The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Volume CLII | Issue 5
October 3, 2019
Orange gives Starr Lecture
Proposals reimagine vacant YMCA center Lucy Brewster Guest Reporter
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Leila Raines
Guest Reporter Courtesy of Tiffany Trumble
he vacant, cement YMCA on Montgomery Street in the City of Poughkeepsie has been abandoned for nearly 10 years, but now there is hope of new life for the former community center. The city has received four main proposals since early April, each with a vision for how this space could benefit the Poughkeepsie community. The proposals include Eastman Campus, a robust community center with an array of services, an aquatic center with indoor and outdoor facilities and two different proposals for contemporary art museums. Eastman Campus, the project with the most public support, is the only proposal that offers an accurate construction timeline for the facility. Vassar College is part of the 35 Montgomery Coalition that is proposing Eastman Campus, but it has not yet pledged any funding for the project. A public information meeting will be held on Oct. 22 at Changepoint Church to solicit input from the
community. Public officials will attend and voice opinions after hearing the plans in more depth. Dutchess County Legislator Barbara Jeter-Jackson, who is on the advisory committee that will review the proposals, commented, “Although I’m interested in the applications presented, I also have further questions.” Some are most likely related to funding, given that none of the plans have a concrete budget, and many of them cite no sources of funding at all. Dutchess County has pledged $3 million to whichever proposal is selected, but rebuilding the YMCA is a huge financial undertaking, and most proposals will likely cost far more. However, President Bradley has written in the College’s statement of support for the project that Vassar is “not in a position to provide funding for the project,” adding that Vassar’s involvement in the creation of Eastman Campus seems to be limited, with the college focusing on their own upcoming construction projects. In a letter of support, President See YMCA on page 4
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Renowned author Tommy Orange, above, reads a passage from his bestselling novel “There There” at the William Starr Distinguished Lecture. The novel was the common reading for the Class of 2023.
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ack in June, as summer began and the countdown to movein day commenced, I, like the rest of the Class of 2023, received my copy of Tommy Orange’s debut novel “There There” in the mail. When I pulled the paperback book out of the big envelope, the bright orange cover and yellow spine instantly struck me. Three See LECTURE on page 6
Flavored e-cig ban angers students Aena Khan
News Editor
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n Sept. 15, I awoke to the steady sound of buzzes emitting from my phone. A quick look through my texts and news headlines provided me with the cause of the furor. Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) had just issued an executive order banning the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. Among the
memorable responses were, “Who the fuck does Cuomo think he is?” and “Can’t adults enjoy fruit flavors too? Goddamn.” Although the Trump administration and FDA announced a plan to ban many flavored e-cigarettes from the market—including mint and menthol—New York became only the second state to formally announce regulations, effective
since Sept. 17, 2019. Likewise, the decision followed New York State Legislation S.2833/A.558, wherein the minimum legal age limit to purchase tobacco will be raised from 18 to 21. An estimated dozen vaping-related deaths across the nation further prompted the decision (USA Today, “New York adding menthol to flavor e-cigarette See E-CIGS on page 3
Exhibit fuses dance, photography Costume shop stitches together past, present Carissa Clough
Guest Columnist
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o communicate without speaking: an idea that sings of freedom and power to a young boy who is bullied for the way he speaks, an idea that provides expression and release to dancers across the globe, an idea that Steven Caras discovered when he first observed the art of ballet on the Ed Sullivan show when he was a child.
The dream of becoming one of these master-communicators was immediately born, and Caras became obsessive over the idea of being a ballet dancer for the first 15 years of his life. Once he realized his dream of taking a ballet class, his love affair with classical ballet was finally underway. Caras continued his dance journey, going on to study at the Joffrey Ballet School. He would eventually dance for the New York City
Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News
“Steve Caras: A Dancer Captures Dance” is on display at the Palmer Gallery in the College Center through Oct. 18. The exhibit provides a rare, intimate look into the enigmatic world of ballet.
Inside this issue
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Police unions have two goals: raise your taxes, OPINION and evade officer punishment
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Ballet, under the guidance of the company’s influential co-founder George Balanchine. When Caras was 25, he lost his favorite role to a newcomer in the company. It served as a rude reality check for Caras, and reminded him that ballet careers are shortlived, or in the way Caras states it, “The wings loosen and then they fall and then you join the planet with the rest of the mortals.” To cope with his newfound mortality, Caras began exploring another passion and mode of communicating without speaking: photography. He went from the stage to the wings, from being applauded to being shushed, from having the lead role to being behind the camera. The side hobby of snapping photos between his parts on stage soon evolved into a fervor that consumed him. He began capturing everything he saw at the company. He caught moments of privacy, of performance, of posed technique. This new way of experiencing dance through photography catapulted Caras into a new creative career. People responded differently to his shots than they did to See DANCE on page 7
Woe is me, and probably you too! Overworked firstHUMOR year shares her plight
Delila Ames Reporter
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bustling, colorful workspace in the lower level of the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film is unbeknownst to many Vassar students. Behind the scenes of every mainstage production, senior drama thesis and student performance, there is a team of dedicated workers who see the costume design process through from start to finish. The upper level of the costume shop is often abuzz with students engrossed in measuring and layering fabrics. According to Lecturer of Costume Design Kenisha Kelly, the costume shop has supported the Drama Department and its productions for many decades. She and costume shop coordinator Pamelia Prior are the backbone of the design department. Kelly does everything from teaching courses in the positioning and pinning of fabric and its design to gathering fabric from the Garment District in Lower Manhattan, while Prior coordinates and oversees all the dayto-day functions of the shop. Legend has it that the costume shop used to exist in the basement
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of the Old Avery Calisthenium where the Vogelstein currently stands. Students used old horse stalls in abandoned barns to store costumes. The collection that the costume shop maintains today has over 800 pieces and stretches across Vogelstein’s lower level. The vibrant array of outfits range in style from the early 1800s to modern day outfits to the garb of future worlds. There are six-foot hoops flowing with taffeta and chiffon, adjacent to the racks and rows of costumes, all organized by style and time period. The aisles are labeled with categories like “civilian overcoats,” “ecclesiastical” and “ponchos.” Wedding veils organized by color sit in boxes next to military helmets and leotards. “The stockroom is essentially the most meticulously well-kept thrift store I’ve ever seen,” commented student-worker Jake Foster ’21. The real gem, however, is deep in the back, hidden beyond the blue flannels and orange floral dresses: the historical collection. The pieces in this collection have been donated and saved over the years, with See COSTUME SHOP on page 11
Problem or plus? NFL players are retiring earlier SPORTS than ever
The Miscellany News
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October 3, 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
“I am IN LOVE with las puestas de sol (sunsets) in Viña del Mar,” emphatically writes Mira Michels-Gualtieri ’21, who is one of two Vassar students participating in Middlebury College’s Applied Studies in Health track. Under the exhange program, Michels-Gualtieri is a full-time student at the Universidad Andrés Bello, located in Santiago, Chile. She’d also be quick to add that her lab is only 10 minutes away from the beach. For more, visit Far & Away at farandaway.miscellanynews.org.
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October
Thursday
Bishop Lecture - Mark Doty 6:00 p.m. | SC 212- Auditorium | English Department
[Buddhist Sangha] Evening Sit 8:30 p.m. | Library Quiet Room | Religious and Spiritual Life Office
Courtesy of Vassar College
Come support the swim team in their alumni meet on Saturday!
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October
Friday
QPR Suicide Prevention Training for Faculty, Staff and Administrators 12:00 p.m. | TH 203- Auditorium | Counseling Service
Overcoming Difficult Interview Questions 12:00 p.m. | NE 206 | Career Development Office
Guest Artists: Tempesta di Mare Chamber Players present A Tale of Two Italian Cities 8:00 p.m. | Martel Theater | Music Department
[Buddhist Sangha] Evening Sit 8:00 p.m. | Library Quiet Room | Religious and Spiritual Life Office
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October
Saturday
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October
Sunday
Students of Sobriety Group
Guest Artist: Aizuri Quartet
9:30 a.m. | RH 211 | AA Poughkeepsie
3:00 p.m. | SH Martel Hall | Music Depertment
Swim/Dive (M/W) vs Alumni
Ecumenical Christian Worship
1:00 p.m. | Walker Field House | Athletics
Free Public Walking Tours of Vassar College 10:00 a.m. | Main Circle | Communications
Soccer (M) vs. Skidmore College 2:00 p.m. | Prentiss Field | Athletics
4:00 p.m. | Chapel Tower Foyer | Religious and Spiritual Life Office
Catholic Mass 5:00 p.m. | Chapel | Religious and Spiritual Life Office Courtesy of 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.
Larry H. Mamiya Memorial Service 2:00 p.m. | EH Aula | Religious and Spiritual Life Office
Men’s Lacrosse Alumni Game 3:00 p.m. | Prentiss Field | Athletics
Reporters Delila Ames Ariana Gravinese Jonah Frere-Holmes Tiana Headley Columnists Alex Barnard Abram Gregory Copy Samantha Cavagnolo Amanda Herring Phoebe Jacoby Caitlin Patterson Crossword Frank
Stop by Martel Hall to hear the Aizuri Quartet this Sunday!
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
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.
NEWS
October 3, 2019
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Humans of Poughkeepsie: Nadia Bennett Tiana Headley Reporter
Humans of Poughkeepsie is an ongoing project seeking to highlight members of the Poughkeepsie community. Below, Nadia Bennett shares her story. Bennett is the founder of C. Brook Amber’s Salon, a hair salon at 784 Main Street. She has been in business for five years.
Tiana Headley/The Miscellany News
I didn’t even want to do hair. My oldest sister tricked me. I worked at a bank for about six years. My sister said, “You’re pretty good at doing hair, why don’t you try to get your [cosmetology] license?” I told her I was quite comfortable being at the bank and wasn’t looking into getting into hair. There’s too many stylists out there right now. She was a stylist in Jamaica before we came here and she said, “If you go [to cosmetology school], I’ll go with you so you feel comfortable. I know you’re pretty good and I’d love to see you expand and do your own thing. Be an entrepreneur. Start your own business.” So, we went to a school and signed up to get my cosmetology license and she signed up as well. We spoke with the teachers and set up a date to start. When I [started], everything was taken care of for me to start, but everything wasn’t taken care of for my sister. When I found that out I asked her, “Hey, what’s going on? I thought you were starting today too?” And she looked at me and said, “I never had any intention of starting. I just wanted you to start because it’s so important that you do something you love. Because I know you love doing hair. I know you drive by every one of these stylists, but you go to the stylists that you like. So, don’t worry about all the other stylists that you see. Just do what you like to do.” So, that was it.
Growing up in Jamaica was amazing. Being a kid, there was so much to do. All the kids my age in my neighborhood used to play and go outside. We used to play in the rain, play hopscotch, batten ball and pick fruits because we had a lot of fruit trees around. We used to go to our neighbor’s field and pick mangoes and berries. It was just a great childhood. I can’t think of anything negative that impacted my life. It was all positive. And my mom made sure of that. I didn’t grow up with my dad, it was just my mom. My dad was [in America], so he wasn’t around. But I think she did a good job raising us, so I think that instilled all my beliefs—to make sure you take care of your kids because they didn’t choose to be here, you chose them. I wasn’t sad when I left because I knew it was for a better future. I cherish my memories, but I wouldn’t change anything.
I’ve been living in Poughkeepsie for 17 years. I haven’t seen it change very much. Things are very similar to how they were. I don’t like it here. I really don’t. I like the fact that my salon is here, I have a house here, my family is here and my husband has a job here. Everything I do revolves around [my kids]. But, personally, I don’t like it here. I wish I could move, but it’s like my feet are planted. I have roots here. I just have to make it work. It’s too slow here. It’s not really moving; it’s a little stagnant. I don’t really see anything going up. It’s just staying. It’s like a body of water that’s not moving. It’s not rising and it’s not falling. It’s just there.
I have five daughters with very different personalities and very different ages. It seems like it’s difficult for someone looking from the outside in, especially because we’re young parents. We have three teenagers and two babies pretty much. But you just have to have a basic foundation where the older ones can set an example for the younger ones, because they’ll emulate them. We try to set daily goals and patterns for them to follow so that when they get older they’ll have more of a structure of how a family should be. I try my best to lead them in a way I think will make them successful human beings, not necessarily successful as in being rich but successful as in rich with love and family values.
Vassar students agree to disagree over NY e-cig ban E-CIGS continued
man—if he wants to hit a Juul, he can.” Like hundreds of other Vassar students, Wilstenholme-Britt assumes the presence of e-cigarettes in campus life. A Spring 2018 survey from the American College Health Association shared by Andrea Pesavento, Director of Health Promotion and Education, reflected this sentiment. A sampling of 632 Vassar students indicated a perceived on-campus e-cigarette use rate of 67.9 percent. However, in the same survey, 85 percent of Vassar students reported never having used e-cigarettes. Of the remaining 15 percent of students who had used e-cigarettes, only 7.5 percent reported any use within the preceding 30 days. This figure is far below the survey’s results at the University of Michigan, which is located in the only other state with a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, in which approximately 15 percent of students reported e-cigarette use. Additionally, it is lower than the 21 percent of Vassar students who reported smoking cigarettes. Concerns that the ban on flavored e-cigarettes will lead to an increase in cigarette use was among the main criticisms of Governor Cuomo’s ban. For many high-schoolers, e-cigarettes are an entryway to a nicotine addiction that would be satisfied by smoking cigarettes. Conversely, some ban-proponents say the inconvenience of smoking cigarettes would successfully deter nicotine consumers with inclinations to quit. One sophomore, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to their participation in black market cigarette distribution (and will hereafter be referred to as Riley), described their experiences: “I started using nicotine by smoking cigs while drunk when I was 18, which is older than a lot of other people I know, but I made a pretty conscious effort while in high school to avoid
nicotine because everyone who has smoked in my family has gotten cancer. I now go through either a pod or a pack every week to 10 days.” Riley continued, “I didn’t really get into vaping until this school year, and mostly out of convenience … Now, I’d say this past month I vape about two-thirds of the time and smoke the other third.” Another student, Elizabeth Ralston ’21, summarized her opinion in a tweet: “idk man virginia tobacco juul pods just feel kinda racist,” in a reference to the singular Juul pod flavor excluded from the ban (Twitter, @lizzoblizzo, 10.01.19). Ralston further expressed her frustration to The Miscellany News: “I think it won’t affect me personally that much, especially because I can always buy from out of state. I started Juuling with tobacco because it was a way for me to stop smoking, which made me feel gross even though it was only ever on weekends.” She continued, “I don’t think it will stop people at Vassar from Juuling. Maybe fewer high school or middle school kids will pick up the habit, but I think these bans underestimate the actual appeal of these products … The fact that Juul is a really convenient and appealing product has scared a lot of parents and politicians, but overall I think its impact has been widely beneficial.” Riley, a North Carolina native, adopted the practice of selling non-retail cigarettes before the e-cigarette ban. “I’m friends with a lot of people who smoke or vape and are also from New York or New England. When I bought my first pack of cigs here, they were almost double what I was used to paying,” they shared. “I decided to buy bulk cigarettes to transport up here after my first October break. I asked some of my friends if they were interested and some offered to pay a little extra for them. It just made sense
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
to offer that to a larger group of people, especially because I can make $2 to $3 a pack.” Riley, Ralston and Wilstenholm-Britt all concurred when asked about the accuracy of the survey reporting the number of Vassar students who use e-cigarettes. Their conclusion: The participants must have underreported their usage. Yet, it remains unknown how regularly vaping Vassar students will cope with the loss of flavored e-cigarettes. They could adopt smoking cigarettes if they have not already, switch to tobacco-flavors or quit entirely. Regardless, one reality remains clear: The consumption of Juul and its marketplace companions will evolve.
Courtesy of Vaping360 via Flickr
from page 1 ban as vaping crackdown expands nationwide,” 09.26.19; City and State: New York, “What Cuomo’s executive order on vaping will and won’t do,” 09.15.19). When Governor Cuomo spoke from his Midtown Manhattan office on the executive order, he offered this insight: “There are two facts that are central to this issue and they are incongruous but they are not inconsistent. First fact is that vaping is dangerous, period, for several reasons. It is addicting young people to nicotine...Second, we do not know the long term health effects of the use of this product” (YouTube, “Governor Cuomo Announces Emergency Executive Action to Ban the Sale of Flavored E-Cigarettes,” 09.15.19). The increasing number of teen users served as the ban’s primary impetus, with an increase from 1.7 to 11.2 percent between 2011 and 2017 in high school e-cigarette use, but the number of young adults who use e-cigarettes some days, if not all, similarly increased from 2.4 to 5.2 percent between 2012-13 and 2015 (TruthInitiative, “E-cigarettes: Facts, stats and regulations,” 06.19.18 ). The use of e-cigarettes, commonly in the form of the sleek and USB-esque Juul, is not unfamiliar at Vassar. Many students can recall at least one incident wherein a peer dropped a Juul around the “smoke-free campus,” or exhaled a cloud on a sunny day while walking to class (if not while in it). Alexander Wilstenholme-Britt ’22 recalled a particularly remarkable incident: “One time I was in office hours with my professor, discussing my paper, and about halfway through the conversation he whipped out his Juul and took a decently long hit. My first reaction? He’s a bad bitch.” Wilsenholme-Britt continued, “He’s a grown
Juuling is just one of many ways to imbibe substances via e-cigarettes, also known as “vaping.” However, a recent gubernatorial executive order bans flavored e-cigarettes.
