BARN

ARD

BULLETINSeptember 2009

volume cxviii. issue 1.

inside:

Your Country is the World

Photo Essay: Trying to Be Lost in India

Is the U.S. Moving Toward a More Perfect Union?

Self-Protection in Egypt

and Tips on Living in New York City

Are you a global citizen?

orientation issue

Please note that the opinions expressed by indi-

vidual authors are not necessarily reflective of the

Bulletin Staff.

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Editorial Board

Co-Editors-in-Chief Emma Brockway, ’10Rebekah Kim, ’10

Managing EditorMeagan McElroy, ’10

Editor-at-Large Chisato Sakamoto, ’10

Editor EmeritusAlison Hodgson, ’10

Features Editor Hayley Panasiuk, ’11

Politics & Opinion EditorNancy Elshami, ’10

Arts & Entertainment

Editor Sophia Mossberg, ’12

New York City Living

EditorSamantha Greenberg, ’11

Art Director Jacqueline Meyer, ’10

Head Copy Editor Gillian Adler, ’10

Management

Head of FinanceNelly Davcheva, ’10

Advertising Manager Iffat Kabeer, ’11

Chief of DistributionStefie Gan ’12

Production

Associate Editors Daliya Poulose, ’12 Gabriella Stern, ’11Margaret Herman, ’11 Melissa Lasker, ’10

Assistant Art DirectorMabel McLean, ’12

Web DesignerDiana Windemuth, ’11

Front Cover Art

Jacqueline Meyer Back Cover Bree Polk-Bauman, ’10

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR While thumbing through back issues of the Bulletin in preparation for this semester’s inaugural is-sue, I stumbled across something shameful: my first con-tribution. “Let Virgins be Heard” (no, I’m not kidding) had no confidence, no cogent argument, and apparently no input from my section editor. My 700-word vow to embrace prudishness and purity was accompanied by a photo of everyone’s favorite virgin, Jessica Simpson. Things have changed since the fall of 2006. The Bulletin and I have grown up and gained confi-dence, though we both remain works in progress. The magazine has matured into a publication that does not sidestep controversy or its perennial detractors; it relays the voices of our college through an evolving editorial process that strives to give writers autonomy. Any em-barrassing self-disclosures are now fully intentional. The Bulletin recognizes that there is no uniform “Bar-nard voice.” We welcome a wide variety of content. This issue features everything from the thought-provoking centerpiece on global citizenship to a senior’s tongue-in-cheek lamentation of her liberal arts education. The Bulletin wants not only readers, but also writers and artists. The New York Times provides “all the news that’s fit to print,” but where’s the fun in that? Take a chance and contribute something “unfit” (although our excellent crop of editors ensures that “unfit” is not synonymous with typos, misquotes, or inappropriate photos of Jessica Simpson in her daisy dukes) to the Bulletin. A few years from now, when you look back on your early work you might cringe, laugh, or cry, but you will see just how much a few years at Barnard can change you. Yours,Emma BrockwayCo-Editor-in-Chief

Three years ago, I arrived at Bar-nard an unnerved first-year. The very next fall, I, a disparaging sophomore, escaped to London for a semester. The decision to go abroad was less rational than romantic, based largely on vague notions of moors and charming accents issuing from tweed-clad bodies. I don’t know that I challenged myself those months, living in a city so similar to New York and packed with mil-lions of English-speakers. Inevitably, though, I did learn a bit, and am always learning from that se-mester. I wonder whether an academic term, or a month, or even a minute can contain that curious process of learning. Don’t we build upon what knowledge and experiences we already have? Don’t I base future decisions on a collection of memo-ries and ideas, including those from that semester abroad?

As long as you have a working brain in your skull, you have the chance to experience and wonder at places, people, and ideas. You have the chance to question the peculiar notions you have. Read Margaret Herman’s article on page 7, for instance, and consider how tenuous those notions can be in the face of genuine learning, how shakeable your preconceptions really are. And I hope, in reading this issue, you will glimpse how very much learning about the world—and your own mind—there is to be done, always.

Rebekah KimCo-Editor-in-Chief

Emma, world traveler, exploring Portobello Market in London

this past summer

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Features 4-5 Bear Essentials 6 SGA Letter 6 Conquering the Minutia 7 Playing Historical Characters, Learning Modern Lessons 8 Summer Food Roundup 9 Regretting Liberal Arts 20 Alumna Letter 23 Archive Page

Politics & Opinion 10 You Can’t Stop Them, But You Can Protect Yourself 11 Is the U.S. Moving Toward a More Perfect Union?

Centerpiece 12-13 Your Country is the World

Arts & Entertainment 14 Photo Essay: Trying to Be Lost in India 15 Painting Gotham Red: A&E Skylights 16 5Pointz: Your Friendly, Neighborhood Graffiti Gallery 16 Quidditch: A Game Mere Muggles Can Play

NYC Living 17 Restaurant Review: Delicatessen in SoHo 17 Cheap Eats Around Campus: A Primer for First-Years 18 Les Étrangers 19 A Frugal Guide to New York City Living

Contents

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BEAR ESSENTIALS

features

This column, prepared by the Office of the Dean of Studies, will in-clude announcements of importance for Barnard students. Please read it regularly to learn about requirements, services, opportunities and meetings that may be of interest to you.

SPRING 2009 DEFERRED FINAL EXAMS will be administered on Friday, Sept. 11. If you received the required approvals for a deferred final, please consult the Registrar’s Office web site for the scheduled time and location.

FALL 2009 PROGRAM FILING DEADLINE is Friday, Sept. 18. Information about procedures is on the Registrar’s Office web site; it will also be sent to your campus mailbox. Please allow plenty of time to discuss your program with your adviser and to obtain his/her approval prior to the deadline.

FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE AP OR IB CREDIT must have an official report of the test scores sent directly to the Registrar’s Office by the testing organiza-tion. The Registrar will process and evaluate the scores in order to determine whether credit and/or exemption may be awarded, and students who receive credit will be able to see the credits on their eBear transcripts. For any ques-tions about AP or IB credit, con-tact the Registrar’s Office or Dean Hollibaugh. The Barnard code for AP scores is 2038.

THE WRITING CENTER opens on Sept. 22: Located at 18 Mil-bank, the Writing Center is a place where Barnard students in all dis-ciplines can come to talk about their writing. Columbia students enrolled in courses taught by Bar-nard faculty are also welcome to discuss their writing for these Bar-nard courses. The Writing Center is staffed by Barnard’s trained peer tutors, the Writing Fellows. All staff members are seasoned readers of undergraduate writing across the curriculum. For further informa-tion, including how to sign up for appointments, please visit the Writ-ing Fellows website: www.barnard.edu/writing. Questions should be directed to either Pam Cobrin, Director of the Writing Program (pcobrin@barnard.edu) or Ditty Vick, Senior Writing Fellow, Writing Center Administrator (jvick@barnard.edu).

UPCOMING PRELAW EVENTS (open to all Barnard and Columbia students):Prelaw Informational Session (Barnard students only): Sept. 22 at 5:30 p.m. in Ella Weed (Milbank 223). Dean Kuan Tsu will be on

hand to explain the process of applying to law school for the 2009-2010 application cycle.

Harvard Law School Information Session: Wednesday, September 23, time and location to be determined. Cassandra Williams, Associ-ate Director of Admissions at Harvard Law School, will offer insight into Harvard’s admissions process.

Chicago, Michigan, and U. Penn Visit: Wednesday, Sept. 30, time and location to be determined. Admissions Deans will dis-cuss the application process to their respective schools. Cornell, Duke, NYU, and Stanford Visit: Monday, Oct. 5, 6-7:30 p.m., location to be determined. Admissions Deans will discuss the law school admissions process generally and talk about their respective schools in a panel discussion format.

Law School Fair: The an-nual Barnard-Columbia Law School Fair will take place on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in the Roone Arledge Auditorium, in Lerner Hall. Representatives from a large number of U.S. law schools will be available to answer your questions and provide you with important information about their indi-vidual schools. The fair will be preceded by a panel of law school experts speaking on admissions, law school cur-riculum, and the legal pro-fession, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., location to be determined.

