Misc 02.27.20

The Miscellany News miscellanynews.org

Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866 Volume 153 | Issue 5

February 27, 2020

Jason Blum to deliver 156th Commencement address Rae Gould examines NAGPRA

Courtesy of Alex Berliner.

Frankie Knuckles

O

Managing Editor

ne BAFTA nomination. Two Emmys. Three Academy Award nominations.

These are just a few accolades of producer Jason Blum ’91, who will address Vassar’s Class of 2020 at the College’s 156th Commencement. Blum sits on the Board of Trustees of Vassar College, the Sundance Institute and the Acad-

Inside this issue

emy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Blum has worked on award-winning films such as “BlacKkKlansman,” “Get Out” and “Whiplash.” He has also produced for television on projects including “Sharp Objects,” “The Loudest Voice” and docuseries “The Jinx.”

He also produced critically acclaimed horror films “Us” and “Insidious,” among others.

Blum’s films have become

Abram Gregory, Fiona Walsh

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“What I question now is why I remained as long as I did,” Blum said. “Clearly it was because I was ambitious ... It makes me question my compass at the time” (IndieWire, “Jason Blum Remembers Harvey Weinstein’s Bullying at Miramax,” 07.16.2018).

In 2000, Blum founded Blumhouse Productions, a multimedia company of which he is CEO. Blumhouse is known for its unique production model that focuses on keeping the cost of production low, but the quality high.

The model is intended to keep big screen films, particularly genrebased films like thrillers, competitive with movies that viewers can access through streaming services. Blum has said of the currently shifting face of the film industry, “It’s bigger than moving to color. I think it’s as big as the advent of television” (The New York Times, “Jason Blum: This Is the Biggest Shift in Hollywood History,” 06.20.2019).

As the Class of 2020 prepares to graduate into a shifting world, Blum may offer his own thoughts on the future of film and, by expansion, the cultural landscape as a whole.

Aena Khan

O

News Editor

n Monday, Feb. 24, Nipmuc Nation Enrolled Tribal Member and Associate Director of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Brown University Rae Gould addressed members of the Vassar and Poughkeepsie communities in Rockefeller Hall 200. Overflowing the seats of the lecture hall, the large audience gathered to hear Gould explain the application of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) at institutions around the United States.

Associate Professor of Anthropology April Beisaw prefaced her introduction of Gould with a reference to the events of two weeks ago, when President Elizabeth Bradley announced that Native Alaskan remains and artifacts first excavated in the 1980s by Professor Emerita of Anthropology Lucille See Gould on page 3

St. Patrick's Day prompts reflection on Irish identity Assistant Opinions Editor, Guest Columnist

The first iteration of the Misc's photo column focuses FEATURES on medical mask fear aimed at Asian people since the outbreak of coronavirus.

aligned with the subgenre known as social thriller—what Blum calls “horror movies with a message” (Nylon, “How Jason Blum Makes Horror Movies With A Message,” 09.20.2019). His film “The Purge,” for instance, takes as its starting point the disparity between socioeconomic classes. “Get Out,” meanwhile, has been lauded since its release as both a terrifying film and a cogent critique of liberal racism. The latter film saw director Jordan Peele becoming the first Black person ever to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

“BlacKkKlansman,” which was nominated for Best Picture in 2019, lost to “Green Book”—marking the second time in Oscars history that director Spike Lee was snubbed by the Academy in favor of a movie directed by a white man about an interracial friendship in the South between a chauffeur and the person they’re driving.

Like many in the industry, Blum got his start at Miramax, which was founded by Robert and Harvey Weinstein. Blum has not worked with Harvey Weinstein since 2000, but has recently been outspoken about the hostile work environment he experienced:

S

t. Patrick’s Day has long stood alongside Cinco de Mayo as the easiest holiday to culturally appropriate in the name of inebriation. Those of us with a Catholic upbringing share a vague knowledge of the story of Patrick the Briton, kidnapped from Roman Britain and sold into slavery in Ireland. After six years of slavery, Patrick managed

to escape bondage and returned to Britain. However, his stay in Britain was brief, as he soon returned to Ireland to spread Christianity among Irish pagans and build churches and monasteries.

Today, Patrick is honored as the patron saint of Ireland. But currently when most people celebrate St. Patrick's Day, they aren't intending to honor the religious legacy of St. Patrick.

This article doesn’t aim to

gatekeep St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, we hope to explain the political importance of Irish culture for the citizens of the Republic of Ireland—and to briefly dote on Irish-American positionality to Irishness, spatially and culturally thousands of miles away from each other.

Though Ireland possesses a wealth of culture dating back thousands of years, what concerns us here is its modern his-

tory, much of which is shaped by the colonization, systematic oppression and enslavement of the Irish people at the hands of the English government. The infamous Irish Potato Famine, the catalyst to one of the largest waves of Irish emigration to the United States, is often painted

by Western scholars to absolve the English of what historian Tim Pat Coogan has argued conSee Irish Identity on page 9

Vassar dancers infuse pointe with the personal Alysa Chen

Guest Reporter

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Trump sticks fingers in DOJ, Senate Republicans kiss OPINIONS Trump's ass, democracy experiences small death, warns Doug from Sports.

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Swimming teammates and coaches ride wave of SPORTS camaraderie to a solid finish at the Liberty League Championships.

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he Bardavon, a downtown Poughkeepsie opera house built in 1869, will host the Vassar Repertory Dance Team’s (VRDT) 38th annual gala weekend on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 1 at 3 p.m. The gala will be the pinnacle of this year’s VRDT season: 34 of Vassar’s dancers will perform jazz, ballet and modern works choreographed by students and faculty. Most performance pamphlets provide the names of dance pieces, cataloging the choreographers and dancers, but VRDT goes beyond the restrictions of genre and name and personalizes their ensemble.

Shake, step-step. Shake, stepstep. As a classically trained dancer, VRDT member Olivia Gotsch ’23 shakes off her preSee VRDT on page 6

Danielle Faith Lomi '23, Rachel Walter '22, Annabel Renshaw '20 and Genevieve Walter-Whelan '21 perform Nina, choreographed by Emily Lesorogol '22. Courtesy of Miriam Mahdaviani.

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February 27, 2020

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February 27, 2020

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Gould explains institution-tribe relations under NAGPRA Continued from Gould on page 1 Johnson had been discovered by members of the Anthropology Department. Beisaw somberly remarked, “Thank you for showing that Vassar cares about its Indigenous community."

Gould began by thanking Beisaw, President Bradley and the administration, and expressed that the lecture came at a difficult time in the College’s institutional history. She continued with a land acknowledgement of the Delaware, Delaware Lenape and Stockbridge-Munsee tribes, emphasizing the importance of thinking about the peoples that inhabited the space as opposed to just the land.

After studying art history and anthropology, Gould became a NAGPRA representative for her tribe since she was the only member with archaeological training. She originally envisioned herself working in a museum, and noted, “I always say this work chooses us. I would never have chosen the work to sit with people’s remains and rearticulate them so they can go back to their families.”

Though enrolled in the Nipmuc tribe, Gould shared how she traces her ancestry to four different tribes and concluded that homeland is tied to the people connected to the land. “I’m pointing this out because I’m talking about kinship,” she explained. Kinship is the thread that binds tribes together and distinguishes Indigenous concepts of relationships from Western genealogies. This statement relates to the motivation behind NAGPRA: to facilitate respectful return, to bring ancestors home.

Passed by Congress in 1990, NAGPRA is a

federal law dictating that institutions receiving public funds cannot be in possession of Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony. It also contains provisions for the repatriation of items to the tribe of cultural origin and provides a process for determining the appropriate lineal descendants of the object’s original owners.

Herein lie various critiques of the law from Indigenous perspectives. First, the law does not extend to private entities that do not use public funds, such as the art market. Second, the law defines items of cultural patrimony as objects that have ongoing historical, traditional or cultural importance central to the Native American group. Gould cited pipes, pipe bags and even rosary beads from Christianized tribes as various examples of cultural ceremonial objects. These items exemplify how traditions evolve over generations, making it difficult to define all items of cultural patrimony. Third, NAGPRA rendered invalid instances where tribes signed over items of cultural patrimony to institutions. Prior to NAGPRA, institutions often amassed cultural artifacts that were never accounted for, and various institutions participating in “physical anthropology” specifically sought human remains to study. As a result, various institutions have vaults in which thousands of ancestors lie cataloged and neglected.

The first step in having items processed under the law is sorting through the collections.

Second, the institution must consult Indigenous tribes or Native Hawaiian Organizations to determine the object’s cultural affiliation.

The third step is to publish the findings in the Federal Register. Finally, the item would be repatriated to the specific tribe or organization.

However, in cases where the institution cannot determine the tribe or lineal descendants, or if no present-day tribe can be determined, items are rendered Culturally Unidentifiable (CUI). Current tribes that are not federally recognized, such as the Nipmuc tribe, would thus lose claim to cultural items.

These examples led to the final facet of the presentation: institutional will. Gould explained that there are often no resources allocated for NAGPRA compliance, as the process often takes years or decades. Furthermore, tribes often do not always possess the resources to investigate, consult and seek repatriation from across the country. If the will is present, Gould stated that there would be a level of trust between the institution and tribe being consulted, as the latter generally prefers to maintain CUI status and ensure that another tribe’s objects are not being claimed as their own. Institutions should act as stewards of the items rather than owners. She cited Harvard Peabody and Yale Peabody as practitioners of retentive philosophy, who purposefully render collections CUI to avoid the final step of repatriating the artifacts to the tribes.

Gould ended the presentation with ways members of the community can encourage a sense of institutional will to allow for repatriation in the long-term. One method is to allow resistant members of the institution to leave and to be replaced; another is to organize and push for a more active response from the institution. Likewise, Gould beseeched

students not to become complicit in the ivory-tower mentality, which hinders students from learning about Indigenous history in the area. She shared how she encourages her own students to develop proposals related to their area of study, from marine biology to political science, that would benefit local tribes in some way.

In the question-and-response segment, attendees inquired about issues such as federal penalties, attempts to extend the law to institutions that do not take federal funds and possible reparations. Gould and Beisaw both responded that though federal penalties are rare, they are possible; that a current law that would extend NAGPRA has been stuck in Congress since 2016; and that NAGPRA is the starting point when it comes to repatriation.

Tribes can publicize issues, but they require public support. Toward the end, one woman cited a 1990 article in which Johnson’s work in Alaska with a colleague from the University of Connecticut was extensively described.

Beisaw noted that the article was published several months before Congress enacted NAGPRA. Likewise, after the death of Johnson’s colleague, collections from the University of Connecticut were dispersed among various institutions.

Gould’s presentation placed Vassar’s compliance with the law and with the affected tribes into context. Beisaw and Gould alike implored attendees not to simply let this become a bygone issue, but to critically engage with local Indigenous communities and ensure that Vassar’s will to repatriate only grows stronger.

Vassar declares climate emergency, creates climate change minor Annabelle Wang

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Guest Reporter

n Wednesday, Feb. 19, Vassar declared a Climate Emergency, joining more than 7,000 universities and 1,300 local governments across the globe. This declaration was made public in an emailed statement sent out by President Elizabeth Bradley to the student body. This initiative formalizes the College’s dedication to ambitious sustainability initiatives while simultaneously instituting a renewed sense of urgency surrounding the climate crisis.

Vassar’s Climate Emergency declaration is a part of a larger global movement in which institutions, including networks of higher education across the world, are coming together to make a commitment to addressing an emergency.

This movement to formally recognize the climate crisis was sparked by an open letter, authored by the Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education (EAUC); Second Nature, an organization working to reduce climate change via higher education; and UN Environment’s Youth and Education Alliance (YEA!). The principal aim of the letter, which was published on July 10, 2019, was to get as much support across organizations as possible to declare a Climate Emergency in recognition of the need for a drastic social shift to combat the growing threat. It emphasized the critical role that education has in achieving sustainable development goals (The SDG Accord, “Global Universities and Colleges for the Climate Introduction”).

Today, the letter has been signed across by universities across six continents. Signatories include Strathmore University (Kenya), Tongji University (China), KEDGE Business School (France), University of Glasgow (U.K.), California State University (U.S.), Zayed University (U.A.E.) and the University of Guadalajara (Mexico). The call to action

has also been backed by major worldwide education networks such as the Global Alliance and the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative. Vassar is now a part of this diverse network (The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education, “Higher and Further Education Institutions across the globe declare Climate Emergency,” 07.10.2019).

The passage of Vassar’s recent Climate Emergency declaration can be at least partially attributed to the grassroots efforts of the College’s Students for Equitable Environmental Decisions (SEED) organization.

