Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Opinions 5
If Egyptians have access to healthy food at cheap prices, why shouldnt Americans?
Sports 7
Cardinal womens soccer begins the long road to defend their national championship
Intermission 12
The Bay Area takes on the Midwest at Chicagos three-day music festival, Lollapalooza
NEWS
Escondido Village residents postpone chemical spray
By EDWARD NGAI
NEWS EDITOR
STUDENT LIFE
A group of Escondido Village (EV) residents have successfully delayed the proposed treatment of EV family courtyard lawns with herbicides. The plan, which would have seen the grass in all seven family courtyards sprayed with weed-killer today, is now postponed indefinitely. The family courtyards, home to around 250 families, underwent a renovation financed by John Arrillaga three and a half years ago, when all the existing grass was dug up and replaced. According to an email sent to family courtyard subletters, the herbicide spray was necessary to maintain the donors gift. However, Stanford Housing is adamant that Arrillaga was never involved in the de-
cision to treat the family courtyards with herbicides. John Arrillaga has nothing to do with this, said Michael VanFossen, senior associate director of graduate housing. Colony [Housings landscaping contractor] brought the weeds to our attention, saying, We have done the best we can over the last three or four years not introducing chemicals, but [the weeds] are really getting bad. Since the renovation, landscaping staff have been weeding the family courtyards by hand. However, the crabgrass and clover had grown to the point where Colony felt they no longer were fulfilling their landscaping contract with the University, which requires them to perform high-quality grounds/landscape maintenance. Both Colony and Housing had agreed that herbi-
cidal treatment was the best way to satisfy their agreement. The herbicides proposed for use in the family courtyards are SpeedZone and Turflon, whose material safety data sheets categorize them as hazardous to health when inhaled. To prevent this, Housing requested that family courtyard residents stay indoors and seal their windows for 48 hours while the chemicals dry. I thought it was a ludicrous idea, said Nitzan Waisberg, a professor at the design school and family courtyard resident. Its mid-August, hot, and expecting people to keep their windows and doors shut in apartments that dont have air conditioning or proper ventilation except for windows . . . it was not a practical idea. Additionally, many EV residents in the summer are subletters and did not receive
the email notifying them of the spray and the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their families from the toxic effects. I was going to flier the entire neighborhood to ensure everyone [knows about the spray], VanFossen said. We only know who the [original] subletters are. Many residents, however, were not convinced Housing was doing enough to consider the potential adverse effects of the herbicide. At a hastily-convened town hall last week, several families expressed a lack of confidence that the fliers would be adequate and were concerned about the longlasting health effects of the chemicals. VanFossen, insisted, however, that the herbicides were safe.
STUDENT LIFE
Stanford students are making an impact abroad over the summer, some even as far away as India. Working in Indias Detroit, Schickele recounts her experiences this summer.
flowers in womens hair and the semi-silence that fills the streets before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m. To Chennais credit, its the safest place Ive visited in the developing world. Theres the risk of getting hit by a motorcycle, but I dont feel as if someone is looking for the opportunity to seize my purse. I walked home with another female intern at 10 p.m. a few nights ago, and though three different people stopped us to tell us it was unsafe to be out so late, the fact that they seemed so legitimately concerned for our safety was reassuring. But no matter what I do wear kurtis (long tunics) instead of Western clothes, straighten my curly hair, learn a few words of Tamil I will attract gapes and stares. And in this country there are enough surprising, amusing and cringe-inducing scenes to make me forget my manners and stare back at them. Contact Anna Schickele at annabs1@ stanford.edu.
the
BEHIND
SCENES
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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After the area was covered in tarps and plywood for more than a month, students and visitors can now see the Starbucks opening at Tresidder in the fall. The worlds largest coffee chain is opening across from Jamba Juice, replacing some of the seating in the student union.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Billy Gallagher Editor in Chief eic@stanforddaily.com Joseph Beyda Summer Managing Editor jbeyda@stanford.edu Ed Ngai & Molly Vorwerck News Editors edngai@stanford.edu mvorwerc@stanford.edu George Chen Sports Editor gchen15@stanford.edu Andrea Hinton Intermission Editor anhinton@stanford.edu Mehmet Inonu Photo Editor minonu@stanford.edu Lorena Rincon-Cruz Graphics Editor lorenar2@stanford.edu Miles Unterreiner Opinions Editor milesu1@stanford.edu Matt Olson Copy Editor maolson@stanford.edu Cover art by Lorena Rincon-Cruz
UNIVERSITY
Just because you are smart and deeply knowledgeable about something does not mean you will be an excellent teacher, said Kirstin Milks Ph.D. 09 M.A. 10. Milks, a current high school science teacher at Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, Ind., is a former student of the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). After completing her doctorate in biochemistry, Milks looked into teaching as a means of bringing together her love of collaborative learning and science. She decided to enroll with STEP to explore these combined interests. I knew I wanted the time and resources to develop integrated understandings of teaching, learning, students and science, she said of choosing the program. STEP, established in 1959, is an intensive, yearlong masters program at the Stanford University School of Education (SUSE) that offers teaching credentials for aspiring K-12 teachers like Milks. We are preparing elementary
and secondary teachers, and we are preparing them to do their best to serve students, their families and the communities in which they live, said Rachel Lotan M.A. 81 83 Ph.D. 85, director of STEP. The overarching program includes STEP Elementary and STEP Secondary the elementary program for aspiring teachers interested in educating multiplesubject classes in elementary schools and the secondary program for teachers interested in instructing single-subject classes in high school. Classes are taught based on research and techniques developed by SUSE, which investigates areas such as the use of technology in teaching and how society contributes to what kids do in schools. We use state-of-the-art theories and findings to support the work that we do, Lotan said. We want to prepare the teacher candidates to support their students in learning. Admission to the program is highly selective, and STEP looks for a pool of diverse candidates who have experience with youth and strong academic backgrounds,
not exclusively Stanford graduates. In addition, Ira Lit 90 M.A. 91 Ph.D. 03, assistant professor of teaching at STEP, says that 50 percent of the programs admits are students of color, and a large number of them are first-generation college admits in their families. We welcome and are excited by a diverse pool of applicants of all cultures, races, religions and ethnic origins, with wide-ranging interests and experiences, he said. However, the most important characteristic for any prospective STEP student is, without a doubt, a genuine love for teaching. For STEP professor Maren Aukerman, educating youth should be any prospective students main priority when considering the program. [You] really [need to] think about what is exciting to you about engaging with kids and really make it about kids rather than about you, she said. I think that if the focus is really on what kids are doing and what kids are able to do, and if that gets you excited, STEPs the place for you. For Lotan, this dedication and focus is also what makes STEP stu-
dents and, eventually, STEP teachers stand out. [The students] are an incredible group of people who can do anything they want to do, and they choose to become teachers, she said. Basically, they choose the profession that makes all the other professions possible. In STEP classrooms, not only do students learn about current research and education techniques, but a large emphasis is also put on having students reflect concretely on their practice and the teaching techniques that they have developed. We have students videotape themselves, generate transcripts and analyze [their work], Aukerman said. There is an emphasis on looking at what the students themselves are doing in the classroom and trying to make sense of it to improve instruction. Furthermore, Aukerman sees the attention that the program puts into educating its students and preparing them for their futures in the classroom as the largest contributing factor to her success and
UNIVERSITY
STUDENT LIFE
A musician, windsurfer and Stanford computer science professor, David Cheriton has many interests. However, as the 19th-richest Canadian and a successful investor, he is best known for his interest in startups. I get very excited about the notion of doing new and different things, Cheriton said. Born in Vancouver, Canada, Cheriton was the third of six children. After moving to Edmonton at the age of five, he developed a passion for music while attending public school. He studied musical theater at the Banff School of Fine Arts for two summers and has performed in multiple opera choruses and musical productions. I look back and think that [music] was a good way to keep sane. Otherwise, I was quite involved in more mathematical and technical things, Cheriton said. Cheriton remembers his first introduction to computers during the prehistoric times of his late high school years. I recall my math teacher bringing up the topic of computers . . . but Im not sure I had ever seen one before, Cheriton said. It was the first time it was really brought to my attention, and it wasnt until the first year at my university that I actually used a computer. He went on to pursue his interest in mathematics and later computer science as an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia. He then received his masters and doctorate at the University of Waterloo. In 1981, after being hired at Stanford, Cheriton came to the school to try something different. Stanford had a worldwide reputation in computing, so it felt like an opportunity to run with the big boys, so to speak, Cheriton said. I thought Id give it a try and see whether I could measure up. But the turning point of Cheritons career came in 1995 when he be-
Computer science professor and investor David Cheriton once gave Larry Page and Sergey Brin $100,000 to found Google.
