Misc.11.21.24

The Miscellany News

Colson Whitehead delivers William Gifford lecture

Charlotte Robertson, Emma Brown Editor-in-Chief, Reporter

If America was tasked with voting for the greatest living writer, Colson Whitehead would win by a landslide; so said Professor of English Amitava Kumar in his opening remarks at the annual William Gifford lecture last Tuesday. A two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, Whitehead is the author of nine novels and two works of nonfiction; he has garnered international praise and recognition for his creative analyses of race and power in America and his ability to experiment across a variety of genres, including historical, speculative and science fiction. He spoke of “Star Wars” and the challenges of a career in writing. He sang a rendition of “MacArthur Park.” There were no empty chairs in Taylor 102.

Dressed in a white button-down shirt and a shiny, black vest, Whitehead began his lecture discussing his childhood in New York City and the early influence of reading on his life: “It seemed when I was a kid, about 10 or 11, that being a writer would be a great job, writing Spiderman or the X Men,” he said. Distinguishing himself from the “normal kids,” he mentioned he was anti-social in childhood, preferring “The Twilight Zone” to playing baseball; writing, therefore, appeared the perfect career track: “If you were a writer, you could work from home, you didn’t have to wear clothes or talk to people and you could just

make up stuff all day,” he reasoned.

In college, Whitehead tried and failed to enroll in multiple creative writing workshops. Reflecting back, he saw the rejection as good practice for his later career: “When you’re a writer, everyone hates you and doesn’t want to read your crap. If you internalize that hatred early, you’ll be prepared when you go out into the world.” At the time, he was studying the classics and high realism novels, but was personally drawn to horror and science fiction; the combination of the genres would later inspire Whitehead’s style and form.

After college, Whitehead began to write for the Manhattan-based news and culture magazine The Village Voice. “If you’ve never heard of Voice, the one thing you have to know is that whenever you were there, it was at its height, and when you left, it went downhill,” he joked. “It’s really sad what happened, when I stopped working there.”

Once he transitioned into freelance in his 20s, Whitehead used his flexible schedule to focus on fiction writing.

But the process towards publication was fraught. “I started thinking about what else I might be able to do,” Whitehead said. “Here I call your attention to my slender, delicate fingers and thin, feminine wrists.” Holding up his hands to the crowd, Whitehead listed three jobs they may be suited for: pianist—impossible, because he had a slouching problem and piano benches pro-

See Whitehead on page 8

Prof. remembers MLB icon Students react to new NYC toll

Nicolas Villamil Senior Editor

Amidstthe frenzy of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees first World Series clash in decades, the legacy of Fernando Valenzuela was undeniable.

The last time the two teams met in the World Series was 1981, the same year Valenzuela debuted and incited “Fernandomania” with his elusive screwball and peculiar throwing form. After capping off a historic rookie season with a 147-pitch complete game victory against the Yankees in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series, Valenzuela became the first player in MLB history to win both Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award, given to the best pitcher in MLB.

Valenzuela died on Oct. 22 at the age of 63, just one day before the 43rd anniversary of this game, which gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead in a series they would go on to win 4-2. Three days after his death, the Dodgers debuted a jersey patch in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series remembering Valenzuela, whose number 34 jersey they had retired a year earlier.

When Freddie Freeman turned towards the jubilant Dodger Stadium crowd after smashing the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history later that night, the patch reading “Valenzuela 34” was visible for all to see. The same was the case eight days after Valenzuela’s death, when the Dodgers

Inside this issue

3 NEWS News Editor Allison Lowe investigates MHAHP’s new quilting education program.

rushed the field at Yankee Stadium after improbably erasing a 5-run deficit and clinching the championship.

For Assistant Professor of Education Jaime L. Del Razo, this stretch of days was full of emotion and nostalgia for the formative years of his long-held Dodgers’ fandom.

Del Razo, the son of Mexican immigrants, was born and raised only a few miles away from Dodger Stadium in Boyle Heights. When Valenzuela debuted for the Dodgers in 1981, Del Razo was 10 years old. Still, he remembers “Fernandomania” well because it was the first time he identified with the athletes he watched on TV.

“It was the first time I remember seeing, in any sport, an athlete that looked like somebody who was in my family,” Del Razo told The Miscellany News. “At that time, you don’t see anything that sees us in history, that sees us anywhere. Certainly not as a baseball player.”

While American coaches, players and media needed a translator to understand Valenzuela, who only spoke Spanish when he started his MLB career, Del Razo remembers appreciating sharing the same first language as the Dodgers’ star pitcher.

For Del Razo, however, Valenzuela’s greatest impact was the one he saw the star pitcher have on his late father.

“My dad worked from like before the sun

See MLB on page 14

OnJacques Abou-Rizk Contributing Editor

Nov. 14, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she will reinstate a $9 Congestion Toll on the majority of drivers entering Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone, identified as anywhere below 60th Street, to raise money for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), starting Jan. 5, 2025. Some Vassar community members are adamant that the toll creates new obstacles for commuters, while others say the toll could benefit the broader well-being of New York City residents.

The initial program was originally set to begin last June at a $15 toll rate, but paused just weeks later due to pushback from government officials and residents, according to CBS News. Hochul says the plan would lower the number of cars on crowded Manhattan streets and improve air quality while raising money for the city’s MTA, according to The New York Times. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to terminate the program when he takes office, bringing new urgency for Hochul to re-implement the program before his inauguration. In her latest attempt, Hochul faces strong resistance from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, among others, who denounces the “shadow tax” as millions of Americans still face economic strains, CBS News reported.

Annie Brewer ’25, who lives just north of

6 FEATURES

Read the winning article of The Misc’s first Young Journalists Writing Contest!

the Congestion Zone, said she is in favor of the toll, saying it prioritizes pedestrian travel. She argued, “I think the toll is a really great decision because it, for one, makes pedestrian life easier, and I think the thing that’s really beautiful and important about New York is the way that pedestrians are prioritized and I think that is one of the greatest charms of the city.”

Brewer added, “The other reason I think it’s really good is because it’s encouraging people to make use of public transportation, which is a really important step in combating the climate crisis.”

Some students, however, are against the toll, like Isabel Yu ’25, who commutes regularly to and from her home in Gramercy for breaks and long weekends. She said the toll makes it more expensive for her parents to help her move in and out each break and semester. She said, “I live inside the zone, and my dad owns a car, and that is the only way he commutes anywhere. Anytime he leaves the house, it’s going to be at least a $9 toll.” She added, “Every single break, it’s just going to be adding fees, unfairly placing the burden on locals. You can’t just not go anywhere. It’s really hard to move all your stuff on the Metro North.”

Yu also stated that Hochul will not achieve her goals with the toll. She said, “I don’t think it’s going to significantly decrease the amount

It is that time of year. Check out Evan Seker’s article for some sick (literal and figurative) activities.

Emma Brown/The Miscellany News.

THE MISCELLANY NEWS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR EDITORS

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR NEWS EDITORS

ARTS EDITOR FEATURES EDITORS

ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR OPINIONS EDITORS

HUMOR EDITORS

ASSISTANT HUMOR EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR DESIGN EDITORS

ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITORS

COPY EDITOR ASSISTANT COPY EDITORS

GRAPHICS EDITOR GAMES EDITOR SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERS

LIVE EVENTS CHAIR WEBMASTER REPORTERS/COLUMNISTS

Charlotte Robertson

Maryam Bacchus

Allen Hale

Jesse Koblin

Nicolas Villamil

Jacques Abou-Rizk

Allison Lowe

Sarah McNeil

Makenna Monaghan

Emma Adams

Yaksha Gummadapu

Caris Lee

Luke Jenkins

Soren Fischer

Lev Winickoff

Oliver Stewart

Nicholas Tillinghast

Josie Wenner

Henry France

Molly Delahunty

Ellie Kogan

Amelia Gracie

Lucas Seguinot

Anabel Lee

Willa Jewitt

Ailynn O’Neill

Tori Kim

Felix

Mundy-Mancino

Olivia Khan

Richard Lu

Fallon Dern

Kai Chang

Jordan Alch

Julian Balsley

Emma Brown

Ben Kaplan

Anna Kozloski

Madeleine Nicks

CARTOONISTS

COPY STAFF

Andrew Chu

Ian Watanabe

Sadie Bakken-Durchslag

Darja Coutts

Grace Finke

Paige Hahn

Angela Moon

Tess Novack

Edward Welch Morgan

CORRECTION POLICY

The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed.

The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. Staff editorials are the only articles that reflect the opinion of a two-thirds majority of the Editorial Board.

Tori Kim/The Miscellany News.

Vassar community responds to NYC Congestion Toll

Continued from Toll on page 1

of cars in the area at all. People of a certain socioeconomic status will not be affected by the toll.”

In addition to socioeconomic factors, marginalized groups are also sometimes forced to pay for ride-shares, according to Yu. “As a young woman, there is a gender disparity between who is safe to walk home at night and who is safe to take public transportation,” she stated. “If you are out after a certain time and present your gender in a certain way, you are seriously limited by the options for getting home.”

Brewer said she was in favor of exemptions for certain cars. She added, “I think that New York City yellow taxis should be exempt from the toll because that’s an important business and they’ve really been screwed over by Uber and other stuff.”

Taxi cabs will have to charge a 75¢ surplus, while rideshares will charge a fee upwards of $1.50. The new toll also includes a discount for any car owners making under $50,000 a year, who will be able to have all trips after their first 10 in a single calendar month discounted by 50 percent to $4.50 according to the New York Post. But Yu said this still could have quite an impact. “The people who are going to decide not to drive because of the $9 toll are already not the people you should be taxing and are already hurting financially.”

While Yu said she thinks the toll will raise money for the MTA, she said, “I believe that

it’s not coming from the right place. The city is desperately trying to find money, but they are refusing to examine their internal budgeting structures critically enough to see that they are egregiously overfunding the NYPD.”

“I think people who have drivers or can afford to take ride-shares everywhere won’t stop. I do see how there could be a slight decrease in the amount of cars, but I don’t think it’s going to significantly help congestion or pollution.”

Other students, like Michael Hiciano ’25, who lives in Washington Heights, north of the Congestion Relief Area, said there could be some benefits from the toll: “I think a lot more people will be encouraged to take the train, which is a more sustainable and faster route to navigate the city.”

New York City has been rated the world’s most congested city to drive in for two years in a row, according to Bloomberg News. However, Hiciano said, “The city’s always been congested.”

In a written statement, Director of International Studies at Vassar, an economist and Urban Studies faculty member, Tim Koechlin,

wrote that the plan will surely raise revenues for the MTA and reduce automobile traffic into lower Manhattan. Koechlin also said, however, that commuters from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will pay more or have to make adjustments.

He said, “Some policies are ‘win-win.’ Not this one. There are clearly some ‘winners’ and some ‘losers,’ A caveat: I’m not an expert on this policy, or New York politics, but… I am an enthusiastic supporter of this plan, but it seems to me that Governor Hochul is taking a big political risk. Many commuters—many of them suburban Democrats in NY and NJ— will find this congestion pricing annoying and costly, and it’s easy to imagine how the Republicans (and lots of opportunistic Democrats) will make this into a story about how the intrusive state makes things worse.”

Hiciano, too, sympathized with those who live below 60th Street: “I do feel bad because a lot of people have to live in those areas, whether they are living paycheck to paycheck or for commuting purposes,” he said. “The toll makes them pay for the people actually congesting the city.”