As SEED member Celeste Weidemann ’23 explained, SEED had been working on this specific project since the fall of last year. In November 2019, with the assistance of Professor of Geography Joseph Nevins, members of SEED conducted a Skype interview with Professor of Geography, Planning and Environment Sébastien Caquard of Concordia University in Canada. The Department of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia had declared a Climate Emergency in June 2019. During this virtual meeting, the members of SEED were introduced to the idea of a Climate Emergency Declaration and learned how Concordia was able to successfully implement one.

Using its own research in conjunction with the advice of Caquard, SEED immediately began drafting a proposal for Vassar to declare its own Climate Emergency. The organization members decided that the declaration should be made by the Vassar community as a whole instead of by one department.

Weidemann explained, “We were going to try to do something small-scale, like with different departments…but then we were like, ‘Why don’t we send it to Bradley?’ So… we went top-down instead of bottom-up.”

According to Weidemann, the main driving factor behind SEED’s Climate Emergency initiative was to promote rhetoric that

matched the actions the College was already taking.

Sustainability Director Micah Kenfield described the significance of declaring a Climate Emergency: “This declaration is the first time we’ve had a firm explanation of why we’re going carbon neutral: not just because it’s the good thing to do but because we’re in the middle of an emergency … We’re saying that we, as an institution, recognize this language as what we’re in. We’re in an emergency. We’re not just being more sustainable or eco-friendly.”

In the open letter that EAUC, Second Nature and UN YEA! authored, a three-point plan is outlined for all signatories to undertake as a way to address the crisis through their work with students.

The three-point plan is as follows: • Committing to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest.

• Mobilizing more resources for action-oriented climate change research and skills creation.

• Increasing teaching and learning about environmental and sustainability education across curricula, campus and community outreach programmes.

(The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education, “Higher and Further Education Institutions across the globe declare Climate Emergency,” 07.10.2019).

The members of SEED were quick to recognize that Vassar’s current actions already reflect this plan. For instance, Vassar declared carbon neutrality by 2030 during October of last year, when the Board of Trustees announced their support for a $13 million package for renovations and upgrades to the College’s heating system and other energy-saving projects.

The College has also introduced a new climate change correlate. Last semester, the

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP) and faculty approved the integration of the minor in the Vassar curriculum.

In a written statement, Professor of Earth Science and member of the Environmental Studies program steering committee Kirsten Menking elaborated on the significance of this correlate to the Vassar community: “Our hope in formalizing this course of study is that many more students will learn about how the climate system operates and has functioned in the past, how human activities are driving global change, what the impacts of human caused climate change are for ecosystems and human beings, and how to both mitigate and prepare for issues such as species extinctions, sea level rise, changes in weather patterns that bring more rainfall and drought, and the spread of vector borne diseases that respond to temperature changes, among other impacts.” She summarized, “In short, we hope to prepare students to understand and meet the challenges that will arise in the future.”

Kenfield also hopes that this sense of urgency will provide impetus for future actions on campus, such as the College’s five year Climate Action Plan that is presently in the works.

However, the work of climate activists on campus is far from complete. On Feb. 21, 2020, members of SEED proposed a Climate Emergency Response Plan (CERP), which primarily emphasizes the need to divest from fossil fuels, to the Board of TrusteesVassar has not divested from fossil fuel investments despite several protests and calls for them to do so.

As CERP awaits approval, Weidemann cannot contain her excitement for everything the organization will accomplish.

“We’re actually going to make a difference," she said. “I feel like I’m making a difference.”

NEWS

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February 27, 2020

What Happens Here survey suggests decline in sexual violence Noah Siderhurst Guest Reporter

[CW: This article discusses sexual misconduct and assault.] ollege campuses across the country face sexual assault and misconduct cases, and many, including Vassar, have taken steps to address this issue. But how do we know if these efforts have had any effect on student well-being? Luckily, there are ways to quantitatively summarize this data.

The What Happens Here survey measures everything from the efficacy of education on the topic of consent and sexual violence to the incidence of sexual assaults on campus.

The survey is conducted every two years and attempts to survey every Vassar student via email. It is conducted anonymously. Only 33 percent of the student body participated in the most recent survey, so the results cannot be treated as fully inclusive or conclusive.

However, the survey describes the sample of respondents as representative of the full college population in terms of gender, year of study and race/ethnicity.

The 2019 results have just been released, and a full report can be found at vassar.edu/ whathappenshere. If you don’t have the time to read the full report, the rest of this article will digest the survey’s primary findings.

Improvement since 2017: With few exceptions, the survey shows improvements in combating sexual violence since 2017. Compared to two years prior, Vassar students tend to have more trust in the institution to handle sexual assault incidents, are better educated about the topic and experience less sexual violence. To the right are some of the statistics that show

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up

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al Round c i t li Sara Lawler

In Our Headlines...

Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) dominated the Nevada Caucus after having been declared the clear winner with only four percent of caucus sites reporting.

Polls from the first sites to report showed that Sanders led among men and women; whites and Latinos; all but the oldest group of voters; those with a college degree and without; union and nonunion households; and well as liberal, moderate, and conservative democrats. Sanders has won the popular vote in each of the first three primary states, giving him a clear position as frontrunner in the race for the nomination. He has the third most funding, behind the two self-funded billionaires Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg. Despite Sanders’ lead in the large pool of candidates, none of the other Democrats have indicated that they will drop out soon. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is propelled by her recent debate performance, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) by her unexpected performance in New Hampshire and Joe Biden by his improvement in performance in Nevada relative to Iowa and New Hampshire (The New York Times, “5 Takeaways From the Nevada Caucuses,” 02.23.2020).

On Feb. 13, a senior intelligence officer who worked for the previous Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, held a bipartisan briefing about election se-

these improvements.

Differences between demographic groups: The report ran logistic regression analysis to determine if there were differences between demographic groups when it came to sexual assault. They found that those who identified as cis women, transgender, queer or another gender identity other than male were significantly more likely to report experiencing any non-consensual sexual experience than cis men. They found no significant differences based on race, sexual orientation or citizenship status. The same trends exist for those who reported experiencing non-consensual sexual penetration.

Outlook: Although the survey shows across-theboard improvement, there is still work to be done. Seventeen percent of respondents (roughly 150 people) reported a non-consensual sexual experience while enrolled at Vassar. While much lower than 2017, there’s still a long way to go toward creating a safer community.

Another area where Vassar needs improvement is education about counseling services. Only 56 percent of respondents in 2019 knew how to seek confidential counseling at Vassar. In 2017, that number was 70 percent.

Overall, the College has achieved large gains in fighting sexual assault and misconduct. These results are promising, but the fight against sexual violence is ongoing.

Hopefully, Vassar will make similar strides over the next two years.

An expanded version of this article is available at miscellanynews.org. curity and Russian interference. The intelligence officer revealed that Russia has “developed a preference” for President Trump in the 2020 elections. She also revealed that Russia is supporting Sanders in the Democratic Primary. A senior White House official reported that Trump responded by stating that Maguire and the other official were being “played.” Five days after the briefing, Director Maguire was told to vacate his office by 10 a.m., and Trump announced that the U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell would be replacing Maguire as acting Director of National Intelligence until the Senate confirms a permanent Director of Intelligence. Grenell is close with the Trump family, and frequently defends the president on Fox News and Twitter. He has no previous experience in intelligence. According to the National Security Agency, intelligence officers are supposed to be apolitical, with an objective to “speak truth to power.” As a result, intelligence officers often work under a president who does not agree with their analysis of the intelligence gathered. However, three senior intelligence officers have stated that Trump’s extreme and public reactions to intelligence information may lead advisors to withhold certain information from Trump to avoid such consequences (The Washington Post, “Responding to the news of Russian interference, Trump sends chilling message to intelligence community,” 02.22.2020).

On Feb. 21, the Supreme Court voted to remove the last remaining impediment to the use of the Trump Administration’s “wealth test” for immigrants. The “wealth test” rules allow immigrants to be denied both admission and residency based on their potential need to depend on public assistance programs like SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid and earned income tax

Percent of students who:

2017 Results

2019 Results

Percent Change

Agreed that Vassar would take a sexual assault report seriously

65%

78%

+13%

Knew to whom to report a sexual assault

57%

75%

+18%

28%

17%

-11%

Reported that they experienced non-consensual sexual penetration*

8%

6%

-2%

Reported at least once experiencing physical abuse from a partner

5%

2%

-3%

Reported that they experienced any non-consensual sexual experience*

*In the past three years while enrolled at Vassar

credits. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn a decision by an Illinois judge to block the implementation of such rules in Illinois. The administration plans to start enforcement on Feb. 24. This is a shift from the previous status quo that such requirements place an undue burden on poor immigrants as well as immigrants from non-English speaking countries.

The Trump administration intended to put these rules into effect in October, but has been delayed by lower courts overturning them. Immigration officials will now weigh “positive” and “negative” factors of each person applying for a green card.

“Negative” factors are anything that may indicate the individual will require government assistance, such as unemployment, lack of education or not being fluent in English (The Washington Post, “Supreme Court removes last remaining obstacle to immigrant ‘wealth test,’” 02.21.2020).

Around the World...

International concern about Coronavirus has spread after reported cases in South Korea, Italy and Iran spiked. In South Korea, the number of cases doubled from 300 to 602 over the course of last weekend. As a result, the South Korean government has raised their disease alert to the highest possible level. This will allow officials to devote more resources to containing the outbreak, as well as enabling the government to prevent public activities and temporarily close schools. In Italy, 123 cases have been reported, mostly in Lombardy and Veneto, the country’s industrial region. Nearly a dozen towns in this region, including 50,000 people, have been placed under quarantine. Schools and universities have also closed. Iran has reported 43 infections and eight deaths, leading Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Turkey to

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

apply for immigration and travel restrictions (Reuters, “Concern over Coronavirus spread grows with cases jumping in South Korea, Italy, and Iran,” 02.22.2020).

Groups with links to both Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are working together to take control of territory in West Africa.

This is an unlikely partnership, as the two groups are enemies in Syria and Yemen.

Despite this, the two groups are coordinating attacks in order to establish agreed-upon spheres of influence in Sahel, which is below the Sahara desert. Sophisticated attacks by the two groups have targeted army bases and large villages with brutal force.

JNIM, a group of Al-Qaeda loyalists, has 2,000 fighters in West Africa.

The Islamic State is thought to have hundreds of fighters and is actively recruiting new members in northeastern Mali.

France, which has 4,500 troops in West Africa, is urging the United States to keep its 1,400 troops in West Africa, and for other European nations to contribute to the peace keeping efforts. 13,000 United Nations Peacekeepers are currently stationed in Mali (The Washington Post, “Al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups are working together in West Africa to grab large swaths of territory,” 02.22.2020).

Turkey’s southeastern border with Iran was hit with a 5.7 magnitude earthquake on Sunday, killing nine and injuring dozens in both Turkey and Iran. Over 1,000 buildings in Turkey collapsed, prompting rescue missions to extract people from the rubble. Iran and Turkey sit on top of multiple fault lines, making them the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Last month, an earthquake struck eastern Turkey, killing 40 residents of Turkey and inflicting structural damage in Iran (Reuters, “Nine dead in Turkey after quake hits rural Iran border region,” 02.23.2020).

February 27, 2020

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Mug welcomes womxn, nonbinary DJs to take up turntables Meghan Hayfield Reporter

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hirteen bodies crowded around a CDJ—the digital music players with turntables—in the Mug on Thursday, Feb. 20, including a mannequin wearing a cowboy hat. I tried to decode the equipment with my eyes, poring over the buttons and switches, each with its own purpose.

Standing behind the puzzling contraption was Solenne Steelberg ’21, who set up the event as a DJing workshop for trans women, cis women and nonbinary individuals.

Steelberg’s hands darted across the turntables, animated with determination. They set up the workshop so students could learn how to DJ outside of Vassar College Sound System (VCSS), which Steelberg said is made up of mostly men.

“If you were in a space with mostly men, you wouldn’t feel as inclined to ask questions, or you would feel even more intimidated because you have a lot of men putting off this tone,” Steelberg said. “Mansplaining?” I asked. “Exactly,” they replied with a mutually understanding smile.

The atmosphere was friendly to beginners, inclusive and accepting—everyone cheered when a newcomer laid down a beat. After Steelberg stepped away from the CDJ, attendees stepped up, playing around until their songs successfully looped, or the beat dropped and the room erupted with ecstatic energy.

“I want to share what I know with not cis men,” Steelberg said. “Because, fuck them.”

Everyone around the turntables smiled in agreement.

On the inclusion of other identities, attendee Emily Lesorogol ’22 agreed, “I think it takes

away the intimidation factor,” she said.

Steelberg recently took action toward creating a more inclusive DJ atmosphere on campus, forming a Facebook group for womxn and nonbinary individuals to help coordinate DJing sessions. The group currently consists of 20 people, and while it’s not a fully fleshedout organization, they hope it will provide opportunities for underrepresented people to display artistry. Steelberg said the group will practice DJing together in WVKR studios, creating an intimate and low-pressure community centered around mastering music production, regardless of experience level.

