FEATURES/3
DOWN WITH GRAVITY
A Friday afternoon with the jugglers in
White Plaza
The Stanford Daily
TUESDAY
February 8, 2011
Examining Egypt
Professors provide historical and economic context for popular uprising
By JOSHUA FALK
DESK EDITOR
The Abbasi Program in Islamic
Studies hosted a discussion on the
Egyptian popular uprising yesterday,
drawing commentary from history
professor Joel Beinin and political
science assistant professor Lisa Blay-
des. History professor Robert Crews
moderated the event, which took
place in the Bechtel Conference
Center.
“If any of you have paid any at-
tention to the recent events in Egypt
at all, you’ll probably notice that the
analysis of the causes has focused on
two things:Tunisia and the role of so-
cial media,” Beinin said.
But Beinin downplayed the im-
One key cause of Egyptians’ discontent cited by scholars is the widespread corruption that exists in Egypt.
Blaydes stressed the need to redistribute income away from the very wealthy to the masses.
LOCAL
PA City Council
prioritizes finance
By MARGARET RAWSON
SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After cutting 60 staff posi-
tions in the last two years, the
Palo Alto City Council has
again set the city’s finances as a
priority. City leaders spoke to
The Daily about current chal-
lenges and projections for the
future.
During their January retreat
at the Baylands Nature Inter-
pretive Center, the council de-
cided to maintain last year’s top
five priorities for 2011 —
namely,city finances,communi-
ty collaboration for youth well-
being, emergency prepared-
ness, environmental sustain-
ability and land use and trans-
portation planning.
Tackling budget cuts
Palo Alto budget cuts in
2011 almost reached $10 mil-
lion to cover a $7.1 million
deficit.The city’s deficit for 2012
is expected to be up $2 million.
City staff is still recovering from
the cuts, but the quality of serv-
ices was not affected, council
members said.
“I don’t believe they affect-
ed any services,” councilmem-
ber Greg Scharff said of the
budget cuts.
“We believe that in the first
six months or so it’s worked
fine,” agreed Lalo Perez, direc-
tor of administrative services.
“The goal was to minimize
the impacts on the community,”
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portance of these two factors and cri-
tiqued prevailing media coverage,
which tended to overemphasize
Tunisia and social networks.
“I want to suggest that the more
fundamental factors in explaining
these events are structural and his-
torical,” Beinin added, stressing the
significance of vast unemployment
and World Bank/IMF neo-liberaliza-
tion efforts in Egypt.
The Egyptian regime’s attitude
toward political demonstrations
since 2000 has been unclear, Beinin
said, citing the 2005 protests as an ex-
ample.
“There have been, since 2000, a
series of political movements that the
regime has sometimes tolerated and
sometimes repressed,” Beinin said.
Perez said, adding that the aim
was not to “reduce the level of
services,but [to] change how we
deliver the services.”
One tactic the council used
last year was contracting out
services, such as park mainte-
nance,golf course maintenance,
custodial services and adminis-
trative support.
“I don’t think there are any
negative effects other than that
staff is obviously working at ca-
pacity,” Scharff said.
Staff workload continues to
be an issue,as forty-six positions
in the city’s general fund remain
vacant.
“Some members of staff are
Students choose
completely overworked . . .
and yet some positions are still
fine,” said councilmember
Nancy Shepherd.
non-BOSP study
Scharff said the recent budg-
et cuts reflect efforts “to bal-
ance the budget and make
structural change that prevents
budget deficits in the future,” a
theme echoed by Palo Alto
Mayor Sid Espinosa.
abroad options
“We know that [staff cuts]
impact real people with fami-
lies,” Espinosa said, stressing
that structural change was
needed to make the city finan- Stanford students often hear about the pastries in
cially stable in the long-term. Paris, the karaoke in Kyoto and the soccer in Santiago
“This city council will bal- from the 800 or so students who participate in the Bing
ance our budget,”Espinosa said Overseas Study Program (BOSP) each year. By com-
in his Jan. 24 “State of the City parison, the experiences of the roughly 100 students
Address.” He emphasized that who enroll in non-BOSP programs each year have not
“there is no more critical issue been in the limelight.
Please see BUDGET, page 2
SPORTS/6
PLAYING THE PROS
Junior Bradley Klahn takes on
world No. 12 at SAP Open
CARDINAL TODAY
“You had, for the first time in 50
years, demonstrations that weren’t
simply crushed by the security
forces.”
He also said Omar Suleiman, the
recently appointed Egyptian vice
president whom the United States
backs, does not represent fundamen-
tal change from Mubarak’s 30-year
reign.
“There is a problem in American
political discourse,”he added.“Hosni
Mubarak, for decades, has been con-
sidered a moderate.”
“Why does mainstream Ameri-
can political discourse resist from
calling a spade a spade?”Beinin said.
In a discussion of the likely demo-
graphic breakdown of the Egyptian
protests, Blaydes cited poll data ex-
Courtesy of Pathik Root
SERENITY NGUYEN/The Stanford Daily
STUDENT LIFE
By ELLORA ISRANI
STAFF WRITER
Please see ABROAD, page 2
Today
Protests have raged throughout Egypt’s cities since Jan. 25, including the
port city of Alexandria (above). Professor Robert Crews moderated a discus-
sion yesterday between professors Beinin and Blaydes about the uprising.
amining Egyptian attitudes toward
peaceful protest.
“Of the men who were polled in
this sample, you had about a one in
two chance of saying you’d partici-
pate in this kind of demonstration,”
Blaydes said.
Roughly half of the Egyptian
population lives on fewer than $2 a
day, she said. Corruption is a major
grievance among Egyptians. A gov-
ernment survey showed that the
Egyptian public thought that busi-
nessmen,who often have close ties to
Mubarak, were the most corrupt
group in society.
She pointed out that Egypt is
quite conservative relative to the rest
of the Muslim world.
“We don’t know how religious
preferences might translate into
votes,” she added.
Blaydes also stressed the impor-
tance of implementing a system of
voting and governance that maxi-
mizes electoral voices and protects
the rights of women and religious mi-
norities.
Beinin cautioned that implemen-
tation and survival of democracy are
the result of struggle.
“Even in the best of circum-
stances — and I’m not so convinced
that Egypt is facing the best of cir-
cumstances — we’re not going to see
a switch turned off or on and we’ll see
democracy,” he said.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Cardona proposes
ROTC referendum
“Advisory referendum”
could appear on ballot
By KATE ABBOTT
DEPUTY EDITOR
ASSU President Angelina
Cardona ‘11 recently authored
a bill to add “advisory referen-
da” regarding ROTC to the
April ASSU elections ballot.
She proposed that the Under-
graduate Senate (UGS) and
the Graduate Student Council
(GSC) vote on the bill by next
week; it will need majority ap-
proval from both bodies in
order to be included on the
Spring 2011 election ballot.
If passed, the bill would add
“Measure A-Advisory Ques-
tion” to the ballot to gauge stu-
dent opinion concerning the
potential reinstatement of
ROTC. The ad hoc committee
currently investigating the
issue reported to the ASSU
several weeks ago.
“The presentation was ex-
tremely informative,”Cardona
said.“It was a two-way conver-
sation during which the com-
mittee answered questions
that senate had, and they re-
ceived input from senators and
other leaders.”
The committee also hosted
an open-letter campaign, a
campus-wide town hall and a
meeting with faculty and staff
to continue dialogue and ad-
dress concerns about the issue.
Cardona hopes this measure
Tomorrow
Mostly Sunny Sunny
63 42 62 41
Volume 239
Issue 7
Courtesy of Robert Joyce
“I think that we need to honor the
preferences of average Egyptians in
whatever sort of government we
have moving forward in Egypt,”
Blaydes said.
She stressed the need to redistrib-
ute income away from the very
wealthy to the masses, “who are suf-
fering under some pretty oppressive
economic conditions.”
Beinin added that the Egyptian
educational system needs a massive
overhaul in order to equip students
for citizenship, modern business and
technology.
“If you were to interrogate the
median Egyptian about a whole
range of issues, you would be horri-
fied,” Beinin said.
In response to a question from an
audience member, Beinin noted that
American endorsement of a particu-
lar candidate would only serve to de-
legitimize that candidate.
“The best thing for the United
States to do is absolutely nothing,”
Beinin said.
Beinin has written extensively
about workers, peasants and social
movements in the modern Middle
East. Blaydes’ research includes
work on Middle Eastern politics and
political economy. She has written
about political institutions in Egypt.
Contact Joshua Falk at jsfalk@stan-
ford.edu.
will provide a representation
of the student body’s opinion
on the matter.
“The idea of [the bill] came
shortly after the town hall that
the ASSU co-sponsored, and it
was clear that was the begin-
ning of a larger conversation.”
“A lot of senators and other
leaders are very supportive of
asking this question,” Cardona
said. “They think it gets at the
core of what student govern-
ment should be doing.”
Cardona said that after lis-
tening to the debate at the
town hall and seeing the com-
mittee’s presentation, she real-
ized that “there are many dif-
ferent opinions on this issue.”
“I see it as my role as presi-
dent to synthesize all of these,”
she said.
The bill proposes three op-
tions from which students can
choose: support return of
ROTC, do not support or ab-
stain. Cardona said that the
current bill is the result of sev-
eral drafts with “more neutral”
language. She said that psy-
chology professor and com-
mittee chair Ewart Thomas
was consulted and supports of
the advisory measure.
“The newest version has a
more neutral approach and
hopefully will yield better re-
sponses from the pool,” she
said.
Cardona said that she
reached out to Stanford Stu-
Please see CARDONA, page 2
Recycle Me
2 ! Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The Stanford Daily
RESEARCH
ABROAD
places not currently covered by