STUDY ABROAD INFOR-MATION SESSION: Are

you just beginning to con-sider a semester or year abroad? Come learn the basics from Dean for Study Abroad Advising Gretchen Young. Tuesday, Sept. 22, 5-6 p.m., in 304 Barnard Hall, and Wednesday, Sept. 30, 12-1 p.m., in 328 Milbank.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR STUDY ABROAD: Would you like to apply for a scholarship to study abroad? For those who are eligible (students currently receiving Pell Grants), there will be a Gilman Scholarship Information Session on Thursday, Sept. 24, 12-1 p.m. in 227 Milbank and on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 5:30-6:30pm in 214 Milbank. There will be a general Study Abroad Scholarship/Fellowship Information Session on Thursday, Oct. 8, from 12 to 1 p.m. in 227 Milbank.

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TUTORING PROGRAM: If you are an upper-level student (i.e, sophomore or higher) who has taken and excelled in Biology BC 1500 or Economics BC 1003 or BC 1007 and you are interested in working as a Fall 2009 tutor for the Dean of Studies Office’s Academic Assis-tance Program, please e-mail Paula Hercules at phercules@barnard.edu as soon as possible and provide her with: 1) your full name, 2) class year, 3) e-mail address, 4) cell phone number, 5) the name of the course you’re interested in tutoring, 6) information on when you completed that course (e.g., Fall 2008) and 7) the grade you received in the course. Forms to request a peer tutor through the Academic Assistance Pro-gram should be available no later than the beginning of the third week of classes. Students who are interested in receiving tutoring, as well as students who are interested in becoming tutors, will receive an e-mail notifying you when the applications forms are available. The Academ-ic Assistance Program offers tutoring in specific biology, chemistry, math, economics, and language courses. Tutoring will be provided in small groups of 2-3 students, once a week, for two hours per week.

THE BARNARD COLLEGE PRIMARY CARE HEALTH SERVICE welcomes you to a new semester! We provide comprehensive primary care for all registered Barnard students through walk-ins and appoint-ments. Walk-in students are seen in our Urgent Care service on a triage basis. (The sickest students are seen first.) For non-urgent care, it’s a good idea to make an appointment whenever possible. Appointments are necessary for any medication refills, including contraception. We look forward to helping you stay healthy at Barnard; please call us at 212-854-2091 with any questions.

BC PRIMARY CARE HEALTH SERVICE CLINICIAN ON CALL: The Primary Care Health Service Clinician-On-Call, (866-966-7788) provides medical advice for urgent situations that occur outside of Primary Care Health Service open hours, which are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5p.m. You can call the Clinician-On-Call anytime the Primary Care Health Service is closed during the academic year, including Thanksgiving, winter, and spring breaks. (It is suspended during the summer break.)

FREE FLU SHOTS will be available for students in the Primary Care Health Service in the fall—days and times to be announced. Students with chronic illnesses are especially encouraged to get a flu shot! Please note: the Primary Care Health Service will offer H1N1 (swine flu) vaccination to students as soon as it is available.

PARENTAL LOSS SUPPORT GROUP: This group is for any student who has lost a parent recently or in the more distant past. This group explores ways in which the loss of a parent has had an impact on your life in large and small ways. You don’t need to feel sad or depressed to join this group, just curious about your life now. If you are interested in joining the group please call 854-2092 to make an appointment to speak briefly with Forbes Singer, PhD, group facilitator. We meet Wednesdays, 6-7 p.m., in the Furman Counseling Center Conference Room.

LISTENING HOURS: Welcome to the new semester. As the fall term progresses, keep in mind that the Furman Counseling Center offers an evening residence hall walk-in service. No appointment necessary! If you’d like to talk out whatever is on your mind in a supportive space, drop by one of our Listening Hours. We’ll help you sort it out. Listen-ing Hours are open to all Barnard students. Beginning late September,

Listening Hours will be held on Tuesdays in Plimpton Hall, 7-9:30 p.m., and Thursdays in Elliott Hall, 7-9:30 p.m.

FURMAN COUNSELING CENTER OFFERS MINI-COURSES: 1 hr/week for 3 weeks. Times/dates to be determined. If interested, call 212-854-2092 for more information. ROMANTIC WELLNESS: Romantic Well-being Class. Barnard prepares you to be successful in so many ways—why not learn how to have healthy romantic relationships here, too? Furman Counsel-ing Center will offer a two-session class, each semester, on romantic well-being. SMART EMOTIONAL LIVING: Achieve greater success in all ar-eas of your life--academic, relationships, career--by learning tools to work with your emotions. Emotions can be a source of wisdom and empowerment, or can be destabilizing and destructive. It all depends on how you manage them. Learn skills to make your emotions work for you!

STUDENTS IN RECOVERY: Being a student and being in recovery can be a challenge, but it can also be an exciting and rewarding experi-ence. This group offers support to students who are at various points in their recovery process. Open communication is facilitated by a com-fortable and nonjudgmental environment in which students can share their experiences, frustrations and successes. Group Leader: Hilary Colenso, PhD. Contact hcolenso@barnard.edu or call 212-854-2128.

DAUGHTERS OF ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE USERS GROUP: If you grew up in a household with a parent who abused alcohol or drugs, you are not alone. According to a recent study by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, one out of four people comes from a home where one or both parents abuse alcohol or drugs. Although now in college, many students continue to deal with problems at home—their own feelings of anger or guilt, concern about siblings, or the demands of parents. This group offers a safe and con-fidential place to discuss these and other concerns with other students who really understand. Group Leader: Hilary Colenso, PhD. Contact hcolenso@barnard.edu or call 212-854-2128.

STUDY ABROAD AND INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FAIR: Barnard and Columbia invite you to the annual Study Abroad Fair on Friday, Oct. 2, from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., in the Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall.

STUDENTS INTERESTED IN STUDYING ABROAD: As you begin to consider studying abroad, we encourage you to obtain a passport, if you do not already have one. International students are encouraged to speak with Dean Ani Bournoutian about the impact of studying abroad on their visas. To schedule an appointment, please call 212-854-2024 or stop by the Dean of Studies Office, 105 Milbank.

ALL NEW PRE-HEALTH PROFESSIONS STUDENTS: If you are a pre-health student (i.e., pre-med, pre-dental, pre-nursing, pre-vet, pre-optometry, pre-pharmacy, or other), please make sure to ask Paula Hercules, the Pre-Professional Administrative Assistant in the Dean of Studies Office, to add you to the office’s pre-health listserv so that you may receive future notices of important and relevant events. To be added to the listserv, simply e-mail Ms. Hercules (phercules@bar-nard.edu), tell her you would like to be added, and provide her with your current Barnard e-mail address.

BEAR ESSENTIALS

features

6 features

by Katie Palillo

The Student Government Association (SGA) wishes a warm welcome to all the first-years, and a rousing welcome back to all re-turning students. We hope that you had a relaxing, productive summer and you are looking forward to an exciting and eventful school year. Changes abound this fall as we commence our semester. The newly re-launched Athena Center for Leadership Studies will provide stu-dents with the opportunities to explore leadership and power through new courses and challenging internships. The Diana Center is nearing the end of its construction, and I know we are all eager to move into our new student center. As the year begins, SGA continues its work with the administration to facilitate these transitions and prepare for the changes to our campus. So how does your student government serve you? The SGA is comprised of an executive board, a representative council, class councils, and policy committees. The organization is designed to meet your needs entirely. If you want to introduce a new club, start a fund-raiser, suggest new coffee flavors in the dining hall, establish peer tutoring, have an idea for the curriculum, or if you’re interested in discussing housing, library services, counseling, security, construc-tion on campus, or financial aid: we exist to enhance your Barnard experience. SGA is focusing on initiatives for 2009-2010 that both are a continuation of last year’s goals and include the ambitions of our new council. These include:

-Building campus community during The Diana construc- tion -Preparing for The Diana Center’s opening -Increasing transparency of SGA to the student body -Expanding the “international experience” on campus -Incorporating student input into the Athena Program

Your council is a diverse group of students: we are RAs, members of sororities and fraternities, admission representatives, tour guides, volunteers, and international students. Our multi-perspective council allows us to reach out to many students, and we are always looking for more input. SGA is extremely proud of the connection we maintain between the students and administration: it is with your help that we address relevant and immediate concerns. We welcome all students to our weekly rep council meetings, from 8 to 10 p.m. on Monday nights in the Marion Weber Lounge (118 Reid). Your sugges-tions and comments can be sent to sga@barnard.edu, and representa-tives are always eager to answer questions in the SGA office (239 Brooks). Elections for the first-year class council will be held at the end of September, and appointments for positions on policy commit-tees will open as soon as classes begin. Best of luck in the upcoming school year, we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Katie Palillo is a Barnard senior and SGA president.

