State University. While at Florida State, Treharne continued to write and edit books on medieval teachings. To date, she has worked on 23 academic texts, which have won a number of awards. When Treharne was offered a teaching job at Stanford in early 2012, she and her husband were thrilled that she had reached the big time, due to Stanfords reputation for brilliance. However, Treharne believes

The enrollment during the past decade has been on a little bit of a roller coaster.
MEHRAN SAHAMI,
COMPUTER SCIENCE PROFESSOR
Theres no question that the Valley will soar with students. Each time . . . Ive been there, Ive talked with industry people about the Stanford program, Roberts said. Theyre very excited about what we teach, but they cant understand why were teaching so few. The problem, according to both professors, is that faculty hiring necessarily lags behind the incredible growth in the department over the last few years. If the enrollment is going up by 35 percent a year, theres no way we can keep pace . . . the class size will go up, Roberts said. Finally, the fact that technology is playing an increasingly important role in our everyday lives has meant that more and more students are choosing to take classes in computer science. I think with more consumer applications that people grow up using, theyre much more familiar and comfortable with technology, Sahami said. So there are more people interested in finding out how to be not only consumers of technology but also producers of technology. Contact Kylie Jue at 13kjue@ castilleja.org.

Courtesy of Elaine Treharne

We hired Elaine because she is quite simply the best Medievalist for Stanford.
GAVIN JONES, ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIR
that the real jewel in Stanfords crown is that it is the top-rated university in the world for arts and humanities, something she feels people often overlook due to its renown in the sciences. Although shes eager to start her new teaching job, Treharne is also looking forward to enjoying her new homes proximity to campus. Im excited that I can walk to work, because its the first time ever Ive been able to do that, she said. It was a 50-mile drive when I worked at Leicester. Gavin Jones, head of the English Department, is just as eager to welcome Treharne to campus. We hired Elaine because she is quite simply the best Medievalist for Stanford, Jones said in an email to The Daily. She is also an astoundingly fine teacher who will reach out to undergraduates by bringing to life materials that can sometimes seem difficult and inaccessible. Elaine is, in this sense, a Stanford Thinker through and through. Treharne will drive to Stanford from Tallahassee starting Aug. 1 in two cars with her husband, her two children, their two black lab mixes and their lunatic black cat named Jack Sparrow. And come fall, Treharne will continue to teach the past while focusing on crafting a future at Stanford one medieval text at a time. Contact Samantha Gilbert at send_ sammi_emails@yahoo.com.

4 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

POLICE BLOTTER
By KAREN FENG This report covers a selection of incidents from July 9 through July 15 as recorded in the Stanford Department of Public Safety bulletin.

TUESDAY, JULY 11
I A wallet was stolen from a purse

Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering between 2 p.m. and 3:45 p.m.
IA

SHOVEN
Continued from page 2
has held many administrative roles, such as chairman of the Department of Economics from 1986 to 1989, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences and director of SIEPR, a position he currently holds. Yet despite his dedication to economics, Shoven majored in physics with a minor in economics at UC-San Diego. He attributes his decision to major in physics to Sputnik, a satellite launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union. At that time there was this tremendous emphasis on science and engineering, and I thought, Well, science is cool so Ill do science, he said. At UCSD, Shoven worked in a lab that focused on satellitebased experiments for almost three years. However, weighty, long science projects and a desire to help the faltering 70s economy pushed Shoven toward economics and consequently toward a graduate degree in economics before accepting a job at Stanford. His involvement in economics, however, extends beyond Stanford to include work with companies in the Silicon Valley and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). NBER, a non-profit research group, allows Shoven to interact with other economists who study similar topics. Its just a way for me to connect with a large group of scholars that are doing similar work, and I find it very valuable, Shoven said of NBER. Shoven also organizes and lectures at a workshop for high school economics teachers every summer in the Bay Area. Despite having many responsibilities, Shoven never regrets accepting them. He voluntarily chooses his workload, even teaching more classes than necessary. And it is with his teaching that he has impacted his students. Former student Susan Meaney82 remembers Shoven as a mentor who really strove to share his passion for economics with his students. He had a way of making you

SUNDAY, JULY 9
IA

located inside a conference room at the Landau Economics Building between 11:45 a.m. and 12 p.m. One of the credit cards was used in Palo Alto.

cable-locked bike was stolen from Sunken Diamond between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

fraud theft occurred at 42 Olmsted Road sometime between July 3 at 12 p.m. and July 9 at 9 a.m. cable-locked bike was stolen from the bike rack at Lorry Lokey between 3 p.m. on July 3 and 10 a.m. on July 9. wall was vandalized at Dinkelspiel Auditorium at 11 a.m.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12
I Someone used a stolen credit card

FRIDAY, JULY 14
I An

IA

to purchase rims and tires over the Internet at 137 Running Farm Lane between 1 p.m. on July 10 and 12:28 p.m. on July 12. driving unlicensed near the intersection of Campus Drive and Cowell Lane at 8:15 p.m. The vehicle was not towed.

unlocked bike was stolen from Manzanita Field between 6:30 p.m. the night before and 2:30 a.m. on July 14. unlocked bike was stolen from outside Crothers Hall between 10 p.m. the night before and 12 p.m. on July 14. box was accidentally placed on a lit stove at 4:30 p.m. in Studio 4, 51 Dudley Lane. The sprinkler system caused water damage in 12 rooms.

I An

understand how [economics] was important and how it applied to your life, Meaney said. John Pencavel, an economics professor and a colleague of Shovens for 39 years, also gave high praise for Shovens teaching and research. He is distinctive in that almost anything he does, he does very well, Pencavel said. Despite his lifelong passion for economics, Shoven participates in a multitude of other activities. For one, he is an avid Stanford sports fan and wears a step counter that regularly flashes Beat Cal.

