The Miscellany News April 9, 2020
miscellanynews.org
Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866 Volume 153 | Issue 8
Two weeks into distance learning, students navigate virtual Vassar Senior capstone projects go digital
A look at digital nonstandard classes
Isabel Braham
Delila Ames
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Contributing Editor
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Reporter
avigating the shift to online learning has proved disorienting and challenging for students and professors everywhere. At schools like Vassar, which emphasizes the importance of community and personal connection in learning, the transition to online classwork can feel even more unnatural. Some departments found the shift less organic than others— there are not many existing models of virtual teaching for studio art, dance, theater and music. Without a canvas, barre or band in every student’s home, how can they practice? Departments and students alike are struggling with the task of recreating in-person experiences that they depend on to learn. Most students are united in mourning the loss of a semester of college. Even mustering the motivation and focus that school work requires becomes a herculean task, particularly given the level of high performance and engagement that is the norm at Vassar. But as a studio art student, the transition to distance learning has See DIGITAL on page 5 Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News.
lasses, office hours, group projects, dorm rooms, lectures, parties, commencement, the Deece—in the wake of the virus, these are all parts of college life that have been canceled or modified radically. For seniors who don’t expect to return to Vassar’s campus, these cancellations bear a particularly heavy blow. Unfortunately, the tirade of changes also affects some of the most serious aspects of their academic worlds. Senior theses and projects—core components and long-standing traditions of many departments— are undergoing substantial adjustments. At a time when a live performance is a public safety risk, the Drama Department has been forced to implement some of the most drastic changes. While many senior projects had fortunately taken place earlier in the year, the play “H.B. Floating Palace,” written by and starring Rahul Makwana ’20, has been canceled. “One of the best things about theater is that it is ‘live’ and takes place in the present,” said Makwana. “This is See THESES on page 4
Student feature: seniors reflect on end of athletic careers
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n a Friday afternoon, March 13, Athletic Director Michelle Walsh informed all spring athletes that they wouldn’t have a season. Vassar student-athletes had been waiting with bated breath as other institutions shut down their remaining practices, competitions and championships. The Ivy Leagues were the
first to make the call, then Tuesday night, March 10, NESCAC schools followed suit. By Thursday night, the news seemed inevitable. In a statement to all Vassar student-athletes, Walsh wrote, “[T]he college has decided to suspend all varsity and varsity club practices and competitions until
further notice, with the exception of teams completing their spring break trips.” Vassar had joined the rest of the NCAA in canceling the remainder of all spring seasons. The sudden cancellation disheartened coaches and athletes alike, many of whom were just beginning their season or on
the precipice of unprecedented playoff runs. The men’s volleyball team, for instance, was top ranked and primed for a postseason run, but the fallout flattened those hopes. Whether a team expected to be a powerhouse or was vying for some underdog victories, the loss of a season was frustrating and disappointing
for all spring athletes. But for senior Brewers in particular, these cancellations spell the end of Vassar athletics careers. We invited senior student-athletes to reflect on this bizarre end, and the lessons learned throughout their time as Vassar athletes. See SENIORS on page 6-7
Collecting fragments: 24 March 2020 Sophia Anjali Kapur
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Courtesy of Sophia Anjali Kapur.
Guest Columnist
he two of us sit at the dining room table, reading for class. Around 10:40 p.m., I turn over my printed art history reading and scrawl, “And what if one day, we look back on this time with an idyllic gaze, and miss the closeness of confinement?” I don’t show anyone, just myself. I am getting used to this. ••• This morning we cook breakfast together. I fry the eggs (she likes her yolk runny), she toasts the toast (she knows I don’t like mine very toasted). It’s the little things. The routine. The small details we silently learn about each other, the small details we remember. She fills a glass with water for me, and fills my need for social closeness. Ever since she moved in, I hardly notice the distance. ••• 2008, I overhear my neigh-
bor say, “We are living in the worst state.” I don’t know if they are referring to a state of being, or the state of Michigan itself, but I think to myself: If I ever run for office, I’ll use this story in my campaign. I guess it was an election year after all, now that I think about it, so maybe that would explain why my eight-year-old mind was working in that way. ••• It’s an election year again, and people are talking about 2008. And I’m not running for office but I’m thinking of that line. And as I FaceTime a professor from my bedroom this morning (something I never imagined doing) there are two points in the conversation where I think I might cry. Before spring break, I couldn’t even recall the last time I shed a tear. ••• I write with a new obsession. On paper. But this morning, I am
barely awake, so I open the notes app on my phone instead. “I’m glad Angus convinced us to go to Acrop at midnight, even though we had so much work. I’m glad we went to Olivia’s, and stayed long enough for all of the laughs, even though we were only going to stop by...” the list continues, reminiscing, maybe documenting, the events of the last two weeks of normalcy. We unknowingly stocked up on moments that, at the time, seemed easy to postpone. Screenshot. Send. ••• Fall semester, a friend and I spend time together every Monday evening. One specific Monday in October, we pause our aimless stroll around campus. Crosslegged on the bench between Cushing, Kenyon and Blodgett, we talk about how everything can change so quickly in this uncertain life. She tells me quite sincerely, somewhat out of nowhere, See MOMENTS on page 4
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April 9, 2020
THE MISCELLANY NEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR EDITORS
Jessica Moss
Frankie Knuckles Duncan Aronson Lucy Leonard Isabel Braham CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Leah Cates Sasha Gopalakrishnan Mack Liederman Tiana Headley Aena Khan Olivia Watson ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITORS Gillian Redstone Janet Song Jonas Trostle OPINIONS EDITOR Abram Gregory ASSISTANT OPINIONS EDITOR Taylor Stewart ARTS EDITOR Francisco Andrade HUMOR EDITOR Izzy Migani ASSISTANT HUMOR EDITOR Jonah Frere-Holmes SPORTS EDITORS Dean Kopitsky Jackie Molloy ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Natalie Bober SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Mohtad Allwalla ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITORS Rose Parker Yvette Hu PHOTO EDITOR Grace Rousell ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Julián Aguilar GRAPHICS EDITORS Ciara Murray-Jordan Jacqueline Gill ASSISTANT COPY EDITORS Phoebe Jacoby Caitlin Patterson Alexis Cerritos VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER Alex Barnard AUDIO EDITORS Kyle Chung Julian Lindenmaier ASSISTANT AUDIO EDITOR Robert Pinataro BUSINESS MANAGER NEWS EDITORS
LIVE EVENTS CHAIRPERSON REPORTERS
COLUMNISTS
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Ben Scharf Delila Ames Carissa Clough Olivia Diallo Rayan El Amine Meghan Hayfield Sara Lawler Sawyer Bush Madison Caress Doug Cobb Lindsay Craig Madi Donat Rohan Dutta Alex Eisert Xin Rui Ong Alice Woo Sherry Liao Juliette Pope Sana Zaidi Nina Ajemian Taylor Gee Jason Han Jake Johnson Emma Kahn Tiffany Trumble Frank
CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed.
The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. Staff editorials are the only articles that reflect the opinion of a two-thirds majority of the Editorial Board.