came involved with a startup called Granite Systems. Cisco would later purchase the company for $220 million, only 14 months after Granite had been established. The sale of Granite Systems provided Cheriton with the capital necessary to test his luck with other business ventures. For the longest time when I was a professor, I didnt really have any money to invest, Cheriton said. Kind of overnight, more or less, I went from worrying about how to pay the mortgage to posing whether I should just pay off the mortgage and not think about it ever again. Since then, Stanford students have come to Cheriton to ask him to invest in their companies or simply give advice. After Granite Systems, he contributed to a wide variety of Silicon Valley startups. His most wellknown investment remains the $100,000 check he gave to Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page M.S. 98 and Sergey Brin 95 M.S. 98, the founders of Google. I started having people come to me that were interested in starting a company and looking for financial support, Cheriton said. I felt compelled to help them because other people had helped me out along the way to get to where I was. Besides investing, Cheriton has also served on advisory boards or the boards of directors for the companies he has helped. With his expertise in both computer science and business,
Despite the early morning carpools and two-hour bus rides, Deng-Tung Wang makes the long commute to Stanford University four times a week. Previously, a normal summer for him involved teaching younger kids at his mothers summer camp. But this summer, Wangs work environment was a little bit different; he took part in the Raising Interest in Science and Engineering (RISE) summer internship. RISE, recognizing the lack of opportunities for underrepresented or underprivileged youth, aims to help students further their interests and careers in the sciences through a seven-week, hands-on internship. The program targets high schoolers who are historically not well-represented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pipeline or are from low-income families. Many are the first in their family to attend college. RISE has a focus on students
who may not have other opportunities and resources available to them, said Kaye Storm, director of the programs Office of Science Outreach. They all have good grades, good academic records, but they dont necessarily have a network or family support to help them explore a career in science and engineering. RISE students are Bay Area high schoolers paired with a mentor and, in some cases, a professor, to work on research projects. Some are from underrepresented backgrounds; others are from low-income families. Wang is one of the 25 students interning at RISE this summer. A rising senior at Leigh High School in San Jose, Wang worked on a project involving biomolecules with mentor Michael Keeney, a postdoctoral research fellow, and Fan Yang, a biomedical engineering professor. Wang worked very closely with his postdoctoral mentor, but he also met with Yang once a week for a scheduled meeting and discussion of the data. According to Storm, most RISE According to Waisberg, at the core of the disagreement is the conflicting set of values between the University and some EV tenants. The EV community is essentially youngish people, and the values that we have today are increasingly sustainable. We clean our houses with nontoxic things . . . we buy organic vegetables, she said. And we have this older value system of how things look, this artificial ideal of living in a golf course community, with all the things that come with it, like intense herbicide use. To resolve the situation, VanFossen has delayed the grass maintenance to investigate other solutions and get feedback from residents. I wanted to rectify an issue that I felt like was the right thing to do: to better manage the landscape in the family courtyards, VanFossen said. I sent to [residents] all the information I had, heard very clearly from the fami-
students work mainly with their postdoctoral mentors. For their research, they are compensated with a $2,500 stipend funded by family and corporate foundations like Genentech and Microsoft. According to Storm, these corporations generosity is crucial to the program. The reason that we even pay them and dont just have them come as volunteers is because . . . most of them need to work during the summer, either because theyre saving for college or, in some cases, just to help support the family, Storm said. I mean, its great to have volunteer programs, but you are then closing yourself off to the lowest income kids who just cant afford to be a volunteer for the summer. Despite what seem to be long odds for many of these students, all RISE alumni have gone on to college and most, around 80 percent, major in the sciences. For Wang, RISEs opportunity exposed him to opportunities in
SPRAY
OPINIONS
B ETWEEN E AST AND W EST Fatima Wagdy I D O C HOOSE
TO
R UN
of tension in one final moment of glorious victory. To paraphrase Barack Obama: At that moment we were no longer divided into red states and blue states, but united as fifty red, white and blue states. When Im watching NBCs wonderfully nationalistic coverage of the Games, swamped in patriotic slow-motion montages of American athletes overcoming tremendous adversity to run, jump, swim and, in Ryan Lochtes case, give disastrous interviews for the stars and stripes, I forget for a moment all the things that need fixing about our country and remember everything weve done right. And among those things is continuing to support the American space program, which recently landed the cutting-edge Curiosity rover on Mars after a ridiculously complex landing procedure involving parachutes, rockets and, in the final moments of the so-called seven minutes of terror, delicate landing cables. These are the moments that make us remember why we live in this country, the moments when we can honestly and unflinchingly celebrate collective national achievements, the moments where rancor and bitterness have no place. They are also the moments on which it is most difficult to place a price tag. Who knows what will come of our distant exploration of a mysterious planet, or which child will be inspired to do great things by watching Missy Franklin or Michael Phelps? Already, however, critics on both sides of the partisan divide have raised complaints that we ought not to spend the time and money to explore space when there are pressing problems here on Earth; that pure governmentfunded research without a direct and immediate impact on human
magine buying a pound of tomatoes for only 15 cents. I did just that yesterday here in Cairo. At a farmers market, I could have bargained down to just 8 cents per pound for tomatoes that taste much better, in my opinion, than the ones in the U.S. The average price of regular tomatoes in America was $1.28 per pound in 2011, according to the USDA. I learned over time that not only are many fruits and vegetables much cheaper here in Egypt, but they are often more affordable than processed and packaged foods. And I think thats the way it should be for the sake of a healthier society. I noticed that while a pound of green peppers normally costs around 30 cents, a big bag of chips costs around 50 cents and a box of cereal could easily cost at least $2. In poorer areas, it is difficult to even find processed foods or junk food to purchase; here, it is the relatively wealthier families who eat at McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. Cheaper produce means that lowincome families can have a relatively healthy diet and avoid many of the health problems that result from the overconsumption of nutrient-deficient processed foods. The USDA promotes a balanced diet that consists of several fruit and vegetable servings per day. However, it is evident after a quick stroll through Safeway that fruits and vegetables are very expensive compared to chips, soda and Twinkies. Students on a budget often buy ramen noodles and other snacks not just because they are quick and easy to make, but also because they are cheap. Studies have shown that price is in fact a barrier to eating more fruits and vegetables for low-income families in the U.S. This tells us that low-income families buy fewer fruits and vegetables and usually have a less balanced diet, in part because of
the cost of buying fresh produce. The stark contrast between the cost of produce in Egypt and that in the U.S. suggests that maybe the U.S. should focus on making fruits and vegetables more affordable. There are countless campaigns aimed at getting children to eat healthy and to get their daily servings of fruits and vegetables, but until it makes financial sense for families to buy fruits and vegetables, they are unlikely to do so. And maybe after eating so much processed food day after day, people forget why they were buying it in the first place; they buy certain things out of habit. This conclusion is not new; it is quite obvious, to some economists at least, that the relatively high price of produce is related to lower levels of fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income families in America. Perhaps it is likely that if produce had been as cheap as processed alternatives for the past few decades, more people would be eating their daily-recommended servings of fruits and vegetables. Maybe we wouldnt have such a high rate of obesity and other conditions that result from unhealthy diets? All of this suggests that, right now in the U.S., produce is too expensive and many people do not have a healthy diet as a result. My experience in Egypt suggests that this country does not have such a problem, and I wonder why. Why is it almost a luxury to eat fruits and vegetables in the U.S. whereas it is the norm in a less developed country? Shouldnt the country that is theoretically more advanced have solved such a problem earlier on? Perhaps we are not as advanced in some ways as we might think. If you wish fruits and vegetables were cheaper too, email Fatima at fwagdy@stanford.edu.