Yu concurred that the toll will disproportionately affect the wrong people. She added, “I think it places the burden unfairly on people who have built their livelihoods in Lower Manhattan, some of whom have been here for generations and are a vital part of their communities, without which the city would not have the cultural appeal that draws so

many people in the first place.”

According to Hiciano, there are other ways of reducing congestion, arguing against Hochul’s last-ditch effort to implement the toll. He said, “I believe the MTA, along with other city agencies and departments, need to reassess how they allocate their funds, given their track record of mismanagement. Post-pandemic, many people are uncomfortable relying on the MTA, and the toll has become unaffordable for some and burdensome and strenuous for many more. However, it does target specific demographics who contribute to unnecessary congestion, and their responsibility to address this has been long overdue.”

The future of Hochul’s Congestion Toll is unclear; according to Curbed, several pending lawsuits and Trump’s tendency to halt infrastructure projects, as with the Gateway Tunnel Project in 2017, means it is now or never for Hochul’s congestion pricing.

Koechlin summarized his views by stating, “This policy, its timing and its implementation are not perfect, for sure. And it will be annoying and costly for lots of people. And, as we imagine better, more equitable, more walkable, more democratic cities, and as we imagine how we might save the planet from an accelerating environmental disaster, this policy is a tiny drop in the bucket. But this plan, and this debate, centers some issues that are enormously important—making our cities more livable, improving air quality and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.”

Quilting educates on slavery in Hudson Valley

was an enslaver. Many of the stone walls found across the region were constructed by enslaved people.

On Friday, Nov. 15, the Mid-Hudson Anti-Slavery History Project (MHAHP) held the first session of their Vassar Quilting Circle. MHAHP is a grassroots organization centered around uncovering the history of slavery and anti-slavery in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Acknowledging that this history is often left undiscussed or hidden, especially in New York, the MHAHP website states, “All around us in the Mid-Hudson Valley, landscapes and historic sites were shaped by New York’s two centuries of slavery. Scattered throughout are places where courageous people who sought and won their freedom from slavery lived, worked, and worshiped.” One of MHAHP’s initiatives is the Oh, Freedom! Quilting Project, which creates local quilting circles where communities can learn the story of slavery and abolition in New York through collaborative cultural work.

Over a dozen students joined quilters and MHAHP members Narcita Medina, Anita Jones and Laura Chenven in Swift Hall to participate in this project. In addition to learning the basics of quilting and sewing, students were able to learn about the essential role that the Mid-Hudson Valley played in the history of slavery, both as a major center of enslavement in the North and as a significant location for the abolitionist movement. Chenven delivered a lecture describing the impacts of slavery across the region, explaining that one out of every four households in the Hudson Valley held enslaved people. Many places, names and institutions that Vassar students may be familiar with have their roots in this little-discussed history. For example, The Poughkeepsie Journal, the second-oldest newspaper in the United States, made much of its early money through runaway slave advertisements. Meanwhile, Milo Jewett, the first president of Vassar College,

In a joint written statement to The Miscellany News, Medina, Jones and Chenven described their involvement with MHAHP, writing, “We all became involved with MHAHP through friends and family who were already working on the public history of enslavement and abolition in our region. It was an easy connection since all three of us have been activists in a variety of organizations locally and more widely. We also saw the possibility of combining our interest in this often-hidden history with our creative interest in fiber arts and started the Oh, Freedom! Quilting Project in the Spring of 2023.” Since then, they have collaborated with various schools and organizations throughout the Hudson Valley.

While slavery and its consequences were ubiquitous across the region, the Hudson Valley was an equally vital location for abolitionists. Chenven described how Poughkeepsie in particular played an important role in the abolitionist movement. “The Poughkeepsie Anti-Slavery Society was one of the first anti-slavery societies in the United States,” she said. “Also significant is that Fredrick Douglass gave three speeches here in Poughkeepsie… We know that one of the reasons he was here so frequently is that this is a really, really historic site of abolition.” Poughkeepsie’s proximity to the Hudson River allowed freedom seekers to use steam boats to reach the Canadian border in as little as 30 hours. Referring to the Hudson River’s position as a path to freedom, Medina explained, “You often hear about the Underground Railroad, well, this is also an important part of abolition.”

Jazmine Williams ’26, who began interning with MHAHP in January, helped to organize the event on campus. “I am a history major, so initially, I joined them in a research capacity. I worked on looking

into some of the local abolitionists they had identified and tried to trace their history,” she wrote in email correspondence with The Miscellany News. Williams then began working with the Oh, Freedom! Quilting Project to lead a quilting circle at the Family Partnership Center and create wall texts for the project’s quilting exhibitions. “I have found the work that I have done with them very rewarding. Everyone I have met through MHAHP and The Oh, Freedom! Quilting Project have been kind and encouraging,” she wrote.

After each student sewed a four patch block, they were encouraged to add additional visual elements inspired by the stories of enslaved people in the Hudson Valley. Medina, Jones and Chenven displayed some quilts made by previous quilting circles in order to spark ideas. Examples included blocks embodying the vital role that the Hudson River played for freedom seekers and depicting the work enslaved people did in local construction. They also referenced the AIDS Memorial Quilt as a source of inspiration, as many past Oh, Freedom! quilts included the names of enslaved people in the Hudson Valley.

Medina encouraged students to think deeply about the meaning of their quilts, saying, “What exactly is your block representing historically? Based on the data we gave you, based on someone specific to the Hudson Valley, and to some of the people, places and ideas that we showed you… It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it has to be meaningful to you and it has to have some type of message.”

Williams emphasized how MHAHP can serve an important role in connecting Vassar students with the surrounding community, writing, “I wanted to get involved with an organization that was doing work that directly interacted with the community outside of Vassar… In academic settings, it has been hard for me to contextualize what I have been learning outside of the class-

room. So, the fact that this is a public history organization is where its importance to the Vassar community comes from. It allows Vassar students to learn about work being done in Poughkeepsie.”

Medina, Jones and Chenven echoed the educational role these quilting circles play within the community. “With almost every group we have heard similar responses,” they wrote. They listed examples such as, “‘Why didn’t I learn about this in school?’ ‘I didn’t realize that New York had so many enslaved people.’ ‘I’ve lived in Poughkeepsie my whole life (or been at Vassar for 3 years) and didn’t know about this history.’”

Members of the Nov. 15 quilting circle will reconvene on Friday, Nov. 22 to complete their quilt. MHAHP meets regularly at the First Congressional Church on Mill Street, where they welcome volunteers and supporters of all backgrounds and interests. They have also begun a series of exhibitions of completed quilts in order to continue the cycle of teaching and learning.

Allison Lowe News Editor

Image courtesy of Natalie Sang ’27.

Palmer Gallery hosts work by Janine Polak

Allen Hale Senior Editor

Since Oct. 30, the College Center’s Palmer Gallery has been exhibiting “Slip,” featuring art made by Janine Polak. Although I unfortunately missed the Artists’ Reception on Nov. 1, I recently had the pleasure of ambling through the Gallery to learn more about Polak’s creations and life.

Upon entering, I identified a placard describing Polak’s artistic trajectory. She was born into a military family in Nebraska, frequently moving around the country before settling in Virginia Beach. After graduating from the University of Virginia as a studio art major, she later earned her MFA from Yale University. In addition to international exhibitions in Australia, Iceland and China, Polak has exhibited throughout galleries in New York, including: Sardine, Essex Flowers and Lorimoto Gallery. She lives and works in Queens, serving as an Associate Professor of Art + Design at SUNY Purchase.

Although Polak’s graduate degree came from the Sculpture Department, there was only one piece in the gallery representing this medium. A majority of the displayed work was done with graphite on paper with rough edges, which was then placed on white, framed backgrounds. From a dis-

tance, I thought the works were directly drawn on the canvases’ surface, owing to a similarity in color between this background and the paper. These pieces each had some semblance of thematic continuity. The subject matter was non-human, yet titled with various emotions or actions such as “Tug” or “Gut Feeling.”

On a second placard, Polak detailed her inspiration. She notes working with materials and images that, “like our own bodies and psyches,” are placed somewhere between strength and vulnerability. The art, to my limited eyes, pushed each of these extremes in their respective directions. Polak describes there being a “contradictory fragility and strength” contained within the pieces, metaphorically representing human resilience. The earlier curiosity of titling became clearer at this moment, resolving the disjuncture between content and its naming.

Even before reading these words, I was struck by the delicate nature of each framed work. The fragile gray lines were faintly drawn on their white backgrounds, beckoning me to approach. They appeared somewhat non-representational. My mind went immediately to cloth or fabric, but I felt uncertainty about making exact conclusions. “Deadlocked” and “Pull” each filled the entirety of the seemingly torn paper on which they

were composed. Other artworks left expanses of negative space open.

In explaining these works as “quasi-portraits depicting power struggles,” Polak suggests frayed or bonded ties, “taking very human emotions, gestures, or relationships” as a basis to be distilled into non-human objects. Physical and mental are intertwined; we can push others away in each sense. Viscerality, power and weakness are all contained across these folded textures.

I moved around the Gallery’s space in a circular rotation, listening to music in my headphones by Autechre and The Field. The name of the exhibition was starkly placed onto the wall I started with. In the midafternoon mix of natural light and overhead bulbs, shadows became prominent next to each frame. Given it was a Saturday, the College Center remained peacefully quiet. Empty distance filled in between graphite strokes, between artworks, between people at rest.

The previously mentioned singular sculpture was titled “All Right Let’s Go.” From outside the Gallery, the line of small, black objects resembled a boundary created to prevent visitors from approaching the frames too closely. According to its label, each ball was made by used socks dipped in liquid clay before being dried and fired in a kiln. The cotton burns away and leaves a shell of porce-

lain, after which it is glazed and fired again. In its following paragraph, the label encourages visitors to take a ball after donating $5 to Polak’s Venmo account. 100 percent of the money will go to Make the Road New York, an organization that “builds the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice.” Below this description, a QR code was placed for visitors to scan. I left a donation and took a piece with me. I continuously felt the bumps and crevices of the piece in my pocket, attempting to learn its shape. It later made for a poor conversation partner over coffee, but I appreciated its presence nonetheless. People speak of “taking a piece” of artistic experience home with them, but now it was physically true for the first time in my life.

Situated between Express and Retreat in the College Center, the hallway containing the Palmer Gallery is often a transitory place, whether it be in pursuit of food or classes. No one can be blamed for the rush of their busy scheduling, but an automatic routine crowds out divergent, worthwhile experiences. As a senior, this feels especially pressing—unique offerings here will soon be out of my reach. It sounds trite, but we should stop in the hall more often. Make time to breathe while observing the Gallery before “Slip” ends on Nov. 24.

Nintendo Music App celebrates history of iconic compositions

Nicholas Tillinghast Humor Editor

Late last month, the prolific video game company Nintendo released the Nintendo Music App, a streaming service for the music of its broad catalog of games, available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Nintendo has long kept their video game music off of digital services, with fans having to rely primarily on compressed YouTube rips to listen to their favorite tracks, so this announcement was exciting for me and many others. I downloaded the app and was immediately struck by how sonically impressive these soundtracks are in terms of streaming quality. The app in its entirety also illustrates the company’s nearly four-decade-long history in gaming. Going console by console, I would like to trace the evolving sonic landscape of Nintendo across time.

