Misc.04.25.24

The Miscellany News

BDS bill prevented from reaching Senate floor

Emma Brown Guest Reporter

Despite community controversy and student campaigns, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) bill that was introduced by Vassar’s Students for Justice in Palestine (VSJP) will not be voted on by Vassar Student Association (VSA) senators as a result of college administrators’ concerns.

The bill would have prohibited student organizations from purchasing from companies that are in support of Israel’s position in the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The BDS movement, which began in 2005, has created a tiered list of businesses that organizations should avoid, categorizing corporations as “consumer boycott targets,” “divestment and exclusion targets,” “pressure targets” or “organic boycott targets.” BDS calls for a complete boycott of businesses listed as “consumer boycott targets,” such as Puma, Chevron and Texaco, while the companies enumerated in

the “pressure targets” section are to be avoided only when reasonable alternatives exist.

It was determined that the VSA could not move forward with the bill after VSA President Olivia Gross ’24, Vice President Emily Doucet ’25 and Equity Executive Traci Francis ’25 were called into an emergency meeting with President Elizabeth Bradley, Dean of the College Carlos Alamo and Vassar’s General Counsel Shay Humphrey. According to the student representatives present in the meeting, the administrators told the students that if the VSA proceeded with voting on the bill, they would be in violation of Article VI-B Section I of the VSA’s Bylaws, which states that the Association must ensure that no organization is discriminated against on the basis of its religious, political or ideological views. Passing a piece of legislation in violation of the VSA’s Bylaws could put Vassar at greater risk of being sued by those opposed to the bill. In the face of these concerns, many have noted that the BDS movement opposes cor-

porations that support Israel’s position in the current war in Gaza, not all companies that are Jewish or Israeli-owned.

“Unlike the common narrative that’s being pushed across America about BDS, this is not a blanket boycott of Israeli companies,” said VSA senator ’25, who helped to write the proposed legislation. “It’s not a blanket boycott of Jewish companies. It is a boycott of companies who are actively supporting the mass murder of Palestinians. And I feel like the murky waters of all of this makes that so hard to parse out. The narrative gets out of our hands very, very quickly.”

Community reactions

After learning that they would not be able to vote on the proposed bill, many VSA senators expressed frustration and disappointment.

“Even though I’m in SJP, I’m also a senator, so it was a bit upsetting,” said a student ’25. “I was pretty hopeful. Senators didn’t even get

the chance to vote on it. It was very frustrating.”

Members of VSJP were similarly frustrated, though some expressed that they anticipated opposition from administrators.

“I wasn’t very surprised,” says VSJP member Kelly ’25, who requested to only be identified by their first name. “When we met with the Internal Affairs Committee a few weeks ago, they felt really strongly about putting out a survey to the student body prior to voting on the bill in the Senate. I understand the need for student responses and I think it was really important especially given the response we got, which was overwhelmingly voting in favor of bringing this bill to a vote…[but] there’s a huge risk with publicizing this bill before we vote on it, and we saw that play out in the last week when admin were coming in to do whatever they can to stop this bill from going through.”

In response to the dismissal of the bill,

Exploring Ely’s new geologic timeline

Jordan Alch Columnist

According to radiometric dating, the Earth is 4.543 billion years old. Even as an earth science major myself, I find it hard to conceptualize just how much time that is. Though geologists have come up with countless different ways to help people come to terms with the sheer amount of time that the Earth has existed, I find that the most helpful one exists right on the Vassar campus.

The universe begins at Vassar Lake, and the Earth starts at Rockefeller Hall. Then, upon stepping foot into the A. Scott Warthin Museum of Geology and Natural History located in Ely Hall, visitors are immediately whisked millions of years back in geologic time. The floor of the museum has been intricately painted with a visual metaphor for geologic time that allows people

to clearly comprehend the vastness of time of life on Earth.

The timeline outlines the different geologic epochs that have existed on Earth, complete with hand-painted illustrations of over 200 organisms that existed in each era. The timeline provides viewers with a comprehensive guide to the history of the Earth, but in a way that is easily digestible.

This project initially began as a Science Illustration Independent Study last spring by Elise Poniatowski ’23. According to Rick Jones, Vassar’s own scientific illustrator, Poniatowski was inspired by a project done in the “Mass Extinctions” class taught by Assistant Professor of Earth Science Laura Haynes. The project consists of several posters on the back wall of the museum that provide a comprehensive guide to the Big Five Mass Extinctions. In fact, the colors of the posters inspired the color scheme used in the geologic timeline.

After Poniatowski graduated, the project was finished by Rick Jones with contributions from Carter Mucha ’23, Ayane Garrison ’24 and Professor of Geography Yu Zhou. Overall, it took about a year to fully complete, from March 2023 to March 2024.

When Jones took over the completion of the project, his goal was to tell the story of life on Earth. In addition to depicting the more commonly known extinct organisms, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Jones took care to call attention to more overlooked animals, such as the first mammal to return to the sea, Pakicetus. Jones’ work also highlights various specimens in the museum’s collection, such as the Ichthyosaurus, effectively tying the museum together.

The timeline seamlessly integrates the Big Five Mass Extinctions into the story of life. Once the dinosaurs were wiped out, birds and small mammals filled the eco-

logical niches left behind, a phenomena depicted in the timeline. “I’d like people to get a sense of how weird and wonderful life is,” says Jones, a goal that is undoubtedly achieved in this impressive artistic and educational feat.

As I discussed the process and inspiration behind Ely Hall’s own geologic timeline with Professor of Earth Science Jill Schneiderman, she mentioned that she saw a similar attraction at SUNY Geneseo and was excited by the teaching potential of a physical geologic timeline on Vassar’s campus.

I took a course with Professor Schneiderman last semester called “The Solid Earth: Physical Geology,” and while discussing the geologic timeline with her, she reminded me of the benefits of having a visual representation of geologic time. In American author John McPhee’s book, “Annals of the

See Timeline on page 8

Faculty, students bond over Intramural sports

Sufana Noorwez Senior editor

Outside of Vassar’s varsity athletics scene, there is a strong intramural (IM) sports community on campus, which includes a diverse range of sports. While it is mostly students who participate in these sports, there is one notable exception: the faculty intramural soccer team, Ye Olde Football Teame. This team actually consists of a variety of players, both faculty and students alike, who play against teams of students in Vassar’s 7v7 intramural soccer league. The faculty members who play most frequently on Ye Olde Football Teame are Assistant Professor of Biology Colin Echeverría

Aitken, Professor of Chemistry and Director of Biochemistry Zachary Donhauser, Associate Professor of Economics Qi Ge, and Assistant Professor of Economics Esteban Argudo. The student roster rotates, depending on those who go abroad or are committed to other activities.

In an interview with The Miscellany News, Donhauser provided some background to the history of Ye Olde Football Teame. “Professor Aitken and I started coaching youth soccer together because we have kids of the same age,” he said. “For me, that reminded me of how fun of a sport it is, and we got to talking about how we should start our own team. He and I came up with the idea and started reaching out to people.”

Many of the members of the team—faculty and students alike—are lifelong athletes, and a number of them have specifically been soccer players for the duration of their careers. When asked how long he had been playing soccer, Aitken replied: “My whole life. I learned to play soccer before I learned to walk. I played in college at Wesleyan, and I played in a men’s league during my Ph.D. at Stanford, and then I played in a men’s league during my postdoc in Maryland.” Aitken also mentioned that his identity as a Colombian-American strongly influenced his love of soccer. “In Colombia, soccer…is absolutely everything, and the successes and failures of Colombian soccer have marked my life,” he said.

The students who have participated in the team have a similar history with soccer. Cassie Koyamatsu ’25 wrote in an email correspondence to The Miscellany News: “I played soccer all my life and I was on Vassar’s varsity soccer team for [two] years.” Other members of the team also have diverse experiences in other sports, including squash, track, road cycling and cricket. It goes without saying that being on a team with professors is a very different experience from how one may interact with professors in a classroom context. Kyle Benson ’26, who was a member of Ye Olde Football Teame in previous seasons, mentioned that he is in Aitken’s research lab and is his

Fallon Dern/The Miscellany News.

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Edward Welch Morgan

Students react to block of popular BDS bill

Continued from BDS on page 1

many students came forward at the April 14 VSA meeting to convey their dissatisfaction with the administration. The results of the survey distributed to the Vassar student body asking students to share their opinions on the BDS bill revealed that 86.3 percent of respondents approved of the proposed legislation.

“There’s a moral outrage that so many of us are feeling about what is happening in Gaza and in Palestine more generally,” said one student ’27 during the April 14 VSA meeting. “That’s an outrage that exists beyond the bounds of any Bylaws or VSA proceedings. That outrage will continue to exist no matter what happens with this bill.”

Although survey respondents displayed overwhelming support for the bill, a portion of the Vassar community has expressed their dissent for the legislation and what it represents, with many citing concerns about a rise in antisemitism or discrimination.

“I oppose BDS because I fear the passage of such legislation would exacerbate the social tensions and division that exist on this campus and will only serve to further alienate Jewish and Zionist students,” wrote one student ’27 in a statement read at the April 14 VSA meeting. “I fail to see the tangible positive impact that passing such legislation would have towards meeting peace-building goals, fostering dialogue on Vassar’s campus and advancing the liberation of the Palestinian people.”

In the face of these critiques, many students maintain that the bill allows students to express their political beliefs in a form of protest protected by the First Amendment and that it does not discriminate against Jewish-owned or Israeli companies.

“I just wish that people would actually read the bill,” said VSJP member Keila Mercedes

’26. “Maybe that’s part of the struggle, just getting the information out to students about what BDS actually is and what the bill actually proposes and targets, because it’s not to target a nationality, ethnicity or religion. I think reading it would clarify a lot of questions that people might have.”

Though much of students’ criticism about the halting of the BDS legislation was directed at Vassar’s administration, some constituents expressed their frustration with the perceived inaction of VSA members in response to warnings from the administration.

“Get your hands dirty,” said a student ’26 at the April 14 VSA meeting. “We need you. You are our representatives.”

At the April 14 and April 21 VSA meetings and in interviews with The Miscellany News, Association members responded to constituent concerns about apathy and inaction.

“I understand where [students’] hesitancy and questions about that are coming from,” said Francis in an interview with The Miscellany News, “but I do think that listening a little bit more about how our process works and about what has been said in meetings, especially what the VSA has said to admin, will provide them a lot of answers instead of just being on the attack against us.”

BDS context

In 2016, Vassar students introduced similar BDS legislation but were unable to pass the portion of the bill that would have prohibited organizations from spending money at the companies opposed by the BDS movement. However, a portion of the bill that endorsed BDS did pass. At the time, the bill was mired in controversy because the College’s Board of Trustees indicated that they would consider eliminating the VSA’s ability to allocate money to student organizations, according to a

2016 statement written by the VSA Executive Board that was published in The Miscellany News.

“In response to that, there was a faculty statement circulated, signed by [approximately] 43 professors, including Dean Alamo, saying that they stood with the VSA and they think the VSA should be able to put BDS into its constitution,” said a ’25 VSA senator.