While Steelberg said they are reluctant to tackle VSA bureaucracy and turn a Facebook group into an org, they said the creative collective will announce practice times for potential

Baby.com performs after the DJ workshop.

Grace Rousell/The Miscellany News.

DJs. They also indicated a desire to collaborate with VCSS in order to find DJ opportunities for campus events.

Back in the Mug, Steelberg took us through playing a track, from speeding up the song to looping it, breaking down the complicated process into something fluid, instantaneous.

“Basically, the point is that you’re trying to play music for people and you don’t want the music to stop, you just want it to keep playing,” they said. The concept is simple enough, but watching the DJ behind the turntables pressing buttons and whirling dials, the equipment seemed enigmatic and overwhelming.

Not only did the workshop offer insight into the complex world of music production, but also into how we accept who is behind that space as a given. Until talking to attendees, I hadn’t thought about whether the DJ scene at Vassar was male-dominated. Watching Steelberg behind the turntables, getting lost in the plethora of buttons, I realized I often didn’t look at who was DJing, or even notice how much expertise and confidence it takes to occupy that role.

“It’s yet another position of power,” Mackenzie Whitehead-Bust ’23 said. “It’s not necessarily wrong that men DJ, but it’s just the fact that it is mostly dominated by men that creates the feeling that it couldn’t be run by women. I think it’s a pretty bro-y culture—kind of like a boys club.”

I asked Whitehead-Bust whether she was interested in DJing in the future, and she glowed with affirmation. As she and a handful of others stood behind the turntables, their bodies hunched in concentration, a whole new cohort of DJs was born.

Looking this bro culture in the face may

open up the DJ scene, allowing for more individuals to create their own rhythms and to expose others to music they otherwise might not have heard.

“It would be refreshing to have people exposed to different kinds of music,” affirmed Steelberg.

Lucinda Carroll ’23 said that an event geared specifically to womxn and nonbinary individuals offered a unique learning opportunity and a welcome contrast to the makeup of the music industry.

Carroll also observed male dominance in the field. “I’ve noticed that almost all the DJs are men. It’s weird but it’s clearly a male-dominated field, which is so weird since it’s such a new field,” she said. “I think it’s really cool that this caters exclusively to women and non-binary folks. Otherwise the opportunities aren’t going to present themselves.”

Behind the CDJ at Thursday’s workshop, hopefuls like Lesorogol, Whitehead-Bust and Carroll stood with their eyes glued to the mess of buttons and glowing lights, no longer so intimidating to new creators in the room. Now, perhaps the puzzle was coming together, the buttons’ purposes evident and the swarm of lights and switches less confusing. Steelberg had disappeared, but attendees were now teaching each other. There was no hierarchy or domineering energy, only cooperation.

The next day, I sat down with Steelberg in the Retreat. “[Music] really is such an important part of our lives—even now you can hear someone playing piano. I think it’s a big part of this campus and I want to make that more accessible,” Steelberg said. “It’s all about discovery. There’s a lot of beauty in discovering new genres and new kinds of music.”

Hudson Valley breeds boisterous, tear-jerking indie Taylor Stewart

T

Arts Editor

he Hudson Valley is known for not being New York City. Therein lies its charm.

Resisting geographic proximity to the city, Poughkeepsie, Beacon, New Paltz and their neighbors kiss the river and the mountains and give the illusion of being everything Manhattan is not: quiet, agricultural, homey, perhaps a little boring.

The metropolis breeds individuality supposedly because its people are bombarded by stimuli, experiencing ritual and habitual contrasts (posits Berlinese sociologist Georg Simmel). Because of this, art blooms in the metropolis. But I have wondered: Which is stronger, stimulation (competition?) or a lack thereof? The latter, I argue, inspires artists to become their own stimulation. If the cold and stretch of the Midwest inspires the country’s greatest emo music, does the Hudson Valley landscape, and maybe the fact it is not Manhattan, set the stage for good indie?

I scoured Bandcamp. I was not surprised to find that, given Vassar’s demographics and the wails of boredom I hear from its students, the region is replete with angsty, personal, pensive music—borne, perhaps, by the languor and quietude you can only enjoy outside the metropolis. What follows are some of the best indie albums made on the banks of the Hudson.

Diet Cig, “Over Easy” Alex Luciano (soon to be Diet Cig’s vocals and guitar) and Noah Bowman (longtime drummer) met at a house show. She interrupted his set to ask for a lighter. They recorded their debut EP “Over Easy” at Salvation Recording Co. in New Paltz. These five tracks of “slop pop,” all written by Luciano from her bedroom, memorialize teenag-

erhood and change. The lyrics are simple, with bouncy guitar and drums that are the driving force of the record; none of the songs exceed three minutes. Luciano’s voice is sickly sweet, almost babyish, so when she growls or gets a little sloppy it is particularly exciting. “Pool Boyz” describes interim suburban summers. The protagonists get arrested midswim, after which she croons, “I’m sorry my town sucks/But we all know life’s rough.”

“Harvard” is their most popular track; a pleasant and playfully angry pop-punk diatribe against an ex (“Put your work shoes on/ And talk about her at your shitty job/Does it feel better/In that cold Boston weather?/Fuck your Ivy League sweater!”).

Breakfast In Fur, “Breakfast in Fur” The New Paltz sextet is named after the 1936 surrealist sculpture by Méret Oppenheim of a teacup covered with tawny brown fur. Their eponymous debut EP is whimsical and highly textured folk that makes me want to watch a sunset or a sunrise, or ride a bike.

They signed with Bar/None Records (the Hoboken label boasts groups like The Front Bottoms, Of Montreal and Yo La Tengo) after the EP’s release. I want to liken them to someone—I hear Beirut in some of the melodies—but they are like no other in how they pick and mix their instruments. Plucky guitar, melodica, strings, bells and myriad mysterious sounds are featured. “I Don’t Care”

opens with a vibraslap, quickly followed by three or so layers of unconventional percussion and several melodies. This virtuosic layering allows you to roam inside the song; pick a single layer or instrument and you will get sucked into the song-unit. When the great soundscape is paired with the vocals of Dan Wolfe and Kaitlin Van Pelt (cooing but audible, and strong), the result is both quaint and epic. Pitchfork describes them as “agrarian psychedelia” (Pitchfork, “Breakfast in Fur: Flyaway Garden,” 02.04.2015). Wolfe has revealed that Breakfast In Fur is releasing a new album later this year.

Dumb Talk, “Together Never Again” The Beacon group recorded their second album at “riverby and rob’s house in spring/ summer 2013” (Bandcamp, “Together Never Again,” 08.02.2014). They lie somewhere between twee pop and garage punk. Their spot on the spectrum of sweetness and grittiness wavers with every track, and even within the track sometimes—“Peter Frampton” combines doo-wop vocals, in low fidelity, with dreamy shoegaze guitar and piano. It is a ballad. The next track, “Come Out,” invokes The Drums and, in the chorus, pure twee. A couple tracks after that, “Lori” is fast, more gritty and reckless. Teenage titles aside, “Free Teen Cams” makes my heart swell the same way that it does when I hear “Young Adult Friction” by New York City’s Pains of Being Pure

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

at Heart—an epic, expanding effect is not sacrificed for catchiness, though they achieve both. I take a lot of pleasure in tracing bands’ growth from record to record; it is evident that Dumb Talk has matured between albums, and rests and explodes within them.

The band is no longer together but their twopiece discography chronicles more growth than other groups display across decades.

QUARTERBACKS, “Quarterbacks” Frontman Dean Engle sings with a slack mouth on the song “Pool,” “In the backseat, swimsuit dripping/I made a promise/That when we got back to Poughkeepsie/I wouldn’t call you.” Some music seems like it comes out of the ether, placeless and omniscient or otherwise unattainable, while his is intensely local. Not in the sense of size or consequence, but in how you can imagine yourself feeling the same things in the same places.

QUARTERBACKS has been broken up for years now, says Engle, making the listen even more nostalgic. There is a delicious and funny contrast in Engle’s apologetic, sweet, purposefully naive singing and the energy and haste of the band. Every track on their eponymous debut is under two minutes, but despite fast pace and little time, their control of tempo (“Weekend”) and intimate, narrative-heavy lyrics ease the ear.

All these artists can be found on Spotify and Bandcamp.

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February 27, 2020

On 'Slow Rush,' Parker cements stardom as genre leader Ben Scharf

K

Live Events Chairperson

evin Parker is multitudes. He is not merely a member of the band Tame Impala. He is Tame Impala. This is an important distinction to make, as Parker’s newest album “The Slow Rush” is cohesive and personal—of one mind, of one man.

Expectations for “The Slow Rush” were high. Parker’s last studio release, “Currents,” was embraced by diehard fans and music critics alike, and the artist had just disembarked from a searing tour of headlining sets at festivals no smaller than Coachella, Oshega and Lollapalooza. The album was released Friday, Feb. 14 at 12 a.m. My headphones were donned at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13…I waited.

The 12-song, hour-long record opens with a swelling vocoder sample, both parts fractured and flowing. The beat drops, and Parker begins reminiscing on the past year.

He seems to find comfort in the past, the known, the happened. The song quiets, then congas enter, as Parker seamlessly glides into yearning for the same comfort in the future, promising to spend just “One More Year” in the safety of his current routines and lifestyle. Lyrically, Parker’s abilities to gracefully drift through time, examining past mistakes, romanticized memories and that which has yet to come, constitute his greatest gift.

“Instant Destiny” begins with a heroic synth loop simulating blaring horns over a reverb-soaked and methodical drum beat.

The ebbing and flowing loops reminiscent of 2015’s “Currents” topple at strong peaks, reminding me of beloved older Tame re-

cords like “Mind Mischief” and “Eventually.” While the most euphoric highs of “Currents” remain untouched and unchallenged, “Instant Destiny” serves as a noble attempt. Here Parker is in love, impulsive and happy to share his dream (at the moment) for the future: running away to Miami. He could do it, too, but hopes and plans so often change.

Next comes “Borderline,” the first single from “The Slow Rush.” Last summer, upon my first listen, I thought that it fell a bit flat. However, in the context of the full record, “Borderline” is reinvigorated by its groove and unique instrumentation, a departure in style and sound from tracks earlier in the band’s discography. The calland-response style hook proves undeniably catchy over the delay-ridden harpsichord loop. A sweet pan flute weaves in and out of the song, creating a foreign and captivating soundscape. The huge overdriven synth bass on the second half of each chorus, in my humble opinion, slaps.

“Posthumous Forgiveness” is grand and ambitious at its best. At its worst, it is boring and overstays its welcome. The distinctive chord progression evokes the Eagles hit “Hotel California.” However, the broodingly slow beat drags on and loses interest, except for the last third of the track, which completely pivots to a lighter, more familiar Tame Impala outro. Just as my ears adjust to expect more of the same from Kevin Parker, I am introduced to what will become one of my favorite songs on the record. Possibly a standout moment in his entire discography.

Parker’s often underhyped skills as a

drummer are beautifully showcased on “Breathe Deeper.” With an appreciation for the limitations of a human drummer versus a drum machine, he produces drums which rest between organic and robotic.

The intricacy and precision of Parker’s craft is comparable to that of the strongest rap producers and creators working today.

It’s no wonder why this genre leader has collaborated with other genre leaders like Rihanna and Travis Scott. Aside from the drumbeat, the intro’s glittery, syncopated piano makes for some of the record’s slickest production. The lyrics are confident and playful. Parker’s voice subtly reaps the benefits of his success in a sweet yet self-assured tone. Any musical challenge you ask of him is answered in the affirmative “I can.” It’s a great song.

The outro of “Breathe Deeper” (and victory lap) gently leads us into “Tomorrow’s Dust,” whose acoustic guitar is peaceful and refreshing. In the last 30 seconds of the track, “Breathe Deeper” reprises a second time in the form of a short ambient skit.

Parker’s freedom and willingness to include hidden outros and interludes in such tracks makes for a truly immersive experience, presenting the listener with broad-minded and unexpected moments.

“Lost In Yesterday” is another stand-out track. Once again, percussion is the centerpiece. The song’s lyrics are drenched in the theme of time passing, Parker’s latest obsession. His perspectives on living and letting go begin to form a meaningful message: As we make mistakes, we can regret them, but at some point we just have to navigate through the wreckage and move

on. Leave the past in the past, even when it's hard to let it happen.

“Is It True” is hands-down my favorite song on the record. The giant synth lead in the chorus comes straight from a metallic, speaker-blowing Justice track. It's nostalgic but has modern groove sensibilities. It is undeniably made for movement. It can and will hold its own on any college dance floor.

