Women take on Lady Bears in Round of 16
OFF-CAMPUS
Facebook relocates offices
By ROBERT TOEWS
STAFF WRITER
Today,social networkers around theworld will still be accessing Facebook atthe same Web address,but its employeeswill be heading to work at a new locationat the Stanford Research Park.Facebook is planning to move its head-quarters from downtown Palo Alto toconsolidate the rapidly growing social-networking company into a single,two-story building.The move marks the next step in thegrowth of Facebook,which was foundedin a Harvard dorm room in February 2004and now ranks as the fifth-most popularWeb site in the world.In June 2004,the company moved toits current location in downtown PaloAlto.It quickly outgrew its office,howev-er,and had to rent increasing amounts of space in surrounding office buildings.Facebook headquarters now sprawlacross 10 different offices,an inconven-ient setup that executives say promptedthe move to Stanford Research Park.“This new space is the next step in ourgrowth and positions us well to continuelooking for a long-term campus solution,while also allowing employees to worktogether as much as possible,”the compa-ny said in a statement.“We have loved our time in downtownPalo Alto and consider it part of the DNAhere at Facebook,”the statement added.“Many of our employees live in the areaand will continue to be a part of the down-town community.”The new facility encompasses justunder 150,000 square feet and is locatedat 1601 S.California Ave.,adjacent to theUniversity.It will house the vast majorityof Facebook’s nearly 1,000 employees.The location was previously an office of
By JULIA BROWNELL
DESK EDITOR
A
mong ubiquitous construction onStanford’s medical school campus,the mostrecent project is the Lorry Lokey Stem CellResearch Building,the new home forStanford’s Stem Cell Biology andRegenerative Medicine Institute (SCBRMI).Theexpansive new building highlights a rich history of stem cell research at Stanford—and the accomplish-ments of one of the most elite research teams in thenation.Ever since the 1960s,the tools for and trials of stemcell research have been fermenting in the minds of Stanford researchers.Dr.Irving Weissman has been aleader of stem cell research since the field’s inception,and he now directs the SCBRMI on campus.“[Weissman] really is one of the founding fathers of stem cell research,and so there’s a long history of excellence in stem cell research [at Stanford],”said Dr.Renee Reijo Pera,a recent hire in embryonic stem cellresearch and developmental biology from the UC-SanFrancisco Medical School.Stanford’s stem cell history began in 1969,whenProfessor of Genetics Emeritus Leonard Herzenbergdeveloped the Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting(FACS) machine.The device uses antibodies taggedwith fluorescent dye to differentiate various cells usinga laser,which sends readings of the cell dyes to a com-puter.The computer can then tell which cell justpassed by the laser,and uses an electrode to charge thedifferent cell types.The cells then pass throughcharged electrodes into different test tubes.The FACS allowed Weissman to isolate the firstmouse hematopoietic (blood) stem cell from a bonemarrow sample in 1987.In 1991,Weissman isolated thefirst human stem cell,again a blood stem cell.
