Author: Anthony Burdo

Categories
Opinions

Burdo Says, “Bern Baby Bern”

From a moral and religious perspective, Bernie Sanders’ priorities best support the poor and marginalized – those who lack health insurance, refugees of global violence, and our neglected veterans.
But if you aren’t already convinced Sanders will make the best POTUS, it’s probably because A) “democratic socialism” is a scary term, or B) you think he is too “idealistic” to win the Democratic Party nomination.  I will clarify why I believe unfettered capitalism hurts democracy, and why Hillary Clinton is both no more effective, and less trustworthy a politician, than Bernie Sanders.

First, Democratic Socialism is not at odds with capitalism – just unchecked capitalism that takes power away from the citizen.  Corporations can afford to lobby far more than private citizens, and if not restrained, large corporations will have disproportionate political power.  When the private profit interests of a few are able to buy elections, that is not true democracy.  The democratic socialist believes that companies are ideally worker-owned, while market mechanisms still determine prices – a centrally planned economy is not part of the picture.  No one expects Sanders’ to overturn the structure of the US economy- but at least he’s not playing into Wall Street’s hands.

This is why Sanders’ decision to fund his campaign without large-donor contributions is so significant.  According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Clinton’s top campaign contributors for her career have been (in order) Citigroup Inc, Goldman Sachs, DLA Piper, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley (Lehman Brothers is further down the list). In stark contrast, 9 of Sanders’ top 10 career campaign donors have been labor unions.

Think Sanders is too “idealist” to be nominated by the DNC? Sanders is experienced in the political system, having served as senator for the past nine years.  As chair of the Senate Veteran Affairs Committee, Sanders reached across the aisle to John McCain to pass legislation to give $500 million to the VA to hire more doctors and nurses for veterans. Senator McCain said of Sanders, “We were able to come together and come and pass legislation that was nearly unanimous in both House and Senate. So he does have a record of advocacy for our veterans.”

National security is the first prerogative of the U.S. government and president, which is why I believe Sanders is more qualified than Clinton.

Clinton has proudly defended her support of the invasion of Libya as Secretary of State, and was a vocal supporter of the invasion of Iraq, whereas in October 2002, (then representative) Sanders said before the House, “War must be the last recourse in international relations, not the first…I am deeply concerned about the precedent that a unilateral invasion of Iraq could establish in terms of international law.” Sanders advocated for a UN-led search for Weapons of Mass Destruction, supported by U.S. force if needed for compliance. Sanders supports military intervention where it is absolutely necessary, evidenced by his support of bombing Kosovo in 1999.

Sander’s campaign has reignited the debate over American national healthcare, he goes a step beyond Obamacare, advocating for a Single Payer Health System in the US.  That in itself is a complex, controversial topic; however, one cannot argue that Americans have a life expectancy (at birth) of 78.8 years, as opposed to the median 82.1 years in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.  U.S. per capita healthcare expenditure was $9,086 in 2013, nearly twice Canada’s $4,569.  Despite many opinions on what our health insurance system should become, the inefficiencies of our current privatized system are embarrassing and demand a better solution.  

According to Physician’s for a National Health Program, “In Canada, the three major auto manufacturers (Ford, GM, and Daimler-Chrysler) have all publicly endorsed Canada’s single-payer health system from a business and financial standpoint. In the United States, Ford pays more for its workers health insurance than it does for the steel to make its cars.”  A single-payer healthcare system means one buyer negotiates for many health-care services, increasing the bargaining power of the patient.  The Affordable Care Act was a step in the right direction, as a future doctor I hope we can continue as a nation toward a more efficient system.

As Syracuse law professor puts it, David Cay Johnston: “For people to remain free and governments to remain sovereign, corporations must remain subject to state control, not the other way around.”
By his voting record, and refusing to be bought by corporate contributions, Bernie Sanders has shown himself the best candidate for the poor, and democracy.