In addition to concerns about contradictions between current VSA Bylaws and the proposed BDS legislation, questions about the legal ramifications of passing the bill have been raised by members of the Vassar community.

New York’s Executive Order 157, passed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2016, directs state entities to withdraw funding from any organization that supports BDS legislation. Vassar currently receives funding from the state, raising questions about how the college would be affected by the potential passing of BDS legislation by the VSA.

“I was told that Executive Order 157 could affect the college’s state funding with financial aid grants, research funding and even private donations,” said Gross. “This is not guaranteed, but the risk is there.”

“There has been no state or federal court ruling that has determined whether or not the Executive Order is constitutional,” wrote Humphrey in a statement to Miscellany reporters. “However, any college or university in New York that enacts BDS measures should expect to have their state funding withdrawn and to be the likely target of a [New York state] Human Rights complaint.”

Currently, there is little public information about any Human Rights complaints filed against universities by New York state. However, the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has recent-

ly opened investigations into other colleges, such as Columbia University and Wellesley College, for alleged violations of Title VI, which “prohibits race, color, or national origin discrimination, including harassment based on a person’s shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.”

Moving forward

At the April 21 VSA meeting, members of the association passed a resolution to add a bylaw to their constitution that will make anonymous voting possible during Senate votes, in an effort to protect senators from any potential social or academic repercussions. A resolution to amend the VSA Bylaws to specify that boycotting is a protected form of protest if related to humanitarian or environmental issues was also approved by the Senate, which may allow for BDS legislation to pass in the future.

Members of the association are also currently looking into ways to amend the Bylaws to more clearly define what actions would be considered to be discrimination.

“We didn’t want to take out the word discrimination from that clause at all; it’s basically just defining more about it,” said Francis. “I think that we need to be careful and think about various scenarios about what could happen with what language we choose to further define it because there can be bad implications that can occur.”

VSJP members continue to encourage students to attend the organization’s events to learn more about the war in Gaza.

“There’s a weird feeling of disconnect,” said Kelly. “Like people aren’t allowed to be confused or aren’t allowed to learn and we are a space where we really want people to learn. We value Palestinian liberation and we want people to learn, however that may look.”

College celebrates Earth Day at the Preserve

Will Sorge Contributing Editor

The College held an Earth Day celebration this past Saturday, April 20, at the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve. In attendance were more than 25 environmental organizations that tabled at the Cooperative Barns to share their work promoting environmental protection and sustainability across Dutchess County. Stewardship, Program and Communications Coordinator at the Preserve Clay Antonatos ’22 shared, “We had over 200 people in attendance at the event and are thrilled so many folks were able to join us to celebrate all that is happening on the Preserve and across Dutchess County during Earth Month and throughout the year!”

Dutchess Land Conservancy was one organization in attendance at Saturday’s event. Sharon Zampko, a representative of Dutchess Land Conservancy, shared some words about the organization’s mission.

“[We] protect land—farmland, wetlands, open land—from being developed or overpopulated. We obtained easements—some donated, some purchased—that we continue to monitor,” said Zampko. The organization aims to ensure there are no infractions on the land over which they hold easements. Zampko added, “We do a lot of educational programs…to really teach the community about farmland and protecting land.”

Another organization in attendance was the Revive College Hill Park Coalition. Organization representative Nancy Foster shared a bit about their environmental protection and historic preservation efforts.

“College Hill Park is a historic park in the

City of Poughkeepsie. And it’s been [through] many different renditions through the years. But now it is a public park…and we’re trying to revive it so more people will come. It’s in a neighborhood where we want to have people enjoy the green space,” Foster said.

A key issue for the park’s preservation is the treatment of several historic cisterns. Foster added, “Five years ago, all the water…that was stored in the cisterns was put into water tanks. And instead of filling in the cisterns with sand, Mass Design, an architectural firm committed to environmental justice and social justice, is hoping to restore them for performances and for readings.”

In a collaboration with the Vassar Women’s Center, the Preserve will also host the Spring Ephemeral Walk on Wednesday, April 24, at 3 p.m. Preserve Director Keri VanCamp will lead a walk along Collins Trail to highlight the ephemeral spring wildflowers currently blooming at the Preserve.

In a written correspondence to The Miscellany News, Antonatos discussed some of the impacts of climate change and other environmental threats to the Preserve. “The Preserve wwis already experiencing climate change, from the impact of invasive species [including] woody vines and shrubs, as well as insects like the Spotted Lanternfly and Emerald Ash Borer) to increased flooding and tree mortality during storm events, which are projected to occur more often and more severely in our region due to climate change,” they wrote.

Antonatos added, “Preserve staff and interns actively monitor the land to recognize these changes and manage the land responsively and responsibly. We focus primarily on supporting native biodiversity through

invasive species management, native plant propagation and habitat restoration.”

Antonatos cited the Riparian Buffer Restoration Project as one of the many ways that the Preserve staff are mitigating the risks of climate change and supporting biodiversity. “We planted over 200 native trees and shrubs along a riparian, or streamside, buffer at the front of the Preserve to restore habitat and mitigate flooding, and pollution of a tributary of the Casperkill, which ultimately flows into the Hudson,” they wrote.

Preserve staff selected trees according to their relative climate resiliency, such as their ability to withstand warmer temperatures. The Preserve received support for this project through an Ecological Restoration Grant from Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley.

Vassar Greens, a campus organization dedicated to environmental justice and protection, also attended the event, hosting its annual Free Market. Secretary Skyler Huebner ’24 said, “Anybody can donate clothes and anybody can take clothes. It’s mostly Vassar students, but now we’ve been seeing a range of people visiting it.”

Glenna Gomez ’24, past president and current senior executive board member, shared some thoughts on the event’s importance. “A lot of Vassar events are targeted towards Vassar students, so it’s really great to be out here with the community and a bunch of different organizations that I didn’t even know about… We’re really excited to be partnering with the Preserve to be doing this event and hopefully there will be more in the future.”

Image courtesy of Kathleen Langston ’26.

What ‘Seinfeld’ tells us about modern friendship

Benjamin Kaplan Columnist

Iwas recently walking around Manhattan, taking in the sights and sounds of the Upper West Side in the dusk, when I had a thought that has become very normal in my life: This is like “Seinfeld.” Any child of Generation X parents probably has a story surrounding the show and how it touched their guardians, an icon of ’90s culture centered around the fictionalized life of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his close friends living in Manhattan. But even now, in this new generation, I think that the lessons and setting of a show that began airing in 1989, far before any current Vassar student was born, still has immense value today. Within this sitcom, there are mantras on how to be a better friend, how to live a life of fun without shame and how to be a truly radical optimist. It is also just a deeply fun watch. Let me explain now how the misadventures of a group of wacky friends living in New York City can change your life.

If there is one major throughline in “Seinfeld,” it is communication. Every episode of the show is built off of the interaction and spiraling events that come with the communication of thoughts, ideas and emotions between the cast. Combine that with the constant callbacks and the use of miscommunication to fuel plots instead of the introduction of new plot elements to break the status quo, and you get a show where the very friction between the existing characters that moves the story forward is reliant solely on the interpersonal connections of the characters. In terms of watchability, this not only makes “Seinfeld” funny and engaging, but it also heightens the realism.

A nihilist would look at the current state

of communication, with the ability to put our thoughts into text and ship it directly to anyone we know through social media, as a hindrance to true human connection. How can we learn and grow together when there are systems in place that allow us to eliminate error and place our humanity and voice between machines? The characters on “Seinfeld” are from a time when the means of communication over long distances were tools like landline phones rather than text messengers or social media. The episode where Jerry’s friend and chronic liar George Constanza pretends to be a marine biologist could never happen today, as the girl that George is trying to trick into believing this lie could have just looked him up on LinkedIn and seen he was truly just a bald loser living with his parents. But the inability to quickly communicate with each other does not inhibit Jerry and the other cast members—Elaine, Kramer and George—from building connections with each other; instead, it makes their bonds stronger.

They build their own form of communication via references, niche-jokes or an interest they bring to the group, like a new yogurt shop or a trip to Long Island where the topic of “shrinkage” becomes a problem. Instead of being tied to communicating through means to achieve some kind of end goal with those in our lives, “Seinfeld” teaches us that true human connection creates its own kind of language between those involved. The simple act of Kramer bursting into Jerry’s apartment without warning is not just a funny place for an episode’s plot to begin, it also signifies their relationship without any inhibitions. Kramer does not shyly text if he can come over or plan out something in some group chat. He enters, which alone shows his inten-

tions to be in the place and to seek out something from his often reluctant neighbor and friend Jerry.

It is this kind of trust that develops best between friends who have faith in each other, and “Seinfeld” would be nothing without the level of faith its characters have in each other.

The trio of Jerry, Elaine and George is a masterclass in comedic writing courtesy of show creator Larry David, and an example of how we should lead honest relationships with our friends. All three of these characters are often shown to us to be imperfect and petty people, making mistakes in almost every episode. Yet, they do not turn against each other, they turn to each other. Am I saying you should stick with your friends if they are terrible people? No. Instead, I would say “Seinfeld” gives a great example of seeing your friends as companions against the world and not as accessories to your journey. Jerry and George are often at each other’s throats over stupid decisions, yet they continue to be friends as they silently value each other’s company more than giving in to petty drama. I am no Victorian socialite, but it can often feel like friend groups, with current technology and social dynamics, are clique-y and even like social clubs in 2024 with their need to create a palpable environment through exclusion. People will find a dynamic, lock it in with an established list such as a group chat, and put on some kind of face to fit a role or caricature of themselves within these set perimeters. “Seinfeld” rejects this with the simple idea that circumstance and real-life experiences are more valuable than control.

There is an episode near the end of the series’ run called “The Bizarro Jerry” wherein Elaine begins socializing with a group that is, in an extremely funny way, the exact op-

posite of her current group. They are respectful, calm and seem almost synthetic in their interactions with each other. Elaine chooses them over her original group due to their nicer attitudes, but finds she has no place with them by the end of the episode, on account of her confident demeanor conflicting with their dynamic as kind and empathetic do-gooders. Having meaning beyond a funny homage to the dynamic the writers had built up over eight seasons, this episode also shows that control is not a good goal in friendship dynamics. The people you trust to be there, even if they do not always want to be there, will always be there in the end if you have faith in them. Even while facing incalculable odds, strange dates and the wrath of George’s loud father, all of the characters in the show find salvation in each other being there at the end of the day no matter the chaos. Not in the pretense of friendship, but in the necessity of true, unfiltered companionship in a world of people playing characters for others.

If you are nihilistic about the current world, I think “Seinfeld” is a great watch. The first two seasons are a little old and the formula had not set in yet, but the run from Season Three all the way to the end remains some of the funniest and most well-written material ever put in a sitcom. It is a great binge, but it also rewards an active audience, with nearly every episode having some kind of callback and including characters and story arcs that can span multiple seasons. It is a show that oozes with Larry David’s signature style of joyous yet irreverent humor that really comes through in episodes like “The Contest,” “The Outing” and the famous “The Soup Nazi.” Give it a shot, and worse case scenario, you begin really wanting to hang out in a Manhattan diner with your friends.