A History of Service
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SSTORIEDLINEOFSTEMCELLRESEARCH
By ANTHONY NGUYEN
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A year ago,the Stanford women’stennis team was ousted from the NCAAchampionships in the quarterfinals byBaylor,one of its earliest exits in recentyears.This year,the Cardinal will get anoth-er shot at the Lady Bears a bit earlierthan expected,as the two squads willface off in the Round of 16 at CollegeStation,Texas.While Baylor got the best of Stanfordin last year’s matchup,much haschanged for both teams since last year.The Lady Bears are missing three sin-gles players from their previous squad,including their No.1 player ZuzanaZemenova.“They were a completely differentteam last year,and quite frankly,so werewe,”said Cardinal junior LindsayBurdette.“This year,they lost a couplegood players,and I feel like we are atour strongest going into this match.I’mreally excited to play them the firstround.”No.13 Stanford is coming off twoconvincing shutouts in the openingrounds of the NCAA tournamentagainst Wichita State and LSU.With 14wins in their last 16 matches,theCardinal women are ready to take onthe best of the best.“We’re carrying a lot of momentumbecause of how we started off the sea-son,”Burdette said.“It was a little rocky,
Former Secretary ofState George Shultz relates his experiences to The Daily
By KAMIL DADA
DESK EDITOR
At 88 years old,and after serving threeuniversities,two presidents and one of thelargest companies in the country,onewould expect George Shultz to sit backand reflect on his long career as a publicservant.But Shultz isn’t a man prone to reflec-tion.“I’m not a very introspective person,”he said during a lecture Monday night inMemorial Church.“About all I can do istell stories.”In meetings with selected groups of stu-dents early this week as part of hisRathbun fellowship,Shultz relayed hisexperiences as director of the Office of Management and Budget,Secretary of Labor and then Treasury under Nixon andSecretary of State for Reagan.Outside of government,Shultz was a Princeton foot-ball coach in college,a marine in WorldWar II,an MIT professor,dean of theUniversity of Chicago’s Graduate Schoolof Business,and director and president of engineering firm Bechtel Group.The Daily sat down with Shultz to dis-cuss everything from China’s role in inter-national politics,the Iran-Contra affair andtorture to domestic Californian politicsand his alleged Princeton tiger tattoo.When pressed on what he regards as hisfinest accomplishment over his long career,Shultz was reluctant to pick a particularmoment and instead pointed to memoriesthat had a human face.“Obviously,the tectonic plates of theworld changed when I was in office,”Shultz said.“The Cold War came to an end,so that’s a big deal,and I had at least a lit-tle part in it.But,human things have moreof an impact.”He pointed out that one of the prob-lems he worked on was the issue of Jews inthe Soviet Union who were oppressed andnot allowed to worship or emigrate toIsrael.Shultz referred to the case of IdaNudel,a refusenik and human rightsactivist in the Soviet Union,who won theright to leave the country in 1987.He vivid-ly recollected a phone call he receivedfrom her on the day she arrived in Israel.“The voice on the end of the line said,‘This is Ida Nudel,I’m in Jerusalem.I’mhome,’”Shultz recalled.Shultz then quickly delved into politicsand elucidated his views on nuclearweapons,an issue that he thinks is thebiggest threat facing the globe today.Hepointed out that he has been working withfellows at the Hoover Institution towards aworld free of nuclear weapons.To that end,when asked whether negotiating withworld leaders in states such as North Koreawas a wise decision,Shultz emphasizedleaving the channels of communicationopen.“We negotiated with the Soviet leaderswhen we called the Soviet Union an evilempire—and it was—but it was impor-tant to be engaged,and it paid off,”Shultzsaid.“It’s tricky to do.”Yet he stopped short of giving specificadvice to President Obama and the currentadministration.“[Obama] has lots of different situa-tions on his hands,”Shultz said.“He hassome bad actors like North Korea andIran.So,I think he needs to design hisapproach to each of them specially.It’s allinterrelated in a broad sense.So if youdevelop a good capability with Russia andChina,that’s going to help in dealing withIran.”Shultz also touched upon the nature of torture and waterboarding,given therecent national press attention surround-ing declassified documents that reportedthat former Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice gave the nod of approval to then-CIA Director GeorgeTenet to use waterboarding.Shultz pointedto the Geneva Convention that prohibitsthe use of torture and said that he agreedwith it.However,he argued that theGeneva Convention does not particularlyidentify or define exactly what torture is.“I don’t want to try and second-guesspeople who were in the administration orCongress,who in the intense problemsright after 9/11 said that we also have to doeverything we can to protect the country,”Shultz said.“They probably deviatedsomewhat from what the GenevaConvention called for.”He argued that the administration wasin a difficult situation and was operating ina setting where it had to protect the coun-try after a major terrorist attack.To thatend,he did not believe that legal authori-ties should investigate or prosecute admin-istrators,such as Rice.“I’m not in favor of going back and try-ing to prosecute people for doing whatthey regarded as their duty to protect ournational security,”he said.“I think it couldset a very bad precedent.”Just over two weeks ago,Rice noted toa student in Roble Hall,in a video made
CHRISSEEWALD/The Stanford Daily
Led by sophomre Hilary Barte, the Stanford women’s tennis team made easy work ofrounds one and two of the NCAA Tournament, sweeping both Wichita State and LSU.