Professors pioneer stem cell trial

By PHILIP BUI
For the first time, researchers are
using embryonic stem cells in a clini-
cal trial to treat patients with spinal
cord injuries. The trial strives to test
whether these cells can be safely used
to treat humans.
This initial investigation of embry-
onic stem cells stands apart from
prior trials, which have all relied on
adult stem cells. If successful, it may
be expanded to larger clinical trials.
Geron Corporation, a Menlo
Park-based company that develops
cellular technology, sponsored the
trial. Overall, the trial may enroll up
to 10 patients with spinal cord injuries
in seven locations across the country.
The Stanford School of Medicine
and Santa Clara Valley Medical Cen-
ter, collaborating together, constitute
the third clinical site for the trial.Cells
will be grown at Stanford, while sur-
geries will be administered at the Val-
ley Medical Center.
At Stanford, Gary Steinberg, pro-
fessor of neurosurgery, and Marco
Lee, clinical assistant professor of
neurosurgery, have been authorized
to implement the new treatment.
“We are very excited about this
trial,” Lee said. “This trial marks the
first FDA-approved, clinical, phase-
one embryonic stem cell trial. If this
initial clinical trial proves to be safe,
the FDA will approve further trials
with a larger patient pool.”
UNIVERSITY
“Most of the people involved
would be overjoyed if there is no ad-
verse reaction,” Steinberg said.
Adding to the excitement is the
fact that Stanford and Santa Clara are
two of a limited number of institu-
tions that will have the opportunity to
carry out this research.
“Stanford is the only site west of
the Mississippi,” Steinberg said.
“Geron was very selective who got in-
vited to participate.”
Northwestern University is the
only other site that has been officially
identified by Geron. The company
has yet to disclose information on the
five remaining sites.
The company wanted facilities
that could rigorously carry out the
clinical trial and provide the neces-
sary medical support for participating
patients.The medical centers need to
be equipped to take care of patients
with spinal cord injuries.
The clinical trial recruits patients
who recently suffered a trauma or
blunt injury to the thoracic region of
the spinal cord, which stretches from
the top of the shoulder blades to the
bottom of rib cage.The patients qual-
ify as paraplegic because they have
lost motor abilities from the waist
down, including bowel control. The
participants have usually been in car
accidents and have experienced a
crushing fracture to the spine.
Individuals with penetrating
wounds, such as bullet or knife
wounds, are not qualified to enroll in
the study. Researchers have been
able to use embryonic stem cells to re-
pair blunt spinal injuries in animal
models, but not penetrating spinal in-
juries.
To participate in the trial,a patient
must notify his doctors and request to
opt-in within seven to 14 days of his
injury.
“This requires patients to come to
terms with their condition and re-
quest for the new procedure,” Lee
said. Finding suitable participants for
the trial can be difficult, because
many patients fully cannot come to
terms with their situation within two
weeks of their traumatic accidents.
Since the clinical trial is currently
in its preliminary stages,there are still
no conclusive results. Researchers do
not know if there will be adverse reac-
tions, such as tumor formation, from
the injection of stem cells into the
spinal cord.Positive animal model re-
sults are not easily transferable to hu-
mans.
But scientists remain hopeful.
“There is a lot of excitement about
this, but there is a lot of caution,”
Steinberg said. “Advances in medi-
cine are made in small steps, not
quantum leaps.That being said,we’ve
never had something like this be-
fore.”
Contact Philip Bui at pbui@stanford.
edu.
Continued from front page
The University is, however, be-
ginning to centralize information
about all study abroad programs. In
particular, it will create what BOSP
External Programs Coordinator
Naoko Sakata calls a “one-stop
shopping center” in the BOSP of-
fice. At this center, students would
find a research library with informa-
tion on nearly 300 non-Stanford
study abroad programs and concen-
trated credit evaluation procedures.
Sakata herself would act as an e-
mail resource for students consider-
ing studies abroad.
Nevertheless, BOSP director
Robert Sinclair said individual stu-
dents largely determine Stanford’s
involvement when they make their
arrangements through external
programs.
“What we offer is the resource
and contact points and advice,” Sin-
clair said. “Students who decide to
do it are really doing it by them-
selves. They do it through the pro-
grams which they apply for.”
According to Sakata, transfer
credit is not guaranteed for non-
Stanford study abroad programs.
Students must make decisions
about whether to seek transfer
credit and when to do so.
“They have to work with our of-
fice in order to have the courses
evaluated with transfer credit,”
Sakata said. “Students have an op-
tion to request transfer credit pre-
approval before they go, or even be-
fore making the decision to apply to
the program. Or, they can wait until
Stanford’s programs — especially
the Middle East, where Sakata esti-
mates half of non-BOSP students
choose to go. In addition, students
facing scheduling conflicts, required
courses and long athletic seasons
during the school year may choose
to study abroad during the summer
instead.
For Alice Bosley ‘11, who spent
16 weeks studying in Morocco
through AMIDEAST, a quarter
abroad simply didn’t seem like
enough time.