Has anyone here ever heard of Kaytranada?

Enough said.

“It Might Be Time” was a single that, in many ways, previewed the album’s conceptual framework. Much like James Murphy on LCD Soundsystem’s “Losing My Edge,” Parker’s stint of continued success leads him to accept the fact that few artists’ careers can exist indefinitely with enduring relevance. It's a valid—and deeply human— anxiety to have. Be honest with those fears; in fact, embrace them, he says.

The album finishes with the exquisite rock ballad “One More Hour.” Here marks for me the record’s most poignant vocal performance. Parker’s tone two minutes in is ethereal and empathy-inducing: “How could I love again?/How could I ever ask for more?/Into the road ahead/Into a life I can't ignore.” He ends the album where many of us so often find ourselves: unsure of our future, missing past lovers and past lives. The instrumental itself explodes with emotion, memorializing the epic sound of Pink Floyd and The Who. It's worth the last seven minutes. It's something to sit with. All he can hope for is one more hour, in the face of time slowly and eternally rushing away.

The record fades. I relisten; just one more hour. I’m still listening.

VRDT broaches caffeine, geometry, memory for gala Continued from VRDT on page 1 vious pointe work and elegant ballet extensions in order to embody the character of the harried, overly-caffeinated and off-duty dancer in Caffeinated, complete with sneakers and a coffee cup. This featured genre-bending dance piece, choreographed by NYC-based Larry Keigwin, playfully depicts a group of Starbucks coffee addicts, prompting viewers to call into question their own caffeine habits.

It offers an energizing mix of modern, jazz and other styles, packed into nine minutes of dance, served with a dash of humor. Although Caffeinated is a rapidly paced and physically demanding choreography, VRDT dancers manage to have fun throughout: “One of my favorite parts is

during the ‘ballerina’ trio about halfway through, when the pace of the piece slows down just enough for me to hear the other dancers laughing in the wings. Like a good audience, it gives me a much-needed boost of energy,” revealed Gotsch.

Adding a little dose of seriousness after Caffeinated, Nerissa Tunnessen ’22 choreographed “carry me.” The piece highlighted heaving movements that “very literally bring to life a physical embodiment of emotional burden and support through heavy movement and partnering.” Continued Tunnessen, “For me, each movement and gesture has a purpose and story in conveying that message and feeling.” Tunnessen’s piece is deeply inspired by her background in traditional

VRDT members perform carry me., choreographed by Nerissa Tunnessen ’22.

Courtesy of Miriam Mahdaviani.

modern dance and emotive movement, and partly pays homage to her experiences at the Dance Institute of Washington in Washington, D.C., where she spent years practicing ballet and modern with exposure to West African and jazz dance.

Tunnessen said she sought to share with her peers her experience of “pouring my entire heart and soul into pieces at home.”

She added, “Choreographing is lovely because it is incredible to see visions come to life on other people’s bodies.”

Inspired by a moment last fall when he was listening to a short podcast that mentioned the Hebraic term “khag” (meaning “a circular dance” or a “festival”), Professor of Dance Stephen M. Rooks decided it would be fun to do a short piece that paid homage to the expression. Khag is rife with puns. “The main concept at play behind the piece revolved around circles and circular motion...I would be a sort of central figure or ‘mystic’ providing the impetus for and guiding the piece,” VRDT dancer and Khag protagonist Elliot Hoke ’22 said. “Everyone gets their time to shine in the piece, with my role as the guiding figure being to help break out of and usher in some of the faster group work.” Not only is Hoke the central figure, but to add a little distinctive detail to his role, his costume and choreography include a circular, wide-brimmed hat to flourish middance—which, when viewed from the opera-house balcony, is also a circle!

“Rikud” is Hebrew for “dance.” For Hannah Littman ’22, the word brings her back to her time at Jewish summer camp, where she participated in fervent bouts of dancing. Littman described, “After sundown on Saturday marking the end of Shabbat, everyone at camp would

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

dance wildly and without care for about an hour.” This vision culminated in her piece, Rikud, capturing “that experience of going from a period of extreme rest to a moment of extreme chaos and physicality.” She recommends the audience to take notice of the performers’ unrestrained joy and exuberance but also take note of the darker side—the forced heterosexuality and gender binary of co-educational summer camps as well as the compulsion to follow ritual. Trained in ballet, jazz and contemporary, Littman’s main focus now is modern and experimental modes such as improvisational and dance-theater methodologies, with which she brings her old memories to life.

Whether it’s Adjunct Assistant Professor of Dance Miriam Mahdaviani’s magical classical ballet piece Capriccio, Emily Lesorogol ’22’s eloquent jazzy creation Nina, Visiting Instructor in Dance and Drama Leslie I. Partridge-Sachs’ modern arrangement Salt For Sorrow, or any of the aforementioned, intensely personal pieces, the collection of performances will showcase the immense talent of Vassar’s repertoire dancers. And it’s not just talent that these students have to offer—they are mindful of the effect of their artwork on the audience. VRDT dancer Weipeng Xie ’21 demonstrated both the group’s enthusiasm and ultimate creative goals, musing, “I hope to give the audience their own voices, narratives and characters to the dances and make the Bardavon experience unique and significant to each and every person who comes to the show.”

Tickets can be purchased in the College Center in Main Building. Free shuttles will take students to the Bardavon and back.

February 27, 2020

ARTS

Page 7

What's your favorite plant?

Emma Alexandrov '21 She/Her/Hers

"Mint."

— Katie '22

"Fungi(if you eat it its a plant)."

— Jemma Brooker '23

"Jasmine."

— Zhiqin Cai '20 I'm kind of spooked by the idea of an ""artist's statement"" but, I guess, for those who're curious about what was going through my head when I did this (if that's you, hello, thanks for your curiosity), I just try to pay attention to the small stuff, try to seek simplicity or elegance in complicated scenes...

If you wanna see more of my photos I post them to insta, where you can find me at emalphoto.

"Tomato."

— Ekin Gülen '21

"MINT!!!"

— Tes Moulton '23

"Lilac."

— Chad Fust

Francisco Andrade, Humor Editor Sherry Liao, Photographer

Banner design by Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Banner design by Frankie Knuckles/The Miscellany News.

Page 8

FEATURES

February 27, 2020

This original photo segment presents a look into life at Vassar and beyond through the lens of Misc photographers. Bi-weekly, we’ll use photography to spotlight an issue, explore a narrative or put forth a voice. Styles vary from creative to journalistic to slice-of-life. This week, Photo Editor Yvette Hu '22 and Assistant Photo Editor Grace Rousell '23 express their thoughts on the spread of face-mask fear and hate crimes aimed at Asian people since the outbreak of coronavirus. Concept: Yvette Hu/The Micsellany News. Photos: Grace Rousell/The Miscellany News. Model: Cristy Cai '22. Banner design by Ciara Murray-Jordan/The Miscellany News Submit your photos to Through the Lens to yijiahu@vassar.edu.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

s

February 27, 2020

FEATURES

Page 9

Ceramics Club sculpts spaces for de-stressing Janet Song

F

Assistant Features Editor

or Ceramics Club crafters Jane McLeod ’20 and Sasha Ekman ’22, time does not exist in the new ceramics studio below Noyes. The studio serves as a retreat from the frenzy of Vassar life. “You lose track of time when you're focusing on your art that you're creating,” said Ekman who, along with McLeod, is a member of the Ceramics Club. “It’s very calming. I'm alone. There's no one around me. I just get to listen to my music and build my art.”

Although Ceramics Club has been around Vassar for a while, the studio in Noyes’ basement is only a year and a half old. “For a long time, the Ceramics Club was basically in the Main MPR,” said McLeod. “And they used ‘easy baked’ clay because that's kind of all that we had access to.” This type of clay could only be used to make small crafts, such as animal figurines or little food items. Only when members Jocelyn Dryfoos ’21, Claire Walker ’21 and Calvin Scannell ’21 talked to President Bradley did the club manage to receive the funds for building the studio. Later, the three also met with Dean Alamo, people from the Residential Life office, as well as workers for electricity and buildings and grounds. The space was built during the 2018-19 winter break.

The Ceramics Club has no formal meeting times; instead, the studio is open every day for two to four hours. Each member of the club’s executive board—including McLeod and Ekman—maintains the studio space and offers assistance to anyone who requests help on their crafts.

“Basically, anyone here can go and check out the studio,” McLeod summarized.

“Students, faculty, staff.”

McLeod has worked with ceramics since high school, but only recently did she learn the tricky and rewarding trade of running a studio. After coming to Vassar, McLeod discovered Fall Kill Clay Works, a ceramics studio in Poughkeepsie for which she now volunteers. “There's a lot of work that goes into running a studio, a real studio,” she said, “like maintenance stuff, cleaning, materials that we need to

buy and just like getting [everyone] on the same page [as] ours.”

The club has been hosting Saturday workshops as a way to foster interest in those wanting to learn about ceramics.

Unlike regular hours at the studio, where only one member of the executive board supervises, workshops feature more executive members to assist with the workshop’s projects. Generally, executive members are hands-off during their regular hours, only assisting when requested.

These workshops, however, serve as lessons on different forms of ceramics such making mugs, flasks and salad bowls.

The interaction within these workshops is what makes them so engaging, as workshop attendees can simultaneously learn how to mold clay and form connections with the club members.

The craft of ceramics, as Ekman later noted, requires a high level of dexterity in the creative process. There are learning steps, she explained, “And if you miss those steps, then things can go wrong.”

Despite the very methodical nature of the craft, McLeod described ceramics as physical. “Throwing [clay] on the wheel is very much like a grounding exercise just for myself,” she said. “Like you have to center the clay on the wheel. And in order to do that you have to be centered yourself. Your core has to be in alignment with your legs and your arms.” Such a description evokes the image of Buddha statues, their position balanced and their composure centered in mediation.

In line with this sentiment, Ekman believes a connection between body and craft elicits an appreciation for the art made. Part of what makes ceramics beautiful is the ability to interact with the finished product. For example, when a painter creates a painting, the brush separates the artist from the art, never allowing the painter to touch their piece. But ceramics requires a connection between the sculptor and their work. Ekman emphasized, “The whole thing with ceramics—when you pick it up, it's supposed to be light.”

Plates, mugs, bowls—all these crafts are material, and the craftsmanship can be

felt within one’s fingertips. The smooth edges or bumpy patterns are touchable, a physical of the care and concentration put into creating the art.

Because doing ceramics requires so much concentration, members described the club as an outlet for de-stressing. “In life, but especially at Vassar, sometimes I just forget to breathe,” McLeod said. “So much is happening: You're overwhelmed with work, with other activities—life, family, friends, etc. And for me, to go into the studio and to just take some time to create something reminds me to breathe and take a step back.” Creating with your hands with a heavy self-centered focus lets many ceramics club members foster mindfulness.

The club’s coil workshop last week was no different in focus; it served as a space for attendees to wind down while looping strings of clay. “It didn't necessarily seem like [de-stressing] in the like the normal way you kind of think of it, like maybe meditation,” Ekman remembered. “But it was de-stressing in that we were all communicating with each other and focusing on the art and each other. So we put all of the work and excess stressors that we had

in our lives outside of the space.” The club also has a set of certain boundaries towards communication in the studio, such as avoiding stressful topics like schoolwork. This allows the club’s space to be isolated from the hecticness of daily life.

Another de-stressing event will take place this Friday, Feb. 28, in collaboration with SAVP. This event is much like their typical workshops, but also has an emphasis on allowing people in the SAVP office to de-stress as well.

For ceramics beginners who may want to take advantage of the club’s space and partake in mindful sculpting, Ekman and McLeod suggest coming in without a project in mind. Ceramics is unpredictable, and for those new to clay, it is important to focus on the process rather than the result. “You're gonna mess up,” Ekman said. “There are certain right ways to do things—that doesn't mean that you can't change them a little bit, but there are certain basic skills that you should try and learn and will help you. Once you have that foundation, you can kind of go off the rails.” For those seeking to crack out of the mold of academic life, the kiln and wheels are waiting at the Noyes basement.

Above, participants in Ceramics Club work on their projects.

Courtesy of Jane McLeod.

Irish-identifying Americans consider cultural, political heritage Continued from Irish Identity on page 1 stitutes genocide. Over one million people died of starvation and at least another million emigrated. Coogan argues that the English government's force and seizure of Irish crops were at the root of these deaths (“The Famine Plot: England’s Role in Ireland’s Greatest Tragedy” 11.27.2012) (Encyclopedia Britannica, “Great Famine” 02.05.2000). Though this is an oft-disputed figure, the population decrease of two million represents the murder and displacement of a quarter of the island’s population at that time.