MICHAEL LIU/The Stanford Daily
Former Secretary of State and Treasury George Shultz discussed his experiences in politicsand weighed in on contemporary issues such as the economic crisis and national security.
The Stanford Daily
An Independent Publication
www.stanforddaily.com
THURSDAY Volume 235
May 14, 2009Issue 58
Battling Baylor
WOMEN’S TENNIS
5/10vs. LSU
W
4-0
UP NEXTBAYLOR
(26-4)
5/15College Station, Texas4:00 P.M.
GAME NOTES:
Stanford swept both Wichita Stateand LSU in the opening rounds of the NCAAtournament. Baylor boasts four nationally rankedplayers. The last time both the men’s andwomen’s tennis teams made it to the Round of16, the Cardinal women won the national title.
Please see
WTENNIS
page 4
ONLINE @
WWW.STANFORDDAILY.COMTWITTER: STANFORD_DAILY
Please see
STEMCELLS
,page 2Please see
FACEBOOK
,page 6
CRISBAUTISTA/ The Stanford Daily
Today
Mostly Sunny
7341
Tomorrow
Sunny
6647
Please see
SHULTZ
,page 6
Index
Features/2 • Opinions/3 • Sports/4 •Classifieds/5
Recycle Me
SPORTS/4
KELLEN KO’S
Baseball receives another gamewinner from clutch right-fielder
SPORTS/4
TOURNEY REVENGE
Men’s tennis looks to avenge home loss toUSC in Round of 16 match-up
2
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Thursday,May 14,2009
The Stanford Daily
After isolating these stem cells,Weissmanrecognized their ability to regenerate theimmune and blood systems in a mouse,andthen brought the stem cells through FDA clin-ical trials.“Our first clinical trial was down here atStanford,”Weissman recounted.“I rememberthe first patient because I went to see the injec-tion.This was a woman who had breast cancerthat had spread through her whole body.Theyinjected into her the stem cells that were reallypurified,and instead of having a liter and a half of really bloody material called mobilizedblood,it was a 1-cc syringe and you couldn’teven see anything...I think she’s alive today.”Weissman’s studies led to the first modernbone marrow transplants.These now commonprocedures used to cure blood cancers are theoften unrecognized accepted stem cell thera-pies today.As a result of the efforts of researchers and doctors,these procedures havemade huge strides in curing leukemia and lym-phoma.The two cancers now have some of thehigher survival rates among cancer types.“Of course it was incredible,”Weissman saidof the trials.“That was the proof of principlethat you could do it.”Today Stanford is a leader not just in bloodcancer research,but in the larger field of can-cer stem cell research.The Stanford Cancer Center has a largestem cell research program,headed by Dr.Michael Clarke and Dr.Roeland Nusse.Thecenter has isolated many different cancer stemcells and is working on therapies to help bettertarget them in treatment.Clarke was the firstto isolate a solid tumor cancer cell,the breastcancer cell,while at the University of Michiganbefore coming to Stanford.The new therapies for cancer stem cellscome out of Stanford researchers thanks togenerous funding from the California Institutefor Regenerative Medicine (CIRM),author-ized by California voters in 2004 throughProposition 71.This institute funds all forms of stem cell research in laboratories in California,despite federal bans on embryonic stem cellresearch.In addition,Stanford has a number of pri-vate donors that make it unique in support forstem cell programs in the state and in the coun-try.“An anonymous donor couple,who by nowI think have given $30 to 40 million...Itallowed us to recruit people,it allowed us tohave a facility off-campus that never had NIHmoney in it,so Bush couldn’t come and sue usor something,and their money,plus the moneyof Lorry Lokey,has started the road to thebuilding,”Weissman said.Stanford is also unique as a program becauseof its long history of collaboration with engi-neers,physicists and other physical scientists.Through unique programs like the interdiscipli-nary Bio-X collaboration between the medicalschool and engineers,and through general over-lap between different departments,Stanford hascreated a unique environment of collaboration.“The Bio-X program between the medicalschool and the engineering department,we’reall working together...there’s a division of themedical school that works on bioinformatics,”Herzenberg said.“A lot of students get theirPh.Ds and start companies or work for compa-nies.”“Stanford is very,very well placed to do allthese types of studies,”he added.Since Herzenberg’s FACS helped Weissmanisolate the first stem cells,this collaboration hasled to amazing discoveries at Stanford.Amongother projects,bioengineers,cardiologists andstem cell researchers are working together ongenerating heart tissue for repairs and possiblyheart transplants.“I can work with people in the cardiovascu-lar institute,neurological institute...so wereally get to work across the board just by work-ing with the line with differentiation and basichuman development,”Reijo Pera explained.“Because [Stanford is] not huge,we seem tomulti-task.”Because of these collaborations,leading fac-ulty and long history of high-caliber research,Stanford is a hot bed for stem cell research,and should continue to be in the upcomingyears.“I think that a lot of the first clinical trials,or at least the earliest applications for clinicaltrials,are going to come out of Stanford,”ReijoPera said.