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NEWS
October 3, 2019
Vassar hosts Undergraduate Research Summer Institute Vassar professors and students who participated in the 34th annual Vassar Undergraduate Research Summer Institute culminated their 10 weeks of research by presenting findings in the Villard Room this past Wednesday, Sept. 25. Research topics included human evolutionary anatomy in silicon, restoration ecology and invasive species management.
All photos courtesy of Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News
City considers YMCA proposals, seeks additional funding YMCA continued
resource. According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, in 2014 the Reverend Curtis Whitted purchased the building for $10, hoping to build a community center that would provide services to Poughkeepsie families.
“[I]t represent[s] a comprehensive, cross sector commitment to giving Poughkeepsie’s children the best possible start in life.” Despite the Reverend’s attempts to build momentum for the project, the tax liens were never paid and the city eventually acquired ownership of the building on Feb. 25 under a recent anti-blight initiative. The building is currently a biohazard, containing asbestos, lead and mold on the inside. The building has also sustained physical damage since its closure, and it is unclear whether the walls would be salvageable during the construction of a new facility. The coalition is made up of some of the major institutions—including the College—and community centers in the Hudson Valley, such as Nuvance health, which operates Vassar Brothers, and MASS Design Group, the architectural firm that designed Eastman Campus. The MASS Design Group claims in their proposal that this ambitious construction project of the Eastman campus will be possible due to members of the 35 Montgomery Coalition: “Each involved party will not only help to carry a share of the costs and manage their operation, but by working together, the coalition will be able to
unlock efficiencies, reduce redundancies, and create cost savings, while collectively accessing fundraising/grant opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.” The proposal states that if selected, a full developmental budget for Eastman Campus will be created through “funding, grants, and philanthropic support.” Yet the source of these anticipated grants and donations are not named, and many members of the 35 Montgomery Coalition have not explicitly offered any money for the project. Representatives for 35 Montgomery Coalition will likely have to address the budget during the public information hearing on Tuesday, October 22. In addition to Eastman Campus, an application for a 22,000 square foot aquatic center called “Swimming Past the Boundaries” was submitted by Christopher Bledsoe. However, the proposal is outdated, with the document proposing a grand opening in April 2019. Christopher Bled-
soe could not be reached for comment. The They Co., a creative consulting group founded by Andrew Gori and Ambre Kelly, is proposing the Poughkeepsie Museum of Contemporary Art for the site. The proposal cites the location’s proximity to DIA Beacon and Storm King as evidence of the site’s potential as an art destination. While writing that tourism would economically benefit Poughkeepsie, the proposal lacks any description of the construction of the museum and cites no sources of funding. At this point, the Eastman Campus is the most viable proposal, and the prospect of such an inclusive and multi-use community center excites residents. Yet huge questions remain as to how the three-acre site will be rebuilt, and who will pay for it. As Mayor Rolison told the Poughkeepsie Journal, “This is really the first step in what will be a lengthy process…Certainly, there is a lot of work to do.”
Courtesy of Simon via WRRVCrook
from page 1 Bradley announced Vassar’s plans to build an Institute for the Liberal Arts and Inn, which will house 50 guest rooms, a restaurant and a place for holding discussions and meetings. Adjunct Assistant Professor in Urban Design at Columbia and Principal Architect at MASS Design Group Chris Kroner wrote in their proposal that Eastman Campus “re-establishes the former YMCA site as a community and recreation resource that can be a safe, structured and horizon-expanding space for Poughkeepsie’s youth and families…more than just a building, our proposal and the coalition behind it represent a comprehensive, cross sector commitment to giving Poughkeepsie’s children the best possible start in life.” According to its proposal, Eastman Campus would include a 24-hour daycare center, a greenhouse and garden, a maternal wellness center, a fitness center and gymnasium, a black box theatre and much more. The campus would provide services to Poughkeepsie residents of all ages, with the proposal describing everything from continuing education programs offered to adults to college test prep classes for high school students to swimming lessons for young children. The YMCA closed amidst the recession in 2009 due to mounting maintenance costs and decreased revenue. The facility had been open since 1863, serving hundreds of thousands of Poughkeepsie residents as an important community center, including amenities such as an Olympic swimming pool, community rooms and a gymnasium. The YMCA had over 2,000 members in 2009 when it stopped operating, leaving a gaping hole in Poughkeepsie for those who used it as a recreational
Above is the derelict visage of the old YMCA, which will soon be transformed through one of the recent proposals to revitalize the community center. Several architects revealed plans, but one so far rises above all others: the Eastman Campus concept.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
October 3, 2019
NEWS
Page 5
‘War on the Global Commons’ micro-seminar engages Taylor Gee
Guest Reporter
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skidded into Taylor 203, huffing and puffing. To my shock, students, faculty and alumnae/i packed the auditorium, with even more sitting along the stairs. This was the first film screening in the Engaged Pluralism Initiative (EPI) Global Campus and Studies’ week-long mini-seminar on the “War on the Global Commons.” In my front row seat, I craned my head up to the screen, settling in for a week of film screenings, workshops and discussions about the relationship between traumatic wartime experiences, the liberal arts and what it means to be human. Even though the EPI emails leading up to the event emphasized that any level of participation was welcomed, I felt obligated to commit to all the film screenings and discussions occurring throughout the week. The mini-seminar kicked off on Monday with Miki Dezaki’s “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue.” Dezaki’s film guided viewers through the arguments denying and acknowledging the existence of comfort women during World War II, as well as Imperial Japan’s involvement with comfort stations. The film relied on logical argumentation but also included scenes that caused reactions ranging from gasps of shock to bursts of laughter. EPI topped off the night with dumplings and a Q&A led by Dezaki and President of the Korean American Forum of California Phyllis Kim. Tuesday evening featured Ramadan Suleman’s “Zulu Love Letters,” a film depicting South Africa post-aparthied. Finally, Jude Ratnam’s “Demon in Paradise,” a doc-
umentary that followed Ratnam’s telling of the Sri Lankan Civil War. In some moments, the auditorium filled with sniffles; in others, snickers. If you were to walk past the Rose Parlor last Thursday, Oct. 26th, you would’ve seen an eclectic circle of people: students from all grade levels, professors, alumnae/i, one director and one prospective student. The director was Ratnam, who stayed after his film screening for the Thursday and Friday discussions. Pizza and refreshments broke the ice for conversation ranging from dehumanization language to interpretations of the word “demon” to what it means to “do something.” From 6:00 p.m. to 10:45 p.m., the group brought forth puzzling questions and thoughtful answers. Being surrounded by knowledgeable professors, alumnae/i and upperclassmen, firstyears may have felt somewhat hesitant to speak up. But after some exchanges, shyer students spoke. Their age and experiences did not discount their contributions. Within the circle, each person had the chance to contribute meaningfully. The inclusivity of the week’s conversations extended beyond its participants. Within the mini-seminar, big questions did not demand immediate answers nor neat conclusions. The messiness of trauma and complexities of being human were acknowledged in the breadth of the topics touched on. The benefits of empirical evidence and storytelling were debated. While some feared becoming desensitized to suffering, others feared experiencing too much empathy. Differences among participants allowed
for a more interesting and complex discussion. Friday, Sept. 27th, marked the final day of the mini-seminar. The conversation continued throughout the day-long workshop in the President’s Conference Room, where people were allowed to come and go as necessary. Topics varied, but each fostered lively debate. Narrative or theory? Which is considered more compelling when analyzing traumatic events? Professor of Political Science Himadeep Muppidi spoke about the sheltered way in which students are taught, noting that in learning environments, “Students can be disturbed, but not too much.” For some students, the mini-seminar felt both intellectually and emotionally jarring. Reshan Selvavelautham ‘23 and Githu Krishanakumar ‘21 can attest to a similar sentiment. Considering the volume of events constantly happening on campus, it came as no surprise when Selvavelautham learned about Ratham’s “Demons in Paradise” screening mere hours before the event. Immediately, he cleared his schedule for that evening. Selvavelautham remarked, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to learn about my family’s history.” As Tamils, Selvavelautham’s parents were forced to flee during the Sri Lankan Civil War. The family moved to America where Selvavelautham grew up. Selvavelautham admitted, “I don’t know other South Asians, don’t know other Sri Lankans like me. So I never got to learn— besides my parents’ perspective—I never got to learn in an informative environment like a school environment.” When Selvavelautham spoke with his mom, he said she didn’t like
that the film talked about how Tamils fought other Tamils. The film screening gave him an alternative perspective that his parents couldn’t provide. Krishanakumar described how she felt after Thursday’s discussion: “I think I learned a lot, and it definitely gave me a lot to reflect on. Like, last night…I was supposed to go out with some friends, and I ended up just staying in my room on my laptop. My laptop screen was open, but I wasn’t really doing anything—I was just thinking about the conversation we’ve been having.” In the same way, I found myself drifting back in time to think about our conversations. During the mini-seminar, countless topics were analyzed. Out of curiosity, I asked Ratham what his favorite topic we discussed was. He reflected: “In a pedagogical institution we’ve been talking about ghosts. Ghosts and demons. We become like kids.” He then burst into laughter. For such a high-brow institution, we spent hours earnestly talking about ghosts and demons. Despite the heavy topic of trauma, the mini-seminar was fun. We were kids being playful and learning from each other. When I was watching the films, it puzzled me to have kernels of joy amongst the stories of sorrow. Throughout the week’s conversations, I experienced something similar. Moments of gravity intertwined with moments of merriment. It seems like a contradiction to feel both in the face of tragedy. Though, if I’ve learned anything, it is that nothing is black and white. The easier explanation is that humans are complex; the harder explanation would require another mini-seminar.
Vassar students get down and dirty, inspired by the Lorax Alysa Chen
Guest Reporter
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bodies seem separate from each other, they are like organs connected by tissues and veins; water is constantly flowing its various bodies, and anything that impacts an upper part of the stream that leads to Sunset Lake, for instance, will also affect the downstream area. One of the main streams linking bodies of water throughout Vassar’s campus is the Casperkill stream. For instance, the 1932 closing of a brick plant near Casperkill created a pit in the stream, which became a site for the dumping of garbage and ashes (Vassar College Environmental Research Institute, “Health of the Casperkill, Dutchess County, New York,” February 2009). Although such violations of the Clean Water Act are now prohibited, the water quality of streams running through campus continue to be damaged, with the culprits ranging from motor oil runoff to the increased release of organic nutrients into the water. Scientific research and community action
have prioritized the recovery of Sunset Lake and the Casperkill stream. Small actions such as planting trees along streams—like what Vassar volunteers did this past Saturday—contribute to the purification of water quality and the revival of native ecosystems. “There are things that we can do to repair the damage that we have done,” Brown echoed. Returning to The Lorax, people may have grown up to believe that planting trees is a good deed, and therefore they do it. But this naturally raises the question: Why do people really do it? Is it simply an obligatory action, or something to gratify people with a sense of relief from the guilt of anthropogenic impact on the environment? Or is it truly because people feel intrinsically connected to our environment and believe that what affects it also affects them? These are questions that can help people assess the extent of our own environmental stewardship and sense of ecological responsibility. Often, the answer is a mixture of both.
Courtesy of Grace Rousell
hanks to Dr. Seuss’ famous children’s book The Lorax, many people grow up believing that planting trees is a conscious act of doing good. Perhaps this lasting impact of The Lorax is cemented by the quote that he chose to end with: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” This quote presents human impact on the environment with a duality of pessimism and hope, similar to The Lorax’s critical yet inspiring call to action. Simply put, it creates a sense of environmental stewardship in children across the world. In response to that universal childhood message, Vassar students are upholding environmental stewardship on campus and doing so on both the collective and individual scale, at a time when sustaining human and ecological populations is the demanding issue of the century. This past Saturday, Sept. 28, the Environmental Cooperative at Vassar Barns hosted a community tree planting event from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. near Kenyon Bridge, located at a Casperkill stream site at the northeast corner of campus. On this sunny day in early autumn, about 40 Vassar students offered their helpful hands to designate homes for young trees. Planting one tree requires an elaborate process of preparation, potting and then protection. Volunteers were mainly comprised of returning Environmental Cooperative workers, experienced tree-planters and environmental studies majors, but many were also first-timers when it came to planting trees. Martin Burstein ’23, for example, never planted trees before. By volunteering this past Saturday, he shared how he not only learned how to create safe and secure homes for trees, but also grew his environmental
network as a first-year at Vassar. Burstein commented on the broader necessity of tree planting: “We should plant more trees because they’re getting cut down at a much faster rate.” He also pointed to the key roles that trees play in our ecosystem, including carbon sequestration, soil compaction, erosion control and mixed land use. His new friend and tree planting partner, Lucy Brown ’22, environmental studies major and Co-President of Vassar Greens, also remarked on the importance of tree planting. “We need a lot of monumental change in how we use energy and put out carbon emissions, but I do think that planting trees is a good thing that everybody can do,” Brown said. “A really big part of environmentalism is actually being outside and seeing how things change as a result of human interference and human aid.” In the Essentials of Environmental Science course Brown is currently taking, students are conducting field research in the local Casperkill and Fonteynkill streams, which run from the north to south ends of campus. Students in the class are studying the drinkability, biodiversity and overall quality of water at each respective source on Vassar’s campus. According to the students in the course, one concept they learn is that trees act as one of the best buffers and water purifiers, providing Vassar with a healthier, cleaner and more inhabitable Sunset Lake to enjoy. However, Vassar did not always have courses devoted to environmentalism in this fashion. While the college boasts an extensive arboretum and ecological preserve, fewer campus residents notice aspects of our ecosystem such as water quality. In fact, Vassar is situated in proximity to multiple bodies of water: the Hudson River, Sunset Lake and Vassar Lake. Although these water
Environmental stewardship is a common attribute across Vassar’s student body. To engage students in small acts of ecological restoration, the Environmental Cooperative hosted a community tree planting on a sunny fall afternoon.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
ARTS
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October 3, 2019
Dead Funny Records rides the waves of tradition, neo-indie I
n the neighborhood Shimokitazawa in the Setagaya Ward of Tokyo, there is a Y-junction, the confluence of two narrow streets, with a little Shinto shrine. Despite the surrounding streetlights, solitary bicycles, handwritten restaurant signs and colorful storefronts, the shrine rests comfortably. It belongs there. There is a big, fashionable fern next to it. There is nowhere else in the world, I think, that combines old and new, foreign and domestic, so seamlessly. Shimokitazawa prides itself on being hip, with a glut of cafés, vintage clothing shops, record stores and live
music venues. The same goes for other neighborhoods like Yoyogi. Tokyo is an ancient city, though, with remnants of the old bordering clean-lined coffee houses. As you walk around Shimokita or parts of Yoyogi, you’ll see butcher shops, fisheries and croquette-makers showing off their foodstuffs in bleary glass cases, ramen restaurants of old, and, of course, Shinto shrines. Combined with the newer, trendier spots and ridiculously narrow streets, coexistence defines these neighborhoods. The city is old but not static; it teems with life. Japan’s independent music scene, which
Waater Five-piece currently based in Tokyo. Influences include ’90s shoegaze and noise pop. In 2018, they digitally released a self-titled EP. They combine catchy riffs and euphonies with what they call “unconscious” sounds. Their second EP, “Escapes,” released this September, cements a characteristic noise. They sing in English and their tracks are warm, melody-driven and usually fast with easygoing, layered vocals. If you like surf pop (think Best Coast or Real Estate) and/or the Lo-fi sound of Brooklyn label Captured Tracks (DIIV, Wild Nothing), listen to “Escapes.” GeGeGe Alias of one Ryouto Mizuno, a 24-year-old from Kanazawa. He documents his quests for “bizarre guitars” on Twitter. “Bizarre guitar” is an umbrella term for oddly shaped, retro-style guitars, coined by Hiroyuki Noguchi, editor of Guitar Magazine. He found a lefty bizarre guitar he saw on an online secondhand shop (a left-handed bizarre guitar, he says, is doubly bizarre). Currently, he’s on a quest for a lefty Fender Jag-Stang. Influences include Beach Fossils, Kevin Krauter, Supercar, Shintaro Sakamoto and Seiichi Yamamoto, as well as science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick; in fact, the title of his first fulllength album “SF” means “science fiction” (as well as a host of other things). He sings all in Japanese, which he feels is a magical and cryptic language. His new album comes out this October or November.