very four years, just as America is at its most divided, we have a chance to come together again through sport. This election year, there is more to divide us than usual. Thankfully, there is more to unite us as well. I write primarily about politics, and the more I read and write, the more discouraged I tend to become. Every day seems much like the next: another Israeli-Palestinian peace plan fallen through, another shooting at a cinema or temple, another bombing in Iraq, another squabble over health care or tax returns or fried chicken, another fight between the 1 percent and the 99 percent over, in Lasswells famous definition, who gets what, when and how. Thats why I so treasure those few truly politics-free moments the moments when we are no longer Republicans or Democrats, upper-crust or lower-class, black or white or brown, but simply Americans. Those moments dont come often, and most of them seem to come at the Olympics. It was impossible to feel cynical about much of anything when Gabby Douglas smile lit up the world after winning the allaround. The furor around Mitt Romneys comments about Britains preparedness for the Games disappeared from memory when Britains Mo Farah and our very own Galen Rupp, training partners in Oregon, embraced after going 1-2 in the 10,000 meter final two men of different faiths, different ethnicities and different countries, united through shared, brutal effort in the service of sport. Politics lay forgotten as the entire country watched Alex Morgan put a brilliant finish past a horrified Canadian squad in the final minute of extra time, snapping 122 minutes
Miles Unterreiner
Those moments dont come often, and most of them seem to come at the Olympics.
welfare is inherently useless; that Olympic athletes get too much attention, earn too much money and divert our attention from more important problems. Those complaints constitute a dangerous narrowing of our vision and a frightening lowering of our ambitions for humanity. Confining our discussions of the public welfare to narrow questions of self-interest, division and distribution robs the nation of its ability to enjoy a good life that cannot be captured by recourse to numbers, facts and figures. There is a time and place for everything, and the problems of our nation and the world cannot be solved by feel-good heroics alone. But as far as it is in our power, we ought to continue to support the projects, people and ideas that transcend our small, man-made boundaries and enrich the sum of this human experience we all share. Share your favorite Olympic moment with Miles at milesu1@stanford.edu.
STEP
RISE
ence, he said. [Until now], I really had no idea what science in a lab setting was really about. This sort of hands-on science education is the primary goal of RISE, according to Storm. With the United States facing more international competition than ever before in the fields of science and technology, Storm is convinced that science programs for underrepresented youth can impact far more than just the youth involved. I think for our countrys global competitiveness, we need a workforce that is very strong in science and engineering, and if we can do that in a more homegrown way . . . thats all the better, she said. Contact Haelin Cho at haelin.cho@gmail.com. Through his research at Stanford, Cheriton has worked toward improving todays technology. He is known for helping to introduce multicast, which allows a single source to deliver information to multiple places, to the Internet, and he is currently studying snapshot isolation in relation to building distributed applications. The idea involves creating applications that will run across multiple computers based on a consistent snapshot. For example, Google runs across a large number of computers at once, and even though some might fail, the software uses snapshot isolation so that those failures are not seen by any of the users. I view that Im just one little piece of all the research going on in computer science, Cheriton said. No matter what he studies or invests in, Cheriton continues to enjoy his work and harbors no plans for his retirement, despite his 30-plus years on the Farm. I really like what Im doing, Cheriton said. Im working harder than I ever have. Contact Kylie Jue at 13kjue@ castilleja.org.
VALLEY
SPORTS
A NEW ERA
Cardinal womens soccer undaunted by high expectations
By DAVID ENG
DAILY INTERN
Redshirt junior Courtney Verloo looks to become a major contributor in the Cardinal offensive attack after being sidelined by injuries for the entire 2011 national title season. THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012
It was this time nearly a year ago. A battle-tested Stanford womens soccer team had set out to capture the schools first national championship, having faltered in the Final Four in each of the past three seasons and in the title match in each of the past two. Redshirt junior Courtney Verloo remembers one of those lazy summer days quite well. A returning starter at central defense entering her junior year, Verloo remembers feeling her left knee blown out after a weird plant during an intrasquad match last preseason. Having sustained both a small meniscal tear and a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee injuries associated with extended recovery time she watched from the sideline for the entire 2011 season, supporting the teammates she started 24 games with during her sophomore year. It was different just having to sit back and watch, Verloo said, referring to Stanfords unprecedented dominance (25-0-1, 11-0 Pac-12) en route to the programs first NCAA championship. But it was amazing to watch. Now fully recovered, Verloo figures to play a key role in her teams title defense. But shell no longer be playing defense like she did her sophomore season. The Cardinal will need her to score. I think it will be a fine transition, said the speedy Verloo, who played forward during her freshman year on the Farm and for her entire high school and youth careers. Im comfortable up front, and Im excited to play up there again. Verloo returns to a perennially potent Stanford attack recently ravaged by the graduations of key players, including the loss of last seasons top female college soccer player in Teresa Noyola, a midfielder who has led Stan-
ford in assists in each of the past two seasons. More of the younger players are going to step it up this year, Verloo said. But we definitely still have a great amount of talent. Losing a Hermann Trophy winner to graduation has become almost standard for the Cardinal, which has lost one in each of the past three seasons. While the program maintained its dominance after the graduations of Kelley OHara in 2010 and Christen Press in 2011, recovering from the most recent string of graduations may be slightly more challenging. This season, not only will the team be without Noyola; it must also contend without four of its top six point scorers from last season players who accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Cardinals goals. Furthermore, one of Stanfords top two returning scorers, sophomore forward Chioma Ubogagu, will miss as many as six preseason matches while playing on the United States under-20 national team in the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Were going to really miss Chi just because she adds so much to an attack, Verloo said. But I think it will be good for other players to get a chance to play up there and hopefully make a big impact, so we can just have a more dynamic attack overall. Despite the apparent exodus of an attacking talent that outshot the opposition by 142 shots on goal and scored more than eight times as often as its opponents did in 2011, 10th-year head coach Paul Ratcliffe remains excited by the extreme talent of his team and its chance to compete for a fourth consecutive Pac-12 championship and second consecutive national title. We control our own destiny, Ratcliffe said. We have to train hard and improve with every training session and find the right chemistry among the play-
STANFORD HEATING UP
By KAREN FENG
DAILY INTERN
Joseph Beyda