Student government association

by Caitlyn Levin

While the orientation activities throughout campus and the city are per-fect for acclimating you to the Columbia University environment, simple things get overlooked. For example: How do I do my laundry? Which setting should I use on the dryer to keep my socks from shrinking so small, they’d hardly fit my 6-week-old sis-ter? Where can I buy shampoo that doesn’t cost $10 a bottle? Well, friends, I am here to tell you all about that and much more. Laundry: To do your laundry at Bar-nard, you’ll need to get a laundry card in the Sulzberger lobby, to the left of the main desk. Your first card will cost $10, but it will only be worth $5. The card is reusable, however, and if you don’t lose it, you’ll be using the same one for your entire Barnard career. Think of it as a $1.25 annual service fee. Not so bad. Now, each load of laundry will cost $1.25 to wash, and $1.25 to dry. I highly recommend washing things in cold water, because then you don’t have to sort your clothes by color—you can just dump it all in and go! When you dry it, make sure you know what shrinks and what doesn’t. For example, does your mom dry your jeans? If not, they might shrink

when you dry them, so give your mom a call before you get your dry on. Also, never pick the highest setting on the dryer, unless you want those tiny socks we talked about before. You can also save some money by drying two loads at once. Did you know that if you stick your laundry card in the slot while it’s running and hit the button again, you can add an extra twelve minutes to your cycle for a quarter? Try it, and you can do two loads for $1.50. Inexpensive Supplies: Everything in the city probably costs more than what you’re used to paying. There are two grocery stores right near campus (Morton Williams and Westside Market), but both are going to be a bit overpriced. Besides, all first-years are on unlimited meal plans! Take advantage of that, and be careful not to spend too much money on food—it all adds up. I recom-mend building a list of items that you need, and once you’ve got a handful of intended purchases, take your list over to Target and grab them all at once. Take the 1 train uptown (right outside of the Barnard quad gates) up to 225th street in the Bronx, exit the train, and turn right and you’ll be at a Target. You’ll know when to get off the subway because you can literally see the blessed red sign from the train. Also, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to

get on a Duane Reade mailing list. This way, the store will send you emails that list sales. MetroCard: MetroCards are neces-sary for taking buses and subways in the city, and you can get them at any of the automated machines in subway stations. I recommend buying the cards in increments of 20, because they give you a 15 percent bonus when you do. For example, if you put in $20, you’ll get a MetroCard worth $23. Put in $40 and you’ll get a card worth $46, and so on. Also, think about where you’re going and how many people are going there with you. Sometimes it might actually be cheaper to split a cab. Earning Cash: The easiest, fastest way to make money is through the Barnard Babysitting Agency, located on the sec-ond floor of Elliott Hall. To join, you will need to attend an orientation. After you be-come a member, you will have access to the Agency’s binders, which are divided into weekend jobs, sporadic jobs, and regular jobs. You’re free to look through the bind-ers whenever the Agency is open. The pay rate ranges from $13 to $20 per hour, with the average falling around $15 per hour.

Caitlyn Levin is a Barnard sophomore and Bulletin copy editor.

Conquering the Minutia

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by Margaret Herman

“Yo, can the Qassamites protect me? I have to step down as President of the Supreme Muslim Council and they will likely want to arrest me,” read a text message from the Grand Mufti of Jerusa-lem, the leader of the Palestinian Arabs, to Jamil Abu Zeitoun, an-other Palestinian Arab nationalist. Although sent in April 2009 in New York City, this message concerns rural Palestine in May 1937. Such is the experience of students in Reacting to the Past, a unique course in which they become the actors in the historical events they are study-ing. Professor Mark Carnes of the history department created the course in 1995 as a “radically different alternative” to traditional lec-ture courses. Reacting to the Past, which is now offered as both an advanced history course and a First-Year Seminar, flips the teacher-centered educational model on its head. In this class, students assume historical roles with varying interests and objectives, and are allowed to speak, testify, and argue, with minimal input from the professor. Each course is a “game,” ranging from the trial of Puritan dissenter Anne Hutchinson in 17th-century Massachusetts to the Indian strug-gle for independence in the 1940s. In this class a student is not just learning history, he or she has the ability to change it. According to Professor Carnes, in addition to “promoting deep critical thinking, teaching speaking and writing skills and stimu-lating engagement with other people and ideas,” the course also “builds community,” allowing students to bond while working as teammates.

Reacting to the Past becomes more than a 75-minute course twice a week; the course carries over into Facebook posts, text messages, and late-night coffee jaunts to Java City. Often, Reacting to the Past requires students to check their political correctness at the door. “Professors sometimes sanitize a con-flict in order to avoid painful debate,” says Natasha Gill, a Reacting professor. “Students are pushed beyond the bounds of political cor-rectness to articulate positions that are at odds with their beliefs and even offensive to them.” While some of the courses games cover ancient issues, a new game in development, tested in a Spring 2009 course, takes place in 1930s Palestine during the British Peel Commission and the begin-ning of the Zionist movement. As a result, this game addresses contro-versial issues still in the world’s consciousness. With such contentious issues being discussed, students were and are more likely to enter Pro-fessor Gill’s “game” with pre-conceived notions of which side is the “right” side. “I came in here saying, ‘I’m Jewish and I know the Jew-ish side.’ But [I] learned about both sides,” said Emily Alpern Fisch, BC ’11. Many students, like Ruthie Fierberg, BC ’10, entered the class with the hopes of finding the answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I came in saying, ‘This is the perfect place to figure it out because Reacting always figures it out. I thought we were going to solve the conflict,” she explains. “Even though the British and the Zionists won in the end, I still don’t feel like anyone won.” What matters most in the course is that students have the opportunity to question frequently unchallenged beliefs and assump-

tions. Professor Gill points out that Reacting en-ables enrollees to “hear a multiplicity of voices and currents of opinions.… Instead of being asked to “hear” their enemy, which sometimes provokes a very defensive reaction, they are asked to become their enemy: this plunges them into the experience of the ‘other’ in a way that is transformational, and simply not possible in a traditional classroom format.” At the end of the semester, many students realize just how much their perspectives have changed. “After this game, I looked at myself and said, ‘Hold on. Who am I? This is totally against anything I’ve ever thought.’ This game really put this conflict and history into perspec-tive,” said Reni Calister, BC ’11. Students also come away with the knowl-edge of just how little difference there is be-tween the two sides of a conflict. “Switch out a few words from the Palestinian side and you’re on the Zionist side,” Jordan Hirsch, CC ’10, says of the competing narratives. “Reacting” teaches students how understanding both sides of a con-flict can create the possibility to move toward resolution. Now, if only Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could take “Reacting to the Past”…

Margaret Herman is a Barnard junior and Bulletin associate editor.

