The Miscellany News, Volume CXLVII, Issue 5 (Oct. 24, 2013)

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The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVII | Issue 5

October 24, 2013

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Community Works pinpoints local non-profits Students combat O classism Anna Iovine & Elizabeth Dean reporter & Guest reporter

n Sunday, October 6, the 2014 Vassar Community Works Campaign recipients were announced. The campaign works to provide financial assistance to non-profit groups in the Poughkeepsie area. Many former beneficiaries will continue to receive Community Works grants: Hudson River Housing; REAL Skills; Domestic Violence Services Program at Family Services; Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN); Dutchess Outreach; Poughkeepsie Farm Project; Dutchess County SPCA; Celebrating Community—John Flowers; and Children’s Media Project. A new non-profit to receive aid in 2014 will be Community Family Development. According to ComSee COMMUNITY on page 4

Aja Saalfeld, Andrew Eslich & Ziwen Wang Features editor and Guest reporters

S courtesy of Vassar College

Brian Riddell is the Director of Dutchess Outreach, which feeds over 1,000 people in Poughkeepsie every month. Dutchess Outreach is one of numerous non-profit organizations Vassar Community Works aids with continuous grants each year.

Shutdown has tangible effects on campus Eloy Bleifuss Prados

the shutdown. Government offices were emptied and national parks and museums were closed. The third-longest shutdown in U.S. history was lifted when Democrat and Republican leaders in the Senate settled on a plan to fund the government through mid-January. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives voted to pass the bill, which President Obama signed shortly after midnight on Oct. 17. At Vassar, the impact that the Col-

to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (known commonly as Obamacare), failed to reach an accord to pass a spending bill. This put a cork in the flow of government funding and triggered a shutdown beginning Oct. 1. Seeing their budgets frozen, federal, agencies ceased all services and work considered non-emergency. Unable to pay their employees, roughly 800,000 federal workers were furloughed for at least part of

assistant Features editor

F

allout from the federal government shutdown in October has touched Vassar College in small but discernible ways. That 16-day period brought to light all the instances students and the College—despite being a private institution—rely on a functioning federal government. In the final days of September, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, demanding a delay

lege experienced was either minimal or only temporary. A recruiter for the Peace Corps was scheduled to visit the college on Oct. 3 to meet with students considering joining the federal organization after graduation. Assistant Director for Employer Relations at the Vassar College Career Development Office (CDO), Susan Smith, said she got a call from the Peace Corps the very first day of the shutdown. A See SHUTDOWN on page 6

everal student organizations are working to bring to the forefront an issue which they believe doesn’t receive sufficient attention: class and classism. On September 28, about 25 students from different socioeconomic backgrounds engaged in a Class Action workshop held at the College Center MPR, which was mainly organized by Students’ Class Issues Alliance (SCIA) with support from Feminist Alliance, Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics (GAAP) and VSA Social Consciousness Fund. Ian Cark ’17, one of the workshop organizers, during a follow-up dinner held by SCIA in the Aula on the following Wednesday, October 2 said he has been trying to spread the word around to get more people involved weeks before the actual workshop. “To be frank,” he said, “it was hard for many students to speak up about socioeconomic issues at the beginning, but by the end of the workshop, they had a good sense of how classes affect Vassar and groups around the world. During the workshop, participants interacted with each other by having activities and conversations in groups See CLASS on page 7

Cockyboys execs to Quidditch takes flight in Northeast demystify gay porn Q Amreen Bhasin reporter

Discussion to compliment student adaptation of founder’s polyamorous relationship Jack Owen arts editor

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Inside this issue

9

Praising the VSA for increasing OPINIONS transparency

As for the game itself, Quidditch keeps close to the magical version played on flying broomsticks in the Harry Potter series. The Muggle version of the game was summed up in an emailed statement by senior Co-captain Rebecca Weir. (Disclaimer: Rebecca Weir serves as a copy-editor for The Miscellany News) Weir said, “[The team includes] three chasers who try to score against the keeper, two beaters who throw bludgers at opposing players and See QUIDDITCH on page 19

courtesy of Daniel Bilaer

orn: the word tends to elicit laughter. It draws to mind tired dialogue, poor acting and spray tans. But can porn—so prevalent in the modern age—promote important political messages? Can it have artistic merit? English major Jack Levinson ’14 believes it can. Levinson, writer and director of Gay Sex: Two Fairytales, a play produced by Unbound that goes up in two weeks, will lead a discussion panel with the three men who run Cockyboys, a popular gay porn website. Levinson’s play is a fictionalized adaptation of the Cockyboys’ story, and the trio’s visit on Thursday, October 24 at 5:30 p.m. in Sanders 212 is in anticipation of his production. Levinson has directed two other plays during his time at Vassar. When deciding what to write for his next project, knew that he wanted to develop a play that addresses issues of sexuality. After reading Molly Young’s article “He & He & He,” which appeared

in New York Magazine’s The Sex Issue in July 2012 and details the Cockyboys’ story, he decided to tell a fictionalized adaptation of their success and unconventional three-partner relationship. “I realized when I decided I wanted to write about queer issues that this was a perfect story about obviously not all issues of queer identity, but I think in terms of the white gay male identity that really pushes the boundaries,” Levinson said. “It’s also just a really hilarious and crazy story that is unbelievable when you read it for the first time.” As Levinson began doing research, he found that the “throuple,” as they call themselves, create porn that has an ulterior motive. “I started seeing a lot of overlaps between their lifestyles and between the messages they’re trying to put forward with their porn, because they are making very political porn and I really believe that they have sort of an agenda behind what they’re doSee COCKYBOYS on page 16

uidditch was originally a sport exclusively played in the magical, wizarding world of Harry Potter. But over the past few years it has become a more popular part of the collegiate world as well. Students started playing the sport at Middlebury College, and has since branched out. Now, the sport of Quidditch has become a staple on many college campuses, particularly in the Northeast. The Vassar College Quidditch team, or

the “Butterbeer Broooers” as they’re more commonly known, have been a powerhouse in the Quidditch world since their inception. In fact, the team has become a strong draw for students looking to apply to Vassar. It was one of the few things junior Co-Captain and President Jordan “Brookshanks” Brooker had heard about the school when she was applying to college. She said, “All I knew about Vassar when I applied was that they had a Quidditch team and a strong emphasis on academics.”

Nate Nichols-Fleming ’16 and Daniel Bilaer ’15 square off as seeker and snitch at a Quidditch tournament last weekend. Vassar’s team, the Butterbeer Broooers, hold an annual tournament each year where schools from the Northeast come to compete.

13 HUMOR

A guide to winning during Vassar’s Halloweekend

18 SPORTS

The difficulties of maintaining a healthy body during breaks


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