Stanford student-athletes and alumni are busy competing at the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London. Here are some of the highlights from Day 7 to Day 15: Beach volleyball: Third-seeded Kerri Walsh Jennings 00 and Misty May-Treanor defeated Austrian sisters Doris and Stefanie Schwaiger 17-21, 21-8, 1510 on Aug. 1. Walsh Jennings made 11 kills with four blocks and three service aces. In the first round of elimination, they posted a 21-13, 21-12 win over Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands at Horse Guards Parade. Walsh Jennings finished with six kills, four blocks and three digs. Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor then defeated Italys No. 7 Greta Cicolari and Marta Menegatti 21-13, 21-13 to advance to the semifinals. Walsh Jennings recorded 14 kills, five digs and two blocks. The American duo claimed its third straight Olympic gold medal in beach volleyball by defeating Jennifer Kessy and April Ross 21-16, 21-16 in an all-American final on Wednesday. Womens diving: Cassidy Krug 07 placed 10th in the preliminaries of the 3-meter springboard with a score
of 320.10. She finished fifth in the Aug. 4 semifinal with an improved score of 345.60 to qualify for the final. Equestrian: Incoming freshman Nina Ligon of Thailand finished 41st following the July 31 showjumping portion of the individual event finals. Womens gymnastics: On July 31, rising sophomore Kristina Vaculik helped the Canadian team to a fifth-place finish, its best-ever team result. She scored 14.166 on the uneven bars to tie for 16th and 13.433 on the balance beam to place 20th. Mens rowing: U.S. mens eight crewmembers David Banks 05 and Jake Cornelius 05 contributed to a fourth-place finish of 5:51.48 in the gold medal final. Silas Stafford 08 and partner Tom Peszek finished fourth in the first semifinal on Aug. 1 with a time of 6:58.58. They finished second in the B Final of the mens pair on Aug. 3 with a time of 6:53.30 to place eighth overall.
ROD SEARCEY/Stanfordphoto.com
Kerri Walsh Jennings 00 and her partner Misty May-Treanor secured their third straight Olympic gold in beach volleyball.
compete in the finals for the gold medal. As Koroleva and Killman prance out to the platform to begin their routine, polite applause greets them. There is a small contingent of flagwaving Americans in the audience and even some diehard Stanford students and alumni proudly displaying their cardinal and white along with their red, white and blue. Yet, for the most part, this international audience is comprised of fans rooting for the heavily favored Russian, Chinese and Spanish duos. The cheers are also loud for the hometown British team, which is, of course, the crowd favorite. Unlike the American pair, the other duos have been swimming together for years. It is humid and warm in the Aquatics Centre an atmosphere clearly designed for swimmers rather than spectators. The synchronized swimmers compete in the same venue that Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte raced in. Resplendent in their zebra-motif outfits, Koroleva and Killman gracefully dive into the water to the strains of The Buglers Dream the now-familiar Olympic theme song. They will not be able to breathe for two out of the three minutes
they will perform, and their feet must never touch the bottom of the pool. The enthusiasm of the American swimmers is palpable as Koroleva and Killman effortlessly perform a stunning combination of lifts, verticals, dolphin arches and knight variants. It is like waterbased gymnastics or aquatic ballet. These are not stressed-out swimmers, not the diva athletes whose histrionics have made other Olympic events border on melodrama. Rather, they are students having enormous fun and showing it. The largely non-American audience senses the swimmers joie de vivre and high energy levels and gets behind the Americans. The spirit of Stanford has momentarily taken over the Aquatics Centre. The only thing missing is the Band. Now the eclectic musical score changes from John Philip Sousa to Beethovens Ninth Symphony, and the American pair shows that they can swim as well as the best Olympians in this arena. When they gracefully form the pattern of a flower and mimic the opening and closing of its petals
On that fateful night in January, the Cardinal executed its game plan to perfection in the three other phases of the game: it rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns, allowed practically nothing from Oklahoma State on the ground and benefited from a 27for-31, 347-yard effort from Andrew Luck in his final collegiate game. But with Cowboys quarterback Brandon Weeden throwing for 399 yards of his own, Stanford couldnt close things out the way it would have wanted to, and Oklahoma State came out on top in overtime. So as the Cardinal opened its fall training camp Sunday without the three graduated members of its 2011 starting secondary, it makes sense that pass defense would be the squads greatest concern after the quarterback position. Defense wins championships, of course. But as it turns out, to succeed in the best passing conference in the nation, the strength a Pac-12 defense needs the least is . . . an airtight secondary. This conclusion, counterintuitive as it may seem, is made readily apparent by studying the correlation between the defensive stats of each Pac-12 team and how many games the individual teams won for a single season. For the non-stats majors in the crowd, correlation (with a magnitude ranging from zero to one) is a simple measure of the interrelatedness of two variables. A perfect correlation of one indicates that, when these data points are plotted, they form a perfectly straight line; a correlation close to zero means that the data points are spread randomly. For example, you would expect a pretty high correlation between a teams wins and the number of points it scores, but a much lower correlation between its wins and, say, the number of fair catches it
RUSH D ENOUGH
ay what you want about special teams, but Stanfords pass defense cost it the Fiesta Bowl.
Tom Taylor
In addition to her coaching experience, Henderson was one of the greatest strikeout pitchers in NCAA history, tallying 1,343 strikeouts over four years and breaking 25 school records at UMass. She also won an Olympic gold medal as part of the U.S. softball team that competed in Sydney in 2000. Henderson will be replacing Trisha Ford, who left her assistant coaching role to become the head coach of the Fresno State softball team.
George Chen
SOCCER
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ers and get a little bit of luck down the line. Ubogagu, for one, has been training for the entire offseason saying she has never had an offseason training that hard or that physical. She is poised to be one of the primary weapons for the Cardinal during conference play after tallying 10 goals and 10 assists in 25 starts during her freshman year. Just being with the Stanford team . . . everyone wants to get better every day, she said. Ubogagu hopes her offseason workouts will only add to her greatest strength as a scorer attacking at people. With the return of Verloo and the continued emergence of Ubogagu, Stanford seems poised for another deep run in the NCAA tournament. UCLA and Oregon State provide tough competition in conference play, says Verloo. Duke and Wake Forest are poised to dethrone the Cardinal in the national title hunt, says Ubogagu. But both women acknowledge that any team could contend. We need to realize were a target. Never relax. Never get complacent, Verloo said. We need to make sure were always preparing right and staying competitive every day. Ratcliffe reiterated this sentiment; he believes that repeating in the very challenging Pac-12 conference will be difficult because
MILLER
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several times, the multinational audience cheers. Everything in synchronized swimming is artistic, down to the exit from the pool after the conclusion of the performance. As Koroleva and Killman make their synchronized exit, the audience gives them a wellearned sustained ovation. Koroleva and her duet partner score a combined total of 176.670 points, earning 87.770 for the free routine and 87.800 for the technical. For the moment, this puts them in second place overall. Although the Russian, Spanish and Chinese teams will surpass them and earn the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively, the Americans have clearly won the gold medal for enthusiasm and energy. The pool rippled with hundreds of concentric circular waves, a sight of beauty that cannot be seen and appreciated from a television camera. If Koroleva and Killman can perform this brilliantly after so little time together as a pair, it augurs well for the United States and Stanfords Olympic prospects once they have the benefit of more extensive training together. With Koroleva and Killman performing, Americas synchronized swimming prospects are bright. The brilliant artistry of Mary Ann Toman-Millers writing performance suggests she would do a better job than a host of Olympic broadcasters. Nominate her for Rio 2016 at tomanmil@stanford.edu.