Playing Historical Characters, Learning Modern Lessons

features

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And Why Your Greens Might be a Little Less Green

by Alison Hodgson

Those returning to Barnard from a long summer vacation (or perhaps the in-creasingly popular staycation) will find their supermarket greens a little less green. As the interminable heat shortens our food’s shelf life, a rush of negative press hastens to change the life expectancy of our nation’s industrial food giants. “Pro-choice” took on a whole new meaning this summer as a slew of food-re-lated media coverage created frenzy at din-ner tables across the nation. The news: our food isn’t what it seems to be. Food, Inc., a fiery documentary, reveals America’s food industry to be a fastidiously pieced facade. The film’s release once again thrust Michael Pollan, the renowned food author-activist, into the spotlight; Pollan’s 2006 Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Natural History of Four Meals has experienced a recent resurgence in popularity. The book follows four varyingly sustainable repasts from production to con-sumption, highlighting the role government and corporations play in choosing America’s diet. Pollan’s more recent In Defense of Food

(2008) builds on the questioning in Omni-vore’s Dilemma, asking not “What am I eat-ing?” but rather “What should I be eating?” The answers to these questions are both simple and complicated. In Defense, Pollan suggests, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants,” and recommends consum-ing things with under five ingredients (an indicator that food is not over-processed). In a May interview with DemocracyNow, after his “under five” tip had been manipulated by advertisers into a marketing campaign, Pol-lan followed up with “simply don’t buy any food you’ve ever seen advertised,” suggest-ing that the corporate foods are to blame for our health and weight problems. The way that the industrialization of our food industry affects consumers is per-haps the timeliest issue. While some reviews attribute Food, Inc.’s success to its emotional depiction of animal cruelty in factory farms, the grotesque footage is a brief interruption of the film’s otherwise rational appeal to view-ers. For a generation used to the shock-and-awe PETA approach, the logical arguments presented by the documentary are far more appealing. Chicken farm owners dragged into debt by large (and well-known) companies and soybean farmers cornered into a geneti-cally homogenous system bring the element of human rights into a previously animal rights- and sanitation-based argument. Food,

Inc. and The Future of Food (a 2007 film that is available to watch on Hulu.com) both document the legal perils of soybean farmers and give a glimpse into the corporate power that companies such as Monsanto, owner of the increasingly dominant Ride-Up-Ready® strain of soybean, enjoy. Faced with supermarkets stocked with products of potentially unethical origin and even more questionable nutritional value, some activists have taken the cause to their backyards. A recent trend garnering a lot of media attention is that of homegrown and sometimes home-wrangled food (yes, even in New York City). A selection of New York Times articles document rooftop gardening and chicken farming among other new hob-bies of New Yorkers. If we’ve learned anything this summer, it’s that awareness is the name of the game. Knowing what you’re eating and where it’s coming from not only guarantees your safety, but also ensures that you know who—and what—you’re supporting with your purchase.

Alison Hodgson is a Barnard senior and Bulletin Editor Emeritus.

features

SUMMER FOOD ROUNDUP

by Melissa Lasker

I should have become a mechanic. I concluded this over the summer, when my car suddenly broke down for no ap-parent reason. As I stood on the side of the road wondering why my car sounded like it was trying to cannibalize itself, I wondered, “For all of the time I have spent at Barnard studying how and why things happen, how is it possible that I can’t identify what just oc-curred before my very eyes?” Just like that, I was not only worried about my broken-down car, but also, I started re-evaluating the worth of my college education. I continued thinking, “Why did I decide to dedicate four years of my life to learn about philoso-phy, art and economics? I should have chosen to study something tangible and practical.” At the moment, it seemed that my top- tier, time-honored education, I daresay, was failing me. I should have become a mechanic. This was not the first time I had reconsidered my choice to follow the scholarly path. I have begun to question the value of a liberal arts educa-tion in today’s world. Having ap-plied for unpaid fall internships and soon, applying for a full-time job, I have faced an extremely competitive pool of applicants. I recognize that I have a distinct ad-vantage by virtue of the fact that I will possess an undergraduate degree from a renowned college. Nevertheless, I wonder: could I have leveraged that advantage by choosing a school that offered pre-professional majors? Did I seize an opportunity by attending Barnard or did I pass one up? In the spirit of the lib-eral arts tradition, to answer my question, I must ask more questions. What have I learned at Barnard that I might not have learned somewhere else? That’s easy: analysis. If there is any one skill that students ac-quire in their time at Barnard, it’s the ability to deeply ana-

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regretting liberal arts

features

What think you, René? Euu... the problem is either the carburetor or the pineal gland...

lyze anything. I never cease to be impressed bythe complex challenges my peers at Barnard inves-tigate on a daily basis. Though I sincerely believe that Barnard women are among the most brilliant on the planet, I wonder how many of them would know how to go about fixing my car. The most frustrating part of this experi-ence might have been that I spent the better part of last semester studying the history and nuances of the automobile manufacturing industry. Even know-ing why the company that designed my car has a competitive advantage over its international coun-terparts, I remained unable to tackle a real-world ap-plication of that material. At the end of this episode, I was towed away with a broken front axle and the beginnings of a mild existential-academic panic at-tack. However, what the liberal arts experience might lack in immediate practicality in situations like this one, it makes up for in variety of applicability. Honing your analytical skill set—be the challenges you face today literary, political, or scientific—will help you pass more of those real-world tests later

in life than you ever thought you could. That’s how some of Barnard’s most notable alumnae majored in botany, architectural history, or anthropology and went on to become entrepreneurs, politicians, media moguls, and comediennes. Three-quarters of the way through our un-dergraduate academic experience, the Barnard fac-ulty have trained the current class of seniors well to consider the multifaceted nature of problems and to seriously deliberate on both their evident and hid-den implications. Don’t worry, first-years; you too will undergo this rigorous training process. Hav-ing broken down and reconstructed the challenges that await us outside those iron gates, the next step is finding the solutions; and for that, we’re on our own.

Melissa Lasker is a Barnard senior and Bulletin associate editor.

10

You Can’t Stop Them, but You Can Protect Yourself

politics & opinion

by Nancy Elshami

A brightly colored ad-vertisement is plastered ubiqui-tously over houses, tramcars, and shops throughout the busy streets of Egypt. On the right side of the poster is an alluring bright red lol-lipop with its wrapper carelessly laid on the ground beside it. The lollipop is covered with house-flies. On the left side is the same lollipop, except it is tightly en-closed within its wrapper. There is a fly in this picture as well, except it is a lone fly headed in a direction away from the lollipop. On the bottom of the ad is written: “You can’t stop them, but you can protect yourself. He who created you is more knowledgeable of what is beneficial for you.” Ads like this are becoming increas-ingly popular in Egypt and the Middle East. They are indicative of the growing trend of sexual harassment, urg-ing women to avoid the violation by covering their bodies as the reli-gion of Islam suggests. Though the use of metaphor is mildly amusing, these ads rep-resent a mindset that has danger-ous implications for gender roles in the country. They also reflect a grave trend that threatens and undermines women on a daily basis. While sexual harass-ment has always existed in some capacity in Egypt, never has it been felt so strongly as within the past decade. What were once iso-lated instances have become part of the daily routine for millions of Egyptian women. Spending my summer researching at the American University in Cairo, I planned on studying the phenom-enon based on numbers and facts,

but ended up learning more from my own experiences and obser-vations. While there are the com-mon piercing stares, awkward compliments, and lewd catcalls, sexual harassment reaches much more invasive, demeaning levels. For instance, touching, grazing, and pinching are common threats that an Egyptian woman is vul-nerable to once she steps into the public realm. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of reported rapes and kidnappings.

There is no concrete definition of what constitutes sexual harassment in the Egyp-tian law system. According to the Egyptian Centre on Women’s Rights (ECWR), “any person of-fending the modesty of a woman whether verbally or physically, shall be punished either by im-prisonment of up to one year or a fine that’s not less than 200 L.E. and not more than 1000 L.E., or both.” The interpretation of this law is left in the hands of the District Attorney and Judicial system, and problematically, it is lower-ranking officers who make the decision on whether to file a claim in the first place. A recent poll conducted

by the ECRW indicates that 98 percent of foreign women visi-tors and 83 percent of Egyptian women have experienced sexual harassment, while 62 percent of Egyptian men admit harassing women and 53 percent of Egyp-tian men blame women for elicit-ing it. This allocation of fault to women is, to an extent, the core of the problem. Blame is hardly ever extended to the man’s inability to practice respect or self-control. This sentiment of

blame is so culturally ingrained that it is even shared by women themselves. Sixty percent of the poll’s respondents suggested that scantily clad women were most at risk; they blamed even mod-estly dressed women for inciting the harassment. Reem Mansour, a 23-year-old Egyptian college student in Alexandria, says, “I started wearing the veil a couple of years ago. While I consider myself religious, the main incen-tive behind wearing it was to shut people’s mouths on campus and avoid the headache of catcalls every day. Alas, hardly anything has changed though.” Nearly 98 percent of

