Daily Herald the Brown

vol. cxliv, no. 96 | Friday, October 30, 2009 | Serving the community daily since 1891

Prostitution ban passes, E y es I n D isguise Tomatoes,

but college taxes falter porn and
By Ben Schreckinger
Senior Staf f Writer
tion bill in May and June respec-
tively, but were unable to reach a
compromise before the General
now a book
The Rhode Island Senate Thursday Assembly adjourned this summer.
night passed a compromise version The House version of the bill car-
Alum dishes on his
of a bill banning indoor prostitu- ried harsher sentences for prosti- X-rated career
tion, which now awaits Gov. Donald tutes than did the Senate version,
Carcieri’s ’65 signature. which did not mandate criminal By Rachel Arndt
The legislature also passed sev- penalties until a third offense. Senior Editor
eral other bills, including The compromise ver-
one that would strip the Metro sion of the bill, which What is porn?
governor’s authority to had passed the House For Sam Benjamin Stern ’99, it
fill vacant United States Senate seats Wednesday, makes prostitution — was the possibility of pursuing art
by appointment. whether indoors or outdoors — a while making money. It was also a
Notably absent was any action misdemeanor carrying a minimum way out of the pot-smoking grind
on two bills to tax private colleges fine of $250 and up to six months of his first post-college job as an
and universities — the bills, which in prison for a first offense. Clients organic farmer in California.
would have extracted millions from can receive up to a year in prison
the University and other Ocean for a first offense. FEATURE
State nonprofits, were not on the Penalties are much stiffer for
agenda, meaning that their propo- the operators of brothels, who will Last but not least, it was a way
nents will need to start at square receive a minimum sentence of one into publishing: His self-published
one when the legislature recon- year for a first offense. first book, “Confessions of an Ivy
Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
venes in January. Outside of part of Nevada, the League Pornographer,” was re-
The Ladd Observatory is decked out for Halloween this week,
The House and Senate passed glowing mummies and all. leased this May.
their own versions of the prostitu- continued on page 2 See News, page 2 Benjamin, who used his last
name, Stern, while at Brown but
now goes by just his first and middle

New URI president makes overtures to Brown
By Alex Bell
Staf f Writer
Just four months into his presi-
dency at the University of Rhode
Island, David Dooley has big plans
for his school — plans he hopes
will include Brown.
Dooley’s vision includes in-
creasing collaboration on re-
search opportunities — sharing
research sites and equipment, for
instance — and academic coop-
eration, including possibilities
for cross-registration between
the two schools.
“When I came in, it looked to
me like Brown and the Univer-
sity of Rhode Island could do a lot
more together,” Dooley said.
But “nothing specific is being
explored at this time,” President
Ruth Simmons wrote in an e-mail
to The Herald, adding that admin-
istrators have not had talks on
campus about cross-registration
or other initiatives.
Dooley, who said he left his
position as provost of Montana
State University with a mission
to bolster URI’s reputation for
research, wasted no time in ap-
proaching Brown administrators
with his proposals.
“We had a ver y, ver y produc-
tive meeting that involved me,
President Simmons and members
of our senior leadership teams,
where we discussed what we saw
as opportunities for us to work
together, and what the potential
might be,” Dooley said.
According to Provost David
Kertzer ’69 P’95 P’98, the meet-
ing at Simmons’ house, which
took place a few weeks ago, was
a dinner in honor of Dooley’s ar-
rival to URI and not specifically
a session to strategize about col-
laboration.
continued on page 3
names, “Sam Benjamin,” chronicles
in the memoir his journey in and out
of the porn industry — from direct-
ing videos to starring in them.
The book is told from the point
of view of a “highly educated Jewish
kid from North Carolina,” wrote
Benjamin’s publicist, Shane Mahon-
ey, in an e-mail to The Herald. The
book is for the “postmodern, jaded,
Gen-X crowd,” he added.
Indeed, Benjamin writes his story
with no lack of self-consciousness,
calling his decision to choose film-
ing sex over harvesting tomatoes
the “fantasy shared by every upper-
middle-class, semi-hipster, slightly

A spirited tour of the

awkward Jew who’s ever done time
in a college classroom.”
From 2000 to 2005, Benjamin

East Side’s major haunts made about 10 independent por-

By Talia Kagan
Staf f Writer
During the Revolutionar y War,
University Hall was temporarily
converted to an army hospital.
While the building’s administra-
tive offices bear little
evidence of this grue- SPOTLIGHT
some past in which
soldiers received painful surgeries
such as leg amputations, on the
right night a passerby might see
a contorted soldier’s face staring
out a second-floor window — ac-
cording to the Providence Ghost
Tour, one of the walking tours that
explore the city’s various “haunted”
locations.
In fact, Rhode Island’s capital
Claire Huang / Herald
inside
is filled with ghosts in unexpected
nooks and crannies, according to
the guides who use their super-
natural knowledge of Providence’s
paranormal to lead visitors and
locals alike through the city’s
haunted side. Drawing on archi-
val research and
local history, both
the Providence
Ghost Tour and the Providence
Ghost Walk divulge College Hill’s
spooky secrets to give customers a
taste of Providence’s otherworldly
thrills.
Quoth the Raven
The eerie tales of Edgar Allan
continued on page 4
nographic films and filmed hun-
dreds of scenes for professional
companies.
His interest in pornography goes
back at least as far as his years at
Brown. A concentrator in art-semi-
otics, he toyed around with editing
existing porn films. He also drew a
comic strip for The Herald called
“Anxiety Comix.”
“I was super passionate about
being a working artist,” he said, but
“I wasn’t really talented.”
Benjamin wanted to bring an
uncharted level of artistic thought
to porn, pairing postmodernist
thoughts — and even a bit of hu-
manity — with eroticism. He tried
his hand at it on and off from 2000
to 2005.
“Porno was this land of undiscov-
continued on page 5

News.....1-5
Sports.....6-7
News, 3 Sports, 7 Opinions, 11
Ar ts.........8 beyond borders Ground down Early Exclusion
Editorial..10 Former European leaders Zach Tronti ’11 has iced Jared Lafer ’11 wants past
Opinion...11 discussed the future of the recent foes late, but Penn discrimination against Jews
Today........12 European Union will be a tough new test by elite colleges examined

www.browndailyherald.com 195 Angell Street, Providence, Rhode Island herald@browndailyherald.com

Page 2 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, October 30, 2009

C ampus N EWS “We’re going to cover Wriston with gravestones plus a few surprises.”
— Troy Shapiro ’10, an AEPi brother, on the Wriston Rising party Saturday

crossword Spooky slate of events in store

By Emily Kirkland
Contributing Writer

A haunted house, an organ concert,

a decoration-bedecked observatory
and a screening of the “Rocky Hor-
ror Picture Show.” Not to mention
frat parties, house parties and stand-
up comedy. It’s all in the cards for
this weekend — evidence that, for
many Brown students, Halloween
is serious business.
“I’ve been planning my costume
for a month,” said Nic Mooney ’11,
head of publicity for the Special
Events Committee, which plans
free campus-wide events. “I don’t
even want to think about how much
I’ve spent on it.”
This year, he said, he’ll be dress-
ing as “a skanky sun,” using sup-
plies purchased at the Garment
District, a store in Boston.
Mooney will showcase the outfit
trick-or-treating on College Hill.
“It’s fun,” he said, “especially Nick Sinnott-Armstrong / Herald
when you’re all decked out.” A makeshift dungeon in the Ladd Observatory for the holiday.
Chio Yokose ’10 and Kenji Mo-
rimoto ’11, co-presidents of the cluded student performances, a be held in a tent, allowing AEPi to
Japanese Cultural Association, said costume contest and free food. admit 300 people at a time. Last
creating this year’s haunted house, “We’ve been planning since the year, a 250-person capacity meant
in the basement of Sayles Hall, was beginning of the year,” he said. they had to turn away dozens of
a “huge time commitment.” And a lot went into planning partygoers.
After much deliberation, the Alpha Epsilon Pi’s Wriston Rising The party’s $5,000 budget in-
group settled on a hospital theme party, which will take place Satur- cludes a DJ, a dance floor, lights,
with “plenty of blood,” they said, but day night. an open bar and decorations.
specific decorations and elements “This is our biggest party of “We’re going to cover Wriston
will be a secret until the event is the semester,” Troy Shapiro ’10, (Quadrangle) with gravestones,”
unveiled on Friday night. an AEPi brother said, adding that Shapiro said, “plus a few surpris-
In his role in the Special Events the frat had been organizing the es.”
Committee, Mooney said he was party for “over a month.” His costume, on the other hand,
also busy organizing Thursday’s All that planning has paid off, will be anything but spooky. “I’m
Live on Lincoln event, which in- he said: This year, the party will going as a teddy bear,” he said.
Editor’s note: Due to a corrupted file, The Herald’s daily crossword puzzle was illegible on
Monday. Above is the puzzle as it should have appeared. Have at it! (Today’s crossword
puzzle is on the back page, as usual.) The Herald regrets messing up your Monday.