Coachella fashion takes a casual turn

Madeleine Nicks Columnist

Over the past two weekends, there has been a mass migration to the desert outside Palm Springs for the annual music and art festival Coachella. The festival spans two weekends of three days with a different headliner for each of the nights. This year, the lineup was led by Lana Del Rey, Tyler the Creator and Doja Cat. Typically, the bigger artists attached to the festival set the tone for the overall fashion, but this year was different. Because each of the headliners are extremely different performers, the fashion of this year was confused, unlike at past Coachellas where the festivalfelt more cohesive. While there was no overarching vibe or theme that emerged from Coachella, there were certain trends and silhouettes that acted as throughlines during the two weekends.

The first trend I noticed was focused on accessories. As the base of many attendants’ outfits remained more simple, with little to no color, patterns or sequins, accessories served as a way for outfits to be personalized and exciting. Large, chunky, low-waisted belts were overwhelmingly the leading choice for accessories. Over the last three years or so, a newfound appreciation for the Y2K aesthetic has skyrocketed and, subsequently, slightly plummeted. Crushed velvet Paris Hilton-esque tracksuits and “Mean Girls”-inspired mini skirts are no longer considered high fashion, but some styles of the time have lasted and remain relevant. Lowrise bottoms have strongly solidified their place back in style, and Coachella was no exception to that trend. But what was slightly unexpected was just how many of those

low-rise skirts and jeans were adorned with belts, whether they were layered leather or artsy-inspired hardware. This is not an accessory that can be traced back to this past runway season, but it does have its roots in the ’90s and early 2000s. As influencers began to post their Coachella outfits, one after the other was finishing off their look with silver, metal, chain-like belts hanging down below their waists. It was a strange case of Coachella-goers being in sync and trend-setting.

The second trend that caught my attention was the amount of sheer dressing. Unlike other styles, sheer outfits and translucent fabric started at the highest fashion houses and for the past few years remained a common choice for celebrities on red carpets and in their street style. Coachella offered up a more relaxed and easy-going approach to this trend, with many opting for see-through lace, stretchy gauze or knit crochet. While the looks felt simple, the interest and uniqueness can be found in the smaller, possibly looked-over details. This trend has trickled down to every fast fashion company imaginable. However, Coachella served as an important reminder that while it is accessible and in style, sheer dressing only works when every part of the outfit is contributing to becoming a cohesive and well-rounded look.

The third trend that made a surprising debut at Coachella was bloomers. Boxers as fashionable shorts have become ultra-cool in the past year, but Coachella-goers put a twist on the comfortable fad with bloomers. Bloomers are the shorter, fitted sister of boxers. Usually, bloomers are ruched to give a frilly and ruffled quality, creating a bubble-like appearance complemented by vibrant colors and patterns. Many paired

their bloomers with classic graphic tees and simple tops, easily creating balanced and youthful outfits that were a refreshing departure from the denim-centric looks that overwhelm many other music festivals.

While these three trends were fresh, exciting and unexpected, the overarching takeaway from Coachella is that the outfits this year were undoubtedly much more laidback, normal and carefree than ever before. Leading this charge were Hailey Bieber and Emma Chamberlain. The two are some of the only celebrities that were consistently seen and photographed at Coachella during the day festivities. While a wider array of A-list celebrities were seen at the headlining sets or afterparties delivering intricate, higher fashion outfits, those outfits are separate from the actual festival and do not need to be able to last the whole day.

Bieber was representing her beauty brand, Rhode, during the festival and was seen in a simple outfit, sporting high socks with Mary Jane ballet flats, embroidered boxers and a monochromatically striped green jersey-style shirt. Her other daytime look of the first weekend was an oversized black leather jacket that was the only visible piece she was wearing. The next weekend, she decided on a vintage Yankees jacket and topped her outfit with a baseball hat covered by a delicate leopard print scarf tied under her chin. Bieber expertly curated her lineup of Coachella looks to be aligned with her everyday fashion but opted for comfort and a relaxed approach to anonymity. Many critics dismissed her Coachella fashion as lazy, but I believe her array of outfits was a focused and careful attempt to remain true to her own personal style.

Emma Chamberlain, on the other hand, was clear in her stance that she did not want to try. She has been long crowned the Gen Z face of Coachella, attending the festival for the past several years and making popular vlogs of the experiences. This year, Chamberlain shocked the public with an under-the-radar trip to the festival and an Instagram post detailing her last-minute decision to attend. As a result, her outfits were straight out of her personal closet and aligned with her daily style, sporting an allblack look one day and a simple jeans and sweatshirt combo the other. She is the embodiment of going to Coachella for the experience and love of what the festival is all about over just taking advantage of photo opportunities and the influencer perks. Coachella is the Burning Man of festivals, bringing together people of different music tastes but a common commitment to taking in as much art as possible, no matter how extreme or exhausting the conditions are. The authenticity of Chamberlain’s outfits are representative of that same commitment and the joy that is found in simply attending for the sake of the experience.

Those who did take risks with their fashion were mainly the ones on stage performing, which, while uncharacteristic of Coachella, made it feel overall more like a true concert than an aesthetic-centric event. But with the festival relaxing and starting a new era of casual fashion expectations, I cannot help but wonder what other canonically stylistic events will succumb to the same normalization. It almost makes me miss the 2016-era Coachella of Boho outfits, circular, tinted sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats. Almost, but not quite.

ARTS

What makes a ‘favorite song’?

Allen Hale Arts Editor

My favorite song is Built to Spill’s “Carry the Zero,” a go-to answer whenever I am asked about the topic. Although I constantly cycle through tracks which evolve from transitory obsessions into works of fluctuating interest, a distinction is drawn between infatuations and all-time favorites. Favorites seem to necessarily begin their lifespan in the prior realm, yet are imbued with staying power and continuous relevance to one’s listening habits; the accumulation of experience here is pertinent to their status. Extensive emotional connection to the song might therefore appear paramount, given that favorites contain years-long appeal and relevance to one’s life.

This model of interpretation seems reasonably applicable to some cases, yet I struggle to map my own favorite song onto this structure. I am led to believe that there is another component behind a favorite piece of music, rather than the context of its discovery or personal meaning. In fact, prior to this article, I could hardly claim to know what the song’s mathematical metaphor was about. I had the words memorized, but my attention always drifted toward their melodic potency rather than

‘The

any communicable lyrical content. I associate the song with my burgeoning interest in ’90s indie rock, yet I remember little of the original listening context aside from it being during the earlier stages of quarantine. An exciting narrative is possible, but it would feel artificial compared to the dull reality of that situation.

My previous favorite song was Yes’ masterpiece “Close to the Edge,” a sprawling, 18-minute epic which contained various passages that immediately floored my 14-year-old self. This sense of revelation was not present in “Carry the Zero,” despite my eventual recognition of its appeal. According to Last.fm, I first heard the work on May 29, 2020, only beginning to listen to it regularly 79 days later; I have no recollection of what happened during this period and what reignited my interest in this track. This gap is a relevant divide between these two experiences, given that the space between first and second listen of “Close to the Edge” lasted under two weeks, a factor I would attribute to its extensive length. Similarly, it took until sometime during 2022 for me to recognize that “Close to the Edge” was no longer my top song pick, making “Carry the Zero” seem as if it originally lacked the instant experience of quality necessary to its designation as the favorite. Of course, “Carry the Zero” does provide

emotional catharsis and sonic engagement to me as a listener; I could never understate its continued power in that regard. However, the lack of a touching story underlying its place as a favorite piece of music feels baffling as someone whose life has been shaped and soundtracked by my listening. YouTube user DP-nr6xi states: “I’m 48 and I love it!! Skateboarding brought me all this music!! I’ve been skating for 40+ years and I still get emotional if not more when I hear this or anything that brings me back to the good life! Life is precious, enjoy all of it, seriously, it’s a fucking trip!! I’ll be gone one day but at least I can say that I lived!!”

This is a traditional sentiment behind musical memories, and I find it endearing even without ever meeting the individual. Despite my discovery of this song during the pandemic, some of these elements ring true, yet I also associate the work with my everyday evolving existence; the good, the bad and the mundane all congeal here. I do not enjoy all of life like DP-nr6xi does, but I do enjoy every listen of “Carry the Zero.” Rather than taking this commenter’s approach, it would be more fitting to analyze what I hear in the sound of “Carry the Zero” and examine its long-lasting appeal to myself.

It is conceptually unsatisfying to dismiss our favorite songs as relative, subjective

choices outside of broader trends which influence that decision-making process; we can certainly identify relevant factors which shape these choices. However, the frustrating impossibility of summarizing a singular approach to understanding this phenomenon is relevant to the instrumental component of musical creation, lacking the representational quality of textual or visual art. Music is slipperier than other artforms with regard to the evasion of intended meaning and purpose, enabling decoded receptions which veer from dominant interpretations or pressing themes. This is still possible in other mediums, as visual and written work can be non-representational. Despite this, I find that as a writer, communicating their emotional value and aesthetic qualities is an easier undertaking. Music leaves itself open, and the means by which we understand our favorite songs should be regarded similarly. Lyrics may not even correspond to one’s life in order to remain impactful. Built to Spill’s vocalist Doug Martsch sings “And now it’s coming back / Hasn’t it come too far?” on “Carry the Zero,” yet this could not be further from the truth regarding the work’s continued reappearance in my life. I wonder what my next favorite song will be, and I eagerly await the variable means by which it will come about, if at all.

Tortured Poets Department’ is career-defining

Sufana Noorwez Senior Editor

Exactly one month before I moved to Vassar, Taylor Swift surprise-dropped her eighth studio album, “folklore.” It is only fitting that her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” was released on April 19, exactly one month before I will graduate from Vassar. Swift has been an integral part of my college experience. Her music has punctuated my time here and connected me with some of my closest friends. We have stayed up until midnight to listen to every one of the albums she has released during our Vassar tenure. It is ritual and it is tradition, and there is no other way I would have wanted to end my time at Vassar.

Before the official release of the album, Swift had shared the tracklist—a 16-song list of quirky titles including, “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “But Daddy I Love Him” and “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)”— as well as two unexpected featured artists, Post Malone and Florence + the Machine. These first 16 tracks were expected, but in a move that only Swift could pull off successfully, she surprise-dropped 15 more tracks at 2 a.m. EST, resulting in a 31-track double album that Swift named “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.”

In summation, the album is Swift’s most ambitious, complex and personal artistic endeavor thus far. As the name suggests, Swift put her songwriting (her “poetry”) in charge of this album, rather than an instrumentally-led project. The album was composed almost entirely in collaboration with producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, both of whom have worked extensively with Swift on several past projects. Their hand in this project is a clear signal of Swift’s comfort with her current musical niche and reflects her new unwillingness to reinvent herself just to keep the general public’s ever-critical, never-satisfied attention.

The first half of the album—the half that has been expected for four months now—is filled with moody synthesizers, a clear mark

of Antonoff’s production style. On the album’s opening track, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, the synth starts off all by itself, weaving around Swift’s dreamy, flowing vocals. As the song progresses, tension builds, with more drums and synths gradually added, reaching a peak after Malone delivers his verse and harmonizes with Swift. Together, Swift and Malone paint a picture of a 14-day relationship. “I love you, it’s ruining my life” is the driving sentiment behind the story of this instant classic album opener.