We’re bored, so you must be, too: 13 shows to wile away “Yuri!!! On Ice” (2016)
“Ping Pong the Anima
I’m showing my true weeaboo colors here, but…“Yuri!!! On Ice” can’t be beat for a cathartic, happy show to watch in one go. The anime follows professional Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki, who works to climb to the top of the sport after a chain of failures (with the guidance of his longtime idol, Russian five-time world champion Victor Nikiforov). Even if you’re not usually into anime, the plot is engaging and uplifting and remarkably gay. I think we can all get behind a character arc wherein the protagonist must overcome mental and emotional roadblocks, as well as competitors, in order to reach their goals. If you’re a sap like me, you’ll probably cry happy tears multiple times watching this one. Get the tissues for episode 10. If you struggle with anxiety, you’ll definitely relate to Yuri K. Figure skating fans who need something to fill the void of this year’s canceled World Figure Skating Championships will find plenty to love. General sports fans might also like it? I hope so. — Frankie Knuckles, Managing Editor Stream the Japanese audio with English subtitles free (with ads) on Crunchyroll or purchase the English dub with entertainingly bad Russian accents on Amazon Prime.
If yo anime w self edu avant-ga thing, c ucated. with po ing yet l gression in excite for them Animat yet real that made me pause and reflect Paradoxically realistic, considerin art style. If that’s not enough to wi Yuasa also animated the Adventur — Du Stream free (with ads) on Funimatio nese audio with subt
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“Next in Fashion” (2020)
“My Brilliant Friend” (2018)
Who doesn’t like a new take on the classic competition show? Hosted by Tan France of “Queer Eye” and designer Alexa Chung, this fashion design tournament has everything you need: heartwarming backstories, heartrending eliminations and heart-pounding moments (Why would you change your color palette two hours before runway? Why?!). I also must say, the contestants of the inaugural season are both entertaining and clearly sweet people. Between the cast and some seriously awe-inspiring designs, this show stands out within its genre. — Frankie Stream it with a Netflix subscription.
Few shows have aced—no, demolished—the Bechdel test as thoroughly as HBO’s “L’amica Geniale,” or “My Brilliant Friend.” An Italian-language show set in a poor suburb of 1950s Naples (subtitles are kind and not to be feared), “My Brilliant Friend” follows best friends Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) and Lila (Gaia Girace) through all the pitfalls of adolescence—school, first love, death, sinister neighborhood loan sharks caught up in murder plots, yearnings for a better life as you wistfully gaze out at the beautiful island village of Ischia. All the pitfalls. This show’s a bit on the gritty side, but the tenderness with which it explores the female friendship at its core keeps it from devolving into grimdark. It’s got a soundtrack perfect for a weepy Spotify afternoon, and a new season (filmed pre-quarantine) is airing now. “My Brilliant Friend” has also accomplished the singular feat of casting teenagers to play teenagers, a refreshing choice for those of us who were brought up on a diet of twentysomethings living it up in the high school glee club. When you’re done watching, take the time to read the four brilliant novels on which it was based. — Lucy Leonard, Senior Editor Stream it with an HBO subscription.
8 hours, 7 minutes
11 hours, 55 minutes and counting
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“Felicity” (1998)
“Jane the Virgin” (2014)
Before J.J. Abrams got himself involved in all those Star Treks and Star Wars, he wrote a little college drama called “Felicity.” The titular Felicity (Keri Russell), an anxious 18-yearold who’s spent her whole life preparing to go to Stanford pre-med, decides on the day of her high school graduation to throw it all away and follow her crush, Ben (Scott Speedman), to NYU (sorry, “UNY” because copyright). Unfortunately, Felicity and Ben have never spoken. Although this premise is admittedly ridiculous, everything that comes after is a subtle and thoughtful meditation on what we’ve all experienced: being thrust into independence and individuality at the tender age of 18, a phenomenon known as “going to college.” “I guess the thing is,” Felicity tells her baffled parents in the pilot, “if I made a mistake, at least it was mine.” For more soft ’90s dialogue, soft ’90s cardigans and soft ’90s love triangles (if you’re not Team Noel we can’t be friends), stream all four seasons of Felicity, one for each year of college. — Lucy Stream it free on ABC.
This show is de ing the Latin Amer market, and it does to overstate how go guez) is a 23-year-ol ficially inseminated tel she works for, w before and the doct sister and that’s all might take a few ep ness and the way ev in there. It’s worth what the hell you’ve least twelve plot twists and you’ll grow to lov the incomparable Rogelio de la Vega (Jamie C tackles issues of wealth, class, family, religion also throw in some dashes of crime thriller. The threads are many, but I promise they c the end. I hate it when film and television criti
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MISCELLANY NEWS
April 9, 2020
Page 3 As our possibile activities contract to include primarily those which can be performed while sedentary, the Misc Executive Board has collected our favorite longform viewable media, listed by running time. From short binges to multi-day marathons, from drama to thriller to romance, this list contains something for everyone. The total running time is approximately 28.5 days, which will take you to finals season. Uh-oh.
y the next month
ation” (2016)
“Fleabag” (2016)
“Pride and Prejudice” (1995)
ou didn’t know avant-garde was a thing, consider yourucated. If you didn’t know arde sports anime was a consider yourself double edMany sports animes impress owerful dynamism and excitlinear plot and character pron that make you want to shout ement. I’m a complete sucker m. But it was “Ping Pong the tion” and its unpredictable listic character development on my athletic experiences. ng its wonky but captivating in you over, Director Masaaki re Time episode “Food Chain.” uncan Aronson, Senior Editor on. Both English dub and Japatitles available.
Grief, healing, bleakness, power, faith and love—these are just a few themes that come to mind when I look back on what was undeniably my favorite TV experience of 2019. The eponymous protagonist of “Fleabag” (Phoebe Waller Bridge) is a witty, sardonic woman with, um, extensive sexual habits and a dysfunctional family. Throughout the series, you are taken into her world of loss and grief, literally pulled into Fleabag’s mind as she breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to you. I would go deeper, but this is the type of art piece that, in my view, should not be broken down—there are too many subtleties in its silences. However, I will say this: If you, like me, are looking to feel things in these isolated days, you absolutely must watch “Fleabag.” You will laugh, you will cry, you will ache, and most importantly, you will come away with thoughts. Not to mention that the series won six Emmy Awards. — Jessica Moss, Editor-in-Chief Stream it with an Amazon Prime subscription.
A classic, truly. Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle) is the second-oldest of five sisters, all of whom must settle advantageously to avoid being destitute on the occasion of their father’s death. An eligible bachelor moves to town with his squad, including the brooding, socially awkward, filthy-rich Fitzwilliam Darcy (Colin Firth). Come for the Austenian marriage plot, stay for the surprisingly erotic fully-clothed swimming and totally ’90s superimposed talking head inner monologue. As a bonus, follow this up with the 2005 film adaptation starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. I expect a 2,000 word comparative essay in my inbox by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, April 12. Twelvepoint font, double-spaced. Don’t forget a creative title. — Frankie Stream it with a Hulu subscription.
4 hours, 13 minutes
5 hours, 7 minutes
5 hours, 27 minutes
“Veep” (2012)
“H2O: Just Add Water” (2007)
“Parks and Recreation” (2009)
Anyone else feeling deeply, deeply cynical at the moment? If so, this political dramedy is the ultimate choice, in that it 1) matches your cynicism note for note with its defeatist tone and 2) is goddamn hilarious. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her seven Emmys (one for every season) play Vice President Selina Meyer, a fundamentally bad person. As she tries to get her poll numbers up and her Washington connections solidified, her fundamentally incompetent staff bungles things each step of the way. There’s an approximate ratio of one f-bomb to one line and an absolute lack of anything heartwarming. Members of the Obama administration and former Democratic candidates Pete Buttigieg and Eric Swalwell have claimed that Veep is the most realistic depiction of political life on television. Fun trivia note: Selina’s daughter Catherine, a painfully shy and cripplingly insecure film major, canonically goes to Vassar! All press is good press, right guys? — Lucy Stream it with an Amazon Prime or HBO subscription.