“I feel like a quarter is a little bit
too short to go abroad,” Bosley said.
“In terms of going abroad and
living with a host family for a while,
I thought doing a semester-long
program would fit what I wanted to
get from abroad more than a quar-
ter system would,” she added.
Bosley chose to study in Moroc-
co because of her longstanding in-
terest in Africa and the Middle East,
and her desire to utilize the Arabic
she studied at Stanford. But most
people Bosley knows are still in-
clined to take advantage of the
BOSP programs, often for logistical
simplicity. This leads to certain
trade-offs.
“A lot of Stanford programs
abroad kind of transfer the Stanford
bubble to a new city,” she said.“And
while, obviously, you’re living with
your host family and getting the
abroad experience, from people I
talked to while I was abroad, it kind
of seemed like it was Stanford all
over again.”
In contrast, Bosley was thrilled
to meet “a whole group of new peo-
ple” during her studies in Morocco.
As BOSP considers opening
new centers around the world, it

Despite rise in S&P, BUDGET after they complete the program

and petition after they return to the
campus.”
may consider the interests of non-
BOSP study abroad students and
open centers in places where those
Continued from front page Students enrolled in non-BOSP students are concentrated, includ-
programs must also take a leave of

fundraising declines
By ISAAC GATENO
Donations to the University de-
clined by 6.4 percent for fiscal year
2010. Despite the drop, Stanford re-
mained at the top of U.S. college
fundraising, collecting $599 million
for the 12-month period that ended
in June 2010.
This puts Stanford right above
Harvard, which raised $597 million.
During the same period, however,
the S&P 500 increased 12 percent.
“It is certainly the case that
many of our donors have been im-
pacted by the recent financial tur-
moil, which likely influenced their
short-term decision-making about
philanthropy,” wrote Rebecca
Smith Vogel, assistant vice presi-
dent of the Office of Development,
in an e-mail to The Daily.
Smith Vogel also pointed to the
timeline for the Stanford Challenge
campaign as a possible cause for the
lull in donations. The Stanford
Challenge is a five-year campaign
to raise $4.3 billion for multidiscipli-
nary research, support for K-12 ed-
ucation and undergraduate pro-
grams and support for the Universi-
ty’s core teaching and research.
The fact that the program is cur-
rently in its final year may account
for the current state of donations,
Smith Vogel said.
“It is not unusual to see overall
giving dip in the middle years of a
multi-year campaign, since many of
the larger gift commitments were
secured in the early years to get the
campaign off to a strong start,” she
said.
Smith Vogel also noted that, de-
spite the dip in the dollar-value of
donations, the number of individual
donors rose to a record 76,487 in
2010. The new record represents an
8.5 percent increase over fiscal year
2009. Smith Vogel stated that this
increase is a signal “that donors are
very committed to Stanford, its mis-
sion, its faculty and its students.”
“It bodes well for the future,” she
added.
The University’s financial health
is bolstered by another factor; The
Stanford Fund received a record-
setting contribution of $20,208,377
last year.
With the recession, the endow-
ment took a large hit at the same
time that student need rose signifi-
cantly. The Stanford Fund, along
with other annual gifts, was one of
the primary sources of funding for
undergraduate student aid during
the economic turndown.
Overall, giving levels rose over
the past 10 years, a trend that is ex-
pected to continue.
Contact Isaac Gateno at igateno@
stanford.edu.
ing the Middle East.
absence from the University since “Certainly we are looking at new
facing our city.”
they are not enrolled in Stanford opportunities for more formalized
Speaking on Palo Alto’s predict-
courses. This break in enrollment overseas study in new locations,”
ed budget gap in 2012,Scharff said,“I
means a break in financial aid dur- Sinclair said. “And of course the
think it’s manageable for the city,and
ing the time spent abroad. Middle East is one of the top priori-
the city is on the right fiscal path.”
Sakata said there are two major ties.”
reasons students choose non-BOSP
Pensions and infrastructure
programs: location and timing. Contact Ellora Israni at ellora@stan-
In addition to falling tax revenues,
Many students want to study in ford.edu.
increasing retirement and healthcare
costs contributed to the city’s deficit.
This, in turn, led the council to estab-
lish a two-tier pension system.
“Part of the difficult choices we
made was restructuring our pension
program,” Perez said. “The bigger,
looming picture that we won’t be ad-
dressing for 2012 is our infrastruc-
ture needs.”
The city currently has a backlog
of almost $500 million in infrastruc-
ture needs.
Espinosa began early on in his ad-
dress by saying, “Palo Alto is no ex-
ception”to the negative effects of the
recession. He later acknowledged,
“Like many cities, we also have a
major infrastructure backlog.”
“There’s far more good news
here than there is bad,” Espinosa
said, arguing that “transformative
policy-making often happens best in
times of change.”
Dealing with the city’s deficit for
2012, which will be the focus of up-
coming talks, “will probably involve
some difficult choices and potential
reduction of further services,” Perez
said.
One uncertain aspect will be the
proposed Stanford University Med-
ical Center Renewal Project. Stan-
ford recently put forward an offer of
$173 million in community benefits

