October 18, 2011
Transcription
October 18, 2011
THECITIZEN VOL. 17 NO. 3 | OCT OBE R 18, 2 011 THE FR E E S TUDE NT NEWS PA P E R OF T HE HA RVA RD K E NN E DY SCHOOL HA R VA R DCI TIZEN .C OM this, and therefore I didn’t need to. I also to be honest, thought I might hear from the Elections Committee which I never did.” It was not until September 29th, 2011, a full 16 days after his first email, that Seigel received more significant feedback. In an email from Heffern, it was noted that “we have passed your concerns on to the Election Committee, and conversations about election reform have already begun for next year.” In that email, Seigel was given the option to formally challenge the election results. An option Seigel exercised the following day, after a series of email communications with Heffern and the Elections Committee Chair, Fei Fei, an MPP ’12 candidate student. A little over a week later, Seigel met with Amy Davis, MPA program Director, Fei and the entire Elections Committee. “Fei Fei basically told me to start that they had no idea this mistake could have been made; thanked me for bringing it to their attention.” said Seigel. “The committee had met and decided that it would be disruptive to hold another election and they had decided to move on and fix it for next time.” That evening, Seigel shared the events that had taken place with some of his classmates including Chandrika Lakshminarayan, a fellow MC/MPA ’12 candidate. A candidate for class representative in the election, Lakshminarayan wrote an email the very next day on Saturday October 8th, addressed to Fei and student body President Sherry Hakimi. In what would prove to be a pivotal moment, Fei inadvertently sent a response to the entire Kennedy School student body, and the issue spilled out into the public sphere. The Elections Committee, as noted by The 16 Missing Days HKS Elections Ballot and the Elections Committee Response Khaleel Seecharan, Culture Editor, MPP ‘13 Charles Seigel, an MC/MPA ’12 candidate student, noticed that the numbers for the Mid-Career class did not add up on September 13th, 2011 when the Kennedy School student election results were announced. While there are approximately 196 students in this year’s Mid-Career cohort, the results indicated 212 votes were cast for the Mid-Career class representatives; an overspill of 16 votes assuming of course, that every single Mid- Career had cast a ballot. Later that same day, Seigel decided to contact Emma Heffern, Assistant Director, MPA and Edward S. Mason Programs in the MPA program office who responded immediately and said the matter would be looked into. Heffern then forwarded Charles’ email to Melissa Wojciechowski, Director of Student Services, and the Elections Committee. Said Seigel, “I assumed and had the understanding that she was speaking with the Elections Committee about Continued on page 5 Liberian President and HKS Alumna Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Wins Nobel Peace Prize Wangari Maathai, passed away just a few days before the ceremony. The prize comes at a pivotal moment for Sirleaf, who faces a tough re-election campaign this year against Winston Tubman (who earned his JD from Harvard Law School in 1966). The polls for the first round of Liberia’s presidential election opened on October 11th. If smooth, the election could pave the way to billions of dollars in investment in Liberia’s mining, energy and agriculture sectors. However, if no candidate wins an outright majority, then the two front-runners will go head-to head in a runoff election in early November. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her determination and grit, Sirleaf holds the distinct honor of being the first and only elected female head of state in Africa. Her rights-oriented campaign, in tandem with the successful non-violent protests organized by Gbowee’s Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, signaled the end of an uncertain period following 2003’s Second Liberian Civil War, one of the most horrific and ruinous armed struggles the continent has seen. While Sirleaf has won domestic plaudits for reinforcing the country’s fragile peace, promoting peace and reconciliation, negotiating the cancellation of $5 billion dollars in national debt, and winning international investment for infrastructure projects, many Liberians remain dismayed by their lagging economy and dismal job prospects. Others complain that she has not done enough OCCUPY BOSTON AN INTERVIEW WITH PETER SINGER A REAL HKS CASE STUDY ARTS AND LEADERSHIP AT HKS By Dharana Rijal. PAGE 3 By Matt Bieber. PAGE 7 By Charles Seigel. PAGE 9 By Rosalia Gutierriez-Huete Miller. PAGE 14 Zachary Rosenfeld, Assistant News Editor, MPP ‘13 On Friday October 7th, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, MPA/Mason Fellow ‘71, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her commitment to non-violent struggle, peace building, and women’s rights, both in her home country and abroad. Sirleaf shared the honor with two other women, non-violent protest organizer Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and pro-democracy activist Tawakul Karman of Yemen. The women were awarded the prize for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.” The honor takes on a special significance for them, as the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Continued on page 3 Nobel Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Photo Courtesy of Antonio Cruz/ABr via Wikimedia Commons. NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 2 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 CITIZENNEWS Become an Ambassador! Dean’s Ambassadors Welcome Prospective Applicants Ryoji Watanabe, News Writer, MC/ MPA’12 Why did you choose Harvard Kennedy School? What do you plan to do after you graduate? Do some students pursue a Ph.D after they graduate? What is the acceptance rate of HKS? Surrounded by five prospective MidCareer MPA program applicants, Greg Bellush, a Mid-Career MPA student, was comfortably tackling all of these questions and more during the HKS Open House, hosted by the Admission’s Office, on September 26, 2011. Mr. Bellush is an active member of a student-run HKS organization, “Dean’s Ambassadors.” The group, comprised of students from various HKS programs, supports the Admis- sions Office’s recruitment drives by interacting with hundreds of prospective applicants annually and answering their questions. The primary purpose of the group is to provide prospective students the opportunity to hear more about HKS from a current student’s perspective. Dean’s Ambassadors tend to field varying questions about classes, coursework, faculty accessibility, and student organizations to their career goals. Approximately 40 volunteers, all wearing maroon Ambassador T-shirts, participated at the first Open House and interacted with prospective applicants throughout the day. Some Ambassadors greeted visitors in the morning while others lunched with them, escorted them to their class visits, or chatted with them in the halls. After having spent the day talking to various Dean’s Ambassadors, one prospective applicant told the Citizen that she was very appreciative of the in-depth knowledge she received from shadowing current students around the school and in their classes. Thao Anh Tran, a second year MPP student and a Co-Chair of the Dean’s Ambassadors Program, stated, “Our first Open House for this school year was a great success, but we could not have done it without the help and dedication of all the Dean’s Ambassadors.” It also seemed to have been a meaningful experience for the Ambassadors who assisted that day. Mr. Bellush commented, “It was a great experience to meet and talk with prospective students. Looking back at last year when I was applying to schools, the Dean’s Ambassadors were very helpful. This year, I hope to help prospective students learn more about HKS.” The Admissions Office plans to hold two more Open House events, one on October 17 and another on November 21. If current students are interested in helping prospective applicants to understand more about Kennedy School, the Dean’s Ambassadors are welcoming new volunteers to join their group. Ms. Tran said, “I hope to encourage more current students to join the Dean’s Ambassadors and help us welcome prospective students – be it by corresponding or meeting with prospective students or serving as volunteers at our next Open House.” Ms. Tran is also confident of each Ambassador’s significance to the future of HKS and added, “All Dean’s Ambassadors represent the face of HKS to prospective students and are critical to the success of the HKS recruiting process.” Murder of Pakistani Governor Incites Public Controversy over Blasphemy Law Imran Sarwar, News Writer, MPP ‘13 On October 1st, Pakistan’s anti-terrorism court sentenced Malik Mumtaz Qadri to death for his self-confessed murderer of former governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer. The case has become a political flashpoint for the country, where fundamental clashes between secular and religious ideologies have seeped gradually into nearly every facet of the public sphere. The court’s decision has given rise to mixed emotions from Pakistani citizens – drawing praise from liberals happy to see multiculturalism protected in civil society, and condemnation from religious extremists (including some Muslim clerics) who see no crime in Qadri’s actions. Already, there have been protests against the decision and death threats made against the judge who delivered the verdict. Taseer was gunned down earlier this year, in early January, after expressing open criticism of the country’s blas- phemy law. The law, which was devised to protect the sanctity of the Prophet Muhammad in Pakistan’s public spaces, has been regularly misused by religious zealots for political gain. With little effort, witch hunts can be drummed up among the religious public and directed against hapless victims on spurious charges of violating the blasphemy law. Human rights groups have noted, to the surprise of few, that more often than not these allegations are completely fabricated and directed against the vulnerable members of Pakistan’s society. Taseer’s last stand was against one such blasphemy charge filed against Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman from a village near Lahore. Her trial brought forth glaring inconsistencies and garnered attention from human rights activists and leading politicians around the globe. It also called into question the legitimacy of blasphemy law, which scholars note is not actually a part of Muslim Sharia Law. (It is instead a modern addition to Pakistan’s constitution.) Taseer’s support of Aasia Bibi and minority rights in general, as well as his public criticism of the blasphemy law, was reason enough for Mumtaz Qadri, his bodyguard, to murder him in Islamabad outside a restaurant. There appears to be a