I A male was cited and released for

IA

I A fire started when a cardboard

MONDAY, JULY 10
I A male reported that he lost his

THURSDAY, JULY 13
IA

wallet sometime after getting on the bus from Berkeley to Stanford University at Roble Hall sometime between 8 p.m. the night before and 12:01 a.m. on July 10. non-injury vehicle-vehicle collision occurred near the intersection of Lasuen Street and Campus Drive at 12:50 p.m.

male was cited and released for driving unlicensed near the intersection of Page Mill and Page Mill West at 3 p.m. books left at the Stanford Post Office were stolen between 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. male was transported to the San Jose Main Jail and booked for public intoxication at the

SATURDAY, JULY 15
I Someone was cited and released

I Two

IA

for driving unlicensed at 11:45 a.m. near the intersection of Mayfield Avenue and Lagunita Drive.

IA

He had a way of making you understand how [economics]... applied to your life.
SUSAN MEANEY 82
I think Stanford is really unique in combining top athletics and top academics, Shoven said. Theres nowhere else that does it as well as we do it. Shoven also loves traveling, which he considers lucky since his job requires traveling to conferences from New York to Iceland. And he doesnt plan on retiring anytime soon. Shoven jokes that he will lead by example those he believes will have to work longer to sustain themselves after retirement. After all, Shoven says there is still much to do. We should be humble as economists, Shoven said. Weve got millions of people who want jobs in the United States who cant get jobs. There is a lot of important work to be done so that we can manage this economy better. Contact Haelin Cho at haelin.cho @gmail.com.

Contact Karen Feng at karenfeng.us @gmail.com.

BRIEFS

Continued from page 3

ative side effects, but also makes HAART impractical for usage in Third World countries. These issues arise from the fact that HAART does not succeed at eradicating the full virus; certain dormant forms are left behind, threatening to reemerge if not constantly pushed back by the treatment. The Wender Groups goal was to synthesize a compound that would activate an enzyme called kinase C, which would in turn activate the latent forms of the virus and allow HAART to eliminate it entirely. This synthetic compound called a bryolog was modeled after two naturally occurring com-

pounds called prostratin and bryostatin 1, both of which were either too impotent or too difficult to obtain. The group has now succeeded at this goal of creating a bryolog. This new compound has no apparent toxic effects and has a potency that is 25 to 1,000 times greater than that of prostratin. However, it is still in its preliminary stages and needs to undergo further development before it is ready to use on human subjects.
Amrutha Dorai

Former admissions officers allege preferential treatment

By THE DAILY NEWS STAFF Children of Stanford faculty

members and large donors receive preference during admissions, even more than legacy students, former Stanford Admissions Officers Marci Reichelstein and Irena Smith told the Palo Alto Patch. According to Reichelstein and Smith, these benefits allow faculty members to advocate for their childrens admission. Faculty can also threaten more serious measures by using their influence over important resources. Reichelstein said that these advantages lead to an X-factor gap between admissions rates for normal applicants and children of faculty. According to the Palo Alto Patch article, Stanford spokesperson Lisa Lapin said Stanford does not track the specific admission rates of facultys children.
Haelin Cho

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 5

OPINIONS
I D O C HOOSE
TO

ROW

Continued from page 3

these things from the start. However, according to Whitney, Student Housing has made sure to communicate with students living in residences that have previously undergone the implementation of card readers Students have played a major role in all of Student Housings card access projects since the beginning, he said. Resident fellows and students have been surveyed as part of the decision-mak-

R UN
Miles Unterreiner
Second, regardless of overall market efficiency, it is unjust to force consumers who consciously take care of themselves to subsidize the poor health choices of other consumers by paying the same rate for far less expected care. Genetic or congenital problems, of course, are a different matter and should be covered by the state (or by private insurance operating under a mandate from the state). All of these changes should also be coupled with healthy eating programs and food vouchers for kids who have limited access to high-quality meals, a reduction in cuts to physical education programs in schools and incentives for employers to offer employees exercise options before, during or after work. Not everyone currently has the same opportunity to stay healthy, and we should strive to create a level playing field for all. James Madison famously observed in Federalist No. 51 that if men were angels, no government would be necessary in other words, that no higher power is required to govern the decisions of perfect men. Quite nearly the same could be said of health care: perfectly healthy citizens need no doctors. No extension of coverage although it is a huge step in the right direction can be fiscally sustainable in a society that is permanently sick, overweight and sedentary. What we need now is a system that incentivizes preventative, healthy choices a system that encourages us to become the gym-class versions of James Madisons angels. Email Miles your views on Obamacare at milesu1@stanford.edu.

Obamacare lacks incentives

ith the vast majority of the Affordable Care Act upheld by the Supreme Court, Obamacare or what Paul Begala justly called a policy conceived by the Heritage Foundation, midwifed by Newt Gingrich, raised by Mitt Romney, and then adopted in adulthood by Barack Obama is set to become the law of the land. That is largely a positive development: for the tens of millions of previously uninsured Americans who will now have access to a physician, for health insurance companies granted millions of new customers and for an America whose care outcomes have persistently ranked last among developed-world nations. But more can be done. To curb skyrocketing costs already twice as high as those in other developed countries policymakers should remove damaging restrictions on incentivizing healthy behavior by health care consumers and allow insurance companies to price-discriminate based on lifestyle choices. Health insurance is in this regard a uniquely restricted market. Car insurance companies, for instance, are allowed (as they should be) to charge unsafe drivers more for car insurance. You cause a crash, your premiums go up. Life insurance companies, meanwhile, are allowed to charge people who smoke and older, unhealthier customers more for end-of-life insurance policies. This all makes intuitive sense. There is no reason why people who drive safely or dont smoke should be forced to subsidize the poor choices of other people by paying equal prices for these kinds of insurance. And theyre not. Health insurance, however, is different. As Jon Stewart noted in a segment last November, nation-