CARDONA
Continued from front page
dents for Queer Liberation (SSQL)
president Alok Vaid-Menon ‘13 and
other leaders in the LGBTQ com-
munity when drafting the language
of the bill.
“I see it as a concrete platform
for both sides to talk to the wider
student body about these issues and
give the students a deliverable,” she
said.
When the decision was made to
remove ROTC from campus, there
was a campus-wide student vote,
Cardona said.
She stressed that the results of
the vote would be a “piece of the
larger conversation and debate,”
and the outcome would not be in-
dicative of the committee’s find-
ings.
Contact at kmabbott@stanford.edu.
to the city. With regard to this issue,
Scharff thought that Stanford and
Palo Alto were “working really well
together.”
But the manner in which the hos-
pital expansion factors into the city’s
finances remains unclear.
“Until the project is approved, it
wouldn’t be prudent for us to count
those dollars for 2012 yet,” Perez
said.
Contact Margaret Rawson at
marawson@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily Tuesday, February 8, 2011 ! 3
FEATURES
Down with Gravity brings the circus to White Plaza
By MARWA FARAG
DESK EDITOR
L
ike most Friday after-
noons,White Plaza is fairly
empty aside from the oc-
casional student bemoan-
ing an upcoming problem
set that looms darkly over his week-
end and another cheerful stroller
who appears inordinately pleased
that the end of the week has arrived.
But come 3 p.m., a new diversion
has appeared on the lawn outside of
the bookstore: a small group of guys
quietly juggling plastic balls.
Within the half hour, another
two jugglers have arrived, and a
crate of props emerges from some-
where in Old Union. The equip-
ment varies from balls to clubs,cigar
boxes and hacky sacks.
Soon, the small patch of grass be-
tween the Claw and the passing bi-
cycles has become a lively juggling
ring. The number of performers
swells, children stop by to learn and
laugh and a few students take a mo-
ment in passing to watch clubs fly-
ing through the air in impossibly
controlled patterns.
Despite its spontaneous feel, the
gathering marks the weekly meet-
ing of Stanford’s juggling club,
Down with Gravity.
“I’ve been juggling for about
nine years,” said Michael Pearce ‘13.
“And I’ve been a member of this
BRYANT TAN/The Stanford Daily
club for eight.”
Teaching
Pearce, who shares the world
record for greatest number of clubs
juggled at one time, has been com-
ing up to Stanford from San Jose
every Friday afternoon since mid-
dle school to throw things around
with the group.
“The first time I showed up here
I was 12 years old, and they just
completely welcomed me in,”
Pearce said.
At this moment, a young boy
asking for instructions on how to
juggle pieces of colored cloth inter-
rupts him mid-train of thought. He
instantly turns to assist the inquir-
ing child.
“Practice throwing it from the
hand holding two pieces of cloth
first,” Pearce explains, kneeling
down on the grass to demonstrate.
The boy nods solemnly and fur-
rows his brow in intense focus. A
few minutes later he’s got it, and a
little girl comes up asking him to
teach her too.
Further away, four jugglers are
practicing passing clubs, throwing
out words like “feast” and “havana”
to denote different formations.
After what sounds like some
complicated engineering, one of the
jugglers, Jeremy Keeshin’12, calls
out:
“Up . . . down . . . “
And suddenly, juggling clubs are
thrown in every direction, with each
Please see JUGGLE, page 5
4 ! Tuesday, February 8, 2011
OPINIONS
N O F REE LUNCH
Choices
I
f you ever go out for a meal with
me, a bit of fair warning: you
might want to bring something to
do for the first 10 minutes of the
meal. Like a crossword puzzle. Or
homework. From the minute that I
get a menu to when the waiter comes
by to take the order, I can be a pret-
ty terrible dining companion, poring
over the menu like I’m studying for a
midterm. Sure, I’ll nod here and
there, chuckle at the right times, slip
in some “mm-hmm”s and “do tell me
more”s, but I’ll really be racking my
brain over whether I should get the
pork or the fish. See, I want to try
everything, but, like all humans not
named Takeru Kobayashi, I can only
eat so much, so choosing just one op-
tion becomes about as big a crisis as
they come for me. Of course, just as
all my study time never seems to stop
me from failing on my midterms, my
intense menu perusing never helps
me settle on a dish by the time the
waiter comes over.
So, when the waiter asks me what
I want, I end up having to blurt out
the first thing that comes to mind.
The first time this happened, I was
mildly terrified of what I’d done, but
I’ve become used to, and now even
embrace, these “game-time deci-
sions.” Sixty percent of the time, it
works very well, but really, it works
every time.Sometimes,I just knock it
out of the park (like the time that I
picked out the world’s best corn dog
at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk), but
I’ve found that I usually end up
happy regardless of what gets placed
in front of me.
I tend to make other decisions at
the very last minute, too.And as with
my meals, despite all the worrying I
do beforehand, it always seems to
work out in the end. Friday after-
noon, I had to make one of the
biggest decisions of my life so far,de-
ciding whether I would be taking a
job in Houston or a job here. For the
past two weeks, I’d been asking my
parents for advice, talking to my
friends, doing research on living in
Houston and in San Francisco,think-
ing about how each position would
be best for my career, considering
where I’d be happiest and pretty
much just getting myself into the
worst tizzy. I was trying to be as ra-
tional and thorough as possible, but
the more rational and thorough I
got, the more confused I became. On
Tim
Moon
Thursday, I was up all night working
on an assignment due Friday. The
next morning, by the time I finished
up, I only had a couple of hours left
before I had to call the company in
Houston and let them know my de-
cision. I thought about just staying
up and going over my options one
last time, but I decided to quite liter-
ally “sleep on it” instead, figuring I
didn’t want to be incoherent when I
made the call.When my alarm woke
me up a couple of hours later, the de-
cision just popped into my head: I
would be keeping my talents in the
Bay Area.
It might seem a little strange that
I spend so much time weighing the
different options before seemingly
ignoring everything I’d considered
to make a decision based on a gut re-
action, but these gut reactions actu-
ally tend to work out because of all
that thinking. If I’m making choices,
I’ve probably filtered out the really