Before I dive in, I would like to point out, as other publications have, that the app neglects to credit composers for their work on individual tracks. In talking about these tracks, I will attempt to credit individual composers the best I can because their impact on Nintendo games should not be understated.

For Nintendo’s first console in 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), there are currently three game soundtracks featured on the app (Nintendo plans to expand the app’s titles over time), the most notable being the original “Super Mario Bros.” The game’s entire album by Koki Kondo, set over 10 tracks, is just six minutes(!), and yet its groovy “Ground” theme is one of the most well-known and celebrated pieces of video game music. Every track on the album sounds pretty similar, but this aspect, and the short runtime are clear hardware limitations with the NES.

The Gameboy, Nintendo’s second console released in 1989, has pretty similarly stiff, robotic-sounding music. Notable highlights are the cheery “Kirby Dance” and “Green Greens” by Jun Ishikawa from the “Kirby’s Dream Land” soundtrack. The adorable aesthetics and sounds of Kirby from the original Gameboy release have remained surprisingly con-

sistent throughout the series.

Nintendo’s next console released in 1991, the 16-bit Super NES doubled the Gameboy and NES’s soundtrack lengths, featuring intricate 30-minute soundtracks. The console also featured much more complex synthesizer sounds along with its improved graphics. Instruments largely sound like they are supposed to, if not a bit muffled and distorted: Drums sound like drums, pianos sound like pianos, mallets sound like mallets. It was a big step up sonically. The styles of music are also a lot more intricate on the SNES too. “Donkey Kong Country” series tracks like “DK Island Swing,” “Funky the Main Monkey” (David Wise and Eveline Fischer) and the “Athletic Theme” from “Yoshi’s Island” (Koji Kondo) impressively riff on established music genres, like big band jazz, hip-hop and ragtime

For Nintendo’s next console feature, the N64 (1996), the average soundtrack length doubled once again. “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (Koji Kondo) has a nearly 60-minute soundtrack. The hard-to-emulate instruments are more realistic than ever. Drums now sound crisper, and string instruments are suddenly more present. While

featuring 37 tracks covering the game’s vast pastoral serenity, most only average under a minute and a half.

The Nintendo GameCube (2001), which followed the N64, has only one title on the app at present—“Metroid Prime”— (Kenji Yamamoto) but it effectively demonstrates the improvements in synthetic sound. There is a frightening intensity to this soundtrack that previous Nintendo consoles had yet to achieve, especially compared to the original NES “Metroid” soundtrack also featured on the app. Tracks like “Overture” and “Parasite Queen Battle” are downright chilling compositions that perfectly match the volatile gameplay of “Metroid Prime.”

The Nintendo DS–another handheld console—came next. I am not sure if the audio system on the Nintendo DS was just severely limited, but the “Nintendogs” soundtrack, while charming, sounded surprisingly fuzzy and indistinct to me for a console released in 2004. The “Tomodachi Collection” soundtrack, also featured on the app, is wonderfully zany, fitting for a game series about ridiculous social interactions.

The Nintendo Wii arrived in 2006. I am most nostalgic for the Wii era of Nintendo music, but I also think it was one of the most exciting eras sonically. Notably, “Super Mario Galaxy” was the first Nintendo game that utilized live-recorded music, doing so with a 50-piece full orchestra. The music of “Galaxy,” composed by Koji Kondo and Mashito Yokota, achieves a level of emotional richness that the previous consoles lacked, as seen in the soaring tracks “Gusty Gardens” and “Enter the Galaxy” themes, or the more laid back, “The Honeybee.” In a game about expansive gravity-defying planet traversal, it is matched perfectly by its sweeping music.

Another important aspect of the Wii was the experience of its menu options. The Wii menu has a dense grid of channels that players can interact with, each with their own distinct theme(s). In a time where console menus have become significantly flattened, the Wii remains unbeaten in its richness. One could spend a whole day fiddling around in Wii menu channels and not feel that it was

wasted.

One track on the Wii Menu soundtrack that surprised me while listening to it on the app was the serene, minimalist, “Wii Menu” theme. As a former Wii owner, I have probably heard this track a thousand times in my life but I had never thought much about it until now—maybe because I had never heard it with headphones, hearing each of the notes bounce between my ears. I genuinely think it is one of the most beautiful Nintendo tracks ever released.

The entire soundtrack for the Wii menu channels is just full of whimsy and ethereal bangers. There are the classics like the bouncy “Mii Plaza” and “Wii Shop Main Theme,” but there are others that have been largely forgotten like the tranquil Weather Channel tracks (who the hell relied on the Wii Weather Channel for their weather?). Still, all of the channel themes are distinct, demonstrating a unique feel. The recently added “Wii Sports” soundtrack (just 18 minutes!) is just as diverse and sounds wonderfully triumphant.

The Nintendo console releases after the Wii do not have much of a dramatic leap in sonic quality. There are great soundtracks from the Nintendo Switch and Wii U on the app, such as the “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (Koji Kondo) and “Mario Kart 8,” both of which certainly sound better than many Wii titles. But the jump is not as apparent as the one between the GameCube and the Wii. “Mario Kart 8,” though, is by far the longest soundtrack on the entire app, featuring themes for all 96 of its race tracks clocking in at four hours of nonstop energy and live instrumentation—another high watermark in Nintendo’s history alongside “Galaxy.”

Thinking more broadly about the app, I am not sure it will have significant daily use for me like Spotify does, but it functions well as a digital museum of Nintendo Music. There is a lot missing here from the canon, most notably many of the main-series Super Mario titles like “Super Mario 64” and “Super Mario Sunshine.” However, what exists on the app right now is still a fascinating survey of the music of one of the most historic companies in gaming.

Image courtesy of Tait Tavolacci ’27.

Institute’s EcoVisions encourages climate dialogue

Maryam Bacchus, Luke Jenkins Managing Editor, Assistant Features Editor

From Nov. 14 to 16, the Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts hosted the first of its six Signature Programs planned throughout the year. This program, entitled “EcoVisions: Finding Your Place in Environmentalism,” was developed by The Preserve at Vassar, The Environmental Cooperative, The Office of Sustainability and the Political Science Department with the goal of highlighting actionable steps towards climate activism. Each day centered around a different theme: building decarbonization for a just energy transition, approaches to conservation and land management and environmental engagement. We managed to attend and recap the second and third day.

The second day’s events, “Approaches to Conservation and Land Management,” offered ample opportunity to hear about the work of leaders across the Hudson Valley and in New York City. The day launched with quick ten-minute snapshots of the scope and mission of the speakers’ conservancy missions. Beginning the round of speeches was Vassar’s own Keri VanCamp, Director of the Field Station and Ecological Preserve. VanCamp shared about her research classifying the diverse types of land on the Preserve and working to address invasive flora and fauna that threaten the land’s health.

Pia Ruisi-Besares, who is originally from Kingston, New York, discussed her time at Scenic Hudson where she works as the Director of Science, Climate and Stewardship. Scenic Hudson operates across a large, fragmented service area to conserve areas across the entire Hudson Valley. Ruisi-Besares distinguished her work from that of other land management programs by noting the difference between active and passive land management. “Most of our properties are managed passively, just by necessity, because we just don’t have the resources and capacity to do anything with them. Passive management is just protecting land from development and letting nature sort of take its course,” she said.

Another panelist with Vassar ties, Troy Weldy, shared his current mission as the president of the Columbia Land Conservancy. After graduating, Weldy spent time working at the Vassar Preserve. Since then, he has done a wide variety of work, from botanist to lobbyist, and even authored the New York Flora Atlas. While Weldy still has to actively fundraise to keep his staff of 20 employed, the group has protected around 40,000 acres of land in the county. Weldy brought up important facets of land management: helping educate the private landowner in good land stewardship, recognizing the affordable housing crisis in the fight to conserve lands and the importance of responsible solar sites in combating climate change.

Focusing on conservancy in urban areas, Helen Forgione described her work at the Natural Areas Conservancy, which is a nonprofit working in all five boroughs of New York City. Forgione has worked both inside and outside of government for over 25 years, having previously served as deputy director of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Ecological Services Division. The Natural Areas Conservancy resembles the likes of the famous Central Park Conservancy, but instead of a one park focus, the group attends to many parks, natural areas and open spaces within the city. Some of the work they do involves categorizing and

cataloging spaces and calculating the potential cost of what those areas in the city need to thrive. Using this information, the group developed a 25-year forest management framework, which has been adopted by the New York City Parks department as a management tool.

Forgione pushed back on conceptions of New York City’s environment as being entirely without green spaces. “Through some remote sensing work that we initially started with our organization, we found that 41 percent of New York City is in some sort of green space.” She drew attention to the biological diversity within these natural areas, just like the diversity amongst city residents. Additionally, she noted how the city is facing a lot of the same issues plaguing other environments: the loss of native species and impacts of an overabundance of deer.

With a broader focus on the larger Hudson Valley region, Laura Heady touched on what she does in her career as a Conservation and Land Use Program Coordinator for Hudson River Estuary Program. Working across jurisdictions within the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Heady took a moment to boast: “I like to brag: The Hudson Valley is the most biodiverse part of New York State.” With 260 municipalities to navigate, Heady helps municipalities at the planning board level make the best choices to align with their conservation and development goals. She points to a current reality—how conservation and planning boards just do not talk to each other—and how with the agency helping communities take an inventory of lands and develop smarter policies and plans, this problem can be addressed. The agency has helped more than 50 municipalities by taking an inventory of what they have and hopes to encourage these municipalities to use that knowledge in their planning.

After these overviews, audience members were able to ask questions of the experts. Topics ranged from changing ecological baselines to hunting practices and farmer’s attitudes towards invasive species. After lunch, a guided tour led to the Vassar Preserve, bringing Weldy back to his old stomping ground. “I’m looking forward to seeing the changes at the farm since I was last here in 1995,” he said. A legal hackathon was also hosted in the Institute for high schoolers from the area, an opportunity to exercise the skill of brainstorming, and helping demonstrate the accessibility of legal thinking.

Saturday morning, the third day, began with light refreshments and an informal display of student work. Attendees were able to approach a variety of posters and installations to get a first read before proceeding to the conference room for the first scheduled events.

Director of the Environmental Cooperative Jennifer Rubbo introduced President of the College Elizabeth Bradley, who gave a short address to open the program. Bradley expressed excitement regarding the decision to make EcoVisions the Institute’s inaugural program because the ideas presented align with the mission of the building itself, since it was largely constructed using recycled and green materials. She explained that the practical programming offered by the signature programs encourages students to extend their classroom beyond the walls of their academic buildings and noted that the Institute was placed in a liminal space outside of main campus where the Vassar community could hold space for different perspectives to interact.

The first event was a panel about climate justice moderated by Professor of Political Science Arpitha Kodiveri featuring climate lawyers Ashley Nemeth, Camila Bustos and YiYi Prue. Kodiveri explained that the three perspectives were especially important, as they are three young women from the Global South working with people in the Global South, arguably the areas most affected by climate change.

Nemeth’s work focuses on loss, damage and providing restitution to those who have been impacted by climate change. Over the past year, her work has centered on responsibility for effects on climate, particularly from oil companies. A significant challenge in her work is defining a metric to compensate since loss from climate change is ecological and personal, which often cannot be quantified. Nemeth posed the important question: What do we lose in culture and society when we lose ecologically? Because of the intersectional implications, she believes the legal field should and will recalibrate to understand how we can include climate conversations in everything we do, especially in other areas of the field that can be leveraged in favor of climate justice.

