Friday, September 26, 2003

by Maki Sato
Gazette Reporter

The Ring discussion: “Diversity and the Institution,” held in Mephistos
last night, gave students a chance to come together to share their experiences
of diversity on campus and to discuss reactions to the freshmen diversity workshops
held during freshmen orientation. The student panel included two diversity workshop
facilitators Powen Shiah ’06 and Aparna Kishor ’05, and an international freshmen
student, Mustafa Paksoy ’07.

The discussion began with the question concerning the effectiveness of the
workshops in general. Powen Shiah ’06 commented of his facilitating experience
this year: “I wanted to shake people’s trees, but the exercises we did
and the discussion we had were not powerful [enough] to move people’s states
of mind,” and Andrew Sniderman ’06 added, “if the spirit is not there,
it just won’t work.” Many people agreed that the activities could be improved
and made more engaging and interactive. Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham ’07 also expressed
his doubts about the purpose of the workshop, “I didn’t know why we were
having these workshops. Are there issues of racism or cultural problems on campus?
Is it to better understand ourselves?”

With such a broad and complicated topic, finding a constructive format for
a 90-minute workshop is quite a battle. When asked if the workshops should be
dropped completely, some agreed that diversity is just not something people
can talk about in one small session like alcohol and sexual assault, but others
defended the workshop as a good introduction to the complex issues surrounding
diversity that gets the conversation started.

As the dialogue continued, Kishor brought up some critical questions such
as “how do we get people to care?” and “when does a preference
become a prejudice?” The questions raised at The Ring were not answered
last night, but the workshops initiated a dialogue which The Ring gave another
nudge.

*****

by Alex Glick
Gazette Reporter

Economist Jeffrey Miron ’79, a Swarthmore alum and a professor at Boston University,
spoke to Introductory Economics students Thursday evening about “The Economics
of Drug Prohibition and Drug Legalization.”

Miron first introduced the topic of drug prohibition, or making drug use and
possession a crime, by establishing the significance of this policy in the United
States. All local, national, and state governments spend a total of about $33
billion each year to enforce prohibition, which is bigger than the federal budget
on education. In addition, about 1.5 million arrests are made every year on
drug charges. Miron briefly presented the arguments of both sides of the issue.
Proponents argue that the benefits of prohibition outweigh the costs, while
opponents believe that prohibition does more harm than good. Miron personally
believes that legalization should be a “no brainer;” however, he used
the rest of his lecture to provide additional supporting evidence and economic
analysis for his argument.

Miron argued that prohibition does not eliminate supply or demand for drugs
but did recognize that these could be somewhat affected. He also argued that
prohibition allows for the creation of a black market; it is this black market
that causes a great deal of negative effects that outweigh benefits. These negative
effects include disrespect for the law and increased violence. Research has
indicated that these prohibition laws actually deter drug use by only a very
small amount. In addition, police resources must be devoted to these instead
of more serious crimes, and money that could be collected in taxes actually
goes to criminals in the black market. He gave a variety of reasons that could
be used to support prohibition, such as the negative externalities it may cause
and the morality issue, but was able to give factual evidence against these
claims. Miron concluded his lecture by reiterating that prohibition is not necessarily
the correct way, especially in an economic sense, to deal with the nation’s
drug problem and that all consequences of any policy should be considered.

This was the first in a series of three lectures offered to students by the
department. Mike Scherer will speak to students on October 22. These lectures
give students the opportunity to see how economics can be applied to important
areas outside of the classroom.

*****

by Ken Patton
Gazette Reporter

The Gazette continues its weekly reviewing of the bottom 40 “never checked
out” videos at McCabe by evaluating the 1925 blockbuster, “The Lost
World,” produced by William Rothacker, starring Wallace Beery, and featuring
amazing special effects by Willis O’Brien.
———-

Although it may not have been a blockbuster by today’s standards, the special
effects in the movie were radical for its time. “The Lost World” is
based on the 1912 adventure novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a book exploring
the possibility that dinosaurs may still roam the earth. Having been made in
1925, the film is a silent movie with only a musical soundtrack added in recent
times.

At first the movie is a bit difficult to get used to; lacking sound, the movie
creators convey the speech of the actors by posting screens of text after each
scene. While eventually you will stop noticing it, the Gazette staff got the
impression that people read quite a bit slower in the 1920’s due to how long
the text remains on the screen.

The movie tells the story of one man, Challenger, who believes that dinosaurs
still exist despite the condemnation of his peers. While he does not have the
support of many people, he is able to convince a group to journey with him to
“the lost world” where he claims to have proof that dinosaurs still
exist.

The movie has both its high and low points; certain parts were loaded with
suspense while during other parts the Gazette staff had to make a game of guessing
what people were going to say in order to stay entertained. The special effects
were slightly cheesy. However, in retrospect they provided a significant fraction
of the movie’s entertainment value.

So if you like old black and white films and science fiction you may want
to give “The Lost World” a shot. Even if you don’t like it, the movie
is a mere 71 minutes during which you can contemplate and fully appreciate the
quality of movies that we have today.