Contact Jula Brownell at juliabr@stanford.edu.
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Leading the Charge in Stem Cell Research
Continued from front page
Photo courtesy Irving Weissman/The Stanford Daily
“It was incredible”—
Dr.Irving Weissman on thefirst clinical trials usingstem cells to regenerate thehuman immune system
STUDENT GOV’T
GSC discusses 750Pub,Vaden fee
By MOLLY SPAETH
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Graduate Student Council(GSC) discussed student involve-ment in securing new ownership forthe 750 Pub,as well as graduate stu-dent selection for the VadenAdvisory Committee,at itsWednesday night meeting.Delegates spent a significantamount of time debating the future of the 750 pub,the student bar that islocated in the Graduate StudentCommunity Center (GSCC).MaryVan der Hoven,the earth sciencesrepresentative to the GSC,relayedinformation on the 750 to other coun-cil members,whoc discussed in detailhow the responsibility of selectingnew ownership could be shifted awayfrom Residential Dining &Enterprises (RD&E) and toward amore student-run enterprise.“RD&E is currently in charge of finding a vendor and those discus-sions are sort of underway,”Van derHoven said.“We feel like maybethat’s not the person to be in chargeof that space because this is,after all,the graduate community center.Along either track,there is someinterest in students running thatspace.”Other members voiced concernwith the pub’s vacancy over thesummer,and whether the furniture,pool tables and televisions would beremoved along with the currentownership.Van der Hoven stressedthe urgency of finding a vendorbefore the end of summer.“I would have to say that if wedon’t have someone there by fall,Ithink that everybody in this room isnot going to be very happy,”Van derHoven said.The next order of business wasthe newly created Vaden AdvisoryCommittee.Jessica Tsai,the Schoolof Medicine representative andGSC programming co-coordinator,informed members that applicantsfor the third graduate student posi-tion on the committee will beattending the GSC meeting nextweek.At that time,GSC memberswill be able to ask questions andvote on the final member.RyanPeacock,GSC member at-large andfinancial officer,raised the idea of having the responsibility of selectionmoved to the NominationsCommission (NomCom).Discussion then moved to a for-merly proposed idea of using co-pays instead of the $167/quarter feeas a means to alleviate some of theVaden financial burden.Tsaiinformed the members thatalthough she had discussed the ideawith Vaden Director Ira Friedman,using co-pays could actually turn outto be more expensive.Peacock pro-posed talking to the administrationin attempts to get the fee subsidized.“I do think that we still need togo back and have a conversationwith the administration,”he said.“We can try to talk them into 50 per-cent—even if they’re only subsidiz-ing 25 percent for 12-month stu-dents,that’s $700—that is still a sig-nificant chunk of change.Earlier in the meeting,ASSUPresident David Gobaud ‘08 M.S.‘10 briefed the GSC on his newlyappointed cabinet,which has morethan 20 members.Gobaud intro-duced the GSC to Ryan Woessner‘10,who will be serving as legislativeliaison for the Gobaud-De La Torreadministration.Gobaud said that hewas currently in the process of creat-ing the graduate cabinet,and wouldhave more information in the nextfew days.In other business,Adam Beberg,a computer science Ph.D.studentand former member of three GSCcouncils,informed delegates that thefee imposed upon students to com-plete a master’s in addition to aPh.D.would increase from $50 to$125 in the fall.