significant portion of the populace that supports Qadri’s actions. Many lawyers have volunteered to fight his case in the anti-terrorism court, and Qadri’s many public supporters continue to cast flowers onto him in his public appearances. Qadri proudly pled guilty to murder in court and continues to argue that he was justified in his actions. The incident has proven a severe blow to Pakistan’s already weak liberal minority, and pits it in direct political opposition to the religious right. There is now, for the first time, a genuine fear amongst the liberal and secular community for their very safety. Many have shied away from voicing their opinion Governor Punjab Salman Taseer and Rana Muhammad Akram Khan Punjab Bar Council. on the case, lest they become targeted as well. However, the public battle over the legitimacy of Taseer’s opposition to blasphemy law, the validity of these laws themselves, the rights of religious minorities, and the claims of Qadri justifying his actions, still ensues even with his fate decided. The Islamabad High Court accepted the appeal of Mumtaz Qadri on October 13th, and the death sentence handed to him by the anti-terrorism court has been admitted for regular hearing. NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 3 CITIZENNEWS THECITIZEN Editor-in-Chief Irene Shih, MPP ‘13 News Editor Shloka Nath, MPP ‘13 Assistant News Editor Zachary Rosenfeld, MPP ‘13 News Writers Adrian Arroyo, MPP ‘13 Matt Bieber, MPP ‘11 Dharana Rijal, MPP ‘13 Imran Sarwar, MPP ‘13 Khaleel Seecharan, MC/MPA ‘12 Ryoji Watanabe, MC/MPA ‘12 Opinions Editor Alexi White, MPP ‘13 Assistant Opinions Editor Carli Hetland, MPP ‘13 Culture Editor Khaleel Seecharan, MC/MPA ‘12 Culture Writers John DiGiovanni, MPP ‘13 Cristina Garmendia, MPP ‘13 Rosalia Gutierrez-Huete Miller, MC/ MPA ‘12 Alex Remington, MPP ‘13 Photographer Grace Chung, MPP ‘12 Business Manager Mike Conway, MPP ‘13 Web Developers Kristina Redgrave, MPP ‘13 Luis Capelo, MPP ‘13 Layout & Design Janell Sims Website http://harvardcitizen.com Contact hkscitizen@gmail.com Students rally in solidarity with “Occupy Boston” Dharana Rijal, News Writer, MPP ‘13 Hundreds of students marched from Boston Common to Dewey Square on Monday October 10th to show solidarity with the “Occupy Boston” movement, which has seen demonstrations against a range of issues in the past few days — including unemployment, economic inequality, and the relationship between government and financial institutions. The movement in Boston, one of several inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York City, has comprised of several daytime protests in the financial district, and ongoing demonstrations by groups that have been camping out in tents at Dewey Square for more than a week. The demonstrations have gained immense traction thanks in part to online resources made available to supporters, which include a calendar of events and a daily log documenting agendas and public discussions. The variety in students’ motivations for joining the rally on Monday matched the plethora of causes represented. “I think it’s ridiculous that 1% of the country controls 42% of its wealth,” said MPP student Ben Beachy when asked about his motivations for joining the student rally on Monday. Moreover, compared to past efforts he has been a part of, Beachy said he has found the current movement to be different. “The rapid proliferation of #Occupy movements over the last few days has shown unprecedented momentum,” he said, “This one has potential.” “Nobel Peace Prize,” continued from page 1 Interested in contributing to the Citizen? Please contact hkscitizen@gmail.com. to fight corruption, which remains rampant in her administration. Some commentators believe that the Nobel Prize will prove to have been a political boon for Sirleaf , tipping the scales of domestic opinion in her favor. Others are concerned that the award has done more to harm Sirleaf ’s political prospects than help. “To her opponents, the timing of the announcement will Occupy Boston. Photo Courtesy of Dharana Rijal. Occupy Wall Street in NYC. Photo Courtesy of Dharana Rijal. Another student activist Kaya JudaNelson said she was inspired by the idea of “people coming together to bring about change rather than sitting around and talking about how it needs to happen.” She said she decided to join the rally to help ensure that “the government is working for the people rather than for corporations.” A recent college graduate, Eli, decided to show up for a more personal reason. “I did everything right; I got good grades; did the right internships and extra-curriculars in college,” he said, “but I am having hell of a rough time finding a job… today we are stepping up and telling the corporations that they’re disenfranchising people like us.” A group of HKS students that were in New York City over the long weekend also attended the “Occupy Wall Street” protest. MPP student Imran Sarwar said he thought the movement would do better with a more concrete direction and set of agendas. “That being said,” he continued, “the energy of the place is simply amazing.” In contrast, most activists at the student rally in Boston seemed to view the plurality of causes voiced by different groups as a positive thing. Jason Stephany of Massuniting.org, who was there to advocate for the American Jobs Act, saw a common thread between his group’s cause and the students’. “It all comes down to jobs and corporate accountability,” he said. Commenting on criticisms regarding the movement’s lack of centralized leadership and direction, MPP student Beachy said that he himself started out skeptical. But now, “I think the motley crew of causes makes sense for this early point in the movement, as much for the movement’s democratic ideals as for its sheer size,” he said. “And yeah, it’s messy,” he continued, “Democracy is messy.” probably be seen as an attempt to influence the forthcoming elections,” writes Mwangi S. Kimenyi, Director of the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative. “It may turn out that the many opposition candidates will see this as an attempt by the international community to promote Sirleaf ’s chances of re-election.” Sirleaf ’s supporters maintain that there is little that her rivals could have done to improve the current situation. Sirleaf ’s fellow Nobel laureate, Leymah Gwobee, endorsed her re-election over the weekend immediately following the awards ceremony and preceding the national elections. NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 4 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 celebrating years with the SPEAKER SERIES Shorenstein center Tuesday, October 25, 12 p.m. Taubman 275 “From Uprisings in the Arab World to Social Unrest in London: The New Media Ecology and Citizen/State Dynamics in the 21st Century.” ZEYNEP TUFEKCI, assistant professor at the School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She blogs at technosociology.org. Wednesday, October 26, 11:30 a.m. Littauer 166 “The Commission on Presidential Debates in 2012: Candidates, Conversation & Caffeine.” JANET BROWN, executive director, Commission on Presidential Debates. Co-Sponsored with the Institute of Politics. Tuesday, November 1, 12 p.m. Taubman 275 FILM Thursday, November 3 7 p.m. Starr Auditorium Screening of Page One: Inside The New York Times. Followed by Q & A with director ANDREW ROSSI and writer KATE NOVACK. Moderated by ALEX S. JONES, director, Shorenstein Center. “Out of Line: The Art of Editorial Cartooning.” DAN WASSERMAN, editorial cartoonist, The Boston Globe. NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 5 CITIZENNEWS Legacy of an Innovator An Epitaph to Steve Jobs Shloka Nath, News Editor, MPP ‘13 In May this year, Malcom Gladwell wrote a piece for the New Yorker on what it means to innovate. He painted the picture of a 24-year-old entrepreneur named Steve Jobs who, in 1979, visited the legendary headquarters of Xerox in Silicon Valley, staffed at the time with the world’s most brilliant computer scientists. It was where Steve Jobs would first see a vision of the mouse. Struck by his “Eureka” moment and rapidly dreaming up the future of the humanto-computer interface, Jobs sped back to his little start-up called Apple and the rest, as they say, is history. Malcolm Gladwell’s assessment of those events so long ago creates an important distinction in our understanding of Steve Jobs, the pioneering technology guru who contributed so much to the evolution of consumer “16 Missing Days,” continued from page 1 Fei in an email to the student body sent on Tuesday October 11th, “decided too much time had passed to challenge the results this semester…The committee decided to move forward as to not delay student activities and KSSG’s work progress.” Fei’s communication went on to state, “This issue was not brought before the Elections Committee until last week (though the individual who brought this up has mentioned it to individuals(s) outside the committee.” Seigel’s formal challenge however, was issued on September 30th, almost two full weeks before Fei’s communication to the student body. Further, The Citizen has in its possession, email correspondence with the MPA program office, which indicates that the Elections Committee was aware of the discrepancy before the formal challenge as early as September 13th and did not take action as warranted. It should be noted that the Citizen reached out to Fei for comment and Steve Jobs introduces the Macbook Air. Photo Courtesy of Matt Yohe via Wikimedia Commons. technology. Jobs’ real genius was to perceive this truth: the role of the innovator is not necessarily to find completely new ideas, but to apply fresh approaches to old ideas and make them new again. And so it goes for Apple; few public companies have been as intertwined with their CEOs as Apple was with Jobs, who co-founded the computer manufacturer in his parents’ Silicon Valley garage in 1976, and over 20 years later — in a comeback as magnificent as it was declined. Fei’s email also states that the technology used in the election process allowed students to vote for class representatives from other programs. This, despite early disclaimers around the time of the elections that said the students who voted for other classes would not have their vote counted. According to the Elections Committee, this problem has never occurred before with this voting interface. Results from the Fall 2010 elections that The Citizen obtained show that 159 votes were cast out of a class of approximately 180 students for the 2011 MidCareer cohort. In an email to the Mid-Career cohort, Class Representative and Staff Writer for the Citizen, Ryoji Watanabe, noted that the Mid-Career class representatives had requested the “establishment of an independent body to investigate the [election] matter and ensure that this is not a problem again.” Elections Committee Chair Fei echoed this sentiment seemed implausible — yanked