Daily 08-11-11

The Stanford Daily
A n I n d e p e n d e n t P u b l i c a t i o n
THURSDAY Volume 240A
August 11, 2011 Issue 7
SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION
Opinions 5
Orwellian irony in the U.N. Human
Rights Council; What to love about Asia
Sports 8
Running back committee returns,
but supporting cast is questionable
Features 10
Stanfords nine a capella groups reflect
the diversity, creativity of student body
Entertainment 12
A discussion with Miranda July;
30 Minutes good for a few laughs
The Stanford Daily
2 NTHE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011
NEWS
WORLD & NATION
Professors respond to American economic volatility
By KRISTIAN DAVIS BAILEY
Congresss Aug. 2 approval of
a last-minute debt ceiling in-
crease marked the beginning of
at least a week of instability in the
U.S. economy, which included
Standard & Poors (S&P) down-
grading the countrys credit rat-
ing, volatility in the stock markets
and the Federal Reserve Banks
announcement that it will main-
tain low federal interest rates.
American economists, includ-
ing those at Stanford, have a vari-
ety of theories as to how the situ-
ation came to be, as well as how it
will play out.
Economic Turmoil
The flurry of economic activi-
ty began Aug. 2 when President
Barack Obama signed the Bud-
get Control Act of 2011 into law,
hours before the U.S. was expect-
ed to default on its debt obliga-
tions. The law immediately ex-
tended the $14.3 trillion debt ceil-
ing by $400 billion and gave the
President the option of future ex-
tensions, subject to a vote by
Congress. The debt ceiling could
be raised by as much as $2.4 tril-
lion total.
In return for the debt ceiling
increase, the law mandated $917
billion worth of reductions in
government spending in two
parts over the next 10 years. $21
billion of these cuts will occur
during the 2012 fiscal year and
the remainder will materialize
after.
The bill also created the Joint
Select Committee on Deficit Re-
duction to suggest $1.5 trillion in
spending cuts over the next 10
years. The committee of six De-
mocrats and six Republicans,
equally split between the House
NEWS
I STUDY EXAMINES GOLF
SWING SUCCESSES:
|By Josh Hoyt
I PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPS
SPECIAL-NEEDS MATH KIT
|By Hiroko Sunamura
I STUDY IDENTIFIES
PARKINSONS GENE
|By Harini Jaganathan
ENTERTAINMENT
I TV REVIEW: THE GUILD
|By Aaron Broder
ONLINE
EXCLUSIVES
WWW.STANFORDDAILY.COM
HEALTH
Stanford opens
12th headache
clinic in U.S.
By ELLORA ISRANI
NEWS EDITOR
The University projects it will collect
$296.5 million in undergraduate student fees
for the 2011-12 academic year, reflecting a 3.8
percent increase over last year, and will award
$148.9 million in undergraduate financial aid,
a 1.5 percent increase over 2010-11.
The numbers project $57 million in rev-
enue from undergraduate fees which in-
clude tuition, room, board and miscellaneous
fees for 2011-12, as well as a 5.9 percent rev-
enue increase over last years $53.8 million.
For 2011-12, income from student tuition and
fees will represent 17.4 of the Universitys con-
solidated budget revenue, while undergradu-
ate financial aid will comprise six percent of
expenses.
Finance Cheat Sheet
According to University Vice President for
Business Affairs and Chief Financial Officer
Randy Livingston, the average undergraduate
during 2010-11 received $19,000 in financial
aid, or approximately half of Stanfords tu-
ition.
Financial aid draws on four primary
sources: department funds and expendable
gifts; endowment income, which provides the
bulk of support in the $70.5 million projected
for 2011-12 aid; Presidents Funds, including
alumni support from The Stanford Fund; and
general funds, drawn from the $1.04 billion set
aside for general University expenses.
The Provosts report to the Faculty Senate
provided a clear breakdown of where under-
graduate tuition fees come from, the largest
two contributors being 58 percent from fami-
lies themselves and 18 percent from endow-
ments, gifts and other sources.
However, according to Livingston, these
numbers are much less clear-cut than they ap-
pear. The total cost of educating a student for
2010-11 was $53,300, not including room and
board; tuition, however, was $38,688, meaning
students who paid full tuition received a
$14,600 subsidy 27 percent of the cost of
their education.
With the addition of financial aid, this
brought the average student subsidy to
$33,600 63 percent of the full cost of an un-
dergraduate education.
Figuring out exactly what we spend on ed-
ucating students is challenging, as faculty
spend time teaching, advising and mentoring
students; undertaking research and serving in
leadership roles for the University, Liv-
ingston wrote in an email to The Daily. Peri-
odically, weve undertaken studies to estimate
the cost of educating an undergraduate stu-
dent, based on estimating the allocation of
time among faculty and other staff devoted to
this mission.
He said that the funds to make up this
$14,600 difference come largely from Uni-
versity endowments, including professor-
ships for faculty and funds allotted to specific
programs such as Bing Overseas Studies.
Provosts Perspective
Provost John Etchemendy provided a sim-
ilar calculation to demonstrate the Universi-
tys spending on its students.
Several years ago, an outside group did a
study on the full cost of the undergraduate
education delivered at various colleges and
universities, he wrote in an email to The
Daily. This involved carefully figuring out
how much the university spends on under-
graduate classes, programs, etc., and ex-
cludes what is spent for graduate education,
research and other activities. This was then
divided by the number of enrolled under-
graduates, to get a per student number, and
this was compared to the full tuition charge.
The study showed that Stanfords full tu-
ition covered 58 percent of the amount spent
on the University per student per annum.
Flipping that around, it costs us 72 per-
cent more to provide the education than is
covered by tuition, before financial aid,
Etchemendy said. In other words, even the
full-paying student is getting a substantial
By MICHAEL TUSCHMAN
INTERN
The Stanford Neuroscience Clinic re-
cently opened a headache clinic dedicated to
researching and treating common causes of
headaches and migraines.
According to its website, the clinic ad-
dresses proper diagnosis and a comprehen-
sive treatment plan for headache sufferers.
It tackles medical issues and also approach-
es headache management through treat-
ments including massage, cranio-sacral
work, stress management, biofeedback,
yoga and nutritional counseling.
Please see CLINIC, page 4
SERENITY NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily
UNIVERSITY
University projects $57M in undergrad fee revenue
Please see ECONOMY, page 6
Please see INCOME, page 7
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011 THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION N3
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RESEARCH
Psych study finds
noun use boosts
voter turnout
By JOSH HOYT
A recent study by the Stanford Psychology
Department has shown that voter turnout can
be significantly increased in state and national
elections by using nouns instead of verbs
that is, asking people if they are voters in-
stead of asking them to vote.
The study was published in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences in July. It
involved three experiments over two elections,
California ballots in the 2008 Presidential elec-
tion and the 2009 New Jersey gubernatorial
election.
Researchers gave surveys to potential vot-
ers. One group was asked, How important is
it to you to vote in the upcoming election?;
the other asked, How important is it to you to
be a voter?
When you talk about being a voter, it
frames that behavior as something that is going
to . . . signal the kind of person you are, said
Christopher Bryan, lead author of the study
and post-doctoral scholar in psychology. Be-
cause people think that it is generally good to
be the kind of person who votes, they were sig-
nificantly more likely to show up at the polls
the next day.
The first and second experiments took
place in California and examined the ability of
a noun to improve voter registration and par-
ticipation, respectively. The third, which oc-
curred in New Jersey, found that 10.9 percent
more people voted in the group asked about
being a voter.
The study concluded that the effects in ex-
periments two and three are among the largest
experimental effects ever observed on objec-
tively measured voter turnout.
The study stems from previous research
done by Bryan and assistant professor of psy-
By ABHA SHARMA
INTERN
A year of work by a materials science and engi-
neering team has recently culminated in the devel-
opment of a transparent lithium-ion battery, ac-
cording to a paper recently published in the Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The finished product is not much more expen-
sive than the widely available traditional lithium-
ion battery, as the materials used to manufacture it
are not expensive. The transparent battery is also
rechargeable similar to a normal lithium-ion
battery because it uses the same chemistry.
The battery is comprised of electrodes arranged
in a mesh-like grid, with each line in the grid ap-
proximately 35 microns wide. This framework
seems transparent to the naked human eye, be-
cause if something is smaller than 50 microns, it ap-
pears transparent.
Yuan Yang, a graduate student in materials sci-
ence and engineering, did most of the experimental
work involved with inventing the battery and con-
tributed to the initial design of the concept.
LOCAL
Stanford Jazz Workshop holds 40th season
RESEARCH
MSE lab develops transparent battery
By HAELIN CHO
INTERN
This summer marked the Stanford Jazz Work-
shops 40th season and included 36 different con-
certs as well as the annual jazz educational
camps.
Current executive and artistic director Jim
Nadel 72, also a lecturer in music, founded the
Workshop after graduating from Stanford. Ac-
cording to Nadel, the series of festivals and edu-
cational programs started out as a jam session
on Mondays and an additional meeting on Tues-
days for jazz musicians.
Since then, Nadel said the organization has
greatly expanded but carries on the purpose of
the jam sessions: the exchange of ideas and tech-
niques in jazz.
Marketing director Ernie Rideout said that
most of the concerts this season attracted diverse
audiences.
Many of our concerts this year have been
close to selling out, Rideout said.
Over the last 40 seasons, the workshop has ex-
perienced various changes. Aside from increas-
ing the number of events, Rideout said the scope
of the music at the festival has also broadened.
We are branching into other kinds of music
that incorporate improvised music, world music,
for example, Brazilian music, Colombian music,
Cuban music, he said.
In addition to the festivals, the workshop of-
fers several jazz educational programs. Accord-
ing to its website, the organization puts on
evening summer classes, a jazz camp for children
as well as a jazz residency for adults.
Rideout added that while the teachers perform
in concerts, students in the programs have the op-
portunity to enjoy the festivals, giving them a kind
of jazz immersion.
You come here [to the camps] its all jazz,
all day, from nine in the morning until midnight
every night, he said.
Despite the changes in the Workshop, Rideout
said that the jazz camps maintain a few traditions
such as the James Brown Memorial Ice Cream So-
CHANEL ZHAN/The Stanford Daily
The Stanford Jazz workshop celebrated its 40th season this summer. It includes a variety of camps and
performances for children and adults and takes place every year around the Stanford campus.
Courtesy of the Stanford News Service
The transparent battery developed by a
materials science and engineering lab at a
similar cost to typical batteries could poten-
tially be used in a transparent phone.
Please see VOTING, page 4
Please see BATTERY, page 7
Please see JAZZ, page 15
By ELAINA KOROS
INTERN
This report covers a selection of
incidents from July 27 to Aug. 8 as
recorded in the Stanford Universi-
ty Department of Public Safety
bulletin.
During this period, several bike
thefts occurred on campus, and
several thefts that occurred earlier
in the summer were reported.
THURSDAY, JULY 28
IBetween 10:00 p.m. on July 27
and 8:00 a.m. this day, a man lost
his wallet somewhere on the
Stanford campus. There has
been no unauthorized activity on
his cards.
FRIDAY, JULY 29
IBetween 6:00 p.m. on July 29 and
8:00 a.m. this day, an unknown
suspect stole a victims unattend-
ed laptop computer from the en-
trance counter at the Arrillaga
Family Sports Center.
MONDAY, AUG. 1
IAt 1:45 p.m., an arrestee was
cited and released for misuse of a
handicapped placard on Galvez
Street.
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 3
IBetween 2:23 p.m. and 2:35 p.m.,
an annoying voicemail was re-
ceived on the Gunn Buildings
main telephone line. Prior to
leaving the message, the caller
called three times in a span of
two minutes.
IAt 7:25 p.m., a non-injury hit-
and-run vehicle collision oc-
curred in the Stock Farm parking
lot.
