The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
March 1, 2018
Volume CL | Issue 15
Vassar Haiti Project to Children’s books hold sixth annual gala tell refugees’ stories Aidan Zola
Guest Reporter
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Kelly Vinett
Guest Reporter
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he eye sees what it wants to see. We tend to render certain forces of society invisible, especially when they lean toward the uncomfortable, controversial, and even painful. However, how can we make these invisible societal forces reveal themselves? On Thursday, Feb. 21, talented artists Christopher Myers and Kaneza Schaal gave a talk in the Old Bookstore arguing the importance of turning the unseen “other” into the seen “something.” Their talk was titled “How
Stories Provide Safe Spaces in a Constantly Shifting World.” The talk was sponsored by Creative Arts Across Disciplines (CAAD) and the Helen Forster Novy 1928 Fund. Myers is a contemporary children’s book author and illustrator and Schaal works primarily in theater. Myers draws inspiration from his father, who became a full-time writer at age 48. He is the National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author Walter Dean Myers. The Myers men collaborated in See MYERS/SCHAAL on page 7
Courtesy of Ashley Pecorelli
ou might have heard the buzz, seen some posters or been to one of their events already—the Vassar Haiti Project (VHP) is everywhere. From Vassar’s own campus to the greater Poughkeepsie community to the mountain village of Chermaitre in northern Haiti, this student-run group has had a significant impact since it was founded in 2001. According to its official website, Vassar Haiti Project was created after 9/11 when Andrew and Lila Meade decided that it was time to do something positive for our world. Since then, VHP has flourished, creating new initiatives and reaching its goals at an astonishing pace. Co-President Kidus Girma ’18 has been involved with the organization since his first year at Vassar and now acts as one of four leaders of different initiatives. He explained VHP’s three-part mission: “The first part is the partnership with Chermaitre. We do that through five different initiatives— water, health, reforestation, a women’s cooperative and education. The
second part of the mission is partnering with Haitian artists and artisans, so we do a lot of our fundraising through Haitian art and handcrafts. The last part is student development, so our executive board is student-run. Stateside, there’s a lot of students involved in positions of leadership.” To realize its mission, the organization takes two trips a year to Chermaitre in order to work with the people on site. One of them takes place during spring break when a group of 10 students embark on the journey abroad. Girma described the org’s process in each initiative in Chermaitre: “The program started with education, so there’s a primary school composed of about currently 260 students. With reforestation we’re at about 60,000 trees. The women’s cooperative is the latest initiative[…]And so, that’s in the process of increasing their economic security. That ranges from them growing and roasting coffee to creating crafts like earrings and such.” To actually fund the various initiatives in the village of Chermaitre, VHP must coordinate several fundSee HAITI on page 10
On Thursday, Feb. 21, artists Christopher Myers and Kaneza Schaal gave a talk on “How Stories Provide Safe Spaces in a Constantly Shifting World,” examining the role of picture books as mediums.
Goldtooth prioritizes VC Swimming places Indigeneous activism well at championships Izzy Braham
Assistant Arts Editor
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hen topics are hard to talk about, sometimes one of the only things people can resort to is humor. This week, Vassar welcomes Dallas Goldtooth and his all-Indigenous social media and comedy group, the 1491s, to campus. Goldtooth is an Indigenous activist who is committed to fighting issues such as climate change, environmental destruction and economic injustice. Goldtooth and the 1491s will be giving a comedy performance to talk about these issues
in Sanders Classroom Auditorium on March 2 at 7 p.m. A multifaceted and activism-oriented force of nature, Goldtooth is a film producer, actor and comedian, as well as the national Keep It In The Ground campaigner for the Indigenous Environmental Network. He has worked extensively on the campaign against the Dakota Access Pipeline and is an outspoken voice for the rights and needs of Indigenous people. Associate Professor of English and Native American Studies Molly McGlennen See GOLDTOOTH on page 8
Inside this issue
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OIS event promotes discussion, FEATURES engagement
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Guest Reporter
After four days of the final Liberty League Championship competition hosted by Ithaca College last week, the men and women of the Vassar College swimming and diving teams have come to the end of their seasons. With only eight swimmers and two divers sent to the competition, the men managed to secure seventh place overall. The women finished in fourth place overall, breaking a Vassar record for total points scored at a Liberty League Championship meet. The championships for each team began with preliminary swimming rounds, followed by the same for diving in the afternoon. The 24 swimmers that finished at the top of these preliminaries returned later that night to compete in the A, B or C finals. The men’s team started off the four days of competition with a bang, besting handfuls of school, personal and lifetime records alike. First-year Max White, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, started his day by breaking the longest-standing 500 freestyle record for Vassar College men’s swim and dive. The previous record of 4:43.55, set by
Perfumes emerge as environmental HUMOR scourge
Ben Chung ’03, stood for 18 years before being smashed by White’s time of 4:40.39. This impressive performance during preliminaries locked in White for second seed of the A finals. The Brewers continued to break records in the 500 freestyle swim, as sophomore Jordan Kalina shaved over 16 seconds off of his season best, earning a personal best time of 4:46.24. This secured him a slot in the A finals as fifth seed. First-year Finn Belanger then shattered his lifetime best in the 500 freestyle, earning a time of 5:11.13 and a place in the C finals. The record-breaking performances did not slow as the day continued. As the second swim of the day began, senior standout Jonah Strand raced to finish the 200 individual medley in his best time of the season, 1:56.76. In the finals, Strand earned not only a personal best in the same swim, but also a new school record, with a time of 1:55.20. In the night’s finals, White came back to swim against the defending champions of the 500 freestyle, earning a time of 4:35.18. This astounding time not only reset a school record, but also broke a Liberty League Championship record, See SWIM/DIVE on page 18
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Rep. Sean Maloney visits VC Clark Xu
Assistant News Editor
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he November 2018 midterm elections may be several months on the horizon, but politicians and other political commentators are already thinking of election day and its potential impact on the course of Trump’s presidency. New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney visited campus on Wednesday, Feb. 21 to discuss the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 and other legislation passed by Congress in the past few months. Maloney also considered the Democratic Party platform and student political involvement in midterm campaigns as possible responses to these developments. In Congress, Maloney represents New York’s 18th district, which encompasses Poughkeepsie. During the discussion in Rockefeller Hall, Maloney suggested that the federal government’s decision to increase the annual deficit has continued to sacrifice the future well-being of U.S. citizens to maintain living standards in the U.S. today. Maloney considered the Bipartisan Budget Act that became law on Feb. 9 and reported, “They just passed with bipartisan support the spending bill that has 500 billion dollars of unfunded deficit spending, which means the annual deficit is going to [be] 1.1 trillion, 1.2 trillion next year.” The larger annual deficit implies that the total debt owed by the federal government will grow at an increasing rate. Comparing the annual deficit to a credit card bill and the total debt to a debit card statement, Maloney continued, “On top of 20 trillion on debit card [debt] we have, that’s going not to 30 trillion over the next 10 years, it’s goSee MALONEY on page 3
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Courtesy of Hannah Benton
Vassar will bring Dallas Goldtooth and the 1491s to campus on March 2. Goldtooth will discuss the importance of the environment within the Indigenous Movement for All Campus Day, incorporating humor into his approaches.
Fiona MacLeod
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, who represents New York’s 18th district, visited Vassar’s campus on Wednesday, Feb. 21 and met with students to discuss politics.
NCAA’s flaws give Sports SPORTS Editor pause