Riya Mirchandaney – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com Breaking news from the Farm since 1892 Fri, 20 Oct 2017 17:12:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://stanforddaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cropped-DailyIcon-CardinalRed.png?w=32 Riya Mirchandaney – The Stanford Daily https://stanforddaily.com 32 32 204779320 Award-winning authors Tretheway, Klay and Sagan read, discuss ‘Writing About War’ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/08/02/tretheway-klay-and-sagan-read-discuss-writing-about-war/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/08/02/tretheway-klay-and-sagan-read-discuss-writing-about-war/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2015 05:14:44 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102590 Award-winning authors Natasha Tretheway and Phil Klay united poetry, war and philosophy at Stanford Live’s Writing About War event on Tuesday, June 30

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Award-winning authors Natasha Tretheway and Phil Klay united poetry, war and philosophy at Stanford Live’s Writing About War event on Tuesday, June 30. The event included a set of readings and a discussion led by Scott Sagan, professor of political science and senior fellow at both the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Center for International Security and Cooperation.

Sagan began the discussion with reference to a famous quote by John Adams: that war must be studied before the humanities and sciences, and the humanities and sciences before the arts.

“Now, I think it’s highly unusual, indeed almost sacrilegious at a meeting of the American Academy to say anything critical of John Adams,” Sagan said.

Marine Corps veteran Klay relied heavily on humor in his storytelling. He read excerpts from “Redeployment,” his first book of short stories, which were chock-full of witty banter in the face of grim situations.

Klay explained that most people expect war stories to be predominantly bleak, but his stories aim to dispel that image.

“Soldiers are really funny!” Klay said. “What else are you going to do? Sit around, saying, ‘War is hell,’ then shoot yourself in the head?”

Despite his experiences, Klay’s book is not autobiographical. While he did pull parts of his stories from his own wartime experiences, he interviewed other veterans and conducted old-fashioned research, too. Attention to detail was extremely important in his writing process, said Klay, for any small part of a war story could have intense significance.

“I wrote with this sort of imaginary line of veterans waiting to kick the crap out of me,” Klay said.

Klay also acknowledges, however, that it is impossible to write a war story without some dissent from those with firsthand experience of the war.

“If you could bring back a Trojan war veteran and have them read ‘The Iliad,’ they would do nothing but bitch!” Klay said. “It’ll be, ‘We didn’t wear that armor; we didn’t fight in phalanxes… and I’m the one who killed Hector! You should read my memoirs!’”

Tretheway is a former Poet Laureate and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University. Tretheway’s poetry, with its vivid imagery and clever wordplay, is based on the Civil War.

Tretheway did extensive research for her poetry, especially at the Library of Congress, where she found collections of letters from soldiers stationed at Ship Island. These letters were often quoted and served as the inspiration for her poems.

One of the most prominent concepts in Tretheway’s poetry was that of race during the Civil War. After black Union troops were shot down by white Union sailors, Colonel Nathanial Daniels of the Louisiana Native Guards gave a speech, a record of which Tretheway found in Daniels’ diary during her research.

“[Daniels] wrote… ‘Their names shall deck the page of history,’” Tretheway said. “That was the thing that got to me the most.”

But despite Daniels’ quote, Tretheway explained that she does not see those black Union soldiers’ names on the page of history.

“I’m a native Mississippian, and I grew up between Mississippi and Georgia, so I grew up in the land of the Lost Cause Ideology, the land of the Confederate flag,” Tretheway said.

“I grew up in a place where, if you were visiting from somewhere else and didn’t know the outcome, based on all the monuments, you might think the South won the [Civil War],” she added.

For Tretheway, monuments are one of the many ways we inscribe the memory of wars onto both our physical landscape and cultural imagination.

“It took until 2005 to get another monument erected in the Vicksburg Military park to black troops who served in the Civil War,” Tretheway said. “And even when the park ranger introduced the monument, he still refused to refer to the black troops as anything but supply units [instead of] cavalry, infantry, artillery… the things that they actually were.”

The event closed with questions from the audience, one from author and Georgetown University professor of philosophy Nancy Sherman, who asked Tretheway about her experience and role as a Poet Laureate.

“I often believe that if I didn’t tell you I was going to read a poem… if I just said, ‘look, I’m going to read a short story,’ you might not have even been confused about it,” Tretheway said.

“If you just hear it as rhythmic, lyrical prose, then it’s less mystifying,” she added. “I want to demystify it, but also keep it mysterious for all its beauty.”