Bustos studies the question of climate migration and displacement, summarized as “What happens when someone has to move because of climate change?” Her passion for climate justice also came from looking at fossil fuels and how lawyers themselves have been facilitating the climate crisis by working for, and thus enabling, big oil companies.

Prue is an indigenous lawyer based in Bangladesh, whose work is motivated by her experience witnessing three of her neighbors’ houses demolished by the effect of a monsoon. She explained that she felt grateful to have her house intact but remained fearful after the event, and she became an activist to prevent this from happening to others. Prue emphasized that people often do not understand the effects of climate change until they experience it themselves.

Following the panel, the program broke for lunch where attendees were able to engage with students whose work was featured throughout the building. Students from several external schools, including Pace University and Marist College, were featured.

An exhibit by Mia Walker ’28—a comic strip-esque infographic dubbed a “climate explainer”—stood out amongst the abundance of research posters featured throughout the Institute. Walker’s work highlighted silvopasture, which is an ideal method

of combining distinct components in an animal system (e.g. plants, other wildlife) in a way that is mutually beneficial. She became interested in the subject while taking Climate Fight with Associate Professor of Philosophy Jeffery Seidman, a course designed to help students locate themselves within the greater climate fight. Walker mentioned that taking the class opened her eyes to the rapid pace of climate change and inspired her to think about the different solutions that have the capacity to do the most to combat the climate crisis.

Attendees reconvened in the conference room after lunch for the keynote speech given by founder of Brown Girl Green and GreenJobsBoard Kristy Drutman. Upon taking the stage, Drutman’s exuberance illuminated the room, and she began with a check-in question. She asked the room how they were feeling given the interesting point in history and then led the crowd through a meditation exercise. Drutman asked the crowd to visualize a place in nature where they feel safe, and ask what they can do to protect it. She then explained her background in ecology and media and emphasized that she found her calling via storytelling.

The keynote conversation covered a wide range of topics including climate careers, the history of environmentalism (including its roots in racism), colonialism, American sentiment surrounding climate change and environmental justice. Drutman’s solutions to the climate crisis are largely inspired by equity and intersectionality, much like the work of the panelists earlier in the day. The speaker highlighted that when thinking about environmental justice, part of the focus of the conversations should be on how varying issues and voices are included in the conversations. She concluded by encouraging students to frame their steps towards environmental justice—and their paths in life—around who their community is and what brings them joy and hope.

The third day of the program highlighted the many ways to think about and take action towards climate justice, especially as undergraduate students. The speakers were thoughtfully selected, coming from diverse backgrounds with different motivations towards the same mission. Hearing stories from both the professionals and peers about the ways they have and are trying to initiate change was inspiring and left much food for thought.

The climate conversation is ongoing, but EcoVisions provided a solid starting point for the Vassar community to engage with others and make a plan for themselves.

Luke Jenkins/The Miscellany News.

Debating banned books at PHS: A local perspective

The Miscellany News is pleased to announce the winner of our first-ever Young Journalists Writing Contest: Jhanae Stewart! Stewart is a member of the class of 2025 at Poughkeepsie High School who hopes to work as a publishing journalist in the future.

Students from Poughkeepsie High School’s Pioneer Post submitted original works to The Misc for the opportunity of publication in Issue 10. We graciously thank all who submitted work. We extend a special thanks to Ms. J. Robin Ward, faculty advisor to Pioneer Post, and John Bradley, for their joint assistance in helping this project come to fruition.

In recent years, the national conversation around banning books has reached a fever pitch, affecting communities across the country. Following the 2024 Presidential election, this topic has extended to a new high, including at Poughkeepsie High School. With President-elect Donald Trump proposing broader book bans as part of his campaign rhetoric, questions arise about how these bans could influence what we study in schools — and how they might shape the way we learn about the world.

Books like “Animal Farm” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which remain cornerstones of our curriculum, have been under scrutiny in other districts for their depictions of racism, social inequality and political oppression. Sources like MLibrary have listed these books as banned and other books that focus on progressive themes, such as race, gender identity and LGBTQ+ topics. At Poughkeepsie High, there is no indication yet that books are being pulled from shelves or curricula, but the chilling effect of these debates is tangible as we have seen evidence from Times Union of books

like “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck being challenged in the state of New York, undergoing the process of being banned.

These books have long been part of our curriculum because they foster conversations about racism, justice, government and morality — conversations that feel especially relevant given the societal tensions we experience daily. But these very qualities make such works frequent targets of censorship. According to Central Florida Public Media in states like Florida

“The Handmaid’s Tale,” a timeless classic, has been challenged as being “too explicit.” While these bans have not reached us, the possibility looms large as they have spread across states, primarily in the South.

Supporters of these bans argue that certain content is too mature or controversial for young readers, while critics — including students, teachers and free speech groups— believe banning books takes away students’ freedom to learn about different perspectives and could make schools less inclusive.

GBH claims it is simply unconstitutional that Trump is proposing changes like this and states it is a violation of the First

Amendment. “The First Amendment demands that publication not be prohibited.”

For students like my peers, these debates are not just theoretical — they directly affect how they engage with the world. Reading banned books like “Animal Farm” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” has shaped students’ understanding of history and the importance of challenging oppressive systems. “Honestly I’m scared for what the future holds if Trump follows through with this,” said Karmiah Rouse, a senior at Poughkeepsie High School. “I just think we’re going one step closer to ending freedom in America.”

For now, the works remain part of our curriculum, but the conversation surrounding banned books has already introduced an air of uncertainty. Will our educators feel supported enough to keep challenging materials on the syllabus? Will Trump’s proposed policies — or even just the fear of them — push our school toward self-censorship?

Ultimately, the issue of banned books is about more than curriculum; it is about the kind of education we want for

our community. As Poughkeepsie High students, we have a stake in ensuring our education equips us with the tools to think critically and empathize deeply. Losing essential classics will most likely have a direct effect on education, as well as students — leaving education without depth.

As succinctly put by Dan Kennedy of GBH: “The scent of authoritarianism is in the air. Will we pay attention?”

Professor Del Razo educates on school-to-military pipeline

Maryam Bacchus, Jesse Koblin Managing Editor, Senior Editor

On Nov. 11, 2024—Veterans’ Day—friends, family, students and fellow veterans gathered in Rocky 200 in support of Assistant Professor of Education Jaime L. Del Razo’s talk entitled “The School-to-Military Pipeline: An Updated Report.”

As attendees settled into their seats, Del Razo’s wife Maritza Del Razo took the podium. She introduced Del Razo, providing his background as a first-generation high school and college graduate, whose parents immigrated to the United States with only an elementary school level of education. Del Razo’s life’s work has come to focus on two important topics: College access and equity for undocumented students and the school-to-military pipeline, the latter of which Del Razo himself is a product. Del Razo served for four years in the Gulf War, and upon completing his service, left as a decorated sergeant. Outside of his professional roles, Del Razo highlighted her husband’s passions for his roots, community and family, officially introducing him as her favorite person aside from their two children before handing over the mic.

Many who know Del Razo recognize his altruism and charisma, even in the face of difficult conversations. His humility shines through in each space he is present in. When stepping onto the podium he began by commenting on the surreality of listening to someone introduce him for a talk. ”Oh wait, that’s me! I better get up and say something,” he remarked. Del Razo continued with a list of thank yous to all who helped bring the event together, as well as the students in the audience.

The informational part of the talk began with a history of Veterans’ Day, dating back to its origins as Armistice Day. Del Razo then

provided a brief introduction to his work with the school-to-military pipeline and how his lived experience affected his desire to study the experiences of veteran students.

“I see you, I am one of you, and I hope wherever you are that you are cared for and you are loved and you are seen,” he shared earnestly.

When U.S. military conscription ended in 1973, the armed forces became an all-volunteer service (AVF) entirely composed of voluntary military ensigns, with the Selective Service program in place for all eligible male U.S. citizens in the event of the draft being reinstated. The institution of an AVF military meant that recruitment became a central priority for the Department of Defense. In order to attract prospective military personnel, recruiters marketed enlistment as a vocational choice and career stepping-stone, increasing payments and benefits for servicepeople, accelerating promotions within the military hierarchy and using federal programs like the GI Bill as enticements for service. As Del Razo explained in his lecture, the U.S. military has used aspirational career messaging to recruit recent graduates from public high schools to enlist, offering students alternative economic pathways to success in a process Del Razo termed the “school-to-military pipeline.”

Del Razo used a mixed-methodology study employing both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gain the most expansive view of the situation possible. Responses from the survey ultimately found that low socioeconomic status was the unifying factor within the recruitment of all military personnel, with military recruiters targeting lower-income high schools where students have fewer career alternatives and connections which would dissuade them from military participation. Race and class are highly correlated variables within the United States. Minority populations generally have dimin-

ished access to institutional resources and possess less generational wealth, so military recruitment of low socioeconomic status populations is also a racial issue. Akin to how mass incarceration of Black Americans has been used to form a carceral economy run on exploitative penal labor, the school-to-prison pipeline is another way the state leverages institutional racism in order to objectify working-class and minority populations. As Del Razo argued, the institution of an AVF led to an unequal selection of those who joined the U.S. military.

However, Del Razo’s interviews with military personnel and veterans presented an alternative perspective to the troubling aspects of the school-to-military pipeline. In interviews, Del Razo unearthed the plethora of reasons that veterans enlist: looking for educational opportunities they would not otherwise have, not being able to afford higher education or find other stable work, being in and out of homelessness or escaping from a challenging home environment. Another contentious and surprising answer came for Del Razo in asking his sample if parental permission should be required for military recruiters to contact children, a rule that is not currently in place. While the educators Del Razo interviewed overwhelmingly said parental permission should be required, responses were mixed from veterans themselves. One veteran expressed gratitude that his parents were not involved in contact with military recruiters. He felt being able to meet the recruiters was necessary to his career trajectory and that no one else came to his school hoping to improve his economic situation. Of course, nationalistic spirit prompted some respondents to enlist—many veterans in Del Razo’s sample sited post-9/11 military fervor, patriotism and the desire to serve and sacrifice for their country—but many others said

enlisting was important for them to escape the realities of their socioeconomic struggles. With these revelations in mind, Del Razo broached the central question: Is the school-to-military pipeline a harmful force? While originally viewing it unequivocally as a source of societal inequity, Del Razo’s research made him realize the situation was far more complex. “The study and the spaces I have shared have given me a moment of pause. I have come to realize, ‘it’s not that simple, Jaime,’ and my privilege was showing,” Del Razo expressed. Although the school-to-military pipeline still expressly targets the minoritized populations of the United States through selective recruiting, it serves as a critical pathway for these same populations to uplift themselves and escape the conditions they previously existed within. The real issue lies within the systemic inequities which cause institutionalized poverty for minority populations, and the fact that these populations have dramatically less post-graduation career options than peers with greater socioeconomic status. The school-to-military pipeline is simply a symptom of a greater phenomenon created by the military’s transition to an all-volunteer force. Del Razo concluded his lecture by urging attendees to think critically about the findings of his study and the conclusions they inspired for him. “It’s ok if you don’t agree with a lot or a little of what I said, that’s perfectly fine,” Del Razo began. “I want my students to be critical, independent thinkers… You make up your own mind.” These words were especially prescient considering that Vassar students are afforded the knowledge and institutional resources to make informed decisions, a privilege school-to-military pipeline recruits don’t always have. “Do your research on this topic and find out where you stand.”