thrives in neighborhoods like Shimokita (swarming with young people), is just as dynamic—and, just as nostalgic, respectful of its roots. Lately, independent Japanese record labels are cropping up outside the major cities of Tokyo and Osaka. The label Dead Funny Records, for example, started in Fukuoka in 2012. Acts hail from all over Japan, and they’ve even worked with people based in North America. This Oct., at a little venue called Shimokitazawa Three, the J-indie label Dead Funny presents several of their acts, including GeGeGe, Waater and Hearsays. Dead Funny has
also signed Japanese indie artist moo. With similar sonic influences, they’re on par with Western indie, but hypnotizing Japanese lyrics and a rich domestic musical tradition (Haruomi Hosono, Shintaro Sakamoto) breathe life into Dead Funny. Following are four Dead Funny artists with sonic influences both domestic and offshore, who sing in both Japanese and English, who revere decades-old bands but look ever towards the future. Like Shimokita itself, familiar and foreign—old and new—live harmoniously in Dead Funny. Dead Funny artists are available on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and Bandcamp.
moo Sapporo quartet. The music video for moo’s “All Day Long” looks as lovingly handcrafted as the song itself. Over shots of sunny streets, a planetarium and one of the members picking at an orange guitar, moo croons about having nowhere to go and nothing to do. Then the guitarist wields his instrument like a rifle, stony-faced. Moo’s songs, even those English speakers can’t understand, are universally summery. The video for “Freak,” from their first mini-album “Kite Flying Society,” also looks analog, with home footage of the members eating parfaits and grinning. The first YouTube comment I see on “Freak” reads roughly in Japanese: “Loose and good.” Hearsays Two guys and two girls from Fukuoka. Like Waater, they sing in English. And like many of their label-mates, Hearsays are fans of ’90s alternative and indie. The female vocalists, whose Western influences resound in their delivery, sing dreamily. Their tones especially complement the instrumentals: generous high hat, creamy and simple guitar. In a 2018 single cut of “When I’m Wrong,” Hearsays laments about distant love. The album art is a crude drawing of an anthropomorphized zebra. Like a proud parent, Dead Funny boasts on their website that “When I’m Wrong” was featured in a Peach Airlines commercial. By Taylor Stewart, Assistant Arts Editor All photos courtesy of Dead Funny Records
‘There There’ author discusses writing process, Indigeneity LECTURE continued
from page 1 months later, a sea of this orange and yellow flooded the Villard Room as students, faculty and community members waited for the 2019 William Starr Distinguished Lecture to begin, their own copies of the book in hand. The Starr Lecture is an annual program designed to engage new students with published authors about important topics in fiction. The event took place this past Monday, Sept. 30, and centered around “There There,” which was chosen as the first-year common reading. The story takes place in Oakland, CA and focuses on the individual stories of Native characters living in the city. These unique stories come together to shape a narrative about the urban Native community. The event started with a short opening from Dean of First-Year Students Jennifer Herrera. She introduced the purpose of the first-year common reading, as well as the significance of the Starr Lecture. She spoke about the book and the online discussion questions that connected the new, diverse incoming class. “I think the [first-year] reading is important because it’s one of the first shared experiences our students get, even before they get to campus,” Herrera commented in an email correspondence. The discussion ignited with an introduction from Director of American Studies Professor Molly McGlennen. Over the summer, McGlennen and three other professors developed online prompts, based on “There, There,” to spark discussions among first-year students. In her prompt, she discussed the importance of the nov-
el’s prologue, delving into the violent history between Natives and white settlers and analyzing how Orange crafts the prologue to contextualize the rest of the story. “[Orange’s] fictional narrative illuminates the threads of history that are foundational to this land, to this place we now call the U.S., because these threads of history have often gone suppressed, hidden or perverted, or told in a way that, of course, lauds Euro-American progress and then justifies and normalizes this continued violence against Native peoples,” McGlennen said in her video prompt on the subject. McGlennen was also on the committee that chose the first-year common reading. When asked about “There There” as a potential candidate, she eagerly promoted the novel. “I couldn’t say enough about how important this book would be for students to read—not only because it has won numerous awards, but because it tells a story rarely heard by non-Native people,” she shared in an email interview. “Every time I read this book, I find new things to love about it: for its braiding of multiple characters, voices and points of view; for its pertinent prologue that grants meaningful context to the fictional narrative ahead; for its description of Oakland, a city I lived in for some 15 years before landing a job here at Vassar.” As she spoke about the urban Native experience in her introduction, McGlennen discussed the violent truth behind white settlement in America, stating that Native America holds up a “mirror” against the settlement of this country. She expounded, “Orange’s incredible debut novel turns
that mirror on his readers…It is, as I always relate to my students, yet another time a Native author is generously and lovingly inviting you into one of the many stories of indigenous America, on Native terms.” Her powerfully-written introduction launched the dialogue between Orange and Professor of English Amitava Kumar, drawing the audience into the discussion that ensued. From the outset, the lecture took on a conversational tone, with Orange and Kumar directly engaging with the audience. The exchange tackled serious topics while also diving into Orange’s experiences with reading and writing. Orange’s discovery of reading plays a unique role in the development of his writing process. He didn’t start reading for fun until much later in life, when he got a job at a bookstore. “I reorganized where the fiction section would be, and I fell in love with fiction just from moving the books,” Orange recalled. This quip earned a ripple of laughter from the audience. Many lighthearted moments like this appeared throughout the conversation. In the middle of the discussion, Orange read an excerpt from the novel’s prologue. Pages rustled as the audience read with him, holding onto every word he read aloud from his powerful opening. He brought the passage to life; hearing him read aloud gave the text a deeper, more personal meaning. The dialogue that followed explored various aspects of the writing process behind “There There,” including how Orange deployed his writing to fight stereotypes about Natives. As he discussed the risks that come with creating a realistic por-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
trayal of urban Natives, Orange addressed how he confronted harmful views of Indigenous communities: “I think leaning into these areas in new ways, structurally and formally and stylistically, is the only way to really approach it.” Orange also revealed some of the mechanical writing practices that went into the novel. When a student asked about his research process, he explained how he used a combination of his own experiences and outside sources to shape the novel. The internet provided bountiful information; he shared, “I love being in the stage of research where, as I was saying earlier, you’re sort of seeking out things to layer and fuel your novel, and some things you have to dig to find and other things fall in your lap.” The event ended with a book-signing. A long line of people curved around the room, everyone clutching their orange copies. As my roommate and I returned to our dorm, we reminisced about all of the wonderful elements of the lecture. “He brought the story to life, especially when he did the reading,” my roommate, Nina Ajemian ’23, said. After three months of holding on to this book, carrying it through the conclusion of high school and into the next stage of my life (college), being at the lecture highlighted my first-year experience. The book became a point of familiarity during a time in which everything changed and unfamiliar faces surrounded me. Hearing Tommy Orange speak in person brought a sense of satisfaction and completion to my first month of orientation.
October 3, 2019
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Third eye and beyond: Ratnam traces memory, violence Hindley Wang
Guest Columnist
“I
didn’t make the film,” director Jude Ratnam insisted about his 2017 movie “Demons In Paradise.” “It all came to me, and I had to do it, I didn’t plan it going into it. It just all happened.” Ratnam’s insistence on renouncing agency demands that we look at “Demons In Paradise” through an atypical lens. He doesn’t like to think that he created the film—he even denies that he is a filmmaker. The titles and connotations of “maker” and “creator” bear too much power; they make the work an object of study, which deeply baffles the storyteller. The film begins in Ratnam’s voice. “Demons in Paradise” debuted as a special screening at the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival. It came to Vassar this past week through the Engaged Pluralism Initiative micro-seminar, which led a series of screenings and conversations on wartime violence. It is a nonfiction, emotional account of history and a historical reconciliation of memory. Ratman is one of the very few Tamil filmmakers tackling the sensitive memory of the Sri Lankan Civil War; thus, his film does not lie in any preexisting framework or official account of the conflict. He documents what he sees, and how the war shaped his personal way of seeing and feeling. He opens the film with his son, Nethran, attending an amusement fair at night. The fairy lights of the carousel and bumper cars flicker off the child’s iris. Nethran yells at his father for permission to ride in Tamilnese, triggering Ratnam’s discomfort with the past—memories of being marked by his language in public spaces, of how his mother warned him to not speak Tamilnese in public because it would get him killed.
The camera then brings us to a photograph of a naked Tamilnese man beaten up and laughed at on a dark, damp street by a Sinhalese man in “civilized” attire, pointing at him with a smirk on his face. The Tamilnese man was killed soon after the photograph was taken. The journalist who took this photo is Sinhalese. When asked if he could have stopped the killing instead of taking the photograph, he replied, “I can tell right from wrong,” but asserted that no act within his power could stop the murder. By taking the photograph, he was able to preserve a piece of evidence, a snapshot of history. The camera shifts to capture an uncomfortably long shot of an old couple changing in and out of outfits. The old man struggles to put on a tight, stark white T-shirt, while the old lady tries to smear red pottu on her forehead—an effort to erase an important mark of identity, which proves to be a little too difficult. The pottu stains. “It was a time when crossing a road felt like crossing a continent,” the couple muses, recalling an uneasy passage during the civil struggle on a road once too ordinary. The central narrative follows Ratnam’s uncle Ignacius. We retrace his memories from being the “little brother” in a Sinalese village to his departure from home to join the militant rebels, known as the National Liberation Front of Tamileelam. His uncle is the hero of the family, not because he survived the war, but because he chose to fight in the first place. We follow Ratnam and Ignacius on the train traveling north to where it all began. On the red train, everything looks worn, familiar and assuring—scribbles marked on the walls of the train, rusty red paints once soaked in sunlight and humility, shiny leather seats polished by time, rhythmic hisses and screeches, jolting couplers at
the juncture of two coaches, harmonized bumping of the wheels against the rails. As a witness of history and turmoil in “Demons in Paradise,” the train has seen congestions of bodies, bodies being thrown out of its cars and violence beyond its boundaries. Among other profound metaphoric scenes—of reunion, a campfire of confession and reflection, of disguises and the violence of the loss of the ordinary—that which struck me the most was when Ignacius discusses the railway that his group tried to dismantle during the war. He takes a piece and sits down under the blazing sun and starts sawing with a simple blade. The grating noise persists against the thin blade, until the small string saw gives in. “What you do is you put water on it, then it goes much longer,” he says, and resumes sawing back and forth into the impenetrable steel. This strenuous effort stands as testimony to the oppression Ignacius felt, the same kind that had pushed his mother to the edge of insanity, to scream from the bottom of the hill, to rip off all her clothes and disguises for she did not know anymore how she should live with her Tamilnese identity—a painful memory that incited him to join the Tamilnese rebels, to take up arms, “to take power.” This 30-year civil struggle was molded by a kind of oppression where power is only imagined and taught in the arms of violence. Mundane scenes provoke a sense of immediacy, bridging a passage of resonance through feeling rather than knowing. The film does not explain the backstory of the civil struggle, which, according to Hollywood’s Reporter’s 2017 review, makes the film “inaccessible” to viewers with no background knowledge of the conflict (“‘Demons in Paradise’: Film Review,” The Hollywood Reporter, 06.05.2017). But the
goal is not to know as a disengaged viewer, nor to observe as a bystander. This built-in entitlement to knowledge and the expectation of “Demons in Paradise” to provide it are problematic. When we rely so much on knowledge, we lose the ability to rise above rationality, or to ever come close to fully understanding experiences of violence. When you live in present history, who gives you backstory? History rushes through you, with no specifics—no trigger warning, no insights offered. Ratnam allows us not to simply see, but to see through his own eyes and his camera, all of which helps us better understand he meant earlier by “I didn’t make the film.” I approached him about the impact of filmmaking on his lived and living experience, and he told me, “I was dragged into this…in hindsight, if you had been making it, you couldn’t have done this.” His denial of agency is not to rid himself of accountability. He rejects the “ownness” given to the filmmaker; he insists that the film has a life of its own, one that is beyond him. On the opposite side of the screen, Ratnam sits among us on the receptive end. For Ratnam, the film doesn’t stop with the end of shooting, just as the camera doesn’t go away when the film is finished. The practice of the moving picture permeates one’s living pictures afterwards, “as an extension of your being,” he explains. The omnipresence of the camera after the film marks the “Demons in Paradise” director, like a pottu, the third eye in Hinduism, as a source of truth—the truth of who you are, beyond your marked identity. To have the third eye always open to living present and lived past is to be receptive of the constant transcendence of truth in all its multiplicity. Let the world rush in.
Caras Exhibit provides intimate glimpse into dance world anywhere else. Like this piece, many of the photographs in Caras’ exhibition display male dancers. As Caras himself was bullied growing up for taking ballet, the prevalence of male subjects in his work speaks to the unique experience of the male ballet dancer. One photo, “Studio portrait,” displays the backside of a male dancer as he reaches backward for something the viewer cannot see. His form is loose, as if he is falling toward something. His back is completely nude, highlighting a vulnerability that every dancer must feel at some point in their career. In contrast to the more intimate shots, there is a collection of creative portraits that highlight the movement of the human body. One shot displays two dancers on skis leaning forward into themselves, creating the illusion of a lack of gravity. The dancers seem to be drawn to each other by some unseen magnetic force. Above this shot is one of a male dancer, mid-air. His legs are pretzeled and his torso leans forward over his legs. The third photo in the display is another mid-air shot, the dancer’s legs propped to the side and his arms sticking forward, holding a hat. These three shots displayed together speaks to the physical performance that the human body, or rather the dancer’s body, is capable of. The crown jewel of the collection is the colored shot of George Balanchine’s final bow. Balanchine was the co-founder of the New York City Ballet and trusted men-
tor of Caras, and his impact on the ballet world is far and wide—he’s often been nicknamed “the father of American ballet.” The shot shows Balanchine holding open a jeweled curtain as he looks modestly into the apathetic crowd. The viewer can see the company behind the curtains affectionately observing Balanchine as he makes his walk from behind the curtain to receive his applause. The side perspective of the photo provides a kind of intimacy very different from what a front-facing shot could offer, as it simulates looking
into something you’re not necessarily meant to see. The combination of the dancers in the background, the flowers beneath Balanchine’s feet and the fact that the photo was taken by someone who knows Balanchine creates an emotional piece that speaks to the whole of American ballet culture. “Steve Caras: A Dancer Captures Dance” offers a small glance into the world of ballet. It speaks of experience, passion and connection. The collection will be on display until Oct. 18.
Yvette Hu/The Miscellany News
DANCE continued from page 1 other dance-photographers. They trusted Caras. They knew that he understood ballet more intimately than almost anyone else. When discussing his creative processes, Caras stated that the hardest part is the selection—he has over 12,000 photographs in his portfolio. But once he visited the Palmer Gallery, this process became easier. He laid eyes on the gallery and immediately thought: black and white. “It sort of inspires [the] imagination to go a little bit further,” Caras explained. He also sought to display a wide array of photographs. There are candid behind-the-scenes views, posed portraits, thrilling action shots and a solo color photo capturing George Balanchine’s final bow. The photos themselves offer rare insight into the world of dance. Because dancers appear as ethereal stage-inhabitants to the common person, seeing them in raw moments of privacy inflicts a feeling of deep intimacy onto the viewer. The black and white coloring emphasizes this feeling. It’s simple and gritty. It pulls the viewer in to look closer and deeper at these enigmatic subjects. In one photo, “Pre-preformance dressing room portrait,” a shirtless male dancer sits at a dressing table applying makeup. The camera captures his profile as he gazes at himself in the mirror, completely unaware that anyone is watching him. The photo fosters a connection between audience and performer that cannot be found
Professional dancer and photographer Steven Caras has amassed a portfolio of over 10,000 photographs, 66 of which are currently on display at Vassar’s Palmer Gallery.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
ARTS
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October 3, 2019
Poet Robert Hunter brought the Dead to life, dies at 78 Dean Kopitsky
Assistant Arts Editor
I
viet spies. Hunter, eager to try psychedelics after reading the Acid Bible (“Doors of Perception” by Aldous Huxle), was paid $140 for the privilege of giving mescaline, acid, and psilocybin a shot. While the experimenters were testing the capabilities of acid as a truth serum drug intended to enchance interrogation techniques, Hunter was tripping balls. In a 1988 NPR interview with personified truth serum Terry Gross, he admitted that the people taking his blood every two hours were vampires (at least he hallucinated). His ongoing experiences with acid certainly played a role in his songwriting. “It had to,” he said to Gross. “I was making these connections that were written for the time…it was part and parcel to that generation.” As the psychedelic-using lyricist for the world’s most regaled psychedelic rock band, Hunter indulged in stories that were spellbinding and, at times, utterly whimsical. He wrote about a long-distance runner stuck in trepidation in “Fire on the Mountain,” a foolhardy gambler in “Friend of the Devil,” a Prohibition-era family that turns to bootlegging in “Brown Eyed Women” and the long, strangeness of it all in “Truckin’.” Hunter was playfully aware of the effect that the Dead’s long jam sessions had on their audience. The line, “If you get confused/Listen to music play” in “Franklin’s Tower” invites the audience to tune out from his haphazard vignettes and “drop in” to the wayward melodies meandering from stage. The Dead recorded some of their most famous live albums at colleges around the
country. Likewise, it’s no secret that their music has a certain effect on college-aged folks and their extra cool parents alike. Their music and narratives are so bizarre and unique that getting into the Dead doesn’t seem like it should be one of the most clichéd things a crunchy college kid could do—but of course it is. That makes sense, or at least it did to Robert Hunter: “[P]eople would swear I was writing about them, if something is personal enough, there’s a certain line when things become universal.” Okay, that was a lot of Dead. We should probably listen to some punk or something else now. You guys heard of the Ramones?