IAt 7:30 p.m. on the corner of
Campus Drive and Electioneer
Road, an arrestee was cited
and released for driving unli-
censed.
THURSDAY, AUG. 4
IAt 1:00 a.m. in Tresidder Memo-
rial Union, an arrestee was cited
and released on an outstanding
warrant out of San Francisco.
IBetween 12:00 p.m. and 12:05
p.m. on Stanford Avenue, some-
one found U.S. currency on the
ground, turned it in and filed a
90-day claim.
IBetween 7:50 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.,
an unknown suspect stole a vic-
tims unattended purse left on a
bench in Tresidder Memorial
Union.
IAt 11:50 p.m., an arrestee was
cited and released for being in
possession of marijuana in
Tresidder Memorial Union.
SATURDAY, AUG. 6
IBetween 11:00 p.m. on Aug. 5
and 2:00 p.m. this day, a victims
U-locked bike was stolen from
the bike racks near the Tree-
house restaurant.
IAt 3:20 a.m., a vehicle collided
with a fixed object on the cor-
ner of Lasuen Mall and Muse-
um Way. There were no injuries
reported.
SUNDAY, AUG. 7
IAt 2:35 a.m., on the corner of La-
gunita Drive and Mayfield Av-
enue, an arrestee was cited and
released for being a minor in
possession of alcohol.
IAt 2:45 a.m., an unknown sus-
pect threw an unknown object
and broke a window at Sigma
Chi.
IBetween 10:00 a.m. and 11:00
a.m., a male party lost his wallet
while at the San Francisco Air-
port Baggage Claim.
MONDAY, AUG. 8
IBetween 5:00 p.m. on Aug. 5 and
5:30 a.m. this day, an unknown
suspect pried open an honor-sys-
tem cash box and stole currency
at Hillels Ziff Center.
Contact Elaina Koros at ekoros@
stanford.edu.
RESEARCH
Study identifies
genes involved
in Parkinsons
By HARINI JAGANATHAN
INTERN
Researchers from the Stanford School
of Medicine have unraveled the mito-
chondrial mechanisms involved in
Parkinsons disease as part of a study that
will be published Aug. 15 in Human Mol-
ecular Genetics.
Parkinsons is a movement disorder
and a neurodegenerative disease that re-
sults from the loss of structure and func-
tion of the neurons. Associate professor
of pathology Bingwei Lu, a co-author of
the study, said that previous research
found a link between mitochondrial dy-
namics and the disease.
He joined mammalian neurobiologist
Wendou Yu, a postdoctoral scholar in
pathology, to complete the study, which
examined two genes that are linked to
controlling mitochondrial function,
PINK1/Parkin.
This dynamic morphology change is
important for mitochondrial function,
Lu said. We call morphology change fis-
sion and fusion, meaning the mitochon-
dria can be made to produce to smaller
units or can fuse to make longer units. We
found that PINK1/Parkin specifically af-
fects this mitochondrial fission or fusion
process.
This study showed that
PINK1/Parkin, the Parkinsons-disease-
causing genes, play an evolutionarily con-
served role in regulating mitochondrial
morphology through this fission/fusions
process, he added.
In previous work with fruit flies, Lu
found that PINK1/Parkin influences mi-
tochondrial dynamics. He wanted to pur-
sue this study in order to see if what he
found in his fruit fly research could be ap-
plied to other organisms.
[Fruit flies] are a kind of lower organ-
ism, but its a very powerful genetic sys-
tem, so we obtained a lot of information
about how PINK1/Parkin worked, he
said.
Previous research with mammalian
cells gave inconclusive results, so Lu set
out to resolve some of the controversy.
My interest is to see whether what we
found in fruit flies is relevant in mammals
and eventually relevant in human pa-
tients, he said.
PINK1/Pathway and their pathways
were examined in cultures of rodent hip-
pocampal and dopaminergic neurons. A
loss of dopaminergic neurons is specifically
linked to Parkinsons. Previous studies
POLICE BLOTTER
There are only 12 headache pro-
grams in the United States, but clin-
ic director and clinical professor of
neurology Robert Cowan said the
field is growing.
Were gaining recognition, he
said. Its really starting to get more
press, and major medical institutions
are now recognizing it, even though
there are a large population not get-
ting adequate headache care.
Cowan said he is excited to be pi-
oneering the program at Stanford,
having dedicated his career to the
study of headaches and migraines.
I was running the program at
USC until 2000, and Ive been work-
ing for a private foundation since
then which provided headache care
regardless of the ability to pay, he
said. I came here because I missed
being in an academic environment.
Stanford is not the first universi-
ty to support a headache clinic. A
similar facility currently operates at
UC-San Francisco.
The funding for the clinic comes
from patient revenues, donors, the
University and the medical center.
Currently, the clinic is staffed by
Cowan and clinical instructor in
anesthesia Meredith Barad, though
Cowan hopes the staff will continue
to grow.
I feel like we already have a
great system and great facilities even
though there are just two physi-
cians, Barad said.
Were in the process of devel-
oping a fellowship program, so well
be asking a fellow to join us in the
near future, he said.
While around 20 patients have
received treatment over the past
week, Cowan said the clinic is not
yet in full operation.
Were still getting all our sys-
tems going and simultaneously see-
ing patients, he said. We have to
create a headache-friendly environ-
ment. No loud sounds and things
like that.
While the clinic requires patients
to have a primary care doctor, a re-
ferral is not necessary to seek con-
sultation and treatment.
Weve got a fairly elaborate
pre-visit form, Cowan explained.
We take about 15 pages to get a re-
ally detailed headache history.
Soon, well have that as an interac-
tive website to create a much more
dynamic history form.
I would like to see the clinic
grow to be the premier headache re-
source on the West Coast, Barad
said. We could really serve as an in-
ternationally renowned clinic.
Contact Michael Tuschman at
mvt2412@stanford.edu.
CLINIC
Continued from page 2
STEPHANIE ENGLE/The Stanford Daily
The Stanford Headache Clinic, run by the Medical School, is the 12th of
its kind in the U.S. Other West Coast clinics include USC and UCSF. The
clinics focus on holistic treatment of headaches and migraines.
chology Greg Walton. Walton had
previously done research on the
topic of how noun and verb phras-
ing impacts perception of ones
likes and dislikes.
We asked people to write I am
a baseball fan versus, I like base-
ball a lot, Walton said. People
actually inferred that they them-
selves like baseball or chocolate or
Coke . . . more when they had de-
scribed it using these noun phras-
es.
The research has sparked fur-
ther experiments on the effects of
this language on children, which
are already underway.
Contact Josh Hoyt at jwghoyt@stan-
ford.edu.
VOTING
Please see GENES, page 15
S
inglish, Peranakan and dragons are a few of
the many adventures Ive encountered in
Asia. To document everything in seven
columns would be impossible. I have contem-
plated Kiasu, slapped on sunscreen after losing
my face and argued in two different versions of
English. I have discovered Peranakan, reflected
on my identity as a Third-Culture Kid and tried
to fly high with dragons. But there are still so
many things that I love about this grand conti-
nent that I could write for a century. So, in a teary
farewell from the Dragonlands, I present to you
(in no particular order) 5 things I love about
Asia.
1. Girl Power
Asia continues to applaud female leaders. Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has ac-
tively and loyally fought for Burmese democra-
cy for over two decades, locked away in house
arrest for most of the time. Rivals Sheik Hasina
Wazed and Khaleda Zai have fought political
battles over the position of Bangladeshi prime
minister, and both are women. The first woman
to rise to power in the West was Margaret
Thatcher, when she became the prime minister
of Great Britain in 1979. In contrast, Asia put out
its first female leader a decade earlier in 1960
Sri Lankan leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike. The
U.S. and Canada have yet to have a female pres-
ident or prime minister. And most recently, the
world extends its congratulations to Yingluck
Shinawatra, who just became Thailands first fe-
male prime minister.
2. Playing the Qin in Front of a Cow and Falling
From a Tree into a Boat with the Bark Peeling Off
Idioms exist in a language for a reason. They are
flowery metaphors sprinkled throughout our
speech that create an image to express some-
thing that other words cant quite encompass.
But they do more than communicate an idea
they also communicate quite a bit of culture.
Asian idioms are so diverse and so steeped in
stories that they immediately brighten any
rhetoric. In China, to say one is playing the qinin
front of a cow is to say one is wasting ones ef-
forts. When the Japanese assert that even mon-
keys fall from trees, they actually mean that
even the experts can get it wrong. An exclama-
tion of its a carrot! in Korean is another way
of saying of course! In Hindi, to say one is ex-
creting embers means one is extremely angry.
In the Philippines, itchy feet can be cured with
a bus ticket, not an anti-fungal cream, because to
have itchy feet is to have the urge to travel.
The Western metaphor of going to the dogs
would be figuratively translated in Kashmiri as,
its a drifting boat with the bark peeling off.
3. Everything is Possible (With Terms and Con-
ditions)
When I was house hunting in China, my realtor
told me if there was one thing I needed to know
before moving to Asia, it was that anything (and
literally, anything) is possible. Its just a matter of
how much. That is, how much youre willing to
pay for it. After many years in Asia, I have come
to realize that its not just about the money. Asia
is rising in gold and wealth, but if anything, it is
full to bursting with motivation and enthusiasm.
If someone in the West tells you a corporate
analysis cant be completed by the end of the
week, someone in the East will have it done with
a bow on top within the next hour. The kiasu-
capitalist mentality of trying to get ahead has en-
gulfed Asia in one large, nationalistic movement
of competing and surpassing the West. Asias
rise is actually a large comeback a resurrec-
tion spurred by Asian motivation.
4. Color, Color Everywhere
Wherever you look, a rainbow inundation will
deluge you. Walk through the streets of China
and youll see the bright red lanterns hanging on
threads of ivory yellow. In Japan, the springtime
cherry blossoms cover the land in a soft snow of vi-
brant cotton-candy pink and contrast strongly
with the black of the wood after a spring rain. All
the spices, silks, dyes and seeds in the market-
places of India are an artists dreamTyrian
purples, peacock blues, cinnamon crimsons and
bright daffodil yellows are only a few of the colors
that you not only see, but taste, feel and hear at the
same time. In the forests of Borneo and Indone-
sia, foliage of the finest green jade grows from the
caramel earth, and the sudden explosion of a bird
breaking through the foliage seems like an acci-
dental splash of bright color on a painters perfect
green canvas. The colors of Asia are so easy to
brush over, but they are the introduction to a ma-
jestic world of culture and vibrancy.
5. Unusual Occurrences on a Daily Basis
In Asia, be prepared for the unknown. Every
day is an adventure, and every day, something
T
o the four governmental bodies that
belie their names in his dystopian novel
1984 the Ministry of Love, which
oversees torture; the Ministry of Peace, which
conducts war; the Ministry of Plenty, which ra-
tions food; and the Ministry of Truth, which
disseminates lies George Orwell could
have appended a fifth: the United Nations
Human Rights Council, among whose mem-
bers are several of the worst human rights vio-
lators in the world. Until structural deficien-
cies in the process for electing council mem-
bers are addressed, the HRC will continue to
languish in a perpetual state of doublethink,
hamstrung by a voting bloc of governments
whose domestic policies consistently abrogate
the very human rights the council was intend-
ed to protect.
Lets begin by taking a quick look at four of
the current members of the council: Saudi
Arabia, Cuba, China and Russia.
