Collegian
The
How does the latest blockbuster stack up? Pg. 4
Friday, February 14, 2014
Debate team stands resolved
Est. 1891
Vol. 74, No. 13
The Grove City College Student Newspaper
‘Dancing at Lughnasa’
Samantha Van Slyke Contributing Writer
The Grove City College debate team emerged victorious at an invitational tournament in Athens, OH on Jan. 24. The team had previously won the sweepstakes championship title at Bowling Green State University last fall. “We weren’t sure, but we always aim to win,” junior Scott Alford said about the team’s expectations for the Ohio tournament. “That’s our goal. I think we felt pretty good about it, but we also had a lot to prove. We wanted to sweep.” And sweep they did.The team ran undefeated in the tournament, claiming not only the overall sweepstakes champion, but also having four team members ranked first, second, third and fourth for top individual speakers. While the tournament was not the largest in which the College has participated, the triumph was especially rewarding because of the freshness of the teams. Neither of the teams had worked together before, and none of the four debaters were seniors. The College sent two teams to the tournament: junior Ben Crelin and sophomore Andrew Brackbill took first place, while Alford and sophomore Ryan Brown took second. In individuals, Brown took first place, Crelin and Brackbill tied for second place and Alford took fourth. A debate tournament has a set number of rounds, usually 4 to 6, in which two teams take opposing sides of an argument. Each team must argue on a resolution, such as “This house believes that capitalism is more effective than socialism.” The participants do not know the specific debate topics until about 15 minutes before the debate. Topics usually stem from recent news in areas such as immigration, foreign policy and politics. Topics in the Ohio tournament included food stamp reform, the United States’ presence in Syria and the value of education versus employment. According to Alford, the most interesting debate topic was education versus employment, with the resolution that “educaDEBATE 2
Grayson Quay Entertainment Editor At the first rehearsal, faculty director and professor of English and theater, Betsy Craig, asked the cast of “Dancing at Lughnasa” to tell her what the play was really about. Despite having read the play, none of the cast members could explain it. Craig describes the play as a “memory play.” As an adult, Michael (junior Ethan Mitchell) looks back on the summer of 1936 in the Irish village of Ballybeg when he was seven years old, living with his mother and her four sisters. Craig describes this summer as a magical time in Michael’s life. “We do not know that we are going through those periods of life until we relive them,” she said. The two main events of the play involve the family getting a Marconi radio and the return of Michael’s Uncle Jack (junior Evan Burns), sent home after serving as a priest for 25 years in Uganda, while suffering from malaria and falling into syncretism. Gerry (sophomore John Laurie), Michael’s philandering father, also makes an appearance. Through the interactions of the five sisters, the audience comes to see and to love them in the same way that Michael does. Kate (junior Laura Foley) is a schoolteacher and the head of the family. Maggie (senior Laura Doherty) is the funny one. Doherty describes her as a
“caregiver” who does whatever is necessary to lighten the mood, whether it is joking, singing or dancing. Agnes (senior Victoria Benyo) tries to bring in money with her knitting, but struggles to do so as factories begin opening in the area. Rose (senior Julie Kucks) is described as simple but innocent, and the other sisters are very protective of her. Christina (freshman Alex Soberick) is Michael’s mother, who carries the shame of bearing a child out of wedlock. As an adult, Michael observes his own childhood memories, but the audience never sees him as a boy. Instead, the other characters talk to an empty spot and the adult Michael, standing off to the side, contributes the lines he remembers saying. “What’s important to you,” Craig said, “are the relationships in your life and what you take from them.” Lughnasa is an Irish harvest festival held in late August. In the play, the celebration of Lughnasa is closely linked to the tribal rituals that Jack witnessed in Uganda. Doherty describes the rehearsal process as “pressure driven.” She spent last semester abroad in Ireland and had to audition and to attend the first rehearsal via Skype. With a production schedule shorter than that of most “One Act” plays, and a play that is longer than the majority of main stage productions, Doherty has described rehearsals as requiring a signifi-
CAMERON HOLLOWAY/COLLEGIAN
(Above) Seniors Julie Kucks and Laura Doherty rehearse a lively moment from “Dancing at Lughnasa. (Below) Senior Victoria Benyo as Agnes struggles to make money through her knitting. cant amount of work in a short amount of time. She quickly added that Craig has made things easier by creating “an atmosphere of productivity and fun.”
The show is student directed by senior Annamarie Mickey. The College will present this Tony Award-winning play by Brian Friel in Ketler Auditorium at 8 p.m. on Feb. 13-15.
Changing the world through a change of clothes Rebekah Fry
Contributing Writer
COURTESY CHLOE SMILEY
Junior Chloe Smiley (left) and Senior Scott Inderbitzen raise money for entrpreneurs through their clothing line.
Jane, a single Ugandan mother, works tirelessly for seven days a week to provide for both her children and sister. Yamid, a 26-year-old Columbian college student, pursues a degree in chemical engineering paid for entirely out of his family’s pocket. Nang, a 50-year-old mother, and her husband aid their six children on a combined salary of only $19 a day.
Kin Threads, a student-founded non-profit e-commerce clothing company, is on a mission. Its objective: to empower and to help provide for entrepreneurs like Jane, Yamid and Nang, who live in developing countries, through the sale of a unique clothing line. Grove City College senior Scott Inderbitzen, junior Chloe Smiley and junior Anna Mittelman have teamed up to launch this vision. “We’re hoping to change the world through a change of
clothes,” Smiley said. Inderbitzen and Smiley first formulated their idea after attending a Kiva U conference in San Francisco, California. Kiva U is a non-profit organization that aids young people in addressing social issues and making lives better for many people around the world. The vision Kiva casted for ending world poverty through micro-financing sparked an idea for their future company. After KIN THREADS 8
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