bad options already, so any choice is
going to be better than okay. After
that, it’s just a matter of being happy
with the choice and not peeking over
at the grass on the other side. Be-
sides, uncertainty can be fun, even
more so when you’re certain to
make a good choice. That’s still un-
certainty, I think.
Some might call the say-some-
thing-at-the-last-minute-because-I-
don’t-want-to-think-more method
lazy. I call it being risky, being bad,
being James Dean (who, in case
you’re under the same mistaken im-
pression that I used to be under, is
not the same person as delicious
sausage-maker Jimmy Dean). Yes,
let’s think of it that way; the next
time we go out to eat, the 10 minutes
of menu reading is just me getting
ready to be full of badness. Maybe
you don’t need to bring anything
after all — it’ll be quite a show.
Tim is trying to figure out where to go
for dinner. Set him up for a game-time
decision by e-mailing suggestions to
timmoon@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily
Established 1892 AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
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Send letters to the editor to eic@stanforddaily.com, op-eds to editorial@stanforddaily.com and photos or videos to multimedia@stanford
daily.com. Op-eds are capped at 700 words and letters are capped at 500 words.
I H AVE T WO H EADS
The Terrible
Twenty-Somethings
F
or many of us, turning 21 might seen more costumes than I have
mark our last-ever birthday since elementary school, as well as
when we feel like we’ve hit an more neon-colored beads and slip-
exciting milestone. Ten was double n-slides. On-campus housing
digits; 16 was sweet; 18 made us legal. themes continually play on words
From here on out, other than saying involving Nickelodeon and Disney.
that our frontal lobes are finally fully My friends sometimes engage in a
developed (so there!) when we turn surprising amount of reminiscing
25, we’re just getting older. about favorite childhood movies,
Yet, 21 isn’t the beginning of the books and TV shows. Just watch me,
rest of our lives, not in the sense of the Stanford student seems to be
sinking into full-fledged adulthood. saying. Even in the midst of
Technically, almost all of us at Stan- midterms and problem sets and
ford are adults, yet it strikes me how pressure to think about my future, I
much of a transition stage we’re still can still embrace my youthful side!
undergoing. High school may be the If “coolness” still exists here like it
time of so-called teenage angst, but existed in high school, then being
college introduces a fresh dilemma: cool seems to be largely based on
during our four years as undergrad- proving how committed one can be
uates, we find ourselves highly con- to a slew of responsibilities, while si-
scious of the fact that we are no multaneously proving how un-seri-
longer kids, but we do not always ously one takes oneself. Even as we
feel like adults, either. We adopt strive to make a difference in the
more serious responsibility, make world, I wonder if we all secretly
more decisions that affect others in long to be five years old again.
addition to ourselves and discover Naptime, finger-painting and
more about what we want to be- other kindergarten perks aside,
come — and then we dress up like there is no denying that the average
zoo animals and yowl across the Stanford student is exceptionally
floor at that night’s campus party. aware of the larger world issues
Since coming to Stanford, I’ve upon which one can build a career, a
political stance or any amount of
grown-up things. We all know that
goofball from down the hall who can
still pack a punch when he speaks up
in class. So what, then, does our de-
termination to mix work with a
healthy dose of play say about us?
Are we each facing a sort of existen-
tial crisis as we grow up, unwilling to
commit ourselves to one age-based
stereotype over another?
In truth, college seems to be a
time when we straddle the fence
between two phases of develop-
ment. Adulthood still feels too new
for us to embrace fully, and for
many of us, our status as students is
the same as it has always been, nine
months out of every year, ever since
we were too young to remember.
Simply by pursuing our studies, we
claim our place in a strange sort of
limbo: legally independent, but still
not unleashed into the real world.
You know, that place out there with
responsibilities. Like cooking for
yourself and paying the bills and —
and — we’ll find out when we get
to it.
The Stanford Daily
Incorporated 1973
Tonight’s Desk Editors
Joshua Falk
News Editor
Jacob Jaffe
Sports Editor
Marwa Farag
Sports Editor
Zack Hoberg
Photo Editor
Stephanie Weber
Copy Editor
Rachel
Kolb
For me, this transition period be-
tween youth and adulthood has
been a welcome opportunity to
change and discover my identity,
and it seems to be engrained into the
Stanford undergraduate experi-
ence, from freshman dorms to de-
claring our majors. Still, I can’t help
but wonder whether it is merely an
indulgence. This past summer, the
New York Times Magazine pub-
lished an article called “What is It
About Twenty-Somethings?” that
has lingered in my mind ever since.
In sum, this piece investigated the
argument that the current genera-
tion of individuals in their twenties
— or our generation, the millennials
— isn’t growing up as quickly as
generations past. Even with liberal
arts educations, they are slower to
sever ties from adolescent habits
and slower to get settled into re-
sponsibility, a career and a family.
Whether this “twenty-something”
stage is a modern phenomenon or
not, it begs the question: at what
point does our youthful indecision
become counterproductive to ac-
complishing real-life goals? At what
point is society better served if we
stop taking our upbringings for
granted, bite the bullet and accept
our status as adults? Yet we cannot
discount the flip side of this ques-
tion: whether individuals from our
generation might better approach
self-satisfaction simply by taking the
time to understand the world
around them better.
Whatever the answer to these
questions, vitality, wanderlust and
self-discovery frequently seem to
define this ambivalent stage in our
lives. And, in the end, maybe I’m
overemphasizing the differences
between youth and adulthood. My
own father turned 50 this year, but
whenever I think of him, I always vi-
sualize his boundless energy and
sometimes 12-year-old sense of
humor. Maybe, once we find our
balance in life, we really are only as
old as we feel.
Think Rachel should take up finger-
painting as a hobby? Send her your lat-
est artwork at rkolb@stanford.edu.
The Stanford Daily Tuesday, February 8, 2011 ! 5