it from near-bankruptcy and turned it into the most valuable technology company in the world. Jobs died on October 5th of respiratory arrest caused by a pancreatic tumour, according to the death certificate. He resigned as Apple’s Chief Executive Officer in August after struggling with his illness for more than 6 years; he was diagnosed in 2003 and underwent a subsequent liver transplant. He leaves behind the legacy of an enduring message: that technology is a tool to improve the quality of human interaction and to unleash creativity. From the Macintosh, to the iPad, iPhone and iPod, Jobs has advanced one industry after another, from music to computers, to smartphones and even movies. Life however, did not start out in quite such a ruddy manner. In fact, Jobs’ career traces a mythic sweep that few entrepreneurs in America can attest to. He was adopted by a Californian middle-class family and subsequently dropped out of college only to become one of the central figures in what was termed the “computer revolution” before the age of 30. Shortly thereafter he was forcibly removed from the company he created, and spent the next portion of his life in industry exile, struggling to restore his reputation as his fortune dwindled. Still, Jobs’ banishment served him well; a number of innovations were born during this period and he developed a marked talent for showmanship evident in later years when he turned the release of every new gadget into a cultural event. Not everyone was enamored of Jobs. Most critics are quick to point out his disdain for the kind of philanthropy that has burnished the reputations of his wealthy peers, like Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. He had no record of charitable giving, believing that his company was enough of a legacy. His employees have described him as a “tyrant” in his fanatical and demanding need for perfection, and his industry peers frowned upon his public derision of competitors as “bozos.” In 2005, in a Stanford commencement speech, Jobs touched on mortality and its significance as a shield against complacency. “Death is very likely the best invention of life,” he said in the speech. “All pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.” Jobs is survived by his wife of 20 years and his four children. and “resolved to structure the technoland Emma Heffern’s response? In her ogy such that this issue will not occur last email to the student body, Fei connext semester.” tends that “too much time had passed to Diane Chang, KSSG Communications challenge the results this semester (byVP, sent an email to the entire student laws only allow till the day after election body on Thursday, October 13 announc- results are announced to bring up any ing the creation of challenges).” However, an Elections Reform election results were According to the Elections Committee that announced SeptemCommittee, this problem ber 13th, and Charles’s will work to ensure has never occurred before original email went out we “have the right mechanisms in place with this voting interface. on the same day. Given this very appropriate to provide proper timeframe, was it not oversight and prevent the types of technical errors that we squarely within the Election Committee’s function – and duty – to act quickly experienced this year.” With the spring in directing Charles to make an official semester only a few months away, the Elections Committee will be under close challenge? Yet, 16 crucial days passed before Charles was given any instruction scrutiny to ensure that the next election for further steps, and these same 16 days process does not have any of the techni(according to the Elections Committee) cal issues that plagued the fall voting. removed the possibility of a revote. Yes, The explanations made available to too much time has passed – but why, students nonetheless leave questions unanswered. Specifically, what happened and on whose part? in the 16 days between Charles’s email NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 6 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 CITIZENNEWS An interview with U.S. Ambassador Timothy Roemer Timothy Roemer. Photo Courtesy of U.S. Department of State via Wikimedia Commons. Khaleel Seecharan, Culture Editor, MPP ‘13 Timothy Roemer, former U.S. Ambassador to India and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited the Harvard Kennedy School for the week of 10/7. Between speaking events, he sat down with the Citizen to answer a few questions: HC: What was the most challenging part of your job as Ambassador? TR: I remember my first meeting with President Obama to do the job and serve the people of the United States … He said, “You know, Tim, there are over a billion people [in India] and I want you to shake hands with every one of them.” He wasn’t being entirely facetious. He wanted me to connect not only to the prime minister and to the national security advisors and the ministers of Parliament, but also to the rickshaw drivers, the farmers, and the scavengers and the average people. We share common values between our two great democracies, we have strategic interests, and we want to bring these two countries even closer together. That’s a big challenge when you are reaching out to a billion people. I knew I was having some success when I was on a train and a 12 year old young boy came up to me. I was reading a paper… He said, “Are you the American ambassador?” I said, “Yes sir, I am.” He said, “I want to be one of the billion to shake your hand.” … So you know you are making a difference, you are making a little bit of a dent when that message is getting through. But it’s more complicated in diplomacy than reaching out and touching people and shaking their hand. We have connected our two countries in historic ways now. The President calls it an indispensible partnership … We have moved India from the 25th largest trading partner to the 12th largest trading partner for the United States… We had President Obama spend more time in India than in any other country in his Presidency. HC: What are the issues facing the US-India relations today? TR: One is certainly security and counterterrorism issues. We are working to help Indians to potentially increase and improve their ability to stop and deflect a terrorist attack like Mumbai in 2008. We are helping to give and invest in strategic resources, in defense equipment, to better help them for regional challenges. We are helping to improve the relationship between the countries on economic issues and improving the narrative between the two countries. … Both countries are concerned about the number of people living in poverty in India. The President was very clear about this when he went over to India — how we [can] improve education between the two countries with the Obama-Singh initiative. HC: So, you have answered what the US can do to help India. Now what can India do to help the US? TR: It needs to be a two-way street, no doubt about it. [India] needs to do more. Prime Minister Singh was opening up a relationship as Finance Minister in the 1990s to provide a closer relationship on the commercial front between the two countries. We are hopeful that … the people in India will continue to support foreign directed investment opportunities into India that would improve and expand retail and commercial sales and trade between the two countries. This is just not in the United States’ interests; this is really in India’s interests to sustain GET A HEAD START ON 2012! Help current HKS MPA Leland Cheung get re-elected while practicing campaign techniques taught at HKS! Leland first ran for City Council while in his first term at HKS (he worked and lived in Cambridge prior to school). Since then he’s become the most progressive, responsive voice on the City Council. Leland is also the only City Councillor working to address the needs of students in the community. Get a unique experience in the political world with a sophisticated campaign that you can translate to the 2012 state and federal races. Leland is a member of Obama’s New England Steering Committee, and will help translate what you learn on the ground in Cambridge to the races of 2012. Contact Aaron Gunderson at 617-4538075 or email aaron@electleland.org if you are interested. Help re-elect the only City Councillor you can talk to in class and Volunteer Today! Deadline to register to vote is tomorrow Wednesday, October 19th. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th. Are you ready for www.lelandcheung.com Continued on page 13 NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 7 CITIZENFEATURE I’ve not changed in terms of my basic utilitarian commitments. But I think what I now see is that given the way the world is and given the way people are, it would really be inconsistent with those utilitarian commitments to advocate a policy, which in some theoretical sense might be right but which was not going to lead to the consequences that I want children. About 8 million small chiland that are the best for everyone. dren a year, according to UNICEF, die So, if simply reiterating the idea that because of avoidable poverty-related it’s wrong to spend anything at all on causes. any luxury as long as there are people And we could help them. We could starving in the world, if that’s going to save those lives. We could help to get turn people off in the way you suggest, people out of extreme poverty for if that’s going to mean that people will roughly the kind of money that it would say, “Well, I’m not even take to buy a really going to think about this expensive pair of We could help to get as a moral issue because shoes. if I do, I might have to people out of extreme To the extent that so drastically turn my poverty for roughly the people resist your life around in the way kind of money that it arguments, I susthat I don’t want to,” if pect that a lot of it would take to buy a really that’s going to mean that has to do with feelpeople don’t do anyexpensive pair of shoes. ing daunted by – or thing about it… maybe even resentAnd if conversely, if ful toward – their dramatic implicayou start to get people giving at a quite tions. Rather than face some high modest level, they begin to see that this standard and fail, say, better to reject is not too difficult and in fact this is the standard altogether - a sort of prequite fulfilling and satisfying in many emptive defense against being overways, they get something positive from whelmed. it and that might lead them to give In this book, though, you take an more…If the result of that is that you interesting tack. You explicitly ask get further towards solving the problem people not to think in those terms: “I of extreme poverty in the world, then should say up front that I believe you obviously that’s what a utilitarian view should giving more than 5 percent, implies you should be doing. and that I hope you’ll ultimately move I’m a student at the moment. I’ve