sudoku
U. dodges tax bullet, for now
continued from page 1
Ocean State is the only jurisdiction
in the United States where indoor
prostitution is currently legal.
Over the summer, Attorney Gen-
eral Patrick Lynch ’87, State Police
Superintendent Brendan Doherty
and Carcieri expressed opposition
to what they considered excessive
lenience in the Senate version of
the bill.
But local human rights organi-
zations asserted that burdening
prostitutes with a criminal record
would serve only to diminish their
prospects for legitimate employ-
ment.
An amendment to the bill that
was finally passed allows courts to
that criminal penalties for prosti-
tutes would place “an unfair and
heavy burden on the victim.” She
was one of only two dissenters in
last night’s vote, according to the
Providence Journal.
The Democrat-controlled legis-
lature’s move to strip the governor’s
office — currently occupied by Car-
cieri, a Republican — of the power
METRO
to fill Senate vacancies comes on the
heels of the Massachusetts legisla-
ture’s decision to reverse a similar
measure. The Massachusetts law,
passed by a Democratic legislature
during Republican Mitt Romney’s
governorship, was amended to al-
desk.
Also on its way to Carcieri is a
bill banning reading or sending text
messages while driving, passed by
the assembly yesterday.
The General Assembly also
passed a bill that would allow Uni-
versity of Rhode Island, Rhode
Island College and Community
College of Rhode Island students
to apply Advanced Placement and
other credits towards an acceler-
ated three-year bachelor’s program.
The bill aims to ease the financial
burden of higher education for
students at Rhode Island’s public
colleges.
Bills that would allow cities to
slap large nonprofits — including
Brown — with partial property

Daily Herald
expunge convictions for prostitutes low Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, taxes and levy a $150 tax on out-
the Brown
— but not for clients or brothel op- to quickly appoint a successor to of-state students at private colleges
erators — after a year, at judges’ Edward Kennedy, who died this did not come up during the special
Editorial Phone: 401.351.3372 | Business Phone: 401.351.3260 discretion. summer. session. The bills would need to
Stephen DeLucia, President Jonathan Spector, Treasurer State Sen. Rhoda Perr y P’91, The Rhode Island bill, which be re-introduced at the beginning
Michael Bechek, Vice President Alexander Hughes, Secretary D-Dist. 3, whose district includes passed by a veto-proof majority of the next session in Januar y to
The Brown Daily Herald (USPS 067.740) is an independent newspaper serv- College Hill, told The Herald in July Thursday, will be sent to Carcieri’s remain active.
ing the Brown University community daily since 1891. It is published Monday
through Friday during the academic year, excluding vacations, once during
Commencement, once during Orientation and once in July by The Brown Daily
Herald, Inc. Single copy free for each members of the community.

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Copyright 2009 by The Brown Daily Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
Friday, October 30, 2009
C ampus N EWS
Romano Prodi, former Italian prime minister, spoke about the European Union’s future at panel this week.
Former E.U. leaders discuss way forward
By Monique Vernon
Staff Writer
The relevance and future of the Eu-
ropean Union were the focus of two
former European leaders on campus
this week.
In four panels, former Italian
Prime Minister Romano Prodi and
former Austrian Chancellor Alfred
Gusenbauer identified ways to make
the economic and political group of
27 countries more effective.
The two-day event entitled, “The
European Union in a Moment of Cri-
sis,” hosted by the Watson Institute
for International Studies.
Thursday evening’s panel, “What
Is the EU’s Future?,” served as a “cul-
mination of a pretty serious and ex-
tensive conversation about the Euro-
pean Union,” said Michael Kennedy,
director of the Watson Institute.
The approximately 90-minute
panel centered on the idea that the
European Union must be revamped
for it to be a more effective govern-
ing body.
Prodi, a professor-at-large at the
Watson Institute for International Re-
lations and a former president of the
European Commission, and Gusen-
bauer identified the problems with
Brown, URI look for common ground
continued from page 1
The gathering was “a nice thing
Ruth did to welcome a colleague,”
he said.
The basis of the proposals for
increased collaboration, Dooley
said, is to expand the already high
level of research cooperation be-
tween the universities. Faculty
members from both universities
have already worked together not
only on research projects but also
on proposals for federal funding
that have benefited both institu-
tions, he said.
Research collaboration so far
“has been very successful and very
productive,” Dooley said.
Kertzer said transforming the
Jewelry District into a “knowledge
district” to house research and
health institutions is appealing to
both Brown and URI because such
a research park would contribute
positively to Providence and Rhode
Island.
In an inter view with the Provi-
dence Business News last week,
the current state of the union and
alternatives that should be adopted
to help the union move forward.
The institution must focus on
achieving unanimity and on obtain-
ing more stable sources of funding,
the panelists said.
Gusenbauer said EU members
must agree to “abolish the system
of intergovernmental financing” by
taxing European citizens directly, not
relying on member governments to
supply funds.
The panelists also said that hav-
ing English as a common language
would serve to unify and strengthen
the union.
“Language in the European Union
is an instrument of power,” Prodi
said.
A common language would lead
to a more level playing field, Gusen-
bauer agreed.
The EU has 23 official languages
— a number that is likely to increase
as more countries join the union, ac-
cording to the European Commis-
sion’s Web site. In the past, EU lead-
ers have called for requiring citizens
of an EU member country to speak at
least two foreign languages besides
their mother tongues.
Professor of Political Science
Dooley said URI’s plans to build
its own research park near its
Kingston campus had to be put
on hold because of the economic
downturn and a dispute over the
proposed location.
Dooley told The Herald he
would also like Brown and URI
students to benefit from joint cur-
ricular programs.
“I don’t know if that’s something
that can work or not, but I think it’s
worth exploring,” he said.
Brown already has joint cur-
ricular programs with a few other
schools, including the Brown-
Rhode Island School of Design
five-year dual degree program
and the Brown/Wheaton Fac-
ulty Fellows Program that sends
Brown graduate students to teach
at Wheaton College, where they
are mentored by Wheaton staff.
Students who wish to take languag-
es not offered at Brown can also
register at other schools under
certain circumstances.
“Recently, Brown has been col-
laborating more and more with
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“Language in the European Union is an instrument of power.”
Claire Huang / Herald
Mark Blyth, who also spoke at the
event, framed the discussion of
the EU’s future by saying that the
EU risks stagnating if it does not
evolve.
“What the European Union has
done in the past has defined what it
can do,” he said. “It has exhausted
its future possibilities.”
Audience members asked the
leaders questions that touched on,
among other topics, whether Ukraine
would ever enter the union and the
EU’s politicization.
Those who attended the event
said they enjoyed listening to the in-
formative and engaging speakers.
“Very distinguished panelists,”
said Rich Maher GS. They were “able
to provide an interesting and excel-
lent analysis.”
The two-day event served as “a
point of contact between practitio-
ners, students and academics,” Blyth
told The Herald after the panel.
“I hope it will serve as a model for
other events that the Watson Institute
holds,” he added.
Though the panels only lasted two
days, “the commitment to understand
the European Union” will continue in
the future, Kennedy told Thursday
night’s audience.
other universities,” Kertzer said.
According to Ker tzer, URI
of fers courses in areas such as
pharmacology, marine research
and nursing that Brown students
might be interested in taking. But
because of the distance between
Brown’s campus and URI’s cam-
puses around the state, Kertzer
said joint curricular programs
might make more sense for gradu-
ate students than for undergradu-
ates.
The next meeting for adminis-
trators from both universities to
discuss collaboration will probably
be in Januar y, though a date has
not yet been set, Kertzer said.
“As the two research universi-
ties in Rhode Island — as close
as we are together — we might
find ways to par tner that would
benefit both institutions,” Dooley
said. “We have programs here that
are ver y strong that complement
the programs at Brown, and Brown