Head coach Paul Ratcliffe and the Stanford womens soccer team look forward to a new season, hoping to defend the national title that they won last year for the first time in school history.
OLYMPIC
Continued from page 8
Womens rowing: Elle Logan 11 helped the U.S. womens eight defend its 2008 Olympic title on Aug. 2, posting a gold medal-winning time of 6:10.59. Mens soccer: Ryan Nelsen and Team New Zealand were eliminated from competition on Wednesday after a 3-0 loss to Brazil, finishing group play 0-2-1. Womens soccer: Ali Riley 10 played at left outside back to help the New Zealand team beat Cameroon 3-0 in its first-ever victory at the Olympic Games. Team USA co-captain Rachel Buehler 07, playing at central defense, and Kelley OHara 10, playing at right outside back, helped the United States secure a 1-0 victory over North Korea on July 31. Three days later, the United States defeated New Zealand 20 in the quarterfinal with Riley and OHara playing all 90 minutes. The U.S. defeated Canada 4-3 in the final seconds of extra time in the Aug. 6 semifinal, guaranteeing at least a silver medal. OHara continued her streak of playing every minute of every match, while Buehler was replaced in the second overtime after a collision. Former Stanford goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart 04, backing up Americas Hope Solo, has not yet seen action. Mens swimming: David Dunford 10 of Kenya failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 100-meter freestyle, as his time of 49.60 was just the third best in his heat on July 31. He raced again in the fifth heat of the 50meter freestyle competition, finishing third with a time of 22.72, but again did not qualify for the semifinals. Jason Dunford 09 finished fourth in the fifth heat of the 100meter butterfly on Aug. 2 with a time of 52.23. He improved slightly in the semifinal with a time of 52.16 but was unable to advance to the final. Tobias Oriwol 06 of Canada
and Markus Rogan 04 of Austria competed in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay on July 31, with Canada taking seventh (7:15.22) and Austria eighth (7:17.94) in the second preliminary heat. Neither countrys time ranked in the top eight and they both failed to qualify for the final. Oriwol and Rogan competed again on Aug. 1. Oriwol finished fourth in the third preliminary heat of the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:58.06. He finished seventh in the second semifinal with a time of 1:58.74, for an overall finish of 13th in the event. Rogan placed third in the 200meter individual medley preliminary heat but was disqualified in the semifinal for an illegal turn. Synchronized swimming: The American duo of Maria Koroleva 13 and Mary Killman scored 87.900 points in the preliminary technical routine at the London Aquatics Centre to place 10th, totaling 43.700 points in execution and 44.200 in overall impression. Koroleva and Killman scored 88.270 points to place 11th in the free routine on Aug. 5 and are in 10th place in the overall standings at 176.170. They tallied 44.070 for artistic impression to qualify for the final, where the pair finished 11th overall. Mens tennis: Top-seeded Bob Bryan 98 and Mike Bryan 98 defeated Russias Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets 7-6 (6), 76 (1) on July 31 in a second-round doubles match played at Wimbledon. The Bryans then defeated Israels unseeded duo of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 7-6 (4), 7-6 (10) on Aug. 2 to advance to the semifinals. In the Aug. 3 semis, they defeated Frances Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4. The brothers then captured their first career gold medal on Aug. 4, defeating Frances Michael Llodra and JoWilfried Tsonga 6-4, 7-6 (2). Mixed doubles tennis: Mike Bryan 98 teamed with Lisa Raymond on Aug. 1 for a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Italys Sara Errani and Andreas Seppi, and the thirdseeded pair defeated Argentinas Gisela Dulko and Juan Martin del Potro 6-2, 7-5 in a quarterfinal match on Aug. 3.
Bryan and Raymond dropped their Aug. 4 semifinal match to top-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 3-6, 64, 10-7, but still captured the bronze medal with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 victory over the German pair of Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas on Aug. 5. Track and field: Amaechi Morton 12 of Nigeria qualified for the semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 49.34 in the first heat, but pulled up with an apparent injury on Aug. 4 and could not make the finals. Katerina Stefanidi 12 of Greece cleared 13 feet, 11 1/4 inches (4.25 m) in the pole vault on Aug. 4 but did not advance to the final. Jillian Camarena-Williams placed eighth in Group A on Aug. 6 with a toss of 59-5 1/2 in the shot put and failed to qualify for the final round. Womens volleyball: Team USA, featuring Foluke Akinradewo 09 and Logan Tom 03, defeated China 26-24, 25-16, 31-29 on Aug. 1. Akinradewo tallied eight kills with a pair of blocks, while Tom had five kills, two blocks and a pair of aces. The United States swept Serbia 25-17, 25-20, 25-16 on Aug. 3 as Akinradewo registered six kills and five blocks and Tom recorded 10 kills and two blocks. Team USA wrapped up Pool B play with a 27-25, 25-16, 25-19 win over Turkey on Sunday. Akinradewo finished with nine kills, five blocks and an ace, while Tom tallied five kills and a block. Mens water polo: Peter Varellas 06 recorded his second-straight hat trick, Tony Azevedo 05 added a goal and Layne Beaubien 99 and Peter Hudnut 03 played on defense to help the United States defeat Romania 10-8 on July 31. The U.S. improved to 3-0 with a 13-7 victory over Great Britain on Aug. 2. Team captain Azevedo scored four times as he and Varellas each accounted for third-period goals. Team USA lost to Serbia 11-6 on Aug. 4. Azevedo and Varellas each netted a goal, while Beaubien and Hudnut assisted on defense. They secured a spot in the quarterfinals with Romanias loss to Mon-
Defender Melissa Seidemann 14 posted a hat trick in Team USAs 9-6 win over Italy in the quaterfinal round at the Olympics. The U.S. team will be playing against Spain in the gold medal game today.
tenegro. The U.S. was again defeated on Aug. 6, losing 11-6 to Hungary in its final game of pool play. Azevedo, Beaubien and Hudnut each scored a goal. The Americans then lost to Croatia 8-2 in the quarterfinal round after falling into a 5-0 hole early in the game. Womens water polo: On Aug. 1, Annika Dries 14, Melissa Seidemann 14, Maggie Steffens 16 and Brenda Villa 03 each netted a goal, as Team USA and Spain settled for a 9-9 draw. Steffens led Team USA with a hat trick to help defeat China 7-6 on Aug. 3. Dries, Seidemann and Villa also saw some playing time, with Stanford players scoring four of Team USAs seven goals. Stanford alumnae accounted for six of the teams nine goals in a 9-6 quarterfinal win over Italy on Aug. 5. Seidemann posted a hat trick and Steffens and Villa also scored goals, while Dries helped out on defense. The US beat Australia 11-9 in overtime during Tuesdays semifinal match to advance to the gold medal game against Spain today. Steffens scored one of the teams two overtime goals. Contact Karen Feng at karenfeng.us @gmail.com.