The Saudi Arabian state became a vigorous
human rights defender right about the time
slavery became freedom and war became
peace. One of very few governments never to
sign the U.N.s 1948 Universal Declaration of
Human Rights the basic charter of funda-
mental freedoms on which the council itself is
based the Kingdom does not allow women
to drive; punishes homosexuality and other
nonviolent crimes by flogging, forced ampu-
tation or death (often carried out by public be-
heading and crucifixion); and forbids any kind
of religious worship other than the puritanical,
state-sponsored brand of Sunni Islam. Politi-
cally, the country is an absolute monarchy
ruled jointly by royal decree and religious ju-
risprudence. No political parties or elections
are allowed, prompting The Economist to
label the Saudi government the seventh most
authoritarian in the world. The harsh medieval
legal code is enforced by a secretive state secu-
rity apparatus frequently accused of torture by
international human rights groups, while
breaches of public decency are handled by
the infamous morality police, or mutaween.
(The mutaween are perhaps most well known
for their 2002 decision to prevent a crowd of
frightened schoolgirls from fleeing a burning
building because they were not wearing head-
scarves, causing 15 children to burn to death).
Meanwhile, fellow Human Rights Council-
member Cuba continues to live up to its well-
deserved reputation as the worst human rights
violator in the Western Hemisphere. Recently
characterized by Human Rights Watch
(HRW) as a Latin American anomaly: an un-
democratic government that represses nearly
all forms of political dissent, the Castro
regime continues to squelch all forms of politi-
cal discussion with a ferocity unrivaled west of
the Atlantic. In its 2006 report, HRW noted
that Cubans are systematically denied basic
rights to free expression, association, assem-
bly, privacy, movement and due process of
law under a repressive system perhaps most
famous for jailing journalists and free-speech
advocates. (Cuba, in fact, jails more journalists
than any other nation on earth with the ex-
ception of fellow Human Rights Council-
member China. But well get to that in a mo-
ment.) While recent reforms have slightly re-
laxed Cubas decidedly Big-Brother-like polit-
ical atmosphere, granting the regime a contin-
ued spot on the worlds highest human rights
body still looks painfully like appointing
Bernie Madoff to a financial ethics commis-
sion.
But for a particularly Orwellian twist, we
need look no further than the notoriously
opaque government of the Peoples Republic
of China, which recently outdid itself by
retroactively censoring already-printed mater-
ial about the high-speed rail wreck that killed
40 and injured 192 this month. The New York
Times reports that Party bureaucrats in Bei-
jing, determined to prevent coverage of the
embarrassing incident, forced editors at major
papers to frantically tear up pages of their Sat-
urday editions, replacing investigative articles
and commentaries about the accident . . . with
cartoons or unrelated features. Unfortunate-
ly, this particularly egregious instance of cen-
sorship is perfectly in character for a one-party
regime that regularly restricts its own citizens
Internet freedom, jailed political activists like
Nobel Prize-winner Liu Xiaobo and conducts
most government business behind a veil of se-
crecy and suspicion.
Ditto for the Russian Federation, which,
while currently the least offensive of these par-
ticular four horsemen, looks to complete its
slide backward into Soviet-style despotism
sometime around Vladimir Putins next birth-
day. While investigative journalists in China
get thrown in prison for reporting the news,
their equivalents in Russia simply disappear
into black vans, never to be seen again. Given
a Not Free rating by Freedom House the
human rights organizations worst classifica-
tion Russia frequently votes against sanc-
tioning violators like North Korea, Myanmar
and Sudan not to mention, of course, Cuba,
China and Saudi Arabia.
LETTERS FROM THE DRAGONLANDS I DO CHOOSE TO RUN
Five things I love about Asia
Aysha
Kureishi
Miles
Unterreiner
OPINIONS
Human Rights
(Double)talk
Please see ASIA, page 15 Please see RIGHTS, page 15
and the Senate, must make recom-
mendations by Nov. 23.
If Congress does not approve at
least $1.2 trillion in cuts by Dec. 23,
reductions will automatically come
from mandatory and discretionary
funds in both defense and domestic
accounts. Debate over addressing
the deficit whether and by how
much to raise revenue through in-
creasing taxes, and whether to re-
duce spending and by how much
accounted for Congress inability to
produce legislation until the last
moment.
Stanford Reflections
Stanford economic experts have
expressed differing views on the
Budget Control Act.
There were differences of opin-
ion about whether spending limits
should be associated with the debt
limit increase, said economics pro-
fessor John Taylor Ph.D. 73. The
deliberation was over how to add
cuts, which the Speaker said was
necessary. The debate was also
over whether taxes increased
Republicans did not want to have
that.
The bill was definitely a com-
promise, Taylor said. It included
things that Republicans wanted
like spending reductions but not
as much as they would have liked.
Economics professor Gavin
Wright believes that the Republi-
cans have gained significantly from
the act.
The Republican party decided
to use this as a sticking point for
some of their agenda, Wright said.
The majority of Republicans in
the House felt Theyre not going to
be able to do anything without us.
They used the leverage they had to
push through something that would
not have had a chance of passing if
it was initiated in the normal man-
ner.
Its pretty clear this is not a
long-term solution, Wright re-
sponded when asked about the
scope of the bill. The main draw-
back is that theyre calling for pret-
ty dramatic spending cuts in the
coming year . . . This seems not to
be good public policy in light of the
current economic situation. Ulti-
mately, I feel confident that the
economy will recover. It will be a
long, slow recovery and I dont
think the implications of this bud-
get are going to help that.
Taylor agreed that the plan was
imperfect.
I would have preferred that it
was laid out a little more carefully
without the two steps, he said.
Other than that, its really what I
hoped would happen. Its not a
complete solution its a step to-
ward a long-term solution. Theres
more that needs to be done, like
taking additional actions to reduce
the deficit and growth of the debt.
Financial Aid Ramifications
Despite the cuts, the bill in-
creased funding for Pell Grants by
$17 billion and protected the schol-
arships from cuts until 2013. Pell
Grants have provided need-based
grants to low-income undergradu-
ates and some graduate students
since 1995.
Under the Budget Control Act,
graduate and professional school
students will no longer receive fed-
erally subsidized student loans. The
potential effect these cuts might
have on the Farm remains to be
seen.
The loss of the interest subsi-
dies for graduate and professional
students will be effective for the
2012-2013 school year, so we still
have time to consider alternatives,
wrote Director of Financial Aid
Karen Cooper in an email to The
Daily. Its too early to say how we
might respond. Seventeen percent
of Stanford undergraduates were
Pell Grant recipients last year.
U.S. Credit Ratings
On Aug. 5, S&P downgraded
the U.S. credit rating from AAA
to AA+. Neither Moodys nor
Fitch, which both also offer credit
ratings, have downgraded the U.S.
from its Triple-A status. Moodys
warned it may change the rating in
the future, and Fitch is completing a
review of its U.S. credit rating this
month.
S&P explained the rationale be-
hind its downgrade in a report.
The downgrade reflects our
opinion that the fiscal consolida-
tion plan that Congress . . . recently
agreed to falls short of what . . .
would be necessary to stabilize the
governments medium-term debt
dynamics, the report said.
Chad Stone, chief economist at
the Center for Budget and Policy
Priorities in Washington, D.C. does
not believe that the Budget Control
Act influenced S&Ps rating
change.
I just dont see the S&P down-
grade as being something that can
move markets, Stone said.
Moodys made a completely dif-
ferent call.
Contact Kristian Davis Bailey at
kbailey@stanford.edu.
ECONOMY
subsidy implicit financial aid
from the University.
He also chose to separate tu-
ition from room and board, as Res-
idential Housing & Dining Enter-
prises are auxiliaries to the Univer-
sity that in theory . . . charge ex-
actly what it costs them to provide
the student housing and meals.
I say in theory because there
are explicit and implicit subsidies,
he explained. We have put in cen-
tral University funds (gifts, re-
serves) to subsidize building some
of the dorms, which is an explicit
subsidy that reduces the room and
board charges to the students, and,
of course, there is no land cost for
any of the facilities, which provides
an implicit subsidy that reduces the
cost of housing to the students. But
by and large, students pay for what
they get.
Evaluating Stanfords Value
Etchemendy was unclear on how
exactly to define the financial bene-
fit that is, the amount a student
receives in financial aid as well as via
participation in campus programs
ranging from research grants to
overseas studies to on-campus Vol-
unteer Student Organizations
(VSOs) derived from a Stanford
education.
Some students take more ad-
vantage of the opportunities at
Stanford than others, Etchemendy
said. They participate in more ac-
tivities, more programs and so forth.
Conversely, other students partici-
pate in less. Is it possible that the lat-
ter students are getting less than
they are paying for, while the for-
mer are getting much more?
He used the analogy of an
amusement parks entrance fee to
explain the situation.
Some people go on more rides
than others, he said. Does this
mean they are getting more than
they paid for, while the others are
getting less? Its hard to say. I think
a lot of the people who go on fewer
rides would disagree (think, for ex-
ample, of the person who hates
roller coasters but enjoys other as-
pects of the experience).
He also compared the expense of
running different rides to the ex-
pense of providing various classes at
Stanford. While Introductory Semi-
nars have a small size and employ
senior faculty, increasing cost, larg-
er introductory classes such as Sleep
and Dreams or Introductory Eco-
nomics are comparatively cheaper
for the University on a per-student
basis.
But theres a reason these class-
es are popular and grow large: ask
anyone whos taken Econ 1 from a
great teacher like John Taylor, he
explained. Do these students re-
ceive less from these highly popular
classes? I dont think so.
The Student Perspective
Michael Cruz 12 and Stewart
Macgregor-Dennis 13, ASSU pres-
ident and vice president respective-
ly, provided a similar perspective on
the value of a Stanford education
and especially the role that financial
aid plays in determining that value.
I think the most important thing
is for students not to have to worry
about their financial situation,
Macgregor-Dennis said. The fi-
nancial aid program will be success-
ful if it allows students to not think
about money and just focus on . . .
participation [in Stanfords ex-
tracurricular opportunities], acade-
mic success and enjoying Stanford.
Director of Financial Aid Karen
Cooper stated that the mission of
her office is just that: to remove fi-
nancial aid from a students decision
to attend Stanford.
One of our goals in the financial
aid program is to take the financial
aspect out of that decision-making
process, she said. I would much
rather see students choose an insti-
tution based on their overall com-
fort, their academic goals, etc., than
purely on a financial basis.
Cruz, however, used himself as
an exhibit of how financial aid can
define a students Stanford experi-
ence.
Financial aid and on-campus
participation in clubs, tutoring and
other campus activities is very posi-
tively correlated, he said. I know
that if I wasnt [on financial aid] I
would have to get jobs that dont
necessarily interest me but pay
much better than the jobs that I
have had. I wouldnt be able to be
involved in any of the VSOs on cam-
pus that have really helped make
my experience at Stanford.
Cooper provided a similar senti-
ment.
A large proportion of students
on financial aid are very grateful for
the assistance theyre receiving and
realize they couldnt be here with-
out it, she said. Whether or not it
makes them more anxious to take
advantage of opportunities on cam-
pus, I think that has much more to
do with the individual students per-
sonality.
I can name off dozens of stu-
dents with the same situation; just
read any TSF [The Stanford Fund]
letter, and you can see the positive
correlation between those two,
Cruz said.
He also pointed to a potential
correlation between financial aid
and academic success.
Everyone who comes to Stan-
ford has an equal chance at academ-
ic success, and I think that for a lot of
students, one of the big factors that
could hinder academic success is
worrying about financial aid, partic-
ularly at institutions that dont offer
strong financial aid packages like
Stanford, he said. Those two are
positively correlated that is,
when students have better financial
security, whether its through their
parents, through financial aid,
through scholarships that they got, I
think it definitely helps their acade-
mic success.
The Student Stand
Some students suggested that fi-
nancial aid, as well as the ancillary
benefits and costs derived from it,
does not have a consequential im-
pact on their enjoyment of Stanford.
One rising sophomore who re-
ceives a $39,000 per annum scholar-
ship differentiated between a stu-
dents ability and decision to partic-
ipate. She asked to remain anony-
mous to protect her personal finan-
cial information.