al lawmakers struck down Pennsylvania Rep. Kathleen Dahlkempers HR 3472, which would have given people a financial incentive to make health improvements by allowing health insurance companies to raise or lower premiums based on blood pressure, smoking status, cholesterol levels, body weight, or blood glucose control. Many health insurance companies have proposed offering lower prices to people who join gyms, lose weight, join a running club or meet a certain set of medically determined health standards all activities that have been shown to improve health, lower the incidence of chronic disease and reduce the need for expensive afterthe-fact care (the carrot). Others have proposed charging smokers, overeaters and the sedentary more, both to cover company costs and to provide negative incentives to improve personal health (the stick). Under current law, however, many of these options are off the table. That should change, on both grounds of efficiency and grounds of fairness. First, a market in which insurance companies are allowed to price-discriminate would reduce health care costs by incentivizing behaviors proven to reduce the incidence of disease, much as road safety is improved by incentivizing drivers not to crash. (Our current health care market is more akin to a world in which everyone pays the same flat rate to fix everyone elses cars when they crash, regardless of our own driving quality a world that would be neither efficient nor fair.) In an America far unhealthier and more obese than most European countries, and an America that spends outlandishly on health care while achieving discouragingly poor outcomes, such cost-cutting would go a long way.

ing and implementation processes. We have also maintained communication with the residents of each house as the installations have progressed. Both Whitney and Crane agree that a thorough discussion should take place during the implementation of the program on the Row. It is my understanding, and hope, that decisions that affect the daily life of thousands of students [are] ones that [happen] with transparency, with explanation and with copious student input, Crane said. Contact Klaire Tan at klairetan2015@gmail.com.

6 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

What makes a curious reader?

Level:
1 3 2 4

CROSSWORD

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk SOLUTION

7/19/12

You do.
Read to your child today and inspire a lifelong love of reading.

2012 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

Level:
1 3 2 4

w w w. r e a d . g o v

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk SOLUTION

7/19/12

2012 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Media Services. All rights reserved.

Green Apples

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 7

SPORTS

THE LEGEND CONTINUES

Serena Williams defends her Bank of the West Classic singles title while Gibbs and Burdette impress on their home court
By KAREN FENG
DAILY INTERN

SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily

Serena Williams defeated Coco Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-3 in an all-American final last Sunday afternoon to claim her second consecutive Bank of the West Classic singles title. 8 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

The Bank of the West Classic, the oldest womens-only tournament in the world, kicked off the U.S. Open Series last week from July 9 to 15 on the Taube Family Tennis Stadium outdoor hardcourts. In addition to featuring tennis legends such as defending champion recent Wimbledon winner No. 4 Serena Williams and Frances No. 10 Marion Bartoli, the Classic gave wild-card berths to Stanford players Nicole Gibbs and Mallory Burdette. Last Tuesday, the two teammates won their first-round matches. Gibbs defeated Thailands No. 162 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, while Burdette defeated Britains No. 77 Anne Keothavong 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. Both Cardinal players were defeated in the second-round singles and doubles matches. On July 11, Williams overpowered Gibbs 6-2, 6-1 in the singles day match, while Burdette failed to take a couple of set points against Bartoli on July 12 despite an early lead of 5-2 and 40-15 in the eighth game of the first set. Bartoli eventually beat the Cardinal senior 7-5, 6-0, and the Stanford pair was also defeated during that evenings doubles match by third-seeded Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-6. During the July 14 semifinal singles day matches, No. 120 Coco Vandeweghe played in her first ever WTA semifinal after defeating No. 29 Jelena Jankovic, a former world No. 1, in the second round. Vandeweghe had originally failed to qualify for the tournament but entered the main draw when Bojana Jovanovski withdrew with an injury, making Vandeweghe a so-called lucky loser.

A strong start to the Vandeweghe in the semifinal gave her the advantage as she took the first set against fifth-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, the world No. 31, 6-2. Despite losing the second set 3-6, Vandeweghe gained momentum with powerful serves and consistent groundstrokes, while a frustrated Wickmayer drew a warning for swearing, giving away the last set 2-6 with a double fault at set point. Vandeweghe walked away from the match which lasted over two hours with a total of 12 aces and a serve over 120 mph. With her win, Vandeweghe became the first lucky loser ever to advance to the final at the Bank of the West Classic. During the evening match, first-seeded Williams decisively defeated ninthseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2 in e 60 minutes, despite making just 37 percent of her first serves. Williams struggled early against Cirsteas powerful serves but was also more successful with ball control, facing only one break point as Cirstea committed 32 unforced errors. In the doubles day match, the No. 9 team of Australian Jarmila Gajdosova and American Vania King defeated sisters Yung-Jan Chan and Hao-Ching Chan from Taipei in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. During the evening match, third seeds Natalie Grandin of South Africa and Vladimira Uhlirova of the Czech Republic struggled in a close match against firsttime partners Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Heather Watson of Britain. Erakovic and Watson took just over two hours to win 7-5, 6-7(6), 10-7, with Watson advancing to her first ever WTA final. Watson and Erakovic went on to play King and Gajdosova at 5 p.m. on July 15. Watson and Erakovic broke three times