Contact Molly Spaeth at mspaeth@ stanford.edu.
D
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NicoleDemby
In denial
H
olocaust jokes were not infrequentlytold in my presence growing up.No,Idon’t come from the backwoods of some Red state or from a family of Nazis.Rather,from the time I was eight I attendeda Modern Orthodox Yeshiva on the UpperEast Side of Manhattan (imagine GossipGirl with long skirts and yamekas).Most of my friends’ grandparents,including my own,were survivors.The Holocaust was some-thing we grew up with,a fact of our existenceas the third generation and something wewere taught about in school since kinder-garten.This intimacy seemed to allow us acertain freedom when it came to how wetalked about the Holocaust because it wastaken for granted that we understood thegravity of its horrors.It was only when I en-tered that world outside of the New YorkJewish bubble I was in that I realized this wasnot a luxury afforded to the rest of the world.Outside of my high school,the sheer men-tion of the Holocaust seemed to require peo-ple’s faces to assume an expression of utmostsobriety,for their heads to bob up and downslightly with an understanding nod.TheShoah seemed to be the last frontier notbreached by Western civilization’s affinityfor free speech (it’s actually illegal to denythe Holocaust in some European countries).You can say whatever you want,but notabout
that
.The press has pointed out that when PopeBenedict visited Israel this week,he seemedto enter a political minefield in which he wasdamned if he did,damned if he didn’t.Manycriticized the pope for his speech at YadVashem,Israel’s Holocaust museum.Peoplewere unhappy that the Pope,a German whoparticipated compulsorily in the HitlerYouth as a child and later served in theWehrmacht,referred vaguely to the “mil-lions of Jews killed”without mentioning thesacred number “six million.”Many were alsodisappointed that Pope Benedict did notspeak about his own personal experiences inthe war,opting for a more generic engage-ment with the subject matter.Another controversy over treatment of the Holocaust erupted this week when Face-book announced it was banning severalHolocaust-denying groups such as one enti-tled “Holocaust is a Holohoax”from the site.The banned groups were accused of incitinghate speech in denial of Facebook’s State-ment of Rights and Responsibilities.Othergroups that questioned the veracity of theHolocaust were allowed to remain on Face-book because,according to the company,“the mere statement of denying the Holo-caust does not constitute a violation of ourpolicies.”Of course,Facebook,like the Pope,was in a situation in which it would necessar-ily garner criticism.It left itself open tocharges of anti-Semitism from those whowant all Holocaust-denial-related materialremoved,and criticism from those who saythe company is refusing to take a moralstand on the issue by resorting to citing poli-cy violations.As you can see,things are never simplewhen it comes to talking about the Holo-caust.Yet perhaps because I grew up notfeeling the need to tread so lightly on thesubject matter as society seems to require,Ican’t help but feel there’s something prob-lematic in relegating the topic such a sacredrealm in which the unspeakable still existsdespite all the free-speech rhetoric of liber-alism.Sure I think that people whose hatespeech seems to suggest impending violenceshould be stopped and persecuted.Yet put-ting too much weight on issues like howheartfelt the Pope is,or whether or not Face-book is anti-Semitic,distracts and detractsfrom the actual historical reality of the Holo-caust.In his book,“On Violence,”Slavoj Zizeksays that by understanding the Holocaust ashaving been so horrible that it can only beunderstood as a complete break from histo-ry,we create the notion of absolute evil.Bysaying the Nazis were monsters without try-ing to understand the historical reasons whyHitler may have come to power,we allowpeople like George Bush to justify going towar to fight the “axis of evil,”and allow hisadministration to justify torture against sim-ilar monsters.Instead of moralizing aboutwhat the Pope or Facebook should havedone,we should see this issues as sympto-matic of a certain level of societal discomfortwith the topic.Perhaps recognizing this dis-comfort can spur productive discussionabout people’s relationship to what actuallyhappened,and the way the history of theHolocaust affects us today.