Categories
News Stories In Focus

From Houghton to Mayo Clinic

Tse Explores the Boundary of Biology and Chemistry

“Reaching out into the unknown is exciting; that’s a very human thing wanting to have an experience that no one’s had before.” The scientific ethos of cooperation drew senior David Tse to explore biochemical research, both at Houghton and at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Sometimes people think of scientists as working in a quiet basement away from the rest of the world. But science is really a collaborative effort,” Tse expressed, “I appreciate being around a lot of different scientists and learning about what they do.”

David Tse RGBFor Tse, research presents the challenge of the unknown, an effort that scientists from all disciplines are involved in together. Tse was ambivalent about Houghton as he applied, however one day after applying he woke up feeling certain that Houghton was the right choice. Before Houghton, Tse attended Dalat International School, a Christian high school in Penang, Malaysia.  His mother encouraged him to apply to Houghton, but at the time Tse was uncertain, “I wasn’t sure initially if I wanted to do science at a Christian school. In my mind, Christians were very against studying evolutionary biology so I thought that studying biology at Houghton or any other Christian school would not be considered legitimate by graduate schools.”

Entering Houghton on the pre-medical track, and it was Tse’s exposure to collaboration opportunities with biology and chemistry faculty that sparked his interest in research. Tse was surprised that research opportunities were quite available despite Houghton’s small size.  He first worked with Professor Jamie Potter, investigating RNA viruses in grapevines, and then moved on to chemistry research with Professor Karen Torraca through the Summer Research Institute where they worked to ameliorate the environmental impact of certain industrial chemical processes.  These hands-on research opportunities helped prepare Tse to land an internship at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Minnesota this past summer.

At Mayo Clinic, Tse worked under Dr. Louis Maher, investigating the flexibility and structure of folded and looped DNA in baker’s yeast – a convenient model organism which is easy to grow.  The technical description of their research is “Employing Chromatin conformation capture to investigate the role of high mobility group proteins in baker’s yeast gene looping,” however in more basic terms they sought to figure out how certain 3D structures of DNA and proteins – like loops – affect gene expression.  

“David is super sassy but always willing to help those in need,”  noted Tse’s friend, biochemistry major Grace Hollenbeck ‘16, “On multiple occasions he has taken the time to answer help me with homework or answer any questions that I may have had. He is intelligent and willing to work hard to achieve his goals.”

 

Tse commented, “I discovered my passion within an interdisciplinary approach combining various fields of science such as physics, chemistry and biology to comprehensively understand the mechanisms of different components of the body.”  Biology is built upon chemical interactions, and investigating the chemical foundations of biology is where Tse sees himself working.  “Part of me is very interested in cancer research.”  Looking forward, David is interested in exploring biochemistry further in a PhD program; among other reputable schools, Mayo Clinic can certainly expect an application from him.

…

To hear more about Tse’s research at Mayo Clinic, he will be presenting on November 17 at 11:30 in the south end dining hall.

David Tse is a senior double major in biology & chemistry.

Categories
International News

Refugee Crisis Continues

Relations in the European Union have been strained by the recent influx of thousands of asylum seekers from Syria (49%), Afghanistan (12%), Eritrea (9%), Nigeria (4%), and Somalia (3%).  Many Eastern European countries are reticent to accept the immigrants, however Western European countries, led by appeals from Germany, are leaning towards a more hospitable solution.

More than 320,000 refugees have reached shore in Italy or Greece this year in hopes of reaching the protection of the EU.  This number is expected to climb to 400,000 people by the end of 2015, and 450,000 asylum-seekers are expected to enter Europe in 2016.  These are fractional numbers relative to the 4.1 million Syrians who have left their country because of civil war that erupted out of the Arab Spring protests. It should be noted too, that 8 million Syrians are internally displaced (of an original population of 23 million).