This is an Australian TV show about mermaids that aired on Disney Channel and was aimed at young tweens. I am a 20-year-old writing for a newspaper aimed at other 20-year-olds. I know this. Hear me out. “H2O: Just Add Water” follows Cleo (Phoebe Tonkin), Emma (Claire Holt) and Rikki (Cariba Heine) as they struggle with a huge secret: As of the pilot episode, they transform into mermaids as soon as a drop of water touches their skin (!!!). There’s something relaxing and oddly sweet about watching three clumsily written teenagers go to school, frolic beneath the waves, and face simple, non-relatable struggles like trying to go to prom without getting wet and evading evil marine biologists who want to dissect them. There’s even one memorable episode where, to avoid going to school in a rainstorm, the girls use their magical water powers to fake an illness so severe that the Australian version of the CDC has to get involved—which may hit a little too close to home in these trying times. Each episode is only twenty minutes, perfect for a lazy Sunday binge. — Lucy Stream it with an Amazon Prime or Netflix subscription.
Few shows capture saccharine sweetness, utter hilarity, absurdism and genuine human emotion as thoroughly as this mockumentary account of local government in a tiny Indiana town. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) is the beacon of positivity we all need right now, honestly. Unemployed Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) embodies the quarantine mood. There’s a reason BuzzFeed almost always has a wholesome moments roundup from this show on its homepage. If you’ve yet to binge this one, now is the time. — Frankie
1 day, 8 hours, 30 minutes
come together wonderfully and satisfyingly in ics describe media as a “romp” but...it’s a romp. — Frankie Netflix subscription.
S | VASSAR COLLEGE
1 day, 15 hours
“The West Wing” (2000)
elightful and critically acclaimed for bringrican genre of telenovela roaring into the U.S. s so brilliantly. Like, I don’t think it’s possible ood this show is? Jane Villaneuva (Gina Rodrild virgin who ends up getting accidentally artid with the sperm of the man who owns the howith whom she shared a magical date five years tor who inseminated Jane is the hotel owner’s l in the first thirty minutes of the pilot. You pisodes to get used to the self-aware ridiculousvery scene drips with dramatic irony, but hang it. You’ll rejoice, you’ll mourn, you’ll question e just witnessed, you’ll be utterly shocked by at ve The Narrator (Anthony Mendez), as well as Camil). Plus, you’ll live for the way this show n, sexuality, national identity and politics. Oh,
4 days, 3 hours
Stream it with a Netflix, Hulu, YouTube or Amazon Prime subscription.
You might think that a political drama is a little bit too close to home for the current moment, but I’ve found this hyperrealistic gem to be perfect escapism. Sure, some aspects of the show’s ideology have...not aged all that well, but it’s super entertaining. The pace is quick. The characters are quippy and lovely—Donnatella Moss could run me over with a truck and I’d thank her. The twists and turns are never ending (but somehow neither repetitive nor overly exhausting). If you’re a political junkie who’s a tad burnt out on reality at the moment, immerse yourself in the alternate reality of the Bartlet administration. — Frankie Stream it with a Netflix subscription.
6 days, 10 hours
2 days, 15 hours
“House, M.D.” (2004) Do you ever wish you could be both constantly inebriated and a successful human being? Draw inspiration from Doctor Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), my favorite genius doctor asshole loosely based on a different genius detective asshole, Sherlock Holmes, as hae pops pills, performs surgery on himself, and seems to cure the incurable. Look, I won’t hide it: House often leans on sexist or otherwise unwoke jokes to express his assholeness, and you’re not gonna see realistic medical practices here (I hope? The number of times they get things wrong and retroactively stick the patient with a different drug, barely dodging death, is alarming), and, to be clear, this series won’t be everyone’s cup of tea given the current state of our public health system. But importantly: It is entertaining nonetheless. More importantly: It’s free. — Jess Stream it free on NBC or with a YouTube TV, Amazon Prime or Vudu subscription.
7 days, 8 hours
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April 9, 2020
Scenes from quarantine
Courtesy of Sophia Anjali Kapur.
Continued from MOMENTS on page 1 that she will always be there for me, and to let her know if I ever need anything. Time slows down, the gravity of the statement is palpable. I say it back. I genuinely mean it. ••• I switch my laundry from the washer to the dryer, hyper-aware of how the last time I did this, I was in the Joss basement. ••• The bench conversation floats into the forefront of my mind as a different friend and I drive another loop around the old neighborhood, with nowhere to go but the car. I point out the frayed yellow rope as we drive past the house where I grew up. “There used to be a tire swing,” I tell her, “I wrote about it for a class.” As I speak the words, I remember how it felt to sit in the Sanders 111, how I tried not to see the comments in the margins as I read, how I moved seats because the sun was so bright I couldn’t see at all. Maybe I’ll show my “new housemate” what I wrote one of these days, now that time is in abundance. ••• When you have friends on a rapidly emptying campus who can’t go home home in the midst of a global pandemic, the “Lmk if you need anything” text takes on a new weight. I send the message, and within 24 hours my friend stands outside of Domestic Arrivals Pick Up 1. She will live with us until the end of May, or maybe forever. The end of May might as well be forever. My perception of time is out of whack. ••• The moment my friend steps foot in the house, she joins our home. We share meals, fears, and emergency protocol plans “just in case.” She is not a typical guest in typical times.
••• This morning I walked behind her computer screen during her 9 a.m. anthro class. At 1:30 I walked by art history. At 3:00, we both Zoomed from my computer for the seminar we share. ••• I might as well be double majoring in sourdough baking and going for walks, with a correlate in Sanjay Gupta. ••• In the seminar, my professor makes a comment about how difficult it must be to live on an island at this time, then adding that everyone probably feels like they are in their own isolated island. Sitting at the kitchen island, it feels more like Vassar than I could have imagined, two faces in the same Zoom screen. ••• Today, we ordered our first take-out since quarantine began. My mom wore a mask, handling the familiar styrofoam containers from Sy Thai with alcohol-soaked paper towels, as if they contained toxic waste. A comically horrific scene. If me from two months ago were to stand outside the kitchen window, peering in on the scene illuminated by the warm glow of lights and the sporadic bursts of laughter, I would not even begin to comprehend what I witness. ••• I lack the vocabulary for this breed of uncertainty. ••• And what if one day, we do look back on this terrifying time with an idyllic gaze, and miss the closeness of confinement? ••• That wouldn’t be the worst thing. In a way, I already sense that I will.
Distance learning creates new hurdles for senior projects, theses Continued from THESES on page 1 why it is more exciting to me as a form, as compared to filmmaking or anything else. The fact that there won’t be any audience and we won’t get to perform it on our feet is very disheartening.”