Nicole promises this is the last time Zizek will come up in her column (fingers crossed behindher back).Email her at demb33@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily
Thursday,May 14,2009
N
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tanford’s Alcohol Advisory Board(AAB) announced last week that Rowhouses will be exempt from the “drycampus”policy during New Student Orien-tation (NSO) 2009.The decision to reaffirmthe Row’s exemption to the NSO policy wasmade despite a number of alcohol-relatedincidents that took place on the Row duringNSO 2008.However,the AAB has put in place anumber of new restrictions for Row resi-dents,including a later move-in date—peo-ple living on the Row had previously beenallowed to move in several days before stu-dents housed in other dorms on campus—as well as increased restrictions on gather-ings that involve alcohol during the four-dayNSO period.The revised NSO policy placesa two-gathering limit on Row houses,man-dates that food be present during these gath-erings and maintains that no hard alcohol beserved,along with other limitations (see“Row faces new NSO rules,”May 8).In general,the editorial board believesthat the University’s revised alcohol policyfor NSO is reasonable.It is important forStanford to put its best foot forward duringOrientation,and upperclassmen have a re-sponsibility to help create a positive,safe en-vironment for new freshmen and transferstudents.Given that there were four alcohol-related medical transports and several unau-thorized gatherings with alcohol duringNSO 2008,the editorial board cannot blamethe University for putting more restrictionsin place.There seems to be a trend each year of throwing enormous parties on the Row theweek before fall-quarter classes begin.Whileit is normal for partying to get slightly moreout of hand when people have no academicresponsibilities,the student body shouldtake the new restrictions as a hint to be morecareful during NSO this fall.The AAB maynot be so lenient the next time alcohol-relat-ed emergencies take place during Orienta-tion.That being said,the editorial board feelsthat the no-hard-alcohol mandate over-reaches the goal of the AAB,especially if thegoal of the revised policy is to encourage ma-ture gatherings focused on welcoming Rowhouse residents.Vodka and rum may have ahigher alcohol content by volume than beeror wine,but a mature gathering cannot takeplace if the University does not treat studentslike mature adults.The point of this policy isto increase the level of caution exercised bythose hosting parties during NSO.Control-ling the type of alcohol served at these gath-erings goes too far,and may even encouragestudents to ignore restrictions entirely.It is clear that the University feels,at leastto some degree,that students are capable of comporting themselves responsibly when al-cohol is present—hence the reaffirmationof the “dry campus”exemption for the Row.But to be effective,the AAB should demon-strate greater trust in students by avoidingoverly specific rules that are likely to be bro-ken.There is little doubt that parties willhappen on the Row during NSO,whether ornot the University wants them to,which iswhy the AAB should focus on communicat-ing its expectations for students rather thanimplementing nitpicky restrictions.
Row exemption to NSOalcohol policy carriesmixed messages
EDITORIAL
Unsigned editorials in the space above represent the views of The Stanford Daily's editorial board and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Daily staff.The editorial board is comprised of two former Daily staffers,three at-large student members and the two editorial board co-chairs.Any signed columns and contributionsare the views of their respective writers and do not necessarily represent the views of the entire editorial board.To contact the editorial board for an issue to be considered,or to submit an op-ed,please email editorial@daily.stanford.edu.