The fifth track on any Swift album is always her most vulnerable and tragic, and “So Long, London” is no exception. The standard version of the album is infrequently punctuated by soul-wrenching ballads such as this and “loml,” which allow the listeners a look into the death of a relationship. Many have theorized that the relationship in question is her six-year romance with British actor Joe Alwyn. Both songs hint at the reasons behind their unexpected and sudden breakup in April 2023. “You shit-talked me under the table/Talking rings and talking cradles/I wish I could un-recall how we almost had it all,” Swift sings on “loml” over backing piano and strings. One almost wonders why, with lyrics that deliver such an emotional blow, “loml” was not picked to be the fifth track.

In a classic Swiftian moment of whiplash, the track after “loml” is “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” a poppy, upbeat track reminiscent of “Supercut” from the album “Melodrama” by Lorde. The instant similarities are unsurprising, given that both of the aforementioned songs were produced by Antonoff. Despite its sparkling, jumpy synths, the song is not a happy one by any means: “I’m so depressed I act like it’s my birthday every day/ I’m so obsessed with him but he avoids me like the plague/ I cry a lot but I am so productive, it’s an art.”

I would be remiss to not include the songs on the album that clearly refer to Swift’s brief relationship with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy last summer. While these songs did not rank amongst my favorites on the album, they must be understood in the greater

context of the album. The title track is filled with tongue-in-cheek, almost cringeworthy lyrics about her relationship with the Brit: “You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate/ We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist/ I scratch your head, you fall asleep/ Like a tattooed golden retriever.” Other tracks, such as “imgonnagetyouback,” has dynamic production reminiscent of a song by The 1975. The last part of the trifecta of songs about Healy is “But Daddy I Love Him,” a snarky, sarcastic song about her fans’ attempted online interventions into the relationship between the singers. Despite the fact that these songs are eclipsed by other, stronger tracks on the album, they come together to contribute to a cohesive album about the life of a 30-something caught at a crossroads: out of the longest relationship she has ever known, fresh into a short-lived summer fling with an old situationship.

The second half of the album, which came as a complete surprise, is a strippeddown, acoustic counterpart to the first half. It opens with “The Black Dog,” which is, in my opinion, one of the best tracks that Swift has ever written. The track opens with Swift describing her pain at still being able to see an ex-lover’s location on her phone, which they never turned off after their split. It is soft, with little more than backing piano at the beginning. But as the track grows, drums are slowly layered in. Then, just as Swift proclaims, “Old habits die screaming,” a loud, crashing electric guitar makes its appearance before fading back to the starting production.

Another highlight of the second half of “The Anthology” is “So High School.” This track stands out in the album for two primary reasons. First, it is a soft rock song. While Swift has never committed to the genre for a full album, her discography is peppered with songs that could fit into that genre, and it is one that she does exceptionally well. Second, this song is only one of two that are obviously about her current beau, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The primary theme of this song cen-

ters around the fact that Swift feels young in a relationship, almost so young that she feels like she is back in high school. This is a sentiment that has been covered in songs for eternity, most famously in “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry. But what makes this song so notable in the context of Swift’s work is that the tracks that precede this song on the album make reference to the fact that Swift’s previous relationships made her feel old: “And I’m pissed off that you let me give you all that youth for free.” Keeping this feeling in mind, it is no surprise that Swift feels like she has been transported back to her youth at the outset of this new relationship. One of the lyrical highlights of this song is, “Truth, dare, spin bottles/ You know how to ball, I know Aristotle/ Brand new, full throttle/ Touch me while your bros play Grand Theft Auto.” While this line has made the rounds on social media as a silly lyric, I think it is a beautiful example of Swift’s ability to take the most mundane of details about a relationship and make them feel magical. The truth is that I do not have enough space to do justice to this masterpiece album. There are many more songs that I could go on about. “The Tortured Poets Department,” as Swift noted, is an album that she needed just as much as her fans did. It is a cathartic journey into her inner psyche at a time of relative turmoil in her life. For someone who has grown up with her music, this album comes at a perfect time in my life. I am at a crossroads myself, about to move on from one period of my life to another. This album showcases the best of Swift’s capabilities as a writer. She delivers lyrics that pack a punch, are intricately detailed and a stream of coxnsciousness. It is almost like her 2020 album “folklore” in its storytelling, but this time, the stories are hers, and they are real, instead of about imagined characters and imagined situations. I feel so privileged that these two albums have bookended my time in college, a full-circle moment, and I feel so privileged to have experienced this period of Swift’s artistic growth with some of the people I love the most.

MISC MUSIC FEST LINEUP

fowlmouth

Rachel Ostrowski ’24, Julia Maisel-Berick ’24, Loren Pacheco ’24

Loren, Rachel and Julia have been playing together as fowlmouth since August of their first year. The indie-folk trio released their debut EP “Safety Last!” in 2023 and has a set of new tunes on the way. The band is very excited to be returning to Misc Music Fest to play their final set at Vassar!

Bedlam

Duncan Beauchamp ’26, Denver Brown ’26, Walt Schoen ’26, Kalina Sloat ’26

Bedlam’s musical output ranges from mellow, subdued ballads to heavy, punk-influenced hard rock. Following their first release onto music streaming platforms—a dual single/live demo of “S.A.D.” and “Seen”—the band is excited to perform at this year’s Misc Music Fest with a set consisting mostly of original songs.

Sir J. Cryptic

Jolyn Prescott, ’27

30 Minutes Late

Possibly the largest band Vassar has ever seen, 30 Minutes Late will be right on time to play every genre of music for you at Misc Music Fest.

Ambrosia

Catherine Borthwick ’24, Naomi Hirsch ’25, Sam Lytel ’24, Ella Talerico ’25, Augie Tarver ’25

Ambrosia is thrilled to be playing their first (and last) Misc Music Fest. Swing on by for some twang and good vibes!

Bronx-based artist, first-year, rapper, singer and musician

Bolero

Sam Lytel ’24, Augie Tarver ’25, George Truax ’27, Roswell Wendel ’24

You’ve seen us under a rain of raw eggs and hot cheetos at the Lax TH. Now see us on Blodgett Courtyard at Misc Music Fest!!! We play original music only.

BUH! BUH! BUH! BUH! DAAAAAMN WOAh! P.S.

Please request Sam to sing BERRIES AND CREAM!

Dovetail

Brynne Mershon ’27, Naomi Sullins ’27

Dovetail is a folk duo put together earlier this year by Brynne Mershon and Naomi Sullins. They are super excited to play at their first Misc Music Fest, and can’t wait to see you there!

Abby Posner ’26, Aza Wolfwood ’25, Sarah Schuster ’25, Lexi Gwyn ’25, Max Foote ’26, Luke Chiang ’26, Niah Madigan ’27, Owen Scollard ’24, Spencer McConnell

FEATURES

Class of 2026 tree planting set for Arbor Day

Carina Cole Features Editor

Each year since 1868, Vassar College plants a tree to honor the class graduating that year. Each tree planted not only contributes to the college’s already robust arboretum, but also emphasizes the idea that each class occupies a permanent space on campus. The trees are a visual testament to the contributions of each class. To explore more information about the class trees, you can read about where each one is here.

This year, the Tree Committee is excited to announce the Class of 2026’s tree: the tupelo tree. Although students’ votes originally resulted in a tie between it and the Eastern Redbud tree, the election eventually swayed in favor of the tupelo tree due to its selected location—Sunset Lake. The tupelo, a deciduous tree, thrives in locations with close proximity to water, yet is well-drained. Sunset Lake provides a similar environment to the estuaries where swamp tupelos thrive.

The tupelo tree will bear small berries. Although they are not poisonous, they are not an ideal snack and are not traditionally eaten. During the spring season, the tree will transform into a gorgeous myriad of orange shades, perfectly aligning with the color pal-

ette of trees already at Sunset Lake.

On the subject of the Sunset Lake location, Tree Committee member Emma Goss ’26 exclaimed: “I am most excited to see the actual planting of the tree, especially because [the committee] spent so much time carefully deciding the location and working with the grounds management staff.”

This year, the Tree Planting Committee invites all of campus to witness the planting of the Class of 2026 Tree on Arbor Day, April 26, at 3 p.m. The ceremony will include welcoming remarks from President Bradley, a poetry reading, a land acknowledgement and shoveling of dirt into the tree pit with Vassar’s golden shovel. Goss explained that the golden shovel is stored in the Archives and Special Collections Library until the planting each year: “Its only purpose is to help plant the trees.”

The ceremony will also include further information about Vassar’s arboretum and the histoarical tradition of the class tree. One aspect of the class tree tradition that many students might not be familiar with is that each tree has a time capsule buried at the tree’s location during Senior Week. The day of the time capsule is a day of celebration, filled with lawn activities and sometimes soft serve ice cream. The committee encourages

all students to attend, regardless of class year.

This ceremony and long-standing tradition is not only intended to honor the work and achievements of each class, but also Vassar’s enthusiasm toward biodiversity.

Contributing to Vassar’s arboretum at large, which contains over 230 tree species, the Class of 2026’s tree will be another important facet of this commitment to biodiversity and nature preservation.

Climate Reality Training emphasizes action and advocacy

Caroline Robinson Guest Columnist

April 12-14, New York City, Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Two weekends ago, after having my second interaction with a man dressed in a snowman suit with a sign saying “Stop Global Warming” in all caps—the first was in September at a climate march in New York City—I found myself just feet away from Al Gore.

Gore is not only the former vice president of the United States, but also the founder of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit organization created in 2006 that is, according to its website, “working to build a just and sustainable true net zero future.” The Climate Reality Project hosts trainings all around the globe to teach attendees up-to-date information about climate change and educate them on how to take action. Those who got to the center early enough could choose seats at tables near the stage and have the opportunity to meet other climate-passionate people from a myriad of backgrounds, locations and occupations. All attendees left boasting the title of Climate Reality Project Leader.

This particular leadership corps training was the first one to be hosted in New York City, and was the largest that The Climate Reality Project has held. The three-day program was chock-full of events, ranging from interviews and discussions on topics like global finance and climate change, all the way to breakout sessions concerning situations such as embodied ethics for the climate movement. These events acknowledged the dire climate situation that we are currently facing, stressing the importance of urgency and the need to act now. However, they also emphasized the fact that there is hope if society can all work together to use resources and take action. “Political will is a renewable resource,” said Gore. Citing the International Energy Agency, he informed attendees that we have the tools and power in place to stop climate change; we just need the political will to push them into action.

The leadership training featured political luminaries, climate activists and even comedian Rollie Williams, the creator of the well-

known YouTube channel “Climate Town,” who did a live comedy sketch with Gore on stage. Gore himself took the stage many times, conversing with the speakers and animatedly walking the audience through his famously passionate two-hour slideshow. Among the policy experts who spoke were members of the current Biden administration. John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, talked about global climate action and the Biden administration’s current approach as well as future plans. He also addressed concerns from the audience about the lack of declaration of a climate emergency by the current administration. United States Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan laid out the process of what a clean energy transformation looks like for the United States.

A large number of panelists were activists who head up Climate Reality Project chapters across the country, some of whom founded other groups such as Save Our Susquehanna and Emerald Cities Collaborative. These activists talked about their experiences as members of systemically disadvantaged or low-income communities that are often left out of the climate conversation—even though they are affected the most—and how important it is that their voices are listened to. “Ask them what they need, don’t tell them what they should want,” said Faith Cummings, a journalist and co-chair of The Climate Reality Project New York City Metro Area Chapter. Her comments were in discussion with Zoe Byham, chair of The Climate Reality Project Rutgers Campus Chapter, and Sandy Field, chair of both Save our Susquehanna and The Climate Reality Project Susquehanna Valley Chapter. The three chapter leaders discussed their past, present and future plans and hopes for taking climate action. This panel was accessible and inspiring to attendees, as it consisted of speakers who had previously attended this training themselves and used their new knowledge to take the climate crisis into their own hands on a local or regional level.

Many of these activists also came from communities that are being actively destroyed by the oil and gas industries. Heaven

Sensky, a Climate Reality Project leader and organizing director for the Center for Coalfield Justice, described how the oil industry that has devastated her community by fracking is putting it on her and other residents to check their backyards for dead grass around pipelines installed on their property, even when they were placed against the will of the community. That dead grass indicates a leak, which, if ignored, could be deadly. One of the people in conversation with Sensky was Indigenous activist and chief of the Guainía Taíno Tribe, Roberto Múkaro Borrero, who is the Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and strategic advisor of the Center for Earth Ethics. “If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu,” he said, referencing why Indigenous peoples must be included in addressing climate justice and change. These activists inspired the audience in discussions about their powerful work opposing oil and gas industries locally, often receiving standing ovations in response.

The idea of countering disinformation, along with working to create compelling campaigns and communication, around climate change was also prominent at the training on both the main stage and in breakout sessions. Disinformation on climate change, whether from the fossil fuel industry itself or from others, is widespread and a significant threat to making progress on combating climate change. In a panel focused on this topic, Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, noted, “We need to fix our information crisis to fix the cli-

mate crisis. If we don’t fix one, we don’t fix the other.” So how does one create a compelling argument around an issue as tense as climate change? The answer was found in rooms 409 and 411 of the Javits Center, where Kristy Drutmanm, founder of Browngirl Green, Osasenaga Idahor, founder of “The Climate Doctor (no MD)” podcast, and Staci Roberts-Steele, managing director and executive producer of Yellow Dot Studios, explained how they use humor, social media and terms that are easily understood by the general public in order to make their messages more accessible to diverse audiences.

Nearing the end of the conference, Phyllis Cuttino, president and CEO of The Climate Reality Network, shared the idea that “Inaction is far, far more expensive [than the green transition].” So how can you get involved and fight back against inaction? One of the best answers to that question is vote. You can check your voter registration status by clicking here.

If you are looking to get involved more locally with environmental activism, Vassar branch of The Climate Reality Project (which is being formed as you read this article!), the Hudson Valley branch or the local branch in your town if you hail from anywhere outside this area. For something with lower commitment, download the Climate Reality Network’s app called Climate Action Now to discover simple ways to make positive change for the environment every day. Additionally, take a look at the petition to decarbonize Vassar’s campus, created by Vassar Decarbonization, which can be found by clicking here.

Image courtesy of Caroline Robinson ’27.

Image courtesy of Emma Goss ’26.

Stepping back in time: Ely Hall’s artistic geologic timeline

Continued from Timeline on page 1

Former World,” he describes a classic metaphor for geologic time: “Geologists will sometimes use the calendar year as a unit to represent the time scale, and in such terms the Precambrian runs from New Year’s Day until well after Halloween. Dinosaurs appear in the middle of December and are gone the day after Christmas. The last ice sheet melts on December 31st at one minute before midnight, and the Roman Empire lasts five seconds.”

Though I have found this metaphor to be incredibly helpful in understanding the sheer scale of geologic time, others are more visual learners. This is where Vassar’s geologic timeline serves as an invalu-

able tool for teaching. Jones’ hard work allows students and museum visitors alike to walk through the history of life throughout geologic time, demonstrating how short the time that humans have inhabited the Earth is, especially in comparison to other organisms.

Professor Schneiderman mentioned how the project can be helpful in reminding us how briefly humans have existed in the grand scheme of life on Earth. “Rick’s visual metaphor, which is proportioned to reflect the amount of time that has gone by, allows us to walk through the history of life in geologic time. It shows us how short our duration is on the planet in comparison to every other living being,” she explained.

Humans have acted like a geologic force that is disproportionate to the amount of time that we have been on Earth, and the timeline is helpful in reminding visitors to be humble about our existence.

Despite being discouraged by the disproportionate, detrimental effect of anthropogenic climate on Earth, I find that the geologic timeline acts as a beacon of hope in the midst of the current environmental crisis. I encourage you to take a step back in geologic time, reflect upon humanity’s impact on our planet and take solace in the fact that most of life on Earth has been through more than we can comprehend. No matter what happens to the climate, life finds a way to persist on Earth.

Despite being discouraged by the disproportionate, detrimental effect of anthropogenic climate on Earth, I find that the geologic timeline acts as a beacon of hope in the midst of the current environmental crisis.

Jordan Alch/The Miscellany News.

The case for peasant girl summer

Josie Wenner Sexy Serf

As the end of the year draws closer, an eternal question looms: what kind of summer will we be having? Hot girl summer? Coastal grandmother summer? Tankini summer? We at the Misc heard reports of what kind of summer is forecasted for 2024, and hope everybody is ready for

PEASANT GIRL SUMMER.

Hotness is overrated and fleeting. Peasantry and feudalism are forever. Who needs the beach when you can be toiling

away on land you don’t even own? And, yeah, you could go buy an ice cream cone as a sweet summer treat. But why not milk a cow, churn the milk into cream, do several other key steps of the ice cream-making process and enjoy a delicious cone knowing you put your whole serf soul into it.

It’s so easy to get that perfect summer body when you’re doing demanding physical labor every day. Forget about that bikini body and let’s hope your childbearing hips are ready and fertile for this summer. Your broad shoulders, strong from schlepping buckets and other tools of the trade, will

look absolutely gorgeous freckled and sunburned from the hours spent outside working on the field. Beautiful and sexy!

One key thing to remember about peasant girl summer is that disease runs rampant among participants. Mask up, wash your hands, and try your best to avoid the deadly plague that killed a third of Europe. Pox and spots have never been hotter, anyways!

Besides the obvious pure and unbridled sex appeal, participating in peasant girl summer has the added benefit of being a cost-efficient way to have fun in the sun.

As a peasant, you’ll need to give the majority of your earnings to the landlord who owns the plot you live and work on. No more frivolous spending for you! Peasant girl summer is truly a great way to live your life without breaking the bank.

Trot wistfully across the moors. Wash your laundry in the creek. Daringly hoist your skirts above your knees in hope that the cute cowherd across the way will see your seductive ankles. Really, the possibilities for a peasant girl summer are truly endless, and we hope you make the most of it!

Quiz: Which career is the best fit for you?

Nandini Likki Headhunter

Ahem. Hello there! Good day, and welcome to my office. Yes, that hanging plant is new. Thank you for noticing. Anyway, you’re here because you want my fabulous career advice. I have a very high success rate when it comes to placing people into the careers they subconsciously desire. Everyone was put on this work to Earth—I MEAN, everyone was put on this Earth to work!! Let’s get started.

1) If you found these items on a table, which one would catch your attention first?

a) Pen

b) Dollar bill

c) Toy

d) Glass

e) Watch

2) At a party, which person are you?

a) The host. I’m very extroverted, and I love organizing social events!

b) The life of the party. I’m going all out on the dance floor and meeting new people!

c) The DJ. I’m busting out those tunes and putting out chill vibes!

d) The foodie. I’ll be eating snacks all night!

e) The guy in the corner. I’ll be disposed of!

3) How would you describe yourself?

a) Creative

b) Independent

c) Sensitive

d) Enthusiastic

e) Hard-working

4) What is your favorite sense out of the five senses?

a) Smell. My nose knows.

b) Taste. Yummy yum.

c) Touch. Baby, touch me. 널 느낄 수 있 어

d) Sound. What was that scream?

e) Sight. How many fingers do I still have?

5) How connected do you feel to the other people in your life?

a) Very connected. I am a valuable member of society who contributes what I can.

b) Somewhat connected. I wish I could do more sometimes.

c) Moderately connected. I find myself in solitude a lot.

d) A little connected. And it becomes hard to reach out to the people I love.

e) Not connected at all. Sometimes, I feel like just a cog in the machine. If I were to go missing, no one would know.

6) Do you know what happens to useless people?

a) They are disposed of.

b) They are disposed of.

c) They are disposed of.

d) They are disposed of.

e) They are disposed of.

7) Are your windows locked right now?

a) Yes.

b) No.

c) Yes.

d) No.

e) No.

8) Is your cell phone with you?

a) I don’t know.

b) I don’t know.

c) I don’t know.

d) I don’t know.

e) I don’t know.

9) Are you alone right now?

e) YES

10) REFER TO GRAPHIC

Hi, welcome back! Was taking the quiz fun? I know Question 3 can be a little divisive. Here are your results! I hope you find them useful, because you have to. I have a high success rate for a reason.

If you answered mostly As:

Congratulations! You have quick and nimble fingers that are perfect for sitting at a desk and typing all day. Your dexterity and physical flexibility make you an important part of any professional team! Just remember to keep applying yourself and practicing your skills. Otherwise, you know what happens to useless people.

If you answered mostly Bs: Congratulations! You have an empty, vacuous mind that’s perfect for sitting at a desk and typing all day. Your brain-deadness and lack of response when it comes to answering basic questions makes you an important part of any professional team! Just remember to keep applying yourself and practicing your skills. Otherwise, you know what happens to useless people.

If you answered mostly Cs:

Congratulations! You have massive cowardice that’s perfect for sitting at a desk and

typing all day. Your unwillingness to challenge yourself and take risks makes you an important part of any professional team! Just remember to keep applying yourself and practicing your skills. Otherwise, you know what happens to useless people.

If you answered mostly Ds:

Congratulations! You have a lack of social skills that’s perfect for sitting at a desk and typing all day. Your decreased attention span and perceived self-superiority to others, despite having no redeeming qualities, makes you an important part of any professional team! Just remember to keep applying yourself and practicing your skills. Otherwise, you know what happens to useless people.

If you answered mostly Es:

Congratulations! You have deep-rooted insecurity that’s perfect for sitting at a desk and typing all day. Your insufficient belief in yourself and refusal to grow into a better person makes you an important part of any professional team! Just remember to keep applying yourself and practicing your skills. Otherwise, you know what happens to useless people.

If you waited: I’ll find you.

Meet Dave, the guy who always has fewer finals than you

and is leaving a month earlier than most.

Huh? A final? What’s that?” In the days leading up to Study Period, you may notice a student who sits in the Retreat and appears to have absolutely no work to do, despite the fact that finals are mere days away. This is Dave.