Courtesy of David Saddler via Flickr
’d like to think that I’m self-aware. Which means I have to be honest when it comes to my clichés, and being a crunchy dude among many crunchy dudes here at Vassar means I come with a lot of crunchy dude clichés. So when Robert Hunter, The Grateful Dead’s songwriting counterpart passed away last week, I felt the need to celebrate Hunter’s words with my fellow crunchies out there. Although, like many people, I couldn’t say much about him before beginning this piece. More than that, it lets me do what I really want to do: have a reason to listen to the Dead again. The syrup-paced jams and easy-does-it vibe of The Grateful Dead have beckoned generations of fans to join in their mirth. While their funky-smelling aura may cause you to think they are purely a psychedelic rock band, their music pulls decadently from American roots. I treat the Dead like the most ideal buffet for the musical munchies, their sound steeped in country, blues, folk, rock and bluegrass. And behind it all, Hunter was the Dead’s master chef, off stage and behind the kitchen steel doors, adding the secret sauce. Robert Hunter grew up in and out of foster homes. His father was in the Navy, but left his mother and the young Hunter early on. Later, Hunter would drop out of the University of Connecticut, head out to Palo Alto and get involved with a teenage musician named Jerry Garcia. The two would bond over absent fathers (Garcia’s father had died), bluegrass, folk and country music.
The canon of country music is wide and acquiescent, and it grew in the late ’60s to accommodate rock groups like The Byrds, CSNY and the Dead, as the new wave outfits infused their sound with generous helpings of slide guitar and country-western imagery. Hunter and the Dead’s early work lived up to this trend, both musically and lyrically. Workingman’s Dead, one of Grateful Dead’s first and only studio records, boasts some of their most indelible songs. “Uncle John’s Band” offers playful despondence to the paranoia of the ’60s: “When life looks like easy street there is danger at your door.” “Casey Jones” retreads the story of a steam engine worker high on cocaine, speeding at 102 miles per hour, and “headed for you.” Like the rest of Workingman’s Dead, it’s early Hunter-Garcia, but it’s their artistic relationship at its peak. The woeful tune “Black Peter” is a perfect example of country’s soul-wrecking influence on Hunter’s pen. Peter’s fate is plainly depicted in the opening lines, “laying in my bed and dying.” His friends come to see him off, but Peter sticks around for days, chillingly wishing for his own death: “One more day I find myself alive/Tomorrow maybe go beneath the ground and die.” Garcia sings the tale in mournful yodels, which he exasperates with long pauses between. Between the awful lapses in verses, you wonder if Peter has finally gotten his wish. In an odd twist of fate, Deadheads may have the CIA to thank for Hunter’s more trippy prose. In the throws of the Cold War, the CIA was searching for a leg up on So-
Robert Hunter, lyricist for legendary classic rock band the Grateful Dead, died in his California home on Sept. 23.
Deece chef enlivens Poughkeepsie with vibrant murals Nina Ajemian
Guest Reporter
H
Courtesy of Rezones
ow do you know when a piece of art is finished? This is a question that all artists struggle with, but one that Vassar chef and graffiti artist TC Ik answered instinctively: “You kind of just know... There’s an energy that emanates from the piece that tells you what you need to know. Sometimes you see the finished product in your head before you actually start to create it, so once you create the thing in your head...it’s done.” Ik began working at the Deece in 1991. He grew especially close with Vassar students when he founded the org Hip Hop 101, a group that he truly put his heart and soul into. Ik lamented, “It bridged the gap between Vassar and the community outside of Vassar [and also] kept the alumni connected to the current student body through their love of the culture of hip-hop. But as they say...the only constant is change, right?” Despite his physical proximity to Vassar students, Ik noted that he has lost touch with the Vassar community. This is largely due to leaving Hip Hop 101 and moving into a more behind-the-scenes job in the back of the Deece. “[Students and I used to] talk about anything from politics [and] social issues [to] general life happenings, music, entertainment, art, anime, you name it. There wasn’t a student I didn’t know,” he mused. “I hate not feeling as connected to the students or Vassar as I used to be. It’s kind of sad to look out and just see faces and not feel what I used to feel.” While Ik may feel detached from the Vassar community, he remains deeply connected to Poughkeepsie’s artistic community. Ik is one-half of Boogierez, an artistic duo formed by combining Rezones (Ik’s artistic pseudonym) with his partner’s name, Riiisa Boo-
gie. Ik illuminated, “I’ve been into graff[iti] since the early ’80s. I went from graffiti art to graphic design to fashion design to photography. I taught Boogie what I know regarding graff[iti] and she just took off with it.” Since combining forces, Boogierez has created murals all around the world, from New York to Barcelona to Miami and back to Poughkeepsie. Boogierez uses a wide range of materials to create their art pieces: canvas, wood, pens, pencils, acrylic, spray paint, markers, digital media and photography. Ik added, “Boogie uses pretty much everything.” Their murals are larger-than-life and bold, exemplifying a unique style shaped by the pair’s respective backgrounds. Ik elaborated: “I grew up all over the place...Long Island, New Jersey, Brooklyn and Poughkeepsie. Boogie came to the States from Japan when she was very young...Our style [is] an amalgamation of the lessons learned via living life, our love of hip-hop culture infused with flavorings from Japan and Africa with a heavy dose of imagination and curiosity.” Imagination is especially present in the duo’s Poughkeepsie murals, especially in their mural on the Main Street underpass, near the train station. Blues and purples create a fantastical atmosphere. An image of a flying eyeball floats by the large purple sneaker of the mural’s main figure, who appears to be wearing a snake-like creature as both a neck and headpiece. I immediately noticed something very freeing and alive about this mural. Its ambiguity gives it character and uniqueness. Ik noted, “If there are messages that go through our work, they would be to do what you love, as well as to impact, inspire and empower.” In fact, these three words (impact, inspire and empower) appear in the mural’s southern quadrant in bold, eye-catching typogra-
Gordon Commons chef TC Ik, known by his pseudonym Rezones, is one half of the artistic duo Boogierez. Ik and his artistic partner, Riiisa Boogie, have created colorful, larger-than-life murals around the world and throughout the City of Poughkeepsie. phy and colors. The large scale of the words, combined with the blue outlining, makes the message pop, demonstrating that these words are important not only to the work itself, but to Boogierez and their artistic message. Boogierez has another mural in Poughkeepsie near Cafè Sweet Spot, which is located off of Main Street. Similar to the underpass mural, this piece of art also employs the element of imagination, as it depicts a figure flanked by creatures in masks and sweaters and bowties. The piece is whimsical and mysterious, encapsulating the curiosity of both artist and viewer. Boogierez also currently has two other murals in Poughkeepsie. One is located at
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
the Pulaski Pool on Washington Street, and the other is across from the Chance Theater. The Poughkeepsie area is clearly a strong source of inspiration for Boogierez. Ik reaffirmed his commitment to the place he calls home: “From its history to its diverse population, the colors, the texture, the swag [and] energy...we draw from [Poughkeepsie] on a regular basis. There’s a lot of talent here. No matter what genre of things you talk about, there are thoroughly talented individuals reppin’ every space.” So, how do you know when a piece of art is finished? It’s a feeling. It’s a connection. It’s an energy. Ik’s work isn’t finished yet, but I’m confident that he will rebuild his connection with Vassar students, one mural at a time.
October 3, 2019
ARTS
Campus Canvas A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists
Page 9 submit to misc@vassar.edu
Lucy Ackman Class of 2022
Excuse me, What show are you currently binging?
“His Dark Materials.” — Weller Henderson ’22
“Wild Boyz.” —Matthew Little ’22
“Community.” — Ben Gillard ’22
“The Good Place.” — Lucie Bisbee ’22
“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” — Qing Li ’16
“Generation Kill.” — Romario Ortiz ’21
Francisco Andrade, Humor & Satire Yvette Hu, Photography
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
FEATURES
Page 10
October 3, 2019
Vassarites work with lasers, drones in Innovation Lab Ji Won Kim
Guest Columnist
“C
Courtesy of Alex Kim
an we really use everything here for free?” I hear Vassar students and faculty members ask in astonishment when they come to the Vassar Innovation Lab, where I work as a student employee. Located by the spiral staircase of the Old Bookstore, the lab is what is known as a makerspace. It houses all kinds of different technology services and tools: 3D printers, a laser cutter, a vinyl cutter, a heat press, a VR machine, drones, you name it. It has only been a month since the lab has opened, but the space is already filled with hundreds of creative products such as womp-womp vinyl stickers, Innovation Lab t-shirts, cardboard cat kits and 3D printed stegosauruses, all made by Vassar students and the lab manager Chad Fust (who is also my boss). Relaxed and approachable, Fust and I chatted during my Friday shift about Vassar’s newest channel of creativity. Fust, who worked as an Emerging Technologies and Training Specialist at the CIS desk in the College Center for 12 years, now supervises the Innovation Lab. Fust shared a number of reasons that motivated the creation of the makerspace. “CIS always wanted to make a makerspace. A lot of our peer institutions already had a makerspace like this, and some of our incoming students also had a makerspace in their high schools,” Fust said. “Wanting to be on par with other institutions was one of the biggest motivations to create the Innovation Lab.” Fust also highlighted the multidisciplinary potential the Vassar Innovation Lab brings. “We have all these new emerging technologies to experiment with and to provide creative solutions to various problems,” Fust explained. There are a couple
of ongoing class projects that utilize the tools at the Innovation Lab to find solutions to certain problems. For instance, Visiting Lecturer in Computer Science Susan Reiser came in with her computer science class to have her students design, laser cut and engrave their names on name tags to identify themselves when they are out in the field working with the Poughkeepsie community. In addition, Professor of Biology and Cognitive Science Department Chair John Long, who teaches animal physiology, has planned a project designing customized egg cases to study skate embryos, which surround the eggs of oviparous sharks, skates and chimaeras. While the Innovation Lab presents so many new possibilities to create, experiment and solve problems using fancy technologies and tools, the space is about more than just technology. Stephen Han ’23, a first-year student employee at the Innovation lab, described how the lab has become a space of comfort on campus in the midst of shifts and adjustments into college: “When I am stressed out because of a paper I have to finish or a test I have to study for, this is one of the places I can come to and relax, learn and have fun. It is rare to find a job that you have fun in.” Han has been posting a series of Instagram stories featuring all the laser-cut products he made at work with an enthusiastic caption saying “I love my job!” in bold. The Vassar Innovation Lab is a makerspace that is fully equipped with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos that easily turn ideas into reality. However, those who run the lab envision the space to be more than a means of executing an already formulated plan. “The lab is a space for everybody to come in and make things and experiment with tools.
Coasters, stickers, interlocking sculptures and wood prints are prominently displayed on the table closest to the Innovation Lab’s entrance. Tools like the heat press, sitting behind the womp-womp bottle, enable the creativity of Vassar students to take shape before their very eyes (and at no cost).
And I am hoping to take the experimentation part further by encouraging people to come up with new ideas and designs. We want to live up to the name of innovation,” Fust noted. Every time I come to work, I am met with another scene depicting multidisciplinary innovation. After my interview with Fust, I struck up a conversation with a student at the laser cutter. They had just shot a focused laser beam and melted a chunk of material off to form two fish-shaped earrings. Then, I helped another student use an entirely different process to cut a small name tag for his keychain. Afterwards, I left the lab with Fust, cradling a drone with him as we walked to the Chapel. We met with
a faculty member and her student assistant, who we were assisting with a project. He set the drone down, applied pressure to his controls, and, watching the drone’s monitor, guided it level with the chapel bells. The drone took photos of the bells, and Fust landed it for all of us to examine. Seeing Vassar Innovation Lab’s ability to bring people of diverse interests and spark conversations all across the disciplines, it seems to me that the lab has already gotten a step closer to achieving the goal of living up to its name. Can you imagine a student finding the perfect pair fish earrings? Can you imagine capturing the chapel bells on camera without the drone? Can you see all the doors that have yet to be opened?
‘A Duty to Die?’ STS class ponders life-and-death bioethics Liliana Conroy
Guest Columnist
W
hile walking to the Deece and even after sitting down for lunch, students coming out of the Bodies into Other Bodies course keep debating the topic of the day. One of our most recent conversations was about whether a patient has a “duty to die” when they grow old, sick or otherwise become a burden to their family. We generally agreed that culling was a harsh expectation, but we weren’t sure when the cost of prolonging a life would be too much for that person’s loved ones. As usual, we didn’t come to a consensus, and after the next class we’d moved on to another debate. The course, STS 187, is newly available at the 100-level this semester, though it’s actually a reconfiguration of courses Adjunct Instructor in German Studies Eric Trump has taught in previous semesters. This one is different because it’s an introductory course comprised of mostly firstyears, while previous versions have usually been 300-level seminars in the Science, Technology and Society (STS) program. According to the department website, “the curriculum in Vassar’s STS Program is designed to enable students to...understand the central role of science and technology in contemporary society.” The program curriculum also examines the social causes and effects of scientific development and the ethical implications of new technologies. STS includes instructors from the Psychological Science, Sociology, Biology, Cognitive Science,
Economics and Philosophy Departments. Professor Trump works primarily in the German Department, but has taught several classes in the STS program. When the STS program asked Professor Trump to teach a bioethics course, he welcomed the opportunity. At the beginning of our conversation, I asked him how he came to teach the class, expecting him to discuss his time with STS. Instead, he began by telling me that he received a kidney transplant in 1998 and then spent two years without health insurance, during which he was reliant on anti-rejection drugs. “Medications are your umbilical cord,” Professor Trump said. Maintaining access to his lifeline was a formative experience that raised his awareness of the health care system’s flaws and piqued his interest in bioethics. He brims with passion for the field during class discussions and even during our interview. When students bring up tangentially related points during class, he’s always ready to recommend a book or philosopher with relevant ideas. STS 187 serves as an introduction to bioethics, which he describes as the study of “questions that arise out of having a human body.” A large part of the syllabus focuses on organ transplantation, which has become Professor Trump’s main area of study. The course draws its title from a book he is currently writing, which will focus on the circumstances surrounding his transplant as well as a more general history of transplantation in literature and culture. Several of the texts on the syllabus,
including “Frankenstein” and “Mend the Living,” will demonstrate to us what Professor Trump calls the “aesthetic representation of organ transplantation.” During this section of the course, we’ll focus on the way that transplants are characterized in literature as well as their treatment in the legal system, prompting questions about property rights and autonomy over donated organs. Although most class discussions focus on medical and scientific advancements, the course usually doesn’t dive too deep into the biological details. Instead, we focus on the different ethical frameworks used to assess medical technologies like genetic screening of embryos and organ transplantation. Reading about the topics covered in class without trying to apply them to our own lives is impossible, which makes the debate more intense when we find ourselves disagreeing on hypothetical personal situations. For instance, when we discussed whether the popular concept of brain death is accurate, we all considered whether we’d want to be kept on life support if we ended up in a coma. Some people said they’d never want to be dependent on machines to stay alive, while others said they’d want all possible measures to be taken to prolong their lives. By the end of that conversation, we still hadn’t reached a consensus on what should be done. Professor Trump embraces this. More than any particular opinion or set of values, he hopes that if students take away anything from the course, it’s the mode of
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
examining arguments carefully and recognizing their valid points. I enrolled in STS 187 because my advisor recommended it and I was drawn by the course description. I didn’t have any prior knowledge of bioethics or the STS program. Now, it’s one of the highlights of my schedule. I come into each class full of questions and thoughts about the readings we’ve done, and often leave with more questions than answers. Some portions of academia focus on the past or on removed scenarios that will never become relevant to us. But bioethics, Professor Trump says, is highly relevant to public and academic discourses. Issues in the field appear everywhere in the news, and conversely, the news cites academics from our syllabus when discussing bioethics. Whether you’re majoring in history or sociology or biochem, bioethics has a relationship to your field. The thought processes we’ve learned in this course have altered my approach to all my classes. I’m learning to interrogate readings, question my own preconceptions and welcome ambivalence. For example, when my psychology textbook provided a cut-and-dry definition of brain death, I did not accept the term at face value, and noted down that brain death can’t be so easily defined. Professor Trump hopes that the class will be offered again in future semesters. I do too, so that other people get the chance to reinvent their approach to ideas encountered in student life by contending with mortality.
FEATURES
October 3, 2019
Page 11
Great British Bake Off gives rise to scones, relaxation Tamika Whitenack Guest Columnist
“O
•
1 cup add-ins (chopped dried fruit, grated cheese, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.)
s
Directions:
1. 2. 3. 4.
s
Preheat oven to 450F. Cut butter into small cubes. Mix together all dry ingredients. Using fingers, knives or a pastry blender, mix butter into the dry mixture until butter is in pea-sized
GBBO-Inspired Scones A timeless treat of edible decadence
s • • • • • • • •
Ingredients:
s
3 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda 2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 8 tablespoons butter 1 egg 1 cup buttermilk
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
lumps. Mix in egg and buttermilk until combined. Mix in add-ins. On floured surface, pat dough into a circle. Cut dough into triangles. Place scones on baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for 10-12 minutes until starting to turn golden brown.
Courtesy of Kathryn Burke/Akansha Goel
n your mark, get set, bake!” Cohost Sue Perkins’s lilting British accent is light-hearted. From a fun family past-time during high school to a late-night reprieve from studying during college, the Great British Bake Off (GBBO) has become my go-to for a feel-good hour of baking entertainment. Like many competition television programs, GBBO takes amateur culinary enthusiasts and puts them together to compete for the title of champion. However, unlike the highly competitive spectacles I’ve seen in U.S. cooking competition shows, the atmosphere of GBBO is amiable and full of loving support. The contestants are passionate about baking and approach each challenge with intense focus and precision, but there is none of the petty drama that often arises in other competition shows. Rather than a cutthroat race to the top, GBBO radiates the friendly warmth of bakers trying to test out new flavor combinations or cookie architecture. For me, watching GBBO offers the comfort of curling up on the couch with a cup of tea, whereas the stress of American based programs evokes the panicked feeling of scarfing down breakfast before dashing off to an early morning class. Beyond my preference for the calming vibes of GBBO, I also adore the wonderful creations of sugar, flour and butter that the talented bakers present each week. As an avid baker myself, I am inspired by the inventive ideas and careful calculations that contestants test out: cardamom pear buns, smoky jalapeño bread, hazelnut espresso
cookies. Each week of the show is themed around a certain baking form, such as breads, biscuits or cakes. Contestants must showcase their skills through three challenges: the signature bake, the technical challenge and the showstopper. The home bakers are allowed to prepare their recipes for the signature bake and showstopper beforehand. These challenges promise to produce scrumptious victuals and artful masterpieces of edible decadence. The weekly “technical challenge” tests bakers on their ability to perfectly execute timeless classics from a basic recipe, trying their knowledge of baking fundamentals. I love learning new tidbits of culinary science or obscure techniques, and the beautiful bread sculptures and intricate cake concoctions never fail to dazzle and impress. After watching an episode of GBBO, I am always itching to bake something, and the following scone recipe is a simple way to satisfy my craving for an oven-focused kitchen adventure!
The above scones were baked to serve at a Vassar Food Community event. Freshly baked scones radiate the same warm energy that the Great British Bake Off does, albeit through love and care.
Costume Shop staff teach sartorial smarts, run the show COSTUME SHOP continued from page 1 pieces from the past dating back to the early 1830s. Requiring archival art gloves and moderate temperature and humidity, the pieces are precious and delicate. They are mainly used for design research and class visits. Kelly, who has been at Vassar for 10 years, studied fashion in her undergrad years and worked for the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet Company for before joining the Vassar faculty. These previous involvements inform Kelly’s work at Vassar. She explained, “From those experiences, I realized how much I really loved teaching which brought me here, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Being the costume design professor for the department means more than expounding theory, but also giving students handson costume designing guidance. “I end up mentoring the students through the design process and then advising them as they work through draping and fittings,” Kelly said. Draping is how designers position and pin fabric on a form, or how fabric falls on a form and how to make adjustments, to begin structuring a piece. An average outfit, from scratch, can take anywhere from four to eight weeks. Her advanced classes take visits to New York City to find swatches for their designs before purchasing the yards of fabric necessary to
Courtesy of Diana Liu
A student peruses the costume shop’s selection of thread spools. Some of the fabric provided for costume creators has been carefully chosen and transported from the Garment District in Lower Manhattan by Kenisha Kelly, the Drama Department’s primary costume design member.
construct their creations. The Theater Department meets weekly on Fridays to discuss all things theater. During the meetings, Kelly focuses on observing how the design is developing on each level and works with the design team and director on each piece.
“The costume shop is definitely my Vassar home. I find a lot of extracurriculars here can be very socially based and oftentimes hierarchical; the costume shop is so refreshingly collaborative and friendly.” Coordinator Prior is in charge of construction, as well as scheduling costume fittings and figuring out the employees’ work schedules. Simply put, Prior is the go-to person. Prior and Kelly attempt to structure the shop as similarly as possible to a professional costume shop and aid the students in cultivating their visions from start to finish. Prior began her journey through the theater world when she was a young child, holding aspirations of being an actor. Just like Prior, many people pursue acting careers prior to beginning their careers in theater tech. After dropping her acting aspirations, completing a degree in costumes and bouncing around different regional theaters, Prior
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
joined Vassar’s costume shop nearly four years ago. The students that populate the shop are often on Work Study, but many are volunteers, or sitting in for a class. Asked about the variety of students who work in the costume shop, Prior said, “It all depends, because honestly in the shop a good chunk of our students aren’t theater majors, and we like it that way. We like to have the diversity and we want anyone that is interested in this area to feel comfortable to come to us and learn.” Foster described the space’s feeling of inclusivity: “The costume shop is definitely my Vassar home. I find a lot of ‘extracurriculars’ here can be very socially based and oftentimes hierarchical; the costume shop is so refreshingly collaborative and friendly.” The costume shop workers and leaders are enthusiastic and passionate as they cultivate a space that supports and fulfills students in more ways than one. Speaking to the interwoven community of Vassar’s most fashionable basement, Foster added, “The shop is truly a safe space; we all leave behind our social and school woes and put our energy into making the best clothes possible...I can’t imagine where I’d be at Vassar without it.” When asked what a typical day looks like, Kelly and Prior looked at each other with wide eyes and laughter. “Oh gosh.” The duo keep pretty busy, as they are juggling multiple shows in addition to classes all at once. On Fridays, which are often hectic, active, lively and certainly packed, students fly about the room, shimmying around mannequins and each other to reach for colored ribbons and outline stencils. All of this goes on before and below the stages, where the costumes will ultimately be put on full display.
FEATURES
Page 12
Quite Frankly Frankie Knuckles
Senior Editor Quality Advice-Giver
Hey Frankie, Recently, two of my friends expressed sexual interest in each other and presumably started having casual sex. That’s fine. The problem: I’m really interested in one of them. What do I do? Tell both of them? Tell one of them? Suffer silently? Create an angsty playlist? Sincerely, Fraught with Feelings Dear Fraught,
Q
uite frankly, that’s rough, buddy. A lot of my advice will be situational, so let me disclaim that your situation might differ greatly from the one I’m imagining. Also, for the sake of my word count, I’ll refer to the friend you’re interested in as your crush, and the other friend as your friend. You first have to consider what your goals are, here. You’ve said it’s fine that they’re having sex, so your problems here are ostensibly emotional. If they’re having casual sex, that doesn’t preclude you from having a romantic relationship with your crush at some point in the future. If you’re willing to wait and set aside your feelings in the meantime, there’s no reason you should open up this emotional can of worms right now. However, if you are really struggling with
the idea of your crush and your friend getting together, it might be worth having a conversation with your friend. But be careful, because this could also turn into a weird situation where you know about your crush, and your friend knows about your crush, but your crush still doesn’t know. That just seems like you’re playing high-stakes Jenga with your future interpersonal relationships and emotional well-being. That’s not a move I’d lightly recommend. Unless there’s some imminent reason why you have to tell your friend and your crush about your feelings, I think the best thing to do is sit tight and see what happens between them. Maybe they’ll hook up once, and that’ll be the end of that and you can all collectively move on. Even if their casual sex becomes less casual, you can build an emotional bond without encroaching on any burgeoning feelings between your friends. For example, you can spend more time oneon-one with your crush in a friendly way, assuming you don’t have any goals in doing so, and that’s not emotionally torturous for you. The worst outcome from cultivating a closer emotional connection with your crush is that you find yourself with a closer friend, and perhaps some unprocessed romantic frustration. And that, my friend, is where the angsty playlist comes in. Best Wishes, Frankie P.S. Just because they’re interested in each other sexually doesn’t mean you’ll never have a chance to open up about your feelings and to be heard. There’s still time for a happy ending! Hang in there, pal.
“In Other Woods (A Tree Crossword)” ACROSS
l. sounds like it should grow by the ocean 6. on the Canadian flag, eh? 11. follows “noo you’re so sexy” 14. chambers of the heart 15. an assortment 16. mathematician word for “because” 17. invasive medical instrument used to examine stomach 19. hand bowl 20. Snow White’s narcoleptic dwarf 21. Head of Department, abbr. 22. an installment of medication 23. in computing, opposite of CISC 25. an opening or hole in a bone 27. more than the addition of one’s parts 30. a sexy muffin 32. loud swallow 33. relating to knowledge (shoutout to anyone who has taken a humanities course) 36. the dance of a ballroom horse 39. core homophone 40. ----- mortis 42. Hindu deity Mahadeva 43. to gobble or inhale food
Answer to last week’s puzzle
October 3, 2019
Word
on the street
What celebrity do you shamelessly follow online?
“A little shame but Billie Eilish.” — Austen Juul-Hansen ’22
“My mom.” — Editor-in-Chief Mack Liederman ’20
“Timothée Chalamet.” — Izzy Rico ’22
“Riff Raff.” — Kaira Smith ’21
“Ryan Reynolds.” — Thomas Dadoly ’21
“Shawn Mendes but his songs are still fire.” — Sulekh Fernando-Peiris ’22
Francisco Andrade, Humor & Satire Yvette Hu, Photography
The Miscellany Crossword by Frank
45. dealing with numbers 47. home of Havana 49. appealing tree scent 50. wood often used for coffins 51. being impudent to someone 54. coca 56. bathroom floor fixture 57. “we must away, --- break of day” 59. the sad tree 63. Tokyo, formerly 64. creative quality of children and creators 66. basic monetary unit of Romania 67. a copycat 68. comes in varieties of inny or outty 69. kick some, smart, you can bet yours 70. “that was so 2017”, but in French 71. a fad
31. an archeologist or palaeontologist must do this to find objects 34. genus of oldest living tree, in Sweden 35. published in strips 37. shape of a famous office 38. paradise tree 41. of fame and 44. counterpart to CIA 46. dependent 48. blood condition 51. a slab erected for commemorative
DOWN
1. grocery, trash, hand 2. academic “and others” 3. alternative name for Gaelic 4. one who references 5. one who plays the harp 6. Spanish for “more” 7. McDonald’s has two golden ones 8. evidence 9. a servant canine 10. ommatophobia is the fear of this 11. co-conspirator 12. a home 13. Pando is thought to be the oldest living colony of these trees 18. creators of pearls 22. basic monetary unit of Gambia 24. what a spice says to someone who knocks on their door 26. a small carpet 27. often autocorrects to sex 28. a time, once 29. description of an unexpected recovery
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
purposes 52. political assistants 53. base unit of weight, metric 55. worst place to leave someone 58. shield or breastplate of Zeus or Athena 60. laugh, love 61. Hansel and Gretel’s resting place 62. trade using blowtorch 64. a small demon 65. what we skate is getting pretty thin
October 3, 2019
OPINIONS
Page 13
Internet cesspool 8chan should be allowed to fester Abram Gregory Columnist
I
n the wake of acts of mass violence that have become all too regular, it is all too tempting to try to wipe out the digital roots of the white supremacist rhetoric that have catalyzed these tragedies. Specifically, internet forum 8chan has come under scrutiny, with shootings at Christchurch, Poway and El Paso having been forecasted and later applauded by users on the site (New York Times, “‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says the Creator of 8chan, a Megaphone for Gunmen,” 08.04.2019). Media attention given to mass shootings has declined as we’re faced with distressing phenomena ranging from climate change to impeachment. Even so, the underlying causes for acts of mass violence—hateful rhetoric fermenting on the darkest corners of the internet—persist, and so should our attention to these ideologies. Despite the El Paso and Dayton shootings slipping out of the view of the public eye, the evil causing these tragedies endures. After these mass shootings, the lair for internet incels and soon-to-be infamous murderers has suffered attacks from government agencies and various denizens of the web. For example, the House Homeland Security Committee subpoenaed the website’s current owner, and even the site’s creator, Frederick Brennan, told the New York Times that it was time to “Shut the site down.”(The Verge, “8chan owner Jim Watkins subpoenaed to testify before House committee,” 08.14.2019). Moreover, 8chan has suffered blows to its infrastructure, with web security platform Cloudflare terminating its service after the El Paso shooting (The Cloudflare Blog, “Terminating Service for 8Chan,” 08.05.2019). In an age in which the individual’s voice is amplified by social media and the internet,
where we have a stronger-than-ever ability to proclaim what is acceptable and unacceptable, a new question arises: What are we to do? Allow harbors of hatred, or dispel them? It’s too easy of a “solution” to ban 8chan and websites like it. We cannot simply ban and bring down websites containing content we do not like, even if the content is hateful, and even if posts like that of the El Paso shooter originated there. The reason, however, is not to defend the First Amendment. Not only is white supremacy a plague that transcends borders, and therefore can’t be confined by the laws of merely one nation, but the First Amendment does not cover true threats like those perpetuated on private websites like 8chan, anyway (Middle Tennessee State University, “First Amendment Encyclopedia: True Threats,” 2017) . There is a reason we ought not concern ourselves with stomping out the anthills that are websites like 8chan. It goes like this: Clusters of hateful rhetoric will inherently spring up on the internet until hatred itself is annihilated, and we ought to take advantage of white supremacy’s hiding in broad daylight before it is driven into dark shadows to fester, morph and prepare itself for the next attack without the general public being ready. 8chan, 4chan and dwindling subreddits were under the spotlight that is the surface web (the parts of the internet that users can freely access through the use of search engines, as opposed to the deep web or darknet). As much as the U.S. government is failing in its efforts to combat hatred, there’s still a general awareness of where proponents of this hatred linger. If 8chan were to be taken down, the bastions of hate would further diversify, and internet extremists would simply gather in darker corners. This risk is corroborated by CNET reporter Oscar Gonzales,
who notes that while 8chan’s popularity has declined since its inception, “there are many other derivative chan boards, such as Endchan, 7chan and Dreamchan. None match 4chan’s popularity, but some have active, if small, communities.” (CNET, “8chan, 4chan, Endchan: Here’s what you need to know,” 09.06.2019). For each internet domain stomped on, the oil fire is magnified elsewhere. At least, this is the case with Americans who use 8chan, argues BuzzFeed contributor Ryan Broderick. Referring to 8chan less as a specific website and more as a stand-in term for hateful ideology altogether, Broderick argues, “Shutting down [8chan] is unlikely to eradicate this new extremist culture, because 8chan is everywhere.” That is, the white supremacy which has become so permissible in American society is already festering beyond the brink of simple one-step elimination. It’s deeply and culturally embedded. This process of migration of users from one website to another is already familiar to the observant eye. For example, Reddit used to be home to many more hateful subreddits covering topics now popular on 8chan, like violence against women and the celebration of incel culture. Though the exact transitions and migratory paths of users are murky, when Reddit cracked down on its more dangerous subreddits, 4chan slowly blossomed into “one of the worst places on the internet.” (The Daily Dot, “The most disturbing controversies in 4chan history,” 04.27.2017). Likewise, when 4chan heavily moderated forums discussing the GamerGate controversies—in which online hate groups attacked feminism in video games—many silenced users flocked to 8chan, which New York Times reporter Kevin Roose described as becoming “a catchall website for internet-based com-
munities whose behavior gets them evicted from more mainstream sites.” (New York Times, “‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says the Creator of 8chan, a Megaphone for Gunmen,” 08.04.2019). The point is, when a bigger venue for discourse is dispelled, its affected users creep to a smaller venue. Eventually, the dispersal becomes too much for the public eye to follow, and we lose track of where hateful individuals digitally congregate, thereby severely limiting our collective ability to find, negate and understand hatred at its ideological roots. I’ve written about the importance of keeping our ideological enemies within eyesight before, in the context of allowing mass shooter manifestos to circulate (Miscellany News, “Censoring mass shooter manifestos ignores root of crisis,” 04.03.2019). Censoring manifestos, like that of the Christchurch shooter, effectively masks the fleshed-out “Great Replacement” ideology, thereby giving it a cloak under which it may spread. In the context of websites like 8chan, we would suffer the same consequences by forcing the site’s users into further obscurity, where they may plot in private. The perpetrators of Christchurch, El Paso and other shootings were already driven out of communities like Reddit and 4chan, and the public only picked up on their violent posts in the forms of headlines cherry-picked from lesser-traveled internet locales after the shootings already took place. This is not to advocate for, say, elevating or publicizing hate speech that motivates and culminates in mass violence. However, when hate speech and ideology are located in spaces, digital or physical, where the public can find it, the public can combat it. Thanks to the internet, we are in a position in which we have the potential to keep ourselves safer.