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I
t couldn’t have been a more perfect plan,and what was more,she would be a partof it.I hadn’t even thought to ask her tobe my senior formal date until a few weeksbefore—I had thought I would be too busyto even go,for a time—but when she saidshe was coming,I couldn’t have been morethrilled.On Friday,I would pick up my senior for-mal date from the airport at 7:30 after shegot in from Minneapolis (to quote JackNicholson,“On my nickel,of course”),andtake her straight to my favorite restaurant inSan Francisco,The Slanted Door,where Ihad made reservations.We would walk lazi-ly down the Embarcadero on a warm cityevening (the forecast for San Francisco overthe weekend:Friday - 70 degrees;Saturday -70 degrees;Sunday - 70 degrees),with theBay Bridge and water to our right,and thespectacle of downtown to our left.On Saturday,I would show her aroundStanford,and San Francisco again,visitingall my favorite spots,all the places where Igrew up—The Grove on Fillmore,The Le-gion of Honor,Crissy Field.She would seemy home,my childhood,my life for the firsttime through my eyes.On Sunday,we would wake up and headback down the Peninsula to my parent’shome,where she would meet my folks,andwe would take in a warm,relaxing Mothers’Day.I would take her to the airport and wishher goodbye,and thus would end the perfectweekend.I had it all planned,down to thesmallest detail.And in between,we would go together tosenior formal at my home away from home,AT&T Park.Well,Thursday night came,two nightsbefore formal and less than 24 hours beforeshe was to arrive.A number that I did notrecognize showed up on my phone.I reject-ed it at first (I was with my buddy Daniel,and Vice was playing at the CoHo,dammit!)but soon enough,the number was callingagain.I answered.The person on the other line,a friend of my would-be date,began tospeak.She might as well have picked up awrench and heaved it directly into myphone,and weekend.Something had come up,she told me—apersonal family issue—and my date wouldnot be coming.Her excuse was legitimate,and I knew it was real.I walked silently backinto the CoHo,stunned.Try as I might over the next few days orso,I could not change her mind.I never onceeven reached her by phone,but her friendconfirmed what she had already said thenight before.That evening,my date’s flightlanded in San Francisco,and she was not onit.This is not the first time plans have goneawry in my life,and it certainly won’t be thelast.My biggest fear when these things hap-pen to me is that they will turn me from theidealist that I want to be,into the depressedcynic I fear I may become.The former hasthe ability to empower;the latter,the powerto paralyze.As I sat at the Suites Carnivaldinner on Friday night,resignedly explain-ing what had happened to my date—know-ing that I ought to be instead spending theevening with her in San Francisco—andsighing over the injustice of it all,I felt thatparalysis sweeping over me.One thing was for sure:Between my feel-ing sorry for myself and worrying about myformer date,there was no way I wanted togo to senior formal anymore.I would sit inmy room,perhaps write a bit,perhaps struma guitar.But,I simply did not have it in meto go.Sometimes,the miracle of an enlighten-ing thought comes from life’s situations;other times,it arrives seemingly out of thinair;and sometimes,it’s a combination of both.For whatever reason,as I sat silentlyon Friday night,a light switch turned on inmy head.These times when we’re dealt a crappyhand,and we suffer for it—even despiteour best efforts—is life.But even given allthat is out of our hands,so much more iswithin them.Our lives are not movies.There are noscripts,no do-overs.In their stead are,onone hand,what we should have done;and onthe other hand,knowing what we need todo,and letting ourselves do it.On the onehand,the unbearable pain of regret;on theother,the light of truly living.In each mo-ment,the choice rests with no one else butourselves.It took a few hours,and the sup-port of many friends,to experience thisthought,but when I did,I knew it was ir-refutable.So there it was,I thought to myself:I hadbeen dealt a crappy hand.It was no less thanthat,but alas,it was also no more.The ques-tion was:What was I going to do about it?Would I let it keep me down,or would I sayto myself,“Screw it,let’s see if you can havea good time”?And so,I woke up on Saturday morning,and I got Facebook a-messagin’.And soonenough,a very understanding,very wonder-ful,very good friend had agreed to comewith me to senior formal.I am deeply in-debted to her.When Saturday night rolledaround,I was headed to San Francisco.Could I have been a better date? You bet.Did I get totally hammered? Sure did.(Theclosest I came to making out on Saturdaynight was with a toilet).But hey,life isn’tperfect,and both I and my date had friendsthere.The important thing isn’t whether lifeimitates art;it is that we understand that itdoes not always,but we can find ways to behappy with it anyway.At the very least,the next time bad luckrears its ugly head at me,I’ll know where mybootstraps are.
Mark Donig owes Betsy a real nice dinner.Email him at mrdonig@stanford.edu.
S
TEAL THIS
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OLUMN
On bootstraps, and pickingyourself up by them
MarkDonig
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| Upload Date: | 05/14/2009 |
| Copyright: | Attribution Non-commercial |
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