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:
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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.