*****

It figures doesn’t it? That we’d have a truly beautiful day right before the
weekend, with the tranquil breeze and soft sunshine beckoning sinfully through
the slits that are windows in McCabe, where you’re wading through a morass of
readings. Then, when Friday afternoon finally hits, and you’re all ready to
drop everything and party, the rain washes out your weekend jubilance. But the
Daily Gazette isn’t going to let a little rain let our party spirits down! So
grab that umbrella, and that train to Philly (or car, or shuttle), and celebrate
the second to last weekend before fall break!

Friday

Stay dry by heading indoors to the closest movie theater and check out Hollywood’s
latest offering on the altar of bad action movies: “The Rundown” (opening
this Friday), featuring The Rock (yes, the wrestling dude). After giving your
brain such a workout all week, it might be nice to let it rest for about two
hours. Other movies opening this week include ‘Duplex’ and ‘Under the Tuscan
Sun’.

Saturday

Mellow out in Zanzibar Blue at Broad and Walnut to the smooth notes of the
English jazz/new age group, Acoustic Alchemy, who are joined by saxophonist
Jeff Kashiwa on this trip. Concert starts at 8:00 p.m. and again at 10:00 p.m..

Sunday

If you’ve still got some cash left, you might want to splurge and catch a
couple of tickets to go see award-winning composer Michael Ogborn’s musical,
‘Cafe Puttanesca’, a hilarious musical about a postwar cafe in Amsterdam. Showing
at the Arden Theater Company at 40 North Second Street at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00
p.m.. Tickets range from $22 -$40 and the run will last until Oct 26th.

*****

* The Associated Press released the results of a survey conducted over the
past two weeks reporting that the European heat wave in August killed more than
19,000 people, making it one of the most deadly periods of hot weather in the
past century. While there are no cumulative year-to-date figures for Europe
as a whole, French officials have said that 14,802 people in France died from
heat related causes this year. According to Meteo France, the national weather
service, the heat wave was France’s worst since 1947. The AP’s survey
showed at least 806 more people died from the heat in August this year than
in the same month last year.

* Japanese media reported that at least 164 people were injured by a strong
earthquake Friday morning local time. Preliminary data shows that the earthquake
shook northern Japan with a magnitude of 8. Japan’s meteorological agency
issued 3-foot tidal wave warnings. The quake struck in the Pacific Ocean 50
miles away from the southeastern shore of Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan.
A strong aftershock of magnitude 7 followed two hours later, with another an
hour after that.

* Despite its competitors’ decisions to delay entry due to the risk of pirated
game software, Nintendo announced its plans to enter the Chinese market with
its local venture iQue Ltd. next month. When Nintendo makes the move it will
be the first Japanese video game company to enter the mainland market. Nintendo
plans to include a memory card used to download software with its new system,
iQue Player, and a Chinese language version of “Super Mario Bros.”
The memory card is system specific in an attempt to prevent illegal copying.

*****

Friday:

Lunch and Discussion with Dan Mont ’83,
Public Policy Fellow at the World Bank
Lang Center, 11:15 a.m.

Jewish High Holidays Service: Rosh Hashanah
Bond, 5:00 p.m.

Movie Committee Film Showing: “A Mighty Wind”
Science Center 199, 7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

M&T Bank Info Session
Scheuer Room, 7:30 p.m.

Movie Showing: Neverwhere
Science Center 183, 7:30 p.m.

Anime Club Movie Screening
Kohlberg 228, 9:00 p.m.

Jump-Off Party
Wharton D basement, 10:00 p.m.

Concert: the Wrens and the Trouble with Sweeney
Olde Club, 10:00 p.m.

Saturday:

Upward Bound Academic Year Orientation
Bond, 9:30 a.m.

Bread and Puppet Theater Company Production: ‘Insurrection Mass…’
Scott Amphitheater, 3:00 p.m.
(rain location: LPAC Mainstage)

Sexual Health Counselors’ Kick-Off Party
Paces, 10:00 p.m.

Sunday:

Catholic Mass
Bond, 11:00 a.m.

Gamelan Semara Santi
Lang concert hall, 4:30 p.m.

Jewish High Holiday Service
Bond, 5:00 p.m.

SPAC Meeting
Kohlberg 116, 9:00 p.m.

Sexual Health Counselors’ Meeting
Kohlberg 202, 9:30 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

The field hockey team lost a scrimmage to Division I West Chester University¹s
JV team 3-0. This is the first game in which the Garnet have failed to score.
The hockey team returns to action on Saturday in their first conference game
at Gettysburg.

*****

Today
Volleyball at Johns Hopkins Tournament, 5:00 p.m.

Tomorrow
Volleyball at Johns Hopkins Tournament, 9:00 a.m.
Women’s Tennis at ITA Regional at Mary Washington, 9:00 a.m.
Cross Country at Salisbury Tidewater Classic, 11:00 a.m.
Women’s Soccer hosts Gettysburg, 12:00 p.m.
Field Hockey at Gettysburg, 1:00 p.m.
Men’s Soccer hosts Gettysburg, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday
Women’s Tennis at ITA Regional at Mary Washington, 9:00 a.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There’s a difference between a philosophy and a bumper sticker.”
–Charles Schulz

*****

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