For the sake of the album, don’t just take what you want Alex Barnard Columnist
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couple of weeks ago, I learned that Post Malone released his new album, “Hollywood Bleeding,” and that one of the tracks featured none other than the “Prince of Darkness” himself, Ozzy Osbourne. This made me curious. Ozzy Osbourne is one of my all-time favorite musicians, and although I don’t actively listen to Post Malone, I have enjoyed the songs from him that have popped up on the radio. But, even though this particular track featured one of my personal heroes, I struggled to appreciate it thoroughly. The track itself, “Take What You Want,” isn’t half bad: Although Ozzy is not prominently featured outside of his haunting voice in the chorus in the very beginning, Post Malone and Travis Scott’s verses compliment each other well. The beat is also dark and brooding, reminiscent of the mood that permeates Ozzy’s early Black Sabbath records. So no, the song was not the problem; it was the comments from Post Malone’s fans in the Twitterverse. The tweets ranged from merely ignorant to very stupid. They can be best summed up through this simple satire: “Wow Post Malone is so humble for shining light on new artists. If it wasn’t for him i [sic] wouldn’t know who Ozzy Osborne is *crying emoji*” (Twitter, [@_cixelsyd], 09.07.2019). You’re kidding me, right? Not knowing about Ozzy Osbourne is a clear sign that these unbeknownst people
have either lost a few brain cells somewhere or have been living under a rock. The number of albums that Post Malone has sold wouldn’t even make Ozzy break a sweat. The man has had the most successful solo career of any singer in heavy metal—period. Even more important than album sales, he pioneered the genre with Black Sabbath in the 1970s, worked with legendary musicians like Randy Rhoads (RIP) and Zakk Wylde in his solo band and wrote countless hits and anthems like “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “Crazy Train” and “Children of the Grave.” At 70 years old, Ozzy Osbourne has battled decades of drug and alcohol abuse, struggled with Parkin Syndrome and lived an exhausting life of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. He has toured the world hundreds of times, starred in a successful reality show with his family in the early 2000s titled “The Osbournes” and found the time to reunite with Black Sabbath to record the band’s final album in 2013. He even bit the head off a bat. To put it quite simply, Ozzy Osbourne is a legend—for better or for worse. Even if you haven’t heard his music, there is still a myriad of ways that you could have, and should have, heard of him. Sure, Ozzy Osbourne was the king of the world in the 1980s, but today he is just “some old guy,” so you might be able to get away with not knowing who he is. The idea of forgetting established musical acts isn’t just isolated to Ozzy, however. The same situation occurred in 2015 when Kanye West released a few songs featuring Paul McCa-
rtney, and it baffles me even more to think that someone would not know who Paul McCartney is. Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t everyone born with the knowledge that the Beatles are John, Paul, George and Ringo? This goes to show that Post Malone’s fans not knowing about Ozzy Osbourne reflects a larger trend: Young people lack education on different types of music. For my part, I’m a metalhead, but I’ve branched out and acquired various other tastes aside from metal music. I have been a big fan of indie rock for a long time, including bands like MGMT, Tame Impala, GUM and others like them. I grew up listening to jazz fusion bands like Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers (thanks Dad). If someone throws on a classic throwback song from the late 2000s/early 2010s, I will most likely end up dancing my ass off and screaming the lyrics as loudly as I can. I love everything from synthpop to garage rock, gangsta rap to classical and blues to new wave. Now, I understand that not everyone listens to such a wide array of genres. As a musician myself, I should listen to various genres of music. Doing so expands my guitar-playing repertoire. I am mostly inspired by rock and metal guitarists, but also heavily influenced by relatively niche jazz guitarists like Al Di Meola and Guthrie Govan. I mostly listen to music with the purpose of learning more. However, I think we can all benefit from expanding our musical tastes, whether one plays an instrument or not. While musical
opinions can often be divisive, sharing my ideas and preferences with others has often led me to discover new music that I otherwise would never have heard of. I like the concept of exchanging favorite albums and artists with friends, just like you’re recommending them a good book. If you apply yourself, you can lose yourself in a good book, just as I often lose myself in a good album. Sadly, as Hari Sreenivasan of NPR points out, streaming culture is slowly killing the album (PBS NewsHour, “How music on demand is killing the album,” 02.06.2019). Because we can pick and choose individual songs to listen to, we’re no longer obliged to purchase a whole album just to hear one song, meaning we’re no longer listening to full albums. This, in turn, has changed the way albums are written; these days, it feels like when an artist releases a new “album,” they have just put out a collection of singles that could stand on their own, like Ed Sheeran’s “No.6 Collaborations Project,” or DJ Khaled’s “Father of Asahd.” Thus, it is not surprising that we no longer take an interest in the process of making individual songs fit into a cohesive whole, leaving artists like Ozzy—who pioneered the album as a longer art form—in the dust. So, if you’re reading this article and you’ve never listened to Ozzy Osbourne, do yourself a favor and put on “Master of Reality,” by Ozzy’s first band, Black Sabbath. While I can’t guarantee that you will enjoy it, at least you will have tried something new.
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
OPINIONS
Page 14
October 3, 2019
Campus Climate We wanted to know how much Vassar students knew about the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. To find out, we asked around!
Courtesy of the White House
“I haven’t been keeping up with it as much as I should have been. I know about the stuff over the last few years, like the Mueller report, but I don’t know the specifics of this particular case.” –Rayya Brooks ’23
“As far as I know, [President Trump] allegedly put pressure on Ukraine up to eight times to investigate Hunter Biden, and the people who want to impeach him believe that that’s an abuse of power.” –Marcus D’Agostino ’23
Courtesy of Mykhaylo Markiv
Courtesy of U.S. House of Representatives
“I was actually just catching up on the whistleblower complaints and impeachment proccess. We talked about it in my political science class. Although I don’t think it has a high chance of passing the Senate, the impeachment inquiry is still so important because it’s official. It’s finally happening because a majority of the country is finally ready to declare that their president was never an honest, trustworthy leader.” –Alysa Chen ’23
“I know about it, but I don’t know the exact details. I believe Trump asked the president of Ukraine [Volodymyr Zelensky] to investigate Joe Biden’s son’s business in Ukraine. Asking a foreign power to investigate a politcal rival should be subject to an impeachment inquiry.” –Kallen Cornish ’23
Police unions are vicious thugs only supporting each other Jonas Trostle
Opinions Editor
[CW: This article mentions suicide, police brutality and racism.] hen you think of “Left” and “Right” in a political sense, I can almost guarantee one of the first words that pops into your head is “divide.” But what if I told you that there’s something both sides of the political aisle agree on, something that tickles the fancy of Democrats and Republicans alike? Police unions are this distinct hybrid, combining the Right’s fetishism of law enforcement officials with the Left’s obsession of unionizing anything that moves. Sure, bipartisan support is a great thing, and we’re always trying to get more of it, but why does it have to be for police unions of all things? The problem is that police unions inherit all the same flaws of a regular police force and of public sector unions in general. Racism is obviously the largest issue in American policing today, whether it be the shooting of unarmed Black people, the disproportionate arrests and stops of Black drivers or the police’s impaired ability to solve the murders that have Black victims (Washington Post, “There’s overwhelming evidence that the criminal-justice system is racist. Here’s the proof.” 09.18.2018). This is of course only the tip of an iceberg that doesn’t even account for the racism of disproportionate sentences between whites and Blacks for the same crimes, laws like the 1994 crime bill—designed to advantage white people—or the still-current denial of suffrage to millions of criminals who, because of the systemic racism of the U.S. legal system, are disproportionately Black
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(Prison Policy Initiative, “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019,” 03.19.2019). Prison guards and employees, who are also unionized, veer further from outright racism than the regular police. But they fill that void with cruelty and incompetence. Suicide among prisoners is rampant. Inmates are subject to beatings, lack of care and horrible living conditions. I don’t care to recount some of the most horrible events, but I will say that in these situations guards were watching and laughing as people died in extremely horrible ways (The Atlantic, “Thirty-Two Short Stories About Death in Prison,” 08.13.2019). You already knew all of this before you started reading this article (I hope), so why does it matter that police and prison guards are unionized? Consider that unions, for all intents and purposes, have a dual mandate: increase wage per hour and provide benefits to membership. The first prong, increasing wage per hour, is most helpful in the private sector where a company that’s underpaying its workers is forced to cut from its profits to pay a more equitable wage. In public sector unions, such as police or teacher unions, for instance, the government has no profit incentive. Instead of striking for lower company profits, public sector unions in effect strike for higher taxes. This is neither here nor there, nor is it the most egregious use of police union powers, but it is important to remember that even the best use of a police union is lobbying for getting paid for doing less work, i.e. literally just decreasing the efficiency of your tax dollars. Putting money aside, unions also focus on member benefits. Almost all unions fight for better health care coverage, better
compensation for injuries and increased job security. Police unions are no exception. However, the implications of benefits for police officers are downright evil. What do police officers want? For one thing: job security. What does this imply? That unions make it extremely hard to punish officers for misconduct.
“[I]n response to a botched drug raid where the police killed innocent civilians, the Houston Police Officers’ Union leader circled the wagons.” Take former Houston Police Officers’ Union President Joe Gamaldi’s response to two officers being charged with a double murder and evidence tampering: “If you’re the ones that are out there spreading the rhetoric that police officers are the enemy, just know all we’ve got your number now, we’re going to be keeping track of all of y’all” (Houston Chronicle, “Divisive rhetoric by police union president undermines confidence in HPD [Editorial],” 02.20.2019). Yes, in response to a botched drug raid where the police killed innocent civilians, the Houston Police Officers’ Union leader circled the wagons and threatened everyone who wanted the officers held accountable. I wish I could say this type of self-serving response represents only a vocal minority of police unions. But that would be a lie.
Gamaldi is now the Vice President of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest police union. I bet that in nine out of every 10 cases of a police officer shooting someone and going unpunished, that lack of punishment is due to police union-supported legislation or because of institutional pressure from a police union. It took five years to fire the police officer who killed Eric Garner, even with a video clearly showing Garner gasping out his dying words that he couldn’t breathe as the officer continued to choke him. The Police Benevolent Association strongly opposed the firing and released a statement that read, “We are urging all New York City police officers to proceed with the utmost caution in this new reality, in which they may be deemed ‘reckless’ just for doing their job” (NBC News, “Police union suggests work slowdown after NYPD officer is fired in Eric Garner’s death,” 08.20.2019). When four Chicago PD officers were fired for covering up officer Jason Van Dyke’s murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, The Fraternal Order of Police opposed the firing and stated that “These officers served the citizens of this city with courage, integrity, and adherence to the rule of law” (ABC News, “4 Chicago police officers fired over alleged cover-up of Laquan McDonald shooting,” 07.19.2019). Make no mistake: Police union benefits are only a thin veneer for a blank check to inflict violence and suppress civil rights on a mass scale. For every terrible thing the police do, behind them is the police union, ever present, ever willing to cover up and sweep under the rug.
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
October 3, 2019
OPINIONS
Page 15
Japanese re-militarization: I want planes to anger me Taylor Stewart
Assistant Arts Editor
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Courtesy of YunHo LEE via Wikimedia Commons
Statues of “comfort women,” like the one pictured above, have become the subject of ire and censorship in Japan. Representing an echo of Japanese imperialism and its militaristic past, these statues harken back to a time before Japan’s current pacifist constitution.
Courtesy of James Haseltine via the U.S Air Force
hen a man threatened the exhibition with a container of gasoline, I felt the flames; when the mayor of Nagoya condemned the sculpture, my cheeks burned with anger. I saw this on a screen. The Aichi Triennale is an international art festival at various venues in Nagoya, in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture. This year, the exhibition featured artworks that had been banned in Japan and elsewhere. Viewers rankled over a sculpture of a “comfort woman”: a person from Korea, China, Indonesia and other occupied territories forced into sexual servitude by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The mayor of Nagoya publicly opposed the exhibition. On Aug. 3, a visitor shouted in the venue that the statue was “the worst [he] has ever seen.” Another man put a paper bag over the head of the statue (The Asahi Shimbun, “Director of pulled art exhibition in Nagoya ‘regrets’ decision to give in,” 08.04.2019). When the exhibition was cancelled, the Aichi governor explained that the organizers had received terroristic threats over the phone, with one protestor “threatening to visit the venue with a container of gasoline if exhibits were not removed.” The exhibition was called “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’.” It was removed at the beginning of August. Despite my disgust at the censorship of this statue, an anger that rumbles in my chest, I am many many miles from Nagoya and even further removed from the other echoes of Japanese imperialism, like the trade war between South Korea and Japan. This vicious trade war, which is only one example out of many and doesn’t seem to be receiving much media attention in the West, is more a historical battle than a national security issue (Vox, “The escalating trade war between South Korea and Japan, explained” 08.09.2019). I remember a 7 a.m. at a Tokyo train station where I was met by two men, one old and one youngish, in bright vests like those of volunteer crossing guards. They were kind looking and wore warm smiles. They had megaphones and ministered about the dangers of American aircraft. At their feet were posters of the Osprey, an ugly, clunky, batlike thing. They offered me a pamphlet. I smiled, bowed apologetically and walked past. Maybe I shouldn’t have.
The Osprey is an aircraft that can take off vertically like a helicopter and travel with the range and endurance of a traditional airplane. Since last October, the American Armed Forces deployed Osprey transport aircraft to Yokota Air Base in Western Tokyo, my hometown of sorts (The Asahi Shimbun, “Deployment of Osprey to Yokota raises concerns among locals,” 10.02.2018). And since last April, when news broke that Special Operations Ospreys were coming to Yokota, protesters like my two early risers have popped up at the train station and main base gate. I remember the posters and banners that spring, the sprawling ones held up by seven or so people in parades, the photos of the aircraft under a seething red no symbol. Several incidents in Okinawa—where the Ospreys first landed in 2012—raised safety concerns among citizens on both the island and mainland Japan. An errant part from a U.S. military helicopter fell onto the roof of a daycare facility in Okinawa, and a few days later a window fell on the grounds of Futenma No. 2 Elementary School (The Mainichi, “Object from US military helicopter falls onto elementary school in Okinawa,” 12.13.2017). These were the latest of many controversies about the American military, whose blunders date back decades and have formed a fraught relationship between Okinawa and the United States. In 1972, long before the introduction of the Osprey, America ceded control of the island to Japan. Aircraft accidents, brush fires caused by military exercises and murders of locals by American service members stirred up resentment. More recently, Governor Denny Tamaki pleaded with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to remove Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, currently stationed in the middle of a bustling residential city. Tokyo ignored him, carrying on with a relocation project instead. Tamaki remains steadfast. This July, the governor filed suit against the central government in opposition to the construction of an American air base at the less-populated Henoko. Looking warily at its southern neighbor, it is no surprise that Fussa-shi residents reel at the Osprey, which is a safety hazard for civilians. Military personnel cannot laud “our gracious hosts” in public statements while they consciously ignore their safety. Fussa, the host city of Yokota Air Base, has definitely profited from its position as an American military town. Skate shops, vintage clothiers, a burger joint and a
The V-22 Osprey is a symbol of the strange and militaristic relationship between Japan and the United States. Given this dynamic, Japan’s militarization is divisive even internally.