AnthonyBurdoRGBRefugees that can afford to do so often entrust their lives to smugglers, paying thousands of dollars in exchange for dangerous passage.  The 71 people found dead in a truck in August, and the photograph of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed ashore are shocking reminders of the risks the migrants face.

Refugees are defined by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as persons fleeing their home country for fear of persecution or violence.  Refugees have three options once they are granted asylee status; they may choose to integrate into life in their new country, return home if circumstances become favorable, or they may seek to be resettled in a third country.

Since September 1, over 20,000 refugees have entered Hungary on their way to Western Europe. Hungary’s response to the migrants has been less than welcoming, including a 175 km razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia. According to the Dublin regulations of the EU, asylum applications must be processed by whatever state first receives the asylee.  The Dublin regulations are unfortunate because it places the responsibility of registering refugees on some of the economically weaker states like Hungary, Italy and Greece, countries which are necessary stops for refugees heading towards wealthier countries like Germany and Austria.  Hungary’s policy is to register all immigrants before allowing passage to other countries.

Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, of the nationalist Fidesz party, gave several controversial remarks implying that accepting refugees (many of whom are Muslim) should be deterred from Europe in order to preserve its Christian identity.

Pope Francis seemed to think otherwise in his address to the Vatican this week, encouraging Europe’s religious communities and parishes to embrace refugee families.

On September 4, Austria and Germany opened their borders to receive the asylum-seekers. After being denied train passage in Budapest, thousands of refugees began walking on foot along roadways toward the Austrian Border.

Germany estimated that it is prepared to accept 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, and 500,000 per year after that. Chancellor Angela Merkel has affirmed that Germany would not turn away asylum-seekers on humanitarian grounds, and called for other EU countries to share the burden of resettling refugees.  Merkel has pushed for a quota system to be instated, which would equitably distribute asylees throughout EU nations.

On Wednesday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented a plan to manage the refugee crisis, including a quota system, which assigns quotas to EU nations based on GDP and population.  Penalties for not meeting refugee quotas will include funding cuts.

“Winter is approaching, do we really want families sleeping in railway stations?” Juncker said according to NPR, “EU funds could be withheld from countries that don’t take in required numbers. Eastern European nations say they’re opposed.”

France has agreed to settle 24,000 refugees, and has set up humanitarian camps for several thousand immigrants.  International offers to resettle refugees have even come from Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Brazil.

The Unites States has resettled about 1000 refugees from Syria, and promised to take in 8000 more in the coming year.  The White House reports that the US is considering “a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement.”
Until the stability returns to the Middle East, the Syrian refugee crisis is here to stay.

Categories
Stories In Focus

Two Longtime Houghton Faculty to Retire: Roederer

Senior Faculty Member J.L. Roederer to retire, after 44 years as a French professor at Houghton College.

It is hard to imagine a man with a name as French as Jean-Louis becoming anything but a French professor. For Jean-Louis Roederer however, his vocation was anything but straight forward, and Roederer has since become far more than a French professor to the Houghton community. Roederer, senior faculty member and Houghton alumnus (’64), has been teaching at Houghton College for 44 years.

The senior faculty member is chosen based on years of full-time service at Houghton College, not age.

RoedererRoederer was born in Beirut, Lebanon to a French father and a Lebanese mother. As a multi-cultural child, Roederer spent the first decade of his life in a house speaking three languages and hearing five from his relatives. His father worked as a lawyer in international law, and he was attuned to the rising tensions in the Middle East during the 1950s. One day, Roederer’s father sat him and his sister down and flatly told them that they were to learn English, because they were moving to America the next year. Several years later civil war broke out.

Once in America, Roederer attended The Stony Brook School in Long Island, NY where his father found employment as the French teacher. Roederer was active in many sports, however Roederer cites his high school Cross Country coach Marvin Goldberg, a Houghton alumnus, as having the greatest impact on his life and future career. Throughout the trials of his life, his coach’s shout to “Keep running!” would return to him and enable him to persevere. Coach Goldberg also initiated Roederer’s long connection to Houghton.