The Miscellany News was granted a rare interview with Dave last week, who managed to fit it in between his TikTok-binging time and his second major Instagram scroll of the day. Through our discussion, we caught a glimpse into the mind of this campus legend.

Dave said he is enrolled in a demanding curriculum of classes. He immerses himself in English by speaking it every day, watches actors in TV shows for chemistry and goes on Fizz for fizzicks. He is also considering taking political science as another science class.

Dave says that he somehow has no finals

“One of the most important things you can get at college is absolutely nothing,” Dave told us. “My college experience was totally worth the $300 billion tuition I paid to go here.”

We asked Dave if his professors will supplant his lack of finals with papers. Dave said, “Papers? Yes! Papers are my favorite thing besides rocks and scissors.”

The Psychological Science Department has announced that Dave will be their first participant in a study on mental degradation. However, some researchers have raised ethical concerns. “What if Dave’s level of brain activity is so low that it causes our researchers emotional harm?” one student intern pondered.

After we left the psychology building, Dave told us he likes all of the buildings on campus but wishes they had more practical purposes.

“I feel like this campus has so much potential. What if we used our buildings for something more than displaying incorrect coffee signs?

Heck, you could even fit a highly selective, open-curriculum, small liberal arts college in here,” Dave told us.

We then had to pause our interview with Dave so he could undertake his daily routine of being fearlessly consequential for a few minutes.

Dave plans to leave campus Sunday but is contemplating staying another week to continue torturing busy students, informing

them that he is staying on campus despite having no work to do at all. “It’s like a super expensive hotel,” Dave stated. “You can get a room described as ‘coffin-like’ for only $800 billion!”

Dave assures us that despite his habitual absenteeism, he is taking full advantage of his Vassar education. “Although I’ve learned nothing,” he stated, “I’ve learned a lot along the way.”

Image courtesy of Nandini Likki ’25.

Benjamin Savel Five Finals Deep

Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News.

Reflections from the Opinions Section

Britt Andrade Columnist

This is my last article for The Miscellany News. I graduate in less than a month and move on to my next chapter. As I get closer to May 19, I have found myself reflecting on my time at Vassar and as a columnist. I started writing for the paper in my junior year. Before that, I had always loved to write. In fact, once upon a time, that was the plan. The first time I went to college, I was studying communication; I was going to be a journalist. When I dropped out and joined the military, that dream faded into the background. Instead of being a writer, I worked in human resources and jumped out of planes. It was a new adventure, one I completely enjoyed. Coming back to college, I was afraid of failing again, so I spent the first two years focusing on my classes. I had decided that I could not afford any distractions—, plus, I was married and had a baby that required all my focus, so writing was not in the cards for me. Instead, I wrote once a year for Veterans Voices and considered it good enough. The summer between sophomore and junior year, the Supreme Court overturned the decision surrounding Roe v. Wade. I received an

email from The Misc asking if I would like to write an Opinions article about it. I agreed because I was furious, and that was it. I was back into writing, and I have beenstayed here consistently for the last two years.

This brings me to the real point of this reflection: I should have started writing sooner. I let my nerves get the best of me and avoided something I genuinely enjoyed. I missed out on two more years of writing, two more years of community with the paper and two more years of sharing my thoughts on the world. If you are a student considering writing, take the risk. Every section of the paper is essential and needs new writers. Obviously, Opinions is where my heart lives. The section is incredibly valuable because it allows for conversation. People often surround themselves with like-minded friends and colleagues. That is normal, and it is easy. It is not challenging. On the contrary, writing opinion pieces is a challenge to campus culture and community standards. It is an opportunity to say what you agree and disagree with. You can write about politics, campus life, music, Poughkeepsie or anything else. Whatever you believe in, you should take the risk and write about it. Chances are, the things you care

about will intersect with at least one other person, maybe more. Allowing others to see you allowsmeans allowing others to be seen, too.

Writing for The Miscellany News has other benefits, too. I learned so much about the campus. As an off-campus student, writing for The Misc often gave me new perspectives. Most of my articles started from conversations in class or with a peer. I learned about their frustrations, what they love about Vassar, what they miss aboutfrom home. Writing is also an excellent resume booster, especially if you are applying for graduate school. It teaches you a new writing style, making you more academically flexible. Writing can even teach you to be more open-minded. Instead of writing a one-sided argument, you learn to consider all sides. It does not mean your opinion changes; alternatively, you learn to understand why others think differently. It can make you more well-rounded and grow your own understanding of your own convictions. Writing teaches you to take constructive criticism from your peers. It also teaches you what you cannot or will not compromise on.

Editing is a humbling experience. Four to six people commenting style and gram-

mar corrections throughout your writing can be off-putting. It can make you feel like a terrible writer, but that is not what is happening. Even the best writers require editing because we, as writers, are too close to our work. Edits make you a better writer, allowing you to see how others view your writing, helping you identify gaps in your prose and learn your writing style. Edits also demonstrate the importance of your voice. Some edits might change your voice, making it necessary for you to push back in respectful ways. You will learn time management, both when you have an article due and when you should say no to writing. After all, some weeks you will have assignments due, and writing for the paper will not be an effective use of your time. If you are a people- pleaser like me, the ability to say no is a valuable skill to learn.

If you are considering writing for the paper, consider this an invitation. From one nervous writer to another, you will not regret it. Pick up a pen and get to writing. Welcome to The Miscellany News, and I look forward to reading your work. And to The Miscellany News, thanks for the privilege of writing these last two years. It has been a pleasure.

Social media can enable an empathy revolution

Jesse Koblin Arts Editor

The paradoxical anti-sociality of social media is well-documented. For example, a recent 2023 study shows a heightened level of loneliness in social media users motivated by maintaining social ties. Despite access to the awe-inspiring breadth of information, knowledge, entertainment and human interaction made available through personalized computing and pervasive internet connectivity, Gen Z tech natives are as socially distanced as ever. Equally, a dominant narrative has taken root, claiming that social media induces dissociation from real life. Many believe that social media is drawing people away from reality and into the artificed world of internet platforms with counterfeit, hollow forms of connectivity. Is it true that our worst tendencies are mirrored and abetted by the structures these internet platforms take? Have we taken for granted the miraculous forms of communication that they seamlessly offer us?

My daily experience with social media does not fit this negative discourse. Like many, my life is heavily mediated by social media. In most contexts, music ambiently thrums through my earbuds, filtering the events of my experience and their emotional impact upon me through the specific tonal world of the music. My phone’s readily available communication apps bring friends and family into my moment-to-moment experience—represented spectrally through lines of text, but creating the illusion of presence.

My phone acts inexorably as a prism through which I see much of reality. And yet, I do not feel isolated. I feel that my symbiotic relationship with the internet and social media invigorates my need to connect. The tertiary quality of the music rattling through my ears vitalizes every conversation with potent emotional valence; the texts in my phone are transfigurative reminders of the continuity of relationships I hold dear. Often, the mundanity of daily experience instills an ennui that blocks our ability to access the well of empathy, emotion and connective force within us. Technology al-

lows abiding accessibility and contemporality to all social relationships and elements of history. Our ability to find music, art, film, social opportunity and spectatorial appreciation of all of the world through social media keeps the heart aflame. Social media is an unparalleled reminder of the enormity of human existence, especially in its capacity for user-generated content to introduce civilian perspectives existent outside of mainstream media.

Of course, it would be naive not to acknowledge the pervasive negativity within social media other than music streaming and texting, two relatively accepted technological norms. Social media has invented new forms of othering and aggravated existing ones—cyberbullying, isolation, depression, misinformation, negative body image and technology addiction. Moreover, social media exploits our aggressive impulses. Most apps prioritize the generation of vitriol and outrage through their medium and algorithms, as negative emotions generate the most engagement and therefore the most income.

This negativity is only one side of what social media does to us, and the potential for positive action in digital spaces is not well-acknowledged. The connective and empathic potentials of video algorithms increasingly implemented on major social media platforms are aspects of social media I am particularly inclined to use. Originating on TikTok, Instagram has adopted the short-form algorithmically-generated content within their version: Instagram Reels, the primary way I interact with this form of media exposure. Many people characterize the endless wall of content that floods users of TikTok and Instagram Reels as mindless and banal—a “doom scroll” in which users are trapped in a vacuous Skinner box of dopamine activation by a flood of short-form content.

Still, there are moments of reality that surge through the deluge of numbing media: A video with single-digit likes by a real person (not a content creator!) talking about their day, recording a meal they are eating, singing along to a trending song or showing off their pet. When the endless

scroll opiates users on a flashy and insubstantial stream of nothingburger content, the sudden intrusion of something real, unproduced and individual, a fleeting glimpse into a life without mediation, becomes all the more shocking.

The profound and revelatory heterotopia of finding the bizarre, the beautiful and the challenging on social media is why it has the power to enact a revolution of the heart, a radical and widespread activation of empathy. In real-life experience, we have similar glimpses of sublimity within the humdrum of the day-to-day which remind us of the cosmically inscrutable nature of our existence—a bird perched on an iron fence, the way sunbeams filter through the leaves on an old oak, the winnowing of a breeze across a plain. We are reminded of the essential wonder of life underlying societal concerns by admiring these precious things in a moment of pause.

Social media has the same capacity to produce vignettes of beauty—and better yet, it offers users the ability to cultivate a truly human experience. Instagram Reels is a distorted representation of reality, a kind of shattered mirror. With enough likes, shares and saves on the most emotionally cathartic content I encountered, I could move the mirror’s glass fragments to form a brilliant refraction of humanity.

When I open my Instagram Reels now, I am greeted by a man named Connor Mcevoy (a fan of horse racing, the United Nations and King James) wishing me a happy Friday and delivering a positive message: “You are educated, you are intelligent, and the uneducated insult and make fun of others for who they are.” I scroll and see username @ pinnacleofsalt (real name Aaron Medeiros) imparting another proverb: “Beauty does not exist. In my eyes, everyone is beautiful. So believe in yourself, believe that you’re gorgeous.” I scroll again and see another uplifting message by username @yallgottastayblessed, perpetually clad in a collared shirt, tie and slacks across all his videos, imploring me, as usual, to stay blessed. Final scroll, and I encounter @frostandleo (named after his two black cats) singing opera in falsetto over a piano melody and dancing back and

forth through his kitchen. These are all real people who record themselves doing what they are passionate about and ask others to fulfill the greatest capacities of self-love and expression we can aspire to.

Social media can be a malignancy, and its systems can erode our sense of empathy, inculcate a culture of hyper-consumption, disseminate misinformation and provoke lucrative forms of anger among its user base. However, social media is also a tool, and as a praxis of resistance against forms of violence in the real world, we must take it upon ourselves to cultivate it as a tool used for empathy.

Perhaps social media’s greatest potential for revolutionary praxis is that its user-generated content exists outside of the traditionalism and hegemonic mores of mainstream media. Social media allows users to learn about, communicate with and empathize with subaltern and marginalized populations who would conventionally be rendered invisible. Additionally, forms of radical, practical, anti-hegemonic empathy—mutual aid and freelance investigative journalism—have already been proven to actualize the socially transformative capabilities of social media.

Knowing that social media is an instrument that can truly benefit individuals and society, we should strive to develop an ethos of responsible and healing social media curation that enables us to do best by ourselves and others. Though most do not use social media as a tool for the empowerment of self and others, those who do should utilize these platforms’ social aspects—chiefly sharing humanizing videos—in order to increase the visibility of this content.

Social media allows us to access an endless assortment of perspectives on life, enacted autonomously and simultaneously at an unfathomable scale that connects independent actors with the same consciousness, agency and feelings as us. It allows us to understand a little of the lives of people we will never meet and never fully know. If empathy is our ability to take in and feel another’s perspective, social media lets us drink from an empathic firehose. We need only change our relationship with social media.

OPINIONS

Letter to the Editor: Student support for BDS silenced by College

[Disclaimer: VSJP has adopted certain grammatical and stylistic choices in this article as a political tool of resistance.]

To the Vassar Community,

As israel continues its campaign of genocidal violence and occupation in Gaza and the West Bank, Vassar students have yet to hear any condemnation of israel from President Bradley. Vassar has made no move to divest any portion of its billion-dollar investment portfolio from israel and companies complicit in genocide. For the entirety of this semester, we, Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine (VSJP), have been working with the Vassar Student Association (VSA) to propose and vote on an internal bill that would implement a boycott of companies targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement and thus prohibit Vassar student organizations from purchasing from companies complicit in genocide, occupation and apartheid. We recognize the importance of BDS as a Palestinian-led call for non-violent protest, and we feel its implementation is vital at Vassar. We have also drafted an external bill, which calls for a student referendum on divestment of the College from israel as well as a formal recommendation that the College divest.

Students within VSJP worked alongside multiple student senators to write these bills balancing both VSJP’s commitment to Palestinian liberation and time constraints given, and in late March, it appeared as if both the internal and external bill would be brought to a vote within a week or two. In an effort to gain an understanding of the student body’s opinion on BDS, a survey was sent out to all Vassar

students. 86.1 percent of a total of 963 respondents voted in favor of the internal BDS resolution. This is a historic degree of support for VSJP and quantifies what we already know on campus: Vassar students support Palestine and see BDS as a critical step in the path toward ending genocide and occupation.

Despite overwhelming student support for BDS, the bill was never brought to a vote. On Thursday, April 11, President Bradley, Dean Alamo and Shay Humphrey called a last-minute meeting with VSA executive members, who were presented with a new and subjective analysis of VSA bylaws. Students at the meeting confirmed that a former VSA President collaborated with administration to construct this analysis, which was determined to violate a bylaw against discrimination of student Organizations based on “political, religious, or ideological views” (Bylaws Article VI-B. Student Organizations. Section 1). We believe that the internal BDS bill does not constitute discrimination of any Vassar student Organization and boycotting is a right protected by the First Amendment. This meeting resulted in the bill not being brought to the floor. When steps to correct the bylaws were addressed, a new concern was raised about the vulnerability of international student senators who would be voting on BDS on the record, indicating a possibility that their visa status could be at risk. VSJP consulted with a lawyer outside of Vassar who specializes in the First Amendment rights of students to better understand the administration’s concerns. He claims that Vassar informing the VSA that international students would be deported or have their visa status put at risk just by voting on the legislation is not accurate and is, frankly, extortionary, especially if

international students vote no or abstain from voting on the legislation. Based on his assessment, we understand this objection to be a refusal of the College to protect their international students from any repercussions of voting democratically on a student government resolution. We also recognize this as the Vassar administration’s most recent attempt to stop BDS legislation from being put to a vote. This forces student senators to choose between risking the safety of their peers and bringing to the floor legislation that is supported by a majority of students.

As was noted by a member of VSJP in a VSA Senate meeting on Sunday, April 21, “Despite our legal and structural rebuttals against every roadblock, it is clear that no matter the popular will of the students, the VSA is beholden to the repressive will of the college administration.” As the academic year comes to a close, VSJP does not recognize the VSA as a legitimate democratic and representative body, and we have further lost faith in the Vassar administration to protect its students. As we consider the legitimacy of the VSA, the death toll in Gaza continues to grow. The VSA, administration and student body must remember, as stated by another VSJP member, that “Solidarity is not a relationship of convenience.” We cannot fail to condemn mass violence nor debate the particularities of our condemnations. And we cannot claim to care about what is happening in Palestine if we are unwilling to act.

We understand the difficulty of allowing the weight of other people’s suffering into your hearts and minds. We urge you to consider that to feel this ache is to maintain our humanity. It is our duty to witness the suffering of others, and act accordingly on our collective moral out-

rage. We, the exempt, will never understand the scope of what it means to live in Palestine right now. But that does not mean we get to look away, nor sit idly by and allow Vassar to trivialize this struggle with its bureaucratic indifference. We stand united against the imperialist order which funds and executes genocide against the Palestinian people, and demand an end to Vassar’s complicity in this violence, occupation, and apartheid.

Although the academic year is ending, our demands from October—with slight adjustment—are as follows:

1. The Vassar administration must release the names of Vassar’s current independent contractors and investments.

2. The Board of Trustees must pledge to divest from weapons’ manufacturers which arm israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza accompanied by a drafted plan to implement these changes.

3. The Vassar administration must call for an immediate end to israel’s siege on Gaza and an end to U.S. funding for israel.

4. The VSA Senate must vote on proposed internal and external Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction legislation to support the will of the student body and to prohibit student activity funds from being used to support israeli apartheid.

5. Vassar must carry out a complete boycott of israeli academic institutions, including the two Vassar-sponsored study abroad programs that are held in israel.

Until Liberation and Return from the River to the Sea,

-Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine

Image Courtesy of Tori Kim ’25.

Faculty and students unite to form IM soccer team

Continued from IM Soccer on page 1

advisee. In addition, Benson has previously taken a class with Ge in the Economics Department. Similarly, Kayleigh Mason ’24 first joined the team after a conversation with Donhauser, who was both her research lab advisor and her Thermodynamics and Chemical Kinetics professor. When asked about their experience playing a sport with some of their professors, the students on the team were all delighted. “I really enjoy playing with professors! They bring a different vibe than the student IM teams I’ve been on, which I like—it’s supportive, laid-back, but also competitive (we’ve made the playoffs each of the last two seasons!),” wrote Oliver Stewart ’25 [Disclaimer: Stewart is Assistant Humor Editor for The Miscellany News]. Koyamatsu echoed this sentiment, writing: “Through soccer

I’ve felt like I’ve been able to get to know my professors more outside the academic setting. I love how competitive the team is while still emphasizing that a goal of our team is not to get injured.”

The professors also noted the differences between interactions with students in the classroom and on the field. In a written correspondence to The Miscellany News, Ge wrote: “Playing with and against my students is genuinely enjoyable. These games are both friendly and competitive. It’s a great way to get to know each other outside of the classroom setting.” Donhauser further explained, “As a professor, I usually only get to see one specific facet of a student, their science-y personality. It’s been fun to get to know students on a different level.”

It is rare that the Vassar community is able to come together in an endeavor like

this. When asked what the most rewarding part of the experience of playing on Ye Olde Football Teame has been, Aitken shared sentiments similar to Donhauser and Ge: “First, just being able to play regularly with my friends at a reasonably competitive level and with students. I think it’s really cool to be a part of the community in a completely different way and see sides of students that I’ve never experienced. [Second], getting to play semi-regularly because soccer has always been a part of my life, and when I don’t get to play, it does feel like something is missing.”

Koyamatsu also mentioned the love of soccer that connects the members of the team. “I would say the most rewarding part of being on the team would be playing with the professors in a sport I love,” she said. “Even when the other team doesn’t show up, we still play small sided games together.”

Aitken spoke about his hopes for the team going forward, saying, “When we’ve been able to get to that space where it’s competitive but friendly and we can see each other as fellow humans out there who love soccer, it’s just really really fun. And I hope I can do it for a very, very long time…in the sense that it is fun for us and fun for the students. I wouldn’t want to foist ourselves on the community. I’m grateful that the students are excited about it.”

Ye Olde Football Teame is a prime example of how a shared passion for sports can bring together members of our diverse community, from students all the way up to professors. While this season’s intramural soccer season is coming to a close, Ye Olde Football Teame hopes to continue playing in future semesters, bringing their passion for soccer to Vassar’s intramural sports community.

Demistifying Vassar’s accomplished rugby program

Maryam Bacchus Editor-in-Chief

Imagine this: It is a perfect September day in 2021 just after my first-year orientation week. My eyes lock onto the blue sky as I exit the one and only Gordon Commons. As I make my way to the steps, a flash of maroon dives past me as two rugby players tabling outside the building demonstrate a pass. Broken out of my trance, I hurry down the steps before they have the opportunity to make eye contact. Although I did not approach them then, their enthusiasm for the sport and recruiting secretly intrigued me. Now in my third year of college, I sat down with Vassar men’s rugby captain Olly Skeet Browning ’24 in an effort to learn more about rugby and his experiences with the sport.

Browning began by describing two types of rugby, 15s and sevens, which are played in the fall and spring, respectively, with the former being the most common form of the sport overall. The name dictates the number of players on either team. The object of the game is to score points via a try, conversion

kick or penalty. A try, totaling five points, is made by getting the ball to the in-goal area, after which a player can attempt a conversion kick to score an additional two points. Penalty kicks are awarded for a multitude of reasons and are worth three points each.

A unique form of play that occurs when a ball has gone out of bounds is a line-out. During this time, a player goes off of the field to throw the ball back into play, and others on the field lift another player up to catch the inbound ball. Describing the play, Browning commented, “It’s a really cool part of the sport, but definitely one that catches people’s eyes.”

To advance the ball, a player must either pass the ball—only backward or laterally— or have a group of teammates form a ruck, similar to a defensive pocket, around them. The players forming the ruck block the opposing team so the player in possession of the ball can then push forward to gain territory.

Recently, Vassar’s rugby program has seen growing success. This past fall, the men’s team became tri-state champions, defeating Hofstra University 47-31. Prior to

this, the women’s team achieved the Division II national title in 2018, 2021 and 2022. Browning attributes some of the men’s season’s success to the hard work and achievements of the women’s team. He noted, “I feel like them just setting that baseline really helped. Because it’s like they are just so successful and just consistently accomplish so much.”

Browning’s rugby career began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to remain active and socialize at Vassar. He was inspired by the persistence and dedication of Coach Tony Brown, who at the time advertised the team with fliers and emails. After hearing about the no-contact, relatively low-stakes practices from a friend, Browning decided to try the sport. Though the many rules of the sport took time to master, he immediately found community and a highly rewarding experience. Because of the complexity, the team’s fall championship win is a standout memory for him. At the start of Browning’s tenure, the men’s team had not made the playoffs in a while, which motivated him to mentally set the goal for himself. As such, the fall championship felt like

a true culmination of years of work.

Today, rugby is still an open team that anyone can join. For those interested in joining either team, the quickest avenue is to contact Coach Brown directly via email.