Sagan closed the event with a remark quite in contrast to John Adams’ famous quote.

“I hope you will agree that political scientists and historians and soldiers and statesmen and all of us as citizens need great poets and great writers to understand both the face of battle and also the heroism and horrors of war,” Sagan said.

 

Contact Riya Mirchandaney at riya.mirchandaney ‘at’ menloschool.org.

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On Pride, Caltrain and “Good Vibes” https://stanforddaily.com/2015/07/05/on-pride-caltrain-and-good-vibes/ https://stanforddaily.com/2015/07/05/on-pride-caltrain-and-good-vibes/#respond Mon, 06 Jul 2015 05:10:03 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1102288 On Sunday, June 28, a couple of miscreant Stanford Daily interns planned to catch the 9:34 a.m. Caltrain from Menlo Park.

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On Sunday, June 28, a couple of miscreant Stanford Daily interns planned to catch the 9:34 a.m. Caltrain from Menlo Park. Sleepy, frustrated, and sore from the previous day’s ridiculous how-do-we-get-to-Bart treks (i.e. walking through the same parts of the city again and again before we realized that we could just ask someone—residents do know the city better than Google maps does), we waited for the train that was now 11 minutes late.

“Expect crowded trains,” said the mechanical voice.

A collective groan.

“Crowded” proved to be an understatement.

As the train pulled to a stop, all we could see were body parts (arms, legs, faces, torsos, everything) pressed against the sticky windows like sardines in a tin can. As we prepared our bodies for the uncomfortable, feet poised as if at the start of an Olympic sprint, a Caltrain official waved his hands in front of the open door, yelling something to the extent of “no more people on the train!”

This was dire, but a girl in a red shirt stuck her head outside and remarked that there was another train in fifteen minutes. Momentarily relieved, we stepped back and waited. The train departed. Fifteen minutes later, no train came. Girl in red was bluffing.

Tossed around were semi-joking remarks about marching on Valparaiso in an impromptu Menlo Park Pride Parade.

Finally, more than an hour later, the next train arrived.

This time, we interns were not going to take no for an answer. We pushed and shoved and found ourselves victorious, hooting maniacally as we left Menlo Park behind. We were joined by a group of guys who were supposed to be on the Facebook float, but missed it, and drunkenly shouted, “There’s another train in 15 minutes!” at every consecutive stop—an attempt to conserve space and an homage to the lying red-shirted girl.

As we looked around the congested train car, there was a sense of joy that radiated—in the cheap booze, the extravagant makeup, the sleepless yet glowing eyes of people from all backgrounds that screamed, “We’re going to have fun!”

In that moment, it was clear: The spirit of Pride would outweigh the shittiness of Bay Area public transportation.

And it did.

From what we could see, the parade itself was a wild conglomeration of nudists, rainbow flags, “condoms for trees,” and the cast of Orange is the New Black. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence also made an appearance in support of the #MyNameIs campaign, which advocates against Facebook’s “real names” policy, and for the ability for all users to express their authentic identities.

In the end, though, Pride wasn’t about any of these things. Pride was about the people. The people coming together to celebrate, to love and to experience something so starkly different from everyday life. In this photo gallery, we honor the many colorful people of Pride.

RIYA MIRCHANDANEY/The Stanford Daily
Xochitl, who works at Lyon Martin. (JUSTIN KIM/The Stanford Daily)

One of the first people we spoke to was Xochitl from San Jose, who works at Lyon Martin as a patient support associate.

Lyon Martin provides medical support for queer youth in the Bay Area at an affordable cost. Xochitl believes that mental health and substance abuse is the biggest problem the LGBTQ community is facing today. Xochitl noted that a lot of medical problems stem from lack of support from families after coming out. Often times queer youth are kicked out of their house and left unhoused. This may cause many queer youth to turn to drugs and develop mental health problems.

RIYA MIRCHANDANEY/The Stanford Daily
Sabrina Bobar and Coral Olsen. (JUSTIN KIM/The Stanford Daily)

 

These women called themselves “a mobile photobooth”. Before we interviewed them, they were enthusiastically talking and taking pictures with whomever approached them.

Both women, Sabrina Bobar and Coral Olsen, were from Santa Cruz, California. Both had been to Pride many times before.