Roederer attended Houghton College as an undergraduate from 1961-1964 with a Major in French, and minors in Spanish and secondary education. While at Houghton, Roederer also met his future wife Sandy (then Carlson), a fellow French major, who he married in 1965. The year after graduation, Roederer taught French in a Long Island high school, at 20 years of age. However, his calm demeanor and creativity with his students fostered a mutual respect. After a year of teaching in Long Island, Roederer received a call from his Houghton mentor and friend, Dr. Gordon Stockin, then Houghton’s language department’s program director. Stockin asked Roederer if he would be interested in returning to Houghton to lead its French program. Roederer accepted, and moved back to Houghton to teach that fall.

At the age of 22, Roederer faced the unusual task of teaching students his own age. Roederer took to the challenge head-on, and even started Houghton’s first Cross-Country team in addition to teaching. “I entered as the junior faculty member, and here I am at the other end of the scale!” Roederer said with a smile. Although Roederer found himself in a wonderful position out of college, and enjoyed his work, Roederer remained unsure whether teaching French was absolutely what God wanted him to do.

Over the next three summers, Roederer earned his Master’s degree in French from Middlebury College in Vermont, and continued to teach at Houghton.

Roederer has always fostered many interests, including a love of aviation. He learned to fly small aircraft in Olean, NY, and began to consider enlisting as a military pilot. His wife Sandy was less than thrilled by this prospect, especially once they had their first child. Roederer then looked into missionary aviation, which was marginally better as far as his wife was concerned.

In 1972, Roederer was accepted as a candidate for Moody Aviation’s missionary pilot program. He resigned from Houghton, his family sold their house, and that summer the Roederers headed to Tennessee on a long shot. After a week of evaluation in many areas, including flight, and plane maintenance skills, Roederer didn’t make the cut. It seemed that he had been led down a dead-end.

A friend, seeing that Roederer had nothing lined up for the fall, offered him a high-school job in the Adirondacks, which Roederer accepted. Roederer taught there for the next four years, but he and his family could not be torn away from Houghton so easily, as they returned to spend each summer there. After four years of this annual migration, Paul Johnson, Roederer’s replacement at Houghton, asked him if he would consider joining him as an additional French professor. After Johnson warmly welcomed him back in 1976 the two became fast friends. They shared the  French department until 1998, when Johnson retired. Between the two of them, Johnson and Roederer were the French department, “Johnson had the gift of administration and did very, very well for the Foreign Language department.” Roederer recalled. He said Johnson “is one of the major reasons I stayed as long as I did at Houghton after coming back.” Roederer lauded, “He constantly pulled for me.”

In his time at Houghton, Roederer has taught every French course in the book, as well as Spanish for ten years. In the process, Roederer has become renowned among students for his gentle, amiable nature, and his sense of humor. “It’s like everything that comes up in class he has a funny life story he’s willing to share,” said Leah Shadbolt, a junior with a French Concentration. She first met Roederer when she visited Houghton as a prospective student, and has taken a class with him every semester since. “He’s just so patient all the time, and really kind.” The personal impact that Roederer has had on his students’ lives is evident in talking with them. “He was such great positive influence, and a great spiritual mentor,” Rachel Anacker, senior, confided, illustrating the support that Roederer provided when she was going through a hard time last fall.

The resilience and creativity that Roederer exercises in his teaching stem partly from his father, who often quoted the Portuguese proverb, “God writes straight – but he uses crooked lines.” Looking back on his life, Roederer sees the many twists and turns as times that God was working. Even Roederer’s failure to become a pilot ended up being the event that brought Paul Johnson, Roederer’s long-time colleague and dear friend, to Houghton.