women in Egypt don the veil. While many consider the reli-gious symbol an integral part of their faith, its religious signifi-cance is absent among millions who wear the head covering pri-marily out of social necessity. It is becoming increasingly impos-sible for a woman to function in the social sphere as a student or an employee without adopting the proper attire to guard her rep-utation and chastity. “At school, it’s a lot easier to spread a rumor about a girl who isn’t veiled; they

tend to be the ones who at-tract the most attention any-way,” Reem comments. Unemployment is among the many factors con-tributing to the rise in sexual harassment. Idle time and sense of uselessness may drive men to display their masculinity on the streets. The huge cost of marriage and the fact that sex outside marriage is forbidden might also explain the rising phe-nomenon. With the latest law increasing the price of a marriage license to 4,000 L.E. (in a country with an av-erage salary of 200 L.E. per week), the situation has be-come dire. On the one hand, there isn’t anything to sug-gest hope for a change of the

economic situation. On the other hand, with the effect of globaliza-tion and the provocative material on television men are exposed to, coupled with the sexual barriers of the culture, there are several elements of frustration that are directed towards women. Egyp-tian youth are finding themselves suspended in a society polarized between religious Puritanism and the influx of Western media and ideals. Sexual harassment in Egypt is not only a gender issue, but also a class and political issue. There are certain aspects of gov-ernment hesitation, coupled with bureaucratic corruption and inef-

continued on page 11

by Gabriella Stern

Throughout the seemingly endless presidential race, many Americans said that they had a difficult time believing they would live to see the day when a black man would be elected president. On November 4, 2008, the nation took what seemed an unexpected leap, electing Barack Obama. For a brief pe-riod, it appeared to some that issues of racial inequalities were no longer relevant topics of conversation. Yet the July 16 arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard Professor of Af-rican-American history, has reignited racial tension and discussion in this country. In the months following Gates’ arrest, President Obama has appropriately and successfully played the role of the nation’s mediator in discussing race relations. The details of Gates’ arrest remain dubious as a number of conflicting stories have been told; however, the most reported and widely accepted facts are these: On July 16, Gates was arrested in his home by Sgt. James Crowley, a white officer of the Cam-bridge Police, after a neighbor called to re-port what she believed to be two men break-ing into a home. As the lock on the door was broken, Gates and his driver attempted to push open the door, causing them to ap-pear as if they were breaking-and-entering. It has been reported that when the police officers came to the scene of the supposed crime, Gates became angered by the officer’s assumption that this was a break-in. Gates thought that the color of his skin prevented the officer from believing that he could live in an upscale neighborhood, and he assumed he was a victim of racial profiling. As he began

to react in a manner that Crowley viewed as threatening, Gates was arrested for disorder-ly conduct and held in the police station for four hours. Five days later all charges were dropped. The nuanced details of the incident become blurry, as there were many contradic-tory accusations made about both the actions taken and words spoken by Professor Gates and Sgt. Crowley. Regardless, it is clear that race was a factor in the minds of both men, making the incident more complex, sensitive, and emotional. The arrest attracted national at-tention when President Obama, a friend of Gates, was asked to comment on the incident during a press conference. Obama explained that while he did not know all the facts, from what he had heard, the Cambridge Police had “acted stupidly” for arresting Gates after he had proved to the officer that he owned the home. Obama continued to connect the in-cident to the larger issue of racial profiling, remarking, “What I think we know, separate and apart from this incident, is that there is a long history in this country of African-Amer-icans and Latinos being stopped by law en-forcement disproportionately. And that’s just a fact.” Obama received a great deal of criti-cism for remarking on a local police force conflict and more importantly, commenting without knowing all the facts of the incident. Some even believed Obama’s response was discriminatory, suggesting reverse racism as a cause for his immediate support of Gates. As the furor grew, Obama attempted to rectify the situation by speaking directly to the press. He explained that he thought there was an “overreaction” on both sides and ad-mitted that he should have chosen his words

more carefully. Additionally, he stated that he believed Sgt. Crowley was an “outstanding police officer and a good man,” also noting his “good track re-cord with racial sensitivity.” However, the president reiter-ated part of his initial opinion when he said, “because of our history, because of the difficul-ties of the past, African-Amer-icans are sensitive to these issues.” To put the conflict to rest, he invited both Gates and Crowley to the White House to share a beer. The incident has become a “teachable moment” for America. While it is quite clear that

Obama did make an initial mistake in his word choice, and did speak too soon with-out enough information, it is also clear that a national dialogue on racism and its conse-quences is still necessary. Obama proved that he is able to lead the dialogue, even when it is uncomfortable. The U.S. looks forward to the day when a black man stopped by a white cop does not instantly trigger suspicions of racial injustice or racial profiling. We are not there yet. The discussion of racism and racial inequalities is far from over. It has become more complex, poignant, and often difficult. Fortunately, we now have a leader who seeks a “more perfect union” by opening the doors to debate, discussion, and sometimes a beer when necessary.

Gabriella Stern is a Barnard junior and Bulletin associate editor.

Is the u.s. Moving Toward a More Perfect Union?

politics & opinion

beer summit

cool,

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peace!

continued from page 10fectiveness, that hinder the dissolution of this problem. The government cannot inhibit sexual harassment without first dealing with the core issues of the problem, namely the economyand the pervasive, misogynistic notions. While new laws may help alleviate the issue and bring justice to victims of harassment, hindrances of cor-ruption and inherent social issues will stand as an obstacle to true reform. As in most cases, women must bear the burden of this entanglement.

Nancy Elshami is a Barnard senior and Bulletin Politics & Opinion Editor.

11

12 centerpiece

by Chisato Sakamoto

“Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen, a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.” These words, uttered by then-president-elect Barack Obama in Berlin last summer, foreshadowed a turning point in American international relations. Identifying himself both as an American and global citizen, Obama rejected the unilateral foreign policy of the Bush administration that had failed to cooperate with the international community. And, equally important, he signaled a change in people’s perceptions about citizenship: regardless of one’s passport, more and more people are seeing themselves as citizens of the world, not just of a nation or two. They are, in fact, becoming global citizens, and among them are our very own Barnard students. Yet the definition of global citizenship is uncertain, as there is no specific meaning attached to the term. Most scholars have deemed that a legal definition of global citizenship is impossible because no global government exists to carry out legislative and executive du-ties. Alternatively, some academics have defined global citizenship as the feeling of solidarity among peoples of the world that fosters a sense of mutual obligation. This, it seems, is also how many Barnard students understand the term. Annie Kennington, BC ’10, defines a global citizen “as a person who recognizes the need for international communication, cooperation, and understanding—somebody who is committed to increasing prosperity throughout the world, not just at home.” While this explanation appeals widely, many scholars and international relations experts still find this definition unacceptable. Solidarity, they argue, does not necessarily translate into global citi-zenship. Although some may object to this vague definition of glob-al citizenship, it is the basis on which the Educational Development

your country is the world

Center (EDC) of New York University and its partners conducted a 2007 survey, the “Our World” Capstone project, to determine the prevalence of global citizenship among 3,381 youths from 88 coun-tries. Respondents were graded on the degree to which they mani-fested global citizenship and were classified accordingly as Getting Started, Moving Along, and Global Citizen. The results showed that approximately 31 percent of the youth were Getting Started, while 56 percent were Moving Along; only 11 percent, the majority of whom were from Europe, were classified as Global Citizens. In its report, the Capstone team determined that among various factors, access to the Internet and the amount of education received influenced the level of global citizenship of the respondents. Many colleges, including Barnard, have likewise acknowl-edged the impact of education on students’ awareness of global citi-zenship and have strongly encouraged studying abroad as a way to broaden their view of the world. And, as anticipated, many Barnard students have found that their study-abroad experiences have nur-tured their identities as global citizens. Kennington, who has studied abroad in Prague and France, says she “would like to think of myself as a global citizen.” Currently completing an internship in Slovakia, she explains how her experiences abroad have profoundly shaped her self-perception as a global citizen. “My study-abroad experiences, but mostly my internship, really made me realize how dependant ev-eryone is on each other and how global issues affect all nations both similarly and differently.” Others are less certain about themselves as global citi-zens. Alison Hodgson, BC ’10 and Bulletin Editor Emeritus, studied abroad in China in the summer of 2007, but she does not see herself as a global citizen yet. However, she too noted the impact that this experience had on her awareness of global citizenship. “My study-abroad experience definitely helped me become more aware of how I identify myself and with whom I identify. Being overseas broadened the network of the people to whom I felt responsible, and, in that way, started me down the path to global citizenship.” Though Barnard students who have studied abroad differ in their self-perception as global citizens, many voice an optimism that global citizenship will lead to a brighter future for the world. Jessica