BRYANT TAN/The Stanford Daily

JUGGLE
the balls are thrown higher and the
clubs seem to multiply.
Those who have been practicing
Continued from page 3 for a while are starting to see re-
sults, and the boys are getting more
creative with their formations. Red
juggler flinging and catching much and blue balls rest on the green
faster than the eye can follow. grass, left behind by those who gave
Passersby stop and pick up up or moved on to fancier pieces.
props. Some have never juggled be- Jugglers cycle in and out, trading
fore, while others explain that in pencils for hacky sacks and
they’ve juggled “a little bit” and frowns for smiles. They show off
proceed to effortlessly throw and
catch four, five and six balls.
The members of the club are
happy to help both. Max Cougar
Oswald ‘12 shows a curious kid how
to juggle cigar boxes. Keeshin’s
group invites a new addition into
“Sometimes
their formation.
“It’s great to have a community
where I can mess around and pick
up tricks,” Pearce said, commenting
on the group’s openness.
it’s just fun
Down with Gravity was founded
in 2001 by Miguel Chaves ‘05, and
has maintained its inclusive nature,
as well as its Friday afternoon gath-
erings on White Plaza, ever since.
“We’d meet right here on Friday
throwing
afternoons at 3 p.m. until it was too
dark to juggle,” said Jacob Bien
B.S., M.S. ‘06, Ph.D. ‘12 who first
joined the club as a freshman in
2002.
things back
Bien, who met the original mem-
bers of Down with Gravity at his
Admit Weekend in 2002, has been
affiliated with the group for almost
10 years.
“There’s a core group of guys in
and forth.”
the group,” said Charlie Dunn’11,
the current club president, “but the
Friday meeting is open to every-
— Jeremy Keeshin’12
one.”
In addition to Friday gatherings,
the “core group” is responsible for their updated repertoire and join
performances. Down with Gravity others in passing clubs.
performed last Thursday at the “[Down with Gravity] is what-
half-time show of the men’s basket- ever the people in the club want to
ball game and is planning on doing make of it,” Dunn said.
the same at this Thursday’s game. The laughs and the flying colors
They are also hoping to do a bigger make it easy to see the appeal of
show during spring quarter, which juggling — a simple, playful type of
would be a first for the club. fun that is so often forgotten be-
The group also runs workshops tween lectures and readings and
in the surrounding area for chil- midterms.
dren. Next Friday, they will be “Sometimes its just fun throw-
teaching their tricks to children at ing things back and forth,” Keeshin
the Northstar Academy in Red- said. “And sometimes you can do
wood City. more interesting patterns.”
“Almost everyone is in math, CS “It’s a great way to wind down
or physics,” remarked Keeshin, not- from all the p-sets,” added another
ing a trend in club involvement. club member, Sam Hochheimer’13.
Other than sharing an affinity The outdoor location, the inclu-
for numbers and throwing props sivity and the casual atmosphere all
into the air, however, the boys are add up to one simple aim, articulat-
remarkably different in execution ed by Dunn.
— each has his own style and pref- “The main goal is to have a good
erence in juggling props. A few ac- time on Friday afternoon,” he said,
tually abandon juggling altogether throwing three balls into the air ef-
and hop onto a unicycle. On other fortlessly.
Fridays, slack-rope walkers join the
circus. Contact Marwa Farag at mfarag@
As the afternoon winds down, stanford.edu.
6 ! Tuesday, February 8, 2011 The Stanford Daily

SPORTS
Wyndam
Makowsky
Between the lines

Fields,not
Griffin,puts
‘R’in ROY
B
lake Griffin will be the
NBA’s 2010-2011 Rookie
of the Year. This is indis-
putable. It’ll almost cer-
tainly be unanimous. He’s
an All-Star in his first season.He aver-
ages nearly 23 points and 13 rebounds
per game.He’s liable to throw down at
least one “Oh my gosh!” dunk per
contest.For a league predicated on in-
human athleticism,Griffin takes it to a
new level.
But he shouldn’t be the Rookie of
the Year.Not because there’s any first-
year player better than him — there’s
no one close — but because he’s not a
true rookie. Griffin was the first over-
all pick in the 2009 draft,but he missed
the entirety of the 2009-2010 season
with a broken left kneecap.NBA rules
stipulate that because he never took
to the court during that year,his status
as a “rookie” remains intact.
And yet,it shouldn’t.He signed his
contract in July 2009, played in the
Summer League and was, in fact,
named MVP. The Summer League
teams are made up of rookies as well
as young veterans and players who
have prior NBA experience. He
played the entire preseason and prac-
ticed extensively with the Clippers be-
fore his injury. This begets a simple
fact:Griffin has had the invaluable ex-
perience of being around an NBA
team and learning about the game at
the professional level.Just being in the
locker room is advantageous. When
he was rehabbing, he was able to do it
with the world’s best trainers.
Simply put, when he played in his
first NBA game this fall, he was on a
different level from other NBA rook-
ies who,while Griffin was making mil-
lions and working with professionals
of the highest echelon last season,
were almost all amateurs.
It’s a first-time issue for the NBA.
In its history, the NBA has given the
award to someone from a prior draft
class three times, but none had Grif-
fin’s experience. Jerry Lucas was
SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily drafted in 1962, but didn’t sign until
Sophomore Ashley Morgan won the all-around competition with a score of 39.325 to help No. 2 Stanford defeat San Jose State on Saturday. The Car- 1963. Larry Bird was chosen in 1978,
dinal won every event en route to its highest score of the season in a 196.975-193.825 thumping of the Spartans to keep its undefeated record alive. but went back to college for another
season before inking a deal with the
Boston Celtics. David Robinson was