“[At my first Pride], I was roller skating and I saw Matt Damon, so that was pretty great,” Sabrina said. Both Sabrina and Coral saw Pride as a moment to celebrate and be themselves.

In response to the Supreme Court decision on Friday, Sabrina noted, “Everyone sees that there’s a big change that happened in our country.” She was right. In that moment, even with the scent of Coachella in the air, it felt like we were at the edge of something important and historic.

“We’re looking at all these small children that don’t have memories before today, or people who are pregnant or have infants. These children won’t know a world where people of the same sex couldn’t be married to eachother. This is the world for them now.”

Coral believes that “more people are going to feel a release and open themselves…and hope” after the Supreme Court’s decision. Sabrina added on, saying, “After yesterday’s decision the climate will be such that more people will be comfortable coming out.”

Both Sabrina and Coral agreed that “there is more work to do,” but that Pride this year was a time to celebrate, especially because of the Supreme Court decision.

“We have to celebrate when there is a moment.”

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Candace and Sonia. (JUSTIN KIM/The Stanford Daily)

Both Candace and Sonia from Arizona expressed the sentiment that Pride is really about “people coming together and just having fun and relaxing.” Sonia stressed that she appreciated the lack of judgment during Pride.

When asked if she remembered her first Pride, Candace laughed and let out a resounding “nope!”

Candace felt “proud to be an American” after the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday. Sonia added, “we just want to be treated equally. That’s it.”

Both agreed that it would take time for such a decision to truly be accepted by all Americans.

“This is just the first step,” said Sonia, wistfully.

These college-aged folks were easy-going and extremely approachable. Lindsey, Carly, and Erica were from Davis, CA and Luke was from Windsor, CA.

These college-aged folks were easy-going and extremely approachable. Lindsey, Carly, and Erica were from Davis, CA and Luke was from Windsor, CA.  Both Erica and Carly cried when they found out about the Supreme Court decision. Carly said that the decision meant a lot to older people who have been fighting for gay rights for years. “I have a lot of friends who are older, like my mom’s age, who have been fighting for it for the longest time. They’ve been partners for like 45 years and never have been able to say, ‘hey, this is my significant other’ in another state, so it makes me overjoyed for them to go anywhere they want and to say ‘that’s my husband’ or ‘that’s my wife’. They can say it without it not being okay. And a lot of them have actually lost their partners since they got together… It sucks that they’re not here to see this.” “My family wasn’t supportive at all. I came out this year to my family, and it was half ‘don’t even talk to me’ and half loved me for me,” said Erica.   Erica loved pride because “It’s the one time where you’re not judged. It’s the one time everybody accepts you for who you are. It’s the feeling of being free.” Lindsey added, “Anyone can celebrate equality.”
Erica and Carly. (JUSTIN KIM/The Stanford Daily)

Both Erica and Carly cried when they found out about the Supreme Court decision.

Carly said that the decision meant a lot to older people who have been fighting for gay rights for years.

“I have a lot of friends who are older, like my mom’s age, who have been fighting for it for the longest time. They’ve been partners for like 45 years and never have been able to say, ‘hey, this is my significant other’ in another state, so it makes me overjoyed for them to go anywhere they want and to say ‘that’s my husband’ or ‘that’s my wife’. They can say it without it not being okay. And a lot of them have actually lost their partners since they got together… It sucks that they’re not here to see this.”

“My family wasn’t supportive at all. I came out this year to my family, and it was half ‘don’t even talk to me’ and half loved me for me,” said Erica.

Erica loved pride because “It’s the one time where you’re not judged. It’s the one time everybody accepts you for who you are. It’s the feeling of being free.”

Lindsey added, “Anyone can celebrate equality.”

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The Top 5 Independent Films on Netflix (in no particular order) https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/21/the-top-5-independent-films-on-netflix-in-no-particular-order/ https://stanforddaily.com/2014/07/21/the-top-5-independent-films-on-netflix-in-no-particular-order/#respond Mon, 21 Jul 2014 07:01:15 +0000 https://stanforddaily.com/?p=1086883 Tired of mainstream films and want to explore the endless treasure chest that is independent film? If so, this list is for you.