’50s-themed antique store all line the street outside of the base. The city is quirky and commercial and seedy in spots, like Bar Row, upon which both American and Japanese authorities keep a close eye. There’s definitely a fascination with Americana, or perhaps its novelty, evidenced by the tourists that flock to Fussa. Lately, in great heat and cold, crowds with cameras perch outside of the barbed wire fence that surrounds the base. They watch the airstrip, rapt, raising the cameras as the aircraft do touch-and-gos or sit idle on the flight line. I don’t know if they are members of the media, or just spectators. The vigils might be for fun; in fact, there is an Okinawa Osprey Fan Club, the members of which praise the thing for its design and potential disaster relief capabilities (Stars and Stripes, “Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft have a Japanese fan club,” 07.10.2018). I struggle to wrap my head around everything—the quantity of oppositions. Take the disagreements between Okinawan authorities and Japan’s central government in Tokyo; the former opposes American military bases in Japan, while the latter supports them wholeheartedly. In July, Governor Tamaki took to the Fuji Rock stage, argued against the Futenma relocation and went so far as to give a spirited acoustic performance of the doom-laden songs “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and “All Along the Watchtower” by Bob Dylan. Japan teems with tensions both bilateral and domestic. While Tokyo considers remilitarization, most Japanese citizens remain pacifists, including myself. Ever since the Cold War, when Japan ceased to be part of America’s anti-Soviet bloc, the central government has pursued partial rearmament. The 1992 International Peace Cooperation Law allowed the country’s Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations in “non-combat” areas (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, “Japan’s Contribution to UN Peacekeeping Operations,” 05.14.2015). Over the past few decades, Japan has acquired greater missile defense and disaster relief capabilities. As geopolitical tensions rise in East Asia (territorial disputes with China and North Korean missile tests are the main culprits), the current administration seems as determined to increase the military’s power as the likes of Tamaki are to remove it. Since pretty much all SDF operations are bilateral (involving the U.S. military), the air base issue is representative of this push-pull pacifism in Japan.
There is also the public’s relationship with the SDF in particular. They used to be widely scorned, but after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan’s lightly-armed forces have won much praise and are increasingly seen as providers of disaster relief. Citizens tolerate the SDF and dislike American armed forces, but the former relies on the latter to exercise military power. Prime Minister Abe, who is outspoken about expanding Japan’s military, is in a tight spot: the United States has asked the country to help protect shipping from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, and he would definitely receive criticism from the Japanese public if he complied. But if he didn’t, America would be equally critical. President Trump recently accused Japan of being a security freeloader—on Twitter, of course (Bloomberg, “Trump Push for Hormuz Patrols Puts Japan’s Abe in Tight Spot,” 07.29.2019). He has also mentioned punitive tariffs on auto exports, so whatever the pacifist constitution says, Japanese citizens are likely to see an ever-expanding military due to Washington’s desires for the Japanese armed forces. Considering that the majority of the country opposes revising the constitution to explicitly allow for a military, this creeping remilitarization will doubtless cause more internal political strife (Japan Times, “Poll shows 56% of Japanese oppose amending Constitution under Abe government,” 07.24.2019). I must confess my sins. Although I recognize that the Ospreys must go, especially if they’re threatening civilians’ safety, I ignored the protesters in front of me. I didn’t feel anything in my chest when I saw the demonstrations, though I burned at the Aichi censorship scandal, which I experienced only through the news. I puzzle over this: Has proximity jaded me? Or is the military issue just too complicated? Have I grown too familiar to the protests and plane noises? Has political analysis destroyed all my feelings? Am I a monster? My anger is decided, resolute, but selective; in a way I get to pick and choose what to get upset about, but those directly implicated in the censorship and Osprey issues, respectively, do not. Selectivity of anger—getting angry at something rather than scared of its direct dangers—is a luxury that hundreds of Okinawans do not have. I figure the best I can do right now is to write about these things, draw attention to their victims, spread information—and take the damn pamphlet next time.
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
HUMOR & SATIRE
Page 16
October 3, 2019
Breaking News
From the desk of Francisco Andrade, Assistant Humor & Satire Editor
With just enough space for one farm, baseball fields and a lake, Vassar struggles to find room for new students
Vassar Bitch Chronicles Emily Lesorogol ’22
First-year student bemoans largest workload in history Rohan Dutta Inferior Being
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aymond House: domain of the Rat King, probably haunted and, as of this September, also home to the busiest student on campus. Fiona Lake, a Vassar first-year, is well-known by those who know her well as the self-professed bearer of the largest workload in human history. Intrigued by her mythos, The Miscellany News decided to investigate. When I arrived at the Deece to talk to Fiona, she toted a pained smile and a coffee the size of my head. We heard economics majors nearby complaining or bragging (not quite sure which) about the four hours of sleep they enjoyed last night. As Fiona listened, she smiled and whispered “amateurs.” Touting a whopping 3.5 credits in her schedule this semester, she described her daily life as incredibly grueling. “It can get really hard, you know?” she told me. “Nowa-
days, I only have around, maybe, like, 21 free hours a day. Ten of which I’m supposed to spend sleeping!” She threw up her hands, incredulous. “How am I supposed to function with only seven actual free hours to relax a day, at best?” Luckily for her GPA, Fiona isn’t taking any math courses this semester. Instead, she endures an eclectic mix of “Bowling,” “Star Wars,” “The Vassar Campus” and “Cleopatra” (Editor’s note: These are all actual courses at Vassar). While she admitted it’s a bit too early to tell, she’s leaning toward designing her own major in The Office. The Miscellany News was unable to confirm if she means the TV show or just doesn’t know the economics major exists. “I wanted to challenge myself, you know?” she waxed. “To make sure I was getting every cent of tuition back through just…intellectual challenge. As much as I could get. It’s just a shame it means I have to drown in work like this.”
Her typical day of “drowning” in work starts with her going straight back to her dorm after class. A friend might stop her and ask if she wants to do something with them. Fiona gazes at them, her hazel orbs refracting distilled pain. “I’m sorry, I can’t…I have homework.” She exhales its name like it’s a curse. The friend raises an eyebrow, then shrugs. “Whatever. Have fun, I guess.” Finally ready to work, Fiona goes to her dorm, opens her laptop and instinctively types “netflix.com” into her browser’s address bar. By the time she realizes she’s not actually doing the work she was supposed to, she’s already two seasons in, and her mother didn’t raise her to be a quitter. At around 2 a.m., Fiona finally finishes the show in question and is struck with the realization that her readings did not vanish as she had prayed they would. In a mess of quiet tears at
her mounting stress, she toils at her desk (with only a few Instagram breaks) until around 3 or 4 a.m. At 9 a.m., she awakens and slowly starts to prepare herself for her 10:30 class. At 10:29 a.m., she sits down at her seat, and the cycle restarts. After spending an extended period of time with her, I concluded that Fiona Lake is a student struggling admirably underneath an ostensibly unimaginable burden. To accommodate the absolutely unparalleled mountain of work shoved upon her and nobody else on the planet, she is forced to make difficult decisions and suffer through horrendous days. All of us at The Miscellany News (especially the senior staff who spend 40+ hours a week working for free on the paper) know we cannot hope to imagine her suffering, but we wish her all the best. On the bright side though, I’m sure she won’t need to worry about her workload increasing in any way whatsoever over the coming years.
Momus, Goddess of Satire, counsels strung-out students By Ivanna Guerra (Speaker for the Goddess)
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ear Mom, Stress from school is really starting to get to me, and I have an urge to cry. The problem is that I don’t know my roommate very well ,and I am afraid to cry in front of him. Do you have any suggestions for places where I can cry? Sincerely- Frustrated Crier Dear Crier, I am so sorry for your frustration. Adulting is very difficult, and as far as I know, there is yet to be a guidebook that tells you exactly what to do in situations as shameful as public crying. But not to worry, because you came to the right runny-nosed being. I am a frequent
crier and can give you a map of the best crying locales on campus. For starters, professors’ office are great places to cry. They usually have tissues, and many are prepared with candy to make you feel better. It’s like being at the dentist but without having to lie about your flossing habits! If you want a more outdoorsy location, I suggest one of the benches at Sunset Lake. I am especially fond of these benches because I feel like a Disney Princess every time. Just dramatically fall onto one of the benches and wail. It makes for a quite scenic cry. But, as for getting your roommate comfortable with you crying in the
room, you can easily just ask. It might be extremely awkward, but I think it can bring you two closer together. I suggest just plopping your head onto their bed and releasing those inner frustrations. If you have a sympathetic roommate, they might just pet your head, much like mine did. (If you’re really lucky, they’ll be a sympathy crier.) Best of luck- Mom Dear Mom, I have an essay due soon that I have no idea how to write. The prompt is very specific but very vague at the same time. What should I do? The Writing Center had no answers for me. You are my only
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hope. Sincerely- Riter Sblock Dear Riter, I have yet to be in your shoes, but I am very sympathetic to your cause. My immediate reaction is to tell you to drop out, but I am thinking that my suggestion might not go over well with your parents. So, you can write about something, a foolproof topic. You know, about something that everyone likes. For instance, have you heard anyone diss on turtles? No, because everyone loves turtles. Write your essay about turtles, and I am sure your professor will enjoy it. Yours- Mom
HUMOR & SATIRE
October 3, 2019
Page 17
‘Tall Girl’: Representation everyone’s been waiting for Madison Caress Not-So-Tall Girl
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Courtesy of uhdpaper.com
’ll begin this review by advising anyone under six feet tall who is currently reading this to stop reading. Being tall is something very few of us have to live with, and it is an issue that I, being 5’6”, have been faced with since I was young. The protagonist of “Tall Girl,” who I will simply be referring to as “Tall Girl,” deals with the same problem throughout the film. Despite Tall Girl clocking in at a whopping 6’1” (and a half), I feel as if her problems were immensely (pun intended) relatable because I have also suffered for being above average height for a woman in the United States (which is 5’4,” in case you were planning on Googling it). The true genius of “Tall Girl” is the simple yet effective plot. While some films consist of convoluted, hard to follow plots, like “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle,” this film has a very straightforward plot: She’s tall. It was very refreshing to watch a film with a fresh, simplistic storyline that I could follow and understand. At this point, if you’re thinking, “Well, surely the plot has got to be more complex than that!” Congrats—you’re wrong! Tall Girl is tall, and everyone else isn’t, and that’s the movie. Oh, wait! I did forget to mention, ***spoiler alert*** she’s tall. The film does a great job of not rubbing it in your face that Tall Girl is, in fact, tall. The writing is sleek and sophisticated with only about 13 instances of the classic, “How’s the weather up there?” and the iconic joke, “Taylor Swift? More like Taller Swift.” Watching this movie, you would really have no idea she’s even tall, although
The view above simulates what Tall Girl must see every single day. This is just a random guess, as I can’t even fathom what it must be like to be six one (and a half) feet tall. the use of actors under 5’7” and what I’m definitely sure is a slightly shrunken down set does allude to the fact that Tall Girl very well could be 6’1” (and a half). The writing also makes it clear that the oppression of Tall Girl doesn’t just come from the fact she’s tall—she is also rich and good at piano and that is why she’s made fun of! Throughout the film, Tall Girl’s dad wonders about her health because she is so ridiculously tall. At 6’1” (and a half), it is no wonder he is worried! No woman has ever been over 6 feet! Certainly not Geena Davis (6’), Brooke Shields (6’), Elizabeth
Debicki (6’3”), Sigourney Weaver (6’) and many others. She is just so ridiculously tall I can’t quite fathom it, and I’m above average in height myself. Because of the judgement tall girl faces for her monstrous height, she researches height-reduction surgery. All of us who are tall understand why she did this. If I were her height, I would probably sacrifice part of my femur to be shorter as well. And honestly, how many of us are using our femurs much anyway? A minor side plot of the film is Tall Girl finding herself stuck in a love triangle with
HOROSCOPES
her best friend (who is short…comparatively) and a Swedish foreign exchange student (who is, you guessed it…tall). She does, however, complain about not having men interested in her because she is so lengthy. This aspect of the movie is one that I admire. If she were gay, she would not have any of these problems. Just from personal observation, most women are willing to date someone taller than themselves. The unique choice to make her a heterosexual tall girl is a plot device that works wonders! More films should use it! We don’t have enough heterosexual romcoms if you ask me. Nope, I’ve never heard of Tom Hanks or Meg Ryan, so why do you ask? If this review has compelled you to witness the masterpiece that is “Tall Girl,” you can find it on Netflix. So, for the few of you that have a Netflix subscription, you can find the movie by searching “oppressed for being tall.” It should be the only thing that pops up. Or, if you look up “dance moms girl fired for being too tall” it might come up there, too. I advise everyone to watch this film! It was a roller coaster from start to finish. It started about a girl who is tall and ended with a speech about how being tall shouldn’t be grounds for bullying. Tall girl is basically Cady Heron from “Mean Girls” if Cady were the size of an oak tree and talked about how tall she is every 30 seconds. And, while “Mean Girls” may be the better movie when it comes to “acting” or “writing,” there is one thing “Tall Girl” has that “Mean Girls” doesn’t: one outrageously tall girl. For that, I give this movie 6 feet out of 6.
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
This week is your week! No matter what happens throughout the week, just know that it ends exactly how you’ve been hoping it would: alien abduction.
LIBRA
September 23 | October 22
Taurus, I know you’ve had to bend to other people’s will lately. But enough is enough. Put your foot down, and tell the Quidditch team that the real reason you joined is that you wanted to be one of the hoops.
SCORPIO
Dear Gemini, times may have been rough lately, but I want you to know, good things are coming. They are coming quickly. Too quickly…OMG WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU.
SAGITTARIUS
Cancer, you forgot to write your essay this week. It’s fine, but don’t lie to your professor— that never helps. Tell them the truth: They never should have given you any responsibility. That’s their own fault.
Just because your sign is a lion does not mean you can talk to the big cats. Your family hates watching “The Lion King” with you. Plus, you’ve been banned from three zoos. Just stop. The stars are aligned in such a way that you will have an amazing week. Though, I’m not quite sure why the cast of “Avengers” has been motionlessly standing in a line, staring straight ahead ominously for so long. But they’re doing it for you.
October 23 | November 21
November 22 | December 21
CAPRICORN
December 22 | January 19
AQUARIUS
January 20 | February 18
PISCES
February 19 | March 20
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Libra. Be aware of stray tapirs this week. I’m not saying you’re going to be attacked by a tapir, but I would look to see if the Vassar insurance covers tapir attacks (or anything else, really).
You’re a passionate person. You live your life with your heart on your sleeve. We are all really concerned. Where the hell did you get that heart?! Please put it back.
Sagittarius, telling people who look a bit tired that they look great is nice. But did you consider that we look tired because you woke us up? How did you even get in my room?
Oh, Capricorn. Please keep your your nightly ritual of going up to the roof and screaming like a banshee a weekend-only thing. Or at least go to Skinner to do it. You seeing that same person around campus all week is just a coincidence. You’re just on similar schedules, eat at the same time, live in the same dorm, attend all the same clubs and go to the same movies. It’s totally normal. Yo, you gotta stop following Aquarius around. I tried covering for you, but they are catching on, and honestly it’s weird. Just stop.
SPORTS
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October 3, 2019
Kaepernick is face of movement, history in making Rayan El Amine Guest Reporter
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As pivotal as Kaepernick’s protests have been, it’s important to understand that the movement goes deeper than simply him. The NFL demonstrates a symptom of a disease that is inherent to American sports, and almost all sports leagues in general. The divide between predominantly white owners and Black players feels like an outdated idea transposed into our reality. To avoid sugar-coating our present, it is unacceptable that in our contemporary age Black players can continue to be sold as products from the hands of old white men who have no relation to the sport itself. As fellow civil rights sportsman and spokesman LeBron James blatantly put it, “They got that slave mentality,” (The Guardian, “LeBron James says NFL team owners have ‘slave mentality’,”12.22.2018). The truth persists. Kaepernick is incredible because he shed light on this moment. He turned forth the rock that ultimately forced us as consumers of sport to acknowledge the relationship that we continue to fund. Boycotting the NFL may not be a realistic choice, but neither was kneeling in the face of old, white, millionaires. Kaep set a precedent for the equity that we must demand. He acknowledged that he was not comfortable simply being a cog in the greater system. He presented the reality that Black athletes are not comfortable continuing on with the white objectification that has shackled their people for millennia. Kaep’s capacity to play has nothing to do with this success. Colin Kaepernick has not failed. Colin Kaepernick has not failed because he has not made a roster. Colin Kaepernick has
not failed because he lost out on $14 million in contract money. In reality, Colin Kaepernick has shifted history. He has shed a light on a dark patch of American culture, and has asked us to critically confront what this dark patch means. Some, like Snyder and McNair, are not yet willing to accept their responsibility in creating this patch, but I am hopeful that will come with time. Until then, my Sundays won’t be tuning in for this modern slavery.