obviously has a set of programs
that is complementar y to what
we’re doing here at URI.”
— Romano Prodi, former Italian Prime Minister
Researchers question
prevailing HIV wisdom
By Kristina Klara
Contributing Writer
Current beliefs about the spread of
HIV in sub-Saharan Africa may be
unfounded, according to a paper
published recently by two Brown
researchers.
Assistant Professor of Commu-
nity Health and Medicine Mark
Lurie and Samantha Rosenthal GS,
a masters student in public health,
found that there is insufficient sci-
entific evidence to prove that con-
currency — the practice of having
multiple sexual relationships at the
same time — is the main driving
force behind the HIV epidemic in
sub-Saharan Africa.
“We’ve challenged an otherwise
unchallenged assumption about
the impact that overlapping sexual
partners has,” Rosenthal said.
The prevailing assumption that
concurrency is driving the epidem-
ic, Lurie said, is “a great big leap
of faith.”
About one year ago, Lurie
read an article by Harvard public
health researchers Timothy Mah
and Daniel Halperin that presented
the evidence supporting the central
role of concurrency in HIV trans-
mission.
“I did not feel like there was
strong evidence at all,” Lurie said.
“A lot of problems or shortcom-
ings (of the concurrency theory)
were not mentioned or identified,”
Rosenthal said. “The evidence at
best is mixed.”
Lurie and Rosenthal concluded
that the cause of the HIV epidemic
could not be traced back to one
factor.
Though Lurie and Rosenthal do
not deny that concurrent sexual re-
lationships can play a role in propa-
Page 3
gating HIV, poverty, migration, lack
of circumcision and lack of access
to health care and education also
affect the epidemic, they said.
“We are not saying that (con-
currency) is not important or …
is not happening,” Lurie said, “but
the hypothesis that’s out there that
people are taking as fact is flawed
in many ways .”
The United States Agency for
International Development has re-
cently spent millions of dollars on
mass media campaigns to discour-
age concurrent sexual networks in
sub-Saharan Africa, the researchers
said.
Rosenthal and Lurie are wary
of pulling money from tried and
true methods of preventing the
spread of HIV — like condom use
and circumcision — to funnel into
discouraging concurrency.
“Money may well have been
spent better elsewhere on an in-
tervention that we already know
is efficacious,” Lurie said.
Both Lurie and Rosenthal said
they wanted to force people to think
a little more carefully about how
HIV spreads and not jump to con-
clusions.
“There are still a lot of question
marks,” Lurie said.
The pair wants to discourage
non-profit organizations and poli-
cy makers from rushing to tackle
concurrency until they have more
evidence.
“We want to encourage better
study and research, agree upon
consistent definitions of concur-
rency and then do research and
multiple studies to show that this
is going on,” Rosenthal said. “We
need to ask, ‘What do we know?’
and realize that we need to do more
work.”
Page 4
F eatures
Ghost walk shows city’s spooky side
continued from page 1
Poe are always popular during the
Halloween season, but Providence
residents may not know that Poe
once roamed the streets of Col-
lege Hill with his fiancee, local
poet Sarah Helen Whitman. They
conducted much of their courtship
in the Providence Athenaeum on
Benefit Street, and Poe even wrote
her a poem, one of the two he titled
“To Helen.”
“They fell in love in that Gothic,
cosmic kind of way only the Victori-
ans could,” said Rory Raven on one
of his Providence Ghost Walks last
week. Tragically, Poe’s alcoholic
habits proved to be a deal-breaker
for Whitman’s family, and she ended
their engagement, said Raven, au-
thor of “Haunted Providence,” a col-
lection of local legends about ghosts
and strange happenings.
This is Raven’s tenth year run-
ning the Providence Ghost Walk,
but he isn’t the only one who knows
his repertoire of stories by heart.
Some attendees keep coming back
— it “keeps the stories fresh in my
mind,” said Jocelyn Smyth, who at-
tended Raven’s tour for the fourth
time Saturday afternoon.
Attired in a long black jacket, a
vest and a top hat, Raven focuses his
tour on stories from the 19th cen-
tury, based on historical accounts
from local archives.
The walk travels mostly along
Benefit Street, once a back alley in
which city residents buried family
members, Raven said. The many
graves have since been reinterred
in another cemetery, though some
bones may still remain on College
Hill, he said.
The Ghost Walk’s other stops
include a cemeter y, the haunted
site where a sanitorium once stood
and the yellow colonial house de-
scribed in horror writer H.P. Love-
craft’s short story “The Shunned
House.”
Raven said visitors often react
to his creepiest stories with “ner-
vous laughter.” A guest once faint-
ed, he said — because she hadn’t
eaten breakfast. “It wasn’t anything
spooky, just low blood sugar,” he
said.
Raven works full-time as a practi-
tioner of mentalism — stage magic
that presents the illusion of clair-
voyance — and gives lectures on
occult topics such as seances and te-
lepathy. But when asked whether he
actually believes in the supernatural
tales he spins, the self-described
“mindbender” was evasive.
“I pass them on as stories,” he
said.
Invisible histories
Courtney Edge, who co-founded
Providence Ghost Tour, freely ad-
mits to personal experience with the
paranormal. There was “a tremen-
dous amount of paranormal activity”
in her childhood home, including
unexplained footsteps and sounds,
she said.
Edge and Mike Gertrudes, the
tour’s other founder, often went
ghost hunting in local cemeteries,
a shared interest that led to the cre-
ation of the Providence Ghost Tour
four years ago. Business has been
booming since its founding — Edge
and Gertrudes now employ nine
tour guides, and last Saturday over
100 people showed up for the tour in
the pouring rain, Gertrudes said.
The tour starts at Prospect Ter-
race Park around dusk on Friday
and Saturday nights. Guides hold
lanterns as they recount tales of
haunted dormitories and lead at-
tendees through the Brown and
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, October 30, 2009
“I’ve actually seen a full torso’s apparition.”
— Howard Hewitt, amateur archaeologist, on encountering spirits
Rhode Island School of Design
campuses. The tour’s stops include
a haunted admissions office, the
Brown Faculty Club and a former
funeral parlor that has been turned
into an art studio — where artists
now wash their paintbrushes in
sinks previously used for embalm-
ing, said Kelly McCabe, who has
worked as one of the tour’s guides
for two years.
Like Raven, Gertrudes and Edge
turned to local history for material.
Gertrudes spent so much time re-
searching in the Rhode Island His-
torical Society archives that he was
even offered a job as an independent
researcher, he said.
Early on in the walk, McCabe
offers a quick primer on the spiritual
manifestations that she encourages
her tours’ attendees to photograph.
She outlines their various forms,
which include “orbs,” “apparitions”
and “poltergeists.” Pictures of orbs,
or “balls of energy” without ex-
plained light sources, are the most
common, she said.
Howard Hewitt, an amateur
archaeologist with a self-described
“passion” for the paranormal, took
Monday’s tour with a camera in Frederic Lu / Herald
hand and high hopes for encoun- Kelly McCabe, pictured in front of the Annmary Brown Memorial, gives
tours of “haunted” Providence locales for Providence Ghost Tours.
tering some ghostly activity. Hewitt,
who has studied “parapsychology” first-time guest Shayla Fortin. season also means more discernible
for years, said he had encountered Though some skepticism of supernatural activity, McCabe said.
spirits in the past, though never be- paranormal phenomena is neces- “There’s a reason that Halloween is
fore in Providence. sary, doubting visitors can affect when it is.”
“I’ve actually seen a full torso’s the tour experience, McCabe said.
apparition,” he said. “Sometimes you get tours where The Providence Ghost Walk is of-
During the tour, Hewitt filled people are so closed off that it just fered Saturdays and Sundays until
his entire roll of film with shots of drains the energy,” she said. the end of October at 3 p.m. Tours
windows and dark corners. He even Gertrudes expects a large crowd leave from the Providence Athenae-
sensed the presence of a Revolu- this weekend — which could be a um, and tickets cost $7. Providence
tionary War soldier on the steps of boon to ghost hunters, according Ghost Tours are offered Friday and
University Hall, he said. to McCabe. Larger crowds often Saturday nights through Novem-
But not all guests had Hewitt’s attract a greater spiritual presence, ber 14 at 7 p.m. Tours leave from
level of belief. she said. Prospect Terrace Park, and tickets
“I wanted to, but I didn’t,” said Of course, the haunted holiday cost $12.
blogdailyherald.com
Updates, photos, comments!
Page 5 THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Friday, October 30, 2009