In addition to bringing starvation to Ireland, the English also brought their own religion and language, Protestantism and English. They aggressively repressed Catholicism and other elements of Irish culture, claiming that there was no culture or history in Ireland to begin with (a common theme in English imperialism). Thus, the legacy of St. Patrick became inextricably tied to the Irish-Catholic political struggle for independence from Britain.

But how does this tie into Irish-American identity? It should come as no surprise that the founding of the Irish Republican organizations—the Irish Re-

publican Brotherhood and the New Yorkbased Fenian Brotherhood—fell on the familiar date of March 17, 1858 (The New York Times, “How the Irish Won their Freedom,” 01.21.2019). The founding of each organization began a legacy of Ireland-centric political activism outside of Ireland (hence the controversial “England get out of Ireland” banner that has been in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade for decades). This is why St. Patrick's Day is of political importance to the citizens of Ireland. But what is the role of the holiday—and of Irish culture altogether—to the Irish-American descendant?

We and people like us have ended up in the United States because of the toil and suffering of ancestors far removed from us. At the same time, we’re the beneficiaries of white privilege. While our cousins in Ireland still experience political tension with England one Brexit-hardened border away, as white people in the United States, we needn’t worry about our own rights nearly as much as the Irish or as much as ethnic minorities in America. Plainly, our ancestors were Irish, but we are situated in America. The best thing we can do to respect our heritage is to study integral parts

of Irish culture while remaining cognizant of the disparity between the atmosphere we’ve been raised in and that of the Irish.

We’re grateful that Vassar lets us ground ourselves in our heritage by offering an independent language study program in Irish Gaelic, the original tongue of the Irish people that English suppression failed at eradicating. Through various legislations, the English government restricted the use of Irish in interaction with English citizens and in courts. It also removed Irish language from school curriculums, preventing future generations from learning the language of their ancestors.

However, during the Irish struggle for independence, the language was revived as a symbol of Irish nationalism and defiance (The Irish Story, “‘To extinguish their sinister traditions and customs’ – the historic bans on the legal use of the Irish and Welsh languages,” 11.10.2018). State-sponsored programs have made gains in reviving the language. Abroad, the study of Irish has taken the shape of students wishing to reconnect with their roots—an opportunity we think that all students should be able to access, regardless of cultural background.

Though Irish is on the rise, in the United

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

States there is barely a chance that we’ll meet anyone else who speaks the language without seeking them out at an academic conference or cultural convention. Therefore, when we—an American citizen of Irish descent and a dual-citizen daughter of an Irish immigrant—study for our Intermediate Irish class, it is an act of spiritual medication and meditation, an intimate discovery and rumination on Irish essence long lost to one but remnant with the other.

So we’ll tell you exactly what we’ll be doing on St. Patrick’s Day this year. We’ll be headed to New York City for the parade and immerse ourselves in a crowd of nonIrish people merrymaking for the sake of merrymaking. Whether or not those celebrating understand the meaning of the holiday, we do not know; however, we will enjoy the fun of St. Patrick's Day understanding that the raucous celebration has meaning as a bold symbol of Irish defiance and resilience. And, as the day’s events unfold, we will feel proud to be a product of a lineage of people fleeing tyranny and making something of themselves in another land. Is fearr Gaeilge briste ná Béarla clíste.

HUMOR

Page 10

February 27, 2020

Breaking News

From the desk of Francisco Andrade, Humor Editor

After sucking on the lifeblood of America for years, the guy from 'The Apprentice' weirdly doesn't like 'Parasite' "It's art!" exclaim students holding crayon drawing of poop Rohan Dutta

Vassar Artiste

O

livia Verwerked ’21 sits in her room, drawing a large landscape she has been commissioned online. In between her schoolwork and her campus job, she creates, perfecting her craft and hopefully making enough money to pay off some student loans. Now and then she’ll get featured in an arts publication, and the fat paycheck and her name in print makes her think all the hard work will be worth it. A job in the art world isn’t easy to get, but Verwerked might just have a chance.

She hopes, with a few internships and good

enough grades, she can break into the industry after graduation and turn her life’s passion into a career.

On the other side of the room, her roommate racks up the largest salary on campus making furry commissions.

Vassar has a lot of artists and even more people who think they’re artists. In a sense, our art is the epitome of college culture: not that good but good enough for Admissions to be able to make it look impressive. Yes, there are legitimately good artists on campus—we are lucky to have dozens of singers, writers, artists, dancers and more in our ranks. But what about the rest?

This is my fursona, Star Demon Legend Lady Fire. She's immortal, a princess and has three boyfriends. Courtesy of JennatheDerp via DeviantArt.

Vassar has a beautiful campus and allegedly beautiful buildings, so it’s no surprise so many photographers are about.

Most photographers can be found pointing their cameras at the lake, the Quad or as far away from that one tree near Chicago Hall as possible. There are, of course, other kinds of photo-taking that are a lot more popular, but my parents read this paper, so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

As with all art, the quality of Vassar’s music varies. At open mics in the Mug, you can hear acts like Henry Arp ’22, who frequently touches the souls of fellow students with his melancholy violin arrangements. If you stay a few minutes after Arp finishes, you can also hear Trevor Rash ’23, who goes by the stage name Big Noice, perform his latest mumble rap hit, “Fire Alarm (Wah Wah)”.

“Surprisingly, my style doesn’t really seem to be catching on just yet,” Rash told the Misc. “I think my lyrics are just going over everyone’s head.” As he performs, the pure emotion exuded by the crowd makes it clear: They wish it went over their heads.

Some art mediums have something of a hierarchy. Take, for example, the written word: The best writers at Vassar have their work exhibited in high-quality products such as Portrait, the Vassar Insider and the Disorientation Guide. Conversely, less talented writers opt to write for The Miscellany News and convince themselves that the humor section is actually funny.

The debate of whether magic counts as an art has thundered for centuries in the smallest bars and largest stages. But not at Vassar, of course, because nobody’s good enough at magic for people to call their work art with

a straight face. However, there are a few acts worth following. Dylan Runk ’23, an upand-coming magician, has a party trick of making all White Claws in a three mile radius mysteriously disappear. His show partner, Leo Oanlie ’21, alternatively wows the crowd by remaining a virgin despite having attended every Mug Night for three years.

While Oanlie refuses to reveal his secrets, most experts attribute his success to him being a Vassar student.

Some have tried comedy.

Dancing is an integral part of Vassar culture, and boy does it show. Groups such as actual dance groups legitimately light up the stage whenever they perform, giving a good name to the school and themselves. However, far away from the big stages and consenting audiences, the performance art side of Vassar dance establishes a unique brand.

Most notable of the underground is Kyle ’19, whom you can spot around campus crying in front of vending machines. Kyle made a name for himself by crashing TH parties on the regular and trying to dance on the host’s furniture, thus making him the second highest threat to TH valuables at Vassar.

Vassar is a supposedly diverse place with a great variety of artists, some of them even good. In this examination, we’ve only looked at a few of the many performers and creators unfortunately sharing the stage with the cool people we all know and love. If you still have yet to encounter these sides of Vassar, just keep an eye on your local bulletin board to find out more. If you’ve already encountered them, Metcalf is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

'Spy Kids': potential child endangerment?

I

Madison Caress The 4th spy kid

could not find a leaked copy of “Cats” (2019) to review for this week, so “Spy Kids” (2001) was the next logical choice. Both are equally impressive in their use of CGI, but, while "Cats" was met with criticism and opposition, no one really seemed upset with “Spy Kids.” And why would they be? This Robert Rodriguez powerhouse features Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino as the parents of two little brats, Carmen and Juni, played by Mrs. Carlos from “Big Time Rush” and Mr. Meghan Trainor. Surprisingly for a movie directed toward children, this movie managed to rope in my mom.

“Spy Kids” is a very simple movie on the surface; it’s essentially a James Bond flick starring “Home Alone” Macaulay Culkin and “Stranger Things” season one Millie Bobby Brown. I don’t know who saw tweens and thought that they would be perfectly suitable for the high-stakes world of international espionage, but I love it! Even though my 12-year-old self could barely boil water, I think it’s entirely realistic for other 12-year-olds to take down an entire scheme to turn other spies into children’s show characters. The most impressive part of the plot was that these children could

navigate themselves to their kidnapped parents. Even now, as a 19 year-old, I can barely navigate from Main to the TAs. But Carmen and Juni do manage to find their parents, and in the process they become full-fledged spies, taking down Tony Shalhoub in the role he was born to play: an evil man named Minion who ends up with four heads. The whole family eventually reunites and the only ones that participated in any action were the children…again, realistic!

The cast of this movie—possibly the most appealing factor for adults and anyone who knows who Antonio Banderas is—counters the zaniness of the plot. The casting director must have been very excited when Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino agreed to do the film. Finally! A movie where two washed-up spy parents also act as the sexual appeal in a children’s film! While the children within the film may mostly be known for “Spy Kids,” they now have notoriety for their marriages. Alexa PenaVega, who played Carmen, is now married to Carlos PenaVega, best known as Carlos from “Big Time Rush.” They apparently decided to just combine their last names… feminist? I’m waiting for Blake and Ryan LivelyReynolds to do the same. The man

who played Juni, Daryl Sabara, is also married to someone perfect from the bottom to the top. Meghan Trainor and Daryl Sabara were most famously seen leaving a sex shop right after getting engaged, so I guess my childhood is ruined. I never thought I’d live to see the day when Juni Cortez leaves a sex

All of the official Spy Kids pictures were copyrighted. Photos courtesy of Pixabay, edited by Izzy Migani/The Miscellany News.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

shop with someone who is all about that bass and not all about that gum that shocks people when you spit it on them.

With a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, “Spy Kids” proves its place within pop culture and film history. The only spy movie that even comes close to “Spy Kids” is the other kid-friendly spy movie, the 1983 James Bond classic, “Octopussy.” And, they basically possess the same target audience.

If you have never seen “Spy Kids,” I urge you to hop on Netflix and watch it immediately before another paparazzi photo of Daryl Sabara and Meghan Trainor leaving a sex shop gets leaked. Don’t let that ruin this movie for you like it almost did for me! And if you too just can’t get enough of the series, the sequel has Steve Buscemi. So just keep watching and you won’t be disappointed. I’d watch anything with that handsome man Steve!

This movie, despite putting children in harm’s way, gets high marks from me. Just try to forget that neither of them have gone through puberty, yet are still having to save their kidnapped parents, and your viewing experience should be fine. This movie ultimately gets 95 out of 96 from me, for every time I thought about calling Child Protective Services.

HUMOR

February 27, 2020

h c t C i h B ronicles r a s s a V

by Emily Lesorogol

Page 11

HOROSCOPES Madi Donat

Astral Projector

ARIES Mar 21 | Apr 19 Now is the time I finally let you know my own sign: I’m a Cancer! Apparently Cancers and Aries are super incompatible (which is tbh very false but that’s what the magazines say). This is a threat.

TAURUS

Apr 20 | May 20

This week is about connection. Talk to people face to face as much as possible to avoid confusion. If you struggle to explain something in words, just scream. They’ll get it.

GEMINI

Ode to...poetry

I have seen the bee movie you know the one with Jerry Seinfeld playing a talking bee At least 100 times I find the whole movie upsetting Barry Benson gets more pussy than me and he is a fucking bee A bee That's right This movie is communist propaganda that's right, Forget about the birds It's Barry Benson Who is fighting the bourgeoisie I would never show my children this movie I have only watched it in such great detail for research purposes In an effort to undermine the homosexual agenda Please email me at fck69bees@gmail.com for more information on how big honey actually benefits bees — G. Keller

I Promise I’ll Come To The Next One This play has taken Five hundred hours of your life In the last six weeks.

You have sweat and wept Done everything else but slept To make the show live.

It sounds really great.

I don’t think I can make it.

I have plans to watch Netflix.

Sorry.

— Blair Webber

An Ode to My College Roommate Oh Roommate, Who listens to me complain about my courses And who tells me to hold my horses!

I would not make it without you Or your constant reminders that my mess is quite enormous.

Oh Roommate, I will surely miss you when we graduate.

I don’t think I’ll ever find such a mate, Who doesn’t mind that I am a self centered roommate That I’ve made this ode to you all about my constant state of disarray.

Oh Roommate, I apologize for not being quite poetic, and for ruining this ode to you.

All I really have to say is that I will always admire your athletic aesthetic.

— Ivanna Guerra

May 21 | Jun 20

What if I made a fun puzzle that you could only solve by reading these every week? I won’t (unless...), because I don’t have time for that, but please read these every week regardless.

CANCER Jun 21 | Jul 22 Eat lunch in a different place! You’ll meet cool people, like the same people you see every day no matter what you do or where you go or at what times you do things. This school is so damn small.

LEO Jul 23 | Aug 22 School is hard! Remember to have fun, too.

Have you picked your Founder’s Day outfit yet? Try the boba place further into town.