Courtesy of Adam Fagen via Flickr
nee bent and unwavering, staring deep into the face of centuries of unchanging oppression, serenaded by the same “Star Spangled Banner” built on the backs of chains and shackles, Colin Kaepernick has become a controversial figure. Drawing attention from both sides of the political spectrum, Kaep has become synonymous with the interaction of race and sports. Needless to say, he is divisive. His controversy, for better or worse, has left him blackballed from the NFL, and a contemporary figure reminiscent of the raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos. Yet, assessing his historical impact is difficult within the current moment. It’s a question of writing history as one experiences it, which often results in skewed objectivity. In my personal opinion, however, objectivity is not a useful tool when choosing sides of history. As time passes and the reality of old white owners reaping the benefits of a league dominated by primarily Black players persists, it becomes clearer that Kaepernick was right to kneel. Regardless of your opinion on his choice, his impact is undeniable. A million-dollar pledge to organizations committed to fighting oppression, a Nike advertising campaign focused on growing the movement and a collusion case settled with NFL owners. It has become clear that Kaepernick is a player off the field, even if he remains absent on it. Herein lies the problem. Colin Kaepernick was a football player long before he ever became a leading face in a growing civil rights movement, so let’s be clear: The man formerly known as Kaep
was borderline dominant when he played. Heading a San Francisco team that went to the Super Bowl and owning a QB rating that was typically amongst the best in the league, Kaepernick was positioned for stardom. He was lightning in a bottle, but that bottle cracked. Kaepernick, following a season where he posted his highest QB Rating in four years, opted out of his contract after failed extension negotiations with the 49ers. Later, General Manager John Lynch made it clear that Kaepernick would’ve been cut even if he had opted into his contract. Coincidentally, this transaction quickly followed the beginning of Kaep’s (now infamous) protests on the state of the country. From my vantage point, there’s only one real explanation for a young quarterback on the cusp of his prime finding himself left without any team interest. He was blackballed. This idea of Kaepernick’s blackballing— essentially rejecting him for his desire and willingness to speak on inherently Black issues—is neither foreign nor kept under wraps amongst NFL owners. Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder made the audacious claim that “96 percent” of all Americans opposed kneeling (The Washington Post, “An ESPN report calls Daniel Snyder a ‘pro-stand owner.’ The Redskins declined to comment.” 10.27.2017). Houston Texans owner Bob McNair, in response to questions surrounding the continued protest amongst NFL players, said, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison” (Bleacher Report, “Texans Owner Bob McNair on Protests: ‘We Can’t Have Inmates Running the Prison’,” 10.27.2017).
Former quarterback Colin Kaepernick has not found a spot on an NFL roster, as his decision to kneel for the anthem once sparked widespread national controversy.
NFL has retirement problem, but you can’t blame players Daniel Bonfiglio Guest Columnist
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hen Andrew Luck retired before the start of the 2019 NFL season, he joined a list of many athletes who have retired before their age and recent athletic performance might indicate. Luck’s retirement took the NFL by surprise and drew a lot of criticism from fans over the situation in which he left the Indianapolis Colts. However, his decision makes sense in the modern environment of the NFL. Andrew Luck was selected first overall by the Colts in the 2012 NFL draft out of Stanford, and quickly proved that he was a worthy successor to the legendary Peyton Manning. However, while Luck succeeded on the field through every game in his first
three seasons, it took a toll on his body. Luck missed half of the 2015 season with a shoulder injury, and in 2017 a torn labrum needed season-ending surgery, leaving the Colts without their star quarterback. However, after a 1-5 start to the 2018 season, the Colts went on a run under outstanding play from Luck, making the playoffs and winning the wild card game. The effort earned Luck the 2018 Comeback Player of the Year award, and the Colts looked set to make another playoff run in 2019, this time with a more refined and playoff-experienced team. That is, until Luck decided to retire, once again leaving the Colts without a quarterback. Luck is only 30 years old, nowhere near retirement age for most of today’s modern quarterbacks, as players like Drew Brees
Courtesy keithallison via Flickr
Andrew Luck, who was set to become one of the NFL’s defining faces for the forseeable future, retired before the season in a shock announcement. As the long-term health issues caused by football become more apparent, other players are likely to follow his example.
and Tom Brady have continued to play well into their 30s. Rob Gronkowski, another 30-year-old player, retired this year. Gronk has been on the receiving end of injuries through his entire career, thanks to his spectacularly physical style of play and the nature of the position. However, were it something he still desired, there is no doubt Gronk could still be productive in the NFL. Retiring early has become a growing trend ever since Calvin Johnson retired in 2016, also at the age of 30, with four years left on his contract and a full skillset still at his disposal. So why are players leaving the game they love earlier than ever before? The answer is in the nature of football. Football is a violent sport. The violence fuels its appeal for many fans, as they marvel at the feats of speed and strength that players display every time they evade a tackle or make a big hit. To eliminate the brutal physicality of the game would be to eliminate the challenge that inherently creates the spectacle of America’s most-watched sport. But this brutality comes with consequences. Growing numbers of retired players are speaking out against the NFL for turning a blind eye to the medical issues players experience later in life caused by repeatedly bashing heads for a living. As a result, the NFL has altered rules and cracked down on big collisions, especially for quarterbacks, but the risk of traumatic injuries still exists. As an architectural design major at Stanford, Luck is unquestionably intelligent. He understandably values his continued mental agency as much as anyone, and sees the bigger picture in his life beyond next week’s game. Luck has also now been in the league long enough to accumulate enough wealth to live out the rest of his days in comfort.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Throughout his eight seasons in the league, Luck earned a whopping $109,107,998 (Spotrac, “Andrew Luck cash earnings,” 2019). He likely realized that with every check he earned, the risks he took every time he stepped on the field lost more of their immediate life-changing financial impact. Luck has also repeatedly cited the mental wear and tear of the process of rehabilitation after an injury, and his desire to avoid going through the process again. There is only so much beating the body can take before it begins to permanently degrade, and it is up to every player to determine the point at which that degradation is no longer worth it. Not every player wants to retire. Jason Witten, a tight end for the Dallas Cowboys, retired after the 2017 season to join his former quarterback Tony Romo in the commentators’ booth, before missing the game so much he came back for the 2019 season. Brett Favre famously came out of retirement multiple times, unable to quell that burning passion he had for the game he had always played. These discrepancies in player sentiments often confuse fans, and understandably lead them to criticize their team’s players who hang it up early, questioning those players’ loyalty to their team and the game they are supposed to love above all else. The NFL should obviously take all steps necessary to make it as safe as possible for the players. After all, it is never good for the product when star players are leaving the field or people are getting hurt. However, until the NFL is flag football, there will never be a way to completely ensure the safety of players. In the meantime, some players will choose to value their future over the present, and we cannot fault them for that.
October 3, 2019
SPORTS
Page 19
Women’s soccer shoots for consistency as season starts Jonah Frere-Holmes Reporter
S
Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton
talking the informal locker room outside Gordon Field at halftime of Vassar’s Liberty League opener last Saturday Sept. 28, women’s soccer coach Corey Holton was tired of repeating herself. Vassar, which finished second in the Liberty League in 2016 and 2017 before securing an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season, was locked in a scoreless draw against a bottom-feeding Union team. As junior midfielder Emily Longo put it, “[Holton] was sick of having the same conversation at every halftime.” That conversation, which Longo and junior defender Megan Saari explained was about the Brewers’ defensive intensity and grit in the final third, speaks to Vassar’s up-and-down season to this point. There are growing pains: Graduating nine seniors from the 2019 team and fielding a 15deep lineup half-filled with freshmen and sophomores, the Brewers are still learning to play together. As Saari said, “We had to build new relationships.” After a scoreless second half, the Brewers and Dutchwomen went to overtime. The extra 20 minutes are familiar territory for Vassar this season—a little too familiar, to hear the players tell it. “We’re used to overtime but we shouldn’t be,” said Longo of the Brewers, who have already played in three contests that went beyond the usual 90 minutes. In overtime, the urgency of a superior team needing to put its foe to rest was evident: In the six extra minutes, Vassar did not allow a shot on goal and recorded two of their own. The second, a stab from sophomore midfielder Gabi Tulk after a scramble in front of the net, closed the book on a frustrating but rewarding game for the Brewers. Of her late winner, Tulk said, “I saw the goalkeeper running at me, and I knew I had to get there. It’s one of the gritty things you need to do. It’s not the prettiest, but I got enough on it. A goal is a goal.” Vassar, which moved to 4-4-1 on the
young season with the win on Saturday, was more upbeat going into the overtime period than after the first half, secure that they were the better team. They outshot Union 16-10 on the game, and junior goalie Fiona Walsh made all three saves required of her. As Tulk explained, “It was just a matter of time. We knew [the goal] was coming.” The Brewers start Liberty League play 1-0, but they know there’s work to be done. Tulk reinforced the idea that Vassar’s intensity from kick-off is the biggest point to improve upon: “A big theme this season has been digging ourselves out of a hole. We usually get scored on first.” While the learning curve for a team that has only spent a month together is steep, the Brewers’ youth movement has undeniable talent. Vassar’s three leading goalscorers are sophomores. Forward Emma Tanner, who led the team in scoring as a first-year, has returned to her dominant form in 2019, pacing the Brewers in goals, assists, shots and shots on goal; she is in the top 10 in the Liberty League in the latter two categories. Tulk, who missed much of last season with an unspecified illness, has found her feet quickly, with three goals and an assist thus far. Supersub Madio Wallner rounds out the dynamic sophomore trio, having scored twice, including the game-winner in the Brewers’ season-opening double-overtime win over Moravian. Vassar had a strange but undeniably successful season in 2018. The Brewers knocked off perennial powerhouse William Smith in Geneva for the first time in program history, spoiling an otherwise perfect Liberty League record for the Herons. They also shut out #15-ranked RIT, 2-0. They also lost four Liberty League contests and bowed out in the opening round of the conference playoffs. Assuming the season was over, the Brewers didn’t practice in the week leading up to the announcement of the NCAA tournament field. Suffice it to say they were surprised to hear their name called. The shock never really faded, even as Vassar fell to MIT in the first round, but
Junior defender Skylar Herrera-Ross cruises down the field as one of a relatively small group of upperclassmen on a team that lost nine seniors last year. While the Brewers achieved some historic firsts last season, they struggled with maintaining consistency against every opponent.
the at-large bid was a testament to their impressive regular-season wins over conference heavyweights. Looking even further ahead, which is the job of the reporter and not the player, Vassar does have long-term targets by which to measure itself. The Brewers want to win the Liberty League, return to the NCAA tournament and play more than one game there. Saari offered more: “We’re aiming to pitch eight shutouts, finish corner kicks at a high rate and win more than we lose on Gordon Field.” One thing the team has going for it is interpersonal chemistry. The unknowns that come with such a young team create a vacuum of team culture, one that the players feel has been filled positively. Saari said, “Our team dynamic is unique, inclusive and unified.” Tulk added, “We play for each other.” Hoping to address the issue of intensity, the Brewers practice weekly with former men’s soccer standouts Kevin Baliat, Carlos Espina and Nate Kim. A practice common in Division I women’s athletics,
having mixed-gender scrimmages challenges players in new ways, forcing them to play more physically. This season, both the volatility and ability of Vassar’s 2018 team are clearly present. With so much roster turnover and skill, the Brewers are capable of both falling to a scrappier, less talented opponent, and of toppling seemingly insurmountable giants. Vassar will hopefully move to 2-0 in the Liberty League after a Tuesday bout with Bard (that has yet to be played as of writing [the Brewers won 5-1]), a wonderfully consistent cellar dweller in a number of sports. Looking ahead, Saari offered a confident prediction not fit to print, which Tulk edited: “We can’t underestimate any opponent.” Their preview of the tilt with Bard speaks to a pattern they’ve established halfway through the 2019 campaign: one step forward, one step back. Hopefully, as was the case with Tulk in the 96th minute of Saturday’s game, the last step is the best one.
Courtesy of Julitte Pope
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
SPORTS
Page 20
Why
we
I
Cristina Lopez, Field Hockey
continue playing it at the collegiate level, reasons that I’m sure are true for every NCAA student-athlete. For one, I am painfully competitive, and the turf is one place where that attitude is accepted and encouraged. Along with this, being part of a team has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Field hockey has surrounded me with people who are driven, hard-working and passionate, and who push me to be the same. Field hockey has taught me to push myself past my limits, and that in order to get better at something you have to truly dedicate yourself to it. The feeling of mastering a new skill or beating a difficult opponent is like no other. I have always accepted that these are the reasons why I play field hockey, why I spend more time on the field than in the classroom some semesters and why I endure the stress and sometimes sleepless nights of the fall season. I play because I love the game and because my teammates with whom I share it have become my best friends in the world. But an experience I had this past summer gave me a new perspective on my love for sports. From June 3 to Aug. 16 of this year, I was a member of the 4K for Cancer’s Team Baltimore, a group of 21 college-aged partici-
Courtesy Cristina Lopez
Lopez ran in the 4k for Cancer last summer, journeying from San Francisco to Baltimore to raise money and awareness. Lopez and her teammates wrote the names of the individuals for whom they were running for on their arms and legs, as inspiration during the long trek.
Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton
[CW: This article mentions death and cancer.] first started playing field hockey when I was eight years old. My mother had played field hockey at Middlebury College, and she and a close friend of hers started a recreational league in our town. So naturally, when they didn’t have enough people on the teams the first few years, she signed me up to play. At first it was simply an obligation, but after a year or two, I grew to really love the sport. I continued playing field hockey, along with other sports, throughout my childhood and my high school career. Going into my freshman year, I had to decide if I wanted to continue playing field hockey or soccer, since both were fall sports and I could only try out for one of the teams at my school. I ended up choosing field hockey because I could join the school field hockey team and play for my club soccer team for one more year, and after that it made more sense for me to just continue with field hockey. Despite this anti-climatic transition into my more serious field hockey career, I am incredibly grateful that I chose to pursue this sport because it has shaped me into who I am today. There are many reasons why I started playing field hockey and why I decided to
play
October 3, 2019
Senior midfielder Cristina Lopez is an influential player for the Brewers, having earned a spot on the 2018 All-Liberty League First Team. While she now loves field hockey, Lopez originally took up the sport just to fill space in a league founded by her mother. pants running over 4,000 miles from San Francisco to Baltimore to raise money and awareness for young adults with cancer. The 4K for Cancer is part of the Ulman Fund, a foundation dedicated specifically to supporting young adults with cancer, since they are typically an under-resourced age group. For example, most hospitals have pediatric wings but no spaces designated specifically for young adults. Every morning before we started running, our whole team would create a dedication circle, where we would hear a story of someone who had been involved with the Ulman Fund. We would then go around the circle and say who we were running for that day. These were the names of cancer survivors, people battling cancer at that time, people who had passed away from cancer or even people dealing with some sort of non-cancer-related illness or tragedy. We wrote the names of these people on our legs and arms to honor them and have them guide us through our 49-day journey. One morning, we read a story about a girl who had participated in the 4K for Cancer a few years before. She died during the trip, and the story we read was written by one of her teammates from that year. We all left the circle that morning crying, and prepared for the 14 miles we would be running that day. Before we started, one of the girls with whom I was paired said to all of us that rather than saying “we have to,” we should start saying “we get to.” I wrote those words on my arm that day and every day for the rest of the summer, and looked
Women’s Rugby
down at both that mantra and the names on the legs of my partners as we ran one of the hilliest routes of the whole summer. Every time we approached the next incline, we all simultaneously glanced at our arms before continuing up the hill, dripping with sweat and out of breath. Although that was one of the most challenging days of my life, both physically and mentally, it was one of my favorites as well. That day, everything I had learned about myself during that summer finally got summed up perfectly in three words: “We get to.” We got to run up those hills and spend our days in a blistering heat that sometimes reached temperatures above 100 degrees. We got to travel across the country with amazing company and help change the lives of others. We got to wake up every day at 4:30 a.m., run 10 to 16 miles, and then do it all again the next day. Although this summer was an experience unlike any other, it taught me a lot that I could also apply to my field hockey career. I play field hockey because I am lucky enough to be healthy and have the chance to play at the collegiate level. There are so many people in the world who would give anything to have this opportunity and are unable, for whatever reason, to do so. This has become much clearer to me and has helped change my attitude at practices and games. I have learned to let go of mistakes more easily, to appreciate every moment that I’m playing and to always give 100 percent at every opportunity. It is a privilege to be able to play the sport I love, with people I love.
Women’s Golf
Vassar College 74, RPI 7
George Phinney Jr. Classic
September 29, 2019
September 29, 2019
The Brewers continued their dominant start to the NCAA title-defending season, putting 12 tries past the outmatched Red Hawks. Sophomore Emma Manzella led the team with four tries, and five other individuals notched at least one on the day. The 74-7 victory brought Vassar’s total points over the first three contests to 197. Vassar’s opponents, on the other hand, have managed 19 points, total, as Siena College managed 12 and New Paltz was shut out by the reigning champs. Vassar hopes to continue this blistering pace in the next game against Marist College this Sunday. Photos courtesy of Carlisle Stockton
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
The golf team placed ninth at the George Phinney Jr. Golf Classic on the Ralph Myhre course, posting a total score of 711 over the two-day event. The team improved from day one to two of the tournament, posting a 348 on Sunday after scoring 363 on the first day. The top Brewer performances came from sophomores Hella Zhou and Margaret Liu, who both posted total scores of 167 over the two days, good for 23rd in the tournament’s individual rankings. The Brewers next take to the links this upcoming weekend for the Williams Fall Classic, where they placed sixth last year.