Reflecting on his experiences, Browning expressed that he, too, was initially intimidated by the physicality of the sport, but later realized it is one of the game’s greatest assets. “I think that there’s something about a sport where you like, physically put your body on the line, where it just brings you really close to the group of people you’re playing with,” he stated. Considering his time with the Vassar team specifically, he concluded that the open team is a valuable opportunity for students—regardless of athletic ability—to enjoy a competitive sport and welcoming community. “You can just show up, put in the work, and I think it’s a very rewarding experience,” he said.

Though I am still intimidated by the thought of being tackled, Browning’s fond memories of the game and the team are an encouraging introduction to the sport. Perhaps I will be inspired to take a walk over to the farm and try my hand at rugby.

Image courtesy of Olly Skeet Browning ’24.

Boston sports lover discusses fair weather fandom

Sadie Keesbury Games Editor

Ihave always feared being a fair weather fan. It is a hard-hitting insult levied in the game we sometimes play as sports enjoyers: Who likes, or loves, our team the most? “You only support them in fair weather, when the tides are going our way,” we say. “I stand by this team in the hardest of times, even when watching games brings me down instead of cheering me up.”

Growing up, I was never able to play baseball. I tried out for a team in seventh grade, but got cut after one game. Nonetheless, I have always loved watching it. Having attended countless games at Fenway Park as a child, the Boston Red Sox have always been a part of my life. However, my love for them really picked up in 2021. At 17, this was the first sports team that I was following on my own. I watched games and I read articles. I felt that I had a lot of catching up to do. Everyone around me, even the most casual fans, seemed to pull out words and phrases that I had never heard: hitting

bombs, playing small ball, a 6-4-3 double play, dingers, darts, dots and more, in an endless stream of almost competitively dense jargon. When I was watching with my dad, I would ask him questions nonstop. When I was with my friends, I would surreptitiously google stats and slang to assure them that I knew my stuff. My performance anxiety about my fandom did not detract from the joy of the game—in fact, the learning was just another part that I loved. It was finally after the 2023 season that I was able to stop playing as much catch-up and start feeling OK about my understanding of the sport and the team.

The Red Sox are not in a great spot right now. Prime slugger of the past month Tyler O’Neill was put on the injured list (IL) after colliding with Rafael Devers during a bid for a shallow fly, followed shortly on the IL by first baseman Tristan Casas; they are joining shortstop Trevor Story, who will be out nearly the entire season for shoulder surgery. Plus, after notable trades of beloved players Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo during the off season, as well as managerial shake ups with the

removal of Chaim Bloom as Chief Baseball Officer, I was not feeling amazing about the season. Still, I am sticking with the Red Sox through it all. It is a point of connection between me and my friends from home even when we are miles apart. It is something that I have brought with me to college from my hometown. Watching games gives me something to text about with my coworkers. Wearing my Sox hat is an instant conversation starter. And I just really, really, really love the sport and the team.

I will never try to deny that the energy of following an amazing team courses through your veins in a way that following a downtrodden team never can. The city of Boston was electric watching the Celtics almost come back from a 3-0 record in the Eastern Conference Finals in May of 2023. Derrick White’s buzzer beater nearly set the streets aflame in celebration. The Celtics’ resemblance to the Sox’s 2004 American League Championship Series 3-0 comeback against the Yankees was uncanny, and through every window the parquet floors glistened on televisions as we sat on the edges of our seats. Of course,

more people tuned in for this historic moment than would have if the season was not exciting. And while the Celtics lost by almost 20 points in game seven, TVs were clicked off one by one—and I do not blame anybody who gave up on the game part way through. We should not have to force ourselves to watch the biggest bummer of our NBA season, to be let down, in the name of some elusive “true fandom.”

So, I think that being a fair weather fan is completely alright. Stressing about your level of commitment to a sport should not be a factor in your enjoyment of it. It feels good to watch your team win. But I also think it feels good to know a team. It feels good to know that they are yours. I love baseball. More than anything, though, I love feeling like I am a part of baseball. Knowing a team—the bullpen, the injured list, the record, the inside jokes—lets me in; it lets me feel like the world of baseball is open to a later-in-life learner like me. And although this baseball season is not looking up for me, and I am miles and miles closer to New York City than I am to Boston, the Red Sox will always be my team.

Yankees win series against Rays, bottom of lineup shines

Connor Chun Guest Columnist

The New York Yankees came into Sunday’s rubber match against the Tampa Bay Rays with the goal of notching their sixth series win. Starting for the Yankees was 25-year-old Luis Gil. After a brutal start in Toronto last Monday, in which Gil gave up a staggering seven walks and three earned runs in the Yankees’ loss against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Yankee starter came in today hoping to bounce back. Facing him was Rays pitcher, Aaron Civale. After his strong start against the Los Angeles Angels last Tuesday, going six innings with eight strikeouts, Civale looked to build on this productive performance.

Coming off an irritating 2-0 loss on Saturday to the Rays in which the Yankee offense was completely shut out, Yankee Entertainment and Sports (YES) broadcaster Jeff Nelson talked about how an early start from the offense would be one of the key points to success in today’s game. Nelson’s commentary and yesterday’s game were examples of a concerning trend. Outside of the recently acquired superstar Juan Soto, the 2024 Yankees seem unable to produce offense consistently. One of the biggest worries for the team

is the lack of productivity from team captain Aaron Judge. Judge struck out four times on Saturday and had an abhorrent batting statline of .179/.323/.359 going into today’s contest. Judge’s abnormal start to the season, although not worrying to either himself or the team, represents a broader team struggle.

The team seemed to have heeded Nelson’s advice during the bottom of the first inning.

With runners on second and first and two outs, first baseman Anthony Rizzo singled up the middle, bringing one runner home while the other reached second. Although the following batter struck out to end the inning, the Yankees found themselves leading early. Gil, like all the starting pitchers of this three-game series, was dominant. Outside of his balk at the top of the third which allowed the tying run to score, the young righty significantly improved from his last start. He ended the day with five 2/3 innings pitched, two hits, zero earned runs, three walks and a whopping nine strikeouts. Hopefully this game is an indicator that Gil has gained better control over his pitches and is becoming a stable fifth starter for the Yankees’ rotation. Civale, however, was not as lucky as Gil. Throughout the course of the game, the Rays’ pitcher continued to get himself into trouble.

Up until the fifth, the Yankees had runners in scoring position on numerous occasions but only came away with one run. This luck, however, completely ran out at the top of the fifth. Despite forcing groundouts out of both Soto and Judge, Civale followed this effort up by walking three batters in a row. With bases loaded and two outs, a single from outfielder Alex Verdugo scored two, breaking the game wide open. Up next was catcher Jose Trevino who also singled and brought in another. The carousel kept on going as third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera singled to bring in Verdugo. When the dust finally settled with shortstop Anthony Volpe striking out, Civale had given up four runs despite taking out the two “powerhitters” within the Yankees lineup.

The Yankees, now having a four-run lead over the Rays, avoided a bullpen blowup that almost cost the game. After a solid performance by Gil and a scoreless one-and-a-third innings by reliever Luke Weaver, Dennis Santana stepped into the top of the eighth, hoping to ice the inning and potentially the game. Although he got two outs, Santana also had runners on first and second with outfielder Amed Rosario up at bat. Rosario, who came in Sunday with a .343 batting average, crushed a ball into the left center gap

for a two-run double. The damage was not finished, as second baseman Curtis Mead singled up the middle with Rosario scoring from second. Although Santana eventually got out of the inning with a line out from Ben Rortverdt, the Yankees lead was now a measly one run.

Scoring no runs at the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees put their hopes on lefty Victor Gonzalez to close the game out. After getting two quick outs and walking a batter, Gonzalez faced off against outfielder Harold Ramirez. Ramirez, on an 0-2 count, lined the ball at Gonzalez, which he then knocked down with his glove. He managed to quickly grab the ball and made a spectacular play to get Ramirez out at first, ending the game and notching his second save of the year.

With today’s victory over the Rays, the Yankees are now 15-7 and continue to hold on to their first-place spot in the American League East. However, with the Baltimore Orioles being only half a game back, the Yankees need to keep the momentum going in order to stay ahead of this young and dangerous team. The Yankees kick off their next series at home against the Oakland Athletics at 1:05 p.m. local time with Carlos Rodon taking the mound against ex-Yankee JP Sears.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Brewers Ballin’: Kim leads men’s volleyball to Final Four

Our goal with Brewers Ballin’ is to feature Vassar athletes who starred for their team the week previous to publishing. If you would like to nominate an athlete, please email nvillamil@vassar.edu.

Brewers Ballin’

Name: Jacob Kim

Year: Senior

Team: Men’s volleyball

Stats: Posted 15 kills on .333 hitting percentage, 29 assists, one service ace and four digs to help Vassar defeat regional host Wentworth Institute of Technology and advance to second consecutive Final Four. Named AVCA First Team All-American for second consecutive season on Monday.

Statement: “Going into the game, I knew that there was a chance it would be the last of my career. That being the case, I wanted to go out with a bang and have fun, which was something I tried to emulate for my teammates. Winning a game in that fashion, at their home court while being the underdog felt surreal. All the pent up emotions from the game poured out of me as I literally jumped in joy. Being given the opportunity to play another game is something that I am very grateful for and means the world to a graduating senior.”

Box Score: Volleyball upsets Wentworth in Elite Eight match

Image courtesy of Matt Erickson.

The Miscellany Crossword

“Vassar ’23-’24 Year in Review”

By Sadie Keesbury

ACROSS

1. *“Seven sisters, _____ plaintiffs” (slogan for lawsuit levied against Vassar for wage discrimination based on gender)

5. Makes stable

13. Largest empire in pre-Columbian America

14. *What the Alumnae House celebrated on April 4, 2024

17. Malik formerly of One Direction

18. Marie who let them eat cake

19. Efron of “The Greatest Showman”

20. Minecraft explosive

21. Subculture associated with dark bangs and eyeliner

22. Unpigmented 24. Olive _____, Popeye’s girlfriend

27. German article

28. *Vassar dining option that reopened with a new system in February of 2024

33. HS degree equivalent

34. Backstabbed

35. United _____ Emirates

38. Commercials, for short 39. Super

40. Appliances that show shows but not in black-and-white

43. Small batteries

45. *Solar phenomenon that was partial on Vassar’’s campus on April 8, 2024

46. *At the Gordon CommonsDeece,

the fall semester

2. Belonging to the league below the MLB 3. *Bike share program that launched November 1, 2023

Europe suffix 5. Gave a once- over

_____ six (five fifty) 7. Tree creature

Category Match:

SUFANA:

Words from Taylor Swift Album Titles: SPEAK, SWIFT, DEPARTMENT, FOLKLORE

Words from Lady Gaga Album Titles: MONSTER, CHEEK, STAR, WAY

Words from Ariana Grande Album Titles: EVERYTHING, NEXT, WOMAN, TRULY

Words from Beyonce Album Titles: 4, RENAISSANCE, LION, DANGEROUSLY NICK: States of struggle: FUNK, SLUMP, DOWNSWING, RUT Plays in baseball: STEAL, TAG, HIT, RUNDOWN _____ bug: PILL, SOFTWARE, JUNE, STINK Types of drums: SNARE, STEEL, HAND, TOM