If youre in your dorm room all
day not doing anything, then I sup-
pose the schools not spending on
you because youre not going out
there to take those opportunities,
she said. People might have differ-
ent experiences, but I dont think
thats based on how much Stan-
fords spending, its based on how
much you personally are spending.
One former varsity athlete who
is entering her junior year estimates
that only about 10 percent of varsi-
ty athletes receive a full scholarship
at Stanford.
[Financial aid affects] sense of
worth as an athlete and making tu-
ition affordable, but the Stanford
campus and atmosphere have the
ability to win people over, she
said.
She justified some of the ancil-
lary benefits that Stanford funds for
athletes as instrumental to academ-
ic and athletic success; for example,
most non-athletic tutoring on cam-
pus takes place at the same time as
practices. She did, however, note
that athletic involvement precludes
participation in some other Univer-
sity-funded experiences such as
overseas study.
Another current varsity athlete
stated that she would have come to
Stanford no matter what, but that
the athletic experience is give and
take.
Its really a draw, she said.
For example, the job Im working
this summer, I was first . . . ex-
posed to it from the athlete lun-
cheon, but I actually couldnt at-
tend all of the companys other
events on campus because they
were during practice.
She also noted that the influence
of financial aid varies depending on
the sport, as some such as football
have many scholarships while oth-
ers such as mens rowing have vir-
tually none.
Both athletes asked to remain
anonymous, as their coaches had
asked them to refrain from speak-
ing with the press.
Cruz summarized the Stanford
experience as a direct function of
the individual as opposed to any
outside factors.
Students try and find what they
really want at Stanford, he said.
For some students, thats getting
really involved in student organiza-
tions and groups and activism and
on-campus tutoring and using the
gym, and for other people thats
getting involved in social life, in
hanging out with their friends a lot
and having friends in classes.
One thing I can note is that in
exit surveys, the number of students
who say that the Stanford experi-
ence was not worth the cost is van-
ishingly small (I dont have it in
front of me, but its on the order of
1 or 2 percent.), Etchemendy said.
If anything, the positive feelings
get stronger among alumni looking
back on the experience and assess-
ing its value. So I have to believe
that very few people give (in the
sense of pay) more than they get (in
terms of the self-assessed value of
the experience) at Stanford.
Contact Ellora Israni at ellora@stan-
ford.edu.
INCOME
It is like a miniaturized screen
window; when the line is thin
enough, peoples eyes cannot dis-
tinguish it from the background, so
it is transparent, Yang said.
The electrodes themselves are
made up of metal oxides, and the
substrate is a transparent polymer
called polydimethylsiloxane, more
commonly referred to as PDMS.
The transparency could vary
by changing width of lines in the
grid, Yang said. For example,
its easy to vary the transparency
from 40 percent to 90 percent.
The amount of energy that the
battery stores can also be altered.
The transparent battery currently
holds less energy than a traditional
battery, but increasing its thick-
ness changes that.
The energy stored in a battery
with 70 percent transparency is 30
percent of a traditional battery,
he said. However, there are sev-
eral ways to increase it first, by
increasing the thickness of the bat-
tery, which will not decrease the
transparency at the same time.
Second, with the development of
new high-energy materials for bat-
teries, the energy stored could be
close to state-of-the-art batteries.
Transparent batteries also
serve a practical purpose: they
allow examination of inner elec-
tronic workings for further re-
search.
Yi Cui, associate professor of
materials science and engineering,
is the leading scientist on the team.
Cui thinks that a transparent bat-
tery is the first step toward many
other transparent objects, such as
transparent cell phones, laptops
and watches. He personally would
like to see a transparent iPhone.
It is exciting to lead my whole
research group and come up inno-
vative ideas in addressing different
needs to society, Cui said.
Contact Abha Sharma at abhas350
@gmail.com.
BATTERY
The most
important thing
is for students
not to worry
about their
financial
situation.
STEWART
MACGREGOR-DENNIS 13
By JOSEPH BEYDA
SPORTS EDITOR
If you went looking for running back Antho-
ny Wilkerson in the waning moments of Stan-
fords close win over Arizona State last Novem-
ber, youd find him taking a seat.
He wasnt injured or surrounded by training
staff. Nor was he in the stands to watch the action
after the Cardinal went ahead 17-13 with just
minutes to play. Instead, he was inbounds on the
Sun Devils 4-yard line, with the ball in his hands
and not a defender in sight.
After breaking free from 23 yards out with
just over 1:30 remaining, the freshman planted
himself on the turf to ice the game, passing up
what wouldve surely been just the third touch-
down of his collegiate career. Several offensive
linemen, quarterback Andrew Luck and then-
head coach Jim Harbaugh met him with friendly
embraces on his way back to the bench, thanking
him for doing the unselfish thing.
And for Cardinal running backs, thats just
business as usual.
To account for the departure of Heisman
Trophy runner-up Toby Gerhart, Stanford
coaches instituted a running back by committee
last year, with five players splitting carries on a
consistent basis. While Gerhart took over 80 per-
cent of the handoffs in 2009, the Cardinals lead-
ing rusher last year rising junior Stepfan Tay-
lor only took half.
Its not a selfish group of backs, and thats
what I love about it, Taylor said. We all have
better talents in certain situations, and the coach-
es know that were unselfish players.
Stanfords group of backs Taylor, Wilker-
son, junior Tyler Gaffney, redshirt senior Jeremy
Stewart and redshirt sophomore Usua Amanam
ended up totaling more yardage in 2010 than
Gerhart alone had the year before. And of the
five, only Amanam, who has since been convert-
ed to corner, will not be in the backfield again this
year.
So as the Cardinal moves into training camp,
playing time must be earned yet again, even by
the man who led the squad on the ground last
season.
Our system makes us all compete, Taylor
said. You cant take a day off because we all
know everybodys gunning for the spot. But we
help each other . . . were all working together to
help the team.
That ideal is epitomized perhaps best of all by
Stewart. After finishing a close second on the
team in rushing behind Anthony Kimble in 2007
when he also played a big role down the
stretch in Stanfords memorable upset over USC
he had to take a back seat to Gerhart for two
years. Ever since, he has been plagued by injury,
never coming close to making a full comeback
after the season mark of 359 rushing yards he set
his freshman year.
Stewart showed some flashes of brilliance in
last years Orange Bowl, including a 60-yard run
that opened the scoring for the Cardinal. But
fresh in his head are the days when even making
a bowl was out of the picture, a perspective thats
unique on a squad with only two players that saw
game action in 2007.
My first year here was just after they went 1-
11, so a lot of people took us as a game off, Stew-
art said. Its definitely a lot different now, with
us coming out ranked whatever we are in the
country, so I think a lot of teams are going to be
gunning for us.
Regardless, Stanfords multi-tooled running
game wont be easy for opponents to handle. The
speed of Taylor and Wilkerson who finished
second on the team in rushing after a surprising
first season contrasts well with the power style
of Stewart and Gaffney.
Though there are few questions at running
back, they abound elsewhere. Most notable is the
loss of fullback Owen Marecic, the lynchpin of
the Cardinal rushing attack for the last three
years.
The day I got here, watching him and seeing
his work ethic, he was like my hero, Taylor said.
Owens Owen. Hes just that guy.
Known for his mane of blond hair and his
hard-nosed athleticism on both sides of the ball,
Marecic paved the way for Gerhart and Taylors
success on the ground. His blocking was so effec-
tive that the Cardinal faithful had good cause for
SPORTS
BACKS INTACT, LINE REBUILDS
STANFORD FOOT)ALL
POSITION PR./I.0 1011
W
ere almost halfway
through August, so
theres no denying it
any longer its
college football sea-
son. True, 23 days remain until Stan-
ford football kicks off its Andrew Luck
Farewell Tour, but that just means we
all have a bit over three weeks left to
analyze the heck out of the Cardinals
chances.
Roughly 99.999 percent of the off-
season news surrounding Stanford
football has been concentrated on
Luck staying for one more season
(sorry, Class of 2013, its just one more)
and David Shaw replacing Jim Har-
baugh. Yes, coaching changes in col-
lege football really do matter, and hav-
ing the preseason Heisman favorite
and a candidate for sainthood under
center is certainly a big deal, but there
is a lot more to this team than the coach
and the quarterback.
How will the new-look O-line per-
form? Can the defense match its
breakout 2010 campaign despite losing
five starters? Will anyone step up at
wide receiver? Can Jordan Williamson
or Eric Whitaker match Nate Whitak-
ers output at kicker? Will Chris
Owusu be the Chris Owusu of 2009
(one of the most explosive players in
the country) or the Chris Owusu of
2010 (hurt too much of the year to
make a significant impact)?
These questions will go a long way
toward determining if 2011 will look
like 2010 or 2009. One of the most im-
portant factors in Stanfords success,
though, is something that cannot make
a play or run a practice. Im talking, of
course, about the schedule. You can
talk personnel all you want, but the fact
is that youre more likely to have suc-
cess against Directional State than
against a BCS contender. Just ask Ken-
tucky.
So, without further ado, heres a
look at what the 2011 season has in
store for Stanford football, along with
my level of worry for each game (and
dont worry, Im not nearly powerful
Jacob Jaffe
FOOTBALL
MATCHUPS
SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily
Running back Stepfan Taylor, shown playing in the Orange Bowl, had a strong sophomore sea-
son, leading the team with 1175 yards on the ground. Hes one of four backs returning this year.
Please see RUNNING, page 16
Please see JAFFE, page 11
Tom Taylor Angel Wang
FANTASY NEEDS MORE SPORTS
TENNIS GRUNTS
HERE TO STAY
T
he thrill of fantasy sports
leagues has never really
captured my attention,
but this year, I grudgingly
caved in and signed my-
self up first to a fantasy Formula 1
competition and now to a fantasy soc-
cer league based on the English Pre-
miership.
So far, the new experience hasnt
been much of a personal success. I used
to have a pretty exhaustive, perhaps
even obsessive, knowledge of F1 until
a few years ago, when I just got bored
of the whole circus. The sport was orig-
inally about finding a fine balance be-
tween technology and skill, but now its
simply a case of who manages to best
interpret what the rules mean. The reg-
ulations change by so much every sin-
gle year that fans, teams and drivers
alike are left guessing at the beginning
of each new season about how the
sport is now supposed to work. The
football equivalent of such radical rule
changes would be discovering the NFL
had replaced the goal posts with a giant
hoop one year, then switched from
four downs to eight, then cut the field
length from 100 yards to 80, etc.
And adding to the general frustra-
tion, I lie 48th out of 51st in this make-
believe F1 league. Fantastic.
Only time will tell how bad I am at
predicting soccer results, but I fear for
the worst. Though I love soccer, I dont
pay that much attention to the Pre-
mier League because the team I sup-
port doesnt play in it. In the same way
that my fantasy F1 ambitions have
been hurt by a lack of knowledge, I
suspect my soccer experiment will suf-
fer a similar fate.
But even if I did regularly pay at-
tention to the top flight of English
soccer, I still suspect I wouldnt do
very well. Dry statistics dont really
excite me that much, but its attention
to them that wins fantasy sports titles.
The raw, numerical analysis of sport
takes little notice of the human factor
and the background stories that add
emotional depth to a match. For me,
calling these statistical competitions
fantasy sports is a little misleading.
Fantasy refers to an extravagant and
unrestrained imagination. Real fan-
tasy sports wouldnt be held back by
attention to real-world rules. Im talk-
ing full-contact golf, football on ice or
Usain Bolt racing a cheetah.
Ironically, while my fantasy F1
competition is restrained by the rules
of the real sport, the rulers of that sport
are actually living this dream. No regu-
lation that may take their fancy, how-
ever bizarre, is off limits.
Creating a fantasy sports league,
though, is not that simple. You just
cant change the rules because youre
not in the real world, and the only way
to determine whose team is better is by
turning to those cold, hard statistics.