“I’m struggling to even keep up with normal classwork, let alone the deep thought and rigorous work required to write a thesis.” The play, which was the first Makwana wrote in a writing workshop during his study abroad program at National Theater Institute (NTI) in Waterford, Connecticut, is a surrealist memory play that centers the life of an aging Indian couple. It explores themes such as the India-Pakistan Partition, violence in Kashmir, bipolar disorder, immigration and intergenerational conflicts. The play made its debut in the Mug during the fall semester. Makwana commented, “Last time when we did it, we received an
unanticipated response from the audience. The Mug was packed on all three nights.” He explained that the play will now take the form of a radio play or a podcast and that the department will then upload it to a streaming platform. However, even with this new route, many aspects of this senior project had to be put on hold or scrapped. “We were doing a lot of research for design ideas and organizing meetings for lighting, costumes, set, props, etc., but these departments won’t be required anymore.” On top of a formatting shift that will throw a wrench in the work of everyone involved in the production, the play misses an opportunity to highlight diversity that is often lacking in the Drama Department. Makwana said, “Most plays that are produced here are either European or American plays. In my four years here, I have struggled to get three-dimensional roles here. It’s a weird problem—most actors/ drama majors are white and then most things that get produced naturally cater to this population.” In writing and producing the play, Makwana knew that he wanted to shed light on a non-Western storyline and put together an entirely South Asian cast. He expressed, “I wanted to write a complex character for myself and I wanted to prove to myself that I do a good job portraying this character ... As a POC actor in America, this is extremely important.” When the Drama Department told Makwana they would be producing his play, he was delighted that his voice would finally be heard. It was also the first time that the department chose to extend auditions to non-drama majors, as Makwana is currently the only South Asian student in the department. This made him reflect on another
point—the accessibility of theater: “It really sucks that it won’t be produced in the way that it is supposed to be produced. Because if the department had seen the play in the theaters, they would have realized that having non-actors or non-drama majors is actually a good thing. Theater should be accessible to everyone and a lack of experience/major requirements shouldnt be a deterrent.” The Drama Department isn’t alone in the struggle to support senior projects that require collaboration or Vassar facilities. The Film Department and Media Studies Department are currently deliberating on which policies they will employ. Petch Kingchatchaval ’20 sees many senior theses in Media Studies as in flux: “A lot of people in the major had planned to create installations for their theses and it seems really unfair that, on top of the disappointment of not getting to do that anymore, they have to scramble to put something else together.” Kingchatchaval felt that it would make the most sense to make the senior projects optional, explaining, “With the emotional upheaval of everything, including losing the last months of college, not getting to say goodbye to friends, having to move back across the world and rethink my plans for the future and the constant anxiety I feel about coronavirus, I just feel like I’m struggling to even keep up with normal classwork, let alone the deep thought and rigorous work required to write a thesis.” While the collaborative nature of work is one thing that seems difficult to continue during the quarantine, another compromised aspect of academics is lab work. Many STEM theses are halted because of the lack of student access to facilities. Physics major Ellis Thompson ’20, who is working on a
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
thesis project that uses a high powered laser to create sound waves, explained, “Luckily, I was able to get most of my main data before quarantine, but I left most of my data analysis on a computer in my lab. I not only lost the opportunity to do more experimental work, but also lost hours of work that I spent interpreting data. As a result, I’ll have to reformulate my thesis and work with the data I have.” Despite her losses, Thompson described the support her advisor and peers have offered her, commenting, “My advisor has been so unbelievably supportive and understanding, and has assured me that my thesis will still turn out well regardless of my lost data and effort. I’ve talked to other students who are doing experimental theses, and most of us have been affected in some way, but everyone has given me words of sympathy and encouragement.” Without a traditional approach to enacting his vision—a live audience or in-person rehearsal time—Makwana’s attention has turned inward: “Right now, I am questioning myself: Who do I really perform for? Do I do it for the craft or do I do it to impress other people and just for validation? I think most theater people start performing because they feel validated and it feels good. But it should go beyond that. Why should it matter now I am doing a radio play? Yes, I won’t be able to perform in the theater. But through this new audio platform, I can also be really specific about the words and focus on my writing.” The pandemic has shown the resourcefulness and understanding of students. As Makwana reflected, “The silver lining is that this will be a great learning experience and contribute a lot to my growth as an artist.”
April 9, 2020
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‘How’s your lab going?’ Students describe digital hands-on classes Continued from DIGITAL on page 1 been smoother than I expected. When we first received the news that the rest of the semester would be conducted online, I could not fathom how that could possibly work. I had none of my supplies, which cost nearly $200 in the beginning of the year, and had to purchase a smaller collection of materials to work with at home. My art class used to take place twice a week for two hours in the art studio, followed by two assignments to complete over the weekend. Class time was crucial as it consisted of presentations about style and technique followed by the implementation of these in still life and model drawings. The professor offered commentary and suggestions as they made their way around the studio, and student work was presented collectively at the end. Essentially, the course revolved around real-life contact—with professors, models, peers, materials. The Zoom version of Drawing I: Visual Language feels less unusual than I anticipated. We take photographs of our assignments and upload them to a shared Google Drive where we can access everyone’s work. Class time is spent looking at slides and critiquing. Because of time zone differences, some classes have split into two sessions to make it easier on those who are not located on the East Coast. This set-up works fairly well, as we can still talk as a group about each other’s work— yet, all of the valuable in-class drawing time is gone. One of my favorite parts of class was watching everyone hang their work on the wall and take a step back to admire each other’s art, sometimes with audible “oohs” and “aahs.” That quiet, electric reverence is lost on our digital platform. I miss the warmth of the studio and the camaraderie that came from shared struggle and creativity. One positive is that because of the lack of materials and resources available to students, we have gained freedom to explore new scales, styles and even media. In order to accomodate the range of resources available to students, assignments are much more flexible and open to interpretation. I happen to have a decent collection of watercolor paints at home and have been taking advantage of the opportunity to use color and paint in a way that I have not yet been able to this year. Other students are taking this opportunity to create animations and draw digitally. While some of the enchantment that moved students to take art classes has been lost in this virtual shift, art has been versatile and resilient in the face of this crisis. Other fields have not been quite so fortunate. Music courses and organizations are more challenging to move online for a number of reasons. Music, unlike visual art, has to be live, and everyone has to be in sync. There is simply no replacement for real-life rehearsal. Music majors and students who take instrument or voice lessons must substitute pre-recorded memos from accompanists for in-person, synchronous rehearsal and class time. While this is all we have available currently, it poses problems of its own for the accompanist, like being unable to start and stop or slow down or take cues from the soloist. The soloist, on the other hand, is subjected to the whims of the recording. As vocalist Helen Johnson ’21 explained, “Usually the accompanist is supposed to follow the vocalist in terms of tempo, dynamics, phrasing, etc., but now we as vocalists have to follow the recording, so we have no artistic license anymore.” Without practice rooms and access to accompanists or performance groups, many students struggle to replicate the experience of learning music and performing in their homes. For those without access to their instruments, it is
altogether impossible. Johnson reports feeling less enthused about academia, even creative subjects, than usual: “I have way less motivation and I’m practicing less.” The prospect of virtual learning didn’t only discourage students; even professors were initially filled with dread and hopelessness. International Studies Program Director Tim Koechlin described his reaction to learning that the remainder of the semester would be online as mournful and frustrated: “My first reaction was shock, and then sadness—that life at Vassar as we know it was not going to continue for a while. I was especially sad to realize that I was unlikely to meet with my students again.” Professor and Chair of Dance John Meehan recalled his initial reaction and subsequent reignition of inspiration. “At first it seemed like an impossible task to teach a dance technique class online, as most students would not have available space or a suitable floor to dance on in their homes. We learned that the Juilliard school was canceling all technique classes and at first thought we would follow suit,” he described. “Some faculty members, however, were eager to try to teach remotely and are teaching, via Zoom, classes that move the body but do not travel out in space. Other classes have become research and discussion sessions using the enormous numbers of videos available online to continue to study the finer points of advanced dance technique and performance. Students and faculty alike have responded positively to these sessions.” Virtual learning complicates more traditional departments as well, especially STEM classes that depend on hours of lab time each week to provide hands-on experience. Some classes have completely changed their direction to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, while others have only revised their syllabuses minimally. Describing the revised syllabus of Bioinformatics—a team-taught course that consists of computer science, biology, biochemistry, neuroscience and cognitive science majors—Associate Professor of Biology Jodi Schwarz said in an emailed statement: “The goal of the class is to form collaborative research teams using computer science to tackle biological questions. Around the world, scientists are tackling the COVID pandemic using bioinformatics approaches, so we thought we HAD to jump on this and change our class.” Lindsey Sample ’20, a Bioinformatics student and neuroscience and cognitive
science double major, recounted her experience so far in this class and in STEM departments as largely positive, demonstrating adaptability and resilience. “One cool thing happening in my Bioinformatics class with Jodi Schwartz and Marc Smith is that we’ve shifted from studying the genome of coral to studying the genome of SARS-CoV-2 [Coronavirus] which is a really cool opportunity and is very motivating to study,” she explained. “It’s easy to be motivated to do something like that because it is so relevant to the real world and what’s on all of our minds right now.” Like many of her peers, Sample also recounted feeling less enthusiastic about school during this crisis: “I have felt a lot less motivated than I typically do at school, I think partly based on the envi-
ronmental factors, and partly because the future is so uncertain.” Across the board, sentiments about school work reflect distractedness and apathy. Despite the apparent abundance of time we all now have, most of us are finding it harder and harder to throw ourselves into academia. Some are inspired and grateful for the distraction, but many are finding school demanding, tiresome and laborious. Professors and students must manage personal stresses and widespread concerns while also navigating an unplanned, unique transition to remote learning. We can hope to find solace and distraction in unexpected ways, but there is no doubt that the loss of in-person learning has affected all of us profoundly, silver linings or not.