Please see BANK, page 9 THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

Tom Taylor

hough it is incredibly close, Stanford University is not quite at the absolute top of the list academically. However, it is host to unquestionably the best college sports program in the country. Dissenting voices will point to the fact that Stanford is not the reigning football national champion, but perhaps they dont realize that there are other sports played at the college level. The Cardinals strength is in breadth; it is home to one of the largest and most equally funded athletics programs in the nation. This fact is evident in the 18 straight Directors Cups it has won and even in the creation of the Capital One Cup a couple years ago. The latter prize notably rewards success more highly in a handful of more popular sports, something that clearly benefits those schools that concentrate solely on the most lucrative disciplines and hurts those with a broader outlook. These adjustments perhaps serve to break the Cardinals stranglehold. Even with this handicap, though, Stanford has won both Capital One Cup womens trophies so far awarded. But is the best in the United States the best in the world? It is difficult to make fair comparisons with many overseas universities because the very concept of semi-professional varsity athletics doesnt really exist in most countries. In the U.K., for example, there is maybe only one case that comes close to the professionalism, importance and funding of U.S. college sports: the Oxford vs. Cambridge boat race. In major sports, talented athletes will go professional far before they reach college age, and without the guaranteed income source from these popular sports, there is no money for athletics programs. Surprisingly, the better comparison comes not with universities in other countries, but with the very countries themselves. When the London 2012 Olympic Games kick off in a couple of weeks, the U.S. and China are pretty much guaranteed to be squaring off against each other for the honor of top dog. Even wildly optimistic and patriotic citizens of the host nation realize this; coming in third overall is the goal for everyone else. But if the Farm declared independence from the Union tomorrow and I hope you forgive my extreme artistic license here where would it stand? Could it come in third? First, some simple demographics: Last year about 1,700 were born into Cardinal country as undergraduates, and 2,500 deserted their alma mater to become naturalized graduate Stanford citizens. Assuming a similar life expectancy for the average American, we can claim that the

THE OLYMPIC STATE

SAMPRAS SIGHTING

BANK

Continued from page 8

and won the first set 7-5, but struggled early in the second set. The closely matched doubles teams held on during the tiebreak, but Watson and Erakovic pulled away at the last minute to win 7-6 (7). The same day at 1 p.m., 20year-old Vandweghe played in her first ever WTA final against 42-time WTA titleholder Williams in the first all-American final in eight years on American soil. Although Williams seemed poised to cruise to victory, leading 2-0 in the first set, Vandeweghe put up a fight and took a 5-3 lead in the set as Williams struggled on the sunny side of the court. However, Williams overcame the next set point with a cross-court return that Vandeweghe hardly touched, and the recent Wimbledon champ watched as Vandeweghe again double-faulted to give up the set on the sixth break point. A double fault gave Williams the set point at 6-5, and she sent Vandeweghe running with a crosscourt shot to win 7-5. In the second set, Vandeweghe again double-faulted on break point, giving Williams the lead 3-1. Williams closed the match 6-3 with a forehand winner. Despite her loss, Vandeweghe was pleased with her performance. Making the finals, beating the players I beat, getting the experience of playing Serena is a breakthrough in itself, Vandeweghe said. It makes me feel like all those days on the practice court, all that hard work wasnt just for show. Its paying off. Williams was also impressed with Vandeweghes performance. Coco played so well, Williams said. Her serve is really strong, but she was doing everything well out there. Her strokes are beautiful. Vandeweghe is now ranked No. 69 in the world and plays this week at the Mercury Insurance Open in Carlsbad, Calif., while Williams prepares for the Olympic Games. Contact Karen Feng at karenfeng. us@gmail.com.

SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily

Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras played against Michael Chang in an exhibition match at the Bank of the West Classic on a Stanford court.

Please see TAYLOR, page 11 THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 9

David Eng

SPORTS BRIEFS
Six Stanford baseball players sign pro contracts
Ace righthander Mark Appel was the only member of Stanford baseballs 2012 draft class to return to school, as six former Cardinal players inked deals and began minor-league play in recent weeks. Supplementary first-round pick Stephen Piscotty, who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for $1.4 million, has played in 19 games with their Class-A affiliate, the Quad Cities River Bandits. Piscotty has hit .292 as the River Bandits starting third baseman and has played alongside former Stanford teammate Colin Walsh, who has missed time recently with an injury. After being chosen in the third round, southpaw Brett Mooneyham signed with the Washington Nationals for $428,500. The lefty, who passed up a seven-figure offer from the Padres before deciding to come to Stanford, has done well in his first two pro outings, going 4.2 shutout innings and making his first professional start. Fourth-round selection Kenny Diekroeger signed with Kansas City for $500,000, also a bit of a step down for the former secondround choice out of high school. He has jumped out to five home runs in just 15 games with the Royals rookie affiliate in Burlington, N.C. Jake Stewart has done just as well with the Connecticut Tigers, as the ninth-round pick has three homers and six doubles in his 18 appearances. Eighteenth-round pick Eric Smith and 24th-round pick Tyler Gaffney have also signed with the Dodgers and Pirates, respectively. the two conferences, but the Pac12s nine-game conference schedule compared to the eight played by its Rose Bowl counterpart made the arrangement impractical. For some schools involved in long-term contracts with other nonconference teams Stanford and USC, for example, play Notre Dame every year adding yet another required contest to their yearly slate did not provide enough flexibility. An additional series with a BCS conference would also have made it harder for struggling teams to qualify for postseason play, as they would have one fewer nonconference game against a weak, non-BCS squad.
Joseph Beyda

JUST KEEP ON HOPING

hats your favorite sports team? recent high school graduate nearing many first exchanges this autumn, I figured I should at least somewhat flesh out a response to this common inquiry after all, knowing someones name, major and hometown can only sustain a conversation for so long. So I thought about it. Giants? Too standard. Niners? Too bandwagon. Sharks? Too obscure. Sabercats? Well lets be honest, nobody actually watches arena football for the football. The Warriors. This response figures to elicit a certain measure of sympathy from my new acquaintance. Expected responses include Oh, coupled with the sorry I asked face or an immediate topic switch (note to self: need a backup plan in case the individual comes from Charlotte). Despite this superficial benefit, I would much prefer an end to the mediocrity and Im sure any sports enthusiast can relate. Havent we all, on some level, stayed devoted to a franchise which has qualified for the playoffs once in our lifetimes? And isnt every general management office susceptible to a few draft busts now and then? Cough. Joe Barry Carroll. Cough. Joe Smith. Cough. Patrick OBryant. Cough. Ike Diogu. Cough. OK, Ill stop before I hack up a lung. In light of the woes of my favorite sports team, I set out to demystify the formula for NBA success . . . You didnt have to be a round mound reading a teleprompter to have seen the script of the most recent finals one roster constructed from big-name free-agent acquisitions pitted against another built, by and large, from draft picks and beards. So I suppose that leaves one of two options for the Warriors. Option 1: hoard free agent superstars. This worked for an injury-

Nonconference series with Big Ten called off

The series of football games between the Pac-12 and Big Ten that was to begin in 2017 was suddenly cancelled Friday after several Pac-12 schools raised scheduling concerns. The original plan called for a multi-year round-robin between

Scott Armstrong hired as mens swimming assistant coach

Ted Knapp, the Goldman Family Director of Mens Swimming, announced the hiring of Scott Armstrong as the Cardinals new mens swimming assistant coach on Wednesday.