got in that direction. But that’s not easy almost no income, and I’m racking up to hear and not easy to do. I recogdebt - and interest on that debt - as I nize that most people aren’t likely go. In your view, does it make sense to be moved merely by philosophifor me to give now and swallow the cal argument to make drastic changes interest charges later? Will that do in the way they live, and further, that more good than refraining from giving one cannot make such drastic changes until I’m on better financial footing? overnight. The ultimate purpose of this book is to reduce extreme poverty, I think it probably does make sense to not to make you feel guilty. So I’m give now for the reason you mentioned, going to advocate a standard that I’m that there are a lot of problems that I feel confident will do a lot of good. That we may have a chance to get a hold of means suggesting a level that will get now and in the next 50 or 100 years, and you started, and put you on a path toward challenging yourself and work- they could just get worse if we don’t. So, that’s one possibility. ing toward doing more.” One of these issues is if we educate This feels more like a concession to people now who are currently not getpragmatism than I’ve seen from you ting much education – particularly if we before. Have you moved in a more make sure that girls get an education – pragmatic direction? Ethics and Extreme Poverty: An Interview with Philosopher Peter Singer Well, the argument is based on a little story that I often tell my students about walking through a park, and there’s a shallow ornamental pond. You know it’s Peter Singer is perhaps the world’s most not deep because you’ve seen kids playinfluential philosopher. He is the Ira W. ing in it. At the moment, there’s nobody DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeplaying in it, but you see a very small ton University. child has fallen into it, and it’s too deep At the outset of your recent book, for a toddler to stand up, so this little The Life You Can Save, you lay out child appears to be drowning. two goals: to challenge readers to Of course, you look around and think about their obligations to those you say, “So, who’s looking out for this trapped in extreme poverty, and to baby? Where is the parent? Where’s the convince readers to choose to give babysitter?” But you can’t see anybody. more of their income to help the poor. It’s just you and the child. What do you mean by extreme povSo, your first instinct is to rush down erty? into the water and save the child. Then, imagine that the thought occurs to you, Well, when I talk about extreme poverty, “Dear, I’m wearing my favorite shoes, I use the definition that the World Bank and they will take me a while to get off. has, which is really based on people The child might drown having enough income if I try to take them to meet their basic About 8 million small off. Anyway, maybe I needs for food, shelter, shouldn’t worry about children a year, according and maybe to educate the child. After all, I’m to UNICEF, die because their children, or some not responsible for very minimal, basic of avoidable povertythis child. It’s not my healthcare. related causes. And we child. I didn’t push the The World Bank child in the pond. And could help them. We has calculated that in I don’t want to ruin could save those lives. order to do that, you my shoes. So, I’ll just need to have the purforget I ever saw the chasing power equivalent in your local child and walk on.” currency of US $1.25. So, we’re really So, I ask students and other audiences talking about people who have less than what they would think about a person what you can buy for $1.25 in the United who reasons that way and ignores that States. It’s not what you would get for US drowning child. Everybody says that $1.25 if you went to a bank in Mozamwould be wrong. That would be monbique or Mauritania. It’s what would strous even. It would just be an awful have the same purchasing power in thing to do. those local currencies as $1.25 has in the So, I think people recognize that we United States, and that’s what you have have an obligation to rescue someone to live on for a day. If you have less than if their life is at stake, they’re innocent that, the World Bank classifies you as – it’s no fault of theirs – and the cost to being extremely poor. you is minimal – something like ruining a nice pair of shoes. As you lay out your case as to why we Well, if you accept that, then I think should feel obligated to give in order that is really the situation that we’re in to relieve those conditions, you offer with regard to those in extreme poverty what you call “a remarkably simple argument.” Walk us through that argu- in the world, because extreme poverty does cause millions of people to lose ment. their lives prematurely, including small Matt Bieber, News Features Writer, MPP ‘11 Continued on page 8 NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 8 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 CITIZENFEATURE “Peter Singer,” continued from page 7 we’ll give them control of their fertility in a way that they don’t have otherwise, and all of the evidence suggests that they will have fewer children and we won’t have the same or as bad a population problem as we would have further down the track. So, that’s definitely one reason for giving now. Another, though, is more personal. It’s more character-driven, and that is, I think it’s good for people to start reasonably young to get in the habit of giving. I started giving when I was still a graduate student, and I think that was good because it proved to me, at a time when I guess I was still fairly malleable, that it wasn’t a difficult thing to do. I think as people get older, they find it harder to change – not impossible, but harder. So, I would say even if you’re not giving very much, do give something on a regular basis, and then you can gradually build up from there. That will be easier than having to start from scratch later on. When I’m reading your work, I get the impression that you imagine the highest form of moral development to be the most selfless one - one in which we are always ready to give of ourselves if there is even a single person on earth in need. I’m not capable of that level of selflessness at this point. I get tired, or depressed, or down, and sometimes what I feel like I need more than anything is to go spend ten bucks and see a movie. I know these are small things, but I’m not sure I’m capable of giving them up just yet. Well, I certainly wouldn’t have you be hard on yourself because every now and then you want to go and see a movie. You know, I do the same. So, I think this is the point that we were talking about earlier, that if you try to set a standard so high, it’s going to have negative consequences. I think you should apply that to yourself as well. I’m not trying to say to people, “You should feel guilty every time you spend $10 on something you don’t need because that could have gone to Oxfam or some other organization that’s saving children in developing countries.” I’m trying to say you ought to look at how you’re living your life as a whole. You ought to try to make some decisions So, I do think that it’s good that govSo, I’m not really sure at what point it about what I can do to make a differernments should give, because that’s a starts to actually cease to have imporence as part of an overall life plan, and way of making sure that everybody con- tant net benefits to continue to transfer you ought to try to stick to that. When tributes in accordance with their means, resources and income from people who you say, “What can I do to make a difbecause it’s coming out of tax revenues. are wealthy to people who are poorer. ference?” I think you have to be realistic. But on the other hand, I think that there You don’t have to say, “Well, I’m never are probably limits to what governments You talk about six psychological obstacles that make us less likely to give. going to go to a movie. I’m never going can do that relate to the acceptability How do we move past them? to go to a cafe. I’m never going to go to of that in the general public. I mean, a restaurant. I’m always going to live as governments can lead, and often should They’re all different things, and there’s cheaply as possible.” lead, but they can only get so far ahead no one strategy for moving past them What you should of where the all. There are different ways of making a do is set reasonable, electorate is, at ...those governments that are difference. achievable goals, try least in demodoing well are giving very little, The first one suggests that we relate to keep them, and cratic governbetter to identifiable individuals and and the United States government then for the rest of ments. that we’re more likely to give if we know is giving much less than that even. the time say, “Well, And that’s the name or have seen the face of the I made this deciwhy I think person we’re giving to. Now, some aid sion. I’m not going to agonize over it that individual citizens can do more, organizations respond to that by getting every five minutes when I get tempted because individual citizens can make people to adopt particular children or to spend a dollar here or there. I’m going their own choices about how much they getting the children to write letters to to live a normal life and when the time want to give. If they want to give 5% or the donors, which does seem to work in comes to make my annual donation, 10%, or even 25% of their income, they terms of getting the donors to continue maybe I’ll think whether I’ll up it a bit.” can. It wouldn’t be reasonable for a govgiving. But, you know, just feeling bad with ernment to give 25% of GNP to global But it’s probably not the most effecyourself all the rest of the time is just poverty, unless that’s what its citizens tive form of aid. Some of those organigoing to be counterproductive. really want them to do or in some way zations have actually moved away to the understand that that’s a good thing to extent of, say, telling donors that, “Well, Do you see distinctions between what do. Certainly, we don’t have that degree your donation isn’t really going to this governments should spend and what of understanding of the situation in any particular child. It’s going to her village private individuals should spend in the country at the moment. and it will help her, along with others name of poverty relief? in her village.” And so, that’s something What’s the end game for you? Well, governments are giving tiny you can do. amounts to poverty relief. Even those I’m also optimistic that in the future, I think that it is really important to governments that are giving the most, the use of the internet will help to overrelieve extreme poverty because of the come that gap. That once we get decent like Sweden or Norway or Denmark suffering and premature death that it broadband internet