But I dont give up that easily. Perhaps
instead of just allowing you to just as-
semble a team of players from one sin-
gle sport, a real fantasy league should
be blind to segregation. Why, for ex-
ample, cant my team include a quar-
terback, a pinch hitter, a shooting
guard, a striker and a wicketkeeper?
Why cant I have both men and
women on my team?
Ok, I can see the obvious points of
contention: what game theyre sup-
posed to be playing, how to rate them
against each other and the stark con-
trasts in the cost of different personnel.
But if you look at most team sports,
winning obviously the most impor-
tant thing is achieved by having
both a good offense and defense, and
by working as a team. The most im-
T
here are certain charac-
teristics that separate
tennis from any other
sport. The flashy outfits.
The intense mental re-
quirements and strategic execution.
The respectful viewing etiquette.
The distinctive grunts.
Ahh yes, the grunts. Although os-
tensibly a minor detail in the scope of
professional tennis, this topic has
been the cause of heated debate for a
long time. In fact, some tournaments
have prevented specific athletes from
participating due to their grunting
habits, while others are considering
an official ban for all tennis players.
Albeit extreme, these cases never-
theless illustrate the legitimacy and
magnitude of the issue.
Players have long attested to the
benefits of grunting. They assert that
pushing air from their lungs allows
them to exert more power in their
shots and to focus on the timing of
their strokes. In the past, this conjec-
ture was the only available form of
persuasion. Today, the debate has
changed. Science has now entered
the game. Interestingly, a recent
study of U.S. college players found
that athletes who didnt normally
grunt increased the speed of their
forehands and serves when they did
grunt.
Complaints against grunting also
have some scientific basis. In 2005,
one of Maria Sharapovas grunts reg-
istered above 100 decibels, roughly
the sound of a chainsaw or jackham-
mer. Some of the more radical
protests against tennis go as far as to
say that grunting has disgraced the
prestigious reputation of the sport
and has forever polluted the quality
of tennis. Yet not all protests are this
fanatical. Generally, most people
complain that grunting is annoying
Please see WANG, page 11
Please see TAYLOR, page 11
By ISSRA OMER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
F
rom the silly to the soulful, a cappella groups are a vital
and visible part of life at Stanford from ones first days on
the Farmsurely, most students can recall hiking over to
Frost Amphitheater with their new ProFro friends, taking
in the diverse musical talents of the various troupes at the
annual a capella show during Admit Weekend. While a cappella is
far from unique to Stanford, the array of musical styles explored by
the groups on campus is varied, including classic rock n roll, Bol-
lywood and jazz, to name a few.
Stanford currently boasts nine a capella groups. Founded in
1963, the Stanford Mendicants is the oldest group on campus, an
all-male crew known for its red sport coats, khakis and swoon-wor-
thy hits like Brown Eyed Girl and Pretty Woman. Mixed
Company and Counterpoint are the oldest coed and all-female
groups, respectively, and both sing contemporary radio tunes.
Then there are the thematic troupes: Everyday People explores
R&B and hip-hop, and Talisman sings African and African Amer-
ican folk songs and spirituals. Testimony performs Christian music,
and the Harmonics is a coed rock ensemble. Fleet Streets tunes
like Everyone Pees in the Shower speak for the all-male groups
goofy personality. And founded in 2002, Raagapella is the newest
member of the bunch, featuring Southeast Asian sounds.
This mixed nature of the groups appeals to the similarly diverse
Stanford community.
I think [the a capella groups] are a great asset to our college
community, because they represent the Stanford community as a
whole, said Rebecca Amato 14. There is such a diversity of
groups that students can relate to. The combination of groups
makes for a good concert because the different songs and styles all
mix well together.
For the singers, a capella is a serious extracurricular undertak-
ing, entailing a tryout in the fall followed by a year of hard work and
dedication.
Talisman, a group that has traveled across the globe to perform,
has regular practices that can add up to 10 hours per week. This
does not include the occasional gig and extra sectionals. However,
its toil does not go unnoticed Talisman receives far more stu-
dents auditioning each fall than spots available, and the group en-
joys great popularity among the Stanford community.
We sing music that tells stories of people with real experiences
of struggle and oppression, said Sterling Camden 06, the 2010-11
manager of Talisman. We try to portray it as accurately as we can
and to tell where it came from and show how the individuals felt.
Many of the songs originated in South Africa, which weve vis-
ited five times, and the story travels through the music, he added.
We never want to just sing the songs we want the audience to
engage and to talk about the song.
While trying to engage the audience and reach out to them
through music is important, perhaps the most appealing aspect of a
cappella groups to their members is the sheer joy that comes as a
result of making music.
!"#ools o)t +o,
s)--e,
Readjusting to life back at home
FEATURES
By TORI LEWIS
T
he green numbers of my alarm clock
read 7:00 a.m. Despite having been
home for a couple of months, I still
took several seconds to comprehend
that the clock was telling the truth.
What happened to rolling out of bed just in time
for 11:00 classes?
After spending a year within the Stanford bub-
ble, I decided to come back to my hometown for
the summer. A paid internship and free housing
at my parents house was something that a broke
college student like me couldnt exactly afford to
turn down. But as I looked out my window and
saw only the tiniest bit of sunlight, I began to re-
gret the decision. At Stanford, I was only up at this
ungodly hour at the conclusion of an all-nighter.
I finally got out of bed, and after jumping in the
shower, I begrudgingly began to get dressed for
the office. I opened my closet to my business ca-
sual pencil skirts, blouses, sweaters and slacks,
though I wondered if the corporate world has
ever looked up casual in the dictionary. My col-
lege wardrobe, a uniform of t-shirts, sweatpants
and hoodies, still sits in my suitcases, untouched
and wrinkled.
I sat in rush hour traffic for what feels like
hours. I missed the sunny spring days, zooming
around campus on Paris what I named my lit-
tle white bike with her bell that is significantly
less obnoxious than a car horn. Trying to avoid
giving in to road rage, I fiddled with the radio. I
heard a traffic report informing me of the traffic
that I was sitting in, followed by commercials for
products I have no intention of buying. This does
not help my morning mood.
When I finally got to work, I settled in at my
desk and started my computer. The ancient PC
takes several minutes to boot up, and I wonder
how I ever lived without my MacBook Pro. I
started on my list of tasks for the day, pondering
the single most important thing that Ive learned
at my internship this summer: the work world has
little to do with what you learn in college. While
Im sure that this isnt true for every career path,
it is definitely true for my developing academic in-
terests in feminist studies and English. I miss my
Stanford classes where everything we learn is not
about the bottom line.
After a semi-productive morning, I headed off
to lunch. I finally felt at home again as I waited in
the ridiculously long line at Subway. If I squinted
my eyes really hard, I almost thought I was in
Please see SUMMER, page 11
Stanford Daily File Photo
Founded in 2002, Raagapella is the newest of Stanfords nine a
capella groups. The all-male troupe performs South Asian music.
Beyond the barbershop
B
SERENITY NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily
Stanfords a capella scene strays from the traditional
Please see A CAPELLA, page 15
and distracting.
I know at one point in our lives, we
have all been in this group of com-
plainers. Weve all experienced that
moment. Whether its watching the
pros on TV or the particularly intense
players in our local community,
weve all heard particularly charac-
teristic grunts, and weve all in-
evitably asked, Was that really nec-
essary?
To me, the question isnt some-
thing that a simple yes-or-no answer
can solve. It depends on the situation;
it depends on the grunt.
Yes, there are different types of
grunts. Although specific grunting
styles vary from athlete to athlete,
there are ultimately a few major cate-
gories of tennis grunts. After years of
playing and watching tennis, Ive
come to categorize and title them.
Yes, Im a nerd. I know.
The Exclamation: As if startled,
the player releases a short yelp.
These yelps take the shapes of words
and are usually a variation of Ooh!
or Oy! The Serbian former world
number one Jelena Jankovic is the
typical example of this category.
The Seductive Moan: The name is
pretty self-explanatory.
The Stress Reliever: Like a heavy
sigh, this type of grunt is purely a re-
lease of air. There are no accompa-
nying musical qualities or sounds.
Usually, the grunts are relatively
short and brief.
The Charging Bull: More intense
than a grunt, this can be viewed more
as a scream or shriek. This is usually
used on an ace or winning shot, when
a player exerts a ton of force. Serena
Williams, anyone?
The Two-Parter: Prior to hitting
the ball, the player releases a low
pre-grunt that precedes the real
thing. The ultimate result is a two-
pronged monster grunt. Past players
include Monica Seles and Elena De-
mentieva, while more recent exam-
ples include Novak Djokovic.
After reviewing these forms of
grunting, the original question re-
turns. Is grunting really necessary? I
say . . . maybe. It is no doubt that
certain athletes and their certain
grunts are distracting. Victoria
Azarenkas grunt, reminiscent of a
tropical birds mating call, would be
unbearable in an intense match. Yet
I also understand that with the over-
whelming pressure that comes at the
professional level, grunting can be
the only form of relief and expres-
sion. Therefore, if players must
grunt to execute their 100 mph
serve, then so be it. Quality tennis
cannot be comprised for quiet ten-
nis. But for those who dont agree, I
would like to make a friendly sug-
gestion: wear earplugs.
Angel Wang is trying to come up with
a grunt of her own. Send yours as in-
spiration to angelwang94@gmail.
com. (MP3s accepted.)
WANG
portant statistics are therefore those
that reward these capabilities, and re-
duced to that level, it should be possi-
ble to compare any player in any sport.
Even the hugely varying costs of play-
ers in different sports can be leveled
out by considering their comparative
value instead of raw dollar amounts.
Teams in the NBA obviously pay
players far more than those in the
MLL (Major League Lacrosse), but
dividing by the total of all salaries paid
in each respective league would mean
players could be bought according to
their real sporting value.
By being open to any sport, fantasy
leagues would also be open to anyone
too. Lack of insight into baseball would-
nt be a problem, since perhaps youd
know more about rugby. And even
more so than normal fantasy leagues,
this system would reward a knowledge
of hidden gems, not just in smaller
teams but in smaller sports. The wider
your sporting interest, the better.
But perhaps Im indulging in a little
too much fantasy now. Having signed
myself up to two leagues already, I
should be paying a bit more attention
to the real world.
Tom Taylor is planning to add sports
columnists to his fantasy team when his
proposals are adopted. Explain why he
wont be making the cut for your squad
at tom.taylor@stanford.edu.
TAYLOR
enough to jinx anything):
Week 1 opponent: San Jose State
(home). 2010 record: 1-12. Outlook: If
the Cardinal cant beat the lowly Spar-
tans at home, Stanford might very well
be on the other side of the new Biggest.
Upset. Ever. SJSU fans, dont hold
your breath. Worry factor: subzero.
Week 2 opponent: Duke (road). 2010
record: 3-9. Outlook: Two of the best
academic institutions in the FBS face
off on a football field. Unless the folks
at Durham find a way to move the
game to Cameron Indoor or they draw
a whole lot of phantom clipping calls,
Stanford shouldnt have any problems
in this trip to ACC territory. Worry
factor: barring a Jarrett Mann vs.
Austin Rivers showdown, zero.
Week 3 opponent: Arizona (road).
2010 record: 7-6 (4-5 Pac-10). Outlook:
The Wildcats ended 2010 in the worst
possible fashion, losing five in a row
after a hot start. Tucson is not an easy
place to win, and Arizona returns the
best QB-WR combo in the conference
in Nick Foles and Juron Criner, but the
O-line is entirely new and the defense
has questions. It still should be the
toughest test of the first half of the sea-
son. Worry factor: moderate.
Week 4: Bye.
Week 5 opponent: UCLA (home).
2010 record: 4-8 (2-7 Pac-10). Outlook:
Kevin Princes health has meant every-
thing to the Bruins. Even a healthy
Prince doesnt figure to stand a chance
on the Farm. Worry factor: minimal.
