Ben-Meir: Putting Elevate in perspective
Since word first broke of Friday’s raid at Elevate, the topic has dominated our campus conversation. Charges of police brutality contend with more cautious and conciliatory claims. With this in mind, we must be conscious of the implications of our conversation, and not let our reactions to the raid go to waste, or worse, go sour.
Ben-Meir: Taking on the talking heads
Over the last few weeks, it has become part of the conventional wisdom that Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives following this November’s congressional elections. Stu Rothenberg and Charlie Cook, who direct Washington’s two most trusted political forecasting outfits, have both revised their estimates of Republican gains past the threshold needed for the GOP to claim a majority in the House during the 112th Congress, and based on recent reports one would be forgiven for thinking that would-be Speaker John Boehner is measuring enough drapes to single-handedly stimulate the United States textile industry. The wise men and women of the chattering class are sure in their predictions confidently setting the terms of the national discussion bound to dominate the intervening weeks between now and November, and they may well prove to be correct. But even weathermen are wrong on occasion, and political prognostication is an infinitely less exact science than meteorology. This begs the question: What if the promised flood doesn’t come?
Ben-Meir: Replacing Justice Stevens
When John Paul Stevens announced his retirement on Friday, intense speculation began as to who President Obama would select to replace him. Would the president choose another woman, further decreasing the absurd gender imbalance of the Supreme Court? Would he opt to nominate the first Asian justice, the second Hispanic, the third African-American? Could he possibly consider an openly gay nominee? Amid the hubbub of identity politicking, however, one question did not receive the attention it deserves. Justice Stevens is the only Protestant currently serving on the Supreme Court; if Obama does not nominate one as his replacement, the Court will be without a Protestant for the first time in its history. In a nation where 76 percent of adults self-identify as Protestant, this would be a difficult proposition, if not outright wrong.
Ben-Meir: Why is this night different?
Born to Run
Tonight, instead of taking my weekly French test, I will be going to a Seder. Those who know me, even in passing, might well see a sinister causation in the prior sentence; “religious obligation” as an express ticket to a Dean’s Excuse. After all, nobody would mistake me for a particularly observant Jew. My skull goes perpetually uncapped; I don’t know enough Hebrew to follow many of the conversations in the Slifka dining hall (even those ostensibly in English); and I ate a pork chop for dinner just last night. One could easily understand my French teacher’s assumption that I was just trying to get out of a test or go a step farther and suggest that I’m not religious enough to deserve having my test rescheduled. But the patchwork nature of some collegiate religious observances does not diminish their legitimacy but instead highlights a way in which religion remains meaningful even to those for whom it is not central.
Ben-Meir: Political performances
Born to Run
This week’s presidential health care summit felt decidedly unreal. While White House officials and Congressional leaders from both parties gathered for a seven-hour discussion on President Obama’s signature domestic initiative, little of substance was said; the summit was, as so many have remarked, political theater. At first, I wondered if part of this perception was that I was watching the summit on YouTube, with the familiar controls uncannily situated beneath the faces of the country’s most powerful public figures.
Ben-Meir: Days for different stories
Although we can hardly be blamed for spending Valentine’s Day reading love letters instead of headlines, the front page of Sunday’s paper was not blank. After all, the world does not stand still each Feb. 14 while we enrich chocolatiers, knick-knack makers and teddy bear manufacturers. But what seems, at first, like an irresponsible disengagement from the broader world is in fact an important respite in our lives. Occasionally stepping out of the flow of events affords us the space necessary to write our private histories, even as the world continues to turn.
Ben-Meir: Returning to the island
Following a television show, especially one as convoluted as “Lost,” creates a particular sort of community among viewers. Each episode is a collective experience in a world increasingly defined by the fragmentation of information and experience. “Lost” provides a carefully crafted experiment in limited access to information, a sharp contrast to the saturation of data points characteristic of the postmodern era.
A musical haunting
If the new record by The Mumlers sounds somehow haunted, there’s a good reason why. The band takes its name from William Mumler, a 19th century American photographer who claimed the ability to take pictures of ghosts.