The writer used a reference image (top) to produce two pieces (bottom) for the Zoom version of her studio art course, Drawing I: Visual Language. Delila Ames/The Miscellany News.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
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April 9, 2020
With loss of final season, senior Brewers describe end of athleti
Continued from SENIORS on page 1 As a senior, having such an abrupt ending to my lacrosse career was not something I had prepared myself for. I always knew it would be hard, but missing out on the opportunity to show what we had worked so hard for and finish out the season with such a talented team has been unbelievably difficult to process. However, through all of this, I could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I had the opportunity to play on the women’s lacrosse team and be part of the athletics community at Vassar. Old teammates, coaches and friends from other teams reaching out helped the situation feel much less isolating, and reaffirmed the strong sense of community that I have always felt being a student-athlete at Vassar. While I wish more than anything we could finish what we started this season, I will be forever thankful for this team, and especially my five fellow seniors, who have truly become family. -Kelly Pushie, Women’s Lacrosse
It happened all at once. The first Monday of break, I felt certain that in five short days I’d be headed to Arizona with my teammates for our season’s first meet. Come Thursday, the NCAA had canceled our season and Vassar had postponed my return to campus to mid-April. In a matter of days, my final season was over. But though the season was canceled quickly, my disappointment, frustration, and sense of loss have come more slowly. My head has become a revolving door for these emotions. Every so often, a thought pushes through on a gust, carrying a twinge of sadness. I’ll never compete in a Vassar singlet again. I won’t have a chance to savor my last race. I won’t get to experience the repetitive, arduous and wonderful everyday of running on a team of my best friends. I won’t get to say goodbye to these friends and my coaches during senior week. The lack of closure kills me. But in moments of frustration, instead of dwelling on what’s been taken, I’m reminding myself of what Vassar cross country and track and field have given me. They’ve given me friendships that’ll last a lifetime. They’ve allowed me to compete in sports I love, pushing me towards my competitive limits. They’ve taught me to follow and challenged me to lead. And even today, despite the circumstances, Vassar XCTF continues to give. My coaches still provide me with advice and training plans; our team is holding onto our sense of community through Zoom and Google Hangouts. Of course, none of this is to say that I’ve come to terms with my career’s abrupt end. But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned through collegiate athletics, it’s this: [Y]ou can’t control things on the outside like injuries, weather and global pandemics. What you can control is how you respond. I choose resiliency. Fall down seven times, stand up eight. -Eli Bashant, Track and Field
Obviously, this isn’t how any of us spring athletes imagined our seasons ending. You always know, particularly as a senior, that your athletic career is going to end at some point, but never in a million years do you ever imagine it will be ripped away from you and ending as abruptly as it did to us. However, I think this abrupt ending has made me appreciate everything playing a sport at Vassar has given me. I’ve met my lifelong best friends, made amazing memories and got to play a sport I love at a collegiate level, which isn’t something every athlete gets to do, all at a school I love. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. That doesn’t mean this ending isn’t hard to process, and I’m sure it will always be bittersweet, but I am truly thankful I had the opportunity and privilege to play a sport in college. This ending will never overshadow all the good and amazing things that came out of being an athlete at Vassar! -Sydney Nemphos, Women’s Lacrosse
As a captain and teammate, it’s incredibly disappointing to have the season canceled. Each and every member of the team put in an incredible amount of time and work over the last seven months, and it’s a shame that none of it will be realized in the postseason. That being said, I think that it’s important to reflect on one of our team mantras: “The most important day of the season is today”. For me, this meant to always give 100 percent, to always focus on the present moment, and most importantly, to always play as if each game was my last. Never did I think, however, that this philosophy would so unexpectedly become a reality. As a senior, this was obviously my last season of collegiate volleyball. And to have this, which has been a greater part of my life for the last four years, end so suddenly is unbelievably anticlimactic. We were battling for a national championship, and I’m most disappointed about not (and never again) being able to compete for this with some of my closest friends. It’s true, now more than ever, that you never know what you have until it’s gone. In the coming years, I hope that the underclassmen take this to heart, so that they can make the most of every interaction, lift, practice, and game. Because you never know when it might come to an end. -Kevin Ros, Men’s Volleyball
Senior Grace Goodwin-Boyd, a 2019 Liberty League All-Academic honors winner. Courtesy of Vassar Athletics. As a senior athlete, I knew my athletic career was coming to a close. I knew I would have to confront how it felt to be finished with something that was a part of my life for almost as long as I can remember, and that this would be a challenge. However, prior to the intervention of COVID-19, the ending still seemed fairly distant, and thinking of it as such helped me focus on the present. This meant that I was able to enjoy time with my teammates and the success we had on the field. It also meant that I was not wholly prepared when our season was cut off abruptly by the current pandemic. Lacrosse does not define my identity, and yet it was a big part of my life. I felt a little unmoored by the suddenness with which the ending came, especially as it came in conjunction with separation from teammates and the school environment. Our team was brimming with talent and energy; it hurt that we didn’t get the chance to develop further, as we all knew that we had the potential to continue to perform at a high level. As seniors, one day we were college athletes and the next day we were not. This transition was jarring. With all this being said, I will forever be grateful for our team’s mindset about what it means to be a team. Vassar women’s lacrosse is a family; we are connected beyond what we are capable of on the field. Knowing that my relationships with my teammates and this program will carry on despite this season’s unprecedented ending makes a shortened career easier to bear. -Grace Goodwin-Boyd, Women’s Lacrosse
Hearing the news that Vassar would be closed and track canceled for the spring made my heart sink. Here, I found myself in this wonderful community, working hard with my best friends to try and achieve something great. I set a lot of goals going into freshman year about what I wanted to achieve throughout my time with Vassar XCTF. While I didn’t quite get to put all the pieces together on the Vassar track for the final season, I feel as though I have accomplished more than I had ever hoped for throughout my four years at Vassar College. I am disappointed that I will not be racing for Vassar anymore. But, for me, running became a vehicle for so many more important things in my life than any time on a stopwatch or miles on a GPS could show. Without the team that quickly became my family, I would not be the person that I am today. Running for Vassar has given me the greatest community I could have hoped for. I feel so lucky to be inspired by the individuals on this team every day. I have found the hardest workers; the most selfless and caring hearts; the best, fun-loving goofballs in this family. I loved every moment that we laughed, cried, sang, cheered, and, of course, ran together. I am so thankful for each person who has touched my heart over the past four years. Perhaps my main goal transitioning into college was that I wanted to be proud of the person I would become by the time I left as a senior. I wanted to make memories with friends that would last a lifetime, to forge real connections and trust between myself, my coaches, and my teammates, and to feel happy with myself as I transitioned into adulthood. The skills and experiences I gained from my time on this wonderful, ridiculous, silly, genuine, supportive, ambitious team will continue to color my interactions with the world around me. I never expected to have to move on from Vassar XCTF so soon, but I now understand that moving on doesn’t mean leaving it all behind. While I may not live on Vassar’s beautiful campus, go to class in the most magnificent buildings or help score in Vassar races again, I feel so lucky to have this family hold a piece of my heart. So, I look forward to the adventures, the miles, the runs where I can’t take another step,and those where I feel what it must be like to fly—and I look forward to bringing Vassar XCTF along as I navigate the unknown. -Meghan Cook, Track & Field
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
April 9, 2020
Page 7
ic careers, moments gone by
HOROSCOPES Madi Donat
Astral Projector
ARIES
Mar 21 | Apr 19
Being inside can give you the blues. Go online shopping and buy some new shoes. Your birthday is marked by a social distance, so solving your problems by spending makes sense. TAURUS
Apr 20 | May 20
Sleeping is great, but try to get dressed. The outlook it gives you might make you less stressed. Go outside if you can for a nice change of scene; say hi to the birds, and the spring trees of green. GEMINI
May 21 | Jun 20
Not seeing your friends has been quite hard for you. I know you’re debating a brand new hairdo. Are bangs the best choice? Well, that’s for you to find. Give it two days; you still want them? Then fine. CANCER Jun 21 | Jul 22
Kevin Ros, number 8, was awarded All UVC First Team Honors for the 2019-2020 season. Courtesy of Vassar Athletics.
The night we found out that classes would be moved online for the rest of the year, and that therefore more than likely our season was over, it felt like we had had the rug pulled from under our feet. I lay in my hotel bed for two hours, unsure of what to do, say or think. Others grouped up and talked, cried, consoled, laughed and poured out all the emotions they had onto each other, everyone unsure about what to feel. First years cried for seniors, and seniors cried for each other. I lay in my bed because I knew the sight of a single other face would bring with it an onslaught of tears I was powerless to withhold. I feel guilty in a way, that I didn’t join [in] with my teammates, my brothers, in consoling one another. That I was too scared to face the depths of the emotions I knew I had. But I suppose we all face emotions in our own way. It was definitely not how we envisioned our season panning out. Last year was a difficult year for us from the very beginning, when our senior captain Jake Doyle tore his ACL on the first play of the season, and we dealt with bad luck and injuries for the rest of the year. This year felt different, and we vowed to make it different. We were a senior-led team, and in talent, dedication and mental toughness I think this was the best team Vassar Baseball has ever had. It was the season we had all been waiting for since we arrived on campus four years ago and had an immediate impact on team success. Every single hitter in the senior class held a starting role this year, and every single pitcher was either a starter or high leverage reliever. I have no doubt this is the best chance Vassar Baseball has ever had at winning the Liberty League. This team was also as close-knit a group as I have ever been a part of. It felt like a family, where every day you went to practice and got to play with 34 of your best friends. So when we cried, we cried because we would not get to play baseball anymore. But also because we would not get to see our best friends anymore. And for the seniors, we will not get to see them all together except one day once a year, ever again. Our last game as seniors felt like the championship we knew we would now never get. Every at bat felt like the bottom of the ninth, and every pitch like the world series. Every single senior played well that day, and a simple out of conference win against Cazenovia on our spring break trip felt like the championship. It was justification to us that we had what it took to go all the way if given the opportunity. So it did indeed suck to have it end the way it did. So abruptly, stealing from us the chance to chase what we had worked the last 3.5 years for, and our entire lives as baseball players. It was gut wrenching to have our identities as baseball players torn from us, leaving us empty and searching for the new defining feature of our lives. And it left us lonely, fearing the next years without our brothers from the last four. But it also ended exactly the way we wanted. All of us playing our hearts out with each other, and proving to ourselves and our teammates that we had what it took. -Daniel Bonfiglio, Men’s Baseball
You swing introverted, but still this is hard. Try writing a poem in the style of the Bard. A sonnet, perchance? I know you’ve got skill. And if anything, it’s some more time you can kill. LEO
Jul 23 | Aug 22
Zoom is the most fortunate of new trends. Have you tried virtual cocktail hour with friends? (Only if you’re of age! Otherwise it’s a crime.) Use your school Zoom account to get more video time. VIRGO
Aug 23 | Sep 22
It’s been a hot sec since you’ve read a good book. It’s the same thing for me; I don’t know where to look. I think Oprah has lists from her monthly book club; maybe start there and download an ePub. LIBRA
Sep 23 | Oct 22
Amidst all this madness, the stars have the gall to make you start very slowly to fall…in love’s what I mean. Make sure to be smart: You’re careful with germs, be the same with your heart. SCORPIO
Oct 23 | Nov 21
Staying cooped up inside has you back in your shell. Go back to a hobby you know you do well. Draw a picture or two; stay creative at least. Bake a loaf of good bread with some active dry yeast. SAGITTARIUS
Nov 22 | Dec 21
You’re bright and you know it, so flex all your smarts! Pick up a new language; break it into parts. Just make sure you continue with it every day, lest the Duolingo owl have some mean words to say. CAPRICORN
Dec 22 | Jan 19
Not knowing the end is a definite stressor, but comedic vids make anxiety lesser. Escape for a while into YouTube’s unknown; with autoplay on, you’ll be glued to your phone. AQUARIUS
Jan 20 | Feb 18
It can be very hard, but your pals wanna talk! Try answering texts or the socials they stalk. You think reaching out doesn’t add but subtracts, but who else but your buds wants to hear your fun facts? PISCES
Feb 19 | Mar 20
Your first instinct in these times is to escape—to a fantasy world with a much kinder shape. Try to find the best parts of the world that is real, and maybe even the bad will be easier to feel.
Senior Daniel Bonfiglion prematurely ended his career with a 3-for-5 game against Cazenovia, posting two runs and two RBIs. Photo courtesy of Vassar Athletics. MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINION
Page 8
April 9, 20
To policymakers, health care is a right—but only during a pandemi Alice Woo
T
Columnist
he current COVID-19 pandemic sheds light on a number of issues with public policy, and it’s difficult to think about anything but the virus these days. In the wake of the crisis, legislators find themselves in a pivotal position (even more pivotal than usual), and suddenly many policies that previously felt completely unrealistic and impossible are being adapted. Gay men are now permitted to donate blood, evictions have been suspended in New York state and inmates with “minor-risk” infractions are being granted furlough. Despite years of protest against accommodations for disabled employees and students, we can suddenly jump on board with remote working/learning. Despite years of legitimate equity concerns regarding SAT scores, colleges are suddenly willing to drop them as a requirement for application. Despite the premature deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans who have already died from treatable diseases, we are suddenly able to fathom free health care treatment. As these policies, previously considered essential, are overturned in rapid succession, I start to wonder why they weren’t changed sooner, and how we can make them permanent. At the forefront of policy discussion is Medicare for All. The current Democratic primary revolves around the debate about the nature of our healtch care system. Last month, California governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to fund COVID-19 testing, waiving all copays
and allowing people without insurance to be tested. More recently he expedited over a billion dollars toward treatment. While I commend these actions, I feel as though we’re getting a mixed message from our government here: This specific disease warrants government intervention in healtch care, but if you have any other medical issue, you’re just out of luck. Where is the line between essential health care services versus supposedly unessential ones? Is chemotherapy unessential? Are EpiPens unessential? Is insulin unessential? It appears the government has deemed people who otherwise couldn’t afford treatment for coronavirus worthy of saving. You might argue that we are in extenuating circumstances, which call for extreme measures. My response is that if we’d had universal healtch care from the beginning, we would not be in these circumstances to begin with. With the advance warning that we had (a privilege Italy did not get), we should have been on top of this disease; testing and treatment should have been widely available from day one. When poor and uninsured citizens experience flu symptoms, they are not free to just visit a doctor. When your healtch care depends on your employment status, and when most minimum wage jobs do not offer health insurance at all, our poorest citizens are the most likely to fall victim to premature death. Up until now, our leaders have been able to ignore that fact. The threat of COVID-19 has made it impossible to ignore. Indeed, the absurdity of tying insurance to employment grows increasingly clear as more
and more people are laid off and left without healtch care in the midst of a public health crisis. In America, we like to pretend that single-payer healtch care is a scary new territory; our lawmakers pretend that our healtch care problem is unique and has never before been solved. The truth is that it has been solved. A total of 18 countries offer true universal healtch care. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it is shameful that we found ourselves completely unprepared for this pandemic, and it is even more absurd that we are still unable to come to the conclusion that healtch care is a human right. Most health care providers are waiving copays for COVID-19 testing, which is good—for now. The fact that COVID-19 may potentially force policymakers to see the logistic fallacies of our current healtch care system is good—for now. But I argue that the American people deserve better. It should not have taken a crisis of this magnitude for our government to address the immorality of private healtch care. However, since we are in these horrific circumstances, let’s learn from them. I worry that when the threat of COVID-19 goes away, and policymakers no longer feel that their lives are at stake, they will forget the millions of uninsured people whose lives are continually at stake due to their lack of healtch care. As daunting and scary as it sounds, it is my deepest hope that when we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, we will refuse to return to the conditions that allowed for the pandemic in the first place. We have to
push our politicians to do better. One example that hits particularly clos home for me is the inclusion of mental he treatment in universal healtch care. W you may find it counterintuitive to cons talk therapy, SSRIs or other treatments to b life-saving as somatic procedures, the trut that they are. Given the serious public he threat posed by COVID-19, it’s easy to overl the toll that social distancing and isolation have—and has already had—on mental hea We will not have statistics on suicide rate 2020 for another year or so, but I predict tha will see a rise from previous years. I person find it harder to feel connected to my com nity, to get out of bed, to see the point of liv etc., and find it so much easier to sleep fo hours without any consequences. Making m tal health treatment widely available will lives, too. It is irresponsible and unethical the government to continue to allow our citiz to die of treatable diseases, and the call to ac initiated by coronavirus can and should ext to every single person and every single afflic out there. I am certain that this pandemic will conti to force us to reconsider many aspects of soc that were previously deemed necessary. (Co we hold online elections in November? Co we make workplaces accessible? Could we form our education system?) Ultimately, real challenge will be advocating for these p tices well after this crisis is over. I sincerely h that America is able to adapt.
Racializing disease, quantifying lives: COVID-19 isn’t an ecological cur Yvette Hu, Cherry Ji, Ruoyu Li, Annabell Su, Jacy Sun
O
Photo Editor, Class of 2018, Class of 2019, Guest Columnists
n March 19, 2020, President Bradley posted the following tweet: “How many lives has coronavirus saved in China due to less pollution? Ironic.” Current students and alumnae/i alike have responded to the post with a wave of debate and criticism. They point out the inappropriateness of the post and its hostility towards the Chinese and Chinese American communities at Vassar and elsewhere. President Bradley also recognized the tweet’s impact, and sent out both formal and informal apologies. Her apology has been received and accepted by many, and we acknowledge her effort to make Vassar a place where students of diverse backgrounds feel at home. We are grateful for her honesty, care, courage and willingness to learn, as evidenced in her apology emails. Though we do not intend for this piece to be another accusation against President Bradley and her tweet, we feel it is necessary to converse with the Vassar community. This article is our gesture of conversation with the currently circulating narratives, discourses, concerns, feelings and politics amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of disease is highly racialized in contemporary politics. China has been held accountable for the global impact of the novel coronavirus in much U.S. media. In The National Review, an article titled “The Other Chinese Virus” accuses the Chinese government of covering up information about the virus and attacks the authoritarian regime for “exporting repression.” While many Chinese people acknowledge the wrongdoings on the part of the Chinese government, such coverage rarely distinguishes among “China,” “the Chinese government” and “Chinese people.” Even if they do, misleading titles like “China is Avoiding Blame by Trolling the World,” and “Yes, Blame China for the Virus” attribute the coronavirus to a specific race/nationality—Chinese or even Asian populations as a whole. At Vassar, we have learned to be critical of such media rhetoric. Yet, these lines of thinking were reinforced by President Bradley’s recent post. Worse yet, President Trump has recently used the misnomer of “Chinese virus” on various occasions, which reduces a global public health concern to the responsibility of
a single nation. Racializing the coronavirus is not at all helpful in facing this global problem in solidarity. Though the first case of the coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, China, naming the virus as “Wuhan virus” or “Chinese virus” designates the problem to a racial/national other and obscures the fact that the rest of the world also faces this outbreak. Needless to say, the Chinese and Chinese American community has felt stigmatized by the phrasing of the “Chinese virus,” particularly given the history of Chinese exclusion and the relegation of the “sick man,” a degrading phrase the British used to refer to China during the opium epidemic in the early 1900s. Recently, the misnomer of the sick man reappeared in the headline of an article in The Wall Street Journal, which provoked criticism from more than four dozen of its own journalists and the Chinese government leadership. The news outlet later apologized and revised their headline. The scapegoating of China has elicited anti-Chinese and xenophobic sentiments and practices. People perceived to be of Chinese descent (or other Asian ethnicities) have endured a number of hate crimes across the country and around the world. A Chinese international student at Vassar, who was studying abroad in London, posted on Instagram that a stranger passing by yelled at her, “It’s all your fault!” Likewise, in New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, anti-Asian hate crimes have surged. An Asian woman in Brooklyn was told to go back to China and get her temperature checked, while an Asian man was harassed in Queens for not wearing a mask . What outraged many in the Vassar community was the fact that a president of a prominent liberal arts college seemed unaware that her comments could potentially feed into the current racialized discourse of COVID-19, along with the stigma it brands onto the Chinese diaspora. The original article to which President Bradley responded in her original tweet does, in fact, acknowledge the inappropriateness of drawing an analogy between fatalities caused by the coronavirus and deaths as results of air pollution. The authors made the following comment in regard to a Stanford study:
“That is NOT to say that the pandemic is some kind of a blessing in disguise, with all the suffering it has imposed on people. At the most, it shows it’s easy to overlook chronic, long term health threats such as air pollution, and thus, harder to muster an adequate response.” Though the body text is relatively unbiased, the title fails to capture its essence. The headline, “Study: Coronavirus Lockdown Likely Saved 77,000 Lives In China Just By Reducing Pollution,” sets the tone for the article, with the word “saved” as the least preferable phrasing anyone wishes to use in this context. Readers who have perceived China’s past environmental policies in a negative light would easily fall into the trap of hidden xenophobia in this clickbait title. It is also worth noting that the article mentions a pattern of reduction in air pollutants globally in areas like northern Italy, where scientists have observed an evident decline in the emission of nitrogen dioxide. Hence, to target solely China in the discourse on environmental degradation is unnecessary and ill-considered. It is true that pollution in China has been significantly reduced due to the large-scale quarantine measures of suspending industrial production, work, and most public transportation. However, to view the coronavirus as life-saving is another issue. Pollution kills, and so does the virus. By no means shall we consider the coronavirus a life-saving, life-enriching and invigorating force. Tianqi Zhu ’16 commented that “污染减轻（至少这次）代 表工厂关停，代表三个月没有收入，代表工 人失业，代表很多农村甚至城市家庭失去 了唯一的收入来源。[The reduction of pollution (at least in this case) means shutting down factories...underemployment of workers [and] many families in the rural and even urban areas losing their only source of income.]” Many online diaries of people from Wuhan and interviews with those directly impacted by the coronavirus express a deeper sense of the physical, psychological, economic and social devastation that they grapple with on a daily basis (just one example is the Chinese writer Wang Fang who has been keeping an online diary, with an unofficial English translation. Imagine what it means, for a person experiencing such great loss, to read a sentence like “the coronavirus saves lives.”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
This is not a matter of hurt feelings. B pollution and the coronavirus kill, but ebrating one for the reduction of anothe problematic, given their vastly different ture, mechanisms and effects. Conflating th issues obscures the particularity of the p lems and how each requires a distinct solut In the same vein, putting the coronavirus the reduction of pollution in a causal rela risks positing one killing force as a solutio another. Such logic layers up threat, injus and suffering without addressing any of it. What we also want to avoid is a compara approach that evaluates the “pros and cons pollution and the coronavirus to seek jus cation for either of them. Such compara evaluation reduces human lives to calcul and replaceable data points. This calculus tracts us from the real issue of discussion: H do you solve both of them, instead of arguin keep one over the other? We have seen the culation of the incalculable in so many insta es right now. For example, when the hosp have reached their full capacity, a decision m be made: Who to cure and who to let die? A in the current moment of the coronavirus, elderly are generally those left to die. We do intend to condemn the doctors who are at most difficult position of making such a p ful “choice.” Rather, in this case, we need to Can lives be calculated by a particular wa measuring time? Can lives be valued based how much time theoretically remains? The impact of the coronavirus has distur and displaced many lives in different w and to varying degrees. We wrote this p to reflect upon our collective experiences to validate our feelings, whether it be an despondence, frustration or anxiety, dur these challenging and uncertain times. Ins of narrowing our sights to focus on the act and words of particular individuals near far, we hope to address the larger and more vasive structural underpinnings, in this c the racialization of diseases and quantifica of human lives, that gave rise to narrow-m ed discourses and hate crimes directed at ticular racial/ethnic groups. We hope that conversation will prompt us to look bey our immediate individual experiences and attentive to lives beyond the scope of Vassar the United States.
020
April 9, 2020
The Throwback Crossword
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Page 9
ACROSS 1. A lot 6. Bungle 10. Makes a touchdown 16. Hen’s hubby 19. Deck type 20. Ford or Grey 21. Frolic 22. Poster abbr. 26. Distant 27. Expensive appetizer 28. Common contraction 29. Charon’s river 30. Wallach or Whitney 31. Moore of “G.I. Jane” 34 Writer Paretsky 37. Actor Tremayne 40. Hangs tinsel 43. Command to Fido 45. Cries like a baby 48. Part 2 of remark 53. React to a pun 54. Enthusiast 55. “Dallas” matriarch 56. Lummoxlike 58. Had a hankering 60. Mister, in Munich 62. Architect’s add-on 63. Harness part 64. Radio and TV 65. Duncan’s denial
66. “— a Song Go Out of My Heart” (’38 tune) 69. — Bank, NJ 70. Part 3 of remark 75. HST’s successor 78, On the briny 79. Service charge 80. Disconcert 84. Cubist Rubik? 86. Business abbr. 88. Starchy tuber 90. Moved like a mouse 92. — del Sol 94. Teatime treat 96. Tachometer meas. 98. Lawn Ornament 99. Part 4 of remark 103. Lots of laughter 104. JFK lander 105. Intense 106. Vane letters 107. Tend the garden 109. Pipe part 110. Cry of discovery 113. Spanish dance 116. Allen’s partner 120. Passed into law 124. — Baba 125. End of remark 130. — Buddhism 131. Lunar spacecraft
132. Skater Heiden 133. Kovacs or Pyle 134. Actress Caldwell 135. Scrimshaw material 136. Mr. Walesa 137. Cassandra and Merlin
DOWN 1. Fountain order 2. Nursery furniture 3. Alan of “California Suite” 4. Holmes’ creator 5. Reel 6. Take off 7. Tyler or Ullmann 8. Colorado native 9. Saloon 10. Injury aftermath 11. Spelunker’s spot 12. It bakes the cake 13. Alex Haley book 14. Directional suffix 15. Sault — Marie, MI 16. 27th president 17. All right 18. Chico or Karl 24. Textbook headings 25. “Bali —” 29. Finn’s friend 31. See 91 Down 32. Distinguished 33. Flavor enhancer: abbr.
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“Super Crossword” from January 21, 2000
35. Honest name 36. Durban dough 37. Word form for “study” 38. — Zimbalist, Jr. 41. Ring official 42. Missouri apriport abbr. 43. Presque —, ME 44. Dimly illuminated 46. Solitary sort 47. “Wake Up Little —” (’57 hit) 49. Card collection 50. Silverare city 51. From now on 52. Opening remark? 57. Wrap up 59. Place to pontificate 61. Unrefined 67. “Gracious me!” 68. Trinidad’s neighbor 71. Voltaire, for one 72. Reagan and Wilson 74. Techers’ org. 75. Cal. page 76. Sag 77. Follow 81. “New Yorker” cartoonist 82. Tend a faire 83. Macho types 85. Canada’s capital 87. Dovecote sounds 89. Soporific substance 91. With 31 Down, ’58 Frankie Avalon hit 93. Qualified 95. Squirrel’s snack 97. “The A-Team” actor 100. Manipulate 101. Toque or tarn 102. Hotelier Helmsley 108. Salivate 109. Silly Caesar 111. Basketball’s Elvin 112. Paint pigment 113. “All That —” (’79 film) 114. Toast topper 115. Prong 117. Eye lecherously 118. Flatfish 119. Before long 120. Engrave 121. Mood 122. Kuwaiti ruler 123.Poor grades 125. Zipper part 126. — -Looka, FL 127. Form of comm. 128. Mine find 129. Incite Rover
Answers to previous puzzle
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