Although Roederer has many things he wants to do in retirement, he nevertheless foresees a huge transition. “I think it is going to hit hard, like running into a brick wall.” Roederer gratefully acknowledged the great support of his colleagues past and present, especially Marlene Collins-Blair and David Kinman over the last few years. “I see in them character that honors God in all they do, and a desire for excellence in their careers that inspires me to do my best each day.” Roederer said it is hard for him to imagine a better community to live in, or a better college at which to teach. “One of the most beautiful things about Houghton is the people.” Roederer expressed, “You have a great ethos here of helping each other.”

Jean-Louis Roederer and Sandy, his wife of 50 years, plan to remain in the Houghton community they so love. Art Professor Gary Baxter is expected to be the next full time senior faculty member.

Categories
Stories In Focus

Album Review: The Head and the Heart, “Let’s Be Still”

Within all creative fields there often develops a certain amount of tension between an artist’s existing work and any new direction their muse leads them in. I consider it an accomplishment of high order then, when that tension between continuity with the past, and artistic growth, are skillfully and harmoniously reconciled.

Courtesy of rollingstone.com
Courtesy of rollingstone.com

Let’s Be Still, the sophomore record recently released by indie folk-rock group The Head and the Heart, is a wonderful example of just such balance.  This album retains all the best elements from the band’s previous, eponymous release, including among other things foot-stomping drums, driving, percussive piano, and soft, clear vocal harmonies.  But by no means has The Head and the Heart grown artistically static. Their latest album features a range of styles that exemplify the wealth of musicianship possessed of each of the six band members.

The interlude “Springtime,” provides an elegant framework for Charity Thielen’s haunting vocals, echoing the lofty sound of Fleet Foxes, and her gorgeous violin weaves brilliantly and seamlessly throughout the album.  Even bassist Chris Zasche is given some little time to shine through the playful bass line of “Shake.”  Despite having great musicianship, the members of The Head and the Heart keep things very simple.  There are no mind-blowing solos, or amazing feats of technical prowess. Rather, subtlety is the style of The Head and the Heart, who are content to add layer upon careful layer of rhythm and harmony so that each song is very much a unified whole.

The Head and the Heart’s story resonates with many aspiring musicians who have struggled with choosing between a dream and realistic future.  Formed in 2011 in Seattle, although the band members hail from all over the country, The Head and the Heart rose to success because the six musicians decided to pursue their passion for music.  No one could describe this journey better than front man Josiah Johnson: “It’s terrifying and it’s never perfect, but it’s some kind of beauty just realizing that you might screw up, but you’re going with it anyway.”

And go with it they have; Let’s Be Still has a bigger sound than the band’s last album, doubtless the consequence of extensive touring with groups the likes of Dr. Dog, Vampire Weekend, and My Morning Jacket.  Fortunately success has not made this album any less intimate or relatable than it’s predecessor.

Lyrically, the album comes across as honest and a little wistful, just take these lines from the title-track “Let’s Be Still:” “The world’s just spinning/ A little too fast/ If things don’t slow down soon we might not last.”  The need to take time out of life and, well, “be still,” is a theme throughout the album, and cannot be missed as it is reiterated from song to song.  Other lines come across feeling less poetic, though losing none of their raw honesty, as in “Fire/Fear:” when the singer left standing alone with his mistakes, laments: “You look at me, as cold as a stone/ There’s no way to write what’s been done wrong/ You left me a fool.”  Followed up by some mournful falsetto, the result is a flood of melancholy washing over the listener.  In “Fire/Fear” and “Cruel” are both rife with the band’s country-rock influence, expressed in the yearning refrains of the almost-ballads.  Weeping slide-guitar and husky violin tones texture “Cruel,” balancing the more up-beat tracks like “Shake” and “My Friends.”

Though The Head and the Heart have risen to moderate success (by any definition) they have not been swept away, and far from it, the Let’s Be Still is a sure sign the band has their feet are firmly planted on the ground.  Let’s Be Still is contemplative and reflective.  Fittingly enough, listening to it is a great way to step back from the speed of everyday life, relax, and, well– you know.