F EATURES “It was a failure. But it was a funny failure.”

— Sam Benjamin Stern ’99, on his porn career

From organic farm to L.A. porn scene, alum avoided beaten path
continued from page 1

ered opportunity,” he said. “I just

knew I could do something better
with it.”

Humble beginnings
After graduating from Brown,
Benjamin left rainy Providence for
California’s sun, taking a job at an
organic tomato farm. The sun and
home-grown marijuana took their
toll, though, and Benjamin moved
on.
“Brown, like most American lib-
eral arts institutions operating in
the latter part of the 20th century,
had adopted the post-modern way
of thought as a virtual religion,”
Benjamin writes in the book.
That “splendidly pretentious lexi-
con” taught him to play “the Creativ-
ity game, and play it to win.” He
decided he could make art to make
money — “I could use my brain to
Courtesy of Shane Mahoney
make a buck,” he writes. Sam Benjamin Stern’s ’99 self-published “Confessions of an Ivy League Pornographer” was released in May.
Benjamin wanted to make “porn
with soul,” according to Mahoney. ternet company needed a producer Lysette penetrated me from behind, movies to be “degraded,” he said, modern art, “Small-town freaks on
So, while working at a juice bar, he and director for low-budget erotic and I rode the wave of her desire.” but in gay porn, the men are not a leash” and alternate careers he
struck up conversations about porn films. Benjamin “lucked into the Benjamin’s on-screen debut moti- imposed upon to have sex. might have pursued, among other
with anyone who would listen. job,” he said, and kept it for about vated him to stay in the industry. He Now, with a book “far cheaper explicit and artistic explorations.
“I’m really surprised I didn’t get a year and a half. continued working in L.A. — behind than actual porn, and only 50 per- Though Benjamin is self-pub-
fired,” he said. “I was running the show — I was the camera once more — and even cent as shameful,” according to Ben- lishing the book for now, he hopes
The start to his new career came hiring people, I was getting paid told his father what he’d been up to jamin’s Web site, his goal of success- to find a publisher and is working
in the form of a porn-loving 45-year- good money,” he said. But “it was since college. fully mixing sex, money and art may to drum up interest through social
old named Dennis, whom he met at the opposite of what I had come into Then, the ubiquitous sex began be about to reach its climax. media sites, he said.
the juice bar. porn to do.” to drag. Instead of changing things Benjamin has a literary agent in
Dennis offered to be in Benja- Business slowed down, and the as he had intended, he was “doing Translating flesh to text New York, according to Mahoney,
min’s first video at no cost. (“I’ll work Benjamin was doing for the exactly the same thing.” “Burnt out” Benjamin wrote the bulk of and his goal is to find a publisher
never forget him, because he was softcore company Wett Channel from the work, he said, “I didn’t feel “Confessions of an Ivy League Por- by mid-next year.
my first,” Benjamin said.) fizzled. Benjamin was broke. like being around people having sex nographer” in six months in 2006, “Several hundred copies of the
But Benjamin “had to troll the Soon he was stuck riding a bike that much.” moving “forward in fits and starts,” book” have been sold, Mahoney
Internet” to find Dennis’ counter- in L.A., after his car broke and he he said. Now, while publicizing the said, since it was released for the
part. Eventually, he found a “super- had no cash to get it fixed. Benjamin Pulling out book, he’s also at work on another Amazon Kindle last May and as a
smart, super-interesting” dominatrix didn’t want out, though, and he got To sort himself out, Benjamin volume. paperback last August.
named Janay, star of the “Debbie his next chance, he said, “sooner traveled to Asia, where he medi- “The whole project of writing this What’s more, Mahoney wrote,
Does Whip-Ass” series. than I expected.” tated and fasted. Then he applied to book is my artistic redemption,” the book is already profitable, since
Besides actors, Benjamin also A sex-shop salesperson he’d the California Institute of the Arts, he said. “our margins on digital products
needed a camera. He spent $1,000 met a year before in San Francisco where he graduated in 2005 with a He went into porn hoping to do are so low.”
on a “one-chip digital camera,” he called Benjamin with a request. She master’s degree in critical studies something new with the genre, but Though Benjamin calls himself
said, after asking the salesman if he was directing a movie for the porn and integrated media. he found the medium to be static. a “hack” — and admits he’ll always
could return it after, which he did. company Good Vibrations — her But that wasn’t the end of making Porn is the same — “besides the be one — he cites a “creative force”
Benjamin’s first movie, “We first — and she wanted Benjamin. porn for Benjamin. While pursuing aesthetic differences,” he said — as the impetus behind his continued
Always Want,” was “hardly even a But he wasn’t going to be behind his degree, he also pursued the gay again and again. pursuit of artistry.
porno,” he says, but it was “the best the camera, she said. Instead, he’d porn industry. The tale features his stories of “It was a failure,” Benjamin said
film I ever made.” The film featured be one of the actors. The switch from heterosexual to Viagra use — “penises get scared, of his porn career. “But it was a
interviews with the actors to put Benjamin’s role in “Slide Bi Me” homosexual porn was “refreshing,” too,” Benjamin writes — and theoret- funny failure.”
“their personalities into the film” — was fairly straightforward, he writes he said. ical examinations of a “world where And, when it comes to Benja-
something that most porn movies in the memoir. “My dreadlocked “For some reason, in mainstream women existed only as props.” min’s artistic redemption, the book
lack, he said. lover kissed me on the head, then porn there’s an agenda,” he says. The chapters are separated by may provide a happy ending.
He tried to sell copies of the pushed me towards a pink blanket. Women in straight porn are in the photo-comics dealing with post-
video on eBay for $5.99 each. But
success was hard to come by. He
sold only five of his home-mastered
VHS tapes.
“Hardly anyone’s ever seen it,”
Benjamin says of the movie. “It’s my
masterpiece.”