in developing or the Netherlands, are still giving less causes. countries, we’ll really be in closer conthan 1% of what people earn, so less But once you get people above that than $1 in every hundred that people level, it becomes harder to say really how tact with people there. We’ll be able to communicate earn. The United States government is much of a posimore directly giving about 22 cents, I think—the last tive benefit more When you say, “What can I do to or be able to see time I looked—in every hundred dollars resources are to make a difference?” I think you people’s faces, that we earn. So, I don’t think you could them, how much even in remote say that because of what they’re giving, happier that makes have to be realistic. You don’t villages, and they’re in any way unable to fulfill their them. I mean, we have to say, “Well, I’m never going we may then responsibilities towards their own citiknow that there’s to go to a movie. I’m never going develop a lot zens. They’re clearly not. a very steep curve to go to a cafe...I’m always going more kind of So even those governments that are up when people are bonds and reladoing well are giving very little, and below the level of to live as cheaply as possible.” tionships where the United States government is giving extreme poverty, in we really know much less than that even. Moreover, it’s terms of how much a lot about people in other areas and in a not all going to deal with people or help it benefits them to give them higher particular local community. people in extreme poverty, because a lot income. Others, it’s just going to be more eduof it is given for political reasons. Iraq But the level at which it rises starts to cation, more persuasion, I mean, the and Afghanistan have been the biggest slow. We start getting to a point where sense of futility, for instance. It’s somerecipients of US aid for the last few years the transfer costs become more sigthing that people get because they think, because of their geopolitical significance nificant. The disincentive effects on “I can’t solve the problem, even if I give in the wars we’re fighting there, not people not working because they have because they have the largest number of other ways, because they’re being given Continued on page 9 people in extreme poverty. money – that also becomes relevant. NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 9 CITIZENOPINION Elections Apology A Real HKS Case Study Student government promises ‘reform of the elections process’ Student to Elections Committee: ‘Own Up’ HKS’ student organizations. We are currently accepting nominations for On behalf of KSSG, we would like to the VP of Internal Affairs position. The recognize and extend an apology for the subcommittees of the Internal Affairs errors in this year’s elections for MC/ Committee include Elections Reform, MPA and MPA1 Class Representatives. By-Laws Reform and Student OrganiThough the Elections Committee is an zations Management. The VP of Interentirely independnal Affairs and ent body and KSSG his/her commithas no input in their We strongly encourage those tee will also run who are passionate about work, we regret and oversee the the oversights that January 2012 enacting change in the contributed to any elections, as the elections process to join the confusion over the recent Elections Elections Reform subcommittee. Committees’ last few days. It is, however, KSSG’s mandate has job to improve the election process from ended. year to year. We recognize that this is a We strongly encourage those who serious concern for some members of are passionate about enacting change the student body, and we assure you that in the elections process to join the we are initiating reform of the elections Elections Reform subcommittee. We process. For the future, the Elections have learned a lot during the elections Committee will have the right mechaand want to move forward producnisms in place to provide proper overtively with your input and help. Please sight and prevent the types of technical contact us should you have questions errors that we experienced this year. about the VP of Internal Affairs posiIn addition, we would like to undertion, Internal Affairs Committee or the score the importance of the KSSG VP Elections Reform subcommittee. of Internal Affairs. This VP and his/ Diane Chang is the KSSG VP of Comher Committee will be dedicated to munications. She can be reached at KSSimproving the elections process, updatGVPcommunications@hks.harvard.edu ing KSSG’s by-laws and strengthening Diane Chang “Peter Singer,” continued from page 7 every penny I’ve got. It’s just a drop in the ocean.” That’s just a bad way of thinking, because you’re not thinking about, “I could make a difference to a family and maybe save their child’s life,” or maybe make a difference to a village and help them have clean drinking water, so that women don’t have to walk two or three hours a day carrying water. So, we have to get people to see that they should focus on specifics. And maybe again, that what I was talking about before, having particular relationships with particular communities, could do that. Do you think future generations will look upon us with moral horror for failing to deal with the poverty that exists during our time? Yes, I think future generations will find it hard to understand that we could know that people are dying because of lack of basic healthcare or safe drinking water or adequate diet, and that we could know that we have the ability to change that, to help them, and yet instead of doing anything about it, we would spend our time living lives of great luxury in other parts of the world. tries where elections don’t even exist, or are fought at the cost of people›s I am the student who unintentionlives; others find their voice treated ally set this ball rolling because of what with contempt by their leaders, with simply seemed to be a glaring error. clearly manipulated “elections” conOn the day the election results were ducted without a care for the true voice announced, I forwarded the KSSG of the people. We all understand that email to the mid-career program directhe election of school class representators, inquiring if my recollection was tives in this context is at worst a “temright that we had fewer than 212 stupest in a teapot” and not a critical issue dents. In short, I was told that was when compared to what our classmates, correct and they were their families and looking into it. I figured fellow citizens go this would have either through to exercise ...we should take any been quickly noticed their voice in their election seriously enough and corrected by the society. But for that to run it properly and elections committee, or very reason, and as react when that does not at least they would do a school of governsomething when it was happen, even by accident. ment with students brought to their attenfrom around the tion. world studying Hearing nothing, about honesty and ethics and the proper I eventually chose to file a challenge conduct of civil society, we should take after I calculated that even the miniany election seriously enough to run it mum number of “over votes” could properly and react when that does not have changed the election result. When happen, even by accident. And at the the elections committee finally asked to very least, own up to errors and fix them meet with me on October 7, I was told quickly and publicly. that the committee had already decided that rerunning the election would be too “disruptive” and they would simply fix the problem in the next election. Since this issue has become public, I have heard from many other students who are angry that they had never even been informed there was an issue. The effort to hide the problem and not deal with it, thereby refusing to recognize that others might feel disenfranchised, has made the problem much worse. If the elections committee would just apologize and publicly acknowledge they made a mistake, that they should have acted sooner, and show what they’re doing to correct the problem next time, the issue might very well Also, The Citizen will launch an all go away. Many of us are more offended new website in November! Stay by the disregard a committee of our tuned for content updates, media fellow students has shown for the voters and many more features to come! in an election, regardless of its import, then the problem in the election itself. Some of our fellow students here at the Kennedy School come from coun- Charles Seigel, MC/MPA ‘12 THECITIZEN Like us on Twitter & Facebook! Twitter: #HKSTheCitizen Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/pages/ The-Citizen/96376824154 NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 10 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 CITIZENOPINION Bemoaning Bailouts Our Future Depends on Reducing Debt and Rebuilding Confidence Luca Robert Shuler, MC/MPA ‘12 I don’t believe in rewarding failure. The moral hazard that the United States established in 2008-2009 by bailing out select companies will haunt future policy makers when the next financial crisis strikes. This crisis could arrive sooner than people expect, especially in light of the risk posed by potential sovereign debt defaults in the Eurozone. Whether for a country or a company, bailouts set a terrible precedent by not allowing creative destruction and/or the rule of bankruptcy law to reign supreme. I was then, and continue to be, opposed to all bailouts despite the warnings from the experts that economic havoc would result without them. The recent bailouts in the United States were so toxic because they created a two-tiered corporate structure: too big to fail or small enough to sink. This is un-American and sends the wrong message to the market; those firms deemed too big to fail operate in a protected class that can play by different rules as they have an implicit guarantee from their government. tinue to plague our interconnected The financial firms deemed too big world. This time, the problem has to fail in 2008 have grown even larger metastasized and threatens the solvency since. They pose more systematic risk of countries, not just companies. And now than before. However, this is only for this plague the cure will not come part of the risk faced by the world today. easily or painlessly. For the last several decades, many countries have buried themselves beneath The recent bailouts in the United debt that they cannot conStates were so toxic because they ceivably repay. The intercreated a two-tiered corporate est rates were low and the hurdles to borrowing even structure: too big to fail or small lower: the great debt binge enough to sink. This is un-American... was ignited. Like a trick candle that refuses to extinguish, off-balance sheet Let’s briefly examine the United liabilities (hidden through gimmicks States. In 2010, it was the world’s largsuch as Repo 105) and a dependence est economy, and therefore