Walk in the woods! I realize I’m just adding things to your list.

VIRGO

Aug 23 | Sep 22

Don’t be surprised if you end up in the middle of two warring friends. Who said what? You can’t remember. Make something up. Draw a graph with fake data to solve things. You are so helpful.

LIBRA

Sep 23 | Oct 22

Try to find a change in perspective and examine your spiritual health. Apparently different crystals have different properties, but my philosophy is just cool rock = serotonin. I hope you’ll agree.

SCORPIO

Oct 23 | Nov 21

Sometimes we forget how to solve problems.

Usually it goes: Isolate the issue, find solutions, pick the best one. Or, conversely, do none of that and find a dog to pet. I cannot choose for you.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov 22 | Dec 21

Focus on your feelings by making a playlist of sad songs. Or maybe a playlist of songs that make you angry. Listening to Keith Urban unlocks secret emotions. I don’t want them, but you might.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 | Jan 19 Social media is a disease! Delete any pictures existing online that show your identity. Start a small business selling homemade beeswax goods, reachable only by landline or carrier pigeon.

AQUARIUS Jan 20 | Feb 18 You might feel a capital-C Calling this week, but choose whether you want to save the world or yourself first (Spoiler alert: start with yourself. Leave the world-saving to Greta for now).

PISCES Feb 19 | Mar 20 Reign your imagination in. Splash cold water on your face whenever you’re daydreaming.

Soon, you’ll instinctively flinch when you find yourself drifting off. Pavlov yourself! It’s the new therapy.

Above, "Sexy Bee," a self-portrait. Ciara Murray-Jordan/The Miscellany News.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

Page 12

Quite Frankly Frankie Knuckles

Managing Editor Quality Advice-Giver

Hi Frankie, How do I expand my friend group outside my dorm? xoxo, Lonely Boy Dear Boy,

Q

uite frankly, going beyond the readymade friend group of those in dwelling places adjacent to yours is pretty hard. I mean, probably for most of your life you’ve been friends with people for the simple reason that they spend much of their time in close proximity to the places where you spend much of your time. There’s nothing wrong with that (although branching out is always a good thing).

Procedurally, I recommend starting small: Be cordial to people you don’t know in your everyday interactions. I know the academic year is, at this point, well underway, but I’m sure there are people in your classes who you haven’t yet become acquainted with outside a classroom setting. Channeling whatever extroverted tendencies you can muster to engage in a dialogue at the beginning or end of class could lead in the direction of friendship.

The other easy way to make friends on campus (if such a method exists) is to get involved in org culture. While Vassar is home to people who don’t really do orgs, there’s a broad swath of us whom you can befriend merely by engaging in common pursuits. Take the Misc, for example—if you get involved, that’s an automatic gain of more than 50 potential friends (we don’t bite). Some orgs, although I’m less intimately familiar with their structures, also seek to bring like-minded folks together. Other orgs focus on shared identity as a point of connection, and often serve as a space for community and support. Still other orgs are centered around specific activities, events or pastimes, so you can befriend others while you further the specific mission of the org. It’s usually easier to get to know people when you’re working together (at least in my experience).

If you’re looking to expand your friend group, the simplest course of action is to join an existing coalition of folks, and then network with potential acquaintances that way. Odds are, you can go to an org meeting and find one person you jive with; that one person probably has other friends you can meet. Repeat the process, and you’ll find your social circle growing exponentially—or logarithmically, since Vassar has a carrying capacity for students (and you probably have a carrying capacity for friends).

Best Wishes, Frankie P.S. Yes, it does kinda suck that you have to join an org to meet people around here. Or maybe that’s just me?

Have a question you’d like Frankie to answer? Scan the QR code to submit!

February 27, 2020

Trump and Senate are steamrolling the DOJ Doug Cobb Columnist

O

ur democracy is in danger.

The Senate is no longer an effective check on the president. They voted to acquit Donald Trump, but that is not even the key issue. The key issue is that before they voted to acquit, they voted 5149, largely along party lines, to not allow new evidence or witnesses during his trial. A trial without evidence or witnesses is a sham. The Senate, in essence, said that Trump can do anything he wants because it refuses to even look at any evidence against him.

Trump’s guilt or innocence is beside the point. Rational people should agree that all evidence must be brought forward before a vote to convict or acquit is taken; this is reflected by the belief of 66 percent of Americans at that time that the Senate should have called witnesses (ABC News, “66% Call for Witnesses in Trump Impeachment Trial: Poll,” 01.24.2020).

Republicans made Trump invincible by denying the people the facts of his abuse of power in his dealings with Ukraine, as well as obstructing Congress. What would it take for Trump to be put on trial like everybody else, let alone face the same consequences for breaking the law? With Moscow Mitch’s Senate in power, apparently nothing is off limits.

This sets an incredibly dangerous precedent. We have now made it acceptable for the president to get away with anything as long as they have the support of 50 senators. So now Republicans must live with the reality that if Democrats secure control of the Senate and the presidency, that president can do whatever they want with no consequences. Republicans may be smiling now, but what if a future Democrat decides to, I don’t know, take away their guns? It won’t matter what the law or the Constitution says, as long as the Senate is in Democratic hands.

“But what about the courts?” I hear you asking. Given what transpired in the Department of Justice (DOJ) this past week, it appears the courts are no longer a check on the president or his administration either.

Briefly, Trump’s buddy Roger Stone, a political consultant who made a name for himself under Richard Nixon, was convicted of lying to Congress, threatening a witness and other crimes during a fair trial. He was then recommended a prison sentence of seven to nine years by federal prosecutors, a sentence that was described

by Department of Justice official William Yeomans, who served under five different presidents, as “within the federal sentencing guidelines, which means that it was presumptively reasonable” (USA Today, “Four Career Prosecutors are the Target of Trump’s Anger,” 02.17.2020). We all know the rest of the story: Trump wasn’t happy that his pal was going to have to face justice, so he tweeted that it was “a horrible and very unfair situation,” after which the DOJ intervened and called for a much lighter sentence (Twitter, @[realDonaldTrump], 02.11.2020). Then Trump took to Twitter to congratulate Attorney General William Barr, a Trump loyalist. This led to the outrage of many former DOJ employees. Four prosecutors immediately quit the case, one of whom quit the entire DOJ (NPR “1,100 Former DOJ Employees Call on Barr to Resign After Intervening in Stone Case,” 02.16.2020).

Clearly, we are at a point where Trump is overruling the justice system. Although

the president has the power to pardon, it is very different for him to pick and choose individual winners and losers and exercise control over the entire justice system. This action to strong-arm the DOJ by Trump was so unusual that even former federal prosecutors had never seen anything like it (Twitter, @[Popehat], 02.11.2020). Stone was convicted for illegally aiding Trump, and so Trump stepped in and made sure his sentence was reduced.

What is stopping more of Trump’s stooges from blatantly breaking the law to do him favors if Trump will simply override any punishment that may be handed down? Now, not only is Trump immune to laws, but so too are his people. This is how democracies fall, when different rules apply to those in power than to everyone else. In a healthy democracy, nobody is

“Now, not only is Trump immune to laws, but so too are his people.” above the law.

Trump lies every day and breaks so many rules that it is not possible to keep track of them anymore. So we all get used to it and we all become complacent. Everyone seems to believe that we can just wait him out and then everything will go back to normal.

Well, I am tired of waiting for Republicans to “put country over party” as many people like to say. How many times have we heard that one? And yet they never come through, with the notable exception of Senator Mitt Romney, who was the only Republican to vote against Trump in the impeachment trial. What did he get for that? For starters, Donald Trump Jr. said that Romney should be expelled from the party. Not to mention that Romney was disinvited from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) because it couldn’t guarantee his physical safety.

Loyalty to Trump runs deep with elected Republicans, deeper than their loyalty to the Constitution or to each other.

We can’t even be sure the 2020 election will go smoothly. There is substantial evidence to suggest that the Russians inter-

fered in the 2016 election, and the current administration refuses to look into the matter or to take any measures to prevent interference in the upcoming election (Robert Mueller III, “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election,” 04.18.2019).

On top of not taking steps to safeguard the integrity of our elections, Trump himself has been pedaling the idea that the elections are fully rigged against him. He said as much in 2016. Let's say he does lose fair and square this year; do we really think he will go quietly? Is it unreasonable to think that a Trump loss will result in him saying the election was tampered with and therefore he cannot leave office? Almost all Americans think our freedom is untouchable and too strong to collapse. Maybe it is because we have multiple branches of government or maybe it is because we have a constitution which guarantees us such.

But the Constitution is nothing but a piece of paper if there is no one willing to defend its principles. Throughout the world, fake democracies are used to cover authoritarian regimes. China has a “congress,” and so does Russia. Vladimir Putin and other tyrants are “elected” every time their term is up, but those still aren’t true democracies (The Economist Intelligence Unit, “Democracy Index 2019,” 01.22.2020). Unfree countries hold “trials”; there just aren’t any witnesses or evidence and the outcome is predetermined. On the surface, these governments look like democracy, but they are not.

The system of checks and balances is not functioning. Trump and his allies are facing no consequences for breaking laws.

Republicans will not turn on Trump no matter how destructive he becomes.

Although the press is still free, Trump and his allies continuously denounce it as fake news, mistrust is spreading like wildfire and sources like Fox News perpetuate absolute lies and misinformation. Even our government is unwilling to deal in facts. Every four years you hear that “this is the most important election ever!” so I will spare you that bullshit. But 2020 will undoubtedly be a turning point for America, possibly a point of no return. The stage is set for American democracy to end.

History hasn’t seen many long-surviving democracies. Maybe the elections will go smoothly, maybe Trump will become nothing more than a distant memory and maybe our institutions will move toward being fully functional again. But if that doesn’t happen, don’t say we didn’t see it coming.

Trump oversees the swearing in of Attorney General Barr. Courtesy of Tia Dufour.

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

February 27, 2020

Page 13

Fulfillment in unexpected places: why I'm a Russian major Alice Woo

O

Columnist

nce upon a time, I was a diligent high school student researching my college options, trying to gauge which school had the best program for what I knew I wanted to study: brain science. I’ll study either cognitive science or psychology, I thought, and maybe take some drama and music classes for variety and, thanks to my AP Spanish credit, I’ll be able to breeze through without taking a single language class. A lot of that did come to pass; I am indeed a Psychology major and I have enjoyed participating in theater at Vassar. However, when I think about the things that have most defined my college experience, there is only one possible answer: the Russian department.

People are often bewildered when I reveal that I’m a Russian major. They want to know why, they want to know if I have Russian family or something, they want to know if I’m planning on being a spy. I don’t know how it happened, I answer. Sure, I enjoyed Russian literature in high school, but I definitely did not expect my college career to be completely overtaken by the Cyrillic alphabet and authors with rugged beards. You take a literature class, you decide you want to know what Gogol is like in his original language, you take Intensive Russian, you continue with Intermediate Russian, you apply for a summer abroad program, you spend the summer in St. Petersburg, you get hired as the Russian Language Intern, you join the Russian band. I

don’t know, these things just happen!

I joke a lot about how the department took over my life against my will, but in truth, I’m so grateful to have found such a great community on campus. Still, apart from the people and the department events, I really found so much joy in just learning the language. What was particularly wild about Intensive Russian was that I could feel my brain changing. One week goes by, and suddenly a page of what looked like squiggles now becomes decipherable letters and words. I got to re-experience the same breakthrough that happened when I was five years old, and I felt all the same exhilaration. I know that not everyone takes as much pleasure in learning languages as I do, but I wholeheartedly recommend start-

Last year's Post Soviets from left to right: Nicholas Christenson ’21, Aisha Malik ’21, Professor Charles Arndt III, Mathew Au ’19 and Alice Woo ’21. Courtesy of Vassar College Russian Department.

ing a language from scratch, especially one that doesn’t use the Latin alphabet. In the beginning, reading felt like deciphering a code, and I felt satisfaction each time I sounded out a word. I got to be amazed at my own abilities as they developed. Because you begin with absolutely nothing, you get to progress with leaps and bounds, and one semester later you’re able to recite poetry.

In college, and in life under capitalism, it takes bravery to try something you know nothing about. We’re averse to failure and that aversion gets reinforced every time you stress about your GPA, or the “usefulness” of your degree or what others will think about you. Yes, learning Russian looks cool on a résumé. But the real payoff was the actual learning of the language. It was the tangible progress that made learning a foreign language so rewarding. When I’m doubting the point of my elite liberal arts education and feeling down about my piling loans, it’s been a great anchor. The fact that I can read a foreign script and experience authors in their own language is proof that I actually learned something. It’s evidence that college actually reshaped my neural pathways and gave me something new.

I posit the following: Doing something completely new is scary, but that fear is infinitely outweighed by the pleasure of making progress and the freedom of learning without the pressure to master.