SWEEPING THE SPARTANS

Card wins every
event against SJSU
By BROOKE DAVIS
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
On Saturday, the No. 2 Stanford
women’s gymnastics team (9-0)
walked away from its meet against
San Jose State with its highest score
of the season.
San Jose State (6-2) was unable
to capture first place in any event of
the day, although junior Thomasina
Wallace and senior Lily Swann
came close. Wallace tied Stanford
junior Alyssa Brown for second
place on the bars, with both earning
SPORTS BRIEFS
Klahn, Thacher to compete at SAP Open
Junior Bradley Klahn, the reigning NCAA
a score of 9.850. Neither score came
close to threatening Stanford junior
Nicole Pechanec’s career-best score
of 9.925.
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS
STANFORD 196.975
SAN JOSE STATE 193.825
2/5, San Jose
Swann followed behind
Stanford sophomore Ashley Mor-
gan for the best all-around score of
the meet. Swann’s 38.800 trailed the
39.325 of Morgan, whose win now
marked her best all-around score of
the season.
Stanford took first place in every
event and ended up with a final
score of 196.975, prevailing over the
Spartans’ score of 193.825. The
MEN’S GYMNASTICS
Dixon earns spot on men’s
Card could not match its season
highs on vault and balance beam
from the Utah meet, while the un-
even bars record still stands from
the Pac-10 Showcase.
Stanford did manage to set one
season-best on Saturday, posting a
score of 49.450 on the floor exercise.
Ashley Morgan took first on the
floor with a score of 9.925, which
tied her career best.She has success-
fully scored a 9.925 on the floor in
the past five meets. Her teammate,
freshman Shona Morgan from Mel-
bourne, Australia, matched Ash-
ley’s 9.925 with an equal mark of her
own, grabbing a tie for first place. In
total,six Stanford gymnasts — Ash-
ley Morgan, Shona Morgan,
Pechanec, freshman Kristina Vacu-
lik, senior Shelley Alexander and
drafted in 1987,but because he gradu-
ated from Annapolis, he had to first
serve in the Navy and didn’t enter the
league until 1989. Never has a player
signed a contract with an NBA team,
missed a season, then gone on to win
Rookie of the Year in his following
campaign.
sophomore Nicole Dayton —
scored season bests on the floor ex-
The NFL doesn’t allow this to hap-
pen. Of the “big four” American
ercise as all six scored above a 9.8.
The meet against San Jose was
Shona Morgan’s first of the season,as
sports, it is the closest comparison to
the NBA (at least in this case), be-
cause both the MLB and NHL have
she recovers from a knee injury.Nev-
finely developed minor league sys-
ertheless,she not only tied for first on
tems that impact eligibility,since play-
the floor, but she tied for first on the
ers are recalled and sent back down
beam as well,equaling Brown’s mark
with remarkable frequency.The NFL
of 9.850.The beam was a strong event
has nothing of the sort,and the NBA’s
for Stanford, as Cardinal gymnasts
Development League is still in its in-
had the top six scores.
fancy and has yet to work out all of its
Stanford will continue its season
kinks — it has a long way to go to
at the Chicago Style Invitational, a
reach that level.
meet that will play host to No. 10
In the NFL,although the exact rule
UCLA, No. 6 Oregon State and the
is nearly impossible to find, once you
Cardinal this Friday at 5:30 p.m.
are on a team, your rookie year be-
P.S.T. at Navy Pier in Chicago.
gins. Take the example of Willis Mc-
Gahee.When he was drafted in 2003,
Contact Brooke Davis at bedavis@
McGahee was rehabbing tears of his
stanford.edu.
ACL, PCL and MCL in his left knee.
He never made it onto the field in
2003 and debuted in 2004. In that, his
first year, he rushed for 1,128 yards
and 13 touchdowns. He would have
been a strong contender for Offensive
Rookie of the Year (the award went to
Ben Roethlisberger),but he wasn’t al-
lowed to be in the conversation.
Which, ultimately, is correct. Mc-

national gymnastics team

singles champion in men’s tennis, has earned a
wild-card entry to the SAP Open in San Jose
this week. Klahn will be matched up in the
first round with Frenchman Gael Monfils, the
No. 12 player in the world, on Wednesday.
This will not be the first time Klahn has
faced off with one of the world’s best players
in a professional tournament. Last summer,
Klahn earned a wild-card entry to the U.S.
Open, where he took on fellow American Sam
Querrey, then ranked No. 20 in the world, in
the first round. Klahn won a set against Quer-
rey and held his own in a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss.
In that same tournament, Klahn beat Mon-
fils in doubles. Paired with fellow American
Tim Smyczek, Klahn handily defeated Mon-
fils and his partner Marc Gicquel, 6-1, 6-2, in
the first round. The duo was then eliminated
by the eventual winners and No. 1 team in the
Please see TENNIS, page 8
By JENNY PETER
STAFF WRITER
Stanford senior gymnast Josh Dixon earned a
spot on the U.S. national team after placing sixth
in the all-around at the Winter Cup Challenge
this weekend. Dixon is one of five new members
appointed to the team from the Las Vegas meet,
which determined the national team spots.Dixon
will be on the team until August 2011 and will
participate in a competition at the 2011 VISA
Championships this summer in St. Paul, Minn.
Seven other members of the Cardinal team
competed as individuals at the event to boost
their NCAA national ranking and to vie for spots
on the national team. Dixon scored a 168.8 over
the two-day competition, with a strong showing
on his best event, the floor exercise. He placed
second with marks of 15.05 and 15.45. Senior Tim
Gentry placed eighth overall and second on the
still rings at 14.7 and 15.05.
Also competing for Stanford were redshirt
senior Nick Noone, seniors Alex Buscaglia and
Ryan Lieberman,redshirt sophomore John Mar-
tin and freshmen Chris Turner and Cale Robin-
son.
“It was a great learning experience for all our
gymnasts competing,” said head coach Thom
Glielmi. “Each athlete’s experience, focus and
preparation was unique to their needs, but there
Please see MGYM, page 8
Gahee, even when he was injured,
was, like Griffin, around a profession-
al team, rehabbing with the best and
absorbing knowledge that you’d only
find in an NFL environment. Like
Griffin,he had a step up when he final-
ly got a chance to play.
But why do we care? Because if
Griffin wasn’t eligible, the Rookie of
the Year, if he keeps up his current
production, would most probably be
none other than Stanford’s Landry
Fields, a second-round pick of the
New York Knicks and the biggest sur-
prise of the 2010 draft class. Though
he’d have competition from DeMar-
cus Cousins and John Wall, Fields
would likely be the current frontrun-
ner, and he presents a strong case. A
Please see MAKOWSKY, page 8
The Stanford Daily Tuesday, February 8, 2011 ! 7