13centerpiece

Chen, BC ’10, who studied abroad in England last semester, views global citizenship as a positive force that will lead to a “a system of checks and balances” between countries that will make the world “a safer place to live.” Hodgson also holds the hope that cooperation fostered by the spirit of global citizenship will resolve the problems currently plaguing the world. Hodgson summed up her thoughts, say-ing, “Global citizenship, and the identity that drives it, is the key to ending many of the world’s problems.” The limitations of global citizenship, however, may pre-vent the realization of these hopes. According to Molly Tambor, term adjunct professor of European history, President Obama’s call to Americans to see themselves as global citizens with an ethical duty to help those of other nations is a step forward: not only will it help solve global issues such as environmental and economic problems, but it will increase grassroots activism on an international level by raising commitment to those outside one’s local community. But she is skeptical that global citizenship will develop as a legal concept in the near future. Doubtful that nation-states will give up their sover-eignty in favor of a global government, she said, “Still, even if the will to cooperate on that level for these issues does spread among private individuals in a truly mass way, I would guess that national governments would remain the actual mouthpieces and executors of that will in concrete terms of making legal and economic treaties.” Another roadblock to the fulfillment of global citizenship is, of course, those who object to the very concept. At a Washington, D.C., fundraiser on June 9, Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House, declared in defiance of Obama that “I am not a citizen of the world,” and proceeded to say that “the entire concept is intellectual nonsense and stunningly dangerous!” Mark Gerzon, a Distinguished Fellow at the EastWest Institute, explained in his ar-ticle “Going Global: The Gingrich-Obama ‘Global Citizen’ Debate” that Gingrich’s comment revolves around the problem: can American patriotism be reconciled with global citizenship? While he posits that it is possible to think of oneself both as an American and a global citizen, he recognizes that it is an issue that will continue to divide Americans. The forecast that the masses will embrace global citizen-ship in the near future, then, seems gloomy. But, in today’s world wracked by chaos, what is of immediate importance may only be a sense of solidarity and compassion among peoples of the world. Definitions can wait. Now is the time to act.

Chisato Sakamoto is a Barnard senior and Bulletin Editor-at-Large.

by Bree Polk-Bauman

arts & entertainment14

Photo essay: trying to be lost IN INDIA

Bree Polk-Bauman is a Barnard senior.

by Sophia Mossberg

B r o a d w a y remembers Annie (1977) for the redheaded optimism about the day “the sun will come out,” but there was also impassioned bald-headed enthusiasm in a song called NYC (“…you snap / you fizz / the best there is…”). More than 30 years later, Daddy Warbucks still has it right about NYC: New York is all about possibility. This city thrives on noise, speed and grit, but also on the magical aspects of its history and reputation— the boundless energy, the lights that dazzle from postcards and the silver screen. Yes, the Bronx is up and the Battery’s down and the people ride in a hole in the ground, but at the end of the day it’s about the big picture: New York, it’s a wonderful town. Fall is an especially enchanting time in the city. Art exhibitions and theatre thrive, Fashion Week dazzles at Bryant Park, and the hordes of hopefuls clad in Balenciaga peer eagerly at the hubbub. Whatever your passion, be it bopping to DJ Paul Van Dyk, scouring for Proenza Schouler, architecture-

gawking, or humming Elton John tunes as the Sahara comes to life, New York is your stomping ground. This fall, sink your boots into some of the city’s sub-radar haunts, a tiny fraction of which are detailed below. Museum chic goes gastronomic with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Rooftop Garden Cafe. Getting acquainted with the Met’s rooms of grandeur is an art in and of itself, but as every guidebook or relative will steer you toward its imposing staircase and famous frames, I offer a less-traversed window into rooftop dining all’arte. If the display of genius downstairs, coupled with being seated on top of the world (or at least the Upper East Side) isn’t enough to draw you toward museum dining, here’s a culinary teaser: turkey, St. Andre, roasted pear, and cranberry mustard on a ciabatta. Once you’ve devoured Michelangelo, Grecian

urns, and frozen daiquiris, take in the aerial view of your academic hometown, complete with Central Park and architectural heaven. Through October 25, American artist Roxy Paine’s Maelstom (a stainless steel sculpture depicting nature’s force) joins diners on the roof, adding to the visual stimuli. Hop onto this cultural grubwagon before the panoramic views dwindle into branches and snow (the café and exhibit are seasonal and weather permitting). Can’t get into Fashion Week? Preach it to the choir, and find some things you surely can get in to, assuming you’re not a Charlotte York retail-only devotee. C o n s i g n m e n t - s t o r e shopping in Manhattan is among the best in the world, though persistence and a keen eye are key. Tokio 7 on First Avenue and 7th is a personal favorite, where, though not necessarily cheap, garments are chic, often barely worn, and include Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce

& Gabbana, and Wang (Alexander and Vera are both possibilities) for a fraction of the original prices. Plus, the denim bin is worth the trek to the East Village alone, with brands such as J, Acne, and Earnest Sewn. Get clad! Speaking of preaching to the choir, get your gospel groove on with soul food and a performance by the acclaimed Harlem Gospel Choir. The Sunday brunch is all-you-can-eat, so reserve tickets and stroll over to the B.B. King Blues Club in Midtown for the nourishment of your stomach and soul. Another much-loved hub is Joe’s Pub, a downtown venue that always surprises with diverse shows ranging from classical quartets to Amy

Winehouse to fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi performing cabaret. Think of it this way (with a little help from me, your A&E editor, and that famous little orphan): Your life in New York City might be as fleeting as the first flight back to Fresno, or you may collect your diploma and never leave the city again. Either way, you’ll be spending a lot of bottom dollars, and as life’s stakes get higher, you’ll be betting them too—but in New York, there is always sun somewhere. And if there’s a day that’s gray and lonely, stick out your chin, grin, and go to the freaking Met. In the words of Warbucks, “Come on, you slowpokes, we gotta get to the Roxy before the prices change!”

Painting gotham red: a&e Skylights

arts & entertainment 15

Sophia Mossberg is a Barnard sophomore and Bulletin Arts &

Entertainment Editor.

by Samantha Greenberg

The New York City art scene is so much more than the museums you can go to with your Barnard ID. Fantastic art is all over these five boroughs: on mailboxes, in sub-way tunnels, on the sides of buildings, and under bridges. Graffiti, an illicit art favored by teens and gang members, is a city staple. While hated by police officers, graffiti artists display some of the most creative material in highly original places and have been em-braced by New York’s hippest art aficionados. The concept of a graffiti gallery, such as 5Pointz in Long Island City, Queens, is somewhat contradictory. Can graffiti have the same countercultural impact if it’s not fur-

tively scrawled on public property? Curator Jonathan Cohen (better known by his graffiti alias Meres One) is exploring that possibil-ity with the 5Pointz outdoor gallery. The 200,000-square foot factory building, once abandoned, is now a gathering place for graf-fiti artists from all over the five boroughs and the world. Amateur and professional artists alike can come to 5Pointz and fill stretches of the building with their own unique visions. 5Pointz takes up an entire city block and features a rotating display of graffiti mu-rals. Every so often, as happened earlier this year in June 2009, the gallery is “renovat-ed” and existing art is painted over to make room for new murals. According to 5ptz.com, pieces are left up depending on quality,

placement, and foot traffic. It brings a com-petitive edge to this legal version of graffiti. As New York increasingly resem-bles a safer, cleaner, friendlier shadow of its former self, graffiti has transitioned from crime to art. Yet, it will probably be some time before the Metropolitan Museum of Art has exhibits devoted to graffiti. For now, we just have to hop on the downtown 1, get on the 7 train in Times Square, and walk a few short blocks from Court House Square to the 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center. Hopefully, you’ll be able to see some fantastic art along the way.