Week 6 opponent: Colorado (home).
2010 record: 5-7. Outlook: The Buf-
faloes escape the Big 12 only to play
their first Pac-12 road game against a
team that is superior in seemingly every
aspect of the game. Worry factor: low.
Week 7 opponent: Washington State
(road). 2010 record: 2-10 (1-8 Pac-10).
Outlook: This isnt your older sisters
Washington State. Yes, theyre picked
to finish last in the Pac-12 North, but
Jeff Tuel and Co. could be in bowl con-
tention in 2011. Worry factor: mild.
Week 8 opponent: Washington
(home). 2010 record: 7-6 (5-4 Pac-10).
Outlook: Chris Polk is back, Jake
Locker is not. This might mean some-
thing more to the Cardinal if the
Huskies had gotten within 40 points of
Stanford in Seattle last year. Worry
factor: slight.
Week 9 opponent: USC (road). 2010
record: 8-5 (5-4 Pac-10). Outlook: Stan-
ford has had success in its past two trips
to the Coliseum (24-23 and 55-21 will
live on in Farm lore for years to come),
but that still doesnt make playing in
L.A. easy for anyone. If the Trojans
found a pass defense over the summer,
this could be the first major challenge to
Stanfords title hopes. Worry factor: just
less than what it was with a minute left in
last years game (before this happened).
Week 10 opponent: Oregon State
(road). 2010 record: 5-7 (4-5 Pac-10).
Outlook: The Beavers didnt put up
much of a fight in 2010, and now they
are missing the one player Stanford
couldnt contain: Jacquizz Rodgers.
Worry factor: small.
Week 11 opponent: Oregon (home).
2010 record: 12-1 (9-0 Pac-10). Out-
look: If you have to ask, you havent
been watching college football. This is
the game of the year for Stanford, for
the Pac-12 and possibly for the nation.
Worry factor: the only reason Im not
shaking in my boots already is that Im
not wearing boots.
Week 12 opponent: Cal (home). 2010
record: 5-7 (3-6 Pac-10). Outlook: No
rivalry game is a guarantee, theres no
debating that. But based on pure tal-
ent, Stanford should run over the
Bears once more. Worry factor: mild, if
only because of a possible letdown
after Oregon.
Week 13 opponent: Notre Dame
(home). 2010 record: 8-5. Outlook: If it
was anyone else, all the preseason
hype would mean this is a team to be
truly scared of. But its Notre Dame,
where hype is more ingrained in the
school than NBC and Touchdown
Jesus. Still, theres definitely talent and
a winning coach visiting from South
Bend. Worry factor: decent.
Dec. 2: Pac-12 Championship (home).
Jan. 9: BCS National Championship
Game (New Orleans).
Hmm, now why did I include those last
two dates?
Jacob Jaffe isnt concerned at all with
Stanfords Week 4 bye. Send him your
worry factor at jwjaffe@stanford.edu.
JAFFE
Tresidder, trying to grab a bite to eat
between classes. That is, until I got
to the register.
Wait, you dont take Cardinal
Dollars? I want to ask, as I handed
over my credit card.
My afternoon felt eerily similar
to my morning, and at 5:00 p.m., I
got on the elevator and headed
back to the car, violating at least 15
rules of corporate etiquette on the
way. Why does no one ever teach
you what you really need to know,
like how to make small talk on an
awkward elevator ride with that
guy from the cubicle next to yours,
or why revolving doors are way
harder to push than normal doors?
When I got home, I immediately
changed into workout clothes,
though I had no intention of going
running. Despite sitting at a desk all
day, all I wanted to do was curl up on
the couch and relax. Who knew that
a full-time job was so exhausting?
I spent my early evening loung-
ing around the house, enjoying free
snacks from my parents kitchen
and a real television. I had com-
pletely forgotten that when you
watch shows live on TV, they have
commercials. I even missed the ob-
noxious buffering of online video
streaming as a chipper McDonalds
ad tries to convince me that it is a
healthy dining establishment now. I
texted my friends from high school,
all of whom have moved, taken in-
ternships in significantly cooler
cities or are on vacation. Hello,
Thursday night a far cry from
Thirsty Thursdays at Sigma Chis
penthouse.
I was about to head to bed at the
embarrassingly early time of 9:00
p.m. when my dad suggested that
we go see a movie together. Won-
dering whether my life had become
so pathetic that my father was my
sole social companion, I considered
telling him no, but he suggested
The Rise of the Planet of the
Apes, and I had never been one to
turn down James Franco. So off we
headed to the local movie theater,
and I tried not to miss the Century
Redwood City Theater too much.
There wasnt a Chipotle close
enough to sneak in a burrito, and
the stale, over-buttered movie pop-
corn left something to be desired.
But then the movie started. My
dad and I sat and laughed and cried
(okay, maybe that was just me)
while Franco won our hearts for the
millionth time, on this occasion
alongside an ape named Caesar.
As I rode home with my dad and
we discussed everything from the
ethics of animal testing to Draco
Malfoys American accent, I real-
ized that even though I desperately
miss the Farm and cannot wait for
fall quarter, I came home for a rea-
son. Because as wonderful as Stan-
ford is, its missing one essential part
of my life: my family.
Contact Tori Lewis at vclewis@stan-
ford.edu.
SUMMER
M
iranda July is doodling. She has been
sitting in a small conference room at
the Four Seasons all day. In front of
her is a neat hotel notepad. In the corner of the
room, away from the table, is a platter of sugar-
dusted brownies and oatmeal cookies, a bowl of
shiny fruits and an iced champagne bowl filled
with Perrier and San Pellegrino. The treats appear
untouched. On the round table before her are
wine glasses and a sweating pitcher of ice water.
Mirandas glass is turned down, her side of the
table untouched by crumbs. She is as ill adapted
to this room as to a cardboard set, and the only
piece of the space shes disturbed is the first page
of the notepad before her. Even there, her mark is
minor, her scribbles small and few.
July is here to promote her second film,
The Future, released Aug. 19. In her latest, we
meet an identically coiffed and restless couple,
Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater). The
film, while elevating the sense of whimsy inherent
in Julys previous work, is also darker than her
first film.
I wanted to kind of move into sadness or
find a way to do that, because . . . well, it was sort
of a dark time, I was ending a relationship, there
was a lot of change in my life, July explained.
The Future is a sharp and honest look at
happiness what it means to be happy when, at
age 30-something, you find yourself lacking those
accomplishments youd thought would come in
time. An earlier title for the film was simply
Satisfaction.
Happiness is something July is learning in
her own life. Recently married to Beginners
director Mike Mills, July seems to be in a much
better place than the dark time that The
Future was born of years ago.
When the thing Im writing or making is
good, theres nothing that quite beats the high of
that, for better or worse, she said. But I think
more and more Im figuring out how to be
happy not working.
But July is insistent that though the themes
of the film are aligned with themes shes pon-
dered and learning, her work aside from one
short story has never been autobiographical.
This is, admittedly, hard to believe. July creates
and plays her protagonists, who are often artists
of a sort. Nevertheless, July insists, time and
again, that she is not her characters.
Ive never written autobiography, it just
doesnt seem to work she said. Yet its impossi-
ble to argue that the themes of any artists work
are entirely divorced from their reality.
July added, but at the same time, issues of . .
. worrying about time, getting paralyzed, thinking
about having children and fleeing your life, these
are all things in the abstract Ive thought about.
Theres just nothing in the movie that happened
in real life.
Despite this insistence, Julys film does draw
some eerie real-life parallels. Linklater looks strik-
ingly like her ex-boyfriend. There is a moment of
Finding happiness
with Miranda July
MOVIE REVIEW
3
0 Minutes or Less has a lot going for
it. It has the same director as
Zombieland and features some
truly stellar actors. The premise seems promis-
ing: high-strung pizza-boy Nick (Jesse Eisenberg)
is living the loser life with his best friend Chet
(Aziz Ansari) until a couple of redneck crimi-
nals-in-the-making strap a bomb to his chest
and force him to rob a bank for them.
Unfortunately, the film falls slightly short of
expectations.
The movie did succeed at the casting of its
two main men, because Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz
Ansari are a couple of winners. Ansari can draw
laughs before he even opens his mouth. Theres
just something about his face his goofy, phe-
nomenally expressive face that is literally
never not funny. The guys a pro. And Jesse does
neurotic and freaking-the-heck-out better than
anyone else in the business; he stammers more
charmingly than Michael Cera, and he hasnt
gotten old yet. The two had decent chemistry: I
believed their bromance, but only just.
The strongest aspect of the movie was its
willingness to mix genuinely heart-pounding
action with humor. The bank robbery scene, for
instance, had Nick and Chet (hiding under ski
masks and under the guise of a couple of
Mexican escaped convicts) bust into their small
towns bank and lay waste to the place. Of
course, the two arent exactly Bonnie and Clyde,
so hilarity ensues, but even as the pair banters
with one another and with their victims, the
adrenaline levels continue to shoot up.
Incidentally, it turns out almost the entire scene
was improvised, which leads me to conclude that
this movie could have been a lot better if it had
more frequently stepped back and let the good
actors to do what they did best.
Despite all this, the movie had a lot of
mediocre elements. Sure, there were a few
moments of cleverness at one point, for
instance, the script alluded to Jesses role in a
The Social Network by having him scathingly
dismiss Facebook but for the most part, the
movie went for the easy laughs. The pair of wit-
less villains, Dwayne and Travis, demonstrates the
worst of this: all of their jokes consist of Dwayne
saying something ignorant or crude and Travis
misinterpreting naively. Its not that I felt it wasnt
high-brow enough; I love crudity, and in all hon-
esty, I snickered at most of the jokes. It was just
that the film leaned on this sort of thing as the
foundation of its humor, and it got to be too
much. Additionally, in spite of all the strong act-
ing talent, the characters themselves were fairly
forgettable. Nicks given a two-dimensional love
interest, but their relationship was not really
fleshed out in her five or 10 minutes of screen
time. While the situations that Nick and Chet
were placed in were humorous ones, nobody
delivered a single memorable one-liner.
At the end of the day, 30 Minutes or Less
didnt have anything particularly memorable or
particularly quotable. It wasnt heartwarming or
humorous enough to be a Zombieland nor
was it funny or outrageous enough to be a
Superbad. It just . . . was. Dont get me wrong,
the film was certainly entertaining; I imagine that
for those who see it, the movie will be frequently
hilarious and enjoyable but will be promptly for-
gotten the next morning. 30 Minutes or Less
was funny, but I imagine that its effect on its
viewers will probably last around 30 minutes, if
not less.
el i ana CARMONA
contact el i ana:
carmona@stanford. edu
ENTERTAINMENT
30 MINUTES FORGETTABLE
Courtesy Wilson Webb
Courtesy Roadside attractions
| JULY continued on page 13 |
B
ad news, everyone! Despite my
best efforts, I got the results of
The Bachelorette spoiled for
me just a day before watching the
episode. I brought it upon myself, real-
ly. It only took a few shots of tequila
before my dearest bunkmate casually
name-dropped the winner of the
show. She didnt even say spoiler
alert party foul, roomie.
But we digress! This episode is
the very last of the season, in which
Ben and JP (and all of us, of course)
get to meet Ashleys family. Shes got a
boring, dim-witted mom and a bor-
ing, overweight dad and a boring, sup-
portive brother, but shes also got this
spectacularly black-sheep sister. My
first impression was actually a positive
one: Big Sis rocks the long, dark, Amy-
Winehouse hair, and her pale arms are
covered with tattoos. Looking at where
she came from and at her happy little
duckling of a sister, I want to high five
her. But this positive first impression
would very quickly be replaced by the
blackest of loathing.