the one that on short-term financing – hallmarks of would cause the most global damage if what caused many companies to fail or it received a significant shock. Yet, in almost fail only a few years ago – conthe recent discussions regarding raising marketable debt is only about five years. The United States, in addition to the projected new borrowings to fund trillion dollar annual budget deficits, needs to refinance trillions of dollars of existing debt every year. This works well when interest rates remain low and credit remains available but it will not work if that environment changes. Just ask those firms who in 2008 were heavily reliant on commercial paper to fund their dayto-day operations. How could our political leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, have led us down this path of bailouts and indebtedness? What will happen if the United States fails to meet its obligations? The outlook is bleak, but there is hope. Confidence must be restored. Confidence in elected leaders worldwide. Confidence that lessons from the 2008-2009 crisis have been learned. President Obama must credibly declare that the bailout era is over, the United States government must improve transparency by moving off-balance sheet liabilities onto its balance sheet, and the Treasury Department should harness the currently low yields on the 10 Kate Sheridan, Editorial Cartoonist, Harvard GSAS and 30-year Treasury bonds and work the debt ceiling from $14.3 trillion, few towards increasing the average maturity politicians or commentators referenced date of government debt. the $40 trillion plus in additional liabiliPolitical courage, long-term thinking, ties (primarily comprised of promises to and common sense policies must reign Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Secusupreme. The United States and many rity) that the government other countries wrongly keeps off-balance are on the road sheet. Why does this obliga- The outlook is bleak, but to fiscal ruin tion not count against the and must take there is hope. Confidence government’s debt ceiling? action given must be restored. And what about the the gravity composition of the $14.7 of the situatrillion of on-balance sheet tion that they liabilities (Treasury debt obligations)? have created for themselves. Failing to According to a letter dated February 2, act now will only delay the inevitable 2011, sent to Treasury Secretary Geithmoment of reckoning. ner by the Treasury Borrowing Advisory The world is watching. The time is Committee of the Securities Industry now. and Financial Markets Association, the average maturity date for United States NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 11 CITIZENOPINION Battle hymn of a happiness optimizer Rahul Daswani, Contributor, MPP’13 Over the last several weeks, many of us (especially first year students) have been struggling to find a balance between maximizing happiness and maintaining control over where we spend our time. I have found five strategies extremely helpful in maximizing my happiness on a daily basis. 1. Gratitude: After all, we are at Harvard. Every morning, I wake up and marvel at the fact that I’m actually here. Surprisingly, this isn’t a joke. The fact that our ‘problems’ involve trying to figure out which diplomat to go have a discussion with, or which war veteran to sit next to in class, is an existence most people don’t even begin to imagine. I’ve taken to plugging out of my iPod and plugging in to the sounds, sights and smells around me during my 15 min walk to campus. Try smiling at every person you walk by on your way to school for 5 minutes straight: you might be surprised at the reaction you get. 2. The 80/20 principle: For the nonconsultants among us, a common rule we can apply to our daily life (aka problem sets) is that we can get 80% of the solutions with 20% of the effort (or time). One way to practice this is to have self-imposed time limits for assignments. For instance, I have vowed never to spend more than 3 hours a week on stats. If there’s a part of a question I did not get a chance to complete (or will take too long), I’ll just read over the solution set once its out, and spend the rest of my time doing activities I enjoy a little more than numbercrunching. 3. Burst the bubbles: So now that we are all happier and have new-found time on our hands, what kinds of things could we do? Some of the things I enjoy (outside of HKS and even the Harvard community) are: Exploring the social scene at other schools; stopping by the GSD for beer and BBQ once beer runs out at quorum call; going to an HBS party on Wednesday night; organizing a house crawl. Better yet, I enjoy exploring areas outside of Cambridge, such as taking a day trip to Maine (best lobster I’ve ever had); spending a weekend at a Cape Cod beach; or going on a date Thursday night at Stella in Boston with someone stellar. 4. Cultivate mentors: In an environment where so many people have spent significant amounts of time living and working in each of our ‘dream jobs’, it would be foolish not to learn from their experience. Take advantage of formal as well as informal opportunities to meet people who you can bounce ideas off. The Mid-Careers often share classes with us kids, or are involved in the same service projects. The ones I have met have been nothing but open and excited to provide guidance Coop Announces an 8.5% Patronage Rebate! at our behest. 5. Take an annoying classmate to lunch: Wait, what? Yes, I’m sure we all have a small number of people who just get on our nerves every time they talk. Our instincts tell us to walk away to pre-empt any chance of a prelude to a conversation. Or is it just me? In any case, one of the most rewarding things I’ve done is sit down for an extended conversation (over lunch, in the courtyard, at a house party) with one of those people to understand more about where they come from, and why they think the way they do. Often, I’ve found it allows me to refine my own perspective on life, and think about things in a way I hadn’t thought of before. Not to mention, that person becomes much more of a real friend to me than just another ‘Facebook friend’. These are some of the strategies I have used to avoid death by problem sets, keep my perspective and optimize my happiness. If you have any other ideas or strategies, I’d love to hear ‘em. See you at the next party. e at th b e 2 rr r1 h u e t yo tob 28 y nl up Oc the O s ck k h er Pi hec ug b c ro em th M r Fo Coop patronage rebate checks are available to be picked up from!"#$%#&$'()!*+,-.#/!01)!1200!,3/-453!6/7$'(!*+,-.#/!18)!1200!',!,3#!9#:.#/&37;!*<=+#!-%!,3#!>,3!?--/!-<!,3#! Coop bookstore facing Harvard Square (Monday through Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm). Rebate checks that are not picked up during this period will be mailed to the address designated in our membership records beginning Tuesday, November 01, 2011. To avoid misdirection of your check visit www.thecoop.com to verify or update your mailing address no later than Saturday, October 29. 2011. http://www.thecoop.com NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 12 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 CITIZENOPINION Killing our own Steve Jobs Remember the good and the bad Alexander Remington, Culture Writer, MPP ‘13 When I was growing up, I loved Apple and idolized Steve Jobs. To a large extent, loving Steve Jobs means accepting his reality and denying all evidence to the contrary. This is why journalists often spoke of the “reality distortion zone” that emanated from him. This is why he was able to change the world, eliminating extraneous wires, grey computer boxes, floppy drives, CD drives, and the mouse. This is why he was able to persuade other people to ignore reality and believe him. “When I wasn’t sure what the word charisma meant, I met Steve Jobs and then I knew,” said computer scientist Larry Teslow, who worked both at Xerox PARC (the research center that invented the graphical user interface, the mouse, and ethernet) and at Apple. Steve Jobs was one of the few true geniuses of our time, a futurist who changed the world about as often and left his mark on his century about as indelibly as Miles Davis. But because of his greatness, his eulogies often minimized the man by conveniently forgetting the truth about his personality: His stubbornness and self-involvement enabled him to change the world with righteous conviction, but it also enabled him to treat people horribly. Remembering the man in full requires remembering the good with the bad. Because so many others have offered paeans to his genius, I will not recite his accomplishments. Instead, here follow a few less-well-reported things. When he and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak were both very young, Jobs worked at Atari and was asked to design a version of the game Breakout. Jobs was never an engineer, and so he brought it to Wozniak, his friend, who successfully did it. He then told Wozniak that he had received a $750 bonus and offered to split it with him. Only years later, as Wozniak wrote in his autobiography, Steve Jobs, 1955-2011. iWoz, did Wozniak find out that Jobs had received a $5,000 bonus. Steve had lied to his best friend to avoid paying him. In Silicon Valley, Jobs became so well-known as a holy terror to employees that the verb “Steve” was coined as a synonym for “fire”, as in, “I got Steved,” which generally meant that someone got laid off while being yelled at. While he was still the head of Apple in the 1980s, the company began to develop a computer called the Lisa, which became a famous flop. Part of the reason it was a flop was that Jobs sided with the Macintosh development team, flying a pirate flag and freely raiding engineers from Lisa, effectively sabotaging his own company’s product before it was even released. By the time the Lisa emerged with an impossible $10,000 price tag, it was DOA, and thousands had to be trucked by Apple direct to a landfill. It is hard to think of any other entrepreneur or artist whose affect on the world has been both as profound or obvious as that of Steve Jobs. He changed the world so frequently in the past decade that it almost seemed as if by accident. The iTunes music store literally changed the way that Americans consume music, obviating both the music publishing industry and the P2P networks that had plagued them. Apple didn’t create the MP3 player or the smartphone or the tablet computer, it just made them beautiful, expensive, necessary, cool, and ubiquitous. Jobs often talked about wanting to create electronic devices whose use was as obvious and transparent as a toaster. The overwhelming success of Apple’s devices is proof that he succeeded. But he did not succeed without hurting many people along the way, intentionally or otherwise. We must remember him fully. Otherwise our history will become hagiography, and his memory will be betrayed. Assassination reveals