Quit smoking the electro way
It’s hard to quit smoking. Really hard. “Cutting back” never works, Nicorette is absurdly expensive, and going cold turkey can be a recipe for a nervous breakdown. So when I saw a flashing ad for something called “Blu Cigs” online, I was intrigued. I went to the Web site and discovered a device that could only be too good to be true.
Ben-Meir: Learn, then opine
Watching President Obama announce his decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, I did not know what to think. I hate war categorically, although I do not believe that war is never necessary.
Ben-Meir: Partisanship gone awry
Exactly one year ago, although it feels like much longer, America elected Barack Obama as its 44th president. Since then, the national mood has changed in serious ways.
The boss “wrecks” Giants’ stadium
Bruce Springsteen utterly demolished Giant’s Stadium last Friday night — the final event before the venue is actually torn down.
Ben-Meir: Internal dissident
In recent weeks, Joe Biden has emerged as one of the loudest voices within the Obama administration arguing against escalating of the war in Afghanistan.
Ben-Meir: We need us more bluegrass
Last week I casually suggested to a friend that she listen to more bluegrass. Her slightly stunned and vaguely appalled response drove home a stark reality: Yale has a severe bluegrass deficit.
Arty ‘Monster’
A supergroup usually forms for a simple reason: Talented musicians who happen to be friends enjoy playing together and decide to make a record. This holds true for the members of Monsters of Folk, but something deeper is at work.
Can’t ‘Beat’ this ‘Band’
“The Beatles: Rock Band” is ridiculously fun. It’s not “fun enough,” or “very fun”; it is an electromagnet of joy. When Yale Beatles expert Danielle Wiggins ’12 (Beatlemaniac, three-time Fest for Beatles Fans Trivia Champion, and two-time Name That Tune Champ) and I began playing in my friend’s common room, we were alone. By the time an hour had passed, the room was packed, with several people at once crowded around the single microphone singing unintentional four-part harmony.
Ben-Meir: Let us mourn Annie Le
Any tragedy contains within itself an untold number of smaller tragedies. Already, the murder of Annie Le MED ’13 is being discussed as an attack on our most basic sense of security, as an act of violence against our city, as a savaging of the natural order. These interpretations are not incorrect, but they confuse the part for the whole. We cannot allow ourselves to forget that the ultimate tragedy of this week’s events is also the smallest in scale; the event, not its implications. When we mourn, we must mourn Annie Le.
Beating a dead Autotune
The first time you listen to xx, the debut album by British quartet The xx, it is impossible to escape the feeling that it is somehow different from other recent releases. The reason why is not as clear. It isn’t the uncommon instrumentation (two guitars, a bass and a synth), nor the rich but unobtrusive production. The clicks and echoes of the drum track are unpredictable, but will not seem new to anyone even passingly familiar with a dancefloor; the lyrics are suggestive, but are neither precise nor evocative enough to be noteworthy. Only by listening to the entire album does it become clear: In the Age of Autotune, this is a record about the human voice.
Ben-Meir: History, then and now
What is history in the era of YouTube? With the Internet providing easy access to endless (and endlessly fragmented) information, and with self-selected social networks rapidly replacing more tangible communities, our society is losing the common ground on which histories are built.
Cohen takes your hand
Last week, Leonard Cohen made a triumphant return to the States, blowing away critics and fans alike with a 3 1/2 hour concert in New York. Against all odds, freshman writer Ilan Ben-Meir found tickets. This is his report.
Ben-Meir: The new ‘separate but equal’
As the last results of last Tuesday’s elections slowly dripped in, I was reminded of Barack Obama’s appraisal of John McCain’s health care plan: “What one hand giveth, the other taketh away.”
Not just fun and games
If Bowie’s song is about the first hours after mankind gets word that the apocalypse is coming, TV on the Radio’s new album “Dear Science,” sounds like the last night before it arrives.
Ben-Meir: Constitution (Yester)Day
Our inheritance is a system that requires our participation. Like the would-be inheritors of The Westing Game, we are left with a clue to the whereabouts of our extraordinary windfall. But to claim it, we must understand the rules of the game.