BEYDA
ries a team recorded, as demonstrated by the -0.80 correlation between wins and rushing defense in 2011. Twelve-win Oregon, 11-win Stanford and 10-win USC finished 5-1-2 in this regard, and no bowl-eligible team in the top five in rushing yards allowed failed to qualify for the postseason last year. The 2011 season was no fluke, either. In each of the past five seasons, the correlation between rush defense and wins has been stronger than that between pass defense and wins; since 2007, when the two measures were nearly the same, the rush defense mark has never risen above -0.69 and the pass defense mark has never slipped below -0.29. (Remember, larger negatives indicate a stronger relation in this case.) The same general trend repeats itself in terms of just Pac-12 records. Over that same five-year span, top-three finishers in the Pac-12 average the third-best rush defense in the conference but just the fifthbest pass defense. On the national scale, just one 10-win squad (Arizona in 2007) also finished in the top 10 in Division I for passing yards allowed, but Oregon has reached double-digit wins and boasted a top-10 rush defense for each of the last four years. Theres an argument to be made that, when comparing front sevens with secondaries, yards al-
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lowed are not the only (or even the best) stat to use. A sack or interception can turn the tide of a close game, and bend-but-dont-break schemes arent afraid to give up a few yards on shorter passes assuming the timely stop comes. Theres some data to support this assertion: the conference champion has recorded the most sacks in the league three of the last five seasons, and in 2010 the Pac12s three top finishers Oregon, Stanford and USC recorded the first-, second- and third-most picks, in that order. But not all big plays are made equal, and again, the front seven reigns supreme. There has been a decent correlation between sacks and wins over the past four years, as this measure has always fallen between 0.51 and 0.72 since 2008. But when it comes to interceptions, things are much less predictable. A 0.71 correlation between picks and wins in 2008 gave way to a mark of essentially zero in 2009, yet in 2010 the correlation was stronger than ever at 0.82. And in 2011, when second-place Stanford had the fewest interceptions (seven) in the Pac-12, the correlation had plummeted back to 0.19. The moral of the story is that if youre looking for a playmaker in the Pac-12, a strong pass rusher is a much more reliable bet to improve your teams fortunes than an electrifying cover guy. This season you can expect the Cardinal to finish in the top three in the conference in both rushing yards allowed and sacks, and the six Pac-12 teams that have done that in the last five years have averaged 9.67 wins. So while the rest of the world worries about how the Cardinals young but talented defensive backs Wayne Lyons, Terrence Brown, Barry Browning, Devon Carrington, Ed Reynolds and others will define their roles ins a secondary that had its fair share of struggles last season, Im just going to sit back and relax while Shayne Skov, Chase Thomas and the rest of Stanfords dominant front seven do their work. Dont forget, I have math on my side. Joseph Beyda might be teaching an advanced sports statistics course in the fall. Let Professor Beyda know if youre interested at jbeyda@stanford.edu.
TAYLOR
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mally. After being banned in 2007, he was eventually given permission to race in International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) competitions against able-bodied athletes in May 2008, and he qualified for this summers Games last year. Some are vehemently opposed to Pistorius participation, arguing as the IAAF did in 2007 that his artificial lower legs give him a significant advantage over other runners, and that allowing him to compete sets a dangerous precedent for allowing future athletes to use similar equipment to gain an edge over others. They are wrong, of course. We already live in a world in which top athletes employ science and technology to get them over the finish line first, from detailed analysis of biomechanics that change a runners gait to ultra-low-weight bicycles to high-tech clothing fabrics to cutting-edge running shoes to drugs yes, drugs. As every athlete at the Olympic Games leaves the field of play, they are faced with giving urine samples so that any use of illegal medication can be identified. But there is also a huge range of legal drugs; athletes dont just eat salads and drink water. Vitamins supplement their diets, isotonic drinks improve performance and anti-inflammatory painkillers speed recovery from injury. That we can investigate and regulate these medications hopefully catching the vast majority of cheats implies that we should surely be able to do the same with Pistorius blades. The idea that he gains a serious advantage or that others may follow his lead seems crazy. In case you havent been paying attention, regardless of the technology he is using, Pistorius is a double amputee. Life has surely not been easy, and neither has his training or competition. No one would ever want to replace his or her lower limbs with carbon-fiber blades just to win an athletic competition; no one would risk major surgery on a perfectly healthy body just for that. But athletes who have had parts of themselves replaced in surgery, such as ACL replacements, are allowed to
Simply put, Pistorius has an inspiring story, a tale of someone who simply refused to give up in the face of serious disability.
compete, so why not Pistorius? The biggest justification for allowing Pistorius to compete, though, is what his inclusion means. Simply put, he has an inspiring story, a tale of someone who simply refused to give up in the face of serious disability. It may not have quite the interplanetary reach of NASAs latest mission, but it too is a perfect example of what can be achieved with hard work and technology. You might argue about whether or not he gains an advantage from his prosthetic limbs, but you cannot argue about whether or not he embodies the Olympic Games. In the end, while Pistorius made it into the semifinals of the 400 meters, he went no further than that in the competition. But the most telling moment came just after that race was run. The winner, reigning world champion Kirani James of Grenada, immediately went to swap race numbers with Pistorius, and the whole field embraced the double-amputee. It was clear that this South African sprinter inspired not only the viewing public, but also his athletic peers. Tom Taylor burst into tears of joy when Great Britains Jessica Ennis won gold in the heptathlon. Ask him how long it took to stop crying at tom.taylor@stanford.edu.
HOUSING
Room and Food. Retired professor will share roomy house 7 mi. from
INTERMISSION
MUSIC
LOLLAPALOOZA
The Bay Area meets Chi-town in three-day music festival
he Bay is replaced by Lake Michigan, and the fog trapped in the foothills gives way to oven-like humidity. Deep dish becomes the only pizza crust, while Derrick Rose jerseys of every color replace Giants caps. E-40s Function is a mere afterthought to any tune by hometown favorite Kanye West. This is no Yay Area. This is Chicago. And on Aug. 3-5, the city played host to one of the nations largest music festivals: Lollapalooza. Founded in 1991 by Janes Addiction front man Perry Farrell, Lollapalooza has morphed quite a bit in its 21 years. After a handful
of hiatuses following its beginnings as a traveling festival, Lollapalooza has recurred annually in Grant Park since 2005. The acts have grown with the crowds, morphing Lollapalooza into an annual pilgrimage for thousands of fans who have fallen in love with the event. For Stanford students, however, making the lengthy trip to Lolla can prove to be rather difficult. To offer some insight into the festival, Intermission made the journey to Chicago to see what Lollas all about. Evanston Like many Stanford Lolla-
Lights shine on the crowd during a Lollapalooza performance. 12 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION
goers, Intermissions adventure began each morning north of downtown Chicago in Evanston, a neighborhood simultaneously part of the burbs and the city. Evanston is the home of Northwestern University, a Midwestern academic powerhouse where a Stanford student is likely to have one or two friends willing to let him crash on a futon for the weekend. When students wake on the hot Friday morning (or, more likely, early afternoon), they slowly make the journey downtown. Trains are packed with countless neon tank tops, CamelBaks and high-waisted jean shorts. All the commotion, combined with the growing frequency of late-morning handle pulls scattered about the train, immediately triggers memories of early-morning insanity on the Bay to Breakers Caltrain. When the train arrives, hordes of festivalgoers take to the streets of Chicago, charging toward Grant Park. Thousands of people fill the sidewalks, funneling toward the famous Michigan Avenue, the heart of shopping in Chicago. Century-old buildings deemed worthy of Christopher Nolans Gotham cast massive shadows on the crowds below. Heading south on Michigan, skyscrapers eventually reveal the green, tree-scattered expanse of
Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine performs at Lollapalooza, a music festival in Chicago, Ill. Grant Park, cuddled up next to Lake Michigan. The fans have amassed at the park, and late Friday morning the gates open. For the next 60 hours, Grant Park will play host to 270,000 people and 150 musical acts performing on eight separate stages. In 2011, Lollapalooza reportedly injected $100 million into the Chicago economy, a number likely matched this year, given the record attendance. | LOLLAPALOOZA continued on page 16 | THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012
LIFESTYLE
PERSPECTIVES
T
he world of progressive, meat-eating Southerners was rocked weeks ago when our beloved anointed, even Chick-fil-A announced its horribly backwards stance on gay marriage (its against it). Not only is this a blow because of the general anti-free-love vibes which are just harshing my mellow, but also because I love Chick-fil-A. I mean, I want to boycott the restaurant, but its just so good. (But is it too good?) This is no new conundrum; people have been conflicted with whether to buy or boycott since the less-than-glamorous Boston Tea Party though wed like to believe that that selfinflicted embargo was because of the subjugation of India and not high tea prices. (Get it, high tea?) So how do we anguished aesthetes grapple with such a seemingly inextricable net of political incorrectness, desire, brandimage, taste and pressure from our social networks? Well, friends, free yourself of this inner turmoil with some tips on how to deal when your favorite brands forget social corporate responsibility, back the wrong political party or just plain screw up. Put it out of your mind The most basic and probably most used tactic of the woeful consumer: ignorance. Its not for real! These peeps just feign it, dont talk about it and politely dismiss it like a mother looking past her eldest sons growing cocaine addiction. Confronting the fact that Louis Vuitton doesnt actually make its bags by hand, that theyre in fact made mostly by machine, makes that label markup hit harder. This ones easier when the corporate crime is more chill (like being unfairly priced) and harder when its something evil THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012
ON
BRAND
SASH NGELES A
LOYALTY
bereft of sweet uniformed-kisses photos and the tales of gay Marine fathers that both break the mold and inspire. Thats not only a shame; its a disservice (no pun intended). If all those strong gay LGBT men and women just said up yours to the Army, the Boy Scouts, the football teams and all the other downers out there and packed it up for theater camp, wed have no change at all. And thats worse than slow, painful, nochicken change. Find a similar substitute Naaahh. Rally behind the ones that are great Its a struggle that every well-meaning hypocrite faces: I hate when companies use their corporate power to support political/social agendas I dont like, but I am all for it when its a good one. So total bummer about Wal-Mart, Chick-fil-A and Boy Scouts of America, but on the flip side, think about how great Apple, Google and Microsoft which all support equal rights are every time you make a call or listen to iTunes. Heck, just watch Ellen and feel good about it! Boycott them completely For only the most hardcore of principled people, the boycott is an option, though often ineffective and saddening. Sometimes youve got to do it; sometimes it makes no difference like my refusal to listen to any Chris Brown song, even though my literally quiet defiance of a frat house iPod will affect no one. Sometimes its an excuse to not like something you already think is gross but for other, less social reasons. This photo was enough for me to hate all things Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy. sasha ARIJANTO
contact sasha: sasha.arijanto@stanford.edu
Over 200 people braved 100-degree temperatures to stand in line for a Chick-fil-A meal at the chain's restaurant in Wichita, Kan., on Aug. 1, 2012. The crowd was buying meals to show their support for the company that's currently embroiled in a controversy over same-sex marriage. (like ignoring sexual assault). Rationalize Like a next step in the Twelve, this one allows you to still indulge in the forbidden fruit of a fallen company, but with the mental backing of some justified rationale. You might cringe, for example, to learn that Target gave money to support a candidate against gay marriage but hey, they probably supported him for other reasons, too, right? One issue cant be the only thing. And boycotting only hurts those nice ladies at the register with long nails and two mortgages. They need me to buy fairly priced genericbrand over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. I have friends who have worked there. Conscientious objector This one is a deep rationalization. A conscientious objector does not abstain but instead partakes in the fun, and copes by projecting some morally correct scheme onto the consumption. I will not deny myself (entirely) the tender-fried-goodness of Chick-fil-A upon my nearing pilgrimage back to the South, not because I support not supporting the union of gay people I do support their union but because I will create change from within! I will fill out cards, send emails, comment on FB statuses. And its not for naught. Think about it. If there were no conscientious objectors, the world would be totally
THEATER
War Horse
distracting in the foal version of Joey, you get used to ignoring them and watching the horse itself. Joey, a riding horse, is bought by a farm owner (Tedd Cerveris) whose son Albert (Brian Keane) takes charge of his training and upkeep, including teaching him the impossible task of pulling a plow, a skill that will later save the horses life. The burgeoning friendship between Albert and Joey is the slowest part of the play, as it was in the film, and exposes Keanes weak acting the most, in large part because the dialogue hes given to work with is so poor. The play truly gets going when Alberts father surreptitiously decides to sell off Joey, for a pretty penny, to become the titular War Horse. The stakes for Joey get higher, and the atrocities of war expose humanity in both sides. Albert, in turn, enlists in an effort to find his horse.
From left: Andrew Veenstra, Christopher Mai, Derek Stratton and Rob Laqui star in War Horse at the SHN Curran Theatre. Yes, World War I was fought with both horses and tanks, and theres a devastating scene when the British cavalry storm a German camp and are surprised and obliterated by machine guns. The storming of the camp feels real; multiple horses are on stage, and the devastation is heightened by the sounds, flashing lights and pounding score. Waiting for the play to begin, the audience can see only an empty stage with a long, white banner present. The banner is used to project backgrounds of the various locations where the play takes place from the idyllic English countryside, to the battlefield and trenches, to the war-torn French lands and it works remarkably well, allowing for quick and seamless transitions between vastly different locales. The sets are all very portable: the fence in the marketplace where Joey is first sold to our hero is held up by the cast but looks entirely real; the farmhouse consists of nothing but a window, door and backdrop, just enough to create the illusion of more; and the supports for the ramp seen in the first act become a great stand-in for the trenches in the second. The most impressive part of the spectacle is the use of lights and sound. The play has its own score by Adrian Sutton, which is both affecting and effective, and is sung by John Milosich, who acts as our guide. To its credit, the emotional and sometimes harrowing music increases the drama significantly. The terrifying battle scenes including one with a very large tank that plows through the stage are often darkly lit, with bright lights used sporadically for shock factor from things like explosions, along with very loud sound effects and scores. These are as sophisticated as you would expect from a polished war film, which is highly impressive. The play, however, differs from the film: It is all about how to tell this continentspanning story, with so many characters and so much drama and war, on a stage and make it seem real, frightening, emotional and cohesive. The production does all of this and more, making the highly imperfect script forgivable. This isnt a play about words; its a magical and visceral experience. War Horse runs through Sept. 9 at the SHN Curran Theatre in San Francisco. alexandra HEENEY
contact alexandra: aheeney@stanford.edu
Grayson DeJesus and Michael Wyatt Cox star in the Broadway production War Horse, currently showing in San Francisco until Sept. 9. 14 N THE STANFORD DAILY N SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION
MOVIES
TOTAL RECALL
remake proves worse than original
the vital stats
LIFESTYLE
Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) sits inside the Rekall Tripping Den in Columbia Pictures action thriller Total Recall. Directed by Len Wiseman, Total Recall is yet another Hollywood remake that has succeeded at nothing but crashing and burning. The film revolves around Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), an Australian factory worker who lives with his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale). In this futuristic dystopia, chemical warfare has destroyed most of the world, leaving only two inhabitable countries: the United Federation of Britain, which includes the United Kingdom as well as much of Europe, and Australia, known as The Colony. Quaid decides to go to Rekall, a company that uses chemicals to provide false memories, after feeling as if there is something missing from his life. After policemen raid Rekall and Quaid manages to fight his way out, he soon discovers that he is really an ex-spy who turned against the government to work for the Resistance, an equalityfocused group. With the help of his former partner Melina (Jessica Biel), Quaid begins to find his true self again as well as try to beat Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), who plans on destroying The Colony. While the acting and casting for each character was well done, the roles are one-dimensional. A notable example of this is Cohaagen, who plays a typical capitalistic, money-hungry leader. Theres little to no dimensionality to his character, and while it can be argued that this is because he plays a secondary role, his character is significant enough to deserve more depth. In addition, the movie stumbles in several places. To begin, the foreshadowing is blatant and awkward. For example, before Quaid finds out about his true self, he sees a pianist in a bar and notes how he wishes he knew how to play the piano. Fast-forward to halfway through the movie and you see him miraculously playing a piano by sense memory to decode a message he left for his future self. In addition, the plot drags at the beginning with slow and unnecessary scenes, then rushes at the very end by attempting to annihilate all of the major enemies within the | RECALL continued on page 16 |
SCALE
eep your expectations low and enter with caution, and you just may be somewhat impressed by Total Recall; otherwise, the movie simply flops.
10
s the self-proclaimed president of the Forever Alone Society, I have had my fair share of kissing my mom at midnight on New Years and organizing singles-only Valentines Day sleepover parties, where I wake up alone with obscene things drawn on my face and the menu screen of Bring It On playing in the background. So when a sexy Scottish fitness trainer (lets call him Braveheart) asked me out for coffee, I took full advantage and planned a date that was unlike any hed ever been on, which sparked this new summer dating series. I decided to take on the new journalistic project of experimenting with various date ideas and chronicling these misadventures in an article. It is my fondest hope that you ditch your drab movieand-dinner date plans and opt for an outing that has a second-date guarantee. As a brave dater myself, and with my previous amateur competitive eating experience, I decided to take Braveheart to watch me tackle the Hellfire Challenge at the SmokeEaters wing bar in Cupertino: 12 hot wings coated in black inferno hot sauce in 10 minutes without water or napkins. You do need to sign a waiver releasing all your legal rights to sue the restaurant for any unexpected bleeding of orifices or accidental contamination of your eyes with the sauce, but it is definitely worth it for an extra-large victory T-shirt. Unfortunately, after a wing and a bite of Hellfire, I started bawling in a restaurant full of spectators who laughed at my
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CONTINUED FROM LOLLAPALOOZA PAGE 12 Friday Fridays lineup started the weekend off with a bang. Daytime performances included Passion Pit, The Shins, Dev and M83. One of the most impressive lineups of the day could be felt emanating from Perrys Stage, tucked in the corner of Grant. Named after Lollas founder, Perrys Stage has played host to some of the most exhilarating electronic, house and dubstep music the world has to offer. Once a covered venue, the tent was popped off this year to allow for greater attendance. On Friday, Perrys featured The White Panda, Zedd, Porter Robinson and Nero, who blasted bass loud enough to be heard stages away. To finish the day off, Bassnectar headlined at Perrys on Friday night, attracting a crowd more than prepared to rage to dubstep. Outside of the moshing frivolity of Perrys were some equally phenomenal headliners. Wale rapped on the PlayStation Stage, while The Black Keys and Black Sabbath exhibited Lollas rock origins. All headliners, however, were cut at 10 p.m. due to city noise ordinances. Although a sore point for many fans, the early end time allowed for festivalgoers to experience aspects of Lolla that make it unique to other festivals: its in the city. Fans flocked to bars, hotels, deep-dish pizzerias or one of the more than 35 official after-shows to cap off a wonderful day with some downtown Chicago nightlife. Saturday With a somewhat groggy start from the day before, Lolla-goers got after it again on Saturday for a while, at least. In the late afternoon, the event organizers chose to evacuate the park due to severe weather warnings. Soon after the evacuation, a powerful thunderstorm rolled through, pummeling the park with rain, hail and wind. However, as the storm gave way, the festival reopened to spectacularly muddy shows by Calvin Harris, Bloc Party, The Weeknd and Franz Ferdinand, among many others. As the sun set, fans made the tough decision of which headliner to see. However, it was impossible to make a wrong choice. Frank Oceans smooth R&B melted hearts, Avicii melted faces and Santigold eliminated all worries. All the while, The Red Hot Chili Peppers played a phenomenal show to thousands of forever-loyal fans. Sunday On Sunday, people in Lolla wristbands filled coffee shops and diners to order breakfast at 1 p.m. It was Lolla Sunday, and it was time to rally. On the festivals final day, committed fans flocked to J. Cole, Sigur Ros, Toro Y Moi, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Miike Snow and At the Drive-In. Although Zeds Dead kept the literal pulse of Lolla at Perrys, Florence + the Machine may have captured the soul of the festival. Retro Hollywood movie-set spotlights glowed at the crowd, and simple silver fans blew Florences flowing red gown, transforming Florence + the Machines stunning voice and beautiful instrumentation into a spectacle to behold. As dusk gave way to night, Justice took over Florences stage, while Jack White played at the other end of the park. Kaskade brought a powerful set to cap off an electrifying weekend at Perrys. Comedian-turned-rapper (or vice versa) Childish Gambino lyricized his way through an incredible set while his fans rapped right along with him.
Lollapalooza drew over 270,000 attendees last weekend in Grant Park, Chicago, Ill. At the crux of shipping lanes and interstates in the heartland of the nation, Chicago is a literal crossroads. In a spectacular, exhausting three days of musical mayhem, Lollapalooza and its over 270,000 attendees further amplified this definition. Friends from the Farm had midsummer reunions, while friends from high school met each others new college companions. For three days, the third largest city in America was transformed into a venue to enjoy music, weather, food, fun and company. It may not be the Bay Area or Indio (the home of Coachella), but with Lollapalooza, Chicago shows it has something truly special to offer. isaac HALYARD
contact isaac: ihalyard@stanford.edu
CONTINUED FROM RECALL PAGE 15 last five minutes of the film. While the plot itself has no problems, it moves at an unstable pace and in a way that makes viewing the movie extremely difficult. The one notable part of this film is its coolness factor. The movies location is extremely futuristic, and the fight scenes are choreographed and shot in engaging ways. In addition, the lighting, costumes and settings are all consistent in terms of color and style, which helps give a cohesive feel to the film. If youre simply looking for a short, two-hour escape from your day-to-day life, this movie is the one for you. However, dont be alarmed if you find that within 24 hours, Total Recall has become no more than just an insignificant memory. margaret LIN
contact margaret: margaretglin@gmail.com