Armstrongs impressive coaching resume includes serving as associate head coach at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, one of the best swimming clubs in the nation at both the age-group and professional levels. Since landing at NBAC in 2003, Armstrong has helped coach Olympic stars Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, and has also worked with world-class coaches including Bob Bowman and Paul Yetter. Beyond his club experience, Armstrong was the coach of the junior national team. In 2010, he led the womens squad to a title at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships. Armstrong was a standout swimmer and senior captain at Johns Hopkins University prior to his coaching career. The 2003 graduate was an 18-time AllAmerican who also broke the Division-III collegiate record in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Knapp, the former Cardinal assistant coach, was named head coach in May following Skip Kenneys retirement.
George Chen

Joseph Beyda

TURNING DOWN THE MILLIONS

Please see ENG, page 11

uarterback U is once again making headlines as Coming-back U. When Mark Appel pulled an Andrew Luck on Friday, announcing that he was returning for his senior season and turning down $3.8 million from the Pittsburgh Pirates, he bought the Cardinal at least a few games it just couldnt have won with another pitcher on the mound. They say baseballs all about winning the second game of a three-game series, and now Stan-

ford has two starters who can do that consistently: Appel and rising junior A.J. Vanegas. Last season, a couple more series wins would have meant the difference between hosting a Super Regional and traveling to Tallahassee. Next year, they could be Stanfords lifeline for any sort of postseason berth. Appel is that lifeline. Hes that good, that important to a Cardinal pitching staff thats seen better days. And his talents are staying on the Farm for another year. Even more encouraging to Stanford than how much its baseball teams stock suddenly shot up for next year, its athletes continued dedication to the University has got to make it most proud. But its a head-scratcher, albeit a commendable one, that Appel values the final $60,000 of his Stanford education at nearly $4 million. Ballplayers come back in the offseason to finish off their degrees all the time, and theres no real urgency for him to gradu-

ate before he begins his pro career. Then again, Appel is a management science and engineering major, so whos to doubt him when it comes to money? And make no mistake; money was a major player here. Had Appel been the first overall pick as was expected he would have been offered over twice this much and likely would be wearing a minor-league uniform right now. Luck didnt have the same luxury of testing the draft waters, since football and basketball players cant renege on the pros once they decide to enter the draft. In an injury sense, Appels decision is also much less risky than the one made by Luck, who was just one big hit away from never making it to the NFL. Pitchers suffer hand, elbow and shoulder injuries all the time, but at a young age theyre not usually of the career-ending variety. When it comes to unfinished business, at first, Im not really

sure I buy the coming back to win a national championship argument here. Where Lucks senior season was another glittering opportunity at a BCS bowl, Appels final year will be spent without the core of a roster that struggled in conference play and looked asleep in two straight Super Regionals. Then again, anything can happen in baseball, and if Appel had pitched better against Florida State, the Cardinal would have been a win away from Omaha. And therein lies Appels motivation for returning. Ill be darned if that seven-run fourth inning didnt leave a sour taste in his mouth, and Appels hoping another year on the Farm will be just the breath mint to erase those memories. Chances are that Appel will make enough of a name for himself in the pros and nobody outside Palo Alto will care in 10 years

Please see BEYDA, page 11 THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

10 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

ENG

Continued from page 10

ridden Miami team that compiled a worse record (15-67) in 2007-08 than Golden State has experienced in its four decades west of South Beach. I see this working out. After all, why wouldnt the leagues top free agents want to join the Warriors? You have the fortune of playing in one of the least volatile cities in America. And just think if Dwight Howard joined the Warriors, it would be the first (and probably only) time he wouldnt have the ugliest free throw shot on his team! Option 2: draft developing superstars. This worked for an Oklahoma City franchise that erupted from four consecutive years of sub.500 mediocrity (a consistency which hardly rivals Golden States) to rapidly ascend into contention. It only made a few haters in the process. Three consecutive years of topfour lottery picks and voila! Right?

Well, perhaps. The problem? The Warriors have not had a top-four lottery pick since selecting Mike Dunleavy third (over No. 8 Amare Stoudemire) in a particularly weak 2003 draft class. Perennially on the cusp of mediocrity in other words, bad but not bad enough Golden State should know by now that mid-lottery picks wont propel them into contention. I secretly hope Golden State acquired Andrew Bogut last season to solidify an early lottery pick and not, as it claims, to contend. But in all honesty, theres a better chance that Andris Biedrins shoots over 90 percent from the charity stripe than either of these options occurring. Perhaps a final, broader insight regarding a commonality among nearly all NBA champions will be of greater value: Every championship contender has a superstar and usually not its point guard. LeBrons Heat. Nowitzkis Mavs. Kobes Lakers. The only exception to this rule in the past couple of decades seems to be the 2004 Detroit Pistons. And even more intriguing is that no champions su-

perstar has been its point guard since Magic Johnsons Lakers in 1988 (sorry, Clips, Bulls and Nets). To put this in perspective, there hasnt even been a point-guard-led team to reach the NBA Finals since Jason Kidds Nets in 2002-03. The Warriors have a difficult task before them. It wont be David Lee. It wont be Andrew Bogut. It wont be Andris Biedrins. It may be Stephen Curry, but its never a good idea to place stock in an injury-prone guard especially given the aforementioned history. Of course, theres no sure-fire formula to winning in the NBA; there will always be the intangible events that dictate the course of a teams season. However, at least for Warriors fans, the future gives us hope. So yes, I am losing patience. But for now, I still believe. David Eng might have to wait a lifetime for the Warriors to win the NBA Finals, but in the meantime hell soon have a new team to root for as a freshman at Stanford. Welcome him to the Farm at david_eng @pacbell.net.

TAYLOR
Continued from page 9
rough population of the Farm and its diaspora is around 230,000. In comparison, the total number of Berkeley students and alumni works out to about 420,000, and the population of San Francisco is 800,000. Stanford wouldnt, though, be the smallest nation recognized by the International Olympic Committee; that honor would fall to either Tuvalu or Nauru, each home to about 10,000 people. If Stanford had competed independently at Beijing 2008, it would have finished an impressive ninth in the medal count, just behind Japan and just ahead of Italy. Cal would have come in 17th. Even more revealing, though, is a measure of the number of people per medal. By this statistic, the Bahamas would have earned the top ranking (as the least athletic) after the Games in China, with 300,000 people per medal. Stanford: a staggering 9,400. Berkeley: an almost-

as-impressive 25,000. However, the Bay Area doesnt have a monopoly on Olympic success. Stanfords total of 115 golds is beaten by USCs 123, and the Trojans would have come two places higher than the Cardinal in the medal table at Beijing in 2008. In fact, USC has the best Olympic record of any U.S., and likely world, university. With a significantly larger student body, though, it has a larger number of people per medal, around 33,000. Without even having mentioned UCLA (110 golds) or any of the other eight Pac-12 schools, it is clear how much of an Olympic breeding ground both California and the Pac-12 conference are. Though often underrated in the big sports throughout the academic year, the West Coast is an athletic powerhouse that dominates American Olympic success. From a U.S. perspective, it is certainly a good thing that the Golden State isnt independent. Tom Taylor sounds like he might be starting to support USC. Make sure he doesnt join the dark side at tom.taylor@stanford.edu.

You taught them how to dribble. You taught them how to shoot. You taught them to work hard on defense.

BEYDA

Continued from page 10

what he did (or didnt do) at Stanford. But if hes working to improve his legacy here nonetheless, that shows real dedication to his fans, his teammates and, most importantly, his school. Its far too early to predict another 10-win season for the ace again, hell have a depleted roster playing behind him but our lasting image of Appel is not going to be the sweating, exhausted righty getting shelled in Tallahassee. Hes going to impress us yet again, and this time, 3.8 million George Washingtons will be turning their heads as well. Joseph Beyda wouldnt leave The Stanford Daily for $3.8 million. Really, he wouldnt. But hes always open to donations, so let him know how much you can donate to the Beyda Bank at jbeyda@stanford.edu.

YOU CAN TEACH THEM

about the dangers of underage drinking.

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 11

INTERMISSION
HBOs The Newsroom tackles the faults of modern-day reporting
merica is not the greatest country in the world anymore, proclaims news anchor Will McAvoy. So begins The Newsroom, the latest series from writer Aaron Sorkin, who took a hiatus from his usual TV series (West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) to pen films The Social Network and Moneyball. Sorkin has a history of creating behind-the-scenes looks at different institutions from the White House to late-night comedy TV but this time he focuses on an unlikely target: the evening news. The Newsroom features his standard Sorkinese (characters talking in super-fast, facts-laced dialogue), but adopts a preachy tone as Will McAvoy and crew lament the demise of real news in favor of ratings-hungry, 24-hour cable network stories. The story begins in 2010, allowing Sorkin to reinterpret coverage of recent major news stories, beginning with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and continuing with the rise of the Tea Party. The argument is that recent news coverage, in an endless quest for ratings, has sacrificed quality for catchiness, and that this fictional broadcast represents how good the news can really be. Even though it can feel very sanctimonious, getting a fresh take on old stories is fun, especially when the team tries to take down the Tea Party in episode three. Aside from the series preachy, sometimes-shrill tone, much has been made in the media of Sorkins treatment of women, especially in light of his Hey, Internet girl comment that has become infamous, not to mention the way female roles were marginalized in The Social Network. And indeed, the female character in The Newsroom, notably Mackenzie (Emily Mortimer) and Maggie (Alison Pill), are often prone to hysterics and storylines focused more around their love lives than their work, despite the fact that all the characters work in the same newsroom. But what is more frustrating than the general typecasting of emotional, needy women is the so-far wasted potential in terms of characterization. We are told numerous times of Mackenzies bravery covering war stories in Iraq and Afghanistan, but instead of 12 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

BREAKING THE NEWS

TELEVISION

JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO/MCT

Emily Mortimer and Jeff Daniels perform a scene in HBOs The Newsroom. showing the viewer any of that history, were instead presented with a woman who struggles to send an email and spends most of her time fighting with Will over their past history together. Aside from being offensive, it just makes for less interesting television. Despite this, Sorkin as ever writes compelling characters. Jeff Daniels, as Will McAvoy, grounds the cast with a surly presence that often leads to temper tantrums but is equally prone to random acts of kindness and a newfound commitment to good journalism. Meanwhile, the incredible chemistry between Maggie and producer Jim Harper (played by John Gallagher Jr.) works to form the best will-they-or-wont-they TV relationship since Jim and Pam on The Office. If youre a fan of Sorkin, The Newsroom will satisfy your craving for rapid-fire dialogue and characters standing proudly on soapboxes. But even if youre not and you can get past the hysterics and the sermons it makes for an entertaining hour and a thought-provoking rewrite of recent history. halle EDWARDS
contact halle: halle@stanford.edu

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

MOVIES

MOVIES

NORA EPHRON
The late screenwriters greatest achievements
Upper East Side; he, the big chain bookstore opening across the street, threatening to put her out of business. Meanwhile, they are anonymous AOL email buddies, falling madly in love with each other. Yes, you can guess where this ones going, but it has some magnificent lines and a whole slew of unforgettable characters: from Ryans boyfriend, who is in love with his typewriter to the point of writing a panegyric extolling it; to Hanks aunt, who is a quarter of his age; to the cast of characters that | EPHRON continued on page 15 |

n memory of writer-director Nora Ephron, the master of intelligent romantic comedies who died on June 26, Intermission presents a list of Ephrons greatest achievements in entertainment. When Harry Met Sally When Harry Met Sally is indubitably Ephrons screenwriting masterpiece. It was made over 20 years ago but still feels contemporary. Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) hate each other when they first meet after college, but become friends and ultimately fall in love after a decade. From Sallys fake orgasm in a restaurant and hilariously detailed way of ordering food to Harrys odd pronunciation of pecan pie, the film is full of memorable character details. Its this richness and genuinely wise observations about relationships one of the characters, for instance, points out the usefulness of a romantic partner: You have someone to go places with! that keeps me coming back to it year after year. When Harry Met Sally is a touching and witty story about two smart people and a film that certainly transcends its genre. Youve Got Mail Youve Got Mail, which Ephron wrote and directed, is probably her most under-appreciated film, easily but incorrectly dismissed as a remake of her earlier work, Sleepless in Seattle. Both tell stories of couples that fall in love based on letters from strangers and both star Ryan and Tom Hanks, but the similarities stop there. Youve Got Mail is more than just pure unapologetic sappiness; its genuinely funny, with unparalleled break-up scenes and non-stop witty repartee. Ryan and Hanks are at war in the workplace; she owns the small childrens bookshop in the

Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page star in To Rome With Love.

LOVE

IN

To Rome With Love delivers laughs, wisdom

THE ETERNAL CITY

integrity of his voice. In another storyline, Allen satirizes celebrity when Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni), an average, middle-class Roman, suddenly becomes famous because the media arbitrarily decides to make him so. He unexpectedly finds himself an icon, constantly surrounded by cameras and interrogated about the minutiae of his life how he shaves, boxers or briefs and what he had for breakfast. No Woody Allen film is complete without a bit of mockery of pseudo-intellectuals. A young man, Jack (Jesse Eisenberg), falls madly for flighty actress Monica (Ellen Page), who happens to be the best friend of his live-in girlfriend (Greta Gerwig). Monica knows just enough

oody Allens latest film, To Rome With Love, doesnt evoke as many laughs as last years Midnight in Paris, but its still an entertaining, if fleeting, piece. As the title suggests, the film takes place in Rome, telling several unconnected stories of both Italians and rich Americans in the capital. The common theme across the stories is the perplexing nature of celebrity and idolatry and what better place to do this than in the town that gave us the term paparazzi, from Fellinis La Dolce Vita? After hearing his brother-in-law singing in the shower, Jerry (Woody Allen), a retired opera director, thinks hes found the next operatic genius. The trouble is, he can only sing well in the shower. The solution: put a shower on stage and have the man sing while bathing to maintain the THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

DENIS GUIGNEBOURG/Abaca Press/MCT

| ROME continued on page 15 |

Director Nora Ephron poses at a photocall for Julie and Julia.

THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 13

MOVIES

THE DARK GOOD KNIGHT ISNT THAT

I
was recently caught off-guard this past Saturday night when, in the middle of talking to a guy not un-cute, I might add for my own vanity he suddenly stopped with a look of epiphany mixed with suspicious disgust in just the right ratio that I may have mistaken it for awkward flirting. Until he asked, with such a look, Are you the girl who doesnt like The Dark Knight? So, what, this is now a stigma to describe me by? A marker of my cultural pariah status? Fine. I dont like The Dark Knight. In fact, I will say that I hate The Dark Knight, if only because everyone else is so utterly, blindly and unquestioningly in love with The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan and matte black that I just cant take it anymore. Im coming out of my reticent party corner to dispel these ridiculous misconceptions of what could and should have been the greatest movie of our time, and why it spiraled so delicately into a pile of simply written dialogue and morally lofty set pieces. So here it is: a list of the three reasons why The Dark Knight just isnt that great not to prove a point or administer a tirade against the lionized film, but because I seriously wonder if people are that bad at movies or if theyre willfully blinding themselves to the creaky screws of the Dark Knight machinery . . . The Joker Well start here because its most obvious that if theres anything good about this movie, its the

WHY

SASH ANGELES
Joker. From his eerily dapper digs to Heath Ledgers lip-licking utterances, the Joker is the perfect villain . . . just not a comic-book villain. But why is he such a devil without a cause? Oh yeah, theres no reason. Over the course of the Batman franchise history, the Joker has had several backstories, the most prevalent of which has him as an aspiring comedian who quits his engineering gig only to tumble into a brew of nuclear waste. With his pregnant wife and unborn baby dead household accident, whodathunk? the deformed goon goes all the way to loony land. Now, isnt that satisfying? Our beloved Dark Knight Joker has no interesting backstory, and that was on purpose. Chris Nolan and company elided the Jokers origin story so that the character would be presented as absolute. Pure, irrational evil, however, is only relevant during a horror movie or a biblical tale. What makes a character interesting is the tale of how they came to be (Batman Begins, anyone?) and the inner conflict the audience experiences upon realizing that there is no good and evil but only motivations and desires, of which the Joker has none. Even Regina George had depth. Hell, thats the whole appeal of

RON PHILLIPS/Warner Bros. Pictures

Christian Bale as Batman in The Dark Knight Rises. Bruce Wayne/Batman; hes a spoiled rich kid in a corrupted city who cant decide whether to use his resources to buttress the failing law or just take it over himself. Dilemm-a! Id almost forgive the mindlessness of the Jokers craziness, but Nolan decides to limply create dimension by having the Joker spout a few contradicting little daddy killed mommy backstories that occur too infrequently to paint the portrait of a conniving or delusional mastermind. Maybe the other origin stories got relayed to the deleted scenes. Moral dilemmas . . . ? While we appreciate the magnitude and gravity of most comicbook tests of strength, wed prefer them without a simplified moral conundrum to oh-my-gosh complicate our heroes paths. The first of these comes as a delightful lovetriangle trolley dilemma as Batman must choose his true love, Rachel Dawes, or the one district attorney who can maybe save Gotham City, Harvey Dent. The one he loves or the potential many Dent could | KNIGHT continued on page 15 | THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

RON PHILLIPS/Warner Bros. Pictures

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises. 14 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION

CONTINUED FROM KNIGHT PAGE 14 the potential many Dent could save? Holy heart failure, Batman! I smell a deontology/utilitarianism mist wafting over this one! And dont forget that Dawes doesnt love Bruce and shes about to marry Dent. Now that weve added that whole jealous almost-lover bent in there, Nolan can cue the dramatic and visually striking death device that is . . . Dent and Dawes strapped to chairs in anonymous warehouses full of tin drums. Tin drums!? Man, how will Batman ever make a decision? Points for sure because Bruce goes to save Dawes, hinting at a shred of preserved humanity. But minus double for the fact that the Joker what a prankster, that one actually told Batman and the entire Gotham City PD that Rachel was where Harvey really was and vice versa, like a sneaky game of Go Fish. Perhaps the only more tired homily than the Dent-Dawes bit is the two-boats-in-aharbor dilemma that gets audience participation. Will the boat of morally upright citizens blow away the certainly morally destitute convicts lest they all be bombed to smithereens? Not if that one extra-tough convict has anything to say about it! Points for playing on racial stereotypes by having the big black guy be the only level-headed one? Hell no . . . its as if Nolan et al. are ridiculing themselves with the tropes on tropes on nottropes. Also, if youre going to have something so absurd, could at least one of those Titanics of innocents have exploded? The everyonegets-saved grab bag is so deus ex machina that even The Amazing Spider-Man doesnt deal that. Genre drifting The greatest failure in straying from the comic-book genre is that The Dark Knight has a ton of visually pleasing, perhaps even mentally probing scenes, but it doesnt do anything. At the end there is a great liveaction storyboard with panes of editing, sets, shots, but no story. Which is just part of the reason why I have little hope for The Dark Knight Rises. Im sure that the majority of responses to this rant will be along the lines of You dont like it because everyone likes it! And to that I say, yeah, a little bit, but not entirely. I really, desperately want to love The Dark Knight. Because the only thing worse than liking something everyone else hates (Lana Del Rey) is not liking something everyone else is obsessed with. Perhaps its not the fault of the movie, but the hype machine that is the Internet has blown a cloud of smoke so thick over this mirror that I fear audiences everywhere will be blinded for decades. This movie has had people everywhere from Facebook friends to respected journalists touting it as the messiah of our cinematic century. And now The Dark Knight Rises has been grandfathered into this anointed franchise, with publications ladling ridiculous praises like potent, persuasive and hypnotic, The Dark Knight Rises has us at is mercy. Really, L.A. Times? I wasnt aware this film has a corporeal perfume. Whats worst is that when you ask these disciples what it is about the movie they love so much, they first scoff at the fact that you dont feel the same way, as if loving The Dark Knight is as essential as breathing oxygen or showing a U.S. passport at the Tijuana border. Then they try to convince you of how epic, amazing and bad-ass it is. And so no, I dont have much hope for The Dark Knight Rises. sasha ARIJANTO
contact sasha: sasha.arijanto@stanford.edu

RON PHILLIPS/Warner Bros. Pictures

Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

CONTINUED FROM ROME PAGE 13 to fake that she knows more as in, she knows exactly one line from every notable poet which Jack sees through, yet he idolizes her nonetheless. He is coached along the way by his architectural mentor (Alec Baldwin), who seems to be a figment of his imagination much like Bogart was in Play It Again, Sam. To Rome With Love is packed with outrageous ideas that are almost more humorous in the recounting than in the execution, yet are more likely to solicit a smile than a hearty laugh. But it gives you everything you would expect from a Woody Allen film, including a cast that has adopted Allens speech patterns something John Cusack once said was inevitable when working with the director. This places the film in approximately the same league as Allens Zelig or Love and Death: a perfectly amusing way to spend an afternoon but nowhere near a masterpiece like Annie Hall or even Vicky Cristina Barcelona. alexandra HEENEY
contact alexandra: aheeney@stanford.edu

CONTINUED FROM EPHRON PAGE 13 work in Ryans shop. Julie and Julia Julie and Julia was also written and directed by Ephron and explores food and feminism in the 21st century, and it does wonders to dissociate cooking from patriarchal oppression. Its a film about two strong women New Yorker Julie (Amy Adams) and Julia Child (played perfectly by Meryl Streep) who have a culinary passion that gives them power: Their forays in the kitchen arent domestic requirements but a source of joy, pride and, often, stress. Refreshingly, they also have supportive husbands not pushovers to stand by them, played by Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina, and the food they cook undoubtedly leave you craving French desserts by the end of the film. Ephrons published writings These may get less publicity than her films, but they assuredly place Ephron as the wisecracking Dorothy Parker of her time (minus the drama). Ephron started out in the newspaper business and eventually developed a knack for writing features and confessional essays, where she discussed everything from divorce to food to the strange parting in her hair that she wishes people would point out to her when it goes awry. Her writing is personal, funny, insightful and wonderfully addictive. Her memoir I Remember Nothing, published in 2010 with excerpts printed in The New Yorker, was certainly one of the books of the year. alexandra HEENEY
contact alexandra: aheeney@stanford.edu

THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2012

THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N 15

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