the growing power of the security state Adrian Arroyo, Opinions Columnist, MPP ‘13 It’s a particularly American irony that, awash in tricorn hats and “Don’t Tread On Me” flags, we’ve placed the men who fought the American Revolution ahead of their reasons for fighting it. The killing of Anwar al-Aulaqi, a citizen of the United States with operational ties to Al-Qaida, is a case in point. The United States executed a citizen using military force, without indicting him for any crime, and did so in a foreign country where we are not at war. Ten years after it began, the War on Terror continues to shape our beliefs about the boundaries of state power. In this case, the thrill of serving a man his just deserts obscures the real conflict between the arbitrary exercise of power embodied by “cause of death: hellfire missiles” and constitutional protections like due process of law. Constitutional limits, born out of the framers’ skepticism about concentrations of power, have made an uneasy peace with the demands of the modern world. Today we have a fourth branch of government—the administrative branch—that was not anticipated in the Constitution. There, the limits are hazier, accumulations of power harder to dissolve, and lines of accountability more difficult to draw. With that in mind, the growth of the national security state over the last ten years should give us pause. The death of al-Aulaqi is part and parcel of that growth, documented by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin in the Washington Post investigative series, “Top Secret America.” Three thousand organizations spread over ten thousand locations have lent the intelligence gathering process a powerful bureaucratic inertia, which, combined with secret budgets and Congress’s reluctance to make use of its oversight powers, should make us all a little nervous. From an electoral perspective, it’s hard to argue with the logic of supporting the security industry. Legislators can burnish their national security bona fides by granting intelligence budget requests and luring contractors to their state or district. As these organizations become entrenched, they demand ever-larger budget grants, and politicians focused on re-election have little incentive to pick a fight. Because the budgets are not disclosed to the public, there is little political risk to the candidate. And the successes of the intelligence community have been undeniable. The deaths of bin Laden and al-Aulaqi have degraded the operational capabilities of a dangerous terrorist organization. What should concern us is the day when Al Qaida is no longer a significant threat to the United States and the bureaucracy built to combat it lingers on. It’s unreasonable to think the intelligence apparatus of the United States will voluntarily downsize itself, and the lack of public budgeting makes it almost impossible to identify waste and zombie projects. In the unlikely event that intelligence budgets were made public, the pitched battles required to end Cold War era defense projects like the F-22 Raptor should temper our expectations for political courage in this arena. Writing in Federalist 26, Alexander Hamilton argues that the sort of conspiracy necessary for the national security apparatus of the United States to subvert the liberty of its citizens would inevitably run afoul of the state legislatures and the integrity of national officeholders. But a conspiracy is hardly necessary; complacency is enough. Adrian Arroyo is an MPP1 and hunts the most dangerous game. NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 13 CITIZENCULTURE through with the entertainment business. Like Al Franken or Arnold Schwarzenegger, you have to make a clean break from that world to be taken seriously and to be effective. If the situation were right and if I honestly felt that I could be effective then I would consider it – seriously! Exploring Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream. John DiGiovanni, Culture Writer, MPP ‘13 Earlier this month, Cambridge-born comedian Jimmy Tingle brought his new documentary, Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream, to the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. The unique event included a screening of the 60-minute film, a Q&A with Tingle and a live stand-up performance featuring highlights from Jimmy’s newest one man show, Jimmy Tingle for President: The Funniest Campaign in History. Fans that showed up to watch the film and Tingle’s first official performance at the Brattle were not disappointed. In the award-winning documentary, directed by Vincent Straggas, Tingle takes audiences on a surprisingly thought-provoking and refreshingly humorous journey into the rich and weathered heart of the American Dream. With its well-balanced recipe of Tingle’s signature stand-up comedy and comical commentary peppered with conversations from a grab bag of captivating personalities, including iconic comedians such as Al Franken and Lewis Black, social critics, street dwellers, and even Jimmy’s own mom (who Tingle declares is funnier that himself – and he’s probably right), Tingle’s American Dream never takes itself too seriously, yet succeeds – under the calming guise of Tingle’s blue-collar Boston charm - in encouraging us to aspire, and to persevere in the face of inevitable adversity. Tingle knows a thing or two about starting from scratch. After enjoying a long and successful entertainment career which included stints on 60 Minutes II and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy decided to give entrepreneurship a shot. In 2002, the comedian founded Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway Theater in Somerville, where he served both as performer and owner, coordinating over 200 productions ranging from comedy to political events. Tingle admits that closing the doors of the financially strained club in 2007 was one of the hardest decisions of his life. But that wasn’t the end of his American Dream – and that’s its beauty, explains Tingle. “It’s about a second chance in life, a second opportunity.” A few years back, Tingle decided to take on another challenge: Harvard. Jimmy went back to school, earned the Mid-Career Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School. In 2010, he found himself delivering the graduate address to his peers at Harvard’s 2010 commencement ceremony. As he closed his refreshingly funny ode to all things Harvard (which he characterizes during his speech as “an excellent place to steal bicycles”), Tingle, in a rare moment of utter seriousness, offered a hopeful farewell: “I believe very, very strongly, that with the right amount of physical, spiritual and intellectual help, almost anything in this world is possible.” And it’s that resilience - and that humility - that define Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream. Tingle had a vision of weaving humor and politics into an insightful film. It was challenging, it was time-consuming (a mere seven year project), and it was a new path, but he was determined, and he saw his project through. Reflecting on his accomplishment, Tingle is the first to admit that making the film would not have been possible were it not for the support of his friends and family – those credited both on screen and off. “Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream,” has been licensed to about 60 PBS affiliates, so be sure to catch it in the coming months. If you’re looking for a wellcrafted, hilarious documentary that goes above and beyond your typical political satire, it’s well worth the watch. Q: Was making this documentary part of your American Dream? JT: Absolutely. Making my own film is something that I have always wanted to try so I was very lucky when Director Vinnie Straggas asked me if I would be interested in making one – or at least trying to make one. Q: You graduated from HKS in 2010. What do you hope Kennedy students will take away from your film? JT: I hope it reflects the heartfelt affection and gratitude that I have for the opportunity to attend HKS. I really loved it and was continuously inspired and impressed by my fellow classmates and professors. I hope the film inspires others to follow their hearts, their heads, and their passions. Q: In your film, Bobcat Goldthwait notes that the Declaration of Independence guarantees the right of “‘the pursuit of happiness,’ [but] it doesn’t say it guarantees happiness.” How might you interpret this? JT: I think that he’s right – there is no guarantee to happiness, but we do have a right to follow our own principals, to put into action our own values. If we value teaching, we can teach. If we value coaching football, we can coach football. If we value parenting above all, then we can be the best parents we can be. Personally, I am happiest around my family and friends offstage, while working on stage writing and performing material that makes people laugh, think, feel better, and maybe even inspires them to make a difference. I think I am happiest professionally when I am able to use entertainment as a means to as end, rather than just as end in itself. Q: What’s next for y our career? Given your obvious political know-how and Master’s Degree from Harvard, would you ever seriously consider a career in politics? JT: Yes, I would – but only after I was “Timothy Roemer,” continued from page 6 their 9% growth, to have new investment to build out their infrastructure, get some of this investment in finances and equipment from the United States. HC: Where do you see India in 20 years? TR: I am really excited about India — not just their potential but their growth and their beacon of hope to Asia and to the world. On October 2nd, there was a great celebration to celebrate Gandhi’s life. Every major religion was invited to … show and display their faith. It’s a beautiful service where the diversity and the tolerance and the multiple religions all come to the forefront to show what a wonderful country this is and how all these religions can exist not only side by side… but in a democracy where people vote and respect different outcomes. This is a great beacon of hope not only for India but also for all of Asia and the world to see these religions take place in a great democracy. There are great opportunities for India to work even closer with the United States potentially on more strategic geopolitical issues and on a free trade agreement in the future. I really, truly believe that this is a relationship that will help define peace and prosperity and growth in the 21st century in the world. HC: What do you see yourself doing next? TR: I am very busy helping my children get elected to student council positions and coaching their basketball and their soccer and transporting them around to their various extracurricular activities. I’m busy with my kids. I am doing some teaching and speaking and some consulting now. Certainly, I will be available to help the President in 2012 as I was in 2008. I will continue to be engaged in the India relationship for a long, long time to come on policy issues. NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 14 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 CITIZENCULTURE ground in JFK Park, behind the Kennedy School. The rules are relatively simple, and similar to football, as there are ten-yard end zones, and you score by catching the disc in the end zone. The only important difference: you can’t run with the disc. Possession automatically changes if the disc touches the ground. Students of all skill levels come out and play, and Marlowe tries to balance beginners with experts. “We do have a certain level of skill that a lot of people come out with,” he says, which has been intimidating for some newbies, while some veterans have decided that the games may be a little too amateur. “We’ve sometimes tried to throw together two games” to compensate, he said, one for casual players and one for serious players. But seriousness is not really the point. “It’s about relaxing. Being outside when it’s fall or spring, getting soaked when it’s raining, or sweating when it’s hot. And having fun.”’ Ultimate Frisbee at HKS: “I Suck At This and I’m Having Fun” Alexander Remington, Sports Writer, MPP ‘13 MPP2 Tim Marlowe is a man on a mission to get Kennedy School students to relax. “I find that in the outlay of student activities, there’s a lot of seriousness, things I want to put on my resume.” Marlowe told me. “Even when people drink, they’re serious about drinking. I think it’s good to have sports at this school, because it’s good for people to relate to each other as human beings, not as students.” As head of the Ultimate Frisbee club, Marlowe is serious about having fun. Ultimate Frisbee was invented in 1968, when future Hollywood megaproducer Joel Silver — the man behind Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Tales from the Crypt, and the Matrix — was 16. Apparently, Silver started it as a high school joke, but then he and his friends drew up the rules, and that is pretty much the sport we have today. (It was likely a variant of Frisbee Football, which, as Gerald Griggs writes, has been around since at least 1942.) Ultimate was inaugurated at the Kennedy School two years ago by Graham VanderZanden MPP ’11, more than forty years later. Now, a policy school might not be the first place you would look to find a quintessential barefoot game. But Marlowe likes it that way. “I’ve pushed the theme of mediocrity this year,” he said. “I felt a little out of place last year, and I felt a little out of place at TFA [Teach for America], where everyone is always striving for excellence…. There’s something incredibly disarming about someone who says, yeah, I suck at this and I’m having fun.” There are a few other sports at the Kennedy School, including a soccer team, and a softball team that Marlowe runs. But Marlowe is confident that Ultimate is the most popular, attracting around 20 students a week on Fridays before Quorum Call, which inspired Marlowe’s slogan for the team: “Play mediocre frisbee, then drink mediocre beer.” They play on a rectangular patch of Tim Marlowe making Frisbee magic. Photo Courtesy of Alexander Remington. !"#$%&'$%()*&%)+%,)-.% /)00$1$%,$".* 2+).%0$**3 Arts and Leadership at HKS Rosalia Gutierrez-Huete Miller, Culture Writer, MC/MPA ‘12 “Culture and art are powerful vehicles for social movement and change around the world – effective for bridging ethnic and religious divides, for developing citizenship and social capital.” states Michele Stanners*, co-founder of the Arts and Leadership Initiative. Michele attended an event in early September, held in The Forum, and saw the 4’ x 8’ paper mosaic mural created by students in the Mid-Career/MPA Program. She tracked me down and wrote, describing her reaction when she saw the mural—she loved it and, even more, was elated to learn that the Kennedy School had established an Arts Committee. When we met, Michele shared the news about a new initiative: the Arts and Leadership study group. This initiative will come to fruition at the Kennedy School on October 4, 2011. The study group will meet on four consecutive Tuesdays and will be led by Professors Doris Sommer and Dean Williams. According to Michele, “The Arts and Leadership initiative, launched in the fall of 2011, is Harvard’s first cross-disciplinary initiative to re-connect aesthetics with leadership practice, process and professional development. Through courses, workshops and seminars codesigned by the Faculty of Arts and Science’s Cultural Agents Initiative and the Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership, students will add the arts !"#$%&'()*+'$",'(-.*&$# 4)00$1$%5&-6$7&* /%$(012(344("55(6+557.&,8%(!)-9(:&"';(,$%<#( "';(=>2(344("55(6+557.&,8%('"$,*'"5(:&"';(,$%<#? ()+#$(#@*A(B"5,;(8*55%C%(DE?(!F85+#,*'#(<"G("..5GH(B,#,$(#$*&%(6*&(;%$",5#? Harvard Square 1 Brattle Square Second Floor 617-864-2061 Continued on page 15 NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 15 CITIZENCULTURE Not as Easy as Pie The Business of Baking parts of becoming a business-owner, “A big reason why I started this was to give people jobs. I love the fact that I was able to create something that people can pay their rent or mortgage with and raise their children.” However, Renee finds it very challenging to provide the 52 employees of Petsi Pies with what she considers their basic right to affordable healthcare. She covers 50%-100% of its cost for her employees. Renee explains, “Health insurance goes up every quarter. There are people I pay $800 a month for. I actually seriously consider whether I can continue doing this because I can’t afford people’s health insurance. But that’s how you keep good people so I can’t take it away. What I used to do before I gave health insurance was pay for people to go to the doctor. I gave them a certain amount every year. I wish I had kept that because it’s more cost-effective.” One of Renee’s best pies, the pecan, may become economically extinct due to the rising cost of ingredients. Even though she is paying 80 cents more Cristina Garmendia, Culture and News Writer, MPP ‘13 As Kennedy students toil over problem sets and cringe at political discourse, many of us may idly daydream of alternate careers. Writer Cristina Garmendia interviews baker-extraordinaire and business owner Renee McLeod of Petsi Pies for a reality check. Renee McLeod has been baking since she was a child but it wasn’t until she was asked to make 25 pies for a friend’s wedding that she realized she had a calling: “It was one of those moments that made time stop. I didn’t realize what time it was, I was just having a wonderful time making pies.” She made the decision in 2002 to quit her job as a graphic designer for Whole Foods Market and to focus on what she loved. Her bakery, Petsi Pies, named for her childhood nickname, opened in 2003 to rave reviews and praise for its naturally sweet pies, many of which have no added sugar. Renee describes one of her favorite ture and art are powerful vehicles for social movement and change around the world – effective for bridging ethnic and religious divides, for developing citizenship and social capital. The initiative will launch with Arts and Leadership: Engaging the Arts in Leadership practice and process, an innovative and experiential workshop, where participants will learn “Arts,” continued from page 14 to politics and economics as a necessary field for promoting positive social change. Imagination and humanistic interpretation are now required to innovate strategies for a new global framework.” Michele goes went on to say “Cul- The Mid-Career MPA Mural. Photo Courtesy of Khaleel Seecharan. a pound for butter than they paid in December of 2010, she hasn’t raised her prices. The average pie takes seven ounces of butter and the pecan pie uses the most of all. “Pecan is the most expensive pie to make because the nuts are $9 a pound and the butter is so expensive. I wonder if I should continue to make it. It costs as much to make it as I sell it for. I should raise the price but I don’t know if the market will bear that.” Petsi Pies has two locations, one in Somerville (285 Beacon St) and one in Cambridge (31 Putnam Ave). The Somerville location is where they do the baking for both locations and Cambridge is where they serve lunch items. from experts the mechanics of engaging and enabling the arts for positive social movement and change. Readings from the masters in the aesthetic tradition we also consider why and in what ways artistic interventions affect personal and elective engagements with the world. This non-traditional curriculum will include a balance of lectures and participation through visual and performing arts as well as interpretation. Sub-sections will put into practice shared and learned skills to construct a new toolkit for addressing complex social, political and economic challenges.” Together with the Kennedy School Arts Committee, she stated “we hope to organize activities that could include establishing a cross-disciplinary student advisory group, a luncheon speaker series, participation in the Harvard Graduate Council Leadership Conference (November 4-5) and a series of interactive and experiential workshops Petsi Pies. Photo Courtesy of Cristina Garmendia. They make around 20 types of pie, with the most popular and first to run out each day being Mixed Berry and Apple. New items for fall are pumpkin and chocolate whoopie pies and a roasted sweet potato-pecan pie. For holidays, pre-orders are required for guaranteed availability. Renee warns, “Everyone has to order a pie, even if you are the Mayor of Cambridge. The only person who gets a pie without ordering it is our garbageman.” To learn more about the art of piemaking, contact Renee, “I’ll share recipes, I’ll teach anyone who wants to learn how to make good pie crust.” to include forum theatre, poetry evenings, open mike sessions, and curated museum visits.” In closing, Michele mentioned that “the comments from students who applied for the study group spoke in a loud voice for a stronger arts presence at the Kennedy School and for courses that provide development opportunities in the field of arts and leadership.” The Mosaic Mural mentioned above, will be on display in the Student Lounge in Taubam. Michèle Stanners, a long time practitioner in non-profit management and performing arts and a second year Masters in Theological Studies at the Harvard Divinity School is the co-founder of Arts and Leadership and credits the inspiration to her work with FAS and HKS professors Doris Sommer and Dean Williams. NE W S 1 –6 | FE AT URE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 16 THECITIZEN | Tuesday, October 18, 2011 Artwork by Irene Shih, Editor-in-Chief, MPP ’13. NE W S 1 –6 | FE ATURE 7–8 | O PI NIO NS 9 –1 2 | CULTURE 1 3–15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor