Misc 10.17.19

The Miscellany News

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org

Volume CLII | Issue 7

October 17, 2019

Two library thefts spark safety debate

Lawsuit threatens work visas Olivia Watson

Aena Khan

News Editor

recent lawsuit threatens to eliminate or substantially cut the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, an arrangement under which international students studying in the United States on F-1 visas can remain in the states for one year post-graduation in order to begin working. If working in a STEM-related sector, they can stay for up to three years.

The Washington Alliance of Technology Workers Union (WashTech) filed a lawsuit against the OPT program, claiming that the program was unjust to their workers. (Forbes, “Latest On The Court Cases That Could Restrict Immigration, OPT And H-1B Spouses,” 06.10.19).

Cutting or altering the OPT program could prove disastrous for international students who want to work in the United States after graduation. Director of InterSee OPT on page 4

News Editor

O

n Wednesday, Oct. 2, Diego Betancourt ’21 returned from the bathroom to his seat in the library and found that his backpack had been stolen. Footage displayed the culprit: a man blending in as a college student, but little other information could be gathered regarding his identity. Betancourt reported the incident to Campus Safety and Security and contacted members of the College adminThe second annual Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference, hosted in Rockefeller Hall, allowed istration. Moving past ineffective undocumented students, their friends and their families to connect in spite of ongoing political hostilities. formal action, the incident sparked conversation regarding theft on campus.

The next week, Emily Potts ’22 was robbed while working in the Tiana Headley food and water, they were either now Mesoamerica and Latin Amer- basement of the library, a central Assistant News Editor forced off their land or into menial ica. Many others, such as Campion, study location that she had not er ancestors were murdered, labor for the Spanish Empire’s glo- have migrated to other lands, much used much before this semester. enslaved and robbed of their ry. to the disdain and abhorrence of Potts recalled working on her binative tongue and spiritual practicNow, 500 years later, Anita Mon- political administrations, including ology lab report due the next day es. One by one, those not slaugh- tero Campion and other descen- that of the United States. on her laptop in one of the cubicles tered endured the bodily terrorism dants of the colonized have been Campion, who was born and ed- on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 3:45 p.m. of foreign illnesses. Deprived of liberated, still residing in what is See CONFERENCE on page 3 See THEFTS on page 3 Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News

A

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Event supports immigrant youth H

Exhibit retraces photography’s past Young volleyball team lacks players, not heart Hindley Wang Guest Reporter

W

Inside this issue

9

Wanna go to law school?

Alums give FEATURES us the insider scoop

graphs in the exhibition: “It impresses me how important it is to look at original photographs rather than photographs from reproduction.”

On the screen were some photographs that defined their time, and some others that are lesser known, but fomented social inSee PHOTOGRAPHY on page 5

Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News

hen viewers enter “Shape of Light,” the new installation in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, they are instantly struck by the familiar visual traditions on display: of Eadweard Muybridge’s locomotion; of compositional references to Manet’s Olympia in the vibrant reimagination of Mickalene Thomas; of Mapplethorpe’s illuminating depiction of implicit tensions; of Warhol’s polaroids…

The exhibition “Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center” displays no themes, but rather showcases the experimental possibilities of the medium, envisioned by photographers both well-known and unknown. This display is a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Vassar College Advisory Council for Photography—and of the impressive collection of photographs that the council has acquired throughout the years. The Loeb held the artist reception for the exhibition on Oct. 12, where curator and renowned author Carol Squiers followed the reception with a lecture.

In her presentation titled “Expanding the Canon: Photography in a New Century,” Squiers discussed the modern history of the medium, through stages of technological, social and political changes. She opened the lecture by congratulating curator MaryKay Lombino on the strikingly expansive collection of photo-

“The Shape of Light” is on display at the Frances Lehman Loeb through Dec. 15. While the exhibit has no concrete themes, it attempts to illuminate the vast possibilities of photography as an art form.

10

A midterm misfortune: Hubby deadlifts HUMOR while wife actually works

Jackie Molloy, Alessandra Fable Guest Reporters

B

ump! Set! Spike! Except this spike was blocked awry—ricocheting off a Vassar palm and heading rapidly towards the spectator stands. Sophomore Jamie Kesten quickly changed direction and sprinted for the stands, trying to save her team a much-needed point. But alas, the volleyball hit the bleachers first. Kesten stopped just short of the crowd—a second too late. Her grit wasn’t left unnoticed though, as fellow teammate and sophomore Claire Bialek rushed right behind her, pointing directly at Kesten yelling, “Nice hustle!”

This scene perfectly captures the sphere of positivity and unity surrounding this year’s volleyball team, despite battling through a difficult offseason marked by the loss of talented seniors and the unexpected departure of several upperclassmen. Yet, this team embraces their humble numbers and overall youth. What was last year a group of 15 is now composed of just 11 student-athletes, nine of whom are underclassmen. Senior

13

captain Jennifer Kerbs explained, “It’s one of those things I know is such an amazing experience for me personally … having this new dynamic and a lot of young people on the team. I think it’s really cool and different, unique experience.”

Having fewer players on the squad does come with certain advantages. When asked about the dynamic of a smaller team and how it shifted the team’s focus, Head Coach Jonathan Penn said, “People tend to get more attention, your dynamics tend to be a little tighter, [and] you don’t have as many issues with playing time often.” Sophomore Sara Ehnstrom added, “It’s easier to have [a] really good, positive team dynamic and get to know each other really well and develop individual friendships.” However, there are clear negative effects as well: inability to scrimmage, added fatigue, heightened worries over injuries. Penn emphasized, “It can be hard in practice sometimes, and, of course, from a strategic standpoint, not having a lot of depth is sometimes limiting.”

See VOLLEYBALL on page 14

Ellen and Bush remind us that celebs aren’t OPINIONS vulnerable like we are

The Miscellany News

Page 2

October 17, 2019

Editor-in-Chief Mack Liederman

Senior Editors

Frankie Knuckles Jessica Moss

Contributing Editors Isabel Braham Leah Cates Sasha Gopalakrishnan

News Aena Khan Olivia Watson Features Duncan Aronson Opinions Jonas Trostle Arts Abby Tarwater Sports Teddy Chmyz Design Lilly Tipton Copy Lucy Leonard Social Media Natalie Bober Photo Yvette Hu Managing Robert Pinataro Online Mohamad Safadieh Emerita Laurel Hennen Vigil Assistant Arts Dean Kopitsky Taylor Stewart Assistant Humor Francisco Andrade Assistant News Tiana Headley Reporters Delila Ames Jonah Frere-Holmes Columnists Alex Barnard Abram Gregory Copy Jacqueline Gill Amanda Herring Phoebe Jacoby Caitlin Patterson Tiffany Trumble Crossword Frank

“The walk from my apartment to a bridge near Trinity College. It’d be a nicer view if the walk weren’t 40 minutes long,” writes Isabella Migani ’21, who is spending her fall semester studying at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. She’s made the most of her time so far by exploring the local pub scene, collecting mushrooms and visiting quaint cities like Waterford, pictured above.

17

October

Thursday

18

October

Friday

How We Gather: The Vassar Sukkah Project

Field Hockey vs. William Smith University

8:00 a.m (Every morning) | Library Lawn | Religious and Spiritual Life Office

4:00 p.m. | Prentiss Fields | Athletics

Where Lines Are Drawn

Soccer (M) vs. St Lawrence University

6:00 p.m. | BH 73 Auditorium | Lifelong Learning Institute

4:00 p.m. | Prentiss Fields | Athletics

[Buddhist Sangha] Evening Sit 8:30 p.m. | Library Quiet Room | Religious and Spiritual Life Office

19

October

Saturday

Students of Sobriety Group 9:30 a.m. | RH 211 | AA Poughkeepsie

Free Public Walking Tours of Vassar College

20

October

Sunday

Rugby (M) vs. SUNY Maritime 1:00 p.m. | Vassar Farm | Athletics

10:00 a.m. | Main Circle | Communications

Soccer (M) vs. Clarkson University 2:00 p.m. | Prentiss Fields | Athletics

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

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. The staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.

October 17, 2019

NEWS

Page 3

Students feel peak anxiety about safety after double theft THEFTS continued

from page 1 She noticed two men traipsing around but assumed they were students. About an hour later, when her laptop died, she moved to a different set of cubicles equipped with computers. While she was moving, she placed the laptop in a bag for safekeeping.

When asked about how she first came into contact with the thieves, Potts narrated: “Less than 10 minutes later, one of the two men, who honestly did not look not that much older than we are, came up to me and asked for directions to the bathroom. He told me that him and his friend got lost, and I assumed one was a prospective student. I was

still in my seat and tried to gesture to its location.” The man thanked her and walked away, only to feign confusion and say he couldn’t find the bathroom. “He asked if I minded helping him, which I honestly didn’t. I got up and pointed where to turn down the hallway.

The man made small talk with me, and when I walked back I immediately noticed what had happened. I started running upstairs, through the lobby, to the front door. I looked out and realized no one was there.” Footage from campus police would later confirm that one of the men, both of whom are not connected to Vassar, was complicit in the previous week’s theft as well.

Courtesy of mebrett via Flickr

Thompson Memorial Library, a central study location on campus, was recently the site where two backpacks—and all of their contents—were stolen within the span of a week.

Immediately following the incident, the library front desk called campus security.

Eventually, an officer came to help Potts finalize a report of the incident. “Apparently, one of the men walked out carrying my bag as his own, they had this much on camera.

The other remarked to the front desk as he left about how the bathroom was difficult to find. I was shaking, almost crying. My dog had just died that morning.” Although Potts could not give an exact time, she estimated that a member of the Poughkeepsie Police Department arrived to finalize a report roughly two hours after the theft.

Following in suit with Betancourt’s actions, Potts contacted the administration and noted that President Bradley responded with what Potts described as care and concern over what happened. The next day, Potts and President Bradley met with Dean of the College Carlos Alamo-Pastrana and Safety and Security Director Arlene Sabo.

Although the two recent victims serve as a rare example of specific individuals targeting several students within such a short span of time, they are by no means the only students to experience robbery at Vassar. Dozens of stories float around campus each year regarding robberies of laptops and books. Lucy Brewster ’22 recounted how after dinner while doing work in the Deece, her charger was randomly taken when she stepped away.

Another item at risk of theft are bicycles, with certain motivated individuals even going to lengths such as cutting through locks.

Eric Murphy ’22 found the remnants of a broken locks when his bike was one of several taken from the Noyes basement: “It happened over winter break. I left it locked to

the bike rack in Noyes’ basement instead of my dorm because students stay in the rooms during that time. I didn’t bring it home with me because I didn’t have room in my car, and I thought it would be safe locked to the bike rack...the worst part is that you need an ID to get into Noyes. It’s a bunch of fucking bullshit.”

Potts contends that her main frustration related to the lack of notification that the first student’s possessions had been stolen the previous week: “I am so stressed and I normally keep my stuff with me all the time, but now these fears are reaching a peak!” She described the lack of timely information as frustrating and disappointing, elaborating, “Personally, if I had gotten an email the earlier week, I either would not have gone to the library or been more cautious.” Murphy stated that “I reported it to campus Safety and Security and [they] looked at where my bike had been and they made a report, but it didn’t bring my bike back.”

Sabo sent out an email on Oct. 11, titled “[Students] Crime Alert,” alerting students of the thefts, providing information about “two individuals who…created a ruse to distract the owner of the laptop.” These students lost not only valuables, but also a larger sense of security while at Vassar. Still, on a campus considered community-oriented and supportive, students can take some comfort in the fact that there are resources available to help them after the fact. There are limits to what campus Safety and Security can do to create sentiments reflective of the department’s namesake. Ultimately, Vassar students carry on with daily life, with or without their laptop.

Conference empowers immigrant youth through healing in two sessions. In the first block, “Black Immigrants in the US” focused on the experiences of Black immigrants, particularly Afro-Caribbean immigrants. Assistant Professor of Education Kimberly Williams Brown, a native of Jamaica, led the session by drawing from her dissertation, which partly addressed how Afro-Caribbean immigrants have differing conceptions of race from African-Americans. She explained that Afro-Caribbeans come from majority-Black countries where racial inferiority does not exist to the extent it does in the United States. “When they come to the U.S., they think that racism doesn’t affect them,” she elaborated.

The workshops “Undocumented Healing” and “Overcoming” centered the undocumented immigrant family experience. One attendee recounted the day they said goodnight to an uncle, not knowing their uncle would be deported the very next day. Another expressed the pain of writing essays about an ICE officer pointing a rifle at their mother’s head during a 3 a.m. raid. “Imagine me writing this down several times to achieve a scholarship,” they shared. “We constantly have to live in a state of reliving our traumas.”

Ivette Pineda, who works at the undocumented youth resources organization ADELANTE Student Voices and led the “Undocumented Healing” workshop, highlighted that undocumented students are at high risk of developing mental illnesses due to their past traumas. Many resort to substance abuse to cope with their stress.

She also recognized that the process of institutional recognition forces students to exploit their trauma to obtain material resources (such as scholarships), but offers limited resources for students to process

this trauma. That is where healing begins.

“You have to start processing what happened to you,” she urged. “Healing is an act of resistance in that you’ve demonstrated that you’ll come out on the other side.”

But before immigrants, specifically those who hail from Meso and Latin America, immigrate to the United States, Spanish colonialism’s corruption of racial identity and cultural traditions creates identity crises.

Temachtiani—or teacher—of the Toltekatl Sciences Akaxe Yotzin believes that many people who come from Mexico already feel a sense of worthlessness in their national identity. “When families migrate here to the U.S., they already have this sense of invisibility,” he explained. “They already come from

a place that didn’t recognize them—a place that told them, ‘You’re a Mestizo [mixed].’”

Yotzin elaborated that it is vital for the descendants of the colonized to recognize the indigenous identity present within them.

But Campion urges these descendants to go further: Learn and implement the teachings of the ancestors in their everyday lives. To her, this is the ultimate form of healing.

“Through education, studying, and embodying values and using the tools of human development used by our ancestral nations, we can free ourselves of the burden of our cultural amnesia,” Campion proclaimed.

“We can heal the effects of historical trauma.

We can release the burden of enslavement and oppression.”

Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News

CONFERENCE continued from page 1 ucated in Mexico City, was deprived of this history for most of her formative years. She now spends her life educating others on indigenous peoples’ teachings and ways of life.

On Saturday, Oct. 12 in Rockefeller 200, she addressed an audience of immigrant youth and their friends and families at the 2nd Annual Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference. As the keynote speaker, her speech focused on how the fruits of colonialism have manifested today.

“Historical trauma, as it is known, took the form of illness, poverty, malnutrition, discommunity, violence, laws of land and resources and unequal access to education,” she explained. “The healing of these ills is long overdue.”

With the current state of U.S. immigration reform and the increased visibility and threat of xenophobia, immigrant communities live with their own modern-day traumas. President Donald Trump ordered a series of raids in July—called Operation Border Resolve— that targeted roughly 2,000 people in more than a dozen cities. All had final deportation orders but did not report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers (The New York Times, “More Than 2,000 Migrants Were Targeted in Raids. 35 Were Arrested.,” 08.23.2019).

In this hostile climate, the theme of this year’s conference, “Healing & Liberation: Building Self-Healing Communities,” centered around how immigrants and their loved ones can heal as a form of liberation.

“This conference is an act of resistance,” Assistant Professor of Education Jaime Del Razo, part of the conference’s planning committee, claimed. “We unapologetically claim our right to exist.”

The conference consisted of workshops

The Immigrant Youth Empowerment Conference presented workshops on mental health, identity and liberation. Above, keynote speaker Anita Montero Campion demonstrates the archer’s stance metaphor: using tension from the colonial past to move forward.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

NEWS

Page 4

October 17, 2019

Potential loss of OPT threatens international students

Po

up

l Roun a c i d lit Sara Lawler

[CW: The following paragraph discusses a shooting.]

In Our Headlines...

The City of Sacramento reached a $2.4 million settlement with the family of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man who was shot by Sacramento police seven times on March 18, 2018. After two police officers, Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet, mistook Clark’s cell phone for a gun, they shot him in his grandparents’ backyard. The officers faced no legal consequences and are still employed by the City of Sacramento. In April 2018, a month after Clark’s death, the City of Sacramento passed an emergency order requiring police officers to wear body cameras and audio recorders at all times. Clark’s family launched the $20 million wrongful-death lawsuit against both the City of Sacramento and the two officers involved. The settlement money, which totals $1.8 million after legal fees, will go to Clark’s two sons, currently two and five years old, once they each turn 22. The Sacramento Police Department and the two officers involved declined to comment (The New York Times, “Stephon Clark’s Sons Reach $2.4 Million Settlement Over Police Killing,” 10.10.19).

to go away, there would be many thousands more applicants for those same 65,000 spots.”

However, even with the OPT program still intact, the Trump administration’s view on immigration has created a hostile environment for international students hoping to live in the United States after graduation. “The administration has also undertaken unofficial measures to curb immigration…Another measure directly affecting our OPT applicants is that the processing time for this benefit, which up until this spring was one to three months, is now three to five months” said Meade.

Meade continued, “The direct impact of

that is that some students simply give up and go home.”

Vassar graduate and international student from China, Letian Yu ’19, explained that she was one of the lucky students who received her visa card in time to work in the OPT program. She currently works for Edgeworth Economics, an economic consulting firm.

Yu mentioned how the job search process is becoming more difficult for international students. “Because of these restrictions and the money the companies have to pay to sponsor the students, fewer and fewer companies are willing to sponsor international students...If the govern-

The Trump administration has called to eliminate the Optional Pratical Training (OPT) program, which allows international students to work in the United States postgraduation. Even with recent threats, some believe that OPT will not be fully eliminated

ment makes the process more complicated, [companies] will be less likely to hire people.” said Yu. Teng elaborated on how many international students want to work in the United States after graduation because of its large economy and fertile ground for growing industry.

“The U.S. is such a big economy in the world, and it would be beneficial to learn how people do things in the United States...

Working in the U.S. would definitely add to our resumes.”

While tensions over the program remain high, Teng expressed that she feels the OPT program will not likely be completely eliminated, because international students bring talents that U.S. companies want.

“It doesn’t make sense to not give international students a chance to work here, because a lot of them are really talented and a lot of companies would want them to be in their firm,” said Teng.

Teng continued, “Also, if students are not allowed to work here, I think there will be a decrease in international students coming to the United States to study, because a lot of them have the goal to work here in mind.”

Although the end of the program would put international students in jeopardy, Yu is doubtful that Trump’s hostility will lead to any actual changes. This lawsuit has caused controversy in the past. “They’re saying the same thing every year,” said Yu. She noted her doubts that the program would change, given the rapid approach of the next election.

Regardless, threatening the program is, in her words, “against the spirit of the United States.”

On Friday, Oct. 10, Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed a bill into law ending the use of private, for-profit prisons and detention centers in California.

The law prevents the California Department of Corrections from renewing contracts with private companies to run state prisons. Notably, the department of corrections may enter new contracts with privately owned companies if public centers become overcrowded. California’s three privately run prisons will close in four years when their contracts expire.

Furthermore, four privately owned ICE detention centers, housing over 4,000 inmates, will be forcibly closed by the state. ICE says the 4,000 detainees will be transferred to detention centers outside the state, as has been done in other states such as New York, Illinois and Nevada that have adopted similar bans. Governor Newsom entered office in January 2019 with the goal of abolishing private prisons due to their contribution to mass incarceration (Reuters, “California bans private prisons and immigration detention centers,” 10.11.19).

On Tuesday, Oct. 8, the White House announced that it will not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry via a letter to those leading the inquiry. White House officials stated, “the transparent rush to judgement, lack of democratically accountable authorization and violation of basic rights in the current proceedings make clear the illegitimate, partisan purpose of this purported ‘impeachment inquiry.’” Just before releasing this letter, the White House blocked the interview of Gordon D. Scondland, the U.S. Ambassador to the EU. However, Scondland says he will comply with a subpoena from the

World Cup games, scheduled outside Tokyo, have been canceled. All flights in and out of Tokyo’s two airports were canceled along with the vast majority of trains and subway services. Nearly all stores closed by noon on Saturday, including supermarkets, the shelves of which had been left bare by citizens desperate to make it through the storm (The Washington Post, “19 Dead, 16 missing in Japan after Typhoon Hagibis drenches Tokyo,” 10.13.19).

Political turmoil has erupted across Latin America. Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra has dissolved Congress, Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado faces allegations that he took bribes from drug lords, demonstrations in Haiti and Ecuador are reaching critical levels of tension and Venezuela continues to be embroiled in political controversy. Three common threads connect these political crises; the economy has stalled recently, democratic institutions are not stable and much of the public is no longer tolerant of corruption. The Venezuelan economy has shrunk by half since 2013 as a result of falling oil prices.

This has caused more than half of the population to flee the country. Economic difficulties in Peru have led to the collapse of the party system, in response to which President Martin Vizcarra has dissolved Congress. These compounding problems have led to a disillusioned body of citizens throughout the region. People are increasingly taking to the streets to protest their governments and the economic crises they face. The result is a large collection of governments embroiled in controversy and turbulence (The Washington Post, “Why Political Turmoil is Erupting Across Latin America,” 10.10.19).

Courtesy of International Services

OPT continued from page 1 national Services at Vassar Andrew Meade shared via email correspondence, “To stay in the United States after graduation, international students must either use OPT, go right into graduate/law/medical school, or change their visa to another status. Many students (international or domestic) prefer not to go right into grad school, and some grad schools actually expect to see some practical experience on a student’s portfolio.” Ultimately, international students who don’t want to go to graduate school or can’t change their status would be unable to stay in the United States.

The majority of international students at Vassar use the OPT program to work after graduation if they don’t plan to go straight to graduate school. According to Meade, as of last summer, 25 Vassar graduates worked for an OPT program and seven applied or were working on a STEM OPT. He expects the number of students applying for the STEM OPT will rise as more and more students become interested in STEM employment.

Economics major Ivy Teng ’21, an international student from China, explained how the majority of international students at Vassar take advantage of the OPT program.

“The default is you do it,” said Teng.

Meade emphasized that the program is already especially competitive, with the amount of applicants exceeding the available spots. “The problem with these visas currently is that 65,000 are issued for which there are roughly 200,000 applicants, so even if you are successful at applying for the visa there is still only a one in three chance you will get it. Were OPT

House of Representatives (The New York Times, “What Happened in the Trump Impeachment Inquiry This Week,” 10.12.19).

Around the World...

Turkey’s assault on Syria has intensified, with air and artillery strikes bombarding northeast Syria on Friday, Oct. 11. Turkey began its offensive after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke on the phone with President Trump, who agreed to remove U.S. troops from Syria, opening a path for Turkish invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has supported Trump’s decision, explaining that Trump’s motives were to move U.S. soldiers to a safer region. The United Nations has reported that 100,000 people have fled their homes in Syria in response to Turkish attacks. Turkey’s aim in these attacks is to create a safe area within Syria in order to resettle the millions of Syrian refugees that it currently hosts. Erdogan has stated that if the European Union does not back his military moves, he will send the refugees to Europe. Sanctions against Turkey will be discussed at the upcoming EU summit (Reuters, “Turkey intensifies Syria campaign as Islamic State strikes Kurds.,” 10.11.19).

On Saturday, Oct. 12, Tokyo was hit by a typhoon. The storm reached winds up to 90 mph, with gusts reaching 120 mph. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a level five warning for rainfall, and warned of potential landslides and floods.

The JMA urged citizens to take life-saving measures and evacuate. The storm has left 19 dead and 16 missing. Beyond these physical dangers, the city has been forced to halt all scheduled activities. Two Rugby

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

October 17, 2019

ARTS

Page 5

LaBier merges cultural iconography, modern mundanity Taylor Stewart

from popular or commercial culture. You’ve described your figures as “readymades,” or lumnus Peter LaBier ’03 has described borrowing from our material culture. What his work as assemblage, as “a body of draws you towards these motifs? flotsam and jetsam,” “the disjointed rePeter LaBier: One image in particular, fuse of our material culture.” Even his sin“The Embrace,” comes from a basketball gle-medium paintings give the illusion of game. The original is a photograph; it’s of a collage and multiple strata. fight that broke out between Larry Bird and After studying studio art at Vassar and CoDoctor J in the 1980s. The image looks really lumbia, LaBier continued to merge the timecharged to me—I think I saw it in the sumless and timely, the mundane and the legendmer of 2016, the summer of that election, and ary, in his visual art. His art thrums with life, it felt like the beginning of this more fraught featuring human anatomy as well as religious time we’re still living in. I think it felt like that and cultural iconography—all charged imimage, two people just fighting, also represented a lot more.

I’m interested in taking or working these image types that aren’t necessarily things that I constructed. A thing that happened in the world, a photograph—using that as a source, because even when I’m working more inwardly I’m always of the world; I’m always looking to my surroundings.

M: In picking and choosing your subject matter from your observations, do you always seek figures that have political or present significance?

PL: Yes, I always look to the now, but I also look at things that aren’t from now now. I’m interested in the ways that things shift over time. I’ve also done a lot of images dealing with Jesus—weirdly, because I’m not a Christian, but it’s such a big part of the culture of visual art that maybe that’s another one [like the basketball game] where, obviously, it has all this meaning in the world and personal meaning to a lot of people.

The above image, “The Embrace,” is artist Peter LaBier ’03’s rendition of a photograph M: You also seem to like anatomy: breasts, depicting a fight between Larry Bird and Doctor J. He mused, “I’m interested in how penises, dismembered hands. When you deloaded certain images are because of all the cultural and personal stuff we read in them.” pict humans or parts of humans, do you see Assistant Arts Editor

A

ages, he hopes, loaded with meaning for the viewer and society. He also went on to stage dance performances and start the band Psychobuildings, a project founded on the sights and sounds of dance. Through performance art and Psychobuildings, the characteristic liveliness of canvas and paper found a home in choreography and music.

The Miscellany News talked to LaBier about source images, Dutch painters and his musical career. Responses were slightly edited for length, style and clarity.

The Miscellany News: I noticed that a lot of your work features images borrowed

Courtesy of Peter LaBier

them as objects, comprising a still life, or are you making portraits or likenesses?

PL: I always think about the body. I feel like a painting almost is an extension of the body.

I want to see that again, or it’s an attempt to see myself or others. But even if it’s disjointed, I don’t think of it as just stuff. I think of it as more charged, almost animated—the way we are. I think most things I do, even when they’re not bodies, can be thought of in those terms, animated or charged with life.

M: Some of your inspirations include memento mori paintings by the Dutch masters.

What appeals to you so much about these still life images?

PL: I sometimes still draw from observations like that, but less frequently. I think the first one I did was a painting of this gremlin doll. This is a tradition that we still live with, because everyone knows what a still life is.

It’s antiquated in a way but then it’s very timeless. I’m always interested in something that is timeless but still relevant, even if its meaning shifts. I was approaching mundane, everyday things with that attention for the passing moment when I did those paintings.

M: What is Psychobuildings?

PL: I have this band called Psychobuildings. I started focusing on percussion and bass first, and I wanted to dance. At Vassar, I didn’t really like to dance. I would dance more privately, I was very shy about that. I’m such a different person because of this band.

I’ve taught myself to dance in a way that I’m comfortable with … I’ve always kept my [visual] art separate, but more and more the two have been merging.

A full version of this Q&A is available at miscellanynews.org.

‘Shape of Light’ lecture celebrates photography’s evolution PHOTOGRAPHY continued

the industry, from a field dominated by white males to one inclusive of different communities. Photography is progressing beyond social boundaries of gender, race and sexuality, as the photographers renegotiated the boundaries in their given reality with the camera in their hand. Squiers offered examples of pioneering artists who told different stories with their lenses. Through captured reality, they fostered and envisioned change in the fabric of our own reality.

However, this progression was interrupted with the emergence of the Instagram age. The future of photography now becomes a question with which many artists are grappling, including Squiers herself. With this sudden boost of accessibility to images, not to mention constant floods of algorithmic content, comes receptive aesthetic fatigue. But at the same time, there is also a tendency to degrade the validity of Instagram photography, based on the assumption that there is “real” and “pretend” photography. One has to account for the democratizing aspect that the digital age has delivered to our fingertips.

But this democratization of photographic authorship and viewership does trouble how the average viewer sees, as well as the “professional” community—museums, publications and photographers. Some might believe the seriousness has disintegrated. All accessible becomes trivial. The overwhelming digital accessibility robs photography of its strenuously acquired “aura” of its own. Termed by Walter Benjamin originally for painting, “aura” is the “presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. ” All that was once at stake for the work of

art with the emergence of photography in “Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is now at stake for traditional photography—only now it is in the age of digital reproduction.

The materiality, the process, the patience, the attentiveness, the meanings, the originality, the presence in the given time and place constitute a photograph in all its former glory—all of that is bypassed in the digital age. The immediacy of visual sensation from digital platforms leaves the former order of photography in the dark shadows.

Maybe it is time for us to retrace our

steps to the beginning, and return to the physical medium itself—a once crowned, or perhaps contested wonder for capturing the fleeting, which now finds its place of prominence fleeting. Imagine how much we would miss, if Parks’ “Gang Member with Brick” only exists in the space of Instagram, overlooked in the sea of promoted content, confined in the 1080x x 1080x square, browsed through in a hurry and never revisited.

So go to the Loeb and see for yourself (and try not to post it on the ’gram, the frames are too reflective).

Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News

from page 1 novation and change. Photographs ranged from the quintessential Walker Evans’ “Alabama Tenant Farmer’s Wife (1936),” to Eleanor Antin’s Californian experimentalist undertaking of “100 boots on the Ferry (100 Boots go East) (1971),” to the affective and unavoidably political work brought by Gordon Parks “Gang Member with Brick (1944),” demonstrating the capacity of the medium to both communicate and obscure. It is thus important to reflect when looking at a photograph; in the words of Squiers, “We have the tendency to think we know what we are seeing, but rather we are really only seeing what we already know...we need to keep trying to understand photographs.”

“Gang Member with Brick” is on display in the exhibition, but its context remains unknown to viewers. A young man in a hat is pictured kneeling down close to the ground, right arm resting on the scattered tiles, left hand gripping a brick. The stark contrast of light and shadow contours the tone, but does not conceal the overt violence inherent to the image. The subject appears too vulnerable to be a part of a gang. He is on his knees. The light shines on his face and leaks out of his eyes, hinting a fatigued sign of hope. Yet this is only my interpretation: What we know for sure is that the pictured young man had just gone to the mortuary to see his dead friend, where a rival gang attacked. He had to run for his life. His posture is one of defense.

The “Canon” in the title of the lecture centers the photographer as the focal point of photographic history. The “expansion of the canon,” in Squiers’ terms, attends to the transforming structure of

For Guest Columnist Hindley Wang, the current “Shape of Light” exhibit at the Loeb prompted questions about the role of professional photography in the age of Instagram.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ARTS

Page 6

October 17, 2019

Keltie Ferris enchants with idiosyncratic abstractions Kelly Vinett

Guest Reporter

B

Abby Tarwater/The Miscellany News

earsville-based artist Keltie Ferris encourages conversations that raise questions about her work and her process, saying, “a little derailing is okay.” Ferris was invited to campus Monday, Oct. 7, as part of the Claflin Lecture Series. When she arrived, she invited us to lose ourselves in her abstractions, an adventure that require our minds to fill themselves with shapes and thick layers of color. Her storytelling is similar to the art itself: unconventional, beautiful, purposeful puzzles that gradually fit together.

Ferris compares her work to a harmony that shifts into a sense of choppiness. Her latest work feels sonic, with the fullness of multiple dimensions, along with horizontal and vertical erasures that disrupt these effects. Lately, Ferris has been evoking Mondrian-esque work, alluding to the fields of reds, yellows and blues separated by a bold, black line found in his abstractions.

Ferris’ new paintings integrate shapes popping out of the canvas using the ageold practice of impasto (“to paste”).

They’re taking on a three-dimensional quality that bends toward sculptural, further defying categorization. To me, they resemble tiles on my bathroom wall, but this doesn’t diminish or stylize the work whatsoever. It reminds me of an object I’m familiar with—but the viewer next to me could have a totally different interpretation of the faux-ceramic squares. Understanding Ferris’ art is a matter of seeing and unseeing.

Projecting one of her near-elephantine works, Ferris zoomed into the picture of her painting to the point that we could better see the astounding detail of soulful, sometimes minute, marks on a towering canvas. “It looks like I’m trying to be Rembrandt,” she joked, comparing the master painter’s skills with her own. Examining Keltis’ work up close provides the purest window to view the immense care involved in the art-making, thus allowing viewers to be transported, at least for a minute, inside the artist’s saturated universe.

Part of Ferris’ brave, compositional intent shines with her ability to push forward and pull back pieces of space. My eyes go in and out, up and around the canvas. I don’t know whether I’m looking at one image or a thousand little ones, overlapping each other, pushing through a crowd as hectic as the ones at your local mall’s Black Friday sale. But the viewer could interpret her work as something much smaller than that, like a computer chip excavated from its hardware skeleton. Although we are all looking at the same work, our individual processes of seeing it, sitting with it and feeling with it are all unique.

Ferris noted that a critic once called one of her works a cityscape seen from a birdseye view, instead of the typical skyline perspective. But the artist who created the painting in question, who developed the idea in her head before translating it onto canvas, didn’t imagine the glowing yellow as dots of skyscrapers at all. It seems like comparing Keltis’ work to physical, relatable constructions misses the point. Yet, she invites these varied interpretations

Abstract painter Keltie Ferris spoke at Vassar on Oct. 7 as part of the Claflin Lecture Series. Like her art, her storytelling was unconventional, yet beautiful and purposeful. and doesn’t try to control them.

Ferris also spoke about the joy of painting on canvas; it’s like it’s a religion that loves you back. But this left me wondering whether she would ever take her work out of the gallery, move away from the comfort of blank slate and into the public domain. Although her work is rightfully categorized as fine art, I’m wondering if this distinction should even exist. Ferris’ work taps into realms of street art that reject the stifling space of the auction, but doesn’t fully embrace these realms as ones in which her own art and legacy could rest.

I, for one, certainly wouldn’t complain if Ferris painted one of her abstract worlds against the bricks, sidewalks, sky and birds outside my window.

To me, Ferris’ art feels like a massive doodle given enough blood supply to run, swirl and jump at color’s demand. She could speak about the process of her abstractions that highlight the beauty of spray paint all night, but she instead encouraged viewers to go check out a new panting she loaned to Vassar’s very own Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. So new, in fact, that it hadn’t yet fully dried.

Angel Olson soars to dazzling heights on ‘All Mirrors’ Emma Bauchner Guest Columnist

A

ngel Olsen has never been one to stick to a formula. From the quiet folk of “Strange Cacti,” to the confessional alt-country of “Halfway Home,” to the energized Lo-fi indie rock of “Burn Your Fire for No Witness,” to the almost anthemic rock songs of “My Woman,” each of her albums has developed a unique artistic palette and pushed her sound to new heights. Her latest project, “All Mirrors,” is no exception. Complete with a 12-piece string section, her expansive new music often has the sheen of finished pop songs, but not without sacrificing anything that makes them distinctly Angel Olsen.

In fact, Olsen’s music has always contained a sort of epic drama that has shone through in all of its various sonic incarnations. Take one of her earliest tracks: “Creator, Destroyer,” off of the album “Strange Cacti,” originally released on cassette nearly 10 years ago.

On it, Olsen only accompanies herself with hushed acoustic guitar: “And I never seem to notice/It’s too late before I know that all/The love inside has been empty/The world we made has been ending/And like a ghost that hangs around and won’t forgive its earthly sins/I’ve carried on this love for you/It’s how my body lives.” Paired with Olsen’s swooning, uniquely expressive vocals, it’s an utterly heart-wrenching moment, so deeply felt despite the sparse, Lo-fi production.

Courtesy of Kenny Sun

Folk artist Angel Olsen released her fourth studio album, “All Mirrors,” on Oct. 4. The record has garnered acclaim from various music critics, including Guest Columnist Emma Bauchner, who calls it “the most fully realized version of her music imaginable.”

With “All Mirrors,” Olsen has channeled the same sweeping drama of her early discography through all the elements of her sound, harmoniously matching content with form. In many ways, it’s the most fully realized version of her music imaginable.

Album opener “Lark” is a stunning example. In the song’s first few seconds, a cacophonous yet subtle chorus of strings gently emerges, littered with melodious harmonics.

The strings are then partially obscured by quiet, steady guitar chords, as Olsen begins to sing a verse that recalls her earlier music: “To forget you is too hard, there’s still so much left to recover/If only we could start again, pretending we don’t know each other.” With each line she murmurs, the instrumentation continues to build until exploding into the climactic hook, complete with bass, percussion and (of course) plenty of strings: “Hiding out inside my head, it’s me again, it’s no surprise I’m on my own now/Every time I turn to you I see the past, it’s all that lasts and all I know how.” As Olsen belts and almost screams these lines, reaching an octave above her opening register, it’s hard to avoid being swept off your feet by the majestic combination of vocals, lyrics and instrumentation.

What eventually became the soaring, grandiose arrangements of “All Mirrors” started as something much more subdued. Following the immense success of Olsen’s previous album, 2017’s “My Woman,” exhaustion from newfound fame and constant touring left Olsen feeling like she had lost a bit of herself.

Seeking relief, she revisited older material, experimented with solo performances and eventually recorded new music in remote Anacortes, Washington. The Anacortes sessions purportedly recall the aesthetics of her earlier music: stripped down and deeply personal. Olsen was satisfied with these record-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ings, but also opted to record a more fleshedout version of the album with a number of collaborators; the two were initially intended to be released side-by-side.

However, the second version of the album proved to be a larger project than expected: “It was impossible for me to deny how powerful and surprising the songs had become,” stated Olsen in a press release. “The truth is that I may have never allowed this much sonic change in the first place had I not already made an account of the same songs in their purest form” (“Angel Olsen Drops Dark New Song, ‘All Mirrors,’” Variety, 07.30.2019). Ultimately, Olsen decided to release these songs in their fullest form first; the Anacortes version will be released sometime next year.

It will be fascinating to hear these songs as they were originally written and recorded.

But Olsen is right: The expanded version of “All Mirrors” more than stands on its own.

Along with “Lark,” other highlights include “New Love Cassette,” a song about giving yourself fully to love with a driving, seductive bassline; “Spring,” a wistful reflection on getting older; and “Summer,” a dance-ready track about looking ahead after bad times.

Olsen stays true to her penchant for heartbreaking album closers with the sweepingly cinematic “Chance.” The rich arrangements swoon with Olsen’s vocals as she takes stock of her present: “I’m leaving once again/Making my own plans/I’m not looking for the answer/Or anything that lasts/I just want to see some beauty/Try and understand.” Olsen does a lot of reflecting on “All Mirrors,” but the message she ends with is one of living in the moment: “It’s hard to say forever love/Forever’s just so far/Why don’t you say you’re with me now/With all of your heart?”

It’s a beautifully poignant way to end what may be her best album yet.

October 17, 2019

Campus Canvas

ARTS A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

Page 7 submit to misc@vassar.edu

Ayden Gann Physics Major Class of 2021

Excuse me, What is your favorite Halloween movie?

“The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

— Tabatha Clevenger ’23

“Die Hard.”

— Itamar Ben-Parath ’21

“Halloweentown High.”

— Jordan Pollack ’20

“Charlie Brown Halloween Special.”

— Sarah Gillooly ’22

“Hocus Pocus.”

— Chris Barajas ’22

“Scream.”

— Rivers Liu ’22

Francisco Andrade, Humor & Satire Clara Pitt, Photography

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

FEATURES

Page 8

Quite Frankly

Debater finds low-key team a healthier one Rohan Dutta

Frankie Knuckles

Senior Editor Quality Advice-Giver

Hey Frankie, I regret almost every decision I have ever made, which makes it hard to make decisions. How can I make better choices so I can stop having FOMO? Sincerely, FOMO Fiend Dear Fiend,

Q

uite frankly, decisions are hard for pretty much everyone, but particularly for people whose brains constantly remind them of the ramifications of every minute choice. Maybe I’m projecting my own decision-making mindset here, but that sounds like you, too.

You’re probably not going to love my advice at first, but I implore you to give it a shot.

I bust my FOMO by making myself realize just how unavoidable it is—this is a part of a subset of anxiety coping mechanisms that I like to call brain tricking devices (BTDs). While anxiety seldom responds to logic, sometimes BTDs let you work around logical blocks. For my own FOMO, I use the following BTD: No matter what choice I make, I get FOMO. Thus, when making a decision, the possibility of getting FOMO need not enter into the decision. FOMO will happen regardless, so it’s better to evaluate my choices without thinking about the FOMO possibility at all.

So the solution doesn’t revolve around stopping your FOMO, but rather how you can remind your brain that no one course of action is more or less likely than any other to incite FOMO. If you stop thinking about your FOMO so much, your decisions will get better because you won’t be bogged down by the same consequential calculus. My suggestion to embrace your FOMO might seem counterintuitive, but there’s something to be said for recognizing that a particular kind of anxiety is unavoidable. For me, at least, that constancy (sometimes) allows the anxiety to fade into the background of my awareness.

In a 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College now co-opted by philosophy bros the world over, David Foster Wallace drew an analogy that we can coopt for our own purposes here, the crux of which is the following: “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” (“This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life,” 2009).

Wallace pointed out that we overlook prominent features of the world in which we spend our lives, but you can use that shortsightedness for your own gain.

Make FOMO part of your water, so you don’t have to devote so much of your brain space to it. Maybe you can use that brain space to notice the water Wallace wants us to think about, but maybe that’s going too far.

Best wishes, Frankie P.S. Be well, friend.

October 17, 2019

Guest Columnist

F

ormal debate, at least at the collegiate level, was something I had always assumed would be endlessly competitive, time-consuming, over-structured and just generally harsh. Understandably, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to participating in Vassar Debate, but I decided to hope for the best and give it a try. After a month and a half of biweekly debate meetings and one tournament, I can confidently say that Vassar Debate is entirely unlike what I had assumed.

When I started attending debate practices, I quickly discovered that Vassar’s generally casual attitude also permeates the debate team. The team’s budget is relatively low compared to others, the team has no faculty coach, and the general focus is on debating for its own sake and to enjoy improving, rather than to eke out as many points as possible.

It has unlimited spots and accepts beginners In short, Vassar Debate is chill. Throughout practices, I noticed its nature, but didn’t fully grasp its importance until I attended my first tournament with the Vassar team.

I missed the first tournament of the year, so this October’s North American University Debate Championship (NAUDC) was my first collegiate debate competition. We arrived in the mid-afternoon, just in time to sign in and hear all the introductions. Hundreds of students sat in teams of two in a fairly large auditorium, all simultaneously tired by their journeys and energetic for the convention. It was like the first day at summer camp or a new school, except that the short duration (one weekend) of the competition

meant nobody cared much to socialize past small talk. Merely minutes after laying out the general rules, the first topic was revealed, and the first debate began.

Debate requires many skills, but all of them are useless if you don’t know the rules of the relevant debate style. My team of two, a novice to the rules of college debate (me) and a novice to the rules of all debate (my teammate), didn’t have good odds against people who know it inside and out. We agreed we would try our best, but it would be okay if we didn’t do well. As predicted, we started with consistent 4s (the lowest possible score), but rose steadily to a 1 (the highest possible score) in our final debate. Through six rapid-fire rounds of fierce competition, we all learned an incredible amount, and developed significantly as debaters.

When we weren’t debating, the Vassar team swapped life stories en route to the competition, and spent half an hour trying in vain to figure out how to get into our Airbnb.

My teammate and I stayed up until 4 a.m. on the first night, knowing full well we’d have to wake up at 6:45 a.m., and we did better the second day than the first. When the debates were done, we didn’t dwell on them, and just focused on meeting people from other schools and getting to know each other.

The fact that makes all of the above strange is that formal debate, more often than not, is anything but relaxed. For many of the debaters I met at NAUDC, and know from before and debate can be unrelentingly stressful. Debaters will stay up late during tournaments like we did, but only ever to get some final preparation in. Some schools are

known to unofficially recruit prolific high school debaters to the school, and accept only experienced debaters. In the most extreme cases, schools will spend thousands of dollars to fly dozens of novice debaters across the country for tournaments. Hopefully, all these schools have healthy debate cultures, but I personally feel that if I had been shortlisted for the purpose of debate and had lots of school funds invested into my debating, I would feel a lot more pressure to succeed. Under all the pressure that’s placed on most debaters, they tend to chase victory so much that they lose the spark that makes all those hours of speeches and preparation worth it in the first place. Without that energy, that excitement, it’s all stuffy speeches and meaningless points, and the reason why so few people tend to be interested in debate becomes apparent.

Vassar’s debate club and its culture aren’t conventional, but that only serves to make its debate experience better. Amidst nonchalant shrugs and untarnished smiles, I heard a lot of jokes at the tournament from nearly everyone along the lines of “Call me Wendy’s, I got the 4 for 4!” (To reiterate, a 4 is the lowest possible score you can get). On my part, when I look back, I don’t remember losses or frustration. I remember trading jokes as we waited for results. I remember being introduced to Chipotle. I remember jokes in the van and devouring a family size Cheetos packet as we watched the sunset driving home. I look for a tournament, arduous and nerve-racking like any other, but instead I find a weekend road trip punctuated with friendly rounds of a sport I love.

‘Humans of’ series break down barriers Liliana Conroy

Guest Columnist

T

he captions that accompany the New Yorkers’ photos on the “Humans of New York” series have always intrigued me, and they have inspired many spin-offs, both large and small. The trend has now hit Vassar, as two students lead their off-shoots in the campus and the community.

The campus-oriented spotlight started organically in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. A first-year attending a coffeehouse event, the first of its kind, struck up a conversation with Dominic, a security guard at the Loeb. The conversation was short, but the student, who wishes to remain anonymous, was touched. “It was just enough to make me super curious about the rest of his life,” they said. “So I kind of decided from that point that I wanted to focus on people on campus who don’t get their stories told that often.” A few days later, they launched an Instagram account under the username humansofvassarcollege. The first post featured Dominic.

Around the same time, Miscellany News Assistant News Editor Tiana Headley ’22 was brainstorming ways for students to engage beyond the Vassar bubble with Poughkeepsie. She merged this desire with her work on The Miscellany News to create a recurring biweekly feature called “Humans of Poughkeepsie.” “It’s no secret that most people aren’t coming off this campus [to] meet someone face-to-face and actually get to know them,” she said. “They’re going for food, they’re going for shopping, they’re going for Community-Engaged Learning...

People really enjoy reading those stories and kind of getting a tiny essence [of] that person’s personhood,” Headley said.

In a joint conversation, both creators described how they go about capturing gen-

uine introspections and personalities. They stressed asking open-ended questions. For instance, Headley has asked interviewees to discuss their proudest accomplishment, a time when they felt scared and a person they admire. The original photographs demonstrate their subjects’ natural demeanor.

In contrast to the Humans of New York page, the interviewing processes here have been a little more premeditated. She worked off-campus for her first subject, Tree Arrington, and immediately thought of him for her first feature. “I just remember thinking, ‘This is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met,’” she reflected. “[Arrington is] profound with every other sentence he says, so that’s why I chose him to start off with.” Her second and most recent subject, Nadia Bennett, is her current hairstylist. “Despite my desire to have that happen, I don’t live in the city of Poughkeepsie, geographically,” she said. “I do find myself deliberately thinking, ‘Who do I have in my network of people? Who do I know who knows someone who’s interesting?’”

In practice, though, making these connections is harder than it should be. It’s easy to fall into a routine of interacting with the same people every day, and, conversely, not interacting with people whose paths don’t intersect with yours. In response, the Humans of Vassar creator wants to focus on creating a familiarity between themselves, their subjects, and anyone who does come across their posts. Although the page has had only three posts so far with limited viewership, I’ve recognized the subjects around campus, and I’ve appreciated the feeling of a distant but comforting familiarity, particularly as a first-year.

For Headley, on the other hand, the project’s goal isn’t to increase connectivity

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

within Vassar. Instead, she wants to begin breaking down the Vassar bubble. “[T]he way I pitched it was putting a human face on the city in which we reside,” she said.

“It’s no secret that [a number] of people on this campus see Poughkeepsie as this place of blighted buildings, crumbling infrastructure, Black and brown people who are...left to their vices with crime,” she said. Many Vassar students don’t interact with the Poughkeepsie community, and this, Headley thinks, is critical to the persistence of these stereotypes. There’s no easy solution to this problem, but Headley hopes that the exposure her feature series brings might be a small step toward dispelling these images. “I wouldn’t describe what I’m doing as giving people a voice because they already have a voice,” she explained, “but more so making that voice accessible to the Vassar campus.”

After I spoke to the creators of both “Humans Of” series in and around campus, I stopped by the Loeb to see if I could find Dominic, the subject of the first Humans of Vassar post. As soon as I walked in, I approached him amid a group of museum-goers to get a comment for this piece. We only spoke for a few minutes, but I could tell what compelled the Humans creator to interview him first. When I asked Dominic how he was doing, he told me, “Life is beautiful.” Then I asked him what he thought of the Instagram project. “I think it’s fascinating and can lead to a lot of different things,” he said. “I know that we sometimes have a really terrible superficiality toward one another...any step taken to go into greater depth and have more substance is always worthwhile.” This, I think, is the consensus between Humans of Poughkeepsie and Humans of Vassar: the desire to add depth to our interactions with other people.

October 17, 2019

FEATURES

Page 9

Alumni share law school realities, advise on applications Marc Chien

Guest Columnist

W

hen I decided to apply to law school almost a year ago at the beginning of my junior year, I was lost in figuring out what a personal statement was supposed to look like, how to prepare for the LSAT and even where to apply. I decided to learn about law school through interviewing various alumni and alumnae, who generously took the time to share their personal experiences navigating their law school applications and reactions to their respective schools. To those of you who are feeling directionless in the law school application process, like I was, or want to perfect their maps down to the degrees longitude and latitude, I’d like to extend what I’ve learned so far and return the help that I’ve received.

Berkeley Law and its student community is famous for its dedication to public service. Berkeley Law graduate Victoria Larson ’14 and second-year Kevin Cosgrove ’17 reaffirmed that reputation. “I haven’t actually encountered any of the negative stereotypes [elitist, cutthroat mentalities] about law school at Berkeley,” Cosgrove told me, laughing.“There are very strong norms about doing public service.” These values drew Larson to Berkeley. “I knew I wanted to do public interest work, and Berkeley allowed me to work basically full-time while getting a lot of valuable experience in the field,” Larson said. “Looking back, I don’t think I could have done law school anywhere else.”

Cosgrove and Larson concurred that diversity of opinion is alive and well, partly because of Dean Erwin Chemerinsky push-

ing a variety of speakers across the political spectrum and a culture of students debating ideas with mutual respect.

To conclude, Larson and Cosgrove offered their advice on law school applications. Cosgrove said, “For the personal statement, try to be concise. Remember that no one will penalize you for making the admissions officer read less.” Larson recommended taking time off before enrolling in law school. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do at Vassar, and originally wanted to go to film school as a geography and film major,” Tori admitted. “Taking two years off between Vassar and law school definitely made me more prepared and helped me figure out what I wanted to do in the future.”

At UPenn, Raymond Magsaysay ’17 expected a hypercompetitive arena, and instead found a cooperative community. “Here, it’s a common practice to send notes over class and help each other in the weeks before every exam,” Magsaysay stated. “Every week, my professors take a group of people for lunch or coffee, so I’ve already formed very close relationships in my classes.” Additionally, the administration also supports students; deans and administrators have open-door policies, and the financial aid office guided Magsaysay through the scholarship process.

Nonetheless, like Tori, Raymond emphasized the importance of taking time between college and law school: “Even with the ways Penn supports its students, 1L [first year of law school] is still very stressful, and I would highly recommend taking time off. Work experience helped prepare me for law school as I got experience in a 9 to 5 environment

and gained a lot of perspective on the real world. I’ve found that the most successful law school students are often paralegals, who have less of a learning adjustment when they enter.”

Kylan MacLeod ’19 decided to go directly to University of Texas at Austin School of Law after graduating from Vassar with a history major. One of the first questions I had for MacLeod was what the most difficult process of the application was for him. “I’d say that the most difficult part was the LSAT, which was an absolutely grueling process,” he replied. “Something that I didn’t realize at the time is that it’s important to take time off while studying, and not to try and cram prep tests.”

However, MacLeod felt that he had anticipated many of law school’s challenges and noted how his history major and discussion-based classes helped prepare him: “There’s definitely a lot of work during your first year at law school and you need to come in mentally prepared. That being said, I felt that the process of preparing for class was pretty similar to what I had to do in my history classes at Vassar. While at Vassar I had to figure out the different perspectives in a primary source, and in law school, classes are often about figuring out the correct angle from which to approach a case.”

Finally, MacLeod talked about what surprised him going into law school. “I didn’t find the stereotype of law school students being conservative to be true at all and found that there’s a large community of liberal and progressive people at my school,” MacLeod commented. “UT Law has a very friendly

community, but since it’s a larger school, you end up mainly meeting people through the classes you have, as well as law school’s happy hours and Bar Review.”

Allegra Kaufman ’19 is a former history and drama major who is currently at Georgetown Law. In our conversation, Allegra highlighted Georgetown’s thriving extracurricular offerings: “There are weekly events for every single organization, a speaker every single week and I’ve had a chance to continue with what I was interested in during undergrad. Right now, I’m a member of Georgetown’s a cappella and drama clubs, so I’ve definitely got my bases covered outside of studying.”

In addition, Allegra talked about the care and commitment the administration exhibited towards the law schools, saying, “There’s something very special about the Georgetown’s administration. Being on campus, you can feel the effort that the deans put into making their law school the best it can be and will help you in any way they can.” Allegra cited the example of Family Weekend, where families and friends of Georgetown students are invited to attend speeches, events and performances while exploring the campus and Washington D.C. Before hanging up, Allegra emphasized the importance of preparing for law school early. “It was hard to find the time to apply to law school between writing my thesis, my classes, and studying for the LSAT. For any future students, I’d recommend studying for the LSAT in junior year and getting it out of the way during that summer and drafting the personal statement ahead of the fall semester.”

Two kindergarten classmates reconnect after 15 years Dean Kopitsky

Assistant Arts Editor

C

ollege is the place to meet people! At Vassar we have the privilege of access to many, many intramural sports, affinity groups, arts spaces and student publications. They pose great opportunities to meet like-minded people, expand your horizons and blow through your allocated space on Gmail. There are new, unexpected friends to be made in all corners of campus. However, after a conversation with Matt Little ’22 and Ben Gillard ’22, I’d pose a new org; one dedicated to reconnecting with old friends.

Ben and Matt met this year as sophomores. Matt is a history major, active in

politics on campus, and an avid, inherently suffering New York Giants fan. Ben is a film major. He’s in the comedy group Nitrous Oxide, was in several student plays last year and works with VC filmmakers.

Coincidentally, they both lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the early 2000s; Ben has lived there for his whole life, and Matt did for just a year in kindergarten. From here, the coincidences continue. They both were in Ms. Gibbs’ class at Wines Elementary School. Ben remembers a kid named Matt who had a sister, Annika, and whose dad had a Tintin collection. Matt has a sister named Annika, and his dad has a Tintin collection as well.

Dean Kopitsky/The Miscellany News

Ben Gillard ’22 (left) and Matt Little ’22 (right) flash smiles. Both lived in Ann Arbor and studied in Ms. Gibbs’ kindergarten class at Wines Elementary school before Matt moved away. They discovered their intertwined pasts by chance over a Tasty Tuesday meal.

They missed each other in the mass of bodies at the class picture on move-in day.

They must have not chatted awkwardly during any icebreakers at orientation week.

They didn’t share any classes in their freshman year. By May, their paths had yet to cross in any meaningful way.

“I distinctly remember actually trying on your glasses at one point,” Matt said to Ben, who sat beside him and across from me in the Lathrop MPR on a rainy Sunday evening.

Ben is still wearing large glasses, now thin and round. Matt wears a turquoise flannel, Ben a red-checkered flannel. We’re talking about kindergarten.

Ben reminisced about a relic of childhood I’m sure we all miss dearly: recess. He said, “Soccer at recess was a big thing. The classes were divided so when the classes played against each other it was a big deal.”

“Hey, we got pretty good,” Matt replied. “I also remember we played in a ditch behind the school when it was snowy. There was a chain link fence and you could pop the bottom open…we would just hang out in this ditch by the highway.”

Fifteen years later, maybe things have changed a little. In this spirit of small talk, I asked for their favorite food, and what came in return were some interesting responses.

Matt said his favorite food in kindergarten was pistachios—he clearly had quite the high-brow palette for a five-year-old. Ben’s answer threw me for a loop with a food I’d never heard of: Dinosaur Eggs Oatmeal, brought to the children of the mid 2000s by the good people at the Quaker Oats Company. A quick poll of the Misc office Monday night revealed that I was alone in my ignorance of dino oatmeal. They both agreed that Deece fries are their favorite food now. Ben admitted, “There was a week that I had fries.

Just fries.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Happily, being at Vassar brought them not only Deece fries, but a rekindled friendship. Matt and Ben met over Tasty Tuesday.

It was over a Gennie’s chicken and Twisted Soul noodles that Matt thanked Ben for his Lions beating the Eagles, rivals of the Giants.

Matt excitedly recounted, “And then I asked where exactly he was from, he said Ann Arbor and I said, ‘You know, I lived in Ann Arbor for a couple of years.’” Ben said he went to Wines. Matt said he did too. Their teacher? Ms. Gibbs.

Ben was still surprised at that auspicious Tasty Tuesday. “When I met you again I was like, ‘I like this guy!’ I guess it makes sense, I liked this guy when I was 6 too...we went from acquaintances to friends. Again!” Matt was equally bewildered: “It’s amazing. One in a million.”

I asked them if they had anything philosophical to add. Evidently, their serendipitous meeting yielded no further insight into the Machinations of the Universe. So I think I’ll use their words to serve my own musings.

You know that thing you do when you’re about to walk past someone on the sidewalk, or in your dorm hall? How you either stare into your shoes or straight ahead into oblivion? Matt and Ben probably performed that same awkward dance at some point, but now they know better. “You should tell people to say hi to everyone you see because you could be long lost Vassar friends,” Ben suggested. I think he’s onto something.

So what do you have to lose? The next time you’re about to cross paths with someone, you’ll have opportune moments after placing down this paper to make some solid, friendly eye contact with your fellow humans. Maybe it’ll trigger a memory deep in the recesses of your mind and you’ll find a long lost pal. Or is that too creepy to recommend?

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 10

October 17, 2019

Breaking News

From the desk of Francisco Andrade, Assistant Humor & Satire Editor

“Stop yelling at me!!!” demands the Void, who is also extremely sick and tired of midterms week

Vassar Bitch Chronicles Emily Lesorogol ’22

*Space-filler article*: Because blank space is boring Tiffany Trumble Disgruntled Wife

C

oming to the realization that I am a firstyear student, the idea of midterms not occurring in each and every class is strange to me. Admittedly, this could be due to a multitude of reasons unrelated to my firstyear status, but I digress. The point is that I should not be studying more than my roommate (husband, but whatever), who is a sophomore with plans to major in economics. He should be holed up in a basement somewhere going over numbers, as econ is truly the Major of Depression. My only hope is that it gets rougher in his third year (not mine, only his), and he learns what it means to truly suffer.

I’m curious though… does school work get harder as you progress, or am I imagining how much time sophomores and above have to throw parties at the THs? Why am I dying inside as my husband (I swear he gave me permission to talk about him—just don’t look too closely at his signature) goes to the

gym and spends 90 percent of his time showing off his muscles or driving on his very loud motorcycle? (Yes, the motorcycle that wakes everyone up at 3 A.M. is my husband’s.

I would apologize, but we all know the smoke alarm at Noyes was going to go off soon anyway.) He sleeps until noon as I sit in the Deece cramming and wiping tears from my eyes that I pretend are from laughter. Clearly, there is no justice in this world.

Back to midterms. I reluctantly spent my weekend preparing study guides and flashcards, only to completely forget that I had a five-page paper due for my writing seminar on Monday. Whoops. (Tried to knock that out and not write total bullshit, hence the early morning Deece tears) Upon arriving to class, I handed in my horribly written paper, that I am almost positive contains quotes from the wrong book (possibly from the wrong class), and immediately switched back to midterm mode. I am not exaggerating when I say tears were running down my face as I despondent-

ly dragged myself to the library for some last-minute cramming.

As I examined my archaeology notes, I noticed about halfway through that I decided it would be efficient to practice Russian simultaneously. Probably a decent idea at the time, however I now have no idea whether that ‘p’ is an actual ‘p,’ or a ‘p’ that sounds like an ‘r.’.. or if it’s the ‘r’ looking letter that makes the ‘ch’ sound. See how screwed I am? With some trepidation I opened the assigned text and tried not to panic over the amount of material I’d never seen in my damn life. Is it too late to NRO a class? Asking for a friend.

Anyway, between my crying spells, I noticed some faces which seem to have genuine happiness in their eyes, which is entirely strange at this point in the year. I have been told all of these, fresh-faced people crowding Main are prospective students. That’s awesome! There is nothing better than walking around your soon-to-be college and seeing zombies with huge bags under their eyes

complain about the material their teacher didn’t cover. I mean, that is honestly all I looked forward to while waiting impatiently for summer to end. Luckily, I am finally here and can rock my Vassar sweater every day. After all, washing clothes takes time and money, and you can wear your sweater at least five times before having to launder it, in my humble opinion. By the way, it’s 9 p.m... and my husband is at the gym again. To be fair, I am procrastinating by writing a newspaper article I decided to do LITERALLY at the last minute (four minutes ago). Please send help.

In conclusion (I’ve been told not to write this but I think it’s clear I’m failing English), I hope everyone did well on their midterms and got some rest around the motorcycle engines and fire alarms. Should any of the prospective students read this, college isn’t that bad. Just remember to lower your expectations significantly before the first day of class.

Goddess of Satire showers Vassar with godly wisdom

By Ivanna Guerra (Speaker for the Goddess) Dear Mom, Now that it’s getting colder I no longer want to ride my scooter around campus.

But walking is horrible and I never want to do that either. What should I do?

Sincerely, Seasonal Scooter Driver Dear Scoot, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this weather is nothing compared to what is coming in the next few months. Here’s my advice: Keep riding your scooter to get used to the frigid air. Only then will you adjust to the frozen boogers on your lip!

Also, the quicker your commute, the less time you have to spend outside in the cold!

But, as someone who had to quickly acclimate to the cold during my first year living outside of Arizona, I can tell you that the best way to defeat your enemies is to acknowledge them and to accept them for who they are.

Cold weather is not half bad if you accept it and get on with your life. Apparently people drink non-Snapple tea on the East Coast—I know, I also thought all tea was meant to be iced, but it also comes in a hot form, apparently. Tea is great during, well, tea time! It keeps you warm and awake! That is what people call a twofer!

(Apparently learning some of the lingo also helps to adjust to the frigid air.)

By the way, Vassar smells amazing

during the winter. I am not sure what the smell is, but the winter smell always reminds me of winter. It might be frozen soil, or perhaps even the organic odor of students’ brains frying, but as my friend Hannibal always says, “There is nothing wrong with that.” Just make a ritual of getting a good sniff when you walk out your door and eventually, you will grow to miss it. After all, the summer just smells like hot concrete.

Ultimately, I suggest you just suck it up like the rest of us. Oh! I almost forgot. You have to train yourself not to fall on the ice when the time comes. Start ordering some IcyHot before you fall on your butt on your way out of the Deece!

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Happy Fall, Mom Dear Momus, I keep noticing a smell in my room. I wasn’t quite sure what it was. But now I realized my roommate hasn’t showered in a few weeks. How do I deal with this?

Sincerely, Smelling Fishy Dear Smelling, There is no more Fortnite, so I think you’ll be fine from here on out. If not, talk to ResLife.

Best, Mom

HUMOR & SATIRE

October 17, 2019

Page 11

‘Twitches’: They’re witches...who are twins! Keep up Madison Caress

Half of a Set of Twins

G

Courtesy of Needpix

rab your twin and get ready for a review of the best Halloween movie ever made! There will be some spoilers, but this movie came out literally 15 years ago so you’re legally not allowed to get mad at me. No spooky movie is as revolutionary or groundbreaking as “Twitches” (2005) starring Tia Mowry and Tamera Mowry (there is, I believe, some relation).

“Twitches” defines the modern horror genre with its unpredictable story and terrifying villain, Thantos. The feeling of horror I received from this film when I was seven and the feeling I received from this film last night were exactly the same, only now I have the capacity to examine the techniques used to evoke such intense fear.

While this movie does not have a score on Rotten Tomatoes (because film critics are cowards), it does have a stellar reputation among the four people I just talked about it with an hour ago.

The plot of the film, which I will later argue is based on “Hamlet,” is intriguing and enticing, pulling the viewer in as if they’ve never seen a movie about witches (or twins) before. Twin witches separated at birth (hence the extremely clever name) find each other and discover their witchy powers while trying to defeat “the Darkness,” a concept poignantly captured only within this movie. At this point, you may be itching to hear about my comparison of “Twitches” with “Hamlet,” a little known play by an unknown author, William Shakespeare. Well, buckle up, because I’m about to overanalyze the heck out of this Disney Halloween movie.

To start, both feature an antagonist that is the uncle of the protagonist(s). This uncle, in both instances, also killed the father of the protagonist(s), and becomes eerily “close” with their mother. Further, there is also a dynamic duo to look after or protect the protagonist(s). In “Hamlet,” this is accomplished by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who spy on the famously emo Prince of Denmark, whereas in “Twitches,” it is done by accidentally almost killing the twins about three times. Although, in my (always correct) opinion, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have nothing on Ileana and Karsh, those chaotic Scorpios. So basically, “Twitches” is “Hamlet” if Hamlet had a twin…who was a witch, and both were just generally less annoying and broody.

Thantos, the uncle of the twins and the antagonist of the film, controls “the Darkness” that haunts the twins as they try to figure out the source and save their families. Not at all coincidentally, the antagonist in some of the “Avengers” movies is named Thanos. And while I’m fully aware that Thanos appeared about 30 years before “Twitches” came out, I still think something fishy is going on here. It’s very easy to just take the second “t” out of Thantos to make a new name. Marvel definitely knew what they were doing there, using the most well-rounded villain in cinematic history, Thantos, as a template for their newest villain. No antagonist has ever had the emotional depth of Thantos, who often reminisces about his dead brother and only gloats at the end of the film that it was him who did the killing. I actually hear Todd Phillips is making a movie just about him soon! It will star, you guessed it,

I have placed an image of a mirror above so that every cowardly film critic, director and writer can take a long, hard look at themselves. You are all weaklings.

Joaquin Phoenix as Thantos.

The film also does a good job at tackling class politics. Because the twins were separated at birth, the families that adopted them were radically different. Alex went to a household of lower-middle-class status, while Cam got adopted by a wealthy family. This is acknowledged throughout the film, as the twins clash because of their socioeconomic differences. It is so refreshing to watch a children’s film that addresses such an important issue, but it’s just too bad they don’t delve into it further. They could have made Alex gay, which wouldn’t have been that surprising given her fashion sense, or they could have really shaken things up and addressed the intersectionality of these issues. Looks like the film critics that didn’t touch this movie aren’t the only cowards.

“Twitches” may be spooky and horrifying, but it teaches an important lesson. If

HOROSCOPES

you find your twin (who’s out there, trust me), and you assume your witch identity, you are capable of solving all of your problems and saving the world. I’m still looking for my twin so I can get my powers, but I have faith she’s out there. If anyone reading this is also 5’6” with a brunette bob and brown eyes, you may be my twin. There aren’t many people in the world, let alone at Vassar College, with that description, so if that sounds like you, let me know and we can concentrate really hard and save the world.

This cinematic goldmine can be found on Disney Plus for free, or on my grandma’s DVR because she recorded it for me 10 years ago and I’m sure she still hasn’t deleted it. If you like movies about witches, this is perfect for you! It’s got two of them in it! I have to give this movie 2 out of 2, for both witches. Get it? They’re twins… that are witches! Clever.

Francisco Andrade Stargazer

ARIES

March 21 | April 19

TAURUS

April 20 | May 20

GEMINI

May 21 | June 20

CANCER

June 21 | July 22

LEO

July 23 | August 22

VIRGO

August 23 | September 22

Stop buying cute notebooks at the Juliet.

You’ve bought one per week since the semester started and have yet to write in any of them.

You’re going bankrupt and killing the Amazon in one fell swoop. Congratulations.

Taurus, please ask for permission before you touch someone’s pet. What do you mean it wasn’t a pet, but a gang of rabid womp-womps?

What do you mean they attacked you? Sounds like more of your excuses.

Sometimes it’s important to just stop and smell the flowers. Yes, I know that you spend a lot of time “inhaling” a type of plant in your room already. But maybe try something that won’t impede your studying habits.

You will receive a strange horoscope this week. It will keep you reading while simultaneously contributing nothing to your everyday life. As you finish it, you will feel cheated of substance.

That special person emails you every goddamn week, and you have yet to tell them how you feel. It’s now or never. Email President Bradley to profess your love ASAP. (Forward the response you get to fandrade@vassar.edu) You’ve been feeling stuck in a rut as of late.

Well, consider changing up your morning routine a bit. Try waking up 15 minutes earlier. Drink a glass of orange juice. Summon the Great Lord Cthulhu. Maybe go for a light run.

LIBRA

September 23 | October 22

SCORPIO

October 23 | November 21

SAGITTARIUS

November 22 | December 21

Libra, I went to read your stars, and they were all gone. Like, nowhere to be found. I wouldn’t panic too much about it though.

And by that I mean “I” personally wouldn’t worry about it ’cause I’m not a Libra. You should worry quite a bit.

When you called your professor “Mom” in class, we laughed, but we understood the mistake. When you then called your mom “Professor” we were a bit more confused. But now that you called your boyfriend “Professor Dad” we are just horrified.

Sagittarius, you are full of animal-like qualities. You have the reflexes of a cat, the loyalty of a dog and much like a deer, you will likely be hunted for sport since your tick infested body helps spread Lyme disease all across campus.

I love that you finally opened up to someone about what’s been bothering you. Am CAPRICORN I confused on why you decided to say it all December 22 | to the 16-year-old fast food worker when he January 19 asked how you were? Yes.

AQUARIUS

January 20 | February 18

PISCES

February 19 | March 20

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

You recently got into crystals and are a bit overwhelmed, but that is totally normal. Here is a crash course. Amethyst helps with sleep.

Rose quartz helps with love. And all crystals keep away danger when sharpened to a fine point and wielded by a screaming lunatic.

When I offered to take a load off your mind, I meant that you should drink tea or take a nap. But hey, you already scheduled the lobotomy so you may as well follow through now.

OPINIONS

Page 12

Word on the street What’s your favorite comfort food?

No matter what, you should be reading the news Sawyer Bush

Guest Columnist

I

t would seem that the news has become an increasingly frustrating affair to keep up to date on, whether that be because of the increasing amount of horrifying content or the intrusive ways that the media industry has come to force that content onto us. In response to this frustration, a growing population of people have begun to completely tune out the news. In order to avoid the anger and frustration often caused by appraisal of current events, they simply choose to tout their privilege and security by disavowing current events altogether. However, this mindset just perpetuates the injustices the news reports on in the first place.

“To remain ignorant of the issues that are pervading society is to allow those issues to continue. In a democracy, ignorance is complacency.”

“Grilled cheese.”

— Sam Dorf ’22

“Ramen.”

— Sandra Yu ’22

“Baked mac and cheese.”

— Mark Savarese ’22

October 17, 2019

News outlets play a vital role in a healthy democracy. In order for a democracy to function, its citizens need to be informed. The news serves as the liaison between the people and the government, an entity whose sole purpose is to serve the people.

People who choose to ignore the news, therefore, are only doing a disservice to themselves. In fact, choosing to ignore the news because its contents are “too depressing” or anger-invoking is entirely

hypocritical. If you truly care about contentious issues to the point that you become upset when hearing about them, then you should want to remain informed so you can hold your government accountable.

Whenever I go home and, inevitably, end up in a political debate with my family or knee-deep in a discussion about another terrifying Trump tweet, my sister proudly declares that she doesn’t look at any of that and is much happier for it. This always sparks a tangential debate as I argue with her about how I disagree with her attitude toward politics and the world around her. “How can you expect to vote with any confidence in elections if you have no idea what is going on in the world around you?”

I ask her.

To remain ignorant of the issues that are pervading society is to allow those issues to continue. In a democracy, ignorance is complacency. I don’t want you to tune out. I don’t want you to be relaxed with the way things are. Pay attention. I want you to be angry. You say these issues upset you, yet you are unwilling to be upset by them. You would rather be comfortable and ignorant than continue in your discomfort until you see that these issues are resolved.

So instead, you simply tune out. You allow these horrifying realities to continue without protest.

This is how democracies fail. When this mentality spreads and it becomes normal for people to “all [leave] the driving up to someone else,” corruption flourishes and rights disappear in silence (The Guardian, “My year of living ignorantly: I entered a news blackout the day Trump was elected,” 01.18.18). Don’t think for one moment that the United States’ dubious reputation as a leader among democracies can save it from slipping into the grips of corruption if its residents lose interest in monitoring and correcting its course. If you care at all about the future of your country and the lives

of those around you—which I assume you do, considering how much of the news upsets you—then it is your duty to stay informed, to know the issues arising and to know what part you can play in those issues, however big or small they may be. And if you don’t read the news because you lack empathy and don’t care? Just fess up already.

“Don’t think for one moment that the United States’ dubious reputation as a leader among democracies can save it from slipping into the grips of corruption if its residents lose interest in monitoring and correcting its course.”

The reason that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are such successful candidates, and frankly why Donald Trump was in 2016, is because they are able to tap into what makes people angry. They remind people why they are angry and why they should be angry. If you want to avoid the frustration of events found in the news, don’t selfishly tune them out, because there are people who do not have that luxury. The horrors you read about affect real people in real, unavoidable ways. Pay attention, see the terrible things that are happening and get fucking angry. Use that anger. Do something about it.

Fashion Week fails at environmentalism XinRui Ong

P “Homework extensions.”

— Devon Arceneaux ’22

“Pupusas.”

— Romario Ortiz ’21

“Ramen.”

— Hindley Wang ’21

Francisco Andrade, Humor & Satire Clara Pitt, Photography

aris Fashion Week, in an apparent attempt to shed its stuck-up, exclusionary reputation, is extending its accessibility through Virtual Reality (VR) technology and the power of social media. Continuously evolving in today’s world of high-tech, smartphones are now able to “sit in” at runway shows, working like a pair of eyes wandering 360 degrees across the venue. Furthermore, keeping up with “Vogue First Look” on Instagram allows me, a college student eating scrambled eggs with ketchup in the Deece, to get first peeks of designer collections before they even hit the runway. As technology expands the audience base of the fashion lexicon, I can now see the industry attempting to incorporate contemporary issues, such as sustainability and functionality, into their designs.

The most recent Fashion Week during October featured experimental clothing, materials and sets. Japanese designer brand Issey Miyake abandoned the four-inch heels and resting-bitch faces, opting instead to celebrate the joy of moving in their clothes—all while demonstrating the fluidity of their textiles.

To paint a picture, the runway had no formal “way” to it; models paced to the rhythm of music in groups, some swiftly dashing on skateboards, others gracefully levitating on their tiptoes. All movements were possible and comfortable in Miyake’s versatile designs.

The climax of the show commenced as dresses were pulleyed down from the ceiling, and, in one swift motion, slipped onto the bodies of the models anticipating them. The show continued with the models bouncing to the music in their brand new dresses. The audiences irresistibly tapped their toes to the catchy beats while being caught in awe with the “signature Miyake springiness” (“SPRING

2020 READY-TO-WEAR Issey Miyake,” Vogue, 10.12.2019). Miyake’s designs seek freedom of movement in their outfits, and the variety of bright colors boosted the show’s energy and lit up the venue. The arrangement was original but not chaotic, empowering but not daunting. I think Issey Miyake’s showcase in Paris was the epitome of conveying comfort, enjoyability and practicality through clothing.

While many designs in this season’s Fashion Week were absolutely genius, there were also admittedly a few that had questionable intentions.

Paris also tackled the issue of sustainability.

The fashion industry is a major polluter, yet brands like Dior and Stella McCartney used the runways to express their dedication to the sustainability movement. The day after Greta Thunberg’s appearance in the UN Climate Action Summit, Dior’s runway show explicitly demanded attention to climate change through their installation of 164 trees (which would be replanted to the suburbs in France) and a promise to recycle all of their runway props. Dior’s designs centered around “gardening chic,” featuring flowers woven on linen, straw sandals and “accessories [that] followed a ‘gardening tools, but make it fashion’ aesthetic” (Independent, “Dior to replant 164 trees used in Paris fashion week show,” 09.25.2019). However, how much of that leafy, green runway is actually for activism instead of a perfectly timed PR strategy?

Dior’s shows have been a nod to nature, one ultimately rooted in a 10-minute fantasy which does almost nothing to help the environment. Fashion critic Angelo Flaccavento argued that “Sustainability, whatever that actually means, should be about taking action, not sending press releases. And yet, in today’s mediated world, the announcement is already the accomplishment” (Business of Fashion,

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Courtesy of Vogue Magazine via Instagram

Guest Columnist

Issey Miyake was a highlight of the show, but Dior’s environmental efforts fell flat.

“The Verdict on Paris Fashion Week,” 2019).

While the interior of the theater was all flora and fauna, outside, gas-guzzling cars were lined up and guests were given plastic ponchos to stay dry in the unanticipated Parisian rain. And to top it all off, Dior never publicly announced the sources and production of their materials—so what does having a botanical wardrobe have to do with sustainability anyways?

On a surface level, it’s understandable why Dior’s timely call for sustainability garnered attention and applause from runway-goers and the media alike. As climate activism gains traction, and Europe (particularly Paris) experiences record-breaking heat waves, “environmentally conscious” is becoming a brand in and of itself. Sustainability has become the trendiest of selling points, and Dior is hoping to expand their customer base by crossing the pantheon into a “responsible brand.”

Well, at least the half-hearted attempts at social consciousness were staged fabulously—and hopefully the rain in Paris smelled like perfume.

October 17, 2019

OPINIONS

Page 13

There is no such thing as a trustworthy rich person Alice Woo

Guest Columnist

E

llen DeGeneres and George W. Bush walk into a football game—that sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but on Sunday, Oct. 6, it actually happened. The two shared casual banter, laughter and obvious camaraderie, sparking an unexpected scandal after a video was shared on Twitter countless times.

I understand why Twitter is upset. Since coming out on her sitcom in 2003, DeGeneres has been arguably the most prominent lesbian figure in the public eye. In the 17 seasons of her extremely popular talk show, the comedic icon has not been shy about her liberal beliefs, whether on LGBT issues or Trump’s Muslim ban. Two years ago, she garnered attention for stating that she would refuse to have Donald Trump on her show, asserting that he is “not only dangerous for the country and for me personally as a gay woman, but to the world. He’s dividing all of us...I don’t want him on the show.” (YouTube, TheEllenShow, “Megyn Kelly and Ellen Discuss Political Talk Show Guests,” 09.20.2017) Because of this strong stance in opposition to a right-wing political figure, the footage of Ellen and 43 buddy-buddy at a football game feels viscerally hypocritical.

DeGeneres directly responded to the controversy in the monologue segment of her show, preaching that we must “be kind to everybody, and I mean everybody” and that different viewpoints—from political to trivial—should not preclude friendship (Twitter, @[TheEllenShow], 10.07.2019). After the segment, dozens of celebrities have leaped to her defense on Twitter, sharing annoyance at the extremism of “cancel culture”

and disappointment at America’s political divide. Reese Witherspoon, Piers Morgan, Blake Shelton and Tony Robbins are among the many celebrities praising Ellen’s message (Splinter News, “Celebs Rush to Defend Ellen’s Friendship With George W. Bush, Awwww,” 10.09.2019).

Many, myself included, find DeGeneres’ statement preachy at best, and condescending, inadequate and trivializing at worst.

Bush is responsible for millions of deaths during the Iraq War, and still has never been tried for them. The implications of Bush’s policies still haunt the Middle East, as do the policies of the Obama administration.The liberal revision of Bush’s legacy is dangerous; for many young people who were in elementary school or even younger when the war in Iraq began, it’s easy to downplay the horrifying reality of what American soldiers did as part of the coalition forces. The casualties included over half a million Iraqi civilians, most killed by airstrike and chemical warfare (Brown University, “Human Cost of the Post-9/11 Wars: Lethality and the Need for Transparency,” 11.2018). Additionally, graphic photos from Abu Ghraib show Americans torturing prisoners with unspeakable cruelty (Antonio Taguba, “US Army 15-6 Report of Abuse of Prisoners in Iraq,” 04.01.2004). In a particularly jarring addition to the online discourse, Twitter user @rafaelshimunov edited Ellen’s explanation video to include a slideshow of the Abu Ghraib photos and other images from the Iraq War on the screen behind the talk show host (Twitter, @[shujaxhaider], 10.09.2019).

DeGeneres’ statement completely misses the mark. Perhaps Bush’s beliefs shouldn’t

preclude friendship, although they do include extreme support of Brett Kavanaugh and opposition of same-sex marriage, but the war crimes committed under his leadership and the many injustices he catalyzed should.

It is possible to sit next to someone you disagree with at a football game and be civil, but for DeGeneres to then double-down on the interaction, call Bush a friend and equate intense moral and political differences to sports team preferences is pretty troubling.

However, I believe that the underlying

“Ellen’s insincerity similarly feels as though a piece of our childhood is crumbling, or at the very least, that our projected identity of Ellen DeGeneres has been shaken.” element of this scandal lies in the public’s perception of Ellen. For years she has been a friendly face, a lighthearted jokester and an early example of an openly gay celebrity.

She’s the voice of Dory! She loves to dance!

She loves kids! The cognitive dissonance that we feel when we see her palling around with Bush is truly unsettling, and the fact that she hasn’t acknowledged the dissonance between her political views and her act of camaraderie is even more disturbing, almost

nauseating. Though not worse than the horrifying acts committed by Bill Cosby, Ellen’s insincerity similarly feels as though a piece of our childhood is crumbling, or, at the very least, that our projected identity of Ellen DeGeneres has been shaken. Perhaps the blow would have been less devastating if Bush’s celebrity bestie had been Iggy Azalea, or Adam Sandler or maybe even Johnny Depp.

But who would have ever fathomed that our wholesome morning talk show host known for civil yet savage takedowns of problematic people would do this to us?

Though it’s disappointing to watch our heroes fall, and even more disappointing to watch Ellen lean into it, I think it was a much-needed reminder: Wealth gives people the privilege to outstrip their marginalized identities. Although Ellen established herself as a lesbian icon 16 years ago, she is now most definitely a part of the 1 percent.

There’s nothing wrong with demanding more of our celebrities and cultural figures, but it’s important to remember that wealth changes your priorities and blinds you to the struggles you don’t personally face. Preaching kindness to those who don’t share your beliefs is a privilege in itself, a cop-out for celebrities who can live comfortably and don’t want to make enemies in the business. Witherspoon, Morgan, Shelton and Robbins have a net worth of $1.5 million, $16 million, $60 million and $500 million, respectively. Ellen’s is $450 million. The more celebrities jump in to defend Ellen, the more they pull back the curtain to reveal that class solidarity exists strongly among the wealthy. Unfortunately, it may even be a force stronger than kindness.

Students shouldn’t be doing work for administration Abram Gregory Columnist

M

embers of the VSA Executive Board get paid. When I first learned this, my initial reaction was disgust and disapproval. The antagonizing voice in my head wondered: Why are some student positions receiving pay from funds supplied by the tuition of other students? Why do participants in an overgrown middle school institution receive real money for what skeptics might argue is trivial labor? Wouldn’t payment in Monopoly money be more fitting, given the phantasmal effect the VSA has on my daily life?

Antagonist-Abram, you silly, silly classist boy. A quick series of Google searches dashed any doubts I might’ve had about the tasks the VSA deals with. Just because I don’t happen to indulge in many campus-organized events doesn’t mean that nobody else does.

Moreover, there’s the matter of fomenting participation in self-governance. Let’s take a look at the governing body of Classical Athens, often seen as the poster-child for democracy. Originally, the ekklēsia (popular assembly) consisted of entirely unpaid positions.

As behavioral economist Stephan Podes notes, “To operate this system of government successfully required a high degree of participation on the part of citizens … [this] could not easily develop into a full-time job for the individual. It is obvious that not all citizens legally entitled to such political participation were able or willing to in fact do so” (Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, “Pay and Political Participation in Classical Athens: An Empirical Application of Rational Choice Theory,” 09.1993).

That is, it took a lot of time to run a com-

munity of thousands of people. Therefore, political participation constituted a full-time, unpaid position. As a result, only the wealthy with time (and money) to spend could afford to pursue political office, whereas the average eligible person had to make their living elsewhere, and were therefore excluded from the democratic process.

Students pursuing positions in student government, particularly on the Executive Board, face the same dilemma. If a student wants to commit themselves to a position benefiting the student body, but is in a socioeconomic position where they need to work a paying job on top of their regular school, then that student would be alienated from the student-governing process if such a position were unpaid.

The VSA is not the only organization on campus that provides infrastructure to the student body, but is somehow the only organization in which students receive pay for their organization-oriented work. At the risk of being self-aggrandizing, The Miscellany News provides the campus with content necessary to upholding the fabric of the college. That is, while we supply op-eds, sports coverage and humor, The Miscellany News publishes articles holding administrators accountable for impropriety, not to mention providing students with information they might not otherwise have access to.

Beyond student journalism, other orgs also do as much valuable work as the VSA. Vassar SEED is a font of activist work in pursuit of responsible climate policy on campus and beyond, and events ranging from the campus-wide climate strike to regular meetings and social media posts require a staff of students working full-time. This is comparable

to the work the VSA does in acting as liaisons between the Vassar Administration and the student body. As far as I’m concerned, the work done by many student orgs are all invaluable public services that benefit proportions of students comparable to those benefiting from the labor of the VSA. Besides the argument that the VSA works on behalf of the student body, there is also the justification for paying the VSA Executive Board that each executive devotes an extraordinary amount of time to their work.

However, such a commitment is not unique to the VSA. Barring a conspiracy I’m unaware of, my editors don’t get paid. Simply put, those of us passionate enough to sacrifice well over 10 hours a week for a cause are able to budget our time to accommodate our extracurriculars on top of our usual duties as students.

Given that this is the case for every single student organization, I am led to believe that the reason VSA executives are paid is neither their workload nor their dedication to the fabric of student life, but rather because the Board effectively serves as an outsourcing of administrative labor—a source of labor the administration gets away with paying students’ wages, rather than the wages of bona fide professionals.

However, whereas the VSA acts as a replacement for the administration masquerading as student government, there are orgs without faculty resources who are committed to professional work.

As far as I’m concerned, the only good justification for paying VSA executives is the fact that VSA executives do, in fact, serve the whole community. This is as opposed to other orgs, which can be seen as self-serving

or only providing for smaller portions of the community. However, in one form or another, every single org serves a proportion of the community. Therefore, if fair is fair, the higher-ups of every single org are entitled to a proportional pay on the same payroll as the Executive Board of the VSA. The more complex problem, though, is doing the math of how much funding would be allotted to each org to pay its higher-ups.

This dictates how many higher-ups an org has, and creates a series of uncomfortable power dynamics. I pose the following question to members of the entirety of the VSA: What do your executives do that warrants their collecting a paycheck while your time is serfdom? Or that of student publications’ Editors-in-Chief, or the leaders investing countless hours into Vassar SEED? The final complication is the matter of composing and using a formula to determine how much outreach an org has to a certain proportion of the student population, and what the monetary value of each student provided to is. As you can see, that’s a lot of analysis that’s not quite possible.

That leaves us with the same phenomenon of certain executives being paid, but with the twist of being obligated to ensure that all org execs receive the same proportional financial support for the labor that goes into providing students with experiences and resources.

To pay all the execs, or none at all? Certainly, the practical answer is to keep things the way they are. However, the prioritization of one group of students simply because it’s been given the backing of the administration, as opposed to all student orgs not sponsored by a department, cannot morally be left unaddressed.

The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

SPORTS

Page 14

October 17, 2019

Hong Kong protests spill into esports, Hearthstone Jonas Trostle

Opinions Editor

T

he California-based video game company Activision-Blizzard has waded into the same political thicket as the NBA by deciding to punish an esports player for speaking out in favor of the protests currently taking place in Hong Kong. Chung Ng Wai, known by his in-game name of Blitzchung, was forced to forfeit his winnings, around $10,000, and banned from playing Hearthstone competitively for one year. All of this because in his post-match interview on Sunday, Oct. 6, Blitzchung declared, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time!” (Vox, “One of America’s biggest gaming companies is acting as China’s censor,” 10.08.2019)

“The video game community, which has a mixed history when it comes to large social movements, has banded around the Hong Kong protestors and taken a twopronged approach to push back against Blizzard.”

Blizzard immediately went into damage control mode to protect its business interests in the large Chinese video game market by quickly deleting the video of the interview from its own social media pages and anywhere else the company could find a copy of the video. These efforts have, for the most part, backfired. Blitzchung was punished for, according to Blizzard’s own

statement, “Engaging in any act that, in Blizzard’s sole discretion, brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages Blizzard image.” (Hearthstone Blog, “Hearthstone Grandmasters Asia-Pacific Ruling,” 10.08.2019) However, it was Blizzard’s own action of suppressing Blitzchung’s message that damaged its image and prompted the hashtag “boycottBlizzard” to pick up steam.

The video game community, which has a mixed history when it comes to large social movements, has banded around the Hong Kong protestors and taken a two-pronged approach to push back against Blizzard. The first is the aforementioned hashtag, encouraging players of Hearthstone, Overwatch and World of Warcraft to delete their accounts on Blizzard’s website battle.net and to stop playing any games produced or made

by Blizzard. At some point during the wave of civil disobedience, either due to maleficence or incompetence, it became impossible to delete one’s Blizzard account because all four of Blizzard’s functions that verify and confirm account deletion were unusable, leaving some remaining users trapped with accounts they no longer want (The Daily Dot, “Blizzard accused of blocking gamers from deleting accounts,” 10.09.2019).

The second prong is a concerted effort to damage Blizzard’s business prospects in China. President of The People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping is notorious for his inability to withstand ridicule or criticism and has previously banned all images of Winnie the Pooh in China after a pejorative comparison was made between him and the honey-loving bear (BBC News, “Why China censors banned Winnie the Pooh,” 07.17.2017). This in mind, gamers and meme producers have been editing pro-Hong Kong slogans onto images of the popular Overwatch character Mei with the hope that Mei will become so associated with the Hong Kong liberation

movement that Blizzard will be forced to moval from Grandmasters, clawing back the remove the character or game from the Chi- prizes he already earned, and banning him nese market. for a full year seems completely overboard to an extent that feels completely unwarranted and unfair … The heavy-handedness of it feels like someone insisted that Blizzard “Blizzard’s actions make an example of Blitzchung” (BMKGamhave certainly brought ing, “Statement on Blitzchung,” 10.09.2019). the company into Some of Blizzard’s employees have also expressed displeasure with their company’s public disrepute, support for the authoritarian Chinese govoffended a large ernment. Around 30 Blizzard employees organized a walk-out in which they carried portion of the public umbrellas, a symbol of the Hong Kong proand otherwise tests. Right outside its office, Blizzard has a damaged Blizzard’s statue of an Orc (yes, seriously) surrounded by inscriptions of the company’s beliefs. In image.” order to display how betrayed they felt, Blizzard’s employees covered up the inscripMore than just esports fans and regular tions that read “Think Globally” and “Every gamers are voicing support for Blitzchung Voice Matters” (Twitter, @[lackofrealism], and the Hong Kong protestors: Other es- 10.08.2019). ports professionals are also lending their Blizzard has not been deaf to all of these voices to the shout against Blizzard. In an- actions, and has determined that the best other Hearthstone tournament, players from course of action is not to double down on an American University team held up a sign enforcing an authoritarian government’s that read “FREE HONG KONG, BOYCOTT proclamations. Interestingly, Blizzard was BLIZZ.” (Kotaku, “College Hearthstone not willing to fully support the Hong Kong Players Who Held Up ‘Free Hong Kong’ Sign protests, and instead opted to split the baby: Drop Out Of Tournament,” 10.10.2019) Bliz- Blitzchung’s earned prize-money has been zard attempted damage control on the spot, returned to him and his suspension has been killing the camera that was showing the cut in half, but Blizzard issued no apology team, but has been much more hesitant to nor gave any clear guidance on what would act as China’s cat’s-paw in punishing Amer- or would not count as a violation of its rules ican players in the way it did Blitzchung, (Metro, “Blizzard gives back Blitzchung who is from Taiwan. Brian Kibler, a well-re- prize money, reduces ban to six months,” garded Hearthstone commentator, has also 10.14.2019). refused to associate himself with Blizzard.

Whether this will be enough to appease He released a nuanced and compelling the mob of gamers who have gotten a statement, which accepted that Blitzchung glimpse of Blizzard’s true colors is an open should have been punished for making polit- question, but taken altogether Blizzard’s acical statements, but also added that Blizzard tions have certainly brought the company had overshot the mark with its punishment: into public disrepute, offended a large por“I could understand a fine, or even a short tion of the public and otherwise damaged suspension from competitive play, but re- Blizzard’s image.

Brewers retool for future after loss of key players VOLLEYBALL continued

from page 1 Despite how the team welcomes the new reality of this year’s smaller team, the losses of last season’s graduating seniors, including All-American Devan Gallagher ’19, Vassar’s second all-time kills leader with 1,536, plus the loss of then-junior Jane Mc-

Leod, a three-time All-Liberty League team member, are nonetheless still felt deeply.

“Losing stats is sometimes the most challenging part. We lost 700 kills. And that’s just that. You can have the best recruiting, [the best] freshman class. [But] 700 kills is 700 kills. It is always going to hit you,”

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton The women’s volleyball team this year is composed of only 11 players: two seniors and nine underclassmen. The exceptionally small and young squad composition has led to struggles throughout the season, but it also presents its own unique opportunities.

emphasized Penn. Yet, stats aren’t the only thing this team wants to focus on reclaiming. They also are determined to strengthen their culture. Penn summarized, “I think we focus a lot on being guided by everything that we do, we do with passion, we let our actions be guided by whether or not it’s something we can be proud of and that we will always be together. It’s that unity that the team is the team is the team.” The dynamic of a smaller team also necessitates a sense of equality, as every player becomes essential in the long run of the season. “We lost a lot of key players that we relied on a lot and [our] go-tos. But now [everyone] on this team is equally valued, not that they weren’t last season, but I feel like everyone gets an equal amount of touches on the court and we really need everyone on the court to work together,” affirmed Ehnstrom.

Still, the team isn’t trying to minimize the impact of the players they lost and wants to be realistic about their capabilities. Kerbs asserted, “One of the key differences between playing this year and last year is this year we are relying so much more heavily on being smart and playing smart as opposed to being just physically really big and having a lot of experience.

Because we do lack experience on this team, so that’s one thing I think we have really been utilizing is playing smart and knowing our scout.” Kesten further added, “I think with having a small number of upperclassmen, we definitely have less expe-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

rience. I think this might lead to a bit less comfortability on the court. One thing that comes with spending years on the court is feeling comfortable and at ease. It can be hard for freshmen and sophomores to gain this as this just comes with time on the court.”

The team will be forced to get comfortable quickly with a difficult Liberty League schedule coming up, featuring matches against Bard, Union and Skidmore that will all take place within the next 10 days. Despite the probability that their season will fall short of previous seasons (while last year’s team reached the Liberty League semifinals, this year’s is looking unlikely to even qualify), the effects of this rebuilding year should pay dividends in seasons to come. The team will have no seniors next year, so the current sophomore class, which accounts for six of the 11 current players, will be asked to lead for the next two years. Having such a small roster has led to increased time on the court for every member of the team, developing the crucial chemistry and experience needed to compete at the highest level. And most of all, the current underclassmen will have bonded through this challenge. They have the opportunity to solidify their game because of the unavoidable circumstances of a young team that must grow together. So while this may be a down year for Vassar women’s volleyball, try to catch a game— you may be watching the 2021 Liberty League Champions.

SPORTS

October 17, 2019

Page 15

Women’s soccer fails to repeat historic upset; sequels suck Jonah Frere-Holmes Reporter

A

modern proverb holds that the sequel is always worse than the original. On Saturday, Oct. 12, Vassar women’s soccer found that out the hard way, suffering a 4-1 defeat at the hands of William Smith, nearly a calendar year after pulling off a historic upset of the Herons, who have won 12 straight Liberty League titles. Their 2018 1-0 victory was their first win over William Smith in program history: 90 minutes of true resilience and belief from a hungry underdog. On Saturday, the script regressed

to the mean, as the perennially dominant Herons did what they do—they dominated.

The original “Karate Kid” is a timeless movie, a canonic tale of a determined protagonist perfecting his craft to knock off a seemingly insurmountable foe. Rotten Tomatoes recognizes the movie’s greatness, giving the film an 88 percent on its unassailable Tomatometer. Vassar women’s soccer received its own recognition for toppling William Smith in 2018, in the form of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, despite a record barely above .500. The repetitive excellence of then-sophomore

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton Vassar women’s soccer, which last season defeated the 12-years-running Liberty League champion William Smith Herons in a historic upset, fell 4-1 to those same Herons last Saturday. The loss brought the Brewers to 2-2 in the league so far.

goalkeeper Fiona Walsh’s 15-save shutout in 2018 echoed Daniel LaRusso practicing the crane kick over and over again on the beach, before unleashing it on Johnny Lawrence’s stupid face in the All-Valley Karate Championship.

“The Next Karate Kid,” a sequel you probably didn’t know existed, got a seven percent on the Tomatometer. The first half of Saturday’s game was definitely more encouraging than the blasphemous reboot of Mr. Miyagi, as the Brewers held William Smith to a scoreless tie at halftime. After the break, though, the fourth-ranked team in Division III upped the tempo and buried the Brewers beneath a 13-shot avalanche.

The Herons took a 2-0 lead behind a laser from senior Emilie Sauvayre and a quick counter-attacking goal from first-year Katrine Berg. The sizable contingent of visiting fans, clad mostly in forest green windbreakers and sweaters, were boisterous and irritating in the way only parents of opposing teams can be.

With a little under 15 minutes to play, the Brewers regained some hope. Senior midfielder Savannah Cutler curled a corner kick directly into the far corner of the net, stunning the Heron defense and everybody in attendance, including maybe herself. Like the sequel to the 87 percent-rated “Caddyshack,” ambitiously titled “Caddyshack 2,” any hope of a return to the original’s success was soon lost: The Brewers conceded twice more in 10 minutes after Cutler’s goal, as William Smith closed out their fifth straight win against a Liberty League opponent. “Caddyshack 2” got a four percent on the Tomatometer.

The lessons of the sequel proverb are unclear. Movie producers have the option to not make mediocre reboots of their greatest achievements; sports teams can’t just win a milestone game and say, “Thanks, we’re good on playing against you forever.”

The Brewers are on the road for their next three games, where they’re 1-4-1 this season. To carry the sequel narrative beyond this week, the Brewers went 3-2 last season against their remaining foes (St. Lawrence, Clarkson, Ithaca, RPI and RIT). If you feel like no conclusions can be drawn from these facts, you’re not alone. That’s sort of how the Brewers operate. They’ve been up and down for two straight seasons. 2019 has been no different: Their loss to William Smith was their second straight, on the heels of two straight wins to open Liberty League play.

Judging performance on a long-term scale can be misleading. Teams play well and lose games, and they stumble to victories they didn’t earn. The eye test tells all: The attitude and effort of a team, its focus on doing the little things, making the simple, right plays, is not always reflected in its record. On Saturday, the entire bench of Vassar soccer was vocal until the final buzzer, encouraging, prodding and commending their teammates between the lines even after the Herons put the game beyond reach. Drawing comparisons across years and months and opponents is the job of reporters; players focus on the work in front of them. As Mr. Miyagi says to Daniel, who doesn’t see the value of menial car maintenance to his karate techniques, “Wax on.

Wax off.”

Field Hockey

Men’s Rugby

Vassar College 2, Christopher Newport 3

Vassar College 26, Hofstra 31

October 14, 2019

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

October 13, 2019

Vassar field hockey finished its rough week on Monday, as the team that had gone undefeated just three days prior lost its second straight match, falling 3-2 to No. 14 Christopher Newport. The Brewers fell behind early, allowing two goals in the first 20 minutes, but goals from seniors Rylie Pope and Stephanie Palma brought the teams level. The score stayed locked at the final, forcing a sudden-death overtime. It featured a single shot: the game-winning goal

by Newport less than two minutes into the period. The team will look to rebound from its rocky stretch this Friday, as they host William Smith.

Courtesy of Tiffany Trumble

Rowing

Men’s Soccer

Head of the Passaic

Vassar 0, Hobart 3

October 13, 2019

Courtesy of Maya Grunfeld

The men’s rugby team lost its first match of the season last Sunday. They easily dispatched their first three opponents, but met their match in Hofstra University. The Brewers were on the back foot from the beginning, as Hofstra shot out to a 19-0 lead.

Vassar attempted to close the gap throughout the rest of the contest, at times coming within 10 of Hofstra, but never managed to overcome the initial deficit, with the game ending 3126. Vassar will look to return to their winning ways in their next match, this Sunday, as they return to the Vassar Farm to face SUNY-Maritime.

October 12, 2019

The Vassar rowing teams participated in their first regatta of the year last Sunday, as they took part in the Head of the Passaic regatta in New Jersey.

On the day, seven of Vassar’s teams raced, including two in the women’s varsity Four boats, which came in second and fifth. The Brewers also had two novice teams comprised of entirely new rowers in women’s Eight, who took third and fourth. On the varsity side of women’s Eight, Vassar also earned a third-place finish.

Keeping with the trend of bronze medals, Vassar’s men’s team finished third in the men’s varsity Four.

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

The Brewers suffered a 3-0 defeat against their Liberty League foes Hobart on Saturday, bringing their record to 5-6-1 overall and 2-2 in the league.

Hobart was on the offensive for much of the game, doubling Vassar’s shots 14 to seven and notching eight corners to the Brewers’ three. Despite this, Vassar held strong for at least the early stages of the game, allowing the first goal just before halftime. However, 10 minutes after half Hobart doubled their lead, then followed up with their third goal of the contest just four minutes later.

Vassar hopes to get on the scoreboard this Friday, as they host St. Lawrence.

The Miscellany News

Page 16

Why

we

play

October 17, 2019

Max White, Swimming

M

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

y parents made it very clear from a young age that I had the freedom to do what I want with my life. My sister and I could take whatever path interested us in school and extracurriculars. However, they set two requirements: learn an instrument and play a sport. To make a long story short, my sister and I never ended up learning instruments. But, I did fall in love with sports, competing and working alongside others to accomplish individual and common goals.

This ultimately led me to where I am now, on the Vassar swim team.

For a bit of context, my parents met in a swimming pool. They were on the same masters’ swim team, my mom swimming to stay in shape as an undergrad and my dad training for triathlons. Both of my parents were successful athletes. My mom danced professionally for a short time before she went to college and my dad was a world-champion triathlete as a post-grad. Growing up, my parents’ passion for fitness and wellness was obvious, and it’s a passion that I’ve tried to emulate in my own life.

Even though fitness and wellness are important to me in the general sense, I truly thrive under the stress of competition. If you ask my family or my friends, they would all agree that I’m a stubborn competitor, a trait that has helped me succeed thus far in life.

I’m fairly rigid in my commitment to athletics. In fact, in a personality trait test I took last year for RISE, a school-sponsored student-athlete program that focuses on assisting and educating Vassar athletes, my number one defining trait was “Competition.”

Essentially, I’ve always had at least some

Junior swimmer Max White last year won the Liberty League titles in both 200- and 500-yard freestyle. The reasons White swims are rooted in lessons taught by his parents. conception of my life boiled down to terms of winning and losing. This rigid dichotomy has recently become less important to me, however, as I’ve tried to reframe and redirect my competitive nature. This motivation came from an important moment in my family’s history.

During my junior year of high school, my dad lost sight in his left eye. Since being diagnosed with shingles in that eye in the decade prior, he had an idea that something like this might happen. Even though he tried to joke and handle this struggle in a healthy way, it was obvious this weighed on him heavily. It was honestly a toll on my entire family. My mom was very worried he might become completely blind, because a real possibility

“Creepy & Crawly” (It’s Bug-Themed) ACROSS

l. longest living insect 4. electron gun tv tubes, abbr 7. summer month bugs 11. nameless sign-off 12. miraculous medicinal plant 13. to be blindingly angry 15. relax places 17. joint 18. beer 19. completes cooperatively 21. holds the balls 22. sleepy bug 23. four chapter book of Christian Bible 24. where a casual soldier is at 27. he’s got superpowers he’s no ordinary kid (alt caption: 10) 28. to access online media 30. producers of Reba 33. famously extinct bird 36. the largest science fiction collection 38. boots, flip flops, sneakers 39. referred to as Sister 40. self-referential in a mind-bending way 41. Columbus’ nautical beans 43. worst thing to step on 45. of the remains of a fire 46. frigid adverb 48. pig, writing, female swan

Answer to last week’s puzzle

remained that the virus could spread to his other eye. My entire family had to sit, watch and wait, doing our best to help my dad get and feel better. Ultimately, he began going to a therapist to help him handle this new obstacle in his life. This helped him a lot, and I think that going to therapy was one of the most important things I’ve ever seen my dad do for himself.

One day, I was talking about swimming with my dad, something we did quite often.

At one point, he stopped, looked me in the eyes, and said “Max, just remember that every time you do something, give 100 percent every single day, because one day you won’t be able to.” At the time, I jokingly made fun of his attempt at being a motivational speak-

er. But today, I have it written on a post-it note stuck to my wall. I look at that every single day, especially when I’m tired, sad or generally feeling like I want to give up. My parents have always been a motivation to me. My mom has her own saying: “attitude and effort,” referencing the only two things she thinks we have control of in our lives. I don’t think that I wake up every day because of my innate love of suffering while training or because I really enjoy winning and beating other people in competition. I do what I do because I have the opportunity to do it.

I’ve met my best friends in this sport. I have countless memories from being a part of athletics, ranging from extreme elation to dismal defeat. I spend a huge part of my life training, recovering, planning, studying and occasionally obsessing over my training.

Athletics have even touched my academic life: I am a psychology major because I want to study sports psychology to help people perform at a higher level in any performance capacity, be it sports, music, public speaking, etc. Really, I’ve decided to dedicate my life to the goal of wellness. I didn’t choose to do this because I am successful at sports. I didn’t do this because my dad was a successful athlete or because my mom is a doctor.

I didn’t decide to study psychology because of watching my sister grow up experiencing the difficulties anxiety disorders can create and how therapy can help. I don’t want to commit myself to competing and hopefully someday help others succeed in whatever capacity I can. I do it because of all of those things. I give my best attitude and effort because one day I know I won’t be able to.

The Miscellany Crossword

by Frank

50. to surrender or yield 51. a mixed-breed dog 53. to ruin or blemish, -ket 56. 2016 term of endearment, but an Ottoman governor 58. in a way contrary to what is expected, causing wry amusement 60. abaya, abbr 61. host for an event or show 64. someone who struggles with liquor 66. identity of e^(i*pi)+1=0 67. to immobilize for a short period of time 68. counterpart to a lord 69. plural of serum 70. Vassar time zone 71. pigment for transferring colour

32. a bike with one wheel 34. one and 35. when something must be turned in 37. a horse’s refusal 42. not even 44. a possible choice 47. a necklace of flowers 49. -a-sketch 51. Mr. Krabs did this in an episode when he shed his shell 52. uncircumcised, unrevised 53. a person inhabiting Malaysia or Indonesia

DOWN

1. to anoint someone as part of Christian rite 2. nudged with your olfactory appendage 3. explosive 4. sport shoe 5. bugs that never die 6. exam 7. to be unwilling to do or accept something 8. website address 9. makes one sick to their stomach 10. volcano named from Greek aithÅ•, ‘I burn’ 11. person from Arabian peninsula or surrounding areas 12. preposition,- the world in 80 days 14. indicates continuation not necessary to be explicitly said 16. unit of measurement of land 20. the fictional environment an actor works on 25. is, plural 26. antonym of land animal 27. Volkswagen, -juice, dung 28. what is sung 29. bug that is attracted to flames 30. another term for Egyptian cobra 31. cool, contemporary, and fashionable

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

54. to accept or act in accordance with 55. promiscuous or unchaste 56. buzz buzz, they’re all dying from climate change 57. large flightless birds 59. to completely destroy or level (Brit spelling) 62. literary form of ever 63. a period of time associated w/ a particular distinctive, arbitrary phenomenon 65. not young