When JP saunters into frame, I
swoon, as per usual (on that note, Ive
decided that my next life goal is to find
myself a JP. If you go to Stanford and
look/act like JP, call me. Seriously
though. Lets make this happen). To
my consternation, though, Ashleys
sister did not swoon. She didnt even
giggle. In fact, she did a lot of scowling
and glaring, which turned my instinc-
tive affection toward her into an all-
consuming, audibly howled rage,
because anyone who does not love JP
deserves to be shot and then torn to
pieces by wild dogs. As time passed,
the situation only worsened: the sister
decided based on an extremely arbi-
trary snap judgment within the first
five minutes of meeting the PERFECT
FREAKING MAN that oooh, hes
not the one for you, Ash. She pro-
ceeded to explain to her sister that
shes the more rational one, and that
Ashleys only going based on gut
instinct, even though the dumb sister
is going 100 percent based on instinct
and reflex. Christ, I hate hypocrisy,
and poor Ash is too dumb to even call
her out on it she reacts (unsurpris-
ingly) by bursting into tears, the poor
dear. I was literally shouting with rage
as I was forced to listen to stupid, fugly
Big Sis going on about how ooh, Im
so rational! Thats why Im making
this decision based on two minutes of
pretty much nothing, because Im the
smart sister!
JP, of course, took it like a man;
when Bitchface informed him that he
was a sleazy old man who was trying to
take advantage of her sister and then
suck the joy out of the whole family, he
remained calm and rational and as
sexy as always. She managed to really
rattle the guy, though. At the end of the
day, Ash called her sister a bitch and
left, and I was freaking glad.
TV RECAP
Ashley never learned subtlety
| SUBTLETY continued on
page 14 |
magical realism in The Future when, as Sophie leaves her
boyfriend and apartment behind, her security blanket Shirty
moves of its own volition and follows her down the street.
I have a yellow shirt . . . like [Sophies]. Mines called
Nighty, she said. My thinking was, okay, that shirt . . . pre-
dates everything. Every boyfriend, my whole career, every-
thing. Like, that is so essentially me that if I were ever to. . .
forsake myself and try to flee my soul, my creativity, my life,
everything that identifies me, I think my shirt might come
crawling after me?
July looked at us, imploring.
Or that would be a good symbol of how. . . how you
cant do that, you cant actually divorce from your essential
self, she continued. I used it in that way . . . to sort of
externalize the way you haunt yourself.
July is a tiny woman, as small and thin as a child, with
big, ocean-blue eyes. In the past decade, she has dabbled in
every medium, from her collection of heartbreaking short
stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You, to her art
exhibit, The Hallway, to her Web project, Learning to
Love You More.
But right now, she is doodling. Ive just asked her what
the most critical quality for an artist working today would
be. Her eyes widen for a moment, threatening to take over
her face.
Thats going to require the paper, she said, her hand
idly reaching for the pen.
When prompted on the slightly averse take of The
Future on the World Wide Web (the two main characters
shut off the Internet for 30 days in order to free themselves
to their goals), July backpedals a bit.
There will always be people changing what is valuable,
but I dont think the Web is important, I think you could
be making paintings and be a young and important artist
now, just as long as its coming from a place of mystery.
There are a lot of messages in Miranda Julys work.
Most are calls to action: to seize, to love, to do. When asked
about the message shed like to write on every white
board in America, she passes through her words like a mini-
flipbook.
When I used to perform live, I would often find
myself saying, This is really happening, she said.
Julys voice catches a kind of excitement here. Her eyes
dash from mine to the other reporters and back.
I think theres so much of a story or a movie playing
in our heads all of the time that if the sentence could snap
me and other people out of that for just a second of like
whoa, thats crazy, yeah, she added. The present.
j enni fer SCHAFFER
contact j enni fer: j mschaff@stanford. edu
CONTINUED FROM JULY PAGE 12
CONTINUED FROM SUBTLETY PAGE 13
Bens experience with the family
was less eventful but cuter; as much as
Bens stupidly terrible fashion sense
makes it impossible for me to be
attracted to him, he has been awfully
cute these days. Ive come to the pret-
ty firm conclusion that hes probably
technically better for her than JP
would have been. For their date, they
went to a waterhole full of healing
mud and slathered each others bod-
ies with the brown muck, which is (in
Bens own creepily monotonous
words) really erotic. Ash again
astounded us with her bluntness;
while running her hands over his
body, she giggles, I wish I could
reach lower, so I could just and I
kid you not, she went straight for the
jewels. WHAT? WHO TAUGHT
YOU SUBTLETY? Secretly, I think its
kind of adorable, though. And when
Ben finally told her he loved her, I
couldnt help but sigh along with her.
Ben was pretty endearing, which
made me absolutely terrified that she
was going to break his heart
though when it comes down to it,
better him than JP.
JPs one-on-one date featured
nothing to write home about other
than his extreme, ridiculous, inhu-
man attractiveness. When they dis-
cussed Ashleys sisters opinion of
him, he got so authoritative and
strong and forceful that I pretty much
melted onto the couch. He told her he
loved her and wrote her the sweetest
letter Ive ever seen in my life.
At the end of the day, it came
down to the choice between the man
she was technically more compatible
with (Ben) or the literal perfect man.
Unfortunately for Ben, Ashleys
human: how could she choose any-
thing but the perfect man? We all
knew from the start that JP was the
only real contender. I really, really felt
for Ben, thoughshe let him get
down on his knee and just stood there
in silence as he proposed. It was vis-
cerally painful to watch. She tried to
compliment him, but he told her not
to sugarcoat it (which I respect) and
left.
You cant leave something like
this on good terms, he said, which is
completely right. What makes me
angry is that she didnt have to put
him through that. Last year, Ali (a
wonderful girl) took her second-place
guy aside ahead of time to spare him
having to propose and be humiliated;
Ash just let it happen. Its kind of dis-
turbing.
Of course, Im easily distracted,
and the moment JP appeared, all
thoughts of Ben flew from my head.
He swaggered out of the helicopter, all
James Bond in his tux, and the way he
looked at her took my breath away.
They are beautiful together.
You know, when you look
beyond the inherently creepy,
voyeuristic aspect of the premise of
The Bachelorette, this experience
has actually been kind of beautiful. I
watched these two people meet, I saw
their first kiss, I watched their rela-
tionship grow and develop and
flower, and now I get to see their wed-
ding, and I always cry at weddings.
Seeing him approach her, I got chills.
God, theyre getting married! I knew
them when they were just a couple of
dumb kids hugging hello and flirting
poolside, and now theyre getting
married. You know what? Im not
even ashamed to say it anymore: I
love this show.
el i ana CARMONA
contact el i ana:
carmona@stanford.edu
MUSIC REVIEW
Kayne, Jay-Zs Throne a
powerful collaboration
J
ay-Z and Kanye West need no
introductions and have no short-
ages of fans. So, of course, when
they announced their collaboration
on a full-length album, the duo, who
have been working together on vari-
ous projects for over a decade, hardly
needed to do any further advertise-
ment. They could have been writing
a series of childrens fairytales, and
they mightve outsold J.K. Rowling.
And with this knowledge, the pair
did little to promote their work a
move that, for anyone else, would be
ridiculously foolish. However, the
duo let their album, Watch The
Throne, talk, and what its saying is
that the two masterminds might just
be as good together as they are apart.
Throne simultaneously gives
Jay-Zs more
rugged style a
glossy finish
and roughs up
Wests finesse
all, of course,
with a healthy
dose of swag.
The album is
ridiculously
strong; for these two, there are no
space fillers or last-minute thoughts.
The duo showcase their egos, of
course, most notably in the grimier
Who Gon Stop Me, while deliver-
ing moving messages to their future
children in New Day and throwing
in a dash of oldies with Otis, which
features a sample from 60s soul artist
Otis Redding. The lyrics are both
clever (Prince William. . .
[shouldve] married Kate & Ashley)
and poignant (I taught them how to
be kings/But all they wanted was to be
soldiers). In short, they hit all the
major points that a good rap album
should.
But with not one but two mam-
moth personalities in the studio,
there was bound to be a bit of a clash
between titans. As smoothly as the
beats of The Neptunes mediate con-
flict between the two heavy hitters,
these are, after all, Jay-Z and Kanye
West. Each artist is used to stealing
the show on their own nothing
more than that needs to be said
about West and the result is a
tug-of-war that brings a prodigious
work down a couple notches.
For instance, Niggas In Paris,
though one of the stunners from the
album, features West as somewhat of
an afterthought to a masterpiece.
Perhaps West wants to make up for
Lift Off, which he and Beyonc
Knowles (particularly Knowles, in
this case) take over. Whether or not
the duo meant to equally distribute
the wealth at the song level remains
unclear, but their chemistry might
have been a little smoother, especial-
ly considering how long the pair has
worked in tandem.
A lack of chemistry, though,
seems forgivable in exchange for a
pair of shiny new thrones as the
undeniable current kings of hip-hop.
The duos pairing is certainly the
most powerful full-length rap collab-
oration in recent memory, if not
ever. To label Throne, which
showcases the heights that hip-hop
can reach, as anything but a success
would be erroneous.
andr ea HI NTON
cont act andr ea:
anhi nt on@st anf or d. edu
Courtesy ABC
Courtesy Def Jam
Courtesy MCT
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Afternoon babysitting needed
Stanford faculty family in Menlo Park
seeking babysitter for two fun-loving
girls, ages 8 and 6, for after-school
childcare on Tuesdays (2 or 2:30 -
6:00) and Thursdays (1:00-6:00), plus
possibly a third afternoon. Must be
able to drive children to local activities.
Start date this fall, but flexible on precise
date. Contact Jeff at JLfisher@law.
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Email jlfisher@law.stanford.edu
CLASSIFIEDS
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None of this is to diminish the
good work the council does manage
to get done despite these members or
to deride the (excellent) idea of a
human rights council. And it is cer-
tainly not to derogate the Chinese,
Russian, Saudi Arabian or Cuban
people, who chafe under oppressive
regimes neither of their choosing nor
of their responsibility.
Legitimate governments must
represent, not repress and silence,
the voices of their people. States
must face more exacting standards
to earn a place on the worlds highest
human rights body. Such standards
are not being used. The United Na-
tions, in order to maintain the legiti-
macy and respect due the HRC,
should alter the lax procedures and
qualifications necessary for acces-
sion to the council.
First, it should alter or abolish the
geographic quota system whereby
seats are allocated to different world
regions. Adherence to the principles
of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, not luck of location,
should be the most important quali-
fication for a council seat. Second,
nations should be subjected to a
more rigorous screening procedure
than a simple vote of the General As-
sembly, which inevitably results in all
the dictators, autocrats and juntas
voting for one another. Third, at the
very minimum, states should be rea-
sonably democratic in form. They
need not be liberal democracies to
qualify, but they should at least rep-
resent in practice the people for
whom they purport to speak.
All these reforms must be enacted,
of course, with a keen understanding
of the history of human rights talk and
specifically, its imperial connotations.
Western activists should also keep in
mind the fact that on human rights, no
ones record is clean, least of all our
own. We can criticize even
sharply, as I have done here but it
is also important to remember that
our own government has been re-
sponsible for Guantanamo Bay, two
unjust and costly wars in the Middle
East and the support of brutal, right-
wing dictators around the world, all in
the name of the national interest. We
must hold our own government to the
same high standards we set for others,
and that is something we have too
often failed to do.
But unless something is done to
render the Human Rights Council
more meaningful and legitimate, it will
cease to have much value at all as a
voice for the defense of humanity.
That would be an immense and pro-
foundly discouraging setback for the
progress of human rights everywhere.
Agree, disagree or have different ideas
about how to rescue human rights?
Drop Miles a line at milesu1@stan-
ford.edu.
RIGHTS
unusual will happen to you. Be it dis-
covering a shopkeeper who knew
the last emperor of China or a turtle
showing up in a backyard pool or
even a monkey creeping into your
house to steal your watermelons,
surprises abound in Asia. These sur-
prises are what make Asian life col-
orful and exciting. Theres a whole
continent out there waiting to be ex-
plored, waiting to teach you. Innu-
merable cultures and innumerable
lands are waiting for you to take their
hands so that they can introduce you
to a world you had no idea existed.
Countless roads of adventures lay in
wait. Now its up to you to decide
which road to take. Asia tells you to
choose wisely, and good luck.
Planning your adventure in the Drag-
onlands? Beware that she might remi-
nisce for hours, but ask Aysha for ad-
vice at ayshak@stanford.edu.
ASIA
cial and the Summer Workshop All-
Star Jam Session, when faculty from
the camps perform.
The Workshop is a nonprofit
separate from the University and is
funded by donations, ticket sales
and camp registration fees. Howev-
er, Nadel said, it collaborates with
the University in different ways
for example, by lending equipment
and partnering with groups like
Lively Arts.
[The Stanford Jazz Workshop]
also become a kind of laboratory for
testing some ideas that are used,
Nadel said. If a particular performer
or teaching method stands out, the
Workshop will sometimes recom-
mend it to the Music Department.
Despite the world music and the
wide audiences the Workshop
brings to campus, the festival keeps
a local connection by showcasing
many local jazz performers.
Were definitely all about build-
ing the community here on the cam-
pus at Stanford, Rideout said. And
we want to include as many of the
community members as possible.
Contact Haelin Cho at haelin.cho
@gmail.com.
JAZZ
along the same lines did not use neuron
cell cultures but rapidly dividing cell
lines, which are unlike the neurons that
are affected by Parkinsons disease.
Cell lines are like cancer cells,
Yu said. They are different from
neurons, because neurons are post-
mitotic cells. They cannot divide. The
cancer cells are very actively dividing,
so they are different. Hippocampal
neurons cannot do that.
Yu has a more personal reason for
studying neurodegenerative dis-
eases, having connections to several
people who have had them.
The U.S. baby boomers are
starting to retire, Yu said.
The people with Parkinsons dis-
ease and Alzheimers disease will be
increasing in the next 10 years. Thats
why I study the neurodegenerative
disease, he added.
The researchers said the results of
this study could potentially influence
the way Parkinsons is treated.
Now we know the mitochondrial
fission/fusion process is very impor-
tant to PINK1/Parkin function, so if
we can use drugs to manipulate the
fission/fusion process, maybe it can
be used to treat Parkinsons patients
that are directly involved with
PINK/Parkin1 dysfunction, Lu said.
Lus next step will be to study the
disease with a closer relation to hu-
mans.
What we used are rat neurons,
he said. These are much closer to
human cells than the fruit flies, but
they are still not human cells; so the
immediate step that we are interest-
ed in testing is whether in humans,
PINK1/Parkin dysfunction causes
similar effects on mitochondrial mor-
phology or mitochondrial function.
Contact Harini Jaganathan at harinija-
gan07@gmail.com.
GENES
Natalie Cheng 14, a member of
Counterpoint, the second oldest and
only all-female a cappella group on
campus, says that the group chooses
to sing songs that they simply love to
listen to and sing along with.
Cheng knew before coming to
campus that she wanted to join an a
cappella group due to her love for
music and singing.
I remember seeing a visiting a
cappella group come to my high
school, she said. It was just really
inspiring to see how much fun they
were having and how much fun it
was to watch.
A cappella is a community
where you get to do what you love,
Cheng added. It is a fun activity
rather than just another commit-
ment. There is such a sense of enjoy-
ment from singing, which I think re-
ally adds color to the University.
Though Cheng knew that she
hoped to pursue a capella in college,
this is not the case for all eventual
singers, many of whom never sang
formally before coming to Stanford.
Luke Knepper 14, a member of
the rock-focused Harmonics, is one
such student. With no prior experi-
ence in the world of a capella, he was
inspired to join after seeing the
groups energetic performance dur-
ing his Admit Weekend visit and has
not regretted the decision.
I am so glad I joined Harmon-
ics, Knepper said. Its great to be
in a group of people and just make
music. Weve also had such cool op-
portunities, such as being able to
perform at four different UC cam-
puses and for the mayor of San Fran-
cisco.
Knepper also appreciates the op-
portunity to perform for his peers,
the same types of performances that
originally attracted him to the craft.
The performances for people
during [New Student Orientation]
or Admit Weekend are some of my
favorites, he said. Its so fun and
exciting to welcome them to cam-
pus.
But in addition to providing a
venue for fellow students to enjoy
live, raw musical performances put
on by their friends and classmates, a
cappella is quintessentially Stanford
visibly passionate students col-
laborating in a creative atmosphere,
producing an original end product
that the entire community can bene-
fit from.
A lot of the ideas behind our
songs come from the interactions
between the group, said Andrew
Forsyth 14, a member of Fleet
Street. Its a group of friends that
gets together to sing. We joke
around, we sing and we have fun.
Contact Issra Omer at iomer@stan-
ford.edu.
A CAPELLA
Football training camp kicks off
The Stanford football team began its final
preparations for the 2011 season on Monday,
with a no-pads practice that lasted about two
and a half hours.
All eyes were on new head coach David
Shaw and Heisman Trophy-favorite Andrew
Luck. The redshirt junior quarterback was
excited to end the summer.
I was very excited to come out, Luck
said. The first practice is always something. I
had a former coach describe it like Christmas.
Its fun to be out here with all the guys and
sort of put life away to just focus on football.
Having shaved his beard since Pac-12
Media Day, Luck threw well, but he still saw
room for improvement. Shaw echoed that
sentiment for the team as a whole.
I told the guys that it was pretty good,
Shaw said. But thats not what our standard
is. Our standard is to be better, to be more
exact, to be faster. And we have work to do.
We want to be as good as we can every
single time we step on the playing field, he
added.
Coaches nationwide have high expecta-
tions for the Cardinal as well, ranking Stan-
ford No. 6 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll,
the highest preseason ranking in program his-
tory. AP rankings are released this week.
Junior tight end Levine Toilolo and senior
wide receiver Chris Owusu were both back
out on the field after sustaining injuries last
season. Toilolo missed the whole year after
tearing both his ACL and MCL on Stanfords
second play from scrimmage in the opener
against Sacramento State.
To prevent players from re-injuring any
existing conditions, practices are starting out
light.
We just want to see how hard we can run,
how fast we can run, and in a couple days,
well put the pads on, Shaw said.
Joseph Beyda
Women second, men third at swimming
national championships
Stanford Swimming took second place
overall at the ConocoPhillips U.S. National
Championships held at the Avery Aquatic
Center last week. Strong showings in the re-
lays and nine total medals propelled the Car-
dinal to its strong finish.
Both Stanford gold medals came early in
the meet on the same day. Bobby Bollier won
the 200-meter fly, and the Stanford women
took the 4x100 free relay last Tuesday.
The Cardinal took over the relays late in
the week, finishing second in the mens 4x200
free relay and third in the womens 4x200 free
as well as in both 4x100 medley relays. Other
Stanford medalists included sophomore
Maya DiRado, who took second in the 400
IM and third in the 200 fly, and graduate
Elaine Breeden, who placed third in the 100
fly. Graduate Kate Dwelley also won the con-
solation final in the 100 free.
Tucson Ford Dealers won the mens,
womens and overall competitions, with the
Cardinal finishing 45, 51 and 96 points out of
the lead in each, respectively.
Ongoing are the Speedo Junior National
Championships, which will end Friday and
are also being held at Stanford.
Joseph Beyda
VanDerveer to be inducted into Hall of Fame
Womens basketball coach Tara Van-
Derveer will be inducted into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this Fri-
day in Springfield, Mass. Her selection was
announced in early April.
In her 25 seasons on the Farm, Van-
Derveer has racked up over 800 wins and
taken the Cardinal women to the Final Four
nine times, including all of the last four years.
She has led the squad to the postseason every
year since her third season coaching at Stan-
ford.
The six-time National Coach of the Year
also took the Cardinal to the NCAA Champi-
onship in 1990 and 1992. Her teams have won
over 90 percent of their games at Maples
Pavilion and have gone undefeated at home
for a season 11 times.
VanDerveer will become the ninth Stan-
ford womens basketball coach inducted into
the Hall of Fame.
Joseph Beyda
SPORTS BRIEFS
Freshman Felicia Lee was a part of Stanford
Swimmings 4x100 free relay, which won the
gold medal at the ConocoPhillips U.S.
National Championships last Tuesday.
Stanford Daily File Photo
New head coach David Shaw may remember
training camps from his playing days on the
Farm, but now his duties are more extensive.
As a sophomore, running back Step-
fan Taylor helped maintain the Car-
dinals production on the ground,
even without Heisman Trophy run-
ner-up Toby Gerhart.
worry about the run game coming
into this season.
Stanford fans had to do a double
take, however, when a fullback with
curly yellow hair strode out to play
for the Cardinal at this years spring
game. As Marecics understudy, red-
shirt sophomore Ryan Hewitt flew
almost entirely under the radar de-
spite playing in all 13 games last sea-
son. Hell see his fair share of the
spotlight this year, though, as the
strong favorite to take over for the
Cleveland Browns recent fourth-
round pick.
Hewitt, coming into spring, sur-
prised a lot of fans, Taylor said. In-
side the team, we knew that he was
just as good as Marecic . . . Hewitt
came in as a tight end and is stepping
up in the fullback position, where he
has to go head to head against line-
men and linebackers every time.
That shows he loves the game.
And how does the hair compare?
I think Marecic just cut his, so I
might as well go with Hewitt, Stew-
art said.
Hewitts skillset and his curly
locks might just be a perfect fit.
Yet the supporting casts personnel
turnover extends far beyond full-
back. The offensive line, nicknamed
the Tunnel Workers Union by for-
mer left guard Chris Marinelli in 2009
because it opens up holes, ironical-
ly sports some of the deepest ones on
the team, thanks to the departure of
three elite offensive linemen. All-
American center Chase Beeler, right
tackle Derek Hall and left guard An-
drew Phillips combined for 81 starts
on the Farm, but now leave seniors
David DeCastro and Jonathan Mar-
tin to rebuild the Cardinals tunnel-
digging mechanisms.
I think that their leadership and
experience were huge, DeCastro
said. They started a lot of games for
us. They knew what they were doing.
A lot of times you could depend on
them if you needed a call, maybe a
slip or something like that, and now
its kind of turned on me and
Jonathan.
Besides its superb run blocking,
the old line allowed just six sacks, the
second lowest total in the nation. De-
Castro attributes much of that suc-
cess to Lucks speed and the blocking
done by backs and receivers.
However eager the returning line-
men may be to deflect the credit, they
have earned national acclaim head-
ing into the season. DeCastro, con-
sidered a preseason All-American
favorite by many analysts, doesnt
buy into all the hype at least not
completely.
Its one of the things that you
have to hear and acknowledge and
that you cant just completely ig-
nore, he said. But at the same time,
once you hear it, it goes in one ear and
out the other. All I can do right now is
play to the best of my ability, and I
cant really control all that stuff. All I
can control is how I play.
Some of the open slots still have to
be filled, but leading candidates are
junior Sam Schwartzstein at center,
sophomore Kevin Danser at left
guard and fifth-year senior Tyler
Mabry at right tackle. Getting the
new starters ready will be a team-
wide effort.
We have great offensive linemen
in DeCastro and Martin, so theyre
going to help bring those guys up to
speed, Stewart said. Were going to
step in when we can to help them out,
but were just focused on everybody
doing their job, and I think well be
fine if that happens.
Read the final installment of our four-
part series, previewing the 2011
Stanford passing game, online next
Thursday.
Contact Joseph Beyda at jbeyda@
stanford.edu.
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