The porn industry, writ large

After nine months of hawking his
homemade creation and working at
his dream of independent erotic-
film producing, Benjamin decided
to move on to bigger things.
So he moved from Santa Cruz to
Los Angeles, where he pushed his
way into the industry with “chutz-
pah.”
Meanwhile, he had to make
money and took odd jobs to make
ends meet — including a stint as a
go-go dancer in a gay bar.
His entrance into the “high-pro-
file porn industry” came when an In-
 SportsWeekend
The Brown Daily Herald
Ivy’s top offense,
defense to battle
By Dan Alexander
Senior Staff Writer
Running back Zach Tronti ’11 prob-
ably won’t get many carries in the
first three quarters of the Brown-
Penn game Saturday. And that’s OK
with him.
“Everyone’s attitude is, let’s just
do what we have to do to win games,”
Tronti said. “If that means me block-
ing the first three quarters and then
trying to run the clock out at the end,
I’m fine with that.”
Tronti is used to being a running
back in a passing offense. His high
school team was known for its spread
offense. It was also known for a quar-
terback who graduated a year ahead
of Tronti — Florida’s 2007 Heisman
Trophy Winner, Tim Tebow.
Tronti got many of his high
school carries when his team was
ahead in the fourth quarter and he
had to help run out the clock.
That’s exactly what he has done
for Brown the last two weeks. He
had only four rushes in the first half
of Bruno’s win over Cornell last Sat-
urday. The previous week, another
victory, 14 of his 29 rushes came in
the fourth quarter.
Lately, the final quarter has been
his. With a 27-17 lead over Princ-
eton two weeks ago, the Bears ran
a 19-play drive that chewed up 11:08
in the fourth quarter. Tronti ran 14
times on the drive, including a three-
yard touchdown to cap it off.
In the fourth quarter against
Cornell last Saturday, Tronti ran 10
times on a 12-play touchdown drive
that took 7:12 off the clock.
“That’s how any team would love
to write it up — to get ahead and then
try to burn the clock running the ball
in the fourth quarter,” Tronti said.
But it probably won’t be that easy
this weekend.
The matchup
Tronti and the rest of the Bear
offense will go up against the Quak-
ers this weekend, a team that ranks
third in the nation in rushing yards
and total yards against.
“They’re very strong up front,”
said Brown Head Coach Phil Estes
of the Penn defense. “They can beat
you with the four-man rush, and they
put a lot of pressure on the quarter-
back. Their secondary is outstand-
ing. They really come to play week
in and week out.”
The Quakers gave up only 25
rushing yards in their 9-0 win over
Running back Zachary Tronti ’11 has sealed victories in the Bears’ last two games. Brown will face Penn at
home this Saturday, hoping to improve its 2-1 Ivy League record.
Yale last weekend. The previous
week, Columbia managed nega-
tive-20 yards on the ground against
them.
Penn’s pass defense has given up
only 149.7 yards per game, making
it the best in the Ivy League. But
the Bears’ offense leads the league
in scoring and yards.
“On paper, you’re facing a very,
very explosive offense against a
pretty good, sound defense,” said
Friday, October 30, 2009 | Page 6
Penn Head Coach Al Bagnoli. “Ob-
viously, something’s going to have
to give.”
The Bears are averaging 290
passing yards per game, and it is
likely they will stick with what has
worked so far on Saturday.
“Our strength is Kyle Newhall-
Caballero (’11) at quarterback and
then our receivers,” Estes said.
But if the Bears need to run out
the clock at the end of the game,
Tronti will likely be called on again
to grind it out.
“What he has been able to do the
last couple of weeks in the fourth
quarter has been tremendous,” Es-
tes said. “We have a lot more confi-
dence in our run game.”
But not as much as Penn. The
Quakers focus their offense around
the run. Last week, Penn gained 177
yards on the ground and only 94
through the air.
Jesse Morgan / Herald File Photo
“They’re basically going to try to
run it down our throats,” said safety
Chris Perkins ’10. “They’ll run it
right at you.”
Penn has started three quarter-
backs in the last three games. In two
of Penn’s last four games, the team
has managed fewer than 100 yards
passing. But with a defense that has
held its opponents to just 12.3 points
per game, Penn has not needed high
offensive production to win.
Both teams will come into the
game on a four-game winning streak
and with identical 4-2 records. Brown
has yet to lose at home.
“Everybody is playing with a real
confidence, a real swagger that win-
ning teams need to have,” said wide
receiver Bobby Sewall ’10. “We go
out on the field, whether it’s home
or away — and especially at home
— and say, ‘No one is going to come
in here and beat us.’ ”
Page 7
S ports W eekend
Coach Whittet ’94 awaits excitement on ice, in stands
By Dan Alexander
Senior Staf f Writer
New men’s hockey Head Coach
Brendan Whittet ’94 remembers
when Meehan Auditorium was
filled ever y Friday and Saturday
night the hockey team played at
home. He remembers students
singing the national anthem, Bruno
the mascot running around the
stands, the Brown band playing
on the ice.
And he wants it back.
Whittet will get his first chance
to refill Meehan Saturday night,
when the Bears take on the Univer-
sity of Ontario Institute of Technol-
ogy in an exhibition game.
The game will be the Bears’ sec-
ond in an opening weekend that
will begin in Princeton, N.J. Friday
afternoon. The Bears will take on
the Tigers in the Ivy Showdown —
a game that will count toward the
teams’ overall records but not the
ECAC standings.
Whittet remembers Meehan
from his years as a Brown defense-
man. His team won an Ivy League
title in 1992, went to the ECAC Fi-
Herald Mail: Morning Mail’s cooler cousin.
nal Four Championship in 1993 and
1994 and got an at-large bid to the
NCAA tournament in 1993.
For the last 11 years, Whittet
has seen the rink from behind
the visitors’ bench, as an assis-
tant coach with the Dar tmouth
Big Green.
“I was shocked when I would
come in here and see the lack of
attendance, the lack of support,”
he said.
In order to bring more people
into the stands, Whittet slashed
season ticket prices for the com-
munity in half and hosted 60 local
children for a skate with Brown
players, he said.
While these ef for ts will get
people to the rink, Whittet said,
he hopes the hockey will keep
them there.
“We’ve got to bring an excit-
ing brand of hockey, and we will,”
Whittet said. “We’re going to be
ver y much up-tempo, we’re going
to be in your face, we’re going to
be physical, we’re going to try and
generate offense, and I think that’s
a good brand of hockey to play.”
Last season’s brand of hockey
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THE BROWN DAILY HERALD
“We’re going to be in your face, we’re going to be physical.”
didn’t fill the stands, and it didn’t
win games. Brown went 5-23-5
overall and 3-15-4 in ECAC play un-
der Head Coach Roger Grillo. The
Bears finished with the league’s
worst record, fewest goals per
game and most goals against per
game.
But Whittet said he doesn’t want
to dwell on last season.
This season, the Bears will be
without Matt Vokes ’09, who led
the team in goals (10) and assists
(17) a year ago, but they hope to
get more ice time from another
potent offensive threat. Captain
Devin Timberlake ’10 — who was
sidelined with injuries for much of
last year — will return after a sea-
son in which he had four goals and
four assists in just ten games.
Still, the goal-scoring this year
will have to come by committee,
Whittet said.
Assistant captain Aaron Volpatti
’10, who had the second-most goals
on the team last year with six, said
that committee must be led by the
three captains who play forward —
Timberlake, Volpatti and Jordan
Pietrus ’10.
— Men’s Hockey Coach Brendan Whittet ’94
Brown’s fourth captain, Jeremy
Russell ’11, will lead the Bears’ de-
fense.
Whittet said he plans to play an
aggressive style of defense, attack-
ing at the blue line and overloading
in the corners.
“I want there to be some sem-
blance of guys that are physical and
tough and nasty and guys that, you
know what, if somebody comes in
their corner and they have a puck
— that’s fine. But you’re not going
to possess it for the next two min-
utes,” Whittet said. “We’re going to
knock you through the wall, take
the puck, and go the other way.”
Who will stand behind Brown’s
defense still remains somewhat of a
mystery. Although goalie Mike Cle-
mente ’12 will start against Princ-
eton, Whittet said he doesn’t know
whether Clemente, Dan Rosen ’10
or Anthony Borelli ’13 will eventu-
ally become the No. 1 goalie.
“They’re all ver y good goalten-
ders,” Whittet said. “Unfortunately,
only one can play. There’s only one
net.”
Rosen was the star ter at the
beginning of last season, but Cle-
Friday, October 30, 2009
mente eventually replaced him.
“It’s a clean slate,” Whittet said.
“I don’t really care what happened
last year.”
Volpatti said the competition
for ice time has been intense this
preseason.
“Ever yone has a new oppor-
tunity,” he said. “It’s just a new
breath of life.”
Volpatti also said Whittet’s ar-
rival has caused a buzz around
Brown hockey that he hasn’t seen
in his time at Brown.
“It’s a little bit of a culture
change,” said forward Jarred Smith
’12. “It’s a little more upbeat and
energetic.”
The Bears will get their first
chance to show their new upbeat,
energetic style of play this after-
noon in Princeton at 4 p.m. The
puck will drop in Meehan for the
first time since Whittet took over
the program at 7 p.m. tomorrow
against UOIT.
“It’s sort of a new era, I guess,
in Brown hockey,” Volpatti said.
“And we want to pack that building
like it was when ... Coach Whittet
was here.”
Arts & Culture
The Brown Daily Herald
Want to know R.I.? Read the ‘fine print’ Mediocre performances
By Anita Mathews
Contributing Writer
dim ‘Shooting Star’
Criticized by the locals and pitied
by its neighbors, Rhode Island is
frequently written off as too small
to combat the titanic issues it faces.
But despite the state’s soaring unem-
ployment and economic stagnation,
one Ocean State native is getting the
word out about what can be done to
bolster a struggling state.
Tom Sgouros, editor of the Rhode
Island Policy Reporter, a newsletter
on governmental goings-on, recently
published an incisive volume entitled
“10 Things You Don’t Know About
Rhode Island.” The book, whose
tagline reads, “A skeptical look at
government, economics and recent
history in one lively little state,” tack-
les both the political quagmire and the
attitudes impeding recovery, ending
with advice for both policymakers and
Rhode Island citizens about how to
improve the state of the state.
Sgouros, who has done statistical
research for various groups over the
last 20 years, said he took an interest
in subjects “nerdy and obscure, but
central to all our lives,” after he real-
ized that public policy was seldom
reported clearly because of a general
lack of technical expertise with num-
bers and their meanings. Frustrated
with a chasm between legislative de-
tails and public awareness, Sgouros
said he decided to use his statistical
knowledge to relay commonly missed
subtleties that affect individuals’ daily
lives.
“So often, a line of some subpara-
graph B-96 turns out to be the ful-
crum around which some of the most
important issues revolve,” Sgouros
said.
From the first page of his book,
he contends that Rhode Island’s
problems are more complex than
the common critic is willing to ac-
knowledge.
Sgouros said too many people buy
into what he calls the “conventional
tale” of villainous labor unions and
politicians as the sole cause of the
state’s troubles.
“The world craves a story that ex-
plains what’s going on,” said Sgouros.
As a result, “the facts don’t really
speak for themselves — they speak
within a story.”
Sgouros said he finds that this
“master narrative” leads to an incor-
rect interpretation of facts, and that
he is seeking to correct a question-
able diagnosis of Rhode Island’s af-
flictions. He points out that blaming
labor unions, for example, may be
convenient, but says that this argu-
ment falls apart when one considers
the fact that unions have lost on many
important legislative issues.
Instead, he urges Rhode Island’s
inhabitants to consider their own
contributions to what hurts the state
most.
“A lot of what I write is about how
what’s bankrupting us are basically
popular choices, things that have
popular consent,” he said, pointing
to costly enforcement of “draconian”
drug policy as an example. “What’s
sort of funny is that people want to
deny (that their contribution) mat-
ters at all.”
Sgouros also challenges the notion
that Rhode Island is worse off than
nearly every other state in the nation.
He takes a closer look at statistics that
are frequently cited in this argument
— and just as frequently misused.
He gives the example of public
fire protection: Rhode Island spends
twice as much money per capita on its
fire departments as any other state.
At first, this seems alarming and has
given critics fodder for accusations of
financial mismanagement.
But upon closer inspection,
Sgouros found that, unlike most
states, Rhode Island classifies am-
bulance personnel as part of the fire
department. So while Rhode Island
ranks first in fire protection spending,
it also ranks near the very bottom
in ambulance spending. Though it
is a detail few people care to notice,
Sgouros said the example illustrates
how looking into the fine print can
make a big difference.
“What I continue to be surprised
at is how every rock I encounter re-
wards being turned over,” Sgouros
said.
Another lens through which
Sgouros examines public policy is
that of economic incentives. He said
the recently controversial “student
tax” on those enrolled in private uni-
versities is an effort, albeit a “dumb”
one, for the city to capture the mon-
etary advantage of having a university
within its limits.
“The way that Brown contributes
to the city is pumping up the income
and sales tax, which are state taxes,”
said Sgouros said.
“The state then turns around and
stiffs the city. It has less to do with
Brown than with the broken relation-
ship between city and state.”
Friday, October 30, 2009 | Page 8
By Kristina Fazzalaro
Contributing Writer
“I drink to excess, smoke a lot of
dope, but I still can’t forget any-
thing. It’s horrible.”
The female lead of “Shooting
Star,” now running at Trinity Rep-
ertory Theatre, isn’t the only one
feeling horrible after sitting through
Steven Dietz’s intelligently scripted
but poorly executed romantic com-
edy.
This two-person, 80-minute
production offers up an interesting
concept: Reed McAllister and Elena
Carson, former college sweethearts,
run into each other 25 years later at
a snowed-in airport with nothing but
time to kill and the knowledge that
they probably won’t see each other
ever again. How will they react —
ask the questions they never did?
Hash out old problems? Ignore each
other completely?
Well, Reed and Elena definitely
do not ignore each other. Reed
(played by Kurt Rhoads) is a typical
businessman running off to close
the biggest deal of the year while
his family is left to wonder if they’ll
ever get that kind of attention. Elena
(Nance Williamson) has retained
her hippie persona from when she
and Reed dated, walking around the
airport with a rainstick and yoga
mat in tow.
It’s red versus blue in this tale
of boy meets girl — again.
Throughout the play, Reed and
Elena share stories long into the
early hours of the morning. Reed
admits his shortcomings as a father
and a husband. Elena bares all as
she reveals her past jealousies and
fears to Reed. The two help each
other see life in a different light
and reconnect through the joyful
pain that comes with opening old
wounds.
The script itself is sharp and
entertaining, with some hilarious
one-liners and interesting layers. It
also builds well off traditional male-
female dynamics, making audience
members recall fights they may
have had with a partner.
While Reed is the calm, put-
together man, Elena is all over the
place, spouting advice and using
the airport — and Reed’s abused
cell phone — like her personal play-
ground, always seeking out some
form of entertainment.
For example, upon first seeing
his ex-flame, Reed tries his best to
hide, dispassionately telling the au-
dience that Elena “really let herself
go.” Meanwhile, Elena is prancing
about the stage, attempting to ap-
pear profound and beautiful by
practicing yoga in the middle of
the airport, trying to get Reed’s at-
tention without his knowing.
At times, though, this trope can
be a bit overbearing. We all have sat
through films or plays or read books
about the archetypal “taming of the
shrew.” When one of these is crafted
in such black-and-white terms, the
story gets old very fast.
This problem is not helped by
Williamson’s tendency to overact
her already flamboyant charac-
ter, making her seem more like
a personality than a person. Con-
versely, McAllister’s deadpanning
of the script with little emotion
leaves his character flat and one-
dimensional.
The best moments in the drama
unfold when the couple speak di-
rectly to the audience. In these mo-
ments, the emotion really does come
through, and viewers get a chance
to connect with the couple.
“Shooting Star” is about the coin-
cidences and near misses that make
life worthwhile and about the fear of
trusting someone else completely.
Deitz’s conception could have been
fun and entertaining, but, like the
drug-addled Elena who “still can’t
forget anything,” viewers may find
themselves wishing they could wipe
the nauseating performances from
their memory. But as Reed says,
“Those little plastic bottles do come
in handy.”
“Shooting Star” runs at Trinity
Rep (201 Washington St.) through
Nov. 22.
World & Nation
The Brown Daily Herald
Shootings shake up L.A. synagogue
By Andrew Blankstein,
Robert Faturechi and
Richard Winton
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — When the sound of
gunfire shattered the peace of morn-
ing prayer Thursday at a North Hol-
lywood synagogue, the shock waves
traveled fast and far.
Was it an anti-Semitic hate crime?
An act of terrorism? An isolated inci-
dent or part of a wider plot? These
were all real fears in a city where,
10 years ago, a white supremacist
gunman had terrorized a Jewish
preschool and murdered a postal
carrier, and where police have been
on alert for acts of terror since Sept.
11, 2001.
By day’s end, authorities had come
to believe that the shooting, in which
two men were injured, was probably
a far more mundane crime with no
implications for national security.
“There is abolutely no evidence to
support any connection to terrorism
or a hate crime,” said Mike Downing,
Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Po-
lice Department’s Counter Terrorism
and Intelligence Bureau.
The gunman, whose image was
captured by video cameras, remained
at large, with the investigation being
House Democrats unveil health bill
By Shailagh Murray and
Lori Montgomery
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — After six months
of dealmaking, Democratic leaders
introduced Thursday a health care
reform bill that would expand cov-
erage to almost all Americans and
overhaul the insurance industry,
while asking the wealthiest taxpayers
to pay much of the tab.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of
California announced the 10-year
$894 billion package on the Capitol
steps, surrounded by Democrats
from all factions of her diverse cau-
cus. “Leaders of all political parties
starting over a century ago with
President Theodore Roosevelt, have
called and fought for health-care re-
form and health insurance reform,”
Pelosi said. “Today we are about to
deliver on the promise.”
The House bill is similar to its
Senate counterpart, although a hand-
ful of key differences could make
for protracted negotiations later
this year. For example, the House’s
surtax on those earning more than
$500,000 per year is a nonstarter in
the Senate. Yet House Democrats
oppose the Senate’s main revenue
measure, an excise tax on high-val-
ue, or “Cadillac,” health-insurance
plans. And while both bills include
a government insurance plan, the
Senate version would allow states
to opt out of participating.
Under the House bill, 36 million
uninsured Americans without ac-
cess to affordable health benefits
at work would become eligible for
coverage. About 15 million of the
led by local North Hollywood detec-
tives, not Downing’s elite anti-terror
squad.
For a few hours, though, the
shooting in the synagogue garage set
nerves on edge throughout the city.
Word traveled fast from temple goers
to police to city leaders to members of
a joint regional terrorism taskforce.
The LAPD responded in force. Calls
and email alerts spun out to temples
and Jewish organization across the
city. Word was relayed by news agen-
cies and television channels nation-
wide. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
rushed to the scene, as did two of
the three candidates to succeed Po-
lice Chief Richard Bratton as the next
head of the LAPD.
And then, gradually, investi-
gators began ramping down the
excitement.
According to police, the shooting
occured at 6:19 a.m., after the victims
had parked their cars in the under-
ground garage of Adat Yeshurun Val-
ley Sephardic Synagogue, a small con-
gegation on a quiet residential street.
Morning services were under way.
A young gunman, dark-skinned and
wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt,
approached one man near a stairwell
and attempted to shoot, police said,
but his gun jammed. The second con-
poorest children and adults would
enroll in Medicaid. Another 21 mil-
lion would purchase coverage on a
new national insurance exchange,
where private plans would compete
with a “public option” backed by the
federal government.
An analysis of the House bill re-
leased late Thursday by the nonpar-
tisan Congressional Budget Office
estimated that just 6 million people
would choose a public plan, making
it a relatively small player, despite
the issue’s outsize role in the health-
care debate.
The House bill would require
most individuals to purchase insur-
ance and would require employers
to provide health coverage to their
workers or face a penalty, although
firms with payrolls below $500,000
annually would be exempt.
House Minority Leader John
Boehner, R-Ohio, mocked the bill’s
1,990 pages as 620 pages longer than
President Bill Clinton’s failed reform
plan 15 years ago. The conserva-
tive Republican Study Committee
warned of “higher taxes, job-killing
employer mandates, choice-restrict-
ing individual mandates, govern-
ment-run insurance, budget-busting
entitlement expansions, and count-
less provisions that set Washington
bureaucrats firmly between you and
your doctor.”
For weeks, House Democratic
leaders have huddled behind closed
doors, seeking to stitch together
a 218-vote majority from disparate
Democratic blocs. Up to 40 conser-
vative Democrats remain unhappy
with abortion-related provisions, and
are still threatening to vote no. But
Friday, October 30, 2009 | Page 9
gregant noticed the commotion and
approached the gunman, who then
shot both men in their legs. The gun-
man did not speak, according to LAPD
Deputy Chief Michael Moore.
The shooter fled, and witnesses
called 911.
The victims, Maor Ben-Nissan, 37,
and Allen Lasry, believed to be in his
40s, were taken to hospitals, where
they were listed in good condition.
Detectives were working with
them to understand what happened,
Moore said. They do not believe the
motive was robbery, according to
LAPD sources, who spoke to the Los
Angeles Times on the condition they
Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
not be named because the investiga- Zvika Brenner, center, a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician for the
tion was open. community rescue team, is assisted by a Los Angeles Police Department
Rabbi Amran Gabay described officer as police continued their search for a suspect and a motive in the
both men as regulars at the temple. shooting of two men Thursday morning in North Hollywood.
He said one works in home improve- source later said detectives were not victim may have been shot because
ment and the other in tile sales. The certain of the suspect’s race. he witnessed the attack.
rabbi said he knew of no reason why “This investigation is wide open,” Speaking to reporters outside the
either would be targeted. said LAPD Capt. Sharyn Buck, who taped-off synagogue, Los Angeles
“They’re regular people,” oversees the North Hollywood Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called
he said. Division. the incident “a senseless act of vio-
A 17-year-old who was detained for Several law enforcement sources lence.” But the mayor was careful to
questioning shortly after the shooting told the Times that investigators temper worries that the shooting was
was released hours later, and police were looking at whether the shoot- a hate crime.
backed away from initial claims that ings were related to a business or “None of us should presume
the attack was motivated by religious personal dispute. The sources said or speculate more about this other
hate. Although the shooter was first detectives believe one of the victims than it was a random act of violence,”
described as a black man, a police was the target, and that the second he said.
with a debate on the House floor
expected to begin late next week,
most major differences appear to
have been bridged.
Before the official unveiling,
House Democrats gathered in the
basement of the Capitol for a final
briefing with Pelosi and other lead-
ers, where they agreed that the time
for compromise had arrived. Rep.
Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., a prominent
fiscal hawk, stood up to announce
that he would support the measure,
drawing a round of applause loud
enough to be audible outside the
room. “At the end of the day, we’ve
got to pass something,” said Rep.
James McGovern, D-Mass.
The House measure would pare
$104 billion from projected budget
deficits over the next decade, ac-
cording to the CBO, and would
“slightly reduce” projected deficits
in the following decade. The CBO’s
forecast for the House bill is less
rosy than for the bill that passed the
Senate Finance Committee earlier
this month, but it is significantly
more favorable than the analysis of
the original House package, which
predicted that costs would exceed
revenues after 2019.
In addition to expanding cover-
age, the House bill would impose
strict new rules on insurance com-
panies, including a ban on denying
coverage based on pre-existing con-
ditions. The legislation would end a
federal antitrust exemption that has www.browndailyherald.com
long protected the industry from
investigations into price-fixing and
other practices, and would institute
a review process into premium in-
creases.
Editorial & Letters
The Brown Daily Herald

Page 10 | Friday, October 30, 2009

J ulia S treuli

e d i to r i a l

Letters make the The Green Light

world go ’round. On Oct. 19, the Justice Department circulated a
memorandum to federal prosecutors in Rhode Island
August. Is there anything to prevent the same thing
from happening in Rhode Island?
and the other 13 medical marijuana states, instruct- Yes: More transparency. The more open Rhode
Keep us spinning. ing them not to prosecute individuals using medical
marijuana or those involved in dispensary operations
Island makes the operations of its proposed dispensa-
ries, the less pretext federal prosecutors will have to
that are “in clear and unambiguous compliance” with raid them on trumped-up charges. More transparent
letters@browndailyherald.com state laws. The move was hailed by medical marijuana operations will significantly decrease the incentives for
advocates such as Stephen Gutwillig, California state players in the illegal drug trade to get involved with
director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who called it “an dispensaries, as it will make them more vulnerable to
extremely welcome rhetorical de-escalation of the prosecution.
federal government’s long-standing war on medical Significant transparency is possible in the status quo.
marijuana patients.” We generally approve of ending According to the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coali-
wars but, as Americans have learned recently, winning tion, the amendment allowing for dispensaries contains
t h e b r o w n d a i ly h e r a l d
the peace can be just as important. In this context, provisions requiring “good oversight and recordkeeping
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editors Deputy Managing Editors Senior Editors
that would be Rhode Island taking advantage of the procedures.” Once Rhode Island officials have cleared
Steve DeLucia Michael Bechek Nandini Jayakrishna Rachel Arndt
Chaz Firestone Franklin Kanin Isabel Gottlieb unprecedented window of opportunity created by the that hurdle, possibilities for innovation abound.
Michael Skocpol Scott Lowenstein Justice memo to develop a superior medical marijuana As we’ve noted before, there are a number of flaws
editorial Business distribution system. in the dispensary systems used by California. Now that
Ben Hyman Arts & Culture Editor General Managers Office Manager
Sophia Li Features Editor Alexander Hughes Shawn Reilly We should first be clear that the new federal guide- Rhode Island knows exactly what the federal govern-
George Miller Metro Editor Jonathan Spector lines do not forbid all prosecution. Dispensaries and ment expects from it (at least during President Obama’s
Joanna Wohlmuth Metro Editor
Seth Motel News Editor
patients that are in violation of state laws can be still term), it has a chance to develop policies that improve
Directors
Jenna Stark News Editor Ellen DaSilva Sales raided by local authorities. Additionally, not all federal on the current model.
Andrew Braca Sports Editor Claire Kiely Sales prosecution has been taken off the table. The two most Rhode Island should consult with law enforcement
Han Cui Asst. Sports Editor Katie Koh Finance
Alex Mazerov Asst. Sports Editor Jilyn Chao Asst. Finance important loopholes allow federal prosecutors to go after and patient advocacy groups such as RIPAC as to what
Katie Wood Asst. Sports Editor Christiana Stephenson Alumni Relations dispensaries otherwise in compliance with state laws these new guidelines might permit in terms of policies
Graphics & Photos Managers
if they either believe the dispensaries are selling mari- the state might not have implemented in a climate of
Chris Jesu Lee Graphics Editor Kelly Wess Local Sales
Stephen Lichenstein Graphics Editor Kathy Bui National Sales juana for profit (as opposed to the standard non-profit uncertainty about federal action. Such consultation
Kim Perley Photo Editor Alex Carrere University Sales model) or if a prosecution would further “important would help the state to develop procedures that could
Max Monn Asst. Photo Editor Matt Burrows Credit and Collections
Jesse Morgan Sports Photo Editor federal interests,” presumably meaning the arrest of benefit local patients and governments and, by serving
production Opinions drug traffickers. as a model, patients and state governments nationwide.
Ayelet Brinn Copy Desk Chief Alyssa Ratledge Opinions Editor One might wonder whether, given such broad ex- If so, the Justice memo will mark a huge step forward in
Rachel Isaacs Copy Desk Chief Sarah Rosenthal Opinions Editor
ceptions, the new memo really is good news for Rhode the United States’ twisted history with drug policy.
Marlee Bruning Design Editor
Jessica Calihan Design Editor Editorial Page Board Island. San Francisco’s crusading federal attorney,
Anna Migliaccio Asst. Design Editor James Shapiro Editorial Page Editor Joseph Russoniello, has gone after San Francisco dis- Editorials are written by The Herald’s editorial page board.
Julien Ouellet Asst. Design Editor Matt Aks Board member
Neal Poole Web Editor Nick Bakshi Board member pensaries on the grounds that they make a profit since Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
Post- magazine Zack Beauchamp Board member
Arthur Matuszewski Debbie Lehmann Board member
Editor-in-Chief
Board member
correction
Kelly McKowen William Martin
Editor-in-Chief