So when you’re thinking about the classes you might take next semester, I highly recommend you start something new. Maybe it’s a language class, or maybe it’s studio art or ballet or education or anthropology. It doesn’t have to become your major (but if you join the Russian Department, it probably will). Real language fluency takes years and years, but when I think about how far I’ve come in just three (not to mention how far I’ve gone—all the way to the banks of the Neva River in St. Petersburg), I know I’ve spent my time at Vassar doing something that is personally fulfilling and therefore valuable.

An Open Letter to the Vassar History Department I wrote this letter as a way to process my grief surrounding both the discovery of the bodies of Native people on Vassar's campus and the experiences I've had continuously as a person of color here. Though I originally intended to only circulate this letter within the History Department, with Ivanna Guerra’s urging and support, I decided to share it with a larger audience in the hope that more people may find something within my thoughts that resonates.

Dear Vassar History Department, Hello. Nice to meet you, if we haven’t met before. My name is Nika McKechnie, and I am a history major.

In a lot of ways, I’m like a lot of you. I grew up in New York City, I’m a double major because I couldn’t decide which department to pick, I’m trying to not eat meat right now but I’m definitely iron deficient because of it (why are so many Vassar students iron deficient?).

But in a really important way, I’m not like a lot of you. It’s something that I notice every time I walk into a class: I wait for all of the students to take their seats before I do my count. Okay, I’m one of three, I think in one class. Oh, here I’m one of two, I think in another.

Wow, the only one? Really?

Sometimes I get more specific and count that, in a room of 20-something people, two-thirds are blonde. Maybe if I were a STEM major, I’d try to calculate the statistical odds of so many blondes registering for the same class.

Of course, I also wonder if the other students are doing a similar count. Even if they don’t, I know that I stand out to them.

There are a few things that I’ve learned as a history major of color. First of all, the Swift second floor bathroom is pretty good to cry in, but I would recommend walking up to the third floor instead, because it’s less likely that a classmate will come knock on the door, wondering why you’re taking so long. Secondly, I’m not the only one feeling this way, but it’s so scary to be vulnerable enough to find out that other people actually understand me. That is the loneliest feeling in the world. Third, I’ve learned that all history majors don’t see story like I do.

I became a history major because of my love and reverence for story. I think that is my Native inheritance, knowing the responsibility and the power of being a storyteller. It seems like so many historians and students of history don’t see that what we do is storytelling, like they see academic histo-

ry as objective and storytelling as not. But it’s right there in the name: history.

I know what it is to tell a story, and what it is to have your story told for you. I know how it feels to have a chorus of ancestors in my blood and bones and tears, moving my body to story. I know the shrieks that shake every inch of me when that story is ripped away. I know what it is like to have myself written into a story by someone I’ve never met, to have the same done to my mother, to my grandfather, to my ohana, to my āina. I’ve been told that my ʻōlelo is dead by the people who killed it, and then I’ve been forced to watch them write my stories in their own.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering why other people become history majors. I think that if we study history without emotionality and without connection to it, there is no point to studying history at all. But I also don’t know how we make space for that in academia, because there is such a stigma against emotionality. People want there to be some objectivity to this study, and having emotions completely shatters that illusion.

I don’t know how to learn history without caring. Maybe I should rephrase and say that I don’t know how to learn history without crying, because I carry so much pain

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

and grief with me from all that I’ve learned.

That is also my Native inheritance, and my Chinese inheritance, and my inheritance from all previous Vassar students who were here not because the school was built for them, but because the school finally ceded to accept their existence. It is an absolutely exhausting inheritance. The more history I learn, the more suffering I carry in my body.

But I do it for story.

I do it because it is my story, and allowing anyone to take it from me is the deepest violation. I wish there were more of us in the History Department, telling our stories not for the academic benefit or enrichment of white people, but because it is our inheritance, and it is our right, and it is our joy and our humanity and our ancestry.

So, let me change this letter.

Dear Vassar History Majors of Color, My name is Nika McKechnie, and I am a storyteller, and I am a history teller, and though I have felt it before, I know that I am not alone. It would be my honor to learn with you, to mourn with you and to grow with you.

It is so nice to finally meet you. ­—Nika McKechnie '21

SPORTS

Page 14

February 27, 2020

Premier League giant Man City cooks books, gets cooked Phoebe Davin

Guest Columnist

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n Friday, Feb. 14, 2020, The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) handed Manchester City a two-year Champions League ban and a £30M ($39.14M) fine for covering up violations of Financial Fair Play (FFP). FFP was introduced in 2011 to prevent multi-billionaire owners and investors from covering their clubs’ yearly losses using their own money. With Roman Abramovich, Abu Dhabi United Group and Qatar Sports Investments acquiring footballing giants Chelsea, Manchester City and PSG, respectively, UEFA wanted to stop the practice of “financial doping,” in the words of disgraced former UEFA President and French footballing legend Michel Platini (The Guardian, “Uefa plans to restrict spending power of wealthy owners,” 03.26.2010).

UEFA recognized that without such rules, even the semblance of parity among teams would be a distant memory, as not every team has owners that can back pay debts.

Manchester City, however, was not eager to stifle their immense spending powers. Despite the new regulations, Manchester City would go to extreme measures to continue injecting money into the club.

Between 2012 and 2016, Manchester City submitted false reports of their financial records, and, for several years after doing so, participated in fraudulent bookkeeping in an attempt to deceive UEFA. All of this came to light after the Football Leaks scandal (which is a monster of its own) in 2018. German newspaper der Spiegel ran a spread of hacked intra-Manchester City communications and emails containing inflated sponsorship deals,

I

t’s that time of the year again. The days are getting longer and warmer, leaves are growing and flowers are soon to bud.

However, the event of paramount significance is the arrival of Major League Baseball players in Arizona and Florida for the spring training. Statisticians often decry the amount of emphasis fans place on preseason performance—spring training rosters give managers a chance to see if their younger players are ready to receive a big-league nod or if a free-agent flier is worth hanging onto by swelling to more than twice the size of regular season rosters. These younger players and free-agent fringe guys are often playing at a level far below that of the average major leaguer.

What’s more, the regulars are not playing much (leading to a small sample size), and when they do, they are notorious for trying new swings (often a swing and miss) and other mechanical adjustments. This begs the question: just how predictive of regular season performance are spring training stats for hitters?

I attempted to answer this question by gathering information on 109 of the players who had at least 50 spring training plate appearances and at least 350 regular season plate appearances in 2019 (Baseball Reference, “2019 Major League Baseball Season Summary,” 02.23.2020). The stats I considered the most important for this analysis were on-base percentage, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), OPS+, isolated power (ISO), walk rate and strikeout rate. Slugging per-

a practice that is in direct violation of FFP. Sheikh Mansour, an integral member of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, recruited members of his family and other Emirati elites to sign artificially valued sponsorships contracts that he would supplement himself. Companies under this umbrella include Etihad Airways, telecommunications company Etisalat and real estate investment firm Aabar. In a leaked email, Manchester City Board member Simon Pearce revealed that Aabar’s yearly £15M ($19.57M) financial obligation to the club was actually only £3M ($3.91M), and the rest was supplemented by Sheikh Mansour’s family: “[T]he remaining £12M [$15.65M] will come from alternative sources provided by His Highness [Sheikh Mansour]” (Tifo Football, “Manchester City and football leaks explained,” 12.05.2018). In total, the amount of under-the-table investments from Sheikh

Courtesy of Werner100359 via Wikimedia Commons.

Mansour to Manchester City is estimated to be around £127.5M ($166.33M).

Like any wealthy club with a lot to lose, City plans to fight tooth and nail to reverse the decisions made by UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body. The first step will be for City to appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), an in-house supreme court of international sport, in hopes the court will vote to reduce the impending ban and accompanying fines. If CAS upholds the consequences as expected, City may take the unprecedented step of appealing a CAS ruling in Swiss government’s supreme court, which in theory has jurisdiction over UEFA. Such a lengthy process will certainly take the courts past the deadline for a decision in early July, which may force UEFA to reinstate City in the Champions League until the Swiss Supreme Court renders a final decision (ESPN, “What Man City's UEFA ban means and what happens next,” 02.14.2020).

Not including legal fees, City is slated to lose at least $300 million in fines, Champions League revenue and prize money, as well as sponsorships dependent on participation in the Champions League. Without this revenue, Manchester City may struggle to keep up with costs of their players’ wages, and may need to sell them to recuperate some of the lost funds.

This doesn’t even take into consideration the fact that many players may want to leave following the bans, which may force their exits from the club to another Champions League team. Furthermore, City will most likely fail to keep hold of their manager, Pep Guardiola, an elite coach who is more loyal to winning than he is to Manchester City. It

is certain that this ban, if upheld, will have a huge impact on not just the immediate, but long-term future of Manchester City.

The implications of Manchester City’s sentence extend far beyond the club and the Champions League. In the Premier League, the four best finishers at the end of each season are entered into the Champions League for the following year. As Manchester City is almost guaranteed a top four finish, and now cannot take one of the four allotted Champions League berths, the team that finishes in fifth place will enter into the Champions League group stage. The prize money linked with qualifying for Champions League football is a major revenue source and often entices clubs’ best players to stay and new transfers to join the squad. Further changes would be made in the case of Manchester City winning the Champions League, as City would not be able to fill the winner’s berth, but that is both unlikely and dependent on UEFA coefficients (a way of ranking the strength of domestic leagues) that have yet to be updated. Though the Premier League, Manchester City’s domestic league, does not have FFP, it does still have strict rules about submitting club financial statements. If City were to have submitted the same falsified statements to the FA (Football Association) as they did to UEFA, it is possible that the club could face sanctions, such as retroactive point deductions, domestically as well.

Maybe the impending ban will spur on Manchester City to win the Champions League as a cohort this year, or conversely, create too much pressure and cause a disastrous exit from the competition. Only time will tell.

centage is the total number of bases (one for a single, two for a double, etc.) a batter gets divided by their total at bats. OPS+ is OPS relative to the league average OPS— an OPS+ of 100 indicates exactly league average. Isolated power is slugging minus average, so it measures a batter’s rate of extra-base hits (hits that aren’t singles). I only included batting average for the traditionalists out there—it proved to be the least predictable statistic besides stolen base success rate.

For comparison’s sake, I also compiled another dataset for all 162 hitters who had 350 regular season plate appearances in both 2018 and 2019 (FanGraphs Baseball, “Major League Leaderboards,” 02.23.2020).

I used a statistic (wRC+) that similarly compares performance to league average instead of OPS+ for this dataset; wRC+ is more robust, but was not available in the spring training dataset. The other statistics measured the same things across datasets.

Is previous regular season performance that much more predictive than spring training performance? Let’s find out.

2018 regular season stats are better at predicting 2019 regular season stats pretty much across the board. The only instance where 2019 spring training proves better is in stolen base success rate, but neither of the two predict 2019 stolen base success rate significantly; both p-values are high, indicating that the predictability is probably due to chance. Otherwise, 2018 stats explain a larger percentage of the variation in 2019 stats (measured by R2) and are less

likely to be due to chance (measured by the p-values).

Nevertheless, this analysis by no means concludes that spring training stats are useless. Every stat besides batting average and stolen base success rate has a p-value below 0.10 for predicting in-season stats.

The p-value here attempts to answer the question, “If there were no relationship between spring training stats and in-season stats, what is the probability we would get the results we did by chance?” In this case, if there were no relationship, we would only find a phantom relationship 10 percent of the time, suggesting that there probably is a relationship. Strikeout and walk rates especially are pretty reliable statistics even with a sample size as small as spring training.

That being said, the predictive power of the 2018 stats is clearly much stronger. For as reliable as strikeout and walk rates are even with a small sample size, these rates from previous seasons are significantly more predictive than their spring training counterparts. By R2, each is at least twice as good (several are more than five times as good) as spring training stats are at explaining the variation in 2019 stats. So, besides those who live under a rock in Port St. Lucie, who would ever use spring training stats if they have last season’s data at their disposal?

I compiled a list of 70 hitters with at least 50 spring training plate appearances and 350 plate appearances in both 2018 and 2019. I made a model predicting 2019

strikeout rate (since it was the most reliable statistic) based on strikeout rates in 2018 and spring training 2019. Both proved significant in predicting the 2019 stat, with p-values of less than 0.001 and 0.008, respectively. The model spat out the following formula to predict 2019 strikeout rate:

Champions League '20-'22: Cityzen-free.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

2019rate = 3.60610 + 0.68369(2018rate) + 0.16039(SpringRate) The 2018 rate is more significant, since it has a higher multiplier (called a “coefficient”). But, if you have a really outlandishly low or high spring strikeout rate, it could end up affecting your expected 2019 rate more than the 2018 rate affects it. In this case, spring training should not be dismissed as merely an experimental time, but rather, it should be considered as additional data to use to predict in-season stats as long as you weigh it against the previous season’s stats accordingly. For those who did not play in the previous season such as the minor leaguers and oft-injured has-beens being given auditions in spring training, their spring training stats could prove all the more useful in predicting their performance in the upcoming season if they stick on the roster. If they don’t stick on the roster and end up in the minor leagues after spring training, their spring training statistics could prove useful in predicting what their performance would look like upon being called up, possibly even more useful than their minor league statistics.