Samantha Greenberg is a Barnard junior and Bulletin New York City

Living Editor.

16

5pointz: Your Friendly, Neighborhood Graffiti Gallery

arts & entertainment

by Hayley Panasiuk

The magical and enchanting world of Harry Potter makes a reader want to dive headfirst into Hogwarts and pick up his or her Nimbus 2000 for a game of Quidditch. While the wizarding world isn’t accessible to the average college-aged muggle, Middlebury College student Xander Manshel has designed a successful Quidditch game for a world without magic. The sport has spread to over 200 colleges and universities, including Princeton, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and our very own Columbia, showing no signs of slowing. The adapted game is played by two seven-player teams. Players include three Chasers, who try to score using a Quaffle (a deflated volleyball), a Keeper who attempts to deflect the shots, two Beaters who throw Bludgers (deflated dodgeballs) at opposing team members, and one Seeker, who spends the entire game trying to catch the Snitch. The Snitch is a player who wears a tennis ball hanging from his or her back; if the Seeker grabs the ball, that team immediately wins the game. The Snitch is allowed to move around the entire campus, running on and off the field as they please. Snitches have tackled other players, thrown food at their competitors, climbed onto school balconies, and even jumped into campus ponds to evade

Seekers. The game is designed not to disappoint a diehard Harry Potter fan’s understanding of the original. In the 2007-2008 academic year, a Quidditch Committee was formed at Middlebury which expanded the competition to other college teams, embarking on Quidditch matches at many Northeastern colleges and universities. ESPN, MTVU, and CBS have all covered the sport, encouraging the Committee to provide better equipment for their players, including lighter and more realistic brooms. Some racing brooms, made of oak and compared favorably to the Nimbus 2000, can cost up to $80! The Quidditch Committee wants its makeshift sport to be taken seriously, and perhaps it should be. Elements of rugby, cross country running, soccer, and football are involved in the often brutal game. Injuries have included bruised ribs (from wayward, violent broomstick stabbings), broken ankles, skinned knees and muscle strains: real injuries that cannot be cured with magic.

Hayley Panasiuk is a Barnard junior and Bulletin Features Editor.

A Game Mere Muggles Can Play

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1. For traditional Korean food: Mill Try a steaming bowl of soup for lunch on a brisk fall day. Turn south out of the gates and walk down Broadway to 113th Street.

2. For Italian groceries: Milano Market Good for sandwiches, fresh pasta, and marinara sauce. On the east (Columbia) side of Broadway between 112th and 113th Streets.

3. For Middle Eastern and Kosher: Cafe Nana Good soups and sandwiches. Cheap stuffed grape leaves. Go up to the second floor at 606 W. 115th St. between Broadway and Riverside.

4. For cheap pizza: the infamous Koronet. Fill your stomach with floppy dough and cheese for 5 bucks.

5. For a quick sandwich: Hamilton Deli You might not be wowed, but you’ll have sustenance beween classes. Walk east through Columbia to Amsterdam, spot the awning between 115th and 116th Streets, and go down the stairs.

6. For Greek: the Symposium Mixed reviews, but you can’t go wrong with salad, feta, and pita. Walk down Broadway and turn east at 113th.

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by Maria Giavanna Russo

While in the city just this past July, I stumbled upon a gem of a restaurant nestled on a quiet residential corner bordering the SoHo and Nolita neighbor-hoods. Delicatessen: Internation-al Comfort Food, located on the corner of Prince and Lafayette Streets, is the epitome of a “hip” New York dining experience. Delicatessen serves feel-good, freshly prepared meals and of-fers the perfect opportunity to eat al fresco next to some of the city’s most interesting people. The décor of Delicatessen is contemporary and suggests a ca-sual but chic ambiance: a matte aluminum exterior and mirror-lined, wood-paneled interior that exude style and modernity. The menu offers tra-ditional and authentic fare, as almost all of the dishes are clas-sic diner favorites that have been reinvented and updated. I visited the Delicatessen for lunch and tried the Chicken Paillard and arugula salad served with fen-nel and cherry tomatoes. The thinly pounded chicken breast was perfectly seasoned with fresh herbs and grilled to moist perfection, and the greens were simply dressed with a refreshing balsamic vinaigrette and topped with parmesan cheese. Also available were the Cheeseburger

Stylish Simplicity in SoHo: A Review of Delicatessen

nyc living

Cheap Eats around campusa primer for incoming first-years and hermits

Photo courtesy of Delicatessen

Spring Rolls with mustard-ketch-up dipping sauce, Baked Mac and Cheese, Fish and Chips, and Grandmother’s Meatloaf. If you are looking to satisfy your sweet tooth, Deli-catessen offers delectable favor-ites such as Ovaltine Pudding Parfait with Crunchy Chocolate Pearls, Bananas Foster Split, and classic treats such as Apple Cobbler with Crème Fraiche Gelato and Milk and Cookies. All of the tables at Deli-

catessen are situated closely to one another and are set with brown paper place mats, adding to the convivial nature of the restaurant and providing the opportunity to strike up a friendly conver-sation with the adjacent table. If the weather permits and you arrive prior to the lunch and din-ner rushes at 1:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. respectively, ask to be seated outside, where you will have the chance to people-watch in this bustling neighborhood. Put sim-

ply, Delicatessen serves tried-and-true cuisine in a friendly and fun.environment. It is a must-try when you are in SoHo. 5/5 Stars. $10-$25 per entrée.54 Prince Street; take the 1 train to 42nd St/Times Square, trans-fer to the downtown N, R, or W Train and take it to Prince Street.

Maria Giavanna Russo is a Barnard sophomore and Bulletin

Food Critic.

In 1859, in a poem dedicated to Victor Hugo, French poet Charles Baudelaire bemoans the rush of modernization sweeping his beloved Paris. The poem, “Le Cygne,” describes a swan writhing on the gray dusty pavement, its neck outstretched to the “ironique et cruellement bleu / cruelly blue” sky in a prayer for rain. Yet in the New Modern Paris, the swan is alone, “comme les exilés, ridicule et sublime / ridiculous, sublime, like a man in exile.”

One of the great literary voices of 19th-century Paris, Baudelaire was consumed with the changes wrought by Haussmanization, the aggressive physical refashioning of Paris by civic planner Georges-Eugène Haussmann. Haussmanization marked the creation of New Paris (or the destruction of Old Paris, as Baudelaire saw it), the making of the modern 19th-century city with ample boulevards and public gardens replacing the city’s dense, twisted streets of old. The widened thoroughfares plus newly developed railroads meant masses of people on the streets, as locals ventured outside their familiar neighborhoods and tourists ventured in. The result: the feeling of being an exile in one’s own crowded city. Among mobile anonymous masses, the individual is alone and forever displaced.

Back in 1859, Paris contained approximately one million people. Today, New York City boasts about 8.3 million. As the quintessential modern city, New York

teems with millions of individuals of various races, ethnicities, religions, socioeconomic

positions, ages, and… hell, even genders. A hundred and fifty years after Baudelaire penned “Le Cygne,” New York claims Haussmann’s markers of modernity: wide avenues,

countless modes of transportation, and most importantly, masses of people unknown to one another. Yet for all the makings of an impersonal metropolis of strangers, the large crowds of New York actually invite personal, individual connections. As I have witnessed this summer in New York City, connection is possible.

Spend just one day in the city this summer and you will feel the unique crush of the crowds. The usual camera-toting flocks are augmented by tourists hailing from middle America, Australia, and every place in between, necks craned and bags clutched tight. Added to the expected tourist crowds are New Yorkers themselves. Countless summer-specific opportunities bring the sweating city-dwellers together. Free movie screenings, concerts, crafts fairs, farmer’s markets, and even outdoor yoga summon the city’s strangers. In these large anonymous crowds, one witnesses the unexpected effects of modern city living.

Stop by Bryant Park on a Monday evening and this phenomenon is clear. Every Monday, beginning at 5 p.m., hundreds of people wait patiently and pleasantly for a free movie showing on an enormous HBO-sponsored screen. Spread out on many blankets, the moviegoers include recognizable regulars such as the male twenty-somethings with the inflatable cactus, propped up smack in the middle of the lawn as a constant landmark, and the Andre 3000 doppelganger in his pink gingham oxford shirt, wingtips, straw fedora and spiffy bowtie.

Most memorable from this motley crew, however, was a beautiful, statuesque man with a dancer’s body, his impossibly smooth, bare chest rising out of white D&G jeans slung dangerously low on the narrowest hips I have

ever seen. More remarkable was the man’s teeny chocolate-brown Chihuahua, no bigger than a guinea pig, which scampered around, attracting groups of curious strangers, their arms outstretched. The pup gravitated toward a middle-aged woman nearby, heavyset in her mom jeans, who scooped him up with a smile and struck a fast friendship with his intimidating owner. I smiled as I observed their interactions, thinking to myself how this woman and the dog’s owner were, on the surface, the most unlikely pair. But with the puppy between them, a shared patch of grass beneath them, and a single movie screen ahead, an immediate connection was formed.

There is comfort in the presence of strangers whose commonality with you is simple, clear, and definable. No matter what else may be different, you share the one common purpose: a free movie, a celebrity sighting, the uptown train. That single purpose not only allows for connection but truly invites it. Summer in New York may be crowded, but at least you know you are never alone.

Ellie Krupnick is a Barnard junior and Bulletin staff writer.

Les étrangers by Ellie Krupnick

nyc living18

“Paris change! mais rien dans ma mélancolie n’a bougé!”

Charles Baudelaire, “Le Cygne,” Fleurs du Mal

A Frugal Guide to New york City Livingby Mabel McLean

New York is notoriously pricey, but it’s easier than you might think to save a few bucks here and there. Here are five penny pinching tips for the chic New Yorker on a budget:

19nyc living

Fine(ish) Dining for $10 and under

Five-star, schmive-star. Paying $25 for an entrée smaller than the size of your hand just plain sucks. Instead, hit up S’MAC (345 E. 12th St. or 474 Columbus Ave.), Shake Shack (366 Columbus Ave.), or Peanut Butter & Co. (240 Sullivan St.), where it’s possible to grab a dinner for less than $10 that won’t leave you starving at the end of the night. For dessert, stick it to the overpriced Pinkberry and try Yogurt-Land (267 Bleeker St.).

Give your regards to Broadway

Don’t even think about paying full price for a ticket to a Broadway show. First, check out CUarts.com or the Barnard Office of College Activities, where you can routinely score sweet deals on a variety of shows. Also, look up an individual theater’s poli-cies on standing room-only or student rush tickets; I’ve gotten front-row seats to plays such as Avenue Q and In the Heights for about $21.

Save your cash for some-thing better than books

In the seconds following your first class of the fall semester, do yourself a favor: resist join-ing your classmates in their overeager bookstore frenzy. Instead, make a beeline for the nearest computer and check out half.com or the Facebook application Books on Campus, where students sell their used books at discounted prices. Better yet, get your books for free! If you’re taking an English class that requires you to read many novels, ditch Book Culture for Butler Library and opt to borrow rath-er than purchase your books.

“Naked People Have Little Influence On Society”

—Mark Twain

Dolce & Gabanna, Fendi and… yeah, not exactly in my price range. Unless your lady lumps have a knack for bringing you designer goodies à la Fergie-Ferg style, chances are you’re probably in the same boat. However, if you’re not put off by used clothing, check out New York’s myriad con-signment and used clothing stores such as Buffalo Exchange (332 E. 11th St.) for amazing finds (hello, $15 Anna Sui dress!). For newer steals, sift through stores like Century-21 and Loehmann’s. And don’t forget that, while not designer, stores such as Topshop, Madewell, and J. Crew offer student discounts of 10-15 percent.

Mabel McLean is a Barnard sophomore and Bulletin

Assistant Art Director.

Free Love for Your Locks

Want to look as if you and your bouncy locks just sa-shayed off of the set of Gossip Girl, without the Blair Waldorf price tag? Many New York salons sponsor advanced training for professional styl-ists and offer free haircuts if you’re willing to assume the role of a lab rat. Sign up at bbumodelproject.com to nab a free Bumble & Bumble haircut, coloring, and styling. Just don’t forget to leave a tip!

Musings of a Pop Culture Junkie: Alumna Edition

by Amanda Lanceter

While there is very little pop culture in this article, I thought it was fitting to use my old column’s name, since it’s the title I wrote under for nearly two years. I have to say, it’s good to be back in the Bulletin. Here follows my account of life after Barnard.

In the months leading up to graduation, I kept hearing the same thing over and over again: “The economy is so bad right now! You must be nervous about getting a job!” I smiled politely each time, but inside I was screaming, “I am well aware of this fact, and you bringing it up is NOT HELPING!” Every time someone mentioned my life after graduation, I felt panic building up inside of me, with the same thoughts running through my mind in a seemingly infinite loop: “I haven’t been doing enough to get a job. I need to send out resumés. I need to write cover letters. I need to go to Career Development. I need to look online for jobs.…” In order to calm down, I needed to indulge in my favorite form of anxiety-reducing behavior: shopping. (It was a very expensive few months.)

In April, I found out that I had been accepted into New York City Teaching Fellows. The job-related anxiety subsided for a bit, replaced by concern about things like my thesis, my independent study, finding a place to live once I graduated, and the other stresses that come with the end of a semester. My graduation seemed to go by in a blur (well, the Barnard graduation anyway—the Columbia ceremony was long and tedious, and I had to apologize to my boyfriend about 75 times for asking him to come to it). Once I left Barnard for good, however, the panic started in again. Words like “hiring freeze,” “cover letters,” and “updated resumes” became akin to “Voldemort.” I would cringe and exclaim, “Those are THINGS-THAT-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED!” every time that I heard them. I found myself needing to take online courses for Teaching Fellows and read a 300-page textbook before training started in June. Wasn’t I supposed to be done with all of this stressful stuff?

While I’ve enjoyed being a Teaching Fellow, and I’m excited to teach students with special needs at a high school in Staten Island, I’m still not fully adjusted to life beyond Barnard. I can’t say that I miss exams, labs, and papers, but I miss the luxury of sleeping late because I don’t have class until 11. I miss getting the opportunity to research and explore ideas that I’m interested in. I miss taking a class just for the sake of learning, not just because I’m required to (as it is now in my graduate program, where everything is structured and there is no time for anything other than requirements). I would love to go back and be a student just for a day, but I’m not at the point where I’d tell someone, “You have it so easy at Barnard!” I never understood when people would tell me that I’d never have so much free time as I did when I was in college. (While this is true to a certain extent, none of

them went to Barnard). I know how stressful and full our schedules are at Barnard, between classes, clubs, jobs, and internships, and I am glad that I never have to feel that stress again. I have all new stresses now, but the change is welcome, and I know that life at Barnard really prepared me to handle life beyond Barnard. Just keep that in mind when you’re in the middle of finals and wondering why you decided to do this to yourself, as I did so many times. It’s all worth it in the end.

Amanda Lanceter is a member of the class of 2009 and former Bulletin editor. You can find her online at awkwardprincess.blogspot.

com.

features: alumna letter20

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09/21 NORA7 PMJulius S. Held Auditorium, 304 Barnard Hall

09/25 THE BAllETS RUSSES6:30 PMCity Center, Studio 5, 130 West 56th Street

09/30 CORPORATIONS gONE gOOD A Manifesto for 21st Century leadership6:30 PM Julius S. Held Auditorium, 304 Barnard Hall

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10/05 HISTORy (MIS-)TRANSlATED US History According to Foreign Textbooks6 PMSulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor Barnard Hall

lOS DEMONIOS DEl EDÉNgender, Violence and Activism in Mexico6:30 PMJulius S. Held Auditorium, 304 Barnard Hall

10/8 THE PlACE OF CONTEMPORARy ART12 PMBCRW, 101 Barnard Hall

10/13 gRETCHEN MATTOX, PAUlA MEEHAN & AlICIA OSTRIkER7 PMSulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor Barnard Hall

10/14 WHO kIllED OSCAR WAO? Migration, Masculinity, and Other Dominican Matters7 PM Sulzberger Parlor, 3rd Floor Barnard Hall

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