Anna Migliaccio, Nick Sinnott-Armstrong, Katie Wilson, Designers

Nick Boucher, Brendan Burke, Joe Milner, Copy Editors
Dan Alexander, Nikki Friedman, Ben Hyman, George Miller, Hannah Moser, Night Editors
Senior Staff Writers Dan Alexander, Mitra Anoushiravani, Ellen Cushing, Sydney Ember,
Lauren Fedor, Nicole Friedman, Brigitta Greene, Sarah Husk, Brian Mastroianni, Hannah
Moser, Ben Schreckinger, Anne Simons, Anne Speyer, Sara Sunshine, Alex Ulmer, Suzannah
Weiss, Kyla Wilkes
Staff Writers Shara Azad, Emma Berry, Alicia Chen, Zunaira Choudhary, Alicia Dang,
Juliana Friend, Anish Gonchigar, Sarah Julian, Matt Klebanoff, Etienne Ma, Christian
Martell, Heeyoung Min, Jyotsna Mullur, Lauren Pischel, Kevin Pratt, Leslie Primack, Luisa
Robledo, Dana Teppert, Gaurie Tilak, Caitlin Trujillo, Monique Vernon,
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Business Associates Stassia Chyzhykova, Marco deLeon, Katherine Galvin, Bonnie Kim,
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Forman, Casey Gaham, Anna Jouravleva, Geoffrey Kyi, Jordan Mainzer, Joe Milner, Claire
Peracchio, Lindor Qunaj, Madeleine Rosenberg, William Tomasko
An article in Tuesday’s Herald (“Officials detail carbon cuts, education outreach at BUCC,” Oct. 27.) incorrectly
reported that $10 million of a loan for energy efficiency has been approved. In fact, $20 million has been approved
and $10 million has been allocated.
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tions may be submitted up to seven calendar days after publication.
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Opinions
The Brown Daily Herald
A history of discrimination against Jews
Jared Lafer
Opinions Columnist
In 2005, the New Yorker published an arti-
cle by Malcolm Gladwell called “Getting In,”
which discussed admissions at elite univer-
sities. It cited Jerome Karabel’s book “The
Chosen,” which argues that discrimination
against Jews in the early 20th century gave
rise to modern day admissions practices. I
believe Karabel is correct, and a greater ef-
fort to acknowledge this unjust past is in or-
der.
According to Gladwell by way of Karabel,
the current era of admissions can be traced
back to 1905, when Harvard “adopted the
College Entrance Examination Board tests
as the principal basis for admission, which
meant that virtually any academically gifted
high-school senior who could afford a private
college had a straightforward shot at attend-
ing.” Other schools that would later form the
Ivy League followed.
With a bit of pride I can say that this gave
rise to a major increase in the Jewish popula-
tion at Harvard — and presumably other fu-
ture Ivy League schools — over the next 20
years. In 1908, Jews composed 8 percent of
Harvard’s student body; by 1922, that num-
ber rose to over 20 percent. (This propor-
tion was determined by searching through
admissions records and rating students on
their likelihood of being Jewish.)
Gladwell says, “The administration and
alumni were up in arms. Jews were thought
to be sickly and grasping, grade-grubbing
Brown is more than just Facs, Man
Mike Johnson
Opinions Columnist
While reading The Herald the other day,
I read an interesting article about an ap-
parent “oversight” on the part of Facili-
ties Management in approving a T-Mobile
cell tower on the roof of Barus and Holley
(“Profs to FacMan: Can you hear us now?”
Oct. 19). My initial response was laughter. I
can think of numerous occasions in the re-
cent past when Facilities Management, or
FacMan, seemed alarmingly out of touch
with University needs.
In 2007, FacMan, as part of renovations
to Gardner House, decided it was a good
idea to break out the jackhammers at 7 a.m.
every day directly outside of Littlefield Hall,
a freshman dormitory. Initial complaints re-
ceived a curt response, claiming that the
contract day started before the students
would like, urging the alleged crybaby
freshmen to stop complaining. It was only
after a grassroots movement of flooding
FacMan with phone calls that the jackham-
mers started at a more reasonable — but
still ridiculously early for students — time
of 9 a.m.
Just this month, the University was in-
formed via e-mail that Faunce Arch was to
be closed to pedestrians until the opening
of the spring semester. This closure was
dated for Oct. 19, conspicuously after Fam-
ily Weekend — probably meant to avoid in-
and insular. They displaced the sons of
wealthy WASP alumni, which did not bode
well for fund-raising.”
Gladwell reports that measures were tak-
en by Harvard to remedy the situation, in-
cluding a 15 percent Jew quota, a decrease
in scholarship funds available for Jews and
a large effort to recruit students from pub-
lic schools in the West, where there were
fewer Jews. But these were collectively un-
successful. This led to the realization among
Ivy League universities “that if a definition of
merit based on academic prowess was lead-
ing to the wrong kind of student, the solution
It is important to acknowledge and investigate
the relationship between Jewish discrimination
and modern day admissions practices.
was to change the definition of merit.”
And so admissions underwent a major
shift. The emphasis on academic prowess
was supplanted, at least in large part, by an
emphasis on personal character. According
to Gladwell by way of Karabel, applicants
were mandated to provide letters of recom-
mendation, personal essays and a list of ex-
tracurricular activities, and asked to submit
to an interview and supply personal informa-
tion like “Race and Color,” “Religious Prefer-
ence,” “Birthplace of Father,” etc. To top it
off, Harvard suggested that applicants send
a photograph.
By 1933, “the percentage of Jews at Har-
vard was back down to 15 percent.”
To experienced college applicants, this
conveniencing parents and alumni visiting
campus.
FacMan was obviously aware of the ram-
ifications of closing one of the most-used
pedestrian paths on campus. Yet they re-
mained steadfast in their self-importance,
and needless barriers loom on the horizon.
In a recent Herald exclusive, FacMan was
said to have “recognized that the closing
of the arch would be a significant inconve-
nience for students and faculty” (“In boon
for pedestrians, Faunce Arch to stay open,”
Oct. 22). This recognition seems a little
Like a circular tyrant gobbling up dots, FacMan
plods along, approving projects and handing
down edicts on sleep schedules and pedestrian
paths, and now even important academic
research.
late, based on the details; sounds to me like
enough people complained.
But this most recent “oversight” of the
fact that FacMan provides support for ac-
tual people, not just buildings immune to
the effects of screaming, early-morning
jackhammers, is clearly the worst. Why?
It’s happened before. Just 19 years ago, a
radio transmitter on the Sciences Library
shut down equipment in Barus and Holley.
There are still professors here who remem-
should all sound familiar. Indeed, this appli-
cation construction is still used today. Thus
when we apply to college, we are participat-
ing in the very process originally intended to
weed out Jews.
Now, I’m not going to evaluate the admis-
sions system at Ivy League schools. Its abil-
ity to determine the best candidates for ad-
mission is beside the point. But I feel it is im-
portant to acknowledge and investigate the
relationship between anti-Jewish discrimina-
tion and modern-day admissions practices.
In fact, I believe it is even more important
to acknowledge and investigate the relation-
ship between anti-Jewish discrimination and
higher education at large. I believe this for
two reasons:
1) It will be historically valuable. No sig-
nificant effort has been taken by Ivy League
schools to examine their historical relation-
ship with Jewish students. Outsiders like
Karabel have certainly taken the initiative,
but only in the narrow scope of admissions.
Furthermore, internal reviews would un-
doubtedly bring a fuller light to the story.
2) We owe it to the victims and ourselves
to learn from the past and never let this hap-
pen again. Jews are still susceptible to dis-
crimination today and so this effort will be a
vehicle for self-reflection and edification.
So what can we do? First, I concede that I
ber the incident, and would surely have po-
litely reminded FacMan ... if they had been
consulted.
However, FacMan needs no consulta-
tion. Like a circular tyrant gobbling up dots,
FacMan plods along, approving projects and
handing down edicts on sleep schedules
and pedestrian paths, and now even impor-
tant academic research. It seems blatantly
obvious to me that FacMan should consult
with the people who work in the building
that’s about to have a giant tower on its roof
to beam radio waves into its hallowed halls.
FacMan’s apology for the oversight left a
little to be desired as well — they said that
they “did miss” the fact that Barus and Hol-
ley was a research facility.
Inexcusable. FacMan is a part of this Uni-
versity, and needs to become more aware of
the impact of its actions. How, despite be-
ing a vital cog in the educational machine,
is it even possible for FacMan to forget that
Barus and Holley is a research facility, com-
plete with real research equipment? That’s
Friday, October 30, 2009 | Page 11
haven’t done the necessary research to know
whether Brown particularly discriminated.
Perhaps it was the exception — a distinct
possibility in light of the liberal philosophies
on which it was founded. Nevertheless, giv-
en that Brown was an elite institution, com-
peting with and conforming to the standards
of peer institutions (e.g., uniform admissions
practices), and the fact that anti-Jewish senti-
ment was pervasive at the time, we likewise
cannot deny the contrary possibility. Either
way, I believe uncertainty about our connec-
tion with such an injustice alone should be
enough to motivate us to do something.
Second, while I may not know for sure
whether Brown discriminated, other elite
schools sure did. So whatever is done should
be done intramurally.
With regards to what exactly to do, we
should look to precedent. In 2003, President
Ruth Simmons appointed the University
Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.
According to the Steering Committee Web
site, it “was charged to investigate and to
prepare a report about the University’s his-
torical relationship to slavery and the trans-
atlantic slave trade.”
A lot of good came from the Steering
Committee’s investigation, and I think the
formation of a similar committee is warrant-
ed in the present context. To spell it out: the
Ivy League should form an intramural com-
mittee to investigate its ties with anti-Jewish
discrimination. Let us wash away the injus-
tice through enlightenment.
Jared Lafer ’11 is a philosophy
concentrator from Manhattan. He can
be reached at jared_lafer@brown.edu
like forgetting that University Hall is where
President Ruth Simmons works.
Now I’m not trying to be the one to
throw a ladder up against the side of 295
Lloyd Ave. Nor am I proposing student in-
volvement in decisions regarding construc-
tion projects or their timetables. I’m by no
means advocating an overthrow of the des-
potic FacMan. I’m merely pointing out that
FacMan has no clothes.
It’s quite clear that people are not among
FacMan’s top priorities, despite its nice em-
ployees who come to fix our heaters at all
hours of the night. But FacMan as an entity,
FacMan as the keeper of the keys, needs
to realize that people use its playthings,
the buildings. People walk these sidewalks;
they aren’t just for show.
Instead, I propose a sobering, drastic
change in FacMan policy — communica-
tion. Maybe if FacMan had actually talked
to Barus and Holley researchers, they’d
have known about sensitive equipment that
might be affected by a giant cell tower spew-
ing out radiation. Little oversights like this
won’t have to be commonplace anymore.
Instead of blindly going about business
as usual, perhaps FacMan should reflect
on its communication policy and whether
it needs to expand upon what’s there. It’s
clear that when discussing transformative
building projects, FacMan needs to take a
small step back, look at the big picture and
pay attention to the little people.
Mike Johnson ’11 has the high score on
the lesser-known Ms. FacMan.
 Today 6
to day to m o r r o w
Football prepares for Penn faceoff
The Brown Daily Herald

‘Shooting Star’ at Trinity Rep

8
Friday, October 30, 2009
59 / 49 70 / 50
Page 12

t h e n e w s i n i m ag e s d i a m o n d s a n d c oa l

A cubic zirconium to activist students participating in a “climate action” rally and promot-
ing the number 350 as the maximum sustainable level of atmospheric carbon dioxide. We love
your passion, but we’re concerned that you think 350 is also a sustainable number of days per
year on which to protest.

A diamond to the state’s Department of Elderly Affairs, which created a support system
for abused elders. That’s a much better idea than that other DEA had (spraying abused elders
with pesticide).

2
Coal to the swine-inspired art exhibit “Contagious,” which featured artists’ interpretations
of the deadly flu. We’re still mad you rejected our found-art submission, “Pile of Tissues and
Trash Can Full of Vomit.”

A diamond to ex-pornographer Sam Benjamin Stern ’99, the alum whose post-Brown tra-
c a l e n da r jector y truly embodies school spirit. Organic tomato farming, being disillusioned, dabbling in
softcore “art,” being disillusioned again — bravo, sir.
Today, october 30 saturday, october 31
A pair of diamond-studded earrings and a backless velvet gown to the vice president at all-
3 pm — Edible Car Competition, 9 PM — “Chest Fest,” male Morehouse College for defending a controversial new policy banning “clothing normally
Manning Walk Grad Center Lounge associated with women’s garb” on campus. Even grouchy administrators deser ve to feel fabu-
lous sometimes.
4 pm — “The Virtuosity of Structure,” 11:55 PM — Halloween Midnight
Ashamu Dance Studio Organ Recital, Sayles Hall A cubic zirconium to Rhode Island judge and Obama nominee to the federal bench Ojetta
Rogeriee Thompson ’73, who received lukewarm ratings of “satisfactor y” from most members
of the American Bar Association’s advisor y committee. In an S/NC world, your credentials
have never been in doubt. The real question is how you pronounce “Rogeriee.”
menu
Coal to the malicious, PDF-corrupting demons of the Internet tubes for thrice ruining the
Sharpe Refectory Verney-Woolley Dining Hall Herald’s crossword this month. We’ll get you yet, you qjcerpa)r wmxbw*=_2

Lunch — Barbecue Beef Sandwich,
Swiss Corn Bake, Lobster Bisque,
Worms in Mud
Dinner — Baked Stuffed Pollock,
Noodle Kugel, Zucchini and Summer
Squash, Birthday Cake
Lunch — Chicken Fingers, Vegan
Nuggets, Sticky Rice, Halloween
Cookies and Cupcakes
Dinner — Cajun Baked Fish, Grilled
Chicken, Golden Corn and Rice Ca-
serole, Halloween Candy
Last but not least, a pumpkin full of diamonds to anyone who resists the temptation to
dress as swine flu, Michael Jackson or balloon boy tomorrow. Instead, may we suggest an eco-
logically friendly (and much more original) alternative that makes for a clever re-use for your
favorite campus daily: Cover yourself in old Heralds, splattered with organic ketchup. Bam!
You’re the demise of print journalism.

crossword comics

Dot Comic | Eshan Mitra and Brendan Hainline

Hippomaniac | Mat Becker

Classic Deep-Fried Kittens | Cara FitzGibbon