Image courtesy of Jhanae Stewart.

FEATURES

Florida is sinking, we should get sloshed!

Eduardo Culmer Guest Columnist

The last vestiges of tequila sour drip out of the sticky red solo cups covering the living room floor, crunching as flip-flopped feet move to NBA Youngboy and Kendrick Lamar with alcohol-induced abandon. Publix sugar cookies are split five ways between cousins and friends, the smell of freshly baked tres leches cake wafts over the celebration, and the laughter of three generations of family drowns out the sound of 175 mph winds raging against the metal window shutters that keep the storm outside and the party in

Every year, millions of people in sub-tropical locations are bombarded by hurricanes and tropical storms in increasingly rapid succession. Between the months of June and November, Caribbean islands and U.S. states like Florida and Louisiana enter into a time period known as “hurricane season,” when Atlantic storm systems are most likely to form and reach higher intensities. With the cyclical nature of these storms being well reported across the Atlantic coast and Gulf regions, many families in these areas have taken to preemptive storm shopping, stocking up their cabinets with non-perishable items in anticipation of a hurricane.

Bottled water is often one of the first things to sell out at grocery stores when weather channels break the news about impending storms. Other shelf-stable items, like PopTarts and canned soup, also quickly fly off the shelves as people grapple to stockpile emergency supplies in their homes. While these easy-to-prepare, long-lasting items are logical purchases when preparing to be holed up— possibly without power—for extended quantities of time, other items seem less practical. In the days before a storm, shoppers hoping to gather goods at their local Publix or Target are often greeted by empty space and product signs in the place of eggs, milk, sugar, baked goods and… alcoholic beverages.

“Hurricane parties” are a common tradition in cities across Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and the Caribbean, with people in these communities often treating the arrival of a major storm as not just an emergency situation but also as an opportunity for communal bonding. To outsiders, it is a bizarre paradox: While bracing for the storm’s

potential devastation, huddled groups of families and friends also crack open cases of beer, blast their speakers and putt golf balls into the white abyss of torrential rain outside their doorstep, riding through the tempest in a state of revelry. In many ways, this strange convergence of destruction and festivity is a reflection of the spirit that hurricanes, despite their cataclysmic wake, have come to symbolize for people in these coastal regions.

The culture of hurricane parties is, of course, a coping mechanism. “What r u doing for the hurricane down there?” reads a text posted to the Instagram story of native Floridian and singer-songwriter Ethel Cain on Oct. 7, 2024. In another text bubble, Cain responds cheekily: “Oh i’m getting drunk like everybody else lol.” The response is light and playful, but for many, it is a form of emotional release—a reclamation of control in the face of nature’s unpredictable and overwhelming power. It is an act of defiance against the chaos that a storm might bring. The base concept of a hurricane party aligns with the idea that by fearing something, you essentially give it power over you, and conversely, you can mitigate the power of things outside of your control by acting as if you do not fear them. While you cannot control the winds or the rain, you can control the way a hurricane affects you. So, when the storm rips up all the Royal Palms lining the wind-weathered asphalt streets and hurls them across suburban cul-de-sacs, drinking and dancing with your loved ones while the world falls apart all around you begins to look more and more like a survival technique than a simple excuse to have a party. There is comfort in knowing that you are not alone; you have your people, surrounded by food and drinks and laughter. The Climate Clock, an installation in New York City that displays the amount of time left until the world reaches 1.5 degrees Celcius and the effects of climate change are irreversible, has recently gone viral on TikTok and other social media platforms for its prediction that humanity has little over four years to take action against climate change before the situation is too dire to make any real difference. This scarily low number coincides with the recent reelection of former President Donald Trump, which will last for the duration of the four years postulated by the Climate Clock, fomenting widespread climate

anxiety and hopelessness due to Trump’s proposed policies that would stall national efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. In areas such as Miami, where sea levels are steadily rising and the effects of climate change are more tangible than theoretical, fears over global warming-fueled super cyclones and hyperactive hurricane systems are at an all-time high. For instance, the Miami Herald called South Florida “ground zero for the threat of sea rise and smack in the middle of hurricane alley,” and several psychology journals are entering “climate anxiety” into the lexicon of treatable mental maladies. With Florida’s repeated rollback of climate-friendly policy and the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signing the June 2024 bill to revoke climate change from state law—ironically, directly after a tour of flood-ravaged areas in South Florida—many Floridians feel smothered under the threat of climate change, unable to express their agency in the shadow of climate-denying politicians.

In the eye of the storm, hurricane parties have persisted to relieve this claustrophobia. For many Floridians, it is the cold beer and margaritas that make storm-watching just a little bit more tolerable. As weather systems approach and the air sizzles with sharp anticipation, the “storm drink” often becomes a symbol of defiance and resilience—a collective toast to the unknown and an ode to com-

munity.

Yet, not all families participate in hurricane party culture. For some, hurricane season is about hunkering down, preparing for the worst and riding out the storm with as much caution and practicality as possible, leaving the alcohol and perishable baked goods on the grocery store shelves in favor of batteries and other more practical items. For them, the focus is on survival and physical safety, not celebration. But for others, particularly in communities that have faced devastating storms before, the hurricane party is more than just a way to idly pass the time. It is a reminder that, no matter how powerful the storm, the bonds of family, tradition and community will always endure.

Hurricane force winds, riding through the Atlantic coast with unprecedented speed, pour through the suburban neighborhood in loud howls. On each street, concrete homes withstand the weight of the storm, cutting through the gusts of air like knives all lined up in neat, geometric rows. Outside of these homes, gray mist hangs low in the air as sheets of rain fall monotonously against metal window shutters and rainwater swirls in potholes dotting the asphalt roads. Huddled in their homes as the hurricane rages around them, the people of these communities cope with the maelstrom in their own way: Tequila shots at the end of the world.

Tori Kim/The Miscellany News.

Image courtesy of Berk Meral ’28.

Whitehead discusses genre-jumping, inspiration in lecture

vide no lumbar support—hand model—disillusioning, because of Kate Moss’ anorexic lifestyle—or surgeon—undesirable, because he would have to stand for 10 hours straight performing procedures. He decided to stick with writing and in 1999, “The Intuitionist,” was published.

Set in an unspecified city, presumably New York, “The Intuitionist” chronicles the corruption of a group of elevator inspectors. “I thought it was finally time to work on my fiction, but I didn’t want to do the autobiographical first novel that everyone does where you get back at everyone who wronged you when you were a child,” said Whitehead. “I wanted to save that for my fourth novel, ‘Sag Harbor.’” Following an elevator inspector who fails to catch a faulty elevator, “The Intuitionist” explores religion and segregation. Walter Kirn, from Time, declared it “the freshest racial allegory since Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man’ and Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’”;

the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called it “a beguiling, utterly original first novel.” Whitehead got the idea from an episode of Dateline NBC.

Television has been a primary source of inspiration for Whitehead. “[My family] got cable as soon as it was invented so we didn’t have to talk to each other,” Whitehead explained. Consequently, Whitehead was exposed to many provocative, inappropriate shows early on: By the age of 10, he had seen “Clockwork Orange” and “Night of the Living Dead,” the latter of which gave him zombie nightmares for years. Ultimately, one of these nightmares led to his 2011 novel “Zone One”: During a sleepless visit to his aunt’s house for the Fourth of July, Whitehead dreamt that he was unable to enter his living room as it was infested with stray zombies. “I woke up, I was like, ‘yeah,’ that’s a good idea for a book,” he said. “Because that’s a practical matter, when the apocalypse is winding down—how to get rid of the extra zombies who are trapped in

subways or whatever.”

Laughing at this inspiration-from-dream cliché, Whitehead added that his other works originated from more unexpected, unusual places. He came up with the idea for his most famous novel, “The Underground Railroad,” years before the book was completed, when he first learned about the secret network of people who assisted enslaved Black Americans escape the south: “Those words were so evocative, I thought it was a real train before my teacher explained how it actually worked,” he said. “What if it actually was a real train?” However, he put off writing the novel for several years, unsure of how to begin. “The book you’re scared of—the book you don’t know you can pull off—is the book you should be working on,” he said.

Between anecdotes about the publishing business and comparisons of puppet shows to NPR, Whitehead took a moment to acknowledge the significance of writing—and by extension, being—in a universe as enormous as ours. “You’re not even a gnat trying to catch

the attention of an elephant,” he said. “You’re a microbe in the butt of a gnat trying to catch the attention of an elephant.” Rather than attempting to uplift the audience with a prolific pep talk, he simply stated that as a writer, he has a compulsion to write. “I have no choice.”

The lecture concluded with a Q&A session. Vassar students and one high schooler, who had recently read “Nickel Boys” in his AP Literature class, approached the front of the room and inquired about process, genre-jumping, artificial intelligence and film adaptations. In return, he spoke of barbequing, neuroticism, his preference for working from home rather than in cafes and outlines.

Whitehead is currently working on completing the third novel in his crime trilogy set in Harlem that follows the development of both characters and New York City over the course of three decades. The first two books of the trilogy, “Harlem Shuffle” and “Crook Manifesto,” precede Whitehead’s upcoming novel.

‘Archival’: Contrast fashion show remembers past styles

tribute to the past several years of fashion.

We are living in the most incohesive era of fashion yet. Whereas the past 10 decades are each distinguishable by shoulder pads, rhinestone-coated sweatsuits, beehives and greasy hair, latex catsuits, ballet flats and gogo boots, beadwork, perching hats, pant rise, skirt length and eyebrow width, today’s fashion is “all of the above.”

The lifespan of fashion fads has shrunk, as has their return rate—rather than recycling every 20 years, trends are becoming nostalgic after five. It is fitting, then, that the 2024 Contrast Fashion Show was structured around “Archival.”

For the past 14 years, Contrast, Vassar’s student-run style and culture magazine, has held a fashion show in the Loeb witheach show revolving around its own theme; this year, members of Contrast consulted past issues of the magazine to construct a total of 15 pieces, each modeled by students.

“We found shoots that had a very tangible aesthetic that we thought was reminiscent of the year it was from,” said Emma Raff ’26, one of two Contrast Style Directors. “Then we went online, found photos of high fashion shows of the same year, and then combined them in a mood board. The idea was to combine the Vassar fashion world with the high fashion world of New York City.”

The resulting effect was an impressive

Repurposing the Reproductive: Health, Fertility, Agency exhibit as a green room (a choice of convenience but linguistically on-theme regardless), students lined up in anticipation to strut the “runway,” the main hallway running through the Loeb’s collections. Even waiting in place, each model maintained their glowering pouts, barely breaking character to shimmy in time with the jazzy background track. They wore plaid kilts with Adidas superstars, sparkling shawls, leopard-patterned slips and zebra-patterned headscarves, tiers of tulle, velvet blouses, leg warmers, sweater vests and layered denim. They matched their lipstick to their socks, their bangles to their skirts. They flung jackets over exposed shoulders and glared through wraparound sunglasses.