“Frances Ha”
Another “quirky” movie featuring twenty-somethings struggling with post-grad crises in the big city? Nuh-uh. “Frances Ha,” directed by Noah Baumbach, is like no other. The film centers around Frances Halladay (Greta Gerwig), who tries to make it as a modern dancer in New York. Frances struggles with her relationship with her best friend Sophie, her romantic interests, her identity as a dancer and the ever nagging issue of how to pay rent. According to Sophie, “the only people who can afford to be artists in New York are rich.” The beauty of the movie resides in Frances’ undying enthusiasm despite her struggles. The film may come off as a little weak plot-wise, but it makes up for it with stunningly realistic and humorous dialogue, a wicked soundtrack (Bowie, anyone?) and a dazzling performance by Gerwig. “Frances Ha” is not to be missed.

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Greta Gerwig with Adam Driver having dinner in "Frances Ha." Copyright Pine District, LLC.
Greta Gerwig with Adam Driver having dinner in “Frances Ha.” Copyright Pine District, LLC.

Tired of mainstream films and want to explore the endless treasure chest that is independent film? If so, this list is for you.

“Frances Ha”
Another “quirky” movie featuring twenty-somethings struggling with post-grad crises in the big city? Nuh-uh. “Frances Ha,” directed by Noah Baumbach, is like no other. The film centers around Frances Halladay (Greta Gerwig), who tries to make it as a modern dancer in New York. Frances struggles with her relationship with her best friend Sophie, her romantic interests, her identity as a dancer and the ever nagging issue of how to pay rent. According to Sophie, “the only people who can afford to be artists in New York are rich.” The beauty of the movie resides in Frances’ undying enthusiasm despite her struggles. The film may come off as a little weak plot-wise, but it makes up for it with stunningly realistic and humorous dialogue, a wicked soundtrack (Bowie, anyone?) and a dazzling performance by Gerwig. “Frances Ha” is not to be missed.

“Donnie Darko”
It’s safe to say that this film has a cult following, and for good reason. Vanquishing the boundaries between sci-fi, surrealism, romance, drama and comedy, Richard Kelly’s “Donnie Darko” is certainly an ambitious film. If an adolescent Jake Gyllenhaal playing the namesake protagonist isn’t motivation enough, there is also a six-foot-tall rabbit, Jena Malone as Darko’s love interest and a series of tongue-in-cheek witty banter that features the perfect amount of high school profanity. “Is this real life or is it all happening in Donnie’s head?” is the pervading question of the movie, but perhaps it doesn’t matter. The mystery of the striking visuals and bizarre events only adds to the beauty of the film.

“Electrick Children”
This is a weird movie. In a fundamentalist Mormon community in Utah, 15-year-old Rachel McKnight (Julia Garner) listens to a cassette tape and falls in love with a song, a voice and an idea. (“Electrick Children” is directed by Rebecca Thomas, who gets cred for being raised as a Mormon herself.) When it comes out that Rachel’s pregnant, her father arranges for her to be married the next day. Rachel believes that she’s been impregnated by the music on the cassette tape through some form of immaculate conception and she leaves home to find the father. On an idealistic (perhaps too idealistic?) journey through Las Vegas, Rachel makes unlikely friends and falls in love. Brilliantly acted and with a touch of magical realism, “Electrick Children” is the sort of movie that reminds you there’s some good in the world.

“Trainspotting”
Don’t do drugs, kids! “Trainspotting,” directed by Danny Boyle, is a gritty, disturbing and emotional film that will often make you feel sick to your stomach. Voted the best Scottish film of all time in a public poll, the film follows a group of heroin addicts with characteristic nicknames in an economically depressed area of Edinburgh in the 1980s. The protagonist, Mark “Rent Boy” Renton (Ewan McGregor), attempts to go cold turkey and give up his addiction for good, but with a group of friends who don’t follow suit, this isn’t easy. Although “Requiem for a Dream” is consistently bleaker, if you liked Aronofsky’s film, you will probably appreciate “Trainspotting” too, and not just for the similar subject matter. “Trainspotting” is a fire-breathing gem of a film.

“Short Term 12”
The entirety of “Short Term 12” feels like perfection. Set at a group home for at-risk adolescents, director Destin Cretton manages to do the impossible: never sappy and never akin to an after-school special, “Short Term 12” will make you feel a whole spectrum of emotion, ending on a beautifully uplifting (but not too uplifting) note. The delicate balance of humor, grit, warmth and heartache feels almost perched on a thread: A little more or less of any could shatter what makes the film so special. The protagonist, Grace, played by the impeccable Brie Larson, is a supervising staff member in her twenties who has to relive her own childhood struggles through the teens at the facility. I cannot stress the importance of this film. It is truly a work of art.

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