SPORTS

February 27, 2020

Page 15

Aquatic Brewers surface in fourth place at Liberty Leagues Jackie Malloy, Alessandra Fable

Assistant Sports Editor, Guest Reporter

T

he Liberty League Championships are the toughest test of every Vassar team’s season. Be it a playoff format or end-of-theseason meet, Vassar athletes dream of defeating their Liberty League (LL) opponents and capturing the conference pennant. Even if they didn’t conquer the ultimate throne this year, Vassar’s swimming and diving team certainly showed out in their conference meet this past week in Ithaca, with both the men’s and women’s teams finishing fourth.

They didn’t leave totally empty-handed either: Sophomore Jesse Ecklund was named the 2020 Female Swimmer of the Year, while Head Coach Lisl Prater-Lee and company were honored as the Female Coaching Staff of the Year.

For swimming, the Liberty League Championships work a little differently than in-season dual meets. The conference event consists of four days of competition rather than the usual one-day meet. Points are awarded differently, with relays earning double the points of individual events and individual events scoring points up to 24 places. The points earned in preliminary rounds determine qualification for final rounds. Since swimmers can compete in a maximum of three individual events and up to four relay events, coaches and teams have to prepare their entry lists ahead of time.

In the week leading up to the big event, the Brewers decrease the rigor and frequency of their workouts. They begin to focus on race details, pace work and strategy for the swimmers and dive lists for the divers. While this part of the season might spark stress and

nerves in some athletes, the Brewers seemed to take it in stride. “At this point, we’ve put in all the training, we just need a positive mentality and a supportive team in order to step up and swim some lifetime bests,” explained first-year Robbie Perot. The teams also took the time before the championships to bond. Ecklund revealed that the women’s team has a “secret psych up,” where a team member randomly draws a name on the women's team, and then makes that teammate a poster and buys them snacks as a way to hype them up. “It’s always super fun and sweet to see what people come up with,” said Ecklund.

While the week before the Liberty League Championship is dedicated to finding the right mindset to compete, once the team arrives at the competition, the energy and nerves spike. All the conference’s schools are packed into one space, and they all know the importance of each point. Every race is a must-see. First-year Lillian Lowenthal described the tension: “All the teams arrived on deck a few hours prior to the start of each session, so you could really feel people's excitement and energy. Music was blaring during warm-up and everybody was up on their feet cheering for their teammates during the races.” The all-around support from teammates was something mentioned by all the swimmers interviewed, which goes to show how much of a communal environment the sport fosters despite the fact that Vassar swimmers compete individually most of time, and sometimes against each other. “Every team is up and screaming for different swimmers, and each race can get pretty intense. It’s always super loud! People on other teams of-

ten cheer for swimmers that aren’t on their team, and I love seeing all the different people I’ve met,” said Ecklund. “So many people on other teams just want to watch some fast swimming.”

Throughout the four days in the pool, both the men’s and women’s sides stayed consistently strong. The Vassar men held fourth place out of nine teams from the first day until the end, and finished with 932 points, behind the first-place Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) (1,616 points), second-place host Ithaca (1,522 points) and third-place Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) (1,448 points). The Vassar women held third for the first two days of competition, but dropped to fourth out of 10 teams and finished with 1,145 points, following Ithaca (1,513.5 points), RIT (1,285.5 points) and RPI (1,199 points). Some highlights of the championships included Ecklund winning the 200-free and 200-back in the NCAA “B”-Cut (NCAA “A”-Cuts and “B”-Cuts events are how swimmers qualify for the NCAA Championships—“A”-Cuts warrant automatic qualification, and “B”-Cuts fill in the rest who can qualify), Perot’s victory in the 1650-free B-Cut, Lowenthal’s victory in the 200-fly, and the women’s A-relay being crowned winners in 400-freestyle, setting a new school record in the process. The relay team consisted of Ecklund, Lowenthal, sophomore Violet Wichtel and junior Brynn Lautenbacher. Their win was a highlight of the season for Lowenthal. “We ended up winning the race by .01 seconds, so it was definitely a nail-biter all the way up until the very end. The best part was seeing the rest of the team cheering for us behind our lane. It's

an amazing feeling to be able to make your team proud,” she said.

Although the teams didn’t capture the ultimate crown, Prater-Lee was still immensely pleased with how they competed all season: “Overall, both teams are young, with the majority of the group being first years and sophomores. For that group to work together and gel so well and to compete consistently at a high level through the season is a testament to who they are as people and student-athletes.” Upon receiving the Female Coaching Staff of the Year award, she reflected, “I see the recognition as being very much an extension of the program and, as such, it is very much a shared honor with the VC swimmers and divers and the VC Athletics Department that makes all of this happen.”

The Liberty League Championships were the official end for the team’s regular season, but now both teams wait for the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championship qualifier lists to come out. If this past week is any indication, Vassar’s Swimming and Diving is a force to be reckoned with. Prater-Lee’s favorite moment of the season illustrates the team’s inward as well as outward strength. It was the men’s victory at Montclair St, and it came down the the 200 yard relay. Senior Harrison Taylor had swum the earlier leg in the event for the B team, but as soon as he saw the the A team win the event, Taylor’s face expressed pure joy and happiness, even though his particular relay team didn’t win. But a Vassar team was victorious, and that was all that mattered. This is Vassar’s Swimming and Diving Team summed up by Prater-Lee in three words: "inspiring, family and themselves."

Jesse Ecklund Swimming

Ecklund made waves, claiming Liberty Leage female swimmer of the year.

Courtesy of Vassar Athletics.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Your Brewer of the Week is Jesse Ecklund, a sophomore swimmer. Ecklund finished a stellar second campaign with a hardware-laden week, winning both Liberty League Swimmer of the Week and Female Swimmer of the Year after the conference championships at Ithaca College from Feb. 18 to 23. Individually, Ecklund won the 200-meter freestyle with a school-record time of 1:53.25, as well as the 200-meter backstroke, which she took with a time of 2:00.68. An indispensable teammate as well as a dominant solo performer, Ecklund helped her fellow Brewers achieve victory in three relay events—the 400-meter medley, the 400-meter freestyle and the 800-meter freestyle.

The Brewers blew the field out of the water with a school record time of 7:43.47 in the 800-meter freestyle, finishing nearly five full seconds ahead of second-place RPI. An All-American and Liberty League Rookie of the Year as a first-year, Ecklund is expected to be announced as a qualifier for the NCAA Championships in the 200-meter for the second straight year. Keep your ears peeled this Wednesday!

Page 16

February 27, 2020

Hannah Martin, WXC

Why we play

I

have many answers to the question “why do you run?” I run to move through space. I run to develop an awareness of my body’s abilities and limitations. I run to see cool parts of the places I live or visit. I run to feel emotional highs and lows, and, as George Sheehan describes, I run for the “potential for more and more life” ("Running and Being: The Total Experience," 1978). I run because I love the empty feeling that sits heavy in my legs after a hard

workout. Few other activities create the calm clarity that a run leaves in my mind. I rarely feel worse after a run than when I started. Racing pushes me to confront parts of myself that I would otherwise ignore. In racing, I confront my capacity for change. As proud as I am of who I am at any given moment, it seems like a waste of my time and opportunities to risk complacency. Why not find out what the absolute limit is? Why not explore what else I

Junior Hannah Martin chases her next starting line.

Courtesy of Larry Levanti via Vassar Athletics.

“Flowery Language” ACROSS 1. coffee with steamed milk and espresso 6. a kind of 'while' 10. winter jacket 14. to accustom or desensitize 15. competitive running match 16. official language of Pakistan 17. the organization of workers to protect their rights 19. butt limb 20. Big Bang primordial substance 21. to be the property of 23. floral necklace 24. Maori performance of swinging tethered weights 26. what tasks that are left undone tend to do 28. criminal record 33. to add 34. a dedicated poem 35. a water dog 37. last ball to be sunk in a game of pool 41. someone who has visions of the future 43. where the dependent variable is graphed 45. you, archaic 46. to reach an unexpected condition or place

Answer to last week’s puzzle

can give?

My favorite parts of cross country often come back to my team—and my team had an incredible season last year. Judging by the results and times, we’ve met or exceeded our goals and prior standards. The women were the first cross country team in Vassar history to qualify for the national meet, and that didn’t happen because of any one runner’s results. Cross country is a “weak link” sport; we sink or swim depending not on our strongest runner, but on the strength of our fourth and fifth runners across the line. Even if the performance itself is an individual experience, the collective effort matters more than the individual. I don’t see a cross country team that doesn’t truly care about its teammates being sustainably successful.

Although we train together and cross the start line together, the team has to trust each other to make the personal improvements and commitments that only the individual can control. While I enjoy running and what it allows me to do physically and mentally, I won’t deny that running and racing suck sometimes. The goals I set with teammates I love and respect make it so much easier to push through the pain, the puking, collapsing and losses of bladder control in front of hundreds of strangers while wearing what is essentially spandex underwear.

Writing out these “whys” makes me realize how often I have taken advantage of the joy that my sport has brought me. Ultrarunner Katie Arnold in her book “Running Home” captures what I love about running: “I’ve put it in my body so it will stay in my heart.” Cross country has taken the basic physical activity of running and turned it into a meaningful part

of my life and my identity.

For the last 10 years, each run has fit into a larger training plan in preparation for a future race. Running had a purpose tied to goals that were connected to my social group. This semester, however, I am abroad in Kenya, which means I’ll be missing this track season and my next competition is more than eight months away. My schedule is much more regimented here than at Vassar, and my access to safe running routes, free from rogue motorbikes and crowded roadside marketplaces, is limited. I had anticipated some difficulty in my ability to train the way I would at home, but I had not anticipated what this distance from competition would feel like mentally. Even before I left, I felt aimless during my runs. Now that I’m here, I still feel that way. I have managed to fit in a few runs after classes, and I have deeply enjoyed that time on my feet. Still, the heat, road conditions and my schedule all make anything more than a basic shakeout difficult.

I have spent so much of my life running that sometimes I struggle to appreciate a slower pace. This past weekend, I went on a long hike in Kenya’s Kakamega Forest National Reserve with three friends from my abroad program and I frequently found myself daydreaming about what a run on the trails we were walking would be like. I had to keep reminding myself to enjoy the walk I was on. Being away from my sport and my team this semester has been a wonderful reminder for me of all the reasons why I run. Although I’m really enjoying my time in Kenya and I’m trying to stay present, a very large part of me is still looking forward to the next long run with my teammates, the next workout on the farm and the next starting line.

The Miscellany Crossword

48. to be without, not have 50. before, archaic 51. first specialized agency of the UN 53. scared into not pooping 55. those who manually lower the temp 59. artificial color 60. lion astrological sign 61. an official agreement or treaty 64. a super fancy event 68. son of Aphrodite 70. one who consumes bee nectar 72. known as Ezo in historical Japanese texts 73. pre-Columbian Empire that built Machu Picchu 74. AKA the ermine 75. to be perceived with eyes 76. bucks and does 77. the flowers that will make them sleep

DOWN 1. tiger or calla flower 2. of the asshole 3. another name for the TV 4. heavy steps, onomatopoeia-ish 5. last three letters of 41 across 6. white-tailed eagle 7. metal bar of train tracks 8. unit of ice cream serving 9. Serena Williams' sport 10. a small injury from paper or knife 11. spoken reports 12. how to say goodbye to you & you & you 13. this flower has various festivals dedicated to it 18. whereness, the condition of being located 22. Elmer's adhesive 25. Ohio sans the concept of self 27. to produce sound 28. the type of flower that Alice paints red 29. the temporary capital of Yemen 30. pissed or urinated

by Frank

31. Latin phrase for "and others," abbr 32. Sandy the Squirrel's home state 36. wealthy 38. clarified butter 39. not his or theirs 40. short for t-shirts 42. to sabotage or destroy 44. description of a road that causes sliding 47. a cry for help, legal or otherwise 49. eye pimple 52. flower associated with sex, fertility, and virility

54. music technique that has no breaks 55. parasites often found on dogs 56. American Eagle's lingerie store 57. Alicia Keys' #1 Billboard hit in 2007 58. biscuit-like pastry 62. upon a time 63. the back area, last 65. upon 66. an exuberant jump 67. arts-y, singular 69. kind of flower that resembles our star 71. extrasensory perception, abbr