“My look is inspired by Spring 2011 John Galliano,” said Contrast model Maria Milovanovic ’27, who wore an enormous hat evocative of a 17th century lampshade, or cake. “It’s a top hat,” she explained. “And then we draped lace and some fabric over ribbons.”

“The lace and beading is actually from my canopy in my room,” said Raff.

Prior to the show, Maegan Jenkins, a textile cataloger at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), delivered a presentation via Zoom about the work of archiving

fashion. Jenkins was hired by the NMAAHC during her third year of graduate school to catalog the Black Fashion Museum, a curation of approximately 2,000 garments first collected by designer Lois K. Alexander Lane in Harlem in 1979 but now resides in Washington, D.C “What’s interesting about all the garments in this collection is that they were either worn and owned by a Black person or created by a Black person,” Jenkins said, gesturing to a dress made by Rosa Parks.

While many of the garments in the collection were created by designers such as Stephen Burrows and Anne Lowe, the NMAAHC also holds pieces made and owned by “everyday people,” each functioning as miniature records of history. “One of my favorite aspects of cataloging is finding evidence of life in objects,” Jenkins said. She pulled up a photograph of a hat formerly owned by Precola DeVore Parks, sister of Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell, one of the first Black fashion models in the United States. The front two ties of the hat were smudged with a generous amount of foundation.

After reviewing some more pieces, Jenkins paused. “Nobody freak out,” she said. “I normally don’t use gloves when I handle garments.” It can be deemed unusual to not wear gloves when dealing with vintage pieces because the oils on our fingers will transfer to the material. However, Jenkins only uses bare, clean hands when examin-

ing pieces, unless dealing with old metal or vintage fur, which could corrode or deteriorate, respectively. Ungloved, raw touch is helpful in determining the material type, she explained.

Jenkin’s talk concluded with a Q&A session and a roar of applause. The clacking sounds of high-heeled boots and the gradual swell of drums and saxophone signaled that the show was about to begin. As 338 spectators—the largest crowd to attend a Loeb event, ever—clustered around the runway, we were reminded to be wary of our surroundings and not touch any of the art on display.

At the front of the room, one model stood and flipped through an issue of Contrast, a decision made by Creative Director Wyatt Keleshian ’26. “The idea was that as he flipped through the magazine, the old issues of Contrast would walk out—he’s looking through the history of the magazine,” Keleshian explained.

“This year, we were trying to be a bit more performative and include more of a performance aspect in the show,” said Carissa Kolcun ’25, Contrast’s Editor-in-Chief. “This was definitely one of the best turnouts in the time that I’ve been here.”

They added that the next issue of Contrast will provide a behind-the-scenes perspective of the Fall 2024 fashion show. “We’ll be really digging into the archival aspect,” they said.

Images courtesy of Leo Kogan ’28.

Continued from Whitehead on page 1

Charlotte Robertson Editor-in-chief

From the desk of Nicholas Tillinghast

Vassar Football gets first ever win in tight matchup against the Denver Broncos

Anna Kozloski/The Miscellany News.

HUMOR

Fun activities to try when sick

Evan Seker Quarantinee

The end of the fall semester is upon us, and with the roll-in of time, also cometh the roll-in of plague: Whether you have ringworm (annoying) to mycoplasma pneumonia (trying), quarantining is a must for any hopeful recovery. As someone now out on mycoplasma pneumonia, I have compiled a list of fun, enjoyable activities for any Vassar student hoping to spice up their sick days.

Infect your friends

Got that friend you just can’t seem to stay away from? Invite them to your dorm room for dinner, conveniently failing to mention you’re sick. Keep them over for at least an hour, then send them off. Wait at least two hours before sending an, “I’m really sick! Sorry if I exposed you,” text—this makes it seem as if you had no knowledge of your illness when everyone knows you did. You conniving monster! Good for you.

Repeatedly text your friends

Are you off campus? Bored? Too tired to get out of bed or do anything other than draw on your iPad? Good news—your friends are an endless source of entertainment. Be sure to be kind and warn them of the horrors your prophetic dreams have given you, such as Xenon the Dream-Destroyer, Tashi the Exodus and Yemrir a Liasi. You can also make things even more fun by saying things like, “I wish you’d text back more,” or “How come you never ask me how I am?” To maximize the euphoric thrill, be sure to only text people you have no close relationship with, because friends who reach out and treat you right are boring.

Avoid hobbies

Sickness: A time to rest and take care of yourself, perhaps using time you’d typically use for homework on yourself? No! Throw yourself immediately into your homework, take no rest breaks and

constantly stress yourself out. This is a sure-fire way to activate the chronic stress response, which throws your body into immune dysregulation and prevents cortisol from suppressing your immune system— absolutely perfect for shredding any infections you may have!

Change who you are

Staying the same, old, somewhat flawed “you” is kind of boring. Changing who you are, for the better, is much more fun. Be sure to use your time off for beneficial self-reflection, such as: “I should really stop texting Conner, he doesn’t want to talk to me” or “Maybe I should try drawing?” There’s nothing wrong with taking some time to reorient yourself.

Remember Your Virtues

If there’s one thing the stress of college is good at, it’s making us beat ourselves up. But you’re more than your flaws, and every single person, even the worst person on Earth, has good parts to them too. There is something beautiful in everyone at Vassar College, including you. Maintaining good grades while sick is stressful, especially in classes where it’s easy to make silly mistakes that can cost you the grade (physics, where I don’t think I’ve met anyone who didn’t know how to do a problem perfectly on homework—but I’ve met several people who can get 80s on exams). But stressing yourself out does much more harm than good. Never beat yourself up for bad grades—just reassess the situation and try to fix your issues—for physics especially, studying is useful to avoid silly mistakes.

Learn new things

Skill is relative, and trying anything new will remind you of that, painfully. What’s even worse is when people are better than you and mean about it. You won’t be terrible at something forever, however, just because you’re a beginner at it right now—and every day you keep at it, you get slightly less terrible—you might even be very good. For example, I skipped AP Physics, but I stud-

ied the entire curriculum and was able to get a double 5 on both AP Physics C exams (I got 5s on all exams that year, actually). I implore all readers of this article to try and pick up one new skill in the coming week, even if it’s, say, writing humor articles for the Misc. Or goat-riding. Or goat-juggling I think I have an obsession with goats. I became friends with this guy solely because his last name is goat-related, did you know? Although, I stayed friends with him

because he’s very kind and takes a genuine interest in me whenever I talk—I might just be a goat magnet, however.

Well, that was fun

Being sick sucks, let’s be real. But by taking breaks, resting when you need to and generally being easier on yourself than you otherwise would be, recovery will take shorter than you might expect. By taking the time to read this article, you’re already half-way there!

Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany

November 21, 2024

Reviewing the beautiful ‘Titanium Daydream’

Nandini Likki Not A Beluga

SometimesInstagram can actually be a wonderful place, instead of the soul-sucking hellscape it usually is. It can open your eyes to gaiety never thought possible. This week, while poring through reels urging me to travel to Amsterdam with the first person on my share list, I magically stumbled upon the perfect Insta account.

“Titanium Daydream,” created by artists Jacob Sluka and Ben Crouse, is described as a “3D saga in many parts,” with new episodes being released every Tuesday. The Blender-animated web series follows Benjamin Jacobs, a red-blooded American hero who’s called back to his hometown of Sleeper’s Edge, Iowa after having fateful visions that haunt him “like a titanium daydream.” Equipped with a killer blue jacket with a dove on the back, 2000s sunglasses and his “father’s gön,” Benjamin meets several Sleeper’s Edge townsfolk while trying to figure out what or who is the source of his dreams. The tone and milieu of the show harkens back to media like Twin Peaks and Blade Runner: The haunting synth score is reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’s work, while Benjamin feels like an homage to Rick Deckard, the wandering protagonist who finds himself in a world that no longer makes sense. TD’s (“Titanium Daydream”) dialogue is gorgeous and evocative, with lines such as “Music, freedom, and civic infrastructure belong to all.” and “What do you know about those rascals at the jazz bar?” All of this is exacerbated by Titanium Daydream’s low-resolution graphics, remi-

niscent of PlayStation 1. They give the show an almost timeless feel: the characters could be anyone and exist in any time and place, but for some reason, they’re drawn to the mystic of Sleeper’s Edge.

While the show is lesser known on Instagram, “Titanium Daydream” has been getting more and more popular on TikTok, with

some episodes reaching tens of thousands of likes as viewers tune in each week. It’s definitely a hit amongst Vassar students. “Every time I go back to my hometown, I have to resist the urge to say that I’ve been ‘drawn back here by a psychic plague of twisted visions.’

Benjamin just gets it,” said Xander Nowak ’25. “He’s so beautiful and sincere. I can’t decide if I want to be him or be with him. Anyway, I got to get back to my Japanese homework.” If you ever find yourself bored while waiting in line for food at the Deece or talking to your mentally unstimulating friends, I highly recommend cracking open a fresh sugar-free Rockstar Energy and watching “Titanium Daydream.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News.

Let students post on Gordon Commons

Sam Goldstein Guest Columnist

In 1517, per the Library of Congress, German priest Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of his Wittenberg church, publicly challenging many Catholic practices and setting off the Protestant Reformation. Yet at Vassar, where we supposedly value freedom of expression much more than the 16th-century Catholic church, we are not allowed to post political statements on the doors of Gordon Commons or anywhere else on campus. Through changes to the posting policy and seemingly greater limiting of postings, the administration has attempted to depoliticize the physical environment of the campus. This politically motivated restriction of speech weakens our community, fragmenting our social scene and taking away what was once an important place for both political and non-political discourse.

While posting on the doors of Gordon Commons, Vassar’s only dining hall, has theoretically always been forbidden, the administration’s tone about this harmless form of expression has grown notably stronger in the past few years. This summer, in response to last year’s campus protests regarding the pay equity lawsuit against Vassar and the conflict in Gaza, the administration subtly added language to the

posting policy that “Postings solely made to promote an opinion or point of view will not be stamped or will be removed.” This fits in with the trend of this administration, which says: Do whatever you want, as long as we approve it first.

But this suppression affects more than just campus politics. When I was a freshman, the doors of Gordon Commons doors were always covered in posters for student activities—dance performances, comedy shows, and people looking for bandmates— it was a site of connection. I thought I was dreaming when I stumbled into the dining hall on a cold gray morning two years ago and saw a sign on the door with a QR code and the text “Is your name Sam?” Since mine is, I scanned it and later went to a meeting of other people named Sam on campus, where we talked about what it was like to be a Sam. It was a funny moment with people I had never met before, one of those great Vassar experiences.

Now, the Gordon Commons doors are usually blank. Though our student culture is still vibrant, what was once the main way to know what was happening around campus has largely disappeared. This contributes to the social scene’s fragmentation, making it harder to get the word out when one has something to promote, and thus more important to already be in the know about events. While students can still

put up posters on the dim and awkwardly placed cork boards inside the dining hall, my guess is that far fewer people see these. If the administration allows students to put up posters at all, why not let us do it in the most prominent space?

This is all an effect of the administration’s restriction of political speech, which damages our ability to address disagreements. Since taping up signs is not vandalism, placing political messages on the doors of the dining hall, so long as they are not hateful, might be a meaningful way of engaging with one another. Some people may want a campus political environment where they do not have to confront the fact that people near them have different opinions than they do. There is comfort in thinking of Vassar as a bubble when you are inside it, as you imagine that your views must neatly align with everyone else’s. But unanimity goes against what the college professes to stand for. Signs on the library tables read, “In diversity there is beauty and strength,” but how are we supposed to believe the administration means this when they have limited our ability to express political (and nonpolitical) speech on campus’s most visible surface? Rather than allow the flourishing of a diversity of opinion, the administration prefers the look of clean, off-white paint.

So this is my thought: In an effort to build understanding and a stronger campus

community, as well as allow for a fuller expression of our views, the administration should permit students to put posters on the Gordon Commons doors, even if they only express an opinion. Of course, this has the possibility of inciting conflict. On the other hand, disagreements do exist, and it seems at least more honest to put these out in the open. If there is a lesson to be learned from the past year of student protest, it is that suppressing the avenues of student expression does not stop protests—it incites them. The Vassar administration knows this well because it has been more tolerant than other schools. For instance, Vassar chose not to call the police on the encampment, an approach that engaged with student protests without stifling them. Still, their relative liberality does not excuse their continued attempt to de-politicize campus, which comes at the cost not just of student politics but ultimately hurts the whole community. This loss of a central campus forum goes against the 2020 Statement on Academic Responsibility and Respect for Persons, which concludes that, “Only a community that honors freedom of expression, different points of view, and mutual interdependence can serve the objectives of a liberal arts education and the needs of the complex, pluralistic society of which Vassar is a part.” It is time for the administration to live up to these words.

There is a future for liberal politics in America

Wilson Prieve Guest Columnist

As I watched the election results pour in on Tuesday, Nov. 5, I was horrified. It quickly became clear that not only would Donald Trump win this election, but he would win every swing state, the popular vote and contribute to a Republican trifecta. As someone who put in a lot of time to help Democrats up and down the ballot get elected, these results were a huge gut punch. More importantly, though, I was terrified about the future of America. Could Trump get to appoint more far-right justices to the Supreme Court? Would Trump and Republicans go through with their proposals of mass deportation? Would Trump’s tariffs shoot up inflation? Needless to say, I did not fall asleep that night.

However, as I accepted reality and became more level-headed, I saw some signs that made me optimistic about the future of the Democratic Party and liberal politics in America in general. At a time when many on this campus are disappointed, anxious and frankly, scared about the results of this election, I wanted to share some positives where I could.

For one, Democrats will be entering Trump’s second term with much stronger positions down the ballot than in 2016. Heading into Trump’s first term, Democrats held 47 Senate seats, 194 House seats and full control of just six state governments, per The New York Times and Ballotpedia. Now, we are heading in with 47 Senate seats, at least 212 House seats, and full control of 15 state governments. This will give Democrats much more leverage in pushing back against Trump, but also gives us a chance to further expand our position at the state level in 2026. Even though 2018 was largely a successful election for Democrats, our weak position at the state level meant resources had to be spent trying to win back control of legislatures in normally blue states like New York, Washington and Colorado, according to The

New York Times. However, because Democrats already have full control in most blue states, greater efforts can be made to win in swing and possibly even traditionally red states at the state level in 2026. Similar logic applies when it comes to the House of Representatives—in 2018, much money had to be spent trying to claw out of a deep minority, whereas this time we are only a few seats shy of a majority, so a real effort can be made to build a large and durable majority.

Another reason I am optimistic about Democrats’ prospects is because down-ballot Democrats generally overperformed Kamala Harris. There were four states that split the ticket between Trump and a Senate Democrat and there appear to be about roughly 20 Democrats who won in districts that voted for Trump. The reason for this is twofold; down ballot, Democrats ran a lot of strong candidates. In fact, many received more votes than Harris. As Democrats regroup and look for new party leaders, I suspect many of these talented, younger voices will

be brought forward. Conversely, for Republicans there was a down-ballot undervote— there appears to be a non-negligible number of voters who showed up to vote for Trump and left the rest of their ballot blank. These are voters Republicans will likely struggle to get in future elections when Trump is not on the ballot.

Finally, our geopolitical position remains strong. For instance: In both 2016 and 2020, the electoral college heavily worked to Trump’s benefit—in 2020, the decisive state of Wisconsin was nearly four percent to the right of the nation! This cycle, it appears the “tipping point state,” Pennsylvania, voted almost identically to the nation. We also still see underlying demographic changes helping Democrats in key places—per The New York Times, in Georgia 12 of the 16 counties that make up the fast-growing Metro Atlanta area shifted left from the 2020 election. It appears Georgia will end up just under one percent to the right of the country, meaning that in every presidential election since 2004,

Georgia will have turned bluer relative to the nation, largely thanks to Metro Atlanta’s growth. This suggests that long-term, Republicans will struggle to win statewide elections in Georgia outside very Republican-friendly national environments. Even in red-leaning Texas where Trump over-performed with Latino voters, there are still some signs of optimism for Democrats around the margins. Kaufman County, a suburb of Dallas and the fastest-growing county in the country, shifted six percent leftwards from 2020. I do not believe it is a coincidence the fastest-growing county in the country hosted one of the strongest leftward swings.

This article is not to say there is no real reason for concern or that we should just sit back and assume things will get better by default, but I hope to offer optimism about the longer-term prospects of left-wing politics and the Democratic Party in America, at a time when it may seem hopeless. I strongly encourage everyone to stay politically engaged regardless of what their beliefs are.

Image courtesy of Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr.

OPINIONS

Democrats have no one but themselves to blame

Willem Doherty Guest Columnist

In the waning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 5, Chris Wallace of CNN said what I think is the most prescient line of the 2024 election cycle. Watching as the nation’s key swing states began to tilt, lean and finally collapse right, Wallace remarked that this Tuesday, the day when Donald Trump won not just more than 300 electoral votes but the national popular vote, “felt more like 2016 than 2020.”

Indeed, in the results of the 2024 50-state pileup, I am reminded of the 2016 cycle. Kamala Harris/Tim Walz is a déjà vu campaign. Once again, Democrats chased the ephemeral votes of white suburban moderates. Once again, they felt entitled to the votes of the Black and Latino electorate and attacked voters who spoke out about the follies of this entitlement. Once again, they refused to put forward plans and policies that would energize their base. And now, facing an embarrassing defeat, Democrats are once again lashing out: blaming the voters who have made it abundantly clear what they want. Instead, they should be blaming themselves for not offering it.

Let me be clear: Democrats have nobody but themselves to blame. Their political strategy over the last decade is clearly a losing one. In 2016, Chuck Schumer made the infamous statement that “for every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin,” per the National Review. Eight years later, this strategy has proven to be an utter failure. Democrats have indeed made inroads with these types of voters: they have improved three percent with voters with a Bachelor’s degree, and 20 percent with voters making more

than $100,000, according to NBC. But in the process, Democrats have abandoned working-class voters. Among people making less than $50,000, Republicans improved 14 percent in the past four years, per the Financial Times. Among voters without a college degree, they improved nine percent, per NBC. What is happening? In less than 10 years, the party of working people has abandoned working people. With the complete absence of support from the party that once represented them, they have turned to a fascist message of decline and rebirth. Let us not mince words: Trump will do nothing to help the working people of America. But in the absence of a progressive alternative, they will turn to the party that acknowledges their existence and pretends to help them, even if that help never comes.

It is not enough to be the party that opposes Trump. If Democrats ever want to win another election, they will have to win back the working class. I am not talking only about the ‘‘white working class,” those inscrutable blue-collar folks in the swing states who have been alternately celebrated and vilified by the political establishment. I am talking about the actual working class—a collection of people of varying racial identities who have been abandoned by the Democratic Party and are now increasingly turning to Trump, according to Politico. These people, particularly working-class Black and Latino Americans, do not owe Democrats their vote. It is racist to assume they do. The Democrats owe them a slate of policies that will improve their lives and make them want to turn out for Democratic politicians. Anything else is an entitlement, plain and simple.

The road ahead is long and uncertain for Democrats. First and foremost, they must purge their party of the moderate, self-defeating elements—the elements that forced

Hillary Clinton onto the ballot in 2016, forced Biden on the ballot in 2020 and refused the possibility of an open primary in 2024. They must, for the first time since 2008, commit to policies that their base is actually excited by. Furthermore, they must recognize the power that a populist, class-focused leader can bring to the party, a leader like Barack Obama or Franklin Delano Roosevelt. To do this, they will have to again purge themselves of the elements of their party that have facilitated their shift right: the moneyed interests and technocratic leeches that have attached themselves to the soft underbelly of the Democratic fundraising base. These billionaire interests are massive bases of money, power, support and influence—and Democrats will have to reject them, despite the vast personal

wealth they bring to the entrenched elite of the Democratic National Committee, to build a true party of the working people. These elite interests—the supposed “woke” millionaires and billionaires who set up ineffective Democratic super PACs—are not donating out of the goodness of their hearts: They are buying influence, plain and simple. The sooner we reject them, the sooner working people get their party back.

This is not a time to mourn. We do not get anything done, politically, by mourning. This is a time to be angry—angry at the situation that Democrats put us in. Now is the time to bend the Democratic Party to our whim and force out the elements which have put us in this hole. Get mad! It is time to take our party back!

Image courtesy of Art Vander via DeviantArt.

Image courtesy of Karen Mogami ’24.

Students reflect on College Football experience

Casey McMenamin, David Bray Columnist, Guest Columnist

The college football landscape has become the Wild West. With the advent of the transfer portal, players are able to switch schools and make an immediate impact without having to sit out a year. In a landmark 2021 Supreme Court case, NCAA vs. Alston, NCAA student athletes won the right to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL). College football, meet neoliberalism. Traditionally weak programs are evening the playing field by snatching up high quality players from the juggernauts of college football with huge brand deals. Just as Adam Smith theorized, the open market has brought a never-before-seen parity to the sport.

This parity — and some may even say chaos — has been evident since the very beginning of the 2024 season, when unranked Georgia Tech beat No. 10 Florida State in the opening game of the season in Dublin, Ireland. This upset opened the floodgates. Unranked and two-loss Vanderbilt beat No. 1 Alabama at the end of August, unranked Northern Illinois shocked No. 8 Notre Dame in a September win, and there have been countless other upsets.

In this unregulated and unknown environment, one man has emerged above the rest. Hall of Fame player and coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, Deion Sanders has showcased how to turn a team around quickly, with the use of new portal rules and NIL player payment. Southern Methodist University (SMU), once a powerhouse turned banned team, is back and better than ever as a new member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Both the University of Colorado (CU) and SMU have been surprise players in this year’s new 12-team Playoff format, as they both sit atop their respective conferences, with a real shot at making it to the College Football Playoffs for the first time in over 25 years for both programs. David Bray ’26 and Casey McMenamin ’26 outline their experience as lifelong fans of CU and SMU, respectively, as they both find their teams having pleasantly historic seasons.

Colorado

After a roller-coaster year in 2023 for the

University of Colorado football team, expectations were low heading into the 2024 season. To read more, check out David Bray’s article outlining Colorado football’s transformation since the arrival of Deion Sanders. That article was written before CU’s matchup against the University of Central Florida, a talented running team. Since that game—a resounding 49-21 statement victory—Colorado has gone 4-1, cementing itself as a top competitor in the Big 12. Colorado is currently tied with Brigham Young University (BYU) for the number one spot in the Big 12 standings (both are 6-1 in conference play). Outside of a 31-28 last-minute loss to Kansas State, a heartbreak which I experienced in-person, the Buffs have handily beaten Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas Tech and Utah. Now, as the Buffs control their own destiny to reach the Big 12 championship and, potentially, secure a spot in the College Football Playoff (CFP), every game is critical, with two remaining.

On Saturday Nov. 23, CU will take on a hot Kansas team at Arrowhead Stadium, home to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas has been underwhelming this year compared to expectations. In preseason, they were projected to be a competitor in the Big 12, but now they must win out to finish 6-6 and secure a bowl game. Coming off of wins against 22ndranked Iowa State and 6th-ranked BYU, this game is anything but easy. While every game this year has been important for the Buffs, this may be the most critical, possibly making or breaking their chance at the Big 12 championship and, by extension, the CFP.

On Friday, Nov. 29, on a brisk morning after Thanksgiving, the Buffs will play Oklahoma State at home. This matchup, touted as one of the marquee games in the Big 12, was picked up by ESPN before the season even began. Ohio State University (OSU) has had a rough season, currently sitting at 0-7 in Big 12 play. That said, CU cannot afford to take its foot off the gas unless a spot in the Big 12 championship is already clinched. OSU could be a trap game for any team, given how well-coached they have been in past seasons. If Colorado can make the Big 12 championship and win, there is a very good chance they will secure the No. 3 or 4 seed in the CFP, possibly earning a first-round bye.

As a fan since my early childhood, I have

rarely experienced this kind of success from a Buffs football team. The city of Boulder has rallied around this team like never before, and nationally, CU has gone from one of the most hated programs to a sleeper pick for the CFP. They have already doubled their win total from last year (4-8 to 8-2) and still show room for improvement. They seem to be peaking at the perfect time and have proven many haters wrong. Even Vegas set their win total at 5.5, a mark they have easily surpassed.

If you had told me last year that a Buffs team that went 1-11 in 2022 would be 8-2 and hopefully on the verge of a CFP berth , I would have called you crazy. A man can dream, but even dreams cannot begin to sum up the reality of what Colorado football has done to far exceed expectations this year. Not only is Boulder behind them, but the entire country is watching to see if Coach Prime has really arrived.

SMU

No program has been more disrespected by the pundits and pollsters than the Mustangs from SMU. The house that Eric Dickerson and Doak Walker built had fallen into disrepair for decades, but under the leadership of third-year Head Coach Rhett Lashlee, the Pony Express is firing on all cylinders again. To put it into perspective, 10 years ago, the Mustangs finished 1-11 in a non-power-five conference. In 2014, you could sit anywhere you wanted to in Gerald R. Ford stadium and watch the Ponies get clobbered for 60 minutes. Fast forward to today, the Mustangs are 9-1, undefeated in ACC play and setting attendance records with their third-straight home sellout. And yet, still people doubt the Mustangs. After Saturday’s 38-28 win over Boston College, the Associated Press ranked the Mustangs as the No. 13 team in the nation, their highest ranking since 1985. The luddites at the Associated Press ranked the 9-1 Texas Longhorns No. 3 despite zero ranked wins and a loss at home to 2-loss No. 12 Georgia by 15 points. Surely the Longhorns must have some good wins since they play in the holy Southeastern Conference, and yes they do; their best win on the season was an emphatic, “culture win” according to Head Coach Steve Sarkisian against 6-4 Vanderbilt by three points.

The culture that Lashlee is building in Dallas is a little different. Scoring close to 40 points a game, Lashlee is leaning on rising star quarterback Kevin “Dallas” Jennings. Coach Nick Saban has coined Jennings one of, “the most underrated players in all of college football.” Going into Saturday’s contest against BC, Jennings had completed 128 of 198 passes for 1,908 yards, 12 touchdowns, five interceptions and a passer rating of 105.8. After a touching tribute to our nation’s heroes with a flyover of the C-47 bomber “That’s All Brother” that led the Allies’ D-day invasion 80 years ago, Jennings opened fire against the Golden Eagles, completing 24 of 35 passes for 298 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. What Jennings cannot do with his arm, he makes up with his legs. One of the keys to SMU’s success offensively this year has been Jennings’ “instinctive ability to scramble, keep his eyes down to field and make yet another explosive play by finding an open receiver” according to Saban. Saban has also taken notice of SMU’s ferocious defense, a unit that allows just over 20 points a game. The Mustang defense thrives on getting after the opposing quarterback and generating turnovers. With 23 sacks on the year so far, the Mustang defense causes nightmares for quarterbacks. With an SMU defender constantly in the backfield, the SMU secondary has feasted off of errant throws all season long, collecting 14 interceptions. The SMU Mustangs are one of the hottest teams in all of college football. With a star quarterback, explosive playmakers and an angry defense, the Ponies have all of the components of a championship contending team. Although the committees and pollsters still doubt the Mustangs, Lashlee’s squad controls their own destiny. If they win out, they will compete in the ACC championship game for a chance to automatically qualify for the College Football Playoff. ESPN currently gives SMU a 42 percent chance to make the playoffs, which according to my model is astoundingly low. Lashlee and the Mustangs could not care less about where they are ranked or what the probability is of making the postseason. The Mustangs are laser-focused on getting better week after week. If you find yourself doubting the Mustangs for the remainder of the season, remember this: You are either on the train or off the train, and if you are off the train, get off the tracks because the Pony Express is picking up steam and coming right at you.

Conclusion

The advent of the 12-team playoff model, NIL and transfer portal laissez-faire has made way for non- 2000s powerhouse teams such as SMU and CU to make themselves real contenders for a national championship. We will be watching closely as the season closes and the CFP committee decides on placement for both teams. Bowl season is the best season, so keep your head on a swivel for upsets and surprises over the next two months.

Prof. Jaime L. Del Razo remembers MLB legend

Continued from MLB on page 1

came out till after the sun went down,” Del Razo said. “But when Fernando was pitching, he would rush home to watch the game. For the first time, I saw my dad enjoying the game. And that was special.”

Outside of the Del Razo home, Fernandomania was similarly impactful in the highly Chicano Boyle Heights. Fernandomania, he said, did not only change his relationship with his father. It changed an entire community’s relationship with baseball and

made lifelong Dodgers fans out of many. When Valenzuela was on the mound, Del Razo remembered, the whole neighborhood would watch.

“If Fernando was pitching and if there was a TV nearby, the game was on,” Del Razo said.

At Mary’s, a corner store named after its owner near Del Razo’s home, Valenzuela’s starts were broadcasted on a small TV behind the counter. Del Razo said he remembers the corner store workers only looking

away from the game if a customer walked up to make a purchase. If he found himself at the store during a Valenzuela start, Del Razo would do his best to time the journey home in between innings so that he could get back without missing a single pitch.

After Valenzuela’s historic 1981 season, Del Razo got to see the legend in the making when the former served as the grand marshal in the annual East Los Angeles parade.

Atop an ornate parade float, Del Razo said the humble Valenzuela looked almost un-

comfortable or overwhelmed by the theatrics surrounding him.

The 20-year-old from a rural Mexican town with a population of less than 1,000 likely never dreamed of the mania his unique pitching prowess would inspire.

But by those he made into baseball and Dodgers fans, Valenzuela will forever be revered.

“I think anybody who loves baseball and especially pitching, has got to know the name Fernando Valenzuela,” Del Razo said. November 21,

Image couresty of David Bray’ 27.

Casey McMenamin/The Miscellany News.

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 hfrance@vassar.edu.

Brewers Ballin’: Wager scores NCAA tournament game winner Brewers Ballin’

Name: Cecelia (Cece) Wager

Year: Sophomore

Team: Women’s soccer

Stats: Wager was a steadfast presence for the Brewers this year, totalling 1,500 minutes on the season and averaging over 70 minutes per game. The sophomore defender’s lockdown skills are reflected in Vassar’s strong .95 goals against-per-game. Wager’s individual contributions are not typically captured in her statistics, as with most defensive soccer players. But on Nov. 16, that changed. Wager’s goal 1:58 after the second half began proved to be the game winner in Vassar’s 1-0 victory over St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the first NCAA tournament win in program history.

Statement: “This past season has meant so much to me because we truly played for each other, and every loss became a chance to grow. Together, we thrived under pressure, communicated excellently, and built the foundation for continuous success. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to grow, learn, and smile every day with the best teammates in the world, while playing the game I love. I’m excited for what’s ahead, but I’ll always cherish what we’ve accomplished together.”

Last week in Vassar Brewers sports

Women’s Rugby Earns Houston Trip

On Nov. 11 the Brewers won the South Region defeating College of William & Mary to earn second consecutive final four birth.

Men’s and Women’s Soccer Win in National Tournament

On Nov. 16 the Brewers both emerged victorious in the first round of the NCAA DIII National Championship tournament.

Women’s basketball win third straight

The Brewers extended their young win streak with a win over William Paterson University. Junior Sierra McDermed earned Liberty League Player of the Week.

Image courtesy of Cecelia Wager ’27.

The Miscellany Crossword

Our crosswords are now available to play interactively online! Check out our crosswords tab at miscellanynews.org or find the archive at crossword.miscellanynews.org.

“Cheers”

By Felix Mundy-Mancino

Across

1. Primary

5. Plastic shoe

9. Indian social status

14. Colonial region in Southeast Asia

16. Oak seed

17. Obvious

18. Professor Lupin’s first name

19. Like many headphones

20. Serves a sentence 22. Porgy’s counterpart

24. Irish beer

26. Short for calculator

27. Suffix with million 28. 4G ___

29. Pop music re-release

32. Drink brand with a lizard logo

33. Peter ___, co-founder of PayPal

34. Subject of much schoolyard teasing

35. Taker of minutes on a student council

38. Wine prefix

39. Minor prophet whose book follows Joel

40. Spinning toys

41. Emotional wounds

43. Questions

44. Recently legal bright green beverage

46. Final notices of the deceased (abbr.)

50. Plains tribe members

51. Quickest form of transportation

53. Philippine island

54. Orange juice brand

55. Pele’s first name

56. Mtg.

57. Butter measurement

Down

1. Common crossword format

2. Incognito internet nickname

3. “___ delighted!”

4. “Shine On, Harvest Moon” singer and co-composer

5. Midwestern town?

6. Peels

7. O

8. Assistant to the elderly or infirmed

9. French luxury brand 10. ___ the hole

11. Wine snobs

12. It really happened 13. Nav. rnk.

15. Comedy Steve

21. “I’m game!”

23. Male from Edinburgh

Answers to last week’s puzzle:

Category Match

By Felix Mandy-Muncino

25. Dispatch

26. Eye candy at a resort

27. Nike competitor

29. Allowed begrudgingly

30. Dimming gadgets

31. Recovers into form

32. Person from Edinburgh

36. Japanese stringed instrument

37. Michener’s “The Bridges at ___”

42. Of ___: helpful for

43. Nestle candy bar filled with air bubbles

45. Onboard

47. Terrible Russian?

48. ___’clock scholar

49. Thick slice

50. Flamenco shout

52. Covers in bathroom tissue

Sections of The Misc: ARTS, OPINIONS, FEATURES, NEWS

Good ___: LUCK, GRIEF, HUMOR, GOD

Toppings on a Chicago dog: MUSTARD, PICKLE, ONION, TOMATO

Clue characters: WHITE, PEACOCK, PLUM, GREEN