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8 ! Tuesday, February 8, 2011
MGYM
Continued from page 6
was one common goal — to hit all
their routines. Josh was 11 for 12,
and Tim was 10 for 12. The other
gymnasts had poor showings on the
first day, and that made it tough to
move into the top group.”
Six of the men advanced to the
final round on Saturday after Thurs-
day’s rocky preliminary round. The
team met some of its expectations
coming into the meet, but also
missed others.
“We had a great opportunity to
land several gymnasts on the na-
tional team,”Dixon said.“However,
small mistakes and a tough first day
of competition played a major role
in the end result. At this level, con-
sistency is the name of the game,and
this early in the competitive season,
if you hit 10 or 11 out of 12 routines,
your chances of earning a spot on
the team are very high.”
Besides Dixon and Gentry’s top-
eight finishes,Turner also fared well
in the all-around at 18th.Turner fin-
ished 10th on the pommel horse
with a 13.4 and 13.3. Robinson also
had an impressive third-place finish
on vault with a 15.95 and 15.85.
Buscaglia placed 23rd in the all-
around.The highlight came from his
second-place finish in the horizontal
bar, scoring a huge 15.8 the first day
and 14.9 in the final round. Martin
hit a solid pommel horse routine for
a fifth-place finish,while Noone was
the first-place finisher on parallel
bars in his session with a season-best
14.35.
In the final round, the men were
more consistent with their work,
supported each other and show-
cased their preparation.
“Really, day two of competition
was a highlight in itself,” Dixon said.
“Our Stanford group had an entire
rotation to itself, and we were nail-
ing routine after routine . . . We re-
ally had the luxury of treating it like
a team-format competition simply
because we had the numbers and we
were all familiar with the guy going
before and after us. In such an ‘indi-
vidual competition,’ having a group
of teammates around you is a major
advantage.”
Before entering the internation-
al circuit, Dixon will continue to
compete with the top-ranked Cardi-
nal through the NCAA National
Championships in April. Stanford
will next compete in the Gold Coun-
try Classic meet on Saturday at 7
p.m. in Oakland.
Contact Jenny Peter at jpeter12@stan-
ford.edu.
NADIA MUFTI/The Stanford Daily
The No. 1 Stanford men’s gymnastics team had a strong showing at the Winter Cup Classic in Las Vegas, led by
senior Josh Dixon, who placed second in floor exercise and sixth overall to earn a spot on the U.S. national team.
TENNIS
Continued from page 6
world, Bob and Mike Bryan.
Klahn will be joined at the SAP
Open by classmate Ryan Thacher,
and the pair will take part in the
doubles competition. The two left-
ies reached the semifinals of the
ΣΑςΕ Α ΛΙΦΕ. ∆ΟΝ∏Τ ∆ΡΙςΕ ΗΟΜΕ ΒΥΖΖΕ∆.
ΒΥΖΖΕ∆ ∆ΡΙςΙΝΓ ΙΣ ∆ΡΥΝΚ ∆ΡΙςΙΝΓ.
Junior Bradley Klahn (foreground) earned a wild-card entry to the SAP Open
in San Jose. After competing with fellow junior Ryan Thacher (background)
in doubles on Tuesday, Klahn will take on world No. 12 Gael Monfils on
Wednesday night in singles. The event will take place at HP Pavilion.
The Stanford Daily
MAKOWSKY
Continued from page 6
starter since his first game, Fields
leads all NBA guards in rebounding
while averaging 10.2 points per game.
He’s first among rookies in three-
point shooting percentage, second in
steals per game, third in double-dou-
bles and fourth in general shooting
percentage, even besting Griffin, a
forward, in the latter category. His
plus/minus (a stat measuring team
performance when a player is on the
court) is 110 on the season — best on
the Knicks.
“Now we’ve got
Muddy Fields
because he doesn’t
mind getting dirty.”
—SPIKE LEE
It’s easy to see why: Fields has a
knack for the ball and basketball in-
stincts that are practically unteach-
able.He’s the ideal “glue”player who
can also explode when you need him
too — he dropped 25 points on the
Sixers over the weekend. Spike Lee,
the world’s most visible Knicks fan,
has been wearing a Fields jersey to
practically every home game. He ex-
plains: “There’s Muddy Waters; now
we’ve got Muddy Fields because he
doesn’t mind getting dirty, doing the
little things.” That style of play has
made him a fan favorite and has
drawn a comparison from his own
general manager to Hall of Famer
John Havlicek. For his efforts, he was
named Eastern Conference Rookie
of the Month for November and De-
cember, and was a finalist for the
honor in January.
Fields will not become the first
second-rounder in the modern era to
win the Rookie of the Year award.
But if the NBA had the correct eligi-
bility requirements in place, he’d be
leading the pack heading into the All-
Star break.
Wyndam Makowsky doesn’t feel any
connection to a player from his fa-
vorite college and pro team.Ask him
how many other candidates he’s
Facebook friends with at makowsky
@stanford.edu.
NCAA Championships last spring,
and the pair has won five doubles ti-
tles.
Klahn and Thacher will match
up with third-seeded Dustin Brown
and Rogier Wassen on Tuesday af-
ternoon at the Courtside Club in
Los Gatos before Klahn and Mon-
fils play at center court at HP Pavil-
ion in the nightcap on Wednesday.
— Jacob Jaffe
SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily