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The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVIII | Issue 6

October 30, 2014

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

VSA names Garcia to Carry That Weight comes to VC Exec. after election tie O Marie Solis

Editor-in-Chief

Rhys Johnson Reporter

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hree weeks after Reuben Moncada ’15 unexpectedly stepped down as VP for Activities on the Vassar Student Association (VSA), Lauren Garcia ’16, after a 200 to 200 vote tie in the election, was appointed by VSA to be his successor.

Garcia and the VSA Council hope that her plans for smoother progressions of pre-orgs into full fledged organizations as well as her previous

experience with student groups will assist her in a swift transition to the executive position and will foster a more proactive Activities Committee.

On Sept. 28, after Moncada announced his resignation, Council decided to fill the position by a special election. The following day, students were able to file and begin campaigning. The polls opened on Oct. 6. Despite concerns that it defied precedence, the debate was held one day See ACTIVITIES on page 4

ver two months ago, Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz began carrying her dorm mattress across campus in protest of the University’s failure to bring justice to her and other students who have endured rape and sexual assault. As part of her senior thesis, Sulkowicz’s expression of pain, healing and communal action functions as both a political resistance

and performance art called Carry That Weight. Now, what has begun as a solitary project has evolved into a national movement.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Vassar students participated in the Carry That Weight’s National Day of Action, hosted by We Are Here, a bystander intervention curriculum created by Shivani Davé ’15, Emma Redden ’15 and Sofie Cardinal ’15, and Break the Silence, a blog for survivors of sexual assault and

abuse to anonymously share their stories. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the team of organizers tabled in the Retreat surrounded by four Vassar-issued mattresses.

As students passed through the College’s social center, many of them approached the table to make a sign of solidarity, get their pictures taken in front of a mattress and look at the artwork and statistics displayed on them.

See DAY OF ACTION on page 3

Eugenides delivers annual Gifford lecture Samantha Kohl Arts Editor

he mystery behind the Other is what makes human existence so tragic and yet beautiful. And it is often the quest of the artist to diminish otherness and to bridge the gap between humans.

Writer Jeffrey Eugenides attempts to delve fully into the mind of the Other and is known for his ability to plunge headfirst into their lives, quite distanced from his own, of the characters he portrays in his body of work.

Eugenides delivered this year’s

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

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William Gifford Lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 28. To start, Amitava Kumar, Professor of English on the Helen D. Lockwood Chair, introduced the speaker to a packed room.

Eugenides opened his lecture, stating that coming to Vassar is to give the talk is not only an honor in its own right, but an opportunity for him to see firsthand the real-life counterpart of the Vassar girl, ever elusive and yet omnipresent for Eugenides as an adolescent reading literature. He joked, “The Vassar girl was always dressed in a black turtleSee EUGENIDES on page 14

Erin Boss ’16 writes a message onto one of four mattresses on display in the Retreat as part of Vassar’s Carry That Weight Day of Action on Wednesday, Oct. 29. Other mattresses featured artwork and statistics about gender violence.

Fencing readies for season opener Ghosts haunt historic Vassar buildings V Ashley Hoyle

Guest Reporter

Julia Cunningham Reporter

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Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

C men’s and women’s fencing teams met for the first time last week to officially mark the beginning of the 2014-15 season. After lengthy recruiting efforts and a summer of preparation, the College’s fencing team will finally get the opportunity to see where they stand as a team when they step onto the strip for the first time on Nov. 1 in the tournament known The Big One in Northampton, Mass.

Both teams are expecting good results right out of the gate. Part of that success, according to head coach Bruce Gillman, will be attributed to the coaching up of the incoming freshmen class. Coming off some strong showings in past years, Gillman is bringing on eleven new athletes to help bolster the 2014 roster: six freshmen and five freshwomen. The new talent will be expected to make an immediate impact and play a major role this season, as the men say goodbye to foil captain Matt Steinschneider ’14. As well as being without the veteran presence of Steinschneider, some members plan to study abroad this year and will miss the fencing season which runs from Nov. 1 to the last matches in March.

One of Gillman’s season goals See FENCING on page 18

The College’s fencing team hopes their strong recruiting over the summer and hard work in preseason will pay off in the upcoming season, which begins Nov. 1.

Inside this issue

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Performance art activism provides OPINIONS space for healing

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Students travel across globe for October TRAVEL Break

umor has it that on this campus, not everything is quite as it seems. You may not have heard yet, but Vassar appears to have a serious ghost problem.

Ranging from the emboldened squirrels around campus to unnatural presences, now that it’s the season for them, it’s time to open your eyes to what’s really going on in the halls of our beloved institution.

Shevi Epstein ’15 is a senior history major whose father is a professor of religion at Vassar. She has lived in Davison House since 1994.

During her early years at Vassar, Epstein’s interest in history was kindled as she grew up being told myths about hauntings and other supernatural occurrences at Vassar, many of which involved both ghosts friendly to students and ghosts who wanted to harass the living.

According to Epstein, students should particularly beware of the top floor of Davison. She said that it used to be the maid’s quarters, and years later, a ghastly maid may still remain.

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“There were stories of people coming home to find things in their rooms moved and tidied up,” Epstein recalled. “I remember when I was little, my mother would always refuse to go up there and wouldn’t let me go there either, just to be safe,” she explained.

Epstein added that she wasn’t quite sure the reason for the ghost’s sticking around, adding, “I can’t recall the circumstances of her death.”

Some ghosts may just want to make sure students don’t disappear in their own clutter. Other ghosts aren’t as tangible, and their presence isn’t as visible. “Then, there are the hauntings in Main. Rumor has it that there is a room closed off in the North tower,” Epstein said.

“Apparently, a student and her maid committed suicide together there.”

The story of the student and her maid has been recorded in the Vassar Myths and Legends archives.

According to Epstein, when the parents learned about the deaths, they asked for the room to be closed off and left in the exact state that it was when their daughter died for perpetuity.

See GHOSTS on page 12

Self-taught Frisbee teams compete in SPORTS coed tournament

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The Miscellany News

October 30, 2014

Editor-in-Chief Marie Solis

De-romanticizing the City of Love Carrie Plover Far and Away Blogger

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courtesy of Carrie Plover

he beginning of most romantic relationships proves a happy period of time. During the honeymoon phase, as it’s popularly called, partners tend to come to mutual decisions easily, avoid bickering, and embrace in public approximately ten times more than is necessary.

All good things must come to an end, however, and the honeymoon phase is no exception. After a few weeks or months, it will probably dawn on you that your new partner’s penchant for spitting onto the sidewalk is more disgusting than rugged; their long-winded spiels test your patience; you’d only been pretending that their habit of using wet towels didn’t skeeve you out.

It took me two months, but I finally discovered Paris’s wet towels. And happening upon some of the unsavory aspects of Parisian life gave me quite the shock. When I become involved with another person, I tend to expect that things will turn sour at some point: after all, humans are fallible. But how could Paris – the source of inspiration for countless artists, setting for many a grand-romance, and literal holder of the lofty title “City of Love”—do anything but exceed my expectations?

Among other things, I’ve discovered that sexism in Paris, like in New York, is alive and well. Should you need evidence, ladies and gentlemen, exhibit A: the tale of my recent night out to dinner with a female friend.

After waiting a half hour to get into a restaurant that her host mother had highly recommended, we took our seats, attempted to place coherent orders in French (I say attempted because, as a vegetarian, I found myself with a bacon-coated salad), and began eagerly catching up on each other’s lives.

After about fifteen minutes, one of two men seated at the table next to ours abruptly inquired as to whether or not we could speak French.

To read more about Paris from Carrie, visit farandaway. miscellanynews.org.

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Senior Editors

Meaghan Hughes Palak Patel

Contributing Editors Bethan Johnson Aja Saalfeld

Features Opinions Arts Humor & Satire Sports Design Photography Online Social Media Copy

Erik Halberg Chris Brown Samantha Kohl Chris Gonzalez Eli J. Vargas I Elizabeth Dean Samantha Pianello Gwendolyn Frenzel Maddy Vogel Ashley Pecorelli

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Reporters Amreen Bhasin Julia Cunningham Emily Hoffman Columnists Delaney Fischer Sam Hammer Sarah Sandler Design Bethany Terry Sarah Dolan Photography Alec Ferretti Emily Lavieri-Scull Social Media Kayla Holliday Hannah Nice Copy Hallie Ayres Claire Baker Sophia Burns Anika Lanser Cody Duan-Mcglashen Macall McQueen Alessandra Muccio Kelsey Quinn Jessica Roden Emma Roellke Sophia Slater

The Miscellany News does not expressly endorse any of the opinions of the columnists featured within the pages of the paper, except for the staff editorial.

Contact Features Editor Erik Halberg at sthalberg@vassar.edu or visit paper critiques in the Rose Parlor on Sunday @ 9 p.m.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

LETTERS POLICY The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers.

Letters to the Editor should not exceed 350 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.

October 30, 2014

NEWS

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Admins, students unite to reduce Halloweekend EMS calls Emily Hoffman Reporter

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Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

alloweekend is a notoriously dangerous weekend on Vassar campus in terms of vandalism of campus property as well as a peak in the use of Vassar’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and this year, all major governing and residential bodies on campus are on alert and attempting to quell the incidents.

The main attraction of the night will be a Villard Room dance presented by the Senior Class Council, the Council of Black Seniors and the Vassar College Sound System from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The Vassar Student Association (VSA), Safety and Security, the Dean of the College and various house teams have all pledged time and finances to reducing incidents of bodily and dorm damage synonymous with the holiday.

During last year’s Halloweekend dance, EMS responded to 11 calls, five of which resulted in hospitalization. There were several instances of vandalism and property damage on campus, including a pumpkin thrown inside a residence hall, a tree placed in the Davison multipurpose room and the destruction of five windows in the residence area of Main Building. In 2012, the number of EMS calls was only slightly higher, with 12 EMS incidents, and damage was done in the form of fake blood splatterings in one of the bathrooms in Main.

In order to prepare for the weekend and to prevent damage, the VSA, house teams and Vassar Safety and Security have all met and discussed ways to keep students safe and healthy. The Senior Class Council will sell pizza in the Retreat to students with VCash starting at 1 a.m., and snacks and water will be available to students outside of the dance, in the hopes of providing students with cheap and readily available methods for ensuring students do not drink on an empty stomachs.

The Traditions Committee has also organized an additional event to the Villard Room dance called The Witching Hour, which will be held in the Aula and will include a costume contest, cupcakes and a movie.

This alternate event to larger all-campus dance

will provide students with an alternative space for students exclusively wishing to avoid or seek respite from the dance.

In light of previous damage done to his dorm, Main House President Drew Leventhal ’17 highlighted that while all dorms can be affected by Halloweekend destruction, Main’s housing of the dance leaves it more at risk to the financial and residential detriment of its occupants. “My role in this process is really to represent the interests of the people who live in Main. Last year a bunch of things got broken, such as windows and toilets.

A pumpkin was smashed in the hallway. The residents of Main pay for all of that, whether they broke it or not,” Leventhal explained.

He continued, “We do not want to pay for those damages, so we are going to try and minimize them. Main House Team is pushing a campaign of respect, awareness, safety and fun. We are going to be putting up some big posters on the third floor,” he explained.

According to VP for Student Life Hannah Matsunaga ’16, the Office of the Dean of the College gave the VSA $1,000, which was ultimately distributed to all dorms in a way proportionally to their populations. At VSA Council meetings this money, to be used entirely at the discretion of individual house teams, has largely been discussed as a means for houses to pay for food for residents. Members of VSA and house team hope that feeding students will help reduce the chances of alcohol-related accidents.

Aside from using the funding for food, some house teams have planned meetings with freshmen to talk about Halloweekend drinking. There house teams will distribute flyers with alcohol information as residents eat to ensure students are knowledgeable about their decisions.

The decision to exclude non-dorm housing in these provisions was a necessary sacrifice made

by Council. Matsunaga explained in Council, “With apologies to Ferry, Town Students, TAs and THs [and SoCos], we made the decision that the money would be better spent for residential houses. People in THs, TAs and Ferry have access to kitchens that are their own which makes it easier

Concerns this year about students’ safety with regard to alcohol consumption on Halloweekend, one of Vassar’ most notorious events, have prompted the Administration to take extra security precautions. to have a full stomach on Halloween.” The VSA decided to allocate funds between dorms based on the number of occupants, with funding ranging from $85 to $184.

Associate Director of Security Kim Squillace has also concerted serious efforts to ensuring Safety and Security provides the necessary support to ensure a safe campus on the notoriously rowdy night. Squillace said, “We have discussed where Safety and Security staff and fire watch will be stationed, as well as where Vassar EMS will be stationed. We also discussed protocol and what kinds of things will be permitted inside the dance.

NO knapsacks or beverages.”

Aside from articulating banned items, Squillace also advised students to request guest passes one day in advance to avoid the disappointment of waiting in line.

While still concerned with campus safety,

Safety and Security is also particularly concerned about student health this Halloweekend. Squillace said, “I hope everyone enjoys the festivities.

However, I am always concerned about those who may need medical attention.” She stressed the importance of the mainstays of student health: Vassar EMS, a volunteer-run organization comprised of roughly 60 members, most of whom are New York State certified Emergency Medical Technicians, who will be on-call for the entire weekend.

Despite Halloweekend’s history, organizers are tentatively optimistic that their actions will make students more conscientious. Leventhal explained, “I think the key point here is to be respectful of the space we are in. Halloween is really a lot of fun. It can be, and I want it to be, one of the best nights of the year, but that can all go sour fast if we are not being conscious of ourselves, our actions and our surroundings.”

Students hope movement spurs community accountability DAY OF ACTION continued from page 1

“I’ve only had positive interactions so far today,” said Sara Cooley ’15. “There’s no one who is confused by why this is here or why this is necessary.” She stood in front of a mattress decorated with a quilt of patches passersby had created, bearing messages such as “Respect my autonomy,” “Listen to me” and “You are not alone.”

Though students did not carry any of these mattress on Wednesday as those from many other Colleges did on the Day of Action, the decision to deviate from this physical demonstration was carefully considered.

“I think having a location where people can gather creates a transient but essential community,” Redden said. “Part of this project is about raising consciousness and awareness and having it stationary means people can stop by and take photos. If this were mobile, it would also be hard to have all of this information available,” she continued, gesturing toward the statistics and graphics covering the displayed mattresses.

Cooley added that there is one more crucial reason why the team decided to keep the project contained to one area of campus.

She stated, “As a group we wanted to find the line between raising awareness and triggering survivors, which is also why there was a campus-wide email that [VSA President] Carolina Gustafson sent out. We did it that way so that people who felt they would be triggered by it could avoid the Retreat and College Center.”

While they agreed that largely students understood the gravity of the cross-campus movement, Davé spoke to its relevance for Vassar.

“More recently, sexual assault and bystander intervention have been gaining public importance whether it be in the form of White House mandates or victims and survivors speaking out. Vassar is no different from any other institution: Sexual assault, stalking, dating and gender-based violence happens here, and it happens often,” said Davé.

According to Vassar’s Safety and Security

website, in 2013 alone, there were 24 cases of forcible sexual assault—a number which has tripled in the last four years as stated in the Jeanne Clery Campus Security Act Report released on Sept. 24—four cases of domestic and dating violence and one instance of stalking.

These numbers eclipse those of some of Vassar’s peer institutions, with Marist College reporting four sexual assault cases between 2010 and 2012, and Smith College reporting 12 within a three-year period (“More reported crime at VC than peer colleges.” The Miscellany News. 10.1.14) Many more instances of gender violence go unreported.

Whether one chooses to file charges or not is their own prerogative, said Davé, but, despite the difficulty of coming forward in any capacity, she maintained that it is important to share these stories of trauma. She added, “I think we all can imagine how incredibly difficult, re-victimizing and painful publicly talking about your experiences can be, and yet we need people to speak. Being vocal about this violence is resistance and activism and healing it itself, and joining the movement is just one more step in a long, long journey.”

For those who feel more comfortable sharing their stories in anonymous forums, Kayla Neumeyer ’15 and her partners who work with Break the Silence ensure that these survivors also have a space to heal on campus.

“The day of action has goals that line up really well with what Break the Silence at Vassar does in terms of raising awareness about sexual assault on campus, though we mainly do it through sharing stories on our website—this movement is all about making noise and making sure people are listening,” wrote Neumeyer in an emailed statement. She added, “I think a movement that connects colleges across the country could be the push we need for people to realize that this is a real issue that happens everywhere, and it isn’t going away.”

Yasmeen Silva ’15 echoed the importance of the necessity for a collective to combat sexual assault and reach out to survivors. As she worked on a felt patch to add to the quilt she

said, “If something happens on one campus and that makes change, that’s great. But when it’s happening across campuses it shows that it isn’t an isolated case: It’s endemic. And just as we were inspired by what is happening at Columbia, people might see what we’re doing at Vassar and feel moved to action.”

She went on to emphasize the importance of activists of other movements to pause and show support for each other. Silva stated, “It’s important to show solidarity across movements. I’m an outskirt member of Break the Silence and the Feminist Alliance and I’m more involved in movements concerned with race, but I believe we should support any victims of violence and silencing. It’s important to show survivors that we stand with them.”

On Oct. 26, Sulkowicz published an Op-Ed in the Columbia Daily Spectator expressing her hopes for the Day of Action and requests for those participating. “My biggest dream for this day of action is that hundreds, even thousands, of people participate,” she wrote.

“However, it would upset me if so many people carried pillows that there were no hands left to help those who have decided to carry mattresses. My mattress only begins to feel light when there are five pairs of hands on it.

Pillows are singular, individual, and keep us from literally carrying the weight together” (“A Call to Carry That Weight Together.” Columbia Daily Spectator. 10.26.14).

Here, Sulkowicz hits on the key symbolism of the mattress that resonates with survivors across the country. Davé spoke to the aptness of the mattress in its symbolic representation, stating, “The mattress to me, symbolizes the burden that is placed on victims and survivors to carry their violence and their healing everywhere, all the time, and often, alone. It’s heavy enough to weigh you down and light enough to allow you to move. You have to keep moving.”

Neumeyer added that the mattress serves as a reminder of how pervasive sexual assault is and the way it invades and colors the most intimate facets of a person’s life.

She wrote, “The mattress is a source of a

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

lot of tension and emotion for survivors of sexual assault. It’s a powerful symbol that really highlights the way a personal space—our mattress, our bedrooms—are transformed into something steeped with trauma. It says: In our dorms, on our campus, sexual assault happens here.”

Though Carry That Weight deals with the real and the literal, it is part of a legacy of using art to create solidarity, generate awareness and cope with personal grief.

“Art can also make people pay attention when they otherwise wouldn’t. I think the reason Sulkowicz’s project has gained so much support and attention is because it is very public, very literal and encourages community accountability in an extremely visible way: People can choose to literally help her carry the burden she will carry until her rapist is expelled,” wrote Neumeyer. “No one person can end sexual assault alone.”

Davé agreed, stating that creating an atmosphere of communal responsibility should be even more of a priority at a college of Vassar’s size.

“We walk around and see familiar faces and joke about how small this school is and yet we remain apathetic to and complicit in much of the violence that it and we perpetuate. We see the same 20 people at every activist meeting, event, and rally. The same students are in meetings after meetings with the same administrators who make empty promises and say awful, hurtful things,” she said.

On behalf of We Are Here, and as her personal plea, Davé hopes that the National Day of Action holds people accountable to create change. She took a photo in front of a mattress with only the Carry That Weight hashtag, holding a sign that read, “Vassar College: ruins people’s lives. Help us,” her face somber and gaze demanding.

Davé finished, “I hope that we start to ask for public, honest conversations with the people that can make effective change about this violence. I hope that we stop asking marginalized and victimized voices to make us move.”

NEWS

Page 4

Outside the Bubble NYC sees first case of Ebola

—Lisa Je, Guest Reporter

Garcia aims to update old org precedents ACTIVITIES continued from page 1

after polls opened. Two days after voting began, the polls closed.

The election results, announced at 5 p.m. on Oct. 8, showed a 200 to 200 vote tie between Garcia and opposing candidate Josh Tempro ’16, with a third candidate receiving significantly fewer votes. Although an election was held specifically to leave the decision to the student body, according to the Board of Elections and Appointments (BOEA) bylaws, if an election results in a tie, the winner must be decided by a council appointment.

According to the bylaws, the appointment would be decided by vote with the candidates present; however, members of council agreed this protocol can be unnecessarily stressful and uncomfortable for all parties. During the Oct. 12 council meeting, VSA President Carolina Gustafson ’15 said, “By the bylaws it says that we have to bring them in and interview them on the council floor, but it’s been incredibly upsetting for everyone involved.”

She continued, “So we wanted to bring them in just in case people have additional questions. It’s awkward, it’s not ideal, but I would encourage everyone to keep in mind that this isn’t about people in general, it’s about the position.”

After speaking with candidates, the BOEA recommended Garcia for the position, and, after the VSA suspended the bylaws to deliberate in a closed session, the appointment was made in her favor. VP for Operations Ramy Abbady ’16 said of Garcia, “She’s been involved in a lot of orgs. She’s the vice president of a lot of other orgs this year, and I know she’s heavily involved in the Vassarion, so I think she brings a lot of relevant experience into the position.”

Garcia was pleased at how well the VSA handled the matter. She said, “It must have been a hard situation, to decide whether to elect or appoint, but the transition could have been much harder than it was.” Driven by personal experiences with student groups, Garcia

Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News

Dr. Craig Spencer has been named as New York’s first resident to test positive for the Ebola virus. Now being rehabilitated in a Manhattan hospital, Dr. Spencer was in West Africa working with Doctors without Borders when he contracted the disease. After showing the symptoms of the virus, he was immediately quarantined and treated with the new plasma method that has shown signs of effectiveness.

Despite the swift diagnosis, the disease has left many New Yorkers alarmed. However, Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to remain calm. He said, “There is no reason for New Yorkers to change their habits in any way. New Yorkers are strong, resilient and focused, and they understand there is no cause for alarm” (NBC News, “New York Doctor With Ebola ‘Looks Better’: Official Says,” 10.26.14).

Despite Ebola becoming a buzzword, many subsequent cases of suspected Ebola have proven false. One five-year-old boy who traveled to West Africa and showed symptoms of high fever tested negative for Ebola. Another case in the Tri-State Area is in New Jersey with a nurse named Kaci Hickox, who recently returned from West Africa after treating Ebola patients. Once in New Jersey, she was confined due to the only days-old policy of the governors of New York and New Jersey, which states that all health care workers who have had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa must be quarantined. Hickox contests this regulation. She said, “This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated” (CNN, “Nurse describes Ebola quarantine ordeal: ‘I was in shock. Now I’m angry,’ 10.27.14).

Officials such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie argue the need for government intervention. “I don’t believe when you’re dealing with something as serious as this that we can count on a voluntary system. This is government’s job. If anything else, the government’s job is to protect the safety and health of our citizens” (Fox News, “Dr. Anthony Fauci updates fight against Ebola in America; Gov. Chris Christie talks midterms, looks ahead to 2016,” 10.26.14). But the question is if this is humane enough for returning health workers who donate their time and skills to save these people in West Africa.

October 30, 2014

Newly elected VP for Activities, Lauren Garcia ’16, hopes to make the Activities Committee more accessible to students, especially for pre-orgs seeking full certification from the VSA. ran to try to improve upon the student organization system. “...Until you find an org on campus, you don’t really find yourself on campus.

You can be totally detached from Vassar until you find your place there,” said Garcia.

Garcia also aims to make the application for full status easier for pre-orgs. “For a long time the pre-org setup just made it so that the preorgs are created to fail, in a way, because they didn’t have funding, they didn’t reserve spaces and they didn’t have a [Student Activities Resource Center (SARC)] intern,” Garcia said.

“So now we’re coordinating the money and SARC interns. We’re allowing them to make it. Now when students say, ‘Hey this is what I want on campus,’ they’ll actually be able to get it.”

She continued, “The student body has changed so much in recent years that we can’t continue to do the things that we’ve always done. We’re not the same people that we’ve always been. By changing the orgs and changing the different types of things we have here, people can find their places on campus, which is so important especially in college.”

Despite the suddenness of her appointment, Garcia is working hard to transition to the new position quickly. She remarked, “It’s been a lot of work, with meetings and emailing everyone and knowing exactly how to answer each question I get. I want to do the best job that I can, and I think that I, as well as the rest of VSA Exec, can do a lot of things for the community through this position.”

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OPINIONS

October 30, 2014

The Miscellany News Staff Editorial

Precautions expose alcohol education flaws

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ith one of the most raucous and damage-causing nights of the year, Halloween, falling on a Friday night for the first time in six years, members of the administration and the Vassar Student Association (VSA) have decided to devote an additional $1,000 to house teams to help prevent alcohol or drug-induced EMS calls. Among the pillars of such programs will be dorms providing food to ensure students do not drink with an empty stomach, flyers discussing alcohol safety and mandatory dorm discussions.

This ramping up of pre-event programming coincides with a substantial increase in EMS calls this year, which organizers seem worried will only exacerbate the Halloweekend revelries. We at The Miscellany News commend the various parties responsible for attempting to reduce the bodily and dorm damage done on Halloweekend.

Halloweekend has long been synonymous with above-average EMS calls and hundreds of dollars worth of damages to Main Building. Other dorms are also vulnerable, as recent years have seen the destruction of house fellow property as well. In 2013, 11 students received EMS treatments, and 12 during the year before. According to reports, this year, approximately four to five students per weekend have been sent off campus to receive treatment for drug or alcohol-related concerns, which marks an increase from two to three in years prior. This statistic includes a significant rise in the number of freshmen requiring EMS calls.

According to House Student Advisors, house teams will pass out flyers about alcohol safety crafted by the HSAs during the VSA-funded snack time. This papering overlaps with the Freshmen Class Council’s poster campaign aimed at unmasking drinking myths of campus, which was initiated to reduce the frequency and severity of EMS calls among the freshmen. We at The Miscellany News find that such methods are passive means of addressing the issue, which harms the transmission of these messages. Although

flyers may be effective for those students willing to read them in detail, many students can and do simply ignore such information. Even those events planned by house teams have a limited impact on students’ perceptions of alcohol use as such meetings are easily avoided.

We at The Miscellany News also question the tactics used to address the issue of safe drinking insofar as they promote an image of drinking culture on campus that may in fact induce unsafe consumption. By telling students that the night of the all-campus dance proves exceptionally alcohol-fueled and arguably attempting to instill a degree of fear in students, these programs subtly tell students that Vassar students drink heavily.

We assert that a better approach to handling these nights would be to discuss alcohol not only ahead of notorious drinking events such as Halloweekend or Founder’s Day, but on a more consistent basis.

Another significant problem this money fails to adequately address but brings to light is that of the perceived ineffectiveness alcohol education curriculum, especially as it relates to this year’s freshmen class. Although the Senior Class Council first proposed the idea of providing food before the event Friday night to help students imbibe safely, the focus of the programming has undoubtedly shifted toward underclassmen, particularly freshmen. The Committee on Student Life decided against providing funding to senior housing, along with Ferry House, arguing that splitting the limited funds from the Dean of the College among all residential houses would make the impact of the money almost negligible.

The rhetoric among organizers about their target audience also betrays that this push from the administration and student government is driven by concerns about the freshmen. Whenever recernt discussions of Halloweekend planning have reached the Council floor, representatives have mentioned the impact of freshmen specifically on numerous occasions; with the exception of concerns about providing no assistance to

senior living in senior housing, relatively little time was spent discussing the sophomore or junior classes specifically. This shows that, despite the fundings ability to assist all class years, the most pressing concern on the minds of organizers is the freshmen response to Halloweekend.

Currently, alcohol education is limited almost exclusively to AlcoholEdu™ curriculum and discussions during Freshmen Orientation. When discussed almost exclusively during this one week, the ability of vital pieces of information about unsafe drinking habits being lost is high; with information about sexual assault and violence training, meetings with advisors, and simply adjusting to a new environment requiring large amounts of consideration from incoming freshmen, lectures about alcohol can be ignored or blurred.

As the program appears to be insufficeint for the Class of 2018 and more distance between alcohol awareness programming may contribute to upperclassmen ignorance about drinking safety, we at The Miscellany News believe that new approaches to alcohol awareness must be more dynamic and exist outside of the Freshmen Orientation period.

Instead of using lectures and reactive poster campaigns, the administration should consider alternative methods that will help ensure students gain and retain vital information about drinking safety.

We at The Miscellany News encourage the administration to evaluate whether spending money on these preventative measures for major drinking weekends is effective, and to take a further, more critical look at alcohol-related orientation programming.

Starting with Freshman Orientation, the administration must devote serious time reconsidering its alcohol education curriculum for all class years if it hopes to first stop the upward spike and then decrease the alcohol-related incidents.

Marie Solis

A

couple of weeks ago on a particularly warm fall day, I went to Starbucks with a friend. As I surveyed my drink options, weighing the merits of the perennial caramel iced latte against the promise of an iced café mocha, something caught my eye. Approaching the register, I said with a blush of shame, “I’ll have a small”—because I refuse to use the Starbucks lexicon—“pumpkin spice latte.”

In my imagination, what follows is a hyperbolic eye roll from the certainly jaded barista and a chorus of voices whispering “basic” when I reach for my beverage. None of this transpired; yet, as the autumnal drink met my lips, my self-consciousness was undeniable.

Though Latina, I felt like I had just realized a pervasive stereotype about women and coffee: I became a white girl holding a pumpkin spice latte.

As I sipped on my coffee, notes of nutmeg and cinnamon punctuated by ginger swirling on my tongue, I became indignant. I wasn’t sorry. What about drinking this drink was so loathsome?

I’m not sure when I had my first pumpkin spice latte, but I can say with confidence that the flavor has been propelling toward its cultural significance at a steady pace, seemingly reaching its peak this season. And if it hasn’t, I fear for what’s to come. Pumpkin spice ale, Oreos, bagels, Pop-Tarts, M&Ms, Greek yogurt, Pinnacle vodka, protein powder, dog treats (!)—the list goes on. If you’re a food brand and don’t currently have a limited time-only pumpkin spice product on supermarket shelves, you’re sitting at the loser table in the cafeteria.

In terms of a trend, it’s a pretty self-aware one. A Google search for “pumpkin spice products” reaped as many invented items as real ones, including pumpkin spice tampons,

Doritos, salad dressing and the decidedly postmodern “pumpkin spice pumpkin spiced latte,” all part of a list compiled by Elite Daily of “18 Pumpkin Spice Products That Will Be On Every Basic Shopping List This Fall.”

I wouldn’t say I’m truly obsessed with pumpkin spice foods and beverages, but I will say that when I was abroad in Madrid, I felt their absence. So much so that when my friends from Vassar came to visit over October break, I had them bring me a bag of Dunkin’ Donuts’ pumpkin spice coffee.

Coffee purists, and completely unacquainted with this use of pumpkin, Spain’s cafés offered no such drinks. As I brewed my first cup of the season in my homestay, I asked my host mother if she wanted a cup. Confused by the image of the pumpkin superimposed on the bag of coffee grinds, she politely declined.

The demonization that pumpkin spice coffee receives in the United States, however, comes from a different place than my señora’s gracious distaste for it. It is a demonization of women and the things women like. This condemnation of femaleness reaches a maximum in the teenage girl: Her interests are frivolous, her opinions affected by hormone-induced moodiness. She’s bland, but easily excitable.

Uninteresting. Basic.

Pumpkin spice lattes, aside from the artificial flavors and high fructose corn syrup, were entirely innocuous until they became associated with femininity. But once the alliance was forged, misogynists everywhere ran with it. As such, liking pumpkin spice products has become a guilty pleasure, something one must confess to or claim via the sorrynotsorry hashtag. Something one must order in hushed, but secretly reverent, tones at the front of the Starbucks line.

Yet, the very systems that punish young women for enjoying these seasonal foodstuffs benefit from this enduring obsession. From

Two-party system ineffective Udbhav Agarwal Guest Columnist

T

the misogynist perspective, the only thing worse than a girl ordering a pumpkin spice latte is a girl Instagramming it. Though this trend, too has become a hopeless cliché, it functions as free advertising for Starbucks.

Ranked number two most-Instagrammed brand according to Forbes, the coffee giant boasts 9,320,026 photos in its hashtag. You needn’t be business savvy to see how this works in Starbucks’ favor.

The more we unpack this trope, the more we find that this contradictory narrative reproduces itself endlessly. Women are deemed vain for caring about their appearance, but our economy relies on a market of placing value on beauty and perpetuating women’s insecurities; Uggs are basic, but the founder of the company won’t turn his nose up to the millions of dollars he has pouring in. Our society thrives on putting women down only to exploit them for their purchasing power.

While the systems of patriarchy and capitalism are monoliths in their own right, when they work together, their effects can be so subtle as to politicize even a flavor profile.

Certainly, there are far worse manifestations of these oppressive structures, but usually they can be temporarily forgotten with the proper execution of self-care—a bubble bath, a good television show or, humor me, a good cup of coffee.

With the condemnation of pumpkin spice lattes, I can only conclude that nothing is sacred.

As I got to the end of my drink on that September evening, an unpleasant taste suddenly entered my mouth. Was the flavored syrup too strong? The espresso too bitter?

Was my shame creating a synesthetic experience? Ah, now I can pinpoint it. It was the distinct flavor of the acrid dregs of misogyny.

he hostility in the political world is appalling. If there is one thing about the United States that I haven’t been able to understand, it is its political parties. Coming from India, where political diversity defines the course of any election, the number of political parties that actually win seats at the Center increases every four years, and anti-incumbent votes do not necessarily lead to a clear majority, it is strange to step into a country that convinces itself to remain polarized between political absolutes.

It becomes even more strange when one realizes that this absolution exists at two levels: Firstly, where only two parties occupy all the seats in the Senate, the House, the State Houses and the Governorships; secondly, where both of these two parties identify their policies as either solely left-winged or solely right-winged. Not only do people only get two parties to choose from, but they also get the two most opposing identities of the political system to do their policy-making for them. Maybe the problems with such a system are not that immediately obvious, yet there seem to exist some severe contradictions which cannot be left unanswered.

The first set of contradictions arises from owing a strict allegiance to an extreme political ideology—the left wing or the right wing. The crux of the matter is that both liberalism and conservatism favor the interests of two completely different socioeconomic demographics, and having two parties that strictly adhere to one of these camps essentially creates a biased decision. It is no surprise that when a citizen goes to vote, much of his decision is already based on this division: whether he identifies himself as a member of the working class or not.

The problem with classification itself is rooted in the fact that you cannot disagree with your party, a principle explaining much of the political clash that happens in U.S. politics. A Republican is a Republican is a Republican, and a Democrat is a Democrat is a Democrat. Nothing more, nothing less. Therefore, when either side comes up with a policy, the opposition has to oppose, irrespective of the merits or demerits of the policy. Essentially, due to such polarized classification, not only is there no room for accepting criticism, but also there is no room for reconciliation between the sides.

Where does the person go who neither agrees with all the policies of the Democrats or Republicans? The future prospects of a moderate in the United States are bleak, to say the least. The vote of a moderate has to go either to a Republican or a Democrat or to candidates of any other party. If he does the latter then his vote is of no consequence, primarily because he cannot find other satisfactory alternatives and due to the already polarized verdict of the country, his vote will not likely be impactful enough to make a major difference.

However, what is even more surprising is how successful political campaigns have been at making voters buy into such absolutes as their political representatives: that they will be better off by solely supporting policies that are either completely conservative or completely liberal.

To think about it, isn’t it more pragmatic to have policies that find a middle-ground between both these camps? Moreover, what are the political parties achieving by prescribing to a wing, anyway? It imposes them to agree with everything to which that wing prescribes and removes any prospect of agreement with their opposition.

Shouldn’t their policies work for the benefit of the people first, rather than maintaining allegiance to the policies that their camp follows?

As I go back to answering the question on whether I am a Democrat or a Republican—I say I am both. I have agreements and disagreements with both the sides, and currently, I do not see a way to resolve this dispute. Whom will I support? I do not know, because I do not care about whether a party is completely left-winged or completely right-winged.

I want a party that has respectable policies.

—Marie Solis ’15 is an English major.

—Udbhav Agarwal ’18 is undeclared.

—The Staff Editorial represents the opinions of at least 2/3 of our Editorial Board.

Views on seasonal drink reveal misogyny Editor-in-Chief

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

Page 6

October 30, 2014

“...It was my mattress, too:” one student’s story of healing Anonymous

Guest Columnist

Trigger warning: This piece contains descriptions of dealing with sexual assault and trauma.

O

n the first day of classes in September, Emma Sulkowicz, a student at Columbia, began her performance art project of carrying her mattress everywhere she went on campus for as long as the acquitted serial rapist who had sexually assaulted her still attended the same school.

When the news reports were first released, I was shocked beyond words—and not just because it is such a powerful act, but also because it was my mattress, too.

After my assault happened (and I still have trouble calling it that), I would rearrange my room in fits and starts, moving my desk and bed around, and putting up new photographs.

I even installed curtains, slept with earplugs and an eye mask every night. Feeling instinctively self-protective, I cocooned myself inside my room, as though it was the outside world that was scary and threatening. However, the person who betrayed my sense of safety was a partner I had invited inside my life, my room and my bed, on which I still continued to sleep.

As psychologists have noted, the brain processes trauma in a strange way. Because things may be too painful to remember, the brain tends to suppress those memories in many forms and cannot reconstruct a coherent sequence of events that one can easily piece together. Trauma survivors are thus often easily triggered by seemingly insignificant reminders of trauma, experiencing heightened feelings of panic and a return to body sensations they felt during the traumatic incident. In my case, my mind and body learned to associate the spatio-temporal awareness of sleeping and being on my bed with the assault. Consequently, I woke at the same time in the wee hours of the morning every day for a whole year.

It took more than a month for me to realize that the sexual assault had happened. By that point, I was tossing and turning in bed, sleepless for entire nights. On a whim, I decided to try sleeping on the floor instead. I did sleep better there: In my room on the ground floor, it felt like the earth always had my back even when nothing else did. As for my bed, it remained next to my window. Even sitting on it felt indescribably unsettling. It slowly became a receptacle for messy piles of clothing and books. When friends visited, I offered the bed to them half-courteously, brushing it off that I liked sleeping on the floor better (true) and that it was good for my spine (also true). I never told any of them what happened. Who would have wanted to sleep in that bed after I had told my story, confession-style, as though I was the one who had done something wrong?

“As psychologists have noted, the brain processes trauma in a strange way.”

I left hurriedly that winter break, even before finals were due to begin. When I came back to campus in January, I immediately crumpled on the bed, unable to stop crying. I had wanted to run away from the trauma, but all of the reminders were still around me. I could see, touch and feel them: everything from the mattress I was sitting on to my oversized suitcase and the innocuous bottle of lotion sitting on my desk. I was overcome by the urge to throw all of my possessions away. Never mind that they had no direct connection to the trauma, they were still markers of everything I wanted to forget and would not let me simply ‘get over it’ like I, echoing my internalized victim-blaming, desperately wished I could.

That night, with the help of a friend, I moved the bed out of my room. Methodically, I discarded the old sheets for different ones and removed the foam topper, finally coming face-toface with the mattress, the locus of my trauma.

It was gray, scratchy and slightly torn, the way these old standard-issue Vassar mattresses are.

Nothing about the mattress itself held clues to its role in the complicated story of my assault and its aftermath.

It felt different placed on the floor, like I had a shot of starting all over on a metaphorical clean slate. I began sleeping on it again, baby steps I could take in rebuilding my sense of safety that was violated all those months ago.

My friends called me quirky for sleeping on the floor yet again, and I simply smiled in return, not wanting to burden them with the story of how I ended up there.

No one, not the numerous psychologists I saw nor my close friends who watched me struggle with post-traumatic stress, made the now-obvious connection between my bed and my insomnia. While I recognize that at the time all I wanted was for someone to join the dots for me and hand me my personalized twelvestep roadmap to Being Okay Again, the lack of awareness around the pervasiveness of traumatic memories is still very telling. I wanted affirmation that there was some method to my brain’s madness: “Duh, of course you’re having trouble sleeping, your mattress and bed are constant reminders of what happened!” Instead, I felt like no one could understand what I was going through.

If, hypothetically, I had seen Emma Sulkowicz’s actions taking place at Vassar at that time, I know I would have had a breakdown.

Joining the dots between her carrying the mattress everywhere she went and my own disused bed back in my dorm room would have made our worlds explode. The connections between our circumstances would have brought to the fore what is often invisible on Vassar’s campus

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and many other places. It would have meant according dignity to survivors, their pain and the reality that it does happen here despite institutional and other systemic erasures of our bodies and voices. Her performance art and the ‘Carrying the Weight’ solidarity movement that it sparked is doing precisely that.

“I wanted affirmation that there was some method to my brain’s madness...”

Safety is fundamental for any kind of healing. If I were to retrace my steps I can see in hindsight the things I instinctively did out of sheer survival to help myself feel safe again on this campus. It has not been easy, and I am still working at it constantly. It is perhaps impossible to comprehend someone else’s pain especially if one has never experienced it before.

This compels us to disengage, or at best, keep a polite distance from the issue even though we are very much a part of rape culture and the many types of violence it entails.

But we should not remain disengaged. There are no platitudes of sympathy or pity required from allies, simply a willingness to listen to those who have experienced sexual assault and personal violation, educate ourselves and take seriously the issue of rape culture. With that, we can bear the collective responsibility of changing our attitudes and behaviors, bearing in mind that change is neither easy nor comfortable. I challenge us to think about what building a safer and more supportive campus should look like, and to ask the question: Are we willing to carry that weight together?

—The author is a member of Break the Silence at Vassar.

October 30, 2014

OPINIONS

New drug compared to medical marijuana Delaney Fisher Columnist

S

hould marijuana be legalized? How about for medical purposes? Over the past decade, the media has examined this issue through opinions of doctors, patients and the general public as well as picking through scientific studies on the topic. Currently, 23 states and D.C. have laws that legalize marijuana for medical purposes and three more states currently have pending legislation (ProCon, “Medical Marijuana,” 8.27.14). Medical marijuana has been a hot topic that will most likely consume the media for many upcoming years. However, it appears medical marijuana will now have to share the spotlight as the Amazon drug ayahuasca is now also being examined for medical purposes. CNN has even termed this drug as the next medicinal marijuana (“Could this be the next medicinal marijuana?,” CNN. 10.24.14).

So what exactly is ayahuasca and why should you care? Ayahuasca is a vine that is usually combined with other various plants to create a brew. The drink has been credited with alleviating post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal thoughts and paralyzing anxiety. Many believe this brew is the medical answer for multiple types of mental trauma. Currently, the brew is illegal in the United States and is considered a schedule I drug, which implies the drug creates serious risk to public health and that the Commission on Narcotic Drugs does not currently acknowledge the therapeutic value of ayahuasca. Many psychedelics are in the category of schedule I drugs. However, exceptions can be made if one uses the drug for religious reasons, but in general, many travel to foreign countries to experiment with ayahuasca.

There has been a rise in the coverage of ayahuasca because a lot of medical health professionals believe the drug can help our veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Former Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan LeCompte is a veteran who has used ayahuasca for emotional

and mental trauma. He has organized numerous trips to Peru for other veterans to seek treatment for their trauma with ayahuasca as well.

LeCompte expresses his dissatisfaction with other methods of PSTD treatment and states, “The ayahuasca medicine is a way to, instead of sweeping your dirt under the rug, you know, these medicines force you to take the rug outside and beat it with a stick until it’s clean” (“Could this be the next medicinal marijuana?,” CNN. 10.24.14).

I am in agreement that the help vets receive is often very limited and not exactly ideal, but I am curious as to what exactly LeCompte meant.

Many state it is hard to explain their experience while under the influence of ayahuasca and how it helps with mental and emotional healing, but writer and blogger Conor Creighton does his best to explain his experience with the brew when he states, “Watching all the traumatic experiences that have touched your life sweep past like a dream helps to place them in perspective: They’re over. In a way, it takes you back to your original essence in nature” (“Ayahuasca Will Make You Cry, Vomit, And Feel Amazing.” Vice. 9.18.14).

However, those who have been researching the effects of ayahuasca bear caution. There is a lot more work that needs to be done to help someone overcome the trauma. Author and ayahuasca expert Peter Gorman, who has been studying ayahuasca since the 1990s, states: “If you think you’re just going to take ‘joy juice’ ... you’re nuts. The five years of work to get rid of [mental trauma] is still gonna be on you” (“Could this be the next medicinal marijuana?,” CNN. 10.24.14). Often, people will get caught up in the hype of a drug from the coverage of it in the media, and ayahuasca, in my opinion, is not something you should try for fun.

One must be cautious of the risks associated with ayahuasca. Like any drug, side effects are not uncommon and can lead to serious or permanent damage. Reports of teenagers dying

from participating in ayahuasca rituals in other countries are starting to be more prominent in the media. However, it appears that many of the teenagers decided to seek ayahuasca without consulting a doctor. I question why parents let their children travel halfway across the world to try a drug that not fully understood. Many administrations of ayahuasca are not certified and one must really do their research to attend a certified center for ayahuasca administration.

Without proper consultation with a doctor, making plans to try ayahuasca is not recommended. Even with research and experts studying ayahuasca for decades, relative to other drugs, little is known about ayahuasca. Mother of Kyle Nolan, an 18-year old who was found dead after his third night of ayahuasca sessions, Ingeborg Oswald cautions those who want to travel to use ayahuasca: “If you’re going to do this, you really, really, really need to research it and make sure wherever you find is properly supervised and there’s medical supervision there” (“Teen’s quest for Amazon ‘medicine’ ends in tragedy,” CNN. 10.25.14).

I expect that research regarding ayahuasca will be continued, but that in the United States, the research for now will be limited and the drug will stay outlawed for at least the next few years.

While ayahuasca has started to take some of the spotlight away from medical marijuana, in reality, the FDA is much more in tune with side effects of medical marijuana and there appears to be more knowledge about this drug. With some states already having medical marijuana legalized, I believe it will stay the hot topic until we see many more states on board or until marijuana used for non-medical purposes is legalized. Medical marijuana may be sharing the spotlight with ayahuasca for now, but I am not sure the hype around ayahuasca will last, at least in terms of bringing the drug to the United States.

Columnist

A

s little as some would like to believe it, the Ebola virus should not be the biggest of our worries. The disease has traveled from West Africa to the United States, first in Texas and now reaching New York City.

It has also reached other parts of the world outside of the West African region. One person in the United States has died from Ebola, some are currently in treatment and the disease tends to have a very high mortality rate.

As of now, a vaccine has not yet been developed for the virus, and those who contract the disease are kept under strict quarantine for a period of 21 days. While these things justify some concern among the masses, Ebola is nowhere near as daunting as many concerned citizens in this country believe it to be.

First of all, what many people choose not to recognize are the numerous other health risks that are much more dangerous than the Ebola virus.

The flu, which seems totally commonplace and harmless when the correct treatment is sought, kills anywhere from 3,000 to 50,000 Americans per year, depending on the strains and other factors of the infection during the year. There are vaccines readily available to prevent catching the flu, unlike Ebola, and only 46 percent of Americans choose to get this vaccine or any other types.

I had a gym teacher in high school who chose to take the “tough-guy” approach that he did not need a flu shot. His sentiment is not unique in the United States. In fact, there are so many vaccines easily available from your doctor, such as those for hepatitis, meningitis etc., but more and more often these days, people are choosing not to get them due to stigmas placed on the effectiveness and safety of vaccines, as well as a variety of other factors.

How about heart disease and obesity?

There are no fancy resources needed to get a vaccine for these types of conditions, and prevention boils down to healthy eating, stress prevention and regular exercise. Over

half a million Americans die each year due to heart disease, and yet they are still terrified of contracting Ebola. Obesity rates among Americans continue to soar, especially in children. Some other leading causes of death that rise high above Ebola are accidents, diabetes and self-harm.

Because Ebola is new and foreign (in both its origin and dearth of knowledge), many Americans believe it really is a huge risk.

There are countless ways people can diminish their risk of death such as practicing safe sex, eating more fruits and vegetables, using sunscreen and choosing not to smoke cigarettes. However, people continue to make bad decisions in these areas every day, making them more prone to death than Ebola in the United States.

“Causes of death that rise high above ebola are accidents, diabetes and selfharm..”

People need to recognize how isolated the cases of Ebola really are. It would be extremely hard for someone in this country to contract Ebola due to our strict sanitary precautions set in place.

Yes, I understand that it is alarming that Ebola has shown up in New York City after only being in states fairly far away from New York. Even though this is true, these cases of Ebola in America have all come from people who visited a West African country or treated Ebola patients who had recently visited a West African country.

For example, Ashoka Mukpo, an NBC cameraman who contracted Ebola while in Liberia, is currently in treatment. The Ebola victim in New York City had recently returned from treating Ebola patients in Guinea. Another case is Nina Pham, a nurse who contracted Ebola after treating Thomas Eric

Word on the street If you were a ghost, who, what or where would you haunt?

“The Deece.”

—Sammy Augenbraun ’17

“Kriesge Pool.”

— Lucas Amodio ’15

—Delaney Fisher ’15 is a neuroscience major.

Ebola proves minor threat to Americans Sarah Sandler

Page 7

Duncan, the only American victim who has died, in Dallas, Texas. She is now completely Ebola-free and has even received a hug from President Obama.

Even Mayor of New York Bill de Blasio has assured residents of the city that there is no need for alarm due to Ebola, and that “being on the same subway car or living near a person with Ebola does not in itself put someone at risk.” This statement came after it was discovered that a resident of New York contracted Ebola after returning from a trip to West Africa.

I agree that the risk of Ebola exists, but it is not as widespread and pertinent as many people believe. For the risk that does exist, numerous health and government officials are making sure that the necessary precautions are in place. New York and New Jersey have decided to quarantine anyone arriving back in the United States after coming into contact with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Still, this precaution is just as much in place to ease the rampant anxiety about Ebola. There is no evidence suggesting that Ebola can be passed by touching a surface that an Ebola victim has touched after sneezing into their hand.

The only proven routes of transmitting Ebola to another person are through blood, vomit and feces, and to be honest, it is extremely rare that we will ever come into contact with these bodily fluids of others. Many are concerned that the New York City Ebola victim has put others at risk because he visited a bowling alley in Brooklyn, but this possibility is extremely low.

Some people are just more prone to being concerned about diseases, but the health risk from Ebola is really nothing to get worked up about. So many other health risks are much more likely to harm you on a daily basis, risks that Americans think too little about, such as heart disease or skin cancer. If you want to prolong your life a little bit, don’t blabber on about how Ebola is going to kill us all.

—Sarah Sandler ’18 is undeclared.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“Congress.”

— Isabella Cuba ’17 and Kain Smith ’ 16

“Airport..”

— Jonah Parker ’18

“A path through the woods near my house in Puerto Rico.”

—Ally Fernandez ’18

“Skinner.” ­­— Clayton Marr ’17

Charles Lyons, Guest Reporter Sam Pianello, Photo Editor

OPINIONS

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October 30, 2014

Low attendance at CSA event highlights cultural ignorance Tomas Guarinzo Guest Columnist

I

n an attempt to share some Caribbean Culture, the Caribbean Student Alliance hosted what I consider to be one of the most successful cultural events of the semester. And I assure you this is not due to the lack of cultural events, but rather to the energy and beautiful music which filled the Villard Room and exploded through Main Building on Saturday, Oct. 11.

At least 10 different drums and drummers were seated in front of the audience. Behind them, there was a person on a keyboard, and in the front, there were at least three musicians playing the saw—the staple instrument of the of the Rake ‘n’ Scrape rhythm. Aside from its physical presence, The Bahamas Rake ‘n’ Scrape Company generated a rhythm you could feel through your body as it bounced off every square inch of the Villard Room. Each of the hits by each drummer was felt through the space, making the audience open their eyes and mouths in amazement. The pounding of the drums and the chords of the keyboard invited the audience to dance, and as I looked around the room, I noticed spectators could not help but tap their feet or swing their body side-toside with the music.

As the event progressed I noticed the small audience present. I would say that no more than fifty people were enjoying the performance.

The majority of the spectators were students of color. No more than 10 white people were present, of which only half were students. The other half was composed by a family of four and a security guard on duty. At first I tried to pass this off as a coincidence, but the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I got.

While I tried to enjoy the delicious coconut rice and beef patties, I could only think about

“Spoopy”

the precarious turn out. I tried to come up with different reasons for why people did not show up, but I could not come up with a proper excuse for Vassar’s “diverse, socially aware and progressive” student body. At the time I thought students might have been studying for midterms, or that maybe the CSA had done a poor job at advertising the event. Yet, both of these reasons were easily invalidated.

After the event, I talked to Lauren Glinton ‘16 who planned the event. I asked if she thought the poor turnout was in part due to poor advertising; to this she responded “We had a big poster up in the College Center and smaller posters in the Retreat, all dorms, the Deece, Library, Rocky, Chicago Hall, OLB on Friday, Oct. 3rd (8 days before the event). We created a Facebook page about the event that same night. The event was featured on the ALANA Center bulletin board of events in the College Center as of Friday, Oct. 3rd and was also featured in the Monday, Oct. 6th edition of the ALANA Manifesto.

The event was part of the Oct. 9th-13th Vassar Events email. We also did an interview with the Misc and this was published in the Thursday, Oct. 9th publication of the newspaper. In addition to this, our event was mentioned in emails sent out by VISA (Monday, Oct 6th), the OIS office (Wednesday, Oct. 8th), the VSA (Thursday,Oct 9th), ASU (African Students Union) and in several emails sent out by our secretary Karina Mateo [’16.]”

It became clear that there was virtually no way to excuse the student body for not attending the event. After some thinking, I have concluded that the reason for such a poor turnout by students is a direct lack of interest. As a predominantly white institution which prides itself in diversity, Vassar College’s student body lacks sympathy, inclusivity and a simple desire

to learn about different music traditions and cultures. This can be seen by the comparatively successful Mug night turnout the night previous to the Rake ‘n’ Scrape event.

Without pointing fingers at administration, we can see a clear problem of interests and cultural exploitation present at Vassar College.

This can be understood when students are only willing to participate in another culture when there is a direct benefit, such as grinding, partying or hooking up on a Friday night. What is much more alarming, however, is the amount of attention other events dealing with people of color and different cultures receive.

We can all recall the profiling issue which sprung a campus wide dialogue hosted in the Villard Room last school year. On that occasion, the Villard Room was completely full, as I remember students standing by the walls attentively listening to the panelists. As it is the nature of Vassar College, the space was predominantly filled with white bodies. Every time a person of color spoke or said what people considered to be a valid point, students snapped their fingers in approval and support. At the time, such energy directed to a struggle only lived by a minority brought hope and created an atmosphere of progress and change.

However, in hindsight, such events seem almost like opportunities for the student body to feel proactive and validated. In a time when the term “cultural appropriation” is thrown around almost as much as “white privilege,” it seems as if the true reason behind such event was “struggle approbation,” as students of color and other cultures have to be in literal danger to get any kind of attention or recognition. Students are more than ready and willing to help and bear arms when minorities are directly under attack, but when they are invited to share and celebrate

said minorities’ cultures, they are as ready to turn their heads the other way, sending a loud and clear message of disinterest. Perhaps progress is not only snapping your fingers in approval of someone else’s struggles, but rather taking the time to celebrate and try to understand their victories and traditions.

The poor turnout at the past Saturday, Oct. 11 Rake ‘n’ Scrape event portrays a larger problem that cannot be excused or explained as “another unsuccessful event at Vassar College.” It represents the lack of interest in different cultures by the totality of the student body. It serves as a counter part of previous cultural events dealing with inequality, sending out a loud and clear message to the minorities of the school: “We are only interested in you when we can gain something from your situation, especially when you are under attack.”

It baffles me how there are at least 30 students at almost every single No-ViCE concert every Thursday night while no more than 50 students showed up to an event that rarely happens at Vassar. Or how 60 percent of juniors go abroad in order to be “immersed” and learn about a different culture, when in reality you don’t have to walk very far to attend one of these events that teleports you to another world. Next time, before you snap your fingers in approval of someone’s hardships, try to clap for who they are.

The Bahamas Rake ‘n’ Scrape Company ended their performance by inviting the audience to dance and play the drums onstage.

For an hour their drums silenced any kind of message of disinterest, and for an hour we celebrated the culture, tradition, music and food of the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

—Tomas Guarinzo ’16 is a cognitive science and studio art double major.

The Miscellany Crossword

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Answers to last week’s puzzle

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53 2011 Tyler the Creator song 36 Place? featuring Frank Ocean 39 One hundredth of a kL Spoopy 55 Little failure 41 It may be a display?

56 WhereKnopp−Schwyn to get the best view of theYork42 Computer storage units (abbr.)?

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51 Stick with (as religion or super glue) 52 District 11 “Hunger Games” tribute 54 Hella Ramayanas 56 Place to bee?

57 Piece of toast with Jesus on it, perhaps 58 Ni’ihau necklaces 59 Sprinkle in, as poison 60 Frustrating fill?

61 Backpack adventure!

62 Fancy-ass ribbon 63 Songzster 66 Set mom?

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70 Employ

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OPINIONS

October 30, 2014

Page 9

Breaking News From the desk of Chris Gonzalez, Humor & Satire Editor Female-identified student to dress up as one big pocket in elaborate scheme to fuck the patriarchy this Halloween Six horrifying costume ideas Sickly senior shares deets on not stolen from the Internet viscious virus attacking TAs Chris Gonzalez

Connoisseur of Awful

H

alloween used to be a simpler time—kind of like Valentine’s Day, when you were obligated to buy everyone in the class a Rocket Power or Wishbone Valentine so no one was left questioning their self-worth or feeling self conscious about their lack of sexual experiences. Eighth grade was rough...

When you’re younger, it’s okay to fall back on one of those musty store-bought witch or pirate costumes, because you’re expected to make poor decisions at that age. If you were to do the same as an adult (assuming you consider the 18-22 age range adulthood, because I don’t, you can’t make me, I’m still a kid, so what if I sleep with a stuffed Collie I made at Build-A-Bear Workshop when I was 12 and I just turned 22 less than a week ago, that’s my business, shut up), you’d be looked at like the Grinch who didn’t give a fuck. And sure, there’s nothing wrong with that, but at college, we try to do everything bigger and better. (Sorry if you didn’t get the memo, by the way. It was one of those matchbook-sized fliers you receive in your campus box every couple of weeks that make the mailroom employees sob.)

The point is, you need to step up your game, VC. I know, I know, you’re as apathetic as Garfield is about most topics that aren’t lasagna.

Fortunately for you, I’m here to give you six costume ideas that none of your friends will even consider, thereby making you the special snowflake of the witching season.

Matthew’s Brew

Now I’m not talking about dressing up as a beer bottle or even a “sexy” beer can. There’s nothing original about that, though who am I to tell you not to be sexually attracted to a can of beer? Anyway, what you need to do is learn how to craft your own brew. Then, while you’re pregaming whichever Halloween event you choose to attend, you take a bath in the liquid. Make sure you do so fully clothed, getting the fabric nice and soggy. A Vassar t-shirt is preferable, but feel free to improvise. Note: Do not dry off, it ruins the effect.

Your Roommate’s Questionably Crunchy Sock

This might seem a bit obscene, but stick

with me. After all, isn’t Halloween about exploring the truly terrifying world around us?

And what’s more terrifying than finding a crunchy sock touching your belongings, especially when it’s not yours? For this one, dye a potato sack white and jump into it. Get it nice and sticky (it’s up to you to figure out how). To capture the unique scent, roll around in some salty water that was used for boiling chicken.

This one is sure to get some screams!

Brad’s Granola

Pick up your favorite twigs, leaves and pinecones from around campus and smash them into your body until they stick. You know it’s working when you draw blood. Remember: There’s no honey in Brad’s granola, so using any kind of adhesive is a cop-out. If you wind up using any, feel bad about yourself for not getting into the holiday spirit.

Bacio’s Garlic Knot

Only for the most flexible, the garlic knot is an excellent costume to throw on if you love garlic and have no desire to get laid. Go the extra mile and wear a tinfoil skirt around your waist to really capture the essence of a Bacio’s dining experience. If you aren’t flexible, don’t fret! Get into a fetal position—all Vassar students know what that’s like!—and have somebody push you around campus in a silver wheelbarrow.

Lost VCard

Go to the copy center on campus and make a poster-sized version of your VCard. Wear it around your neck. The key is to throw yourself behind a bush, into a puddle, the trash can or some other unreasonable hiding space. Be unassuming about it, though. WARNING: You might stay there for a while until someone finds you and turns you into security. It’s possible you’ll miss out on the entire semester or your Vassar career. BUT—you win the night if you manage to lose your “V” card while losing your VCard.

The Registrar’s Office

Stand in a corner of the room with a decent amount of sunlight. Be bitter and seething if anyone asks you a question.

Penny Luksic

Quarantined and Feverish

T

here is contagion in my TA. It all started when my housemate—let’s call her Typhoid Kayla—coughed while emptying the dish rack. Although she coughed into her sleeve, small, meddling germs traveled across the clean dishes and settled on a “Fuck the Patriarchy” cup idling among the cutlery. This little cup, instead, fucked us one by one.

Within a day and a half, nothing was safe and nothing was sacred. Our shared toothbrush holder: contaminated. The dishtowel with the repeated pear pattern: blighted. The “Spice Drawer” puzzle we had started the weekend before: poisoned. Soon, all four of us were suffering. We sent in a bulk Kleenex order to the local Rite Aid, requesting that 25 boxes be shipped to campus.

However, when they arrived at Shipping & Receiving, we were unable to drag ourselves from the TA’s plastic couches to retrieve them.

We resorted to our pear-patterned dishtowels and the ream of paper we had stolen for the TA printer. We sprayed down the faucets with anti-bacterial cleaner, hoping to stop the contagion in its tracks, but the Lemon Fresh scent made us sneeze and the air turned dense with snot mist.

We decided to lean into the virus and come out the other side stronger, wiser and slightly underweight. Black curtains covering our windows and signals emitting from our ham radio alerted passerby to the dangers within. Emails to our professors were signed “Regretfully,” or “Until we meet again.” We called our parents and reassured them that we were still alive, lying that we had only lost our voices from cheering at a fun lecture. We tacked up notices in the library and laundry room that told our friends about safety conditions. They explained that if you were coming by to try some of the artichoke bruschetta I bought, know that you would be entering the common cold’s favorite apartment.

We promised to nurse each other back to health without fear—if we’d already been infected, there was no reason we couldn’t kiss each other’s foreheads and cuddle to read through WebMD! It would be like every team or cast bonding you’d been to, but instead of wine, we would’ve offered a gallon of room-temperature orange juice!

Besides the isolation, the worst part of the

cold was the sleepless nights. On the Tuesday before break, all four of us were awakened by the same lurid dream. We fearfully realized that the cold had taken over our subconscious. In the dream, a gigantic virus loomed at the foot of our beds. It spoke to us in piercing cries: “This Nyquil is too expensive!” and “Baldwin says C-section!” Our cold-addled brains were shaking us up, but we went back to bed determined to sleep through the night. As I lay down with twisted, tusk-like tissues stuck in each nostril, I heard a high-pitched whine. I thought it was the virus!

I opened my eyes as quickly as my headache allowed to see one of my housemates shaking me awake. I sat up and coughed, the tissue tusks fell out of my nose as I searched her worried face.

“Do you have cough drops?” she choked out.

“I have some,” I croaked, “in my tampon Ziploc.”

She left my room and I finally fell asleep to even more feverish dreams. I dreamt that the president ran my high school carpool and all my friends’ moms were secret service agents. But I wasn’t a high school sophomore—I was Lauren Bush’s F.E.E.D. bag, full of her childhood diaries and soy crackers. In another dream, the tree outside my window was decorated with Christmas lights that played music from Train’s “My Private Nation” whenever someone passed underneath it. I had a nightmare about my Camelbak and a sex dream about Willem Defoe. The hours dragged by; I woke in starts only to cough and blow my nose into my pillowcase.

By dawn, I had decided to skip my 10:30 class and promised myself that I would make it to October break. I emerged from my room and crept into the kitchen to throw away some old orange slices that had found their way from my bedside table to my laundry basket. My housemates were sitting at the island, drearily pouring hot water into teacups. “Are we still having a party tonight?” asked Typhoid Kayla.

We all looked at each other and grimaced. “I guess we could play some light jazz,” I said, crying at the sound of my voice.

“We can convince people that the Gatorade we’re drinking is jungle juice,” said Kira.

We agreed on a small get-together. Just a few buds that are known for their strong immune systems. The big party will happen after break, we decided, when the senioritis really settles in our lungs.

Misc-adventures with Maddy: OKCupid Edition

by Maddy Vogel, Looking For Love in All the Wrong Places

G

irl meets boy. Girl dates boy. Girl and boy break up. Girl cries a lot to Taylor Swift and swears off all boys forever, except when she’s drunk (because Girl’s got needs).

Girl decides maybe she should try again and downloads Tinder. Girl is unhappy with the results and decides to try Friendsy. Girl realizes this was a mistake, and instead of learning her lesson, she reaches back into 2010 to seek out OkCupid for long-term effects.

The reviews are mixed: She’s heard the horror stories of creepy men messaging long declarations of love off just a picture and a few sentences on a profile, but she’s also heard successful stories of dates that went well or at least not terribly. What’s she got to lose other than time, energy and dignity?

Within a few minutes of signing up, her first message appears! She hasn’t even finished her profile yet—who could be so enchanted by her average photo and one

sentence biography? Oh, wait, it’s just an OkCupid admin. Alas, love eludes her.

In effort to reclaim some agency, she’s going to stop writing this in third person. This story is entirely about me, after all.

The next messages are forgettable, telling me I “seem interesting” or asking if “the guy behind me is looking at my butt.” (Which for the record, he’s not.) Yet, one appears that holds promise. It is banal, only proclaiming, “Oh my sweet Lord you’re beautiful [sic],” but the boy is attractive. I respond telling him that this isn’t the way to start a conversation, and wait. An hour later he says, “How about this… You like dick?”

Well. It was bound to happen. Still, I remain hopeful! My Prince Charming must be somewhere in between the neckbeards and Mom’s-basement dwellers! Allons-y!

Later in the day, I get a message that just says, “You.” Me? You? What are you getting

at? I’m really unsure of what to do in this situation. Do you just walk up to women on the street and grunt “You. Me. Now.” like a caveman? Does that get you far? I’m not sure it’s worth finding out the intricacies of your mind so I’m just gonna ignore you.

“When was the last time you actually cried in the library?” the next one reads. I feel a lot of judgment right here. You don’t know my life! And for the record, it was last year; I’m six months clean and sober.

Oh look this one’s a proposition for a threesome. I’m honored but really not interested.

Sorry, better luck next time!

I’ve culminated quite a few messages at this point and despite the poor grammar of some (e.g. “U rly interest me”), my ego is successfully boosted. Maybe I’m not attractive in real life, but I sure feel attractive on the Internet! Which is obviously the most important judge of appearance.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Well, this has been fun, but I think I’m ready to give up now. Maybe OkCupid works for some people, but I’ve got a low bullshit tolerance and I’m really just laughing at all of you. But I’ve learned a lot on my quick stint in cyber-dating. Number one is that your profile picture will probably dictate the type of messages you get. This is pretty true of Tinder and like, the real world too, so it’s not much of a groundbreaker. Second, there are two types of people on this website: Those who make their intentions known immediately (see Dick-Boy) and those who lull you into a false sense of security and friendship before getting really creepy really fast. You know who you are.

A word to the wise, OkCupid is just a less cool Tinder, and Tinder is a less awkward Real Life, so just talk to someone at a party instead. Or listen to Taylor Swift alone in your room. It’s what I do.

Page 10

TRAVEL

October 30, 2014

Beacon, New York B Marie Solis/The Miscellany News

eacon is the new Brooklyn. Or at least it’s trying to be. Brimming with cafes, galleries, antique shops, thrift stores and eateries, Main Street is a haven of art, culture and good eats. Usually, I start my amble on the west side, starting at Bank Square Coffeehouse, my favorite spot no matter the season. Boasting fresh coffee brews and local booze—including wine smoothies and pumpkin ale on tap—the coffeehouse has cozy couches and mismatched furniture inside and a patio outside, where they host live music at least once a month in nice weather. I’m convinced they also have the area’s best caramel latte, which tastes even better when my favorite barista tops it off with a design in the foam. During one of the two trips I made to Bank Square over October break, his latte art took the form of a feather.

After caffeinating, I made my way to the east end of Main Street, stopping off at Blackbird Attic Boutique, a thrift shop that has been around, unbeknownst to me, for a few years now. Recently, though, they completely redesigned their interior, making it look far more impressive than it used to, which led me to expect that their prices would have increased.

Luckily, I was wrong: You would be hard pressed to find an article of clothing for more than $15. Though I wasn’t successful in finding any clothing item I absolutely had to own, I left with two fun prints in hand: a stop sign with the word “SUSHI” on it instead, and a marquee that simply read, “tender racks and sweet butts.” I was pleased.

Exiting the store, I ventured across the way to where I could see a table of records, books and other odds and ends outside a place called 20th Century Fox Antiques. Stretched across the table of this miscellany were a singular mannequin arm and a doll’s head, adding a very Halloween vibe to the spread. Clearly, other shops were in the holiday spirit, too, as I checked out another vintage store selling a wicker coffin from the 1800s. Very real, and very creepy. In any case, a trip to Beacon turned out to be the perfect October break stay-cation. So next time you’re thinking about taking the train all the way into the city, just take it a few stops to Beacon.

—Marie Solis ‘15

Marie Solis/The Miscellany News

Marie Solis/The Miscellany News

Madrid, Spain T

courtesy of Laura Schacter

his October break, I accomplished what we all say we’re going to do at the end of sophomore year: Visit our best friend while they are studying abroad.

My freshman year roommate, Kate Hennessy ’16, is studying in Madrid, Spain with the Vassar-Wesleyan program. I flew out of JFK Friday night, arriving in Madrid early on Saturday morning for my five-day whirlwind tour of the city.

Using Kate’s host family as home base, we explored the city together. Although there was a very long line so we didn’t get to go in, we stopped to take a picture in front of the royal palace’s gate. We did make it to the most popular art museum, El Prado; however, my favorite museums were the smaller science museums I went to on my own.

While Kate was in the classes she was taking through her exchange program, I got to practice some Spanish while I rode the buses to the various museums I really wanted to see. There were so many parks, palaces and cathedrals that there was no way I could see them all in my short visit. I didn’t get to go on this visit, but the Reina Sophia is Madrid’s most famous art museum and most travelers make a point of going to see it.

On Sunday, we ate churros con chocolate after walking through El Rastro, the huge outdoor market near the center of the city. On Wednesday, my last night there, we went to see an Atletico fútbol (soccer) game! The fans were all so enthusiastic, filling the enormous stadium. They even joined us in singing “feliz cumpleaños” for Kate’s 20th birthday.

Having a tour guide like Kate who is familiar with the city was really helpful, but the bus tours will take you past most of the same sites that we visited. Though, to see them, you have to make sure to actually get off the buses!

—Laura Schachter ’16

courtesy of Laura Schacter

courtesy of Laura Schacter

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

October 30, 2014

TRAVEL

Page 11

Panama City, Panama P

anama is partly famous for being part of the longest palindrome. A man, a plan, a canal: Panama. Try reading that backwards fast. Panama receives much of its recognition for the historical canal itself. Every excursion made to this wonder of the world will either prove or remind you just how impressive the Panama Canal really is. The canal is currently being expanded to increase traffic flow, so it is worth paying a visit to the site just to claim that you witnessed history being made right before your eyes.

Today, El Valle is a village occupied by vendors of all sorts who make the destination a tourist attraction—but it wasn’t always this way. The land was originally occupied by a volcano, which erupted and was later developed by the Kuna Indian tribe. The traditional Mola cloth is one of the Kuna’s most valued crafts. Each pattern is unique and stitched by hand to portray the culture of Panama with exquisite detail and color.

While you might be at a loss for what to eat while in Panama, you can always rely on Panamanian cuisine to come fresh from a local farm or ocean, so you can’t go wrong with paella. A typical Spanish cuisine, one can’t turn away Paella in Panama considering that it incorporates the freshest vegetables and seafood in a sea of saffron-infused rice.

Panama is unique in the sense that you can travel to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans without leaving the country. The Atlantic side lends a more relaxed, Caribbean atmosphere, whereas the Pacific side features a typical beach setting that is oriented toward more action-packed activities. On the Pacific end, the consistently warm temperatures make activities like surfing, parasailing, banana boating and jet-skiing truly unforgettable.

—Penina Remler ’18 courtesy of Penina Remler courtesy of Penina Remler

courtesy of Penina Remler

Erik Halberg/The Miscellany News

Erik Halberg/The Miscellany News

Erik Halberg/The Miscellany News

Wilmington, Delaware D

Erik Halberg/The Miscellany News

elaware isn’t famous for much.

Well, our beaches and Joe Biden are relatively well-known, but still, we’re not a state with tons of places that people come from all over the world or nation to see. However, we do have some real gems hidden in our under 2000 square miles of total land.

Comprising a not insignificant amount of that land is Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. Located in Wilmington, not far from the border with Pennsylvania, Winterthur was once an estate owned by the illustrious DuPont family, a wealthy family that got its start manufacturing gunpowder for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Inherited from his father in 1927, Henry Francis DuPont turned his family’s estate and farm into an elaborate natural garden and grounds for his family and friends. Henry Francis, who made horticulture a lifelong hobby, planned out the entire over 60 acres of gardens and maintained the other 1000 acres of farm and grounds.

DuPont’s pride and joy was his Azalea woods: eight acres of Kurume azaleas imported from Japan to replace the Chestnut trees lost in a blight. From the original 17 plants DuPont ordered, the woods have grown to include over 250 different species of azaleas growing together in brilliantly-blooming groups. The rest of the gardens feature trees, flowers and bushes from all over the Mid-Atlantic. The gardens are perfectly suited to quiet reflection or a relaxing stroll with friends and family, thanks in part to the glorious panoramas and strategically placed benches for viewing or picnicking.

Being a man of many talents and interests, DuPont was well known for his herd of Holstein cows. Beginning in the early 1920s, DuPont quickly became famous among American farmers as a top-notch breeder. After DuPont’s death in 1969, his herd of Holstein’s was auctioned off to other dairies across the nation. Due to this, Winterthur employees insist that the majority of milk consumed by the public today comes from a cow descended from DuPont’s original herd.

In Dupont’s will, he insisted that his gardens at Winterthur be maintained and opened to the public to enjoy. Additionally, he stipulated that the estate’s mansion - which had begun as a 12 room house before DuPont expanded it to an 175-room mansion - become a museum for American works of fine art, for which it has since become world-famous.

Every hour there are tours that run through the building, showcasing DuPont’s collections of antique furniture, sculptures and paintings. Attached to the museum is DuPont’s library, which houses hundreds of historical documents.

To make the transformation complete, DuPont’s family’s swimming pool was converted into a reflection pool for visitors to pause and see themselves and the beauty of their surroundings reflected in its mirror-like surface.

—Erik Halberg ’16

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

FEATURES

Page 12

October 30, 2014

Baldwin sets precautionary measures for deadly diseases Erik Halberg

Features Editor

V

iewing the current homepage of a major news source’s website that doesn’t feature one or more articles covering the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa is about as rare as Ebola cases outside of Africa themselves.

According to a New York Times article updated on Oct. 28, there have only been 20 or fewer cases of Ebola treated outside of the parts of West Africa in which the outbreak began.

Of the nine cases that have been documented in the United States, only one patient has died and the rest have recovered or are well on their way. Why, then, has Ebola become a topic that the media has fixated on to such a great extent?

“It’s the nature of the thing,” said Anne Dadarria, a Nurse Practitioner at Baldwin Hall. “With all the pictures in the news, the death rates, the footage; it makes people fearful.”

Dadarria and her colleague Dr. Irena Balawajder, Vassar’s Director of Health Services, both believe the constant attention given to the disease makes Ebola into a larger issue than it is.

“Ebola is something we [as a nation] will likely never see,” said Dadarria.

The two attribute their confidence to the advantages that American healthcare and preventative measures provide. Over the summer, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised American institutions to eliminate travel to the afflicted areas. While not an actual ‘ban’ on academic exchange, most colleges and universities—including Vassar—have stopped their faculty and students from traveling to West Africa for the time being.

Dr. Balawajder feels that the virus poses little threat to America so long as it remains contained in this fashion.

“This is one way to contain it,” said Dr. Bal-

courtesy of Vassar College Health Services

Students who require medical attention typically seek out Baldwin for health services. In light of recent epidemics, healthcare professionals have established protocol for all scenarios.

awajder, who has been following the outbreak since it was first declared by the World Health Organization back in March of this year. “It died out the first time because it was contained.”

Should Ebola still manage to find its way out of West Africa despite the containment, there are many other ways to combat it. Anyone who has traveled overseas and exhibits symptoms that could signify the Ebola virus are immediately isolated from human contact for a 21-day period, which is the maximum amount of time the virus takes to manifest. Additionally, there may soon be a solution to the problem.

“The [Ebola] vaccine will probably be available by the end of the year,” said Dr. Balawajder.

“So we [as a nation] will most likely be immune to it.”

From what Balawajder has heard, there are three trial vaccines in the latter stages of testing that, if they prove safe and successful, could be widely available as soon as January of 2015.

But what if a student were to come back to Vassar, either from a break or from studying abroad, and exhibit symptoms of Ebola?

The first step taken would be the immediate notification of the CDC and the Dutchess County Health Department. After that, it would be up to the CDC and the DCHD to determine whether the afflicted student or faculty member should be isolated or quarantined and how and where they should be transported to hospitals for treatment. Although Ebola is a relatively new virus, the possibility of a pandemic is something the CDC has put a lot of time and effort into preventing and preparing to stop.

“We have an excellent health department.”

Dadarria said. “They’re very active and are often down here training and working with us.”

While not specific to Ebola, the training programming used is specifically designed to combat similar infectious diseases. According to Balawajder, the programming was designed after the scares that the avian and H1N1—or swine­—flus instilled in America. Unlike these diseases, Ebola can only be spread through direct contact with bodily fluids, making isolation and containment extremely effective in com-

bating the disease.

“There are very specific pandemic responses for various stages of diseases,” said Dr. Balawajder. “Because awareness [of Ebola] is so high. I don’t think we’ll ever reach [a very dangerous] stage,” she confirmed.

Vassar also receives travel advisories and updates on the virus from the CDC, as well as TravEx, the College’s source for travel and information. In addition, the College is requiring that all students and faculty who are going abroad or who are abroad send Vassar’s health services their travel histories and itineraries.

With this knowledge, Vassar can help keep students out of afflicted areas and make sure that any students or faculty who do end up there receive medical evaluation when they return.

“This is a changing scenario,” said Dr. Balawajder. “But it let’s us look at pandemic preparedness. It let’s us prepare for our breaks and do trainings.”

Health Services is also hoping to disseminate information about the disease throughout campus. On Oct. 29, ProHealth came to campus to hold a panel with professors from the Biology department to help answer students’ questions about the disease and how it’s being handled.

Signs have been put up in Baldwin and in locations around campus with some facts about the disease and requests urging students to notify Health Services if they are going abroad.

That said, Balawajder and Dadarria feel that there are several easy steps to helping prevent all diseases, not just Ebola.

“There are several important things we want to stress,” Dr. Balawajder said as Dadarria nodded in agreement. “Students should make sure to take care of hand hygiene, cough etiquette and make sure to get their flu shots.”

Though in Balawajder and Dadarria’s opinions Ebola does not pose as great of a threat to America as it has been made out to, it most definitely does to West Africa and other areas of the world.

“The most important thing is to send help to West Africa,” said Dr. Balawajder. “Because that is where it’s needed.”

Matthew Vassar among spectral residents on campus GHOSTS continued from page 1

cabre chorus of moans and groans from the cellar.” Vassar has not only haunted spots on and off campus, during his time he also had his own ghostly encounters.

In “The Autobiography and Letters of Matthew Vassar,” Vassar told the story of his own supernatural experience.

“On the opposite side near Washington Street was an old dilapidated Tan-Yard Currying Shop &c.-Returning with my Cow to Pasture after being Milked and passing the latter,

the full Moon just rising, the light shone on an object in the Curing-Yard resembling an object like a Man with his head cut off and Blood trickling down over his Shoulders” (Matthew Vassar, “The Autobiography and Letters of Matthew Vassar”, 5.5.1916).

Epstein had one last story to share. “I was also told that Pratt House was haunted, sometimes footsteps and creaking or the brush of a hand can be felt.”

A reporter in Hudson Valley did an online

Marie Solis/The Miscellany News

If you need another reason not to go exploring campus at night, Epstein had a few more stories to share about this haunted Vassar. “There were stories of students catching glimpses of ghostly women in Victorian dress roaming the upper floors of Main,” Epstein said.

It wasn’t just the students whose souls stayed on campus. Epstein shared a story regarding our esteemed founder himself. “I was also told that Matthew Vassar haunts the upper floors of Main. He died in the middle of giving a speech to the board and continues to walk the halls of his beloved institution,” Epstein said.

Matthew Vassar has been spotted in Main in his 19th century attire, as well as wandering around campus during the dawn and dusk hours. But Vassar hasn’t merely haunted his school. In a Miscellany News article from the October of 1988 issue, a family who had moved into an old farm house on New Hackensack Road that Matthew Vassar had once owned had to quickly move out due to their own ghost problem (Miscellany News, “Is Poughkeepsie A Ghost Town? The Real Story... Halloween Feature On Neighborhood Spirits,” 10.28.1998).

Within four months, the article states, three families had moved in and out of the house.

“A statement from Dr. Henry Noble MacCracken, President of Vassar College from 1915-1946, indicated that the home was not the Vassar homestead, but a house that the founder of the College had owned, which had been destroyed long ago.” Regardless, Vassar took it upon himself to keep the house’s occupants awake and weary during any hour of the night past midnight.

The Miscellany article stated, “A Poughkeepsie Enterprise article, dated 1914, described the Stonebridge family’s experiences in the house. Besides an assortment of creepy noises at all hours of the night, the family complained that midnight ushered in a ma-

Beware wandering the halls of Main Building late at night. You might run into the ghosts of deceased students and professors, or even the ghost of Matthew Vassar himself, who supposedly still haunts Main.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

piece back in 2010 about Vassar’s ghosts. In a segment called “Hudson Valley Hauntings,” they picked up on the Pratt House ghost, as well. “The finicky spirit is alleged to only pester people who are visiting, leaving students and faculty alone,” the article said (Andrew Glikin-Gusinsky “Hudson Valley Hauntings: the Ghosts of Vassar College,” Sept. 2011).

The article went on to say, “Individuals who have spent the night in Pratt House have claimed to have had all sorts of ghostly encounters, including hearing voices, being touched, and even being shaken awake.”

The “Hudson Valley Hauntings” article brings up a few other buildings around campus as well, including the Maria Mitchell Observatory, where people have seen more ghostly Victorian girls appearing suddenly before disappearing into thin air.

The archives even have a legend that the slightly deranged squirrels living on campus are the returned souls of English majors who couldn’t find jobs after graduation. The archives claim, “College psychics are hard at work to determine the veracity of this story.”

Colton Johnson, Dean Emeritus of the College and Professor Emeritus of English, as well as the Vassar Historian, hasn’t escaped the presence of the Vassar ghosts, either. “My own experience with Vassar’s wraiths and necromancers over the last nearly 50 years is scant. A now rather famous performance artist in the Class of ’81 supposedly governed a coven somewhere in the South Tower of Main,” Johnson said.

He added, “And when Jewett was being renovated in 2002, the president of the VSA, College Historian Elizabeth Daniels ’41 and I were called into the basement where some wallboard had been removed to determine if graffiti there were satanic markings. Our inexpert conclusion was that they weren’t.”

With Halloween coming up this weekend, it would be best to keep an eye peeled for the unusual. That ghost in the Villard Room might not be a costume.

October 30, 2014

FEATURES

Page 13

Human oil spill calls attention to divestment campaign Noah Goldberg Guest Reporter

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courtesy of Vassar Greens

n Friday Oct. 17, the Vassar College Board of Trustees met on the college campus for the first and final time this semester. While the Board had their meeting in the nearby College Center, members of the Vassar College Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign gathered in the Retreat dressed in black and lying silently on the floor, enacting a “Human Oil Spill” to signify the destructive effects that the fossil fuel companies—in which Vassar has invested heavily—have had on the environment and communities around the world.

According to the Vassar College Human Oil Spill’s Facebook page, “The point of the oil spill is to gain visibility and raise awareness as well as to put pressure on the administration. It represents the devastating effects that climate change has and the lives that it has already taken.”

“The goals of this in-progress series of actions are to start making fossil fuel divestment a more visible issue on campus, energize our campaign members, and show the administration and trustees that students are excited about the issue of divestment,” said Benjamin Lehr ’16, a student member of the Divestment Campaign, in an emailed statement.

After the human oil spill event, the members of the Divestment Campaign chanted in the Retreat, “What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!” They made their way to the room where the Board was meeting and briefly continued chanting outside to help the Board understand more clearly what they wanted. “[It was to] get the message that it is time for action on divestment,” Lehr explained.

A statement from the group’s site explained the short-term goals for the movement. “Divestment is planning to have a series of human oil spills which will grow and escalate and get more attention over time. We will pop up in various locations all over campus every few weeks. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome.”

Members of the Vassar Divestment Campaign lie on the steps of the ACDC as they partake in an Oil Spill event. The oil spills are part of a greater initiative to raise awareness surrounding divestment.

The call for divestment from fossil fuels at Vassar is part of a growing national movement.

Vassar is one of more than 300 colleges across the country that have demanded divestment, and even Barack Obama—in a speech about climate change at Georgetown University this summer—said, “Invest. Divest. Remind folks there’s no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth.”

The members of the Vassar Divestment Campaign share Obama’s belief that divesting from fossil fuels does not necessarily negatively affect economic growth, both at the national level and among the country’s colleges and universities.

The Board of Trustees has not chosen to divest as of yet. Sensing their caution, the Divestment Campaign has decided not to ask for immediate and full divestment, but rather a slower and more feasible economic solution

with the Board.

Elise Ferguson ’17 is a co-coordinator for the Divestment Campaign as well as a member of Vassar Greens. According to their website, “The Vassar Greens is a student-led environmental group at Vassar College that focuses on environmental sustainability and social justice to create lasting change on campus and in the greater community.”

Ferguson said, “Right now we are not asking for total divestment. We are only asking for divestment from direct investments. Originally, we asked for total divestment but the school was resistant and so we responded to their criticisms by compromising and scaling back. We are not asking for divestment from co-mingled funds at the moment.”

The Divestment Campaign is excited about its cause but is willing to make compromises with the Board of Trustees. They understand

that alienating the Board will not lead to change, but rather to a deeper divide between the student body and those making the fiscal decisions for the school. The Campaign’s proposal to the Board allows them three years for the college to divest from direct oil investments.

Though three years is a short period of time, Ferguson believes it is important to remember that the time frame allows for substantial changes.

She said, “[O]nly a small portion of the endowment is directly invested in fossil fuels,” emphasizing that the Board should not consider it impossible to invest in greener companies within this timeline.

Ferguson went on to state that discourse between the Campaign and the Board is essential in the fight for divestment and maintained that the human oil spill in the Retreat allowed these two parties to engage as students were able to encounter members of the Board who were on their way to the meeting in the College Center.

Ferguson said, “Hopefully, they will consider divestment seriously after seeing how passionate many students are about it.”

Communication and a general continued growth of discussion on campus about the Divestment Campaign is the goal of the series of oil spills that have been carried out this semester. Their goals are not limited to fostering a dialogue with the Board of Trustees in which they really listen to what students have to say and consider seriously divestment as a logical fiscal plan for the school.

They also seek to raise awareness and energize the student body so that the administration feels compelled to listen to the voice of the population for whom it claims to make crucial decisions, noted Ferguson.

The Campaign has found it difficult to communicate with the Board, according to Ferguson. She added, “The administration has not been as responsive as we would like, we have been making compromises and we have been flexible but they have not been.”

Kentucky derby pie makes for scary good Halloween treat Alex Trunnell

Guest Reporter

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courtesy Alex Trunnell

t’s Halloween night. Your neighbors have pulled over their lawn chairs, the bowls of candy are ready, and the fire pit is stocked with kindling and logs. Your parents wear their half-costumes, and push you out the door. Your evening has been meticulously planned to hit all the best houses in three different neighborhoods, and your petticoats promise a warm evening. You are prepared. You are infinite.

And you know in your heart that no matter what kind of delicious candy the most cavity-inducing day of the year brings, there is a Kentucky Derby Pie cooling in the kitchen. Pie is prepared.

Pie is infinite.

In general, pies are best served fresh out of the oven. However, in the land of horses and bourbon, we like to do things differently, including creating a pie best served when’s it’s as cool as the historic Derby itself. Thus, it is absolutely perfect for Halloween night: bake it, get ready, leave it to cool, and you have perfect pie as soon as the candy has been collected.

This unique quality is due to the special structure of the pie: It’s a sugar pie, which if y’all don’t know means it is created almost exclusively of molten sugar. Nope, not kidding. Southern families have the best baking ideas… Heart attacks aside, sugar pie is the greatest idea since someone tossed breaded chicken in a fryer.

So, to create the perfect sugar pie base, begin your culinary endeavor by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. As any baker knows, Kentucky born and bred or not, this is absolutely vital. You know what they say: oven’s warm, perfect form, oven’s cold, it won’t hold.

Begin with a pie shell. Now, this is quite possibly the only time I will ever say this in my life, but a store-bought one is fine. In fact, considering the time you save (imperative on a holiday such as Halloween), the difference in taste between store-bought pie shells and homemade is barely noticeable. Put the shell in a greased pie pan and, using a fork, squish the excess pie crust into the rim of the pan in a crimped pattern. Then, stab

the bottom of the shell with the fork as if it were the man who done you wrong. This allows the shell to bake evenly. Or not stick to the pan.

Melt half a cup of butter (“one stick” to you and me) in a microwave safe bowl. Use real butter. I’m not even gonna press the issue further. Just do it.

Once the butter is melted, cream it together with three-quarters of a cup of white sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix until the two are blended well. Then, mix in half a cup of all-purpose flour.

In a separate bowl, beat two eggs. Don’t overbeat them; just enough to let the yolk and white get to know each other. Mix them into the bowl with the other ingredients.

Now listen up, because this is the most important part of the entire recipe: Mix in one tablespoon of Kentucky Bourbon. It has to come from Kentucky to maintain the integrity of the recipe.

In reality, this shouldn’t be too difficult: there are more barrels of bourbon in Kentucky than there are people.

Now, with the mixture all nice and combined, chop one cup of walnuts. When they are chopped to the desired size, mix them into the pie base.

Note: this is optional, though highly recommended, as it is delicious. Along with the nuts, add a cup of chocolate chips. Or four cups. We don’t judge when it comes to pie.

Make sure the pie filling is well mixed, and pour it into the prepared shell. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the edges: heaven forbid you leave even a morsel in the mixing bowl.

Bake for thirty to forty minutes, checking on the pie occasionally. The top will become a crust, and the inside will become soupy and crystalized and melted by the time the timer rings.

Now, if it’s Halloween night, this is when you go trick-or-treating and let the pie cool. The key to Derby Pie, other than, of course, the bourbon, is to let the pie cool: because of the magic soup inside the hard sugar crust, cutting the pie when hot will prove a fatal mistake. The filling seeps out of the crust and ruins the whole pie. Seriously y’all: don’t do it.

Now, cut into that round circle of heaven and devour the enticingly flawless piece of pie.

The Ingredients

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

pie shell 1/2 cup of butter 3/4 cup of white sugar 1/2 cup of flour 2 eggs 1 tblspn. Kentucky Bourbon 1 cup of chopped walnuts 1+ cups of chocolate chips

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October 30, 2014

Manga exhibit examines feminity in Japanese culture Jake Solomon Reporter

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his week, vividly colored and action-filled artwork will soon adorn the walls of the Palmer Gallery. But unlike most other exhibits at the gallery, “The World of Shojo Manga!

Mirrors of Girls’ Desires” places strong female characters from the world of shojo manga, a type of Japanese comic book-style art that targets a female audience, into the spotlight. The exhibit will feature artwork from many prominent Japanese artists and gives the viewer a glance into these artists’ and their era’s perceptions of Japanese female culture.

Hiromi Dollase, the organizer of the exhibit and Professor of Japanese and Chinese, wrote in an emailed statement, “The exhibition ‘The World of Shojo Manga! Mirrors of Girls’ Desires’ presents how girls’ and women’s desires and dreams are reflected in shojo manga (girls’

comics). 59 works by 12 manga artists, dating from the 1950s to the present, are displayed.

The works were all published in manga magazines targeted at girls or young women.”

Dollase received significant help organizing the exhibit from Teresa Quinn, Director of the Palmer Gallery; Monica Church, Associate Director of the Palmer Gallery; and Margaret Craig, Professor of Art History at Dutchess Community College. A portion of the exhibit will also be shown at Dutchess Community College (DCC). “One reason that we decided to have a joint show was for a practical reason; there are too many pieces of art to display only at [the] Palmer. But the main reason is that we can reach out to the community and give students at DCC an opportunity to be familiarized with Japanese popular culture,” Dollase wrote.

“Over the summer, Anne Fritzson [’16] worked for me as a Ford scholar and she is planning

courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

“The World of Shojo Manga! Mirrors of Girls Desires,” will be on exhibition at both Vassar’s Palmer Gallery and Dutchess County Community College from Monday, Oct. 27 through Friday, Nov. 21.

to organize a manga workshop, trying to create an opportunity to have a conversation with students at DCC.” In Japan, manga is viewed as a true artistic form. Dollase explained, “In America, comics tend to be viewed as entertainment for children. Manga, however, are read by people of all ages. Manga are more like graphic novels; they have rich plots and the drawing style is creative and skillful.”

Further separating manga from the Western perception of comic books, manga has the potential to give the reader a deep insight into the condition of a society. Dollase wrote, “Reading shojo manga, we can see how girls view the world, society, their own bodies and their socially expected roles. Learning about shojo manga is learning about Japanese women’s culture and history.”

But beyond simply learning about the Japanese milieu, the medium provides a jumping-off point for social change. “Shojo manga are often fantasy stories,” Dollase wrote. “But fantasy, I think, is very powerful. Fantasy is even a means to challenge social norms. In shojo manga, for instance, authors often break the stereotype of women by depicting unconventional women, female warriors, etc. Playing with the notion of gender is one distinctive characteristic of shojo manga; in order to explore eroticism, they use young pretty boys, or in order to allow female characters participate in historical events, they use female cross-dressers and situate them in a war era, etc.”

On a base level, shojo manga contributes to a market for the female-identifying audience in Japan. Fritzson who worked with Dollase over the summer researching manga, wrote in an emailed statement, “Shojo manga is a large part of Japanese culture for females because it is one of the most popular forms of entertainment. It is also studied; I have heard that universities in Japan teach courses on manga.

When I study abroad in Japan next semester, I actually intend to take one of these courses.”

Most of the art being displayed will be from the past and demonstrate some of the import-

ant periods of manga art. Fritzson wrote, “Most of the artists contributing to this exhibit are from past eras. The exhibit is split into 3 different periods based on the birth year of the artist, and Vassar will have artists from the first period, like Masako Watanabe (1929) and Hideko Mizuno (1939). Dutchess Community College will be holding artwork from periods 2 and 3 in their Washington Gallery.”

The artists featured in this exhibit are extremely famous among the community of shojo manga readers. Dollase wrote, “It is amazing that all the 12 artists are well known and well respected! Five original works of art by Hagio Moto are being displayed at Vassar; people who know manga well and hear that original drawings of Hagio Moto (an artist who has been around since the 1970s) are displayed here will freak out! From today’s artists, Yoshinaga Fumi is very well known. Her works are known for the depiction of male friendship (or passionate friendship), and some of her works, Antique Bakery, Ooku: the Inner Chamber, etc. have been made into TV dramas and movies.”

This exhibit proves to be distinct from past exhibits at the Palmer Gallery. Fritzson wrote, “This exhibit is different from others that have been displayed in Palmer Gallery because each piece of art is actually a part of a large story, quite literally. Most pieces are covers or pages from the artist’s actually manga volumes. It is also important that each mangaka isn’t just an artist but also a writer. They are a mixture of both because their art is always a part of a larger graphic novel. Each page is illustrated in full detail.”

Fans of manga are eager to see this showcase. Seren Chen ’17 wrote in an interview through email, “I wasn’t sure of what to expect from the exhibition, but was pleasantly surprised. It showcased a good selection of the different forms shojo manga has taken, although I would have liked to see more recent examples included. The manga volumes placed around the exhibit definitely enhanced the experience, and I would highly recommend taking a few moments to flip through them.”

[m] questions gender, social construction through art Yifan Wang

Guest Writer

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Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

he poster with a black background and a huge collaged [m] taking up most of the rectangle is now attracting attention almost everywhere on campus. At the bottom of the m-shape, small white letters explain to the audience that a student production called [m] will be showing on Oct. 30 to 31 and Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. in the Mary Virginia Heinlein Stage in the Martel Theater. This production is the Drama Department senior project of six seniors: Andrea Negrete, Kelly Schuster, Madie Oldfield, Meropi Papastergiou, Taylor Dalton and Thomas Lawler.

The final fruit of their creative and artistic efforts since last semester, [m] is an ensemble project that explores constructions of gender and sanity in art. Through the juxtaposition of contemporary feminist and queer voices, the production attempts to trace the history and genealogy of the man-made archetypes of women and of women’s resistances and critiques against these assumptions.

The six ensemble members, who conceived of this idea at the end of last semester, felt a necessity to speak about these matters.

“We had to create our own show,” Madeleine Oldfield ’14 wrote in an emailed statement.

“We needed to speak about women and sanity and the ways in which women have been portrayed, so we created a show that attempts to reflect that.”

Their faculty advisor, Professor of Drama Gabrielle Cody, viewed this urgency as the result of deep reflections and personal experiences as female actors. “These are all students who are thinking very deeply about questions of gender, identity, history and lineage. And also, as female actors, you’re so typecasted in certain ways. In fact, they did this exercise called ‘letter to your typecast.’ They are profoundly aware that women are pigeonholed in our culture, especially in terms of representation. And they are interested in breaking those modes and representational pattern. To say

‘this is who I am and I will not be restricted to what the culture sees me as,’” said Cody.

In order to address this necessity, the ensemble members turned to devising a work of theater. A devised theater work is a form of theater where the script originates not from a writer or writers, but from collaborative work by the performers. The artists said that this form would allow them to deal with significant issues and to express themselves in an original way. “We met at the end of last semester and discussed what we could like to do for our senior project,” Oldfield wrote. “After reading a few plays, we decided that just performing a play wouldn’t be enough. We had to create our own show.”

As they delved further into this process of teamwork radically different from traditional theater, the performers realized that the project could be as challenging as it is rewarding. “My experience working on this production has been unlike any process I have been involved in before. We make decisions as a group, and that has been a welcomed challenge. Reaching consensus forces us to look at our decisions through a critical lens, and pushes us to create a more dynamic, thought-provoking piece of theatre,” said Oldfield.

Moreover, the collaborative nature of the production process brought changes to many traditional theatrical roles. For Collin KnoppSchwyn ’16, the stage manager of [m], the production of [m] rendered many of the traditional duties of a stage manager moot, while simultaneously introducing new meanings to this role.

“To record blocking notes, you need to have a script to associate a line with a position onstage. The script for [m] wasn’t fully assembled until the week before tech week (when we add all the lights and sounds) so for most of the process I was making up my role as stage manager while we built the play. I took copious notes, but these tended to capture ideas more than stage positions because ideas were all we had to work with for much of the rehearsal process. Also, in most shows, the stage manager’s

[m] is a collaborative, improvisational and devised production that explores questions of identity, gender and sanity. [m] will be shown on Oct. 30, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. in the Martel Theater. role is devoid of artistic input: not so for [m] which allowed me the opportunity to work as an ensemble member in building this beautiful, grotesque piece of theater.”

Joan Gerardi, the box office manager, also had to approach his work differently when arranging seats and planning the showcase for [m].

“Because it is a devised piece, they were working on what the set would look like,” Gerardi explained. “And they were designing it in a very non-traditional format. We’re not doing it in a proscenium-style theater, but in a created space that is on the stage of the theater. So the way guests are going to enter the stage and the seating arrangements are all very different.”

In addition to collaboration and improvisation, the production is also an accumulation of a variety of sources and artistic media.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“We collaged texts in this piece, bringing together historical texts and contemporary pieces, putting them in conversation with each other. We also melded artistic mediums, like theatrical texts and visual art pieces, into the same performance,” Oldfield explained.

Cody sees this choice of collage as an effective way of conveying the intended message of critique and resistances.

“I think the idea of resistance and critique is very strongly felt throughout the piece,” Cody emphasized. “Part of the critique is reclaiming texts or roles written for women by men of periods when women were not portrayed on stage. So performances of women without a referent. In other cases, texts or poetry by women who’re dealing with the subjectivity of what it means for women to create outside of institutional approval.”

October 30, 2014

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Page 15

Author’s creative process resonates with student writers quite so far away.”

Following the reading, audience members too got to interact with and pick Eugenides’ brain, which attendees found to be particularly enlightening. “One of the most interesting things that Eugenides said in the question and answer session after his talk was that short stories are the most difficult literary form to do well,” wrote Jeremy Burke ’15 in an emailed statement.

“This is particularly interesting to me as someone who writes almost entirely short stories, because it seems like something I’d always felt but never had put into words. Or maybe just having a famous author say it made it feel more real.”

Eugenides’ presentation offered only a small taste of his body of work. His debut novel, 1993’s “The Virgin Suicides,” focuses on the lives (and deaths) of five sisters and is told in the first-person plural—a decidedly unusual perspective and narrative choice.

“Middlesex” is the memoir of Cal Stephanides, who struggles with their gender identity. Eugenides spent nine years working on his novel, and in 2003 his hard work came into fruition—”Middlesex” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

“He won the Pulitzer for ‘Middlesex’. His debut novel, the one that came before it, ‘Virgin Suicides,’ is immensely popular. I think young people in particular see themselves in some of the characters he has portrayed. Issues of identity and sexuality are alive in ‘Middlesex,’” said Kumar. “I was very much interested in our students engaging in a conversation with him on those other things.”

Kumar finds Eugenides’ ability as a writer to be particularly valuable for English students and writers of all kinds to observe and emulate.

He said, “I wanted my students to enter into the lives that he was portraying—young people, going out into the world, observing the world, taking things from the classroom, and fashioning them into narratives.”

Beyond Eugenides’ adeptness and skill, Kumar finds value in Eugenides’ constant reflection upon the art of writing itself. “Many people, when they write, are interested in the lives they

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

EUGENIDES continued from page 1 neck and capri pants and smoking cigarettes: Deep, dry, sarcastic, wonderful girls, either wildly sexual or subtly suicidal.”

As all William Gifford Lectures entail, Eugenides read excerpts from his most recent novel “The Marriage Plot, which centers around the perpetually uncertain Madeleine, her manic-depressive boyfriend Leonard and lovestruck Mitchell, who opts out of divinity school for a quasi-pilgrimage.

He followed up this recitation of his esteemed and established work with a selection of new, unpublished material.

“It’s not even fully-formed,” Eugenides said honestly, regarding this latter writing that currently exists title-less and in its developing stage. “I promised [Associate Professor of English] David Means that I would read something new and I looked around at what I was writing and all of it was not very good. But every once in a while there’s a little passage that glimmers like a nugget in a pound of dirt.”

Amid his success, Eugenides has made himself vulnerable to his audience. “It is always so difficult to write a good short story—it’s impossible. It’s strange that it’s what we use to teach students, because it is essentially the hardest form to begin,” Eugenides admitted to the crowded room. “I had never thought about it that way until I was in grad school and [a writer] visited us and said, ‘I think a novel is easier to write than a short story. It is easier, and more forgiving.’”

After the lecture, students enrolled in the narrative writing course taught by Means were invited to dinner in the Alumnae House with the writer. “He put up with all of our writerly questions and sat in the Alumnae House’s library to talk with a few of us even after dinner had finished,” said Kate Finney ’17, who attended the dinner. “He seemed most excited to talk about his new work, which I found helpful as someone who’s trying to figure out how to write. It’s nice to see someone struggle in similar and different ways knowing that they’ve succeeded in what they’re doing. It makes everything look not

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eugenides came to Vassar on Tuesday, Oct. 28 to deliver the annual William Gifford lecture. Charismatic Eugenides spoke extensively about the art of writing. are depicting but they’re not interested in the business of writing as much, and I think that’s another thing Eugenides does well,” Kumar said.

“He writes about the struggle of what it is to be an artist, the struggle to earn a living, the struggle of why you are an artist or a writer [and] the struggle of keeping your relationships when you are a writer. All of these things are also of crucial importance to him.”

Those who attended the dinner were also able to interact with Eugenides on a more personal and expansive level, getting to know him beyond his writing.

“The three English professors at my table [at the dinner] agreed that Eugenides’ talk was one of the best of the many they’d attended,” stated Jamie Maher ’17 in an email. “Eventually, the population dwindled and Eugenides came to

our table and my remaining classmates followed (because, duh, he won a Pulitzer). Those who were left—a number of students, a donor/alum, and Eugenides—ended up hanging out in the library of the Alumnae House until about 10:30 p.m. He’s a super chill dude—you’d have to be to tolerate starstruck students for such an extended period of time.”

Eugenides’ humble attitude was inspiring to all. Burke continued, “I think anyone who’s spent a lot of time writing has experienced that—the feeling that what you’re doing is bad work and you should stop—and it’s good to know that, although that feeling doesn’t go away, you’re in good company, even when you feel like what you’re doing is awful. And sometimes, those things turn out to be Pulitzer Prize winning novels.”

Loeb hosts historic Augsburg Renaissance chefs d’oeuvre Yifan Wang

Guest Writer

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courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

ate into the evening of Friday, Oct. 3, unlike most Fridays nights, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center was still brightly lit—while the rest of campus descended into night’s usual darkness—with the cheerful yet unusual sound of an accordion vaguely leaking out from the Sculpture Garden. This was an event organized by the Student Committee of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center to celebrate the current exhibition at the Loeb: Augsburg After Dark.

From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., students came to the artistic hub of the campus to enjoy a German-themed evening that featured music, art works, merriment and “biergarten,” or beer garden, treats.

Augsburg After Dark was part of a series of artistic, musical, cultural and academic events in conjunction with “Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540,” the first U.S. exhibition that explores the artistic output of the city of Augsburg, Germany during the High Renaissance. Organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, “Imperial Augsburg” focuses on prints, drawings and illustrated books. It also includes medals and one etched set of armor. Of the almost 100 works presented, most are from the National Gallery’s own collection, with additional loans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Library of Congress, Washington; and private collectors Andrea Woodner and Andrew Robison.

Augsburg and its impressive Renaissance heritage have been distant and unfamiliar to the public imagination, as well as to the academia of art history. As Elizabeth Nogrady, the coordinator of Academic Programs at the Art Department as well as an expert on the Renaissance pointed out that Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg was such a famous figure playing a major role in German Renaissance that he and Nuremburg obscured the artistic output of Augsburg to some extent. However, schol-

The exhibit “Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540,” which is currently on display at the Loeb, explores the vast yet often overlooked artistic and cultural heritage of Augsburg. ars argue that Augsburg was as just vital to the flowering of the Renaissance in Germany.

Patricia Phagan, the Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Loeb, explained, “The city’s artists created really astonishing works for the Habsburg imperial court, and for the city’s thriving market. Augsburg artists liked to experiment and they were open to new ideas.”

Fortunately, however, with the rich and varied works of art from equally rich and varied collections, this exhibition provides the general public, as well as art historians, with an opportunity to appreciate, learn about, and reflect upon the artistic achievement and the historical context of the region.

Many people worked together to bring the exhibition to Vassar, including Phagan, Susan Kuretsky, Professor in the Art History Department; Gregory Jecmen, Associate Curator of

old master prints and drawings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington; and Freyda Spira, Assistant Curator of drawings and prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

“This is the only venue for the show in the Northeast, and the stunning visual quality and intellectual heft of these works are a big attraction for students, faculty and all of our visitors.

The show has been in the planning for Vassar for several years, and we are so pleased to have it here after all of this time.” said Phagan.

Although the subject of the show may sound far away from our own life and experiences, its organizers believe that these works are in fact relatable and relevant to everyone because they provide a window into the everyday life of the Renaissance.

“Patti (Patricia Phagan) broke the show up into everyday morality, vices and virtues, etc.

When I was working with family groups, I

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

broke it into three concepts: having fun in the Renaissance, being famous in the Renaissance, and telling tales in the Renaissance...The art can be a little hard, but our job is to help to open people’s eyes to something at first glance might seem less vibrant than they’re used to.” said Margaret Vetare, Coordinator of Public Education and Information at the Loeb.

According to Vetare, the show’s opening was quite well received. People mostly expressed amazement at and interest in the intricacies of the works as well as the city’s innovation in color-printmaking explored by one of the four galleries of the show. Moreover, both visitors in the area and Vassar students have benefited from the educational aspect of the exhibition.

A class of A.P. European History, local high school painting and drawing classes, and home schoolers have come to use the works on show to supplement their studies. Vassar students also find the show helpful to their academics.

“I’m in printmaking and I thought it would be interesting to look at these prints,” said Emma Gregoline ’15.

Despite the accolades the show received, there were still people who expressed a lack of interest in the show’s content. That being said, they attributed their visit to the Art Center’s strong reputation and their past experiences with other exhibitions and showcases. One local resident, visiting the exhibit, said, “This show isn’t my favorite, but I come here maybe twice a month since there are usually interesting happenings here.”

In the same spirit to explore the story of German Renaissance, a complementary exhibition in addition to the exhibition, is presented by the Vassar College Libraries, focusing on the most heavily illustrated book of the 15th century, “The Nuremberg Chronicle.” The exhibition, “Never Before Has Your Like Been Printed: The Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493,” showcases printed leaves and editions of this landmark book, and marks the 500th anniversary of the death of the author, the German humanist Hartmann Schedel.

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October 30, 2014

BBC series artfully delves Logic’s influenced album into Israel-Palestine conflict boasts masterful production James Pederson Guest Columnist

The Honorable Woman Hugo Blick BBC

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hen a family member is kidnapped, Anglo-Israeli arms heiress-turned-philanthropist Nessa Stein struggles with the past and present as her Arab-Israeli telecommunications initiative is manipulated by dark forces beyond her control. Though Nessa (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has her brother Ephra (Andrew Buchan) to lean on, the ghosts of Nessa’s own kidnapping and the murder of their Israeli nationalist father with a pair of sharpened salad tongs haunt them both.

Written and directed by Hugo Blick for BBC2, “The Honorable Woman” never preaches or diagnoses idealistic solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead, it unravels hourby-hour, fabulously outdoing its narrative debauchery at every turn.

“The Honorable Woman” succeeds in stoking paranoia without bitterness. What makes Blick’s directing and writing so fresh is that it is constantly sidestepping the banal and the well-trodden. The subject matter, the constantly dire political situation between Palestine and Israel, could have been centered on tragic love between opposing parties. It could have been about politicians and the cynical spies who do their bidding. But instead of moralizing or devolving into an action adventure tale set in, as opposed to about the conflict, “The Honorable Woman” approaches a well-known subject through the eyes of corporations, nonprofit heads and ambitious spies who compete for selfish reasons to turn the page in Palestine. In this story about the complexity of geopolitics through the eyes the espionage and telecommunications industries, Blick encourages us to use more grown-up

emotions for characters stuck in the middle of a conflict marked by pettiness, immaturity and stubbornness.

For the Steins, the goals of peace and development allow for quiet betrayals and buried secrets. For the British, Israeli and Palestinian spies, action for peace is the vehicle for advancing and dissolving clandestine partnerships. Weekly chess games between HaydenHoyle and his Israeli counterpart show how competitors can make good friends. Even the clear “bad guys,” always reminders of our moral clarity, provide us no comfort with their demise. The deaths of evil men never undo prior misdeeds, they just prevent further ones.

This is Nessa’s thesis as she and her brother Ephra lead their father’s former arms company into its future as an Arab-Israeli telecom non-profit. The betrayals are constant, varied and often accidental. Decisions made either years ago during her kidnapping in Gaza or seconds ago in the boardroom put Nessa’s life, mission and family at risk, threatening her emotional stoicism and patient, sad-eyed optimism. Gyllenhaal’s Nessa is a poised wreck; well-bred and articulate while also naïve and occasionally overconfident. Her trust in business partners is almost unshakable; she bruises deeply whenever their loyalty to her dream of a bloodless Middle East wavers. This complete trust is puzzling, yet oddly poetic coming from someone who sleeps in a panic room.

Gyllenhaal keeps us believing in the feasibility and purity of her struggle, without ceding agency to handsome men with guns. With a flawless English accent, Gyllenhaal turns what could have been a wooden, morally retentive upper-crust plot-driver into a gripping and thoroughly entertaining woman. I often found myself on the edge of my seat waiting to see what Nessa felt next, a rare experience reserved only for the most watchable and skillful of actors. Gyllenhaal’s Nessa is honorable, without descending into yawn-inducing sainthood, making her a perfectly believable pawn on the frontlines of Blick’s clever and taught espionage thriller.

Frank Hoffman Guest Columnist

Under Pressure Logic Def Jam Recordings

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ogic, a rapper hailing from Maryland has dropped mixtapes for years that have established him as a student of the rap game, though not necessarily an innovator. However, on his debut studio album, fittingly titled “Under Pressure,” the MC has a creative rebirth, a pushing of the reset button, still pulling from a number of influences and yet successfully crafting a confident and refreshing body of work he can mostly call his own.

I’ll begin with my gripes, which, as previously stated, stem from being an avid listener of hip-hop’s current atmosphere, an era which Logic announces himself a part of through the music on his album. Even a casual radio skimmer can see Drake’s hand in Logic’s inflection and ad-libs (see: “Gang Related”), an appreciation for Schoolboy Q’s knack for crafting party jams (see: “Bounce”), and the sing-song rhyming and sneering of Big Sean and J. Cole (see: “Intro” for Big Sean, and “I’m Gone” for a dose of Cole).

The most apparent presence is Kendrick Lamar, with the ghost of his acclaimed “good kid, m.a.a.d. city” lingering from track to track on the album to an almost shocking degree. “Buried Alive” not only takes its name from Kendrick’s interlude on Drake’s second album, but features musical and lyrical choices that could only have come from repeated listens to “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe.” “Never Enough” ingrains itself in your memory as a “good kid” or “Section 80” leftover, from the beat to the flow to the Outkast-sampling hook, but it’s in the main body of Logic’s major debut. The beat to “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst,” the standout track on Kendrick’s first studio album, is essen-

tially recreated on both Logic’s “Metropolis” and his title track, while its theme and delivery are also strongly present. Paying homage to both the past and the present, and especially to one’s rivals, is appreciated in today’s landscape, but through the middle stretch of Logic’s album I felt as if I were being encouraged to play some Kendrick instead.

When Logic finds his voice, there’s much to admire. The man can tell a story while rapping his head off, changing up his flow and delivery enough to keep the listener interested; although the cool, lushly constructed beats (a good portion made by Logic himself) might tempt one to lose attention of the lyrics. The beats often seamlessly change mid-song, and Logic adapts over them like a lyrical chameleon, blending in with expected but welcome (and nearly flawless) styles. There’s not one dud when it comes to the production, with the standouts being “Soul Food,” “I’m Gone,” “Gang Related,” “Till the End,” and the Eazy-E-sampling nine-minute title track.

The inspirational crooning on the introductory track doesn’t quite work, but when the bars finally come they don’t let up. The first few tracks following the intro lead you to believe you’re listening to something special, which is still true by the end of the album, although much of the feeling is diluted by a slower and less original middle section. “Under Pressure,” the album’s penultimate track (not counting the bonus songs, which appear more as solid afterthoughts than anything else) picks things up and ends the album on a memorable note when followed by “Till The End.” Logic bookends his mainstream debut with songs that I’ll likely be coming back to for a long time, but it remains to be seen whether the album as a whole will be cemented in our culture as solidly as Kendrick’s or even Schoolboy’s major label debuts. In the sea of new music, I suggest people look for artists that innovate rather than emulate, which is something I hope Logic does more of on his second go-around, a chance that I’m sure the popularity and sales of this album will give him.

Under the Covers promises spooky, engaging showcase Charles Lyons Guset Writer

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he singing of carols and hymns during the Christmas season is a well-known, distinctly musical form of holiday commemoration, but this year, Vassar’s ViCE organization is redefining Halloween in musical terms.

A holiday best known for spooky cinema and haunted craft-making, the infamous October 31st is being welcomed differently this year at Vassar through a festive student music showcase hosted by the music coordination and performance host organization in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater. The concert will take place from 8:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Oct. 30, but if the especially creepy mood in the air isn’t enough, it comes with a twist.

“Halloween cover shows have been a thing for as long as there have been rock bands,” said ViCE Co-Student Music Coordinator and Sam Plotkin ’15, who has been actively involved with the organization since he was a freshman. In the spirit of the day, the showcase, entitled Under the Covers, will not only offer students an entertaining and lively means to begin their weekend’s festivities, but its performers will be engaging in nefarious acts of deceit themselves, forming cover bands and each act playing a set exclusively culled from the discography of a popular artist. The performances will include interpretations of songs by indie folk opera group the Decemberists (played by Plotkin’s band, Billy Liar and the Crane Wives), R&B sex crooner R. Kelly (embodied by singer-songwriter Steve Xie ’18), tween idols/objects of scorn Blink-182 (brought to life, fittingly, by Stink One-EightyPoo), and resident rock god Bruce Springsteen (played by senior John Milton). The event can be seen as another option to supplement more traditional college holiday celebrations.

“The show is significant for a number of

reasons, one of which is that Campus Activities doesn’t allow for a lot of Halloween weekend programming (even registered parties) beyond its big Villard Room party. So this show is kind of an alternative to that stuff, even though it’s on a different night,” said Plotkin, adding that the organization’s role in diversifying the campus’s cultural offerings is one of their main goals for the year.

Xie agrees that a variety of activities on campus is valuable, but takes issue with comparing a regular Halloween party and the student showcase on an equal playing field. “[The comparison] is unfair…For one thing, you don’t need to be under the influence at all to enjoy a well-done music showcase. The [Villard Room] Halloween party? Don’t think I can say the same.”

Under the Covers certainly aims to satisfy ViCE’s mission statement. “[ViCE strives to] provide entertainment for the student body in forms of music, films, and various special events,” said Director Maya Toler ’16,and its positioning as a theme-based event with creepy/silly overtones distinguishes it from the more intimate weekly singer-songwriter showcases in Matthew’s Mug, a much smaller venue than Shiva Theater, the location of Under the Covers. But despite the playful and seemingly artificial, unserious nature of a covers-themed Halloween celebration, and the inherently theatrical tone of the artists being covered, the event is still about the pure connection that forms between musicians and their audiences that ViCE is all about.

“Music is an art, but it’s also a craft, so yeah, there’s always a sense that the people performing have done some kind of preparation, but even with a band like the Decemberists, who have songs with titles like ‘I Was Meant for the Stage,’ if the performers and the audience are connecting with music on an emotional level, it’s as natural and spontaneous an

experience as you can find,” said Plotkin.

The event’s artistic integrity is furthered by its performers’ deep connections to music as a form of personal expression. Although he will be channeling R. Kelly, Xie is intent on treating his performance in the same way as any other of his musical experiences, many of which have been with one of Vassar’s a cappella groups, the Vastards.

“I just do whatever can express what I’m feeling at the moment, stuff that when I listen a few months or a few years later makes me go ‘oh, those were the emotions I was feeling at the time, and it’s cool to revisit those moments in my life that I’ve forgotten about.’

Music serves as the tool I use to document my experiences. It’s like a journal I have kept and will try to keep throughout my entire lifetime,” said Xie. Easily the biggest student music event of the semester (according to ViCE itself), Under the Covers is only one in a long line of splashy events that have characterized the current administration of the increasingly popular ViCE. Members like Plotkin, Toler (who has also been involved since her freshman year), and Co-Student Music Coordinator Jeremy Katzenstein ’15, among others, have worked hard during their years serving the organization to widen its scope and focus its appeals directly to the student body, creating a fluid discourse between the wants of the people and those who serve them, artistically-speaking. Under their watch, ViCE has blossomed.

“I would say I have had a significant impact [on ViCE], but there’s definitely still work to be done,” said Toler. “It was my goal at the beginning of last year as Music Chair to really listen to the campus and what they wanted and to bring more well-known artists. The fall concert with Solange was the first soldout show ViCE has had in years and the Danny Brown and Lunice spring concert was also

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

very well-attended.”

In addition to the success they have in large part given ViCE, the organization has certainly served its members well. Because of their work with ViCE and the connections they have made through it, Plotkin attests to gaining hands-on experience and a helpful technical knowledge of musical equipment that ties in nicely to his major in music. Toler has made lasting impressions with many professionals in the field, including representatives from production companies and artist agents, which ultimately led her to be offered two prestigious internships last summer, one with a major record label and the other with a management agency headed by the founder of Vassar’s No-ViCE. She stayed true to her VC roots, and chose the latter.

The considerable momentum this administration has generated with the organization does not mean they don’t have their fair share of hurdles to overcome, however. Both Toler and Plotkin cite a low turnout to many of the weekly Mug singer-songwriter shows as being of primary frustration.

“I just wish more people would come see our shows when it’s not just their friend performing, because we’ve had some amazing shows so far this year,” said Plotkin, adding, “People are busy, they don’t have time to go to every event that looks remotely interesting.

I couldn’t count on two hands the number of great events I’ve missed at Vassar because I had too much work.”

But the leaders are unconcerned about a lack of a crowd on Thursday evening, emphasizing that their intentions for Under the Covers are essentially to provide an event that is, more than anything else, enjoyable for the students who do attend.

“Really we just want to put on a fun event with music and candy...It’s going to be nuts,” said Plotkin.

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October 30, 2014

Page 17

Comic Con proves welcoming to novices Madeline Vogel and Palak Patel

Social media editor and Senior editor

New York Comic Con Javits Convention Center ReedPOP

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ttending an official Comic Con event has been something we have both been wanting to do for years. In fact, we didn’t really realize we both enjoyed comics and all things nerdy before last semester when we became friends. Over the summer, it was casually mentioned that New York Comic Con tickets were going up for sale online near the end of June and that we should get tickets and attend together. After a whirlwind 24 hours, the two of us, Maddy Vogel and Palak Patel, had successfully purchased Saturday passes for the second biggest comic book convention in the country (second only to San Diego Comic Con).

We took an 8 a.m. train down to the city on Saturday, Oct. 11, completely unsure of what to expect upon our arrival at Grand Central.

As the we got closer to the city , more and more cosplay-adorning adults joined us on the train, creating an atmosphere of burgeoning excitement. Grand Central Station was filled with groups of people dressed as various comic book and television show characters. There were the familiar superheroes and the unfamiliar manga characters.

Little did we know that this was just a teaspoon of the visual assault we were about to receive upon our arrival at the Javits Center.

Before that Saturday, both of us had already downloaded the NYCC app and chosen a number of panels we wanted to attend.

We ended up missing the first panel altogether, but we decided it was fine. Instead, we walked upstairs to the largest part of the Javits Center where NYCC had placed the exhibition show room. The space was packed wall-to-wall with tables and booths filled to the brim with comic books, action figures, t-shirts and novels. The room was loud, packed and not for the faint of

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heart, but we walked through several times throughout the day, taking in the different groups represented in the booths. The big names were obviously there: Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Image, IDW Publishing, Comixology and a variety of large and small comic book sellers. Beside these booths were the large companies who helped to sponsor and pay for NYCC, like Geico, Amazon, Nerdist, ReedPop and AMC. The sheer amount of people packed into an already large room just went to show just how large an event like Comic Con really is. We wish we had gotten to spend more time here looking at comics and t-shirts, but it was too hard to navigate with so many people, so we decided to spend most of our time elsewhere.

After getting lost multiple times in the exhibition room, we made our way down to the bottom floor where the panels were set up. Lines for the panels would generally start about 30 minutes prior to the panel, but if the panel featured larger names then the line would start much earlier. On more than one occasion, we found ourselves cut out of a panel because the room was already filled. We ended up attending four panels: two that dealt with the creative process behind comics, one that featured an all-female panel who discussed their roles within the industry, and one that was just Stephen Amell talking about his role as Oliver Queen on the television show “Arrow.” The two about the creative process were interesting to us because we are both very interested in possibly writing or drawing for comics.

IDW hosted the panel and the panelists each went over their work and how they find working with licensed titles versus original titles. The all-female panel was hosted by DC (there was a Marvel one the next day) and wasn’t as exciting as we had hoped.

The panel was a mix of editors, writers and artists but was too crowded. Some women didn’t get to speak at all and overall, it was a bit disappointing. Our favorite panel was definitely the one with Stephen Amell. We waited in line for almost an hour and the room was packed, but it was worth it. He gave hints about the new season and answered fan questions. There was even a sur-

prise visit from Colin Donnel, who played Tommy Merlyn. Though we were disappointed that we didn’t get to see most of the panels we wanted to—like one presented by The Mary Sue called “Strong Female Characters: Women Shining in Geek Media”—we definitely had a great time at the panels we got into.

In between the panels, we had plenty time to kill. It was during this time that we ventured over to Artist Alley where hundreds of comic book, manga and other artists had set up booths to sell and commission work.

Artist Alley was by far our favorite part. The artists were generally happy to talk about their work and the process behind it as well as sign anything we had. This room was also a lot less crowded and more relaxed than the exhibition room, so we were able to take our time and see everyone we wanted to see while also purchasing cheap and one-of-akind posters and keepsakes. Both of us got prints by awesome artists and even got a Batgirl print signed by writer Gail Simone.

As a whole, the community at Comic Con was very welcoming and everyone was just excited to be there. We did run into a few people who weren’t so friendly when we tried to talk to them, but almost everyone else was happy to help us. Both of us even got compliments on our cosplays! About half the attendees were in costume—ranging from anime to superheroes to television to who-knows-what—but probably the most popular was Deadpool. Everywhere you turned there was a Deadpool taking a photo with another Deadpool. Next time we go we’ll definitely make more of an effort to dress up, but since this was our first convention we decided to play it safe in more casual costumes.

Overall, NYCC was a fantastic event and we both had a great time. For first-time goers, we had little trouble getting to the venue and navigating the Javits Center. However, the people running it knew what they were doing and it was all very well organized. The whole atmosphere was fun and inclusive and we both came home with far too much merch. We would definitely go again and tell all types of comic fans to go as well.

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

Excuse me, Who is your favorite movie witch?

“Hermione.” ­­— Ellie Amicucci ’18

“Marnie Piper in ‘Halloweentown.’”

— Deanna Havby ’18

“Twitches.”

— Jordan Burns ’16

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“Scarlet Witch.”

— Haydn Wall ’18

“Definitely Sabrina.”

— Jack Conway ’17

“Kim Novak in ‘Bell, Book, and Candle.’”

—Nikki Lohr ’17 Older siblings have two options: They can be nurturing and wonderful or evil and diabolic.

Personally, I’ve taken the latter route and have been scaring my younger sister for as long as I can remember. My favorite way to do this is by shining a flashlight under my fairly angular face in a pitch black room. I look monstrous with that lighting. So when it came to rendering myself in a self portrait, I chose to manipulate the light in order to achieve this apparently horrifying effect. I’m not sure what this says about the state of my psyche, but I for one am fairly amused with this version of myself that, which once existed only in my little sister’s world, now came into fruition on my paper.

—Jake Sottak ’17

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Sam Pianello, Photo Editor Charles Lyons, Guest Reporter

SPORTS

Page 18

NBA draft promotes balance Sam Hammer Columnist

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n Wednesday, Oct. 22, NBA team owners voted on a proposal to change the current structure of the NBA draft lottery. It was expected that the league’s owners would vote overwhelmingly in favor of the changes, so its failure to pass has come as a shock to those in the basketball world. Under the current system, the 14 NBA teams that do not qualify for the playoffs are all entered into a lottery to determine which teams will receive the first three picks of the draft.

Each of the 14 lottery teams is assigned a group of four-digit number sequences based on their record during the regular season.

For example, the team with the worst record at the end of the regular season will receive 250 out of 1000 possible combinations. The number sequences that are drawn are determined by the selection of four balls out of a standard lottery machine. After the lottery process determines the first three picks, the rest of the 14 picks are determined in inverse order of the remaining teams’ win-loss records. The proposal on which the owners voted would have given each of the four worst teams an 11% chance for receiving the top pick. The fifth-worst team would receive a 10% chance of claiming the top picks, and the odds after that would decrease in inverse order of win-loss record.

Since the current draft lottery gives so much weight to the very worst teams, there is incentive for mediocre or bad teams to lose as many games as possible in order to secure the best possible odds for the draft lottery.

Recently, the Philadelphia 76ers have come under fire for putting together a team made up of marginal NBA players. Last year they finished with an abysmal win-loss record of 19-63. The 76ers and their general manager, Sam Hinkie, have been blunt about their desire to be as bad as possible in order to free up salary-cap space and to secure high draft picks. Whether or not it ends up being effective is beside the point, since even the idea of tanking hurts the competitive balance for which the league strives. Under the current draft format, it is advantageous for a mediocre team to tank rather than try to finish the season with a middling record. For example, if a team is the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference with five weeks left to go in the season, that team would be better served to tank the rest of the season and improve their odds for a high draft pick rather than finish the season missing the playoffs, with no high draft pick to show for it. The funny thing about all of this controversy is that the worst team in the league rarely gets the first pick. The last time the team with the worst record got the first pick was when the Orlando Magic took Dwight Howard in the 2004 draft. To be fair, the worst team will usually wind up with a top three pick in the draft, even if it’s not the first pick. The Oklahoma City Thunder was the last team to tank and milk the draft; then they picked Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka over the course of three years.

A once terrible team became the perennial Western Conference powerhouse we have come to know over the last several seasons.

Of course, the Thunder is the anomaly, not the norm.

I am glad the owners rejected the changes to the draft lottery. Small-market teams such as the Thunder or Sacramento Kings have a difficult time attracting big-name free agents to their cities so their only hope to obtain star players is either through trades or through the draft. Even though the worst teams will not always draft the next Kevin Durant, the current lottery system gives weight to the worst teams and provides hope to the fan bases in small markets. Tanking may be a bad practice, but only a small portion of teams actually try to be noncompetitive, and, quite frankly, these teams would be boring to watch and terrible regardless.

October 30, 2014

Heisman competition in constant flux Robert Carpenter Guest Columnist

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very year, the nation’s best college football player is chosen by 870 football writers and 55 former winners to be awarded the coveted Heisman Trophy. The Heisman is intended to recognize outstanding play, integrity and leadership on and off the field. But even though the Heisman is at the peak of its influence and audience size, in recent years the award has been criticized by claims that it overlooks bad behavior and is biased towards east coast and southern players that receive the most TV coverage. The top five Heisman Trophy candidates are invited to New York City in mid December for the trophy ceremony. Unfortunately, this sports writer is not granted voting privileges, but that is not going to stop me from presenting my top 5 Heisman Front Runners. Let’s start with Dak Prescott: at the quarterback position, the junior has lead Mississippi State to 7-0 and a number one ranking on the Associated Press Top 25. The QB has a balanced style of play and is equally comfortable throwing a touchdown as he is running for one. Prescott utilized his duel threat style to lead the MSU Bulldogs over Kentucky on Saturday, as he ran for two touchdowns and passed for one. If Prescott can continue his high level of play and keep Mississippi State undefeated, he is lock for Heisman.

No Heisman contender list would be complete without Oregon Quarterback Marcus Mariota. Coming off a high scoring victory over Cal, Marriota has the Ducks flying high and has thrown for 26 touchdowns with only one interception. But before Marriota can hoist the Heisman Trophy, he must first take on Stanford this Saturday. Stanford is looking to stretch their winning streak over the Ducks to three years, but, already having lost 3 games, the Cardinal may lack confidence. If Mariota can lead Oregon over Stanford and again the following week versus Utah, it would be difficult not to give him the award and his team

a birth into the college football playoff. Yet, Stanford’s stout defense may not be Mariota’s biggest obstacle. Considering that only two of the last ten Heisman Trophy winners have played in the Pacific Time Zone makes it clear that East Coast bias is alive and strong.

The reigning Heisman winner, Jameis Winston, is back in the conversation as Florida State continues to stretch their undefeated streak. The Seminoles have not lost a game with Winston at Quarterback and are the nation’s reining BSC National Champions. Yet, even though Winston’s play is extraordinary, his off-the-field problems sometimes speak more loudly. Winston’s reputation is continually shadowed by 2013 sexual assault charges that were eventually dropped by Florida courts. These acquisitions were resolved before last year’s voting, and the trouble was not enough to stop Winston from winning the Trophy. The distractions continued this year as Winston’s University barred him from an early game this season for yelling profanities in a Florida State student union. If the words of Bo Jackson, a former Heisman Trophy winner, current voter and multi sport legend can be used as a measuring stick, the opinion on Winston is starting to turn negative. “Winston needs to make some changes in his life. Because it’s affecting him now, and it’s definitely going to affect him down the road.” Judging from Bo Jackson’s statement earlier this month on “The Jim Rome Show,” it seems that Winston’s off-the-field actions will affect this year’s voting. The Heisman Trophy does account for “integrity” when determining its recipients, and this may be the only requirement Winston does not meet.

Amari Cooper, Alabama’s Junior wide out, might be the only wide receiver on this list, but that doesn’t stop him from being a playmaker for the Crimson tide. On Saturday versus Tennessee, Cooper had nine receptions for 224 yards. Highlighted by an 80 run from a catch at the line of scrimmage. With Cooper’s breaking

1000 receiving yards on the season Saturday, it is the second time he has reached the millennial mark in his career. If Alabama is going to make it into the College Football Playoff, expect Amari Cooper to carry the team and the football to success.

University of Nebraska’s running back, Ameer Abdullah, is giving Corn Husker nation something to cheer about, leading Nebraska over Rutgers Saturday with 225 yards on 19 carries for three rushing TDs and a school record of 341 all-purpose yards. But one doesn’t have to look into the record books to learn Abdullah is a legitimate Heisman candidate. Abdullah is a nightmare that doesn’t go away for the opposing team, as he is lethal running the football on kick returns, receiving paces and breaking out of the back field. Undoubtedly, Abdullah is looking forward to Nebraska’s match up against Big 12 conference rival University of Wisconsin, as he will have to take on Heisman rival Melvin Gordon. Wisconsin’s star running back has rushed for 16 touchdowns and caught eight more, showing versatility similar to Abdullah. Whoever can come out of the matchup with the win will launch himself forward in the Heisman race and could potentially win the Big 10; that is, of course, dependent on the success of conference juggernauts Ohio State and Michigan State.

Most teams have four or five games remaining on their schedule, which is more than enough for a Heisman hopeful to completely squander their chances or for a no name to steal the show. Every game provides playmakers the opportunity to punch their ticket to New York. In a just a few minutes during a game, a player can put himself on the map with 7 touchdowns, just as Texas Christians University’s QB Trevone Boykin did Saturday.

Or, in just the same way, a poorly timed fumble or interception can take a “Heisman lock” out of the conversation. This is the nature of the Heisman race and of college football and is exactly what makes it exciting.

First international ice skating showcase of season features youthful energy, experience Cherry Ji

Guest Columnist

F

or skating fans, waiting for Skate America to kick off the new Olympic cycle after Sochi was like anticipating Christmas. After a long off-season that cooled off excitement and controversies lingered from the Olympics, it was finally the first major international competition of the season that debuted new programs for some and announced comebacks for others.

The ice dance event was the forerunner for the gold metal battle in the coming U.S. nationals between Madison Chock/Evan Bates and Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani. The fact that Olympic gold medalists Davis and White are taking the year off makes this year’s domestic battle open to two young and upcoming teams.

Chock and Bates hung on to their four-point lead after the short dance and claimed their first Grand Prix title on home turf. While I do agree that Chock and Bates skated with much abandon, speed and emotion and deserved to win, the huge gap of 11 points simply did not make sense to me. The Shibutanis had deeper edges and smoother movements; however, Chock and Bates were given superior marks in skating skills and linking movement. Their higher presentation component score overall reflects the trend ice dance is moving towards: an exaggerated, emotional style (Chock and Bates skated to “An American in Paris”) over a traditional European one (The Shibutanis skated to “The Blue Danube”). Another point to make is that Chock and Bates were really smart by choosing the technique-oriented Igor Shpilband over the Shibutanis’ coach, choreography-oriented Marina Zueva, when the dream coaching team split up in 2012. Their improvement on lifts and twizzles was spectacular to see. By contrast, the Shibutanis did leave a few points on the technical aspect.

In the ladies event, it was two Russian junior world champions, Elena Radionova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, against the defending U.S. champion Gracie Gold. Competing in home-

town Chicago, Gold seemed to be a bit carried away with extremely high expectations from the crowd, missing several elements in both the short and long, and finished third behind Radionova and Tuktamysheva. Ladies’ figure skating is so much about landing the hardest jumps these days. Despite feeling the pressure and having a few shaky landings, Radionova secured the gold medal with ease after landing two triple-triple combinations in the long, including an impressive triple loop- half loop-triple Salcow in the second half of the program.

To me, it was a fair ranking under the current judging system, where the ability to jump is given the top priority. The artistic aspect, such as choreography, transitions and interpretation of music is not so much differentiated once a skater establishes a reputation of a great jumper. This gives an edge to the petite early-adolescent girls like the 15-year-old Radionova, who spins in the air faster than anyone else in the competition. As Gold turned 19, it became much harder for her to keep up in both the difficulty level and the consistency.

At the same time, she did not get an edge on the performance side, either. Many analysts, including Johnny Weir from NBC, did not like her music choice, “Phantom of the Opera” with lyrics. To me it seems like people are overusing lyrics this year, the first season that lyrics are allowed in the ladies’ event. Gold does not handle the maturity of the music well and did not use it to her advantage.

Like the ladies’ event, the men’s was also a jumping game. However, besides being the best jumper, Tatsuki Machida won gold with two sophisticated, well-choreographed programs.

He came so ready and prepared, as if this were the world championships. After coming to a close second in last year’s world to his teammate Yuzuru Hanyu, he seems to be really determined to be crowned world champion this season, and he is definitely in great position to do so. It will be interesting to see how Hanyu will react to the domestic rivalry. Chicago

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native Jason Brown presented two artistic programs that rocked the stadium. However, as he has been plagued over the years, he does not have a quad jump and, therefore, his base value was lower than those of his major competitors.

What exacerbated his loss on the technical side were two mistakes on the Triple Axel, the most difficult jump that he had to offer. In the end, the alleged home crowd advantage was not enough to hold him up. He finished in second behind the sensational Machida.

Last but not least, the pairs event was highlighted by a strong comeback performance

by Russia’s Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov. Having been away from competition for a year and missing the Sochi game due to injury, they came back stronger than ever.

They delivered two clean performances, highlighted by a throw quad Salcow in the free.

American pair Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier also made history by taking the silver.

They have shown clear signs of improvement since the legendary German coach Ingo Steuer, who coached Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy to five world champion titles, joined their coaching team this summer. Their “Lion King” long program is one of the best choreographed pair programs of the season, as Steuer is known for creating innovative programs.

China’s Cheng Peng and Hao Zhang had a rather disappointing start of the season. Going into the competition as one of the gold medal favorites, she missed all three side-by-side triple jumps in both programs. It is uncharacteristic of her to miss especially the two triple toeloops because that was her strongest jump during summer training from what I observed.

They will have to win Cup of China to secure a spot at the Grand Prix Final.

Overall, the audience was lucky to see a few world champion level performances, though most headlining American skaters did not live up to the expectations. It is still the very beginning of the season and there certainly will be many more delightful programs to see.

October 30, 2014

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Large incoming freshmen class looks to add team depth FENCING continued from page 1

is, as stated in writing, “To integrate all of the brand new freshman talent into a better team this season than we had last.” Gillman will have his hands full with so many new freshmen recruits as the women are bringing on Bridget Clafin and Kirsten Denman, both foil fencers, as well as sabreists Annie Innes-Gold, Emily Stamm, and Sabrina Rivers. The men, with a similar number of recruits, are taking in only one foilist, Tom Racek, but two sabreists Eli Polston and Eric Lee, and three épée fencers: Jonathan Alperstein, George Whiteside and Daniel Swerzenski.

In a written statement, Senior captain Tre Artis recognized the importance of helping his new teammates, stating, “Transitioning to the college fencing arena is always one of the toughest challenges for incoming freshmen. It’s a team format (which is unique about college fencing) and the competition is tougher but also you’re balancing academics, commitments, traveling and training. It’s tough to juggle at first. Some freshmen transition seamlessly, for others it’s a process. We (captains, coaches and experienced players) want to help the freshmen get used to fencing in college as best we can so that they can contribute to our program in the ways we know they can.” His co-captain, sophomore Elam Coalson, had similar thoughts, “...[T]he team is very young this year. There’s only one senior in the starting lineup, and many freshmen will be given large roles. It takes some time to adapt to collegiate fencing, and we might have a slightly slow start this year because of it.”

This large incoming class of freshmen has its advantages as well, including bringing important depth to the bench, which is important to have as the season progresses and injuries begin to pile up. Coalson explained the significance of team depth, stating, “The team is very deep this year, which is a significant strength. If somebody’s injured, sick or just having an off day, there’s almost always somebody else who can

fill in well for them.”

Gillman has high hopes for fencing this year with a large incoming class and experienced veterans: “To be more competitive in the Northeast Fencing Conference this season, looking towards returning to being Conference Champion in 15-16.” This goal is echoed by many of his athletes, like senior sabre fencer Anastasia Stevens, who added, “I want to build our team and be competitive in our conference...Basically, we want to win as many bouts as possible this year.”

Artis expanded upon Stevens’ goals, remarking, “One of main goals is to improve our conference records and standings. The men’s team finished 5th and the women 6th in conference standings last year and we had a total of two conference all stars (one on the men’s side, one on the women’s). We really would like to do a lot better than that. We can and we have.”

In fact, in 2011, the women’s team won the conference and VC fencing won the combined conference championship. With this in mind, Artis also has hope for continued success on an individual level; “Additionally, we want to qualify someone for the NCAAs, something we haven’t been able to do since 2012. This is always a challenge as not many people get to qualify in the entire Northeast region so it takes so exceptional fencing to get there but I think we have plenty of people capable to making it there.”

Stevens mentioned another difficulty in the fencing schedule: the numerous Division I opponents the Brewers will see this season; “The usual—facing Division I schools like Brown, Harvard, Penn State, Columbia, etc. [will be an obstacle].” But, concerning their most intimidating opponents, Stevens said, “We’re hoping to beat schools like Boston College, Haverford and NYU. Those might be close matches!”

Konno is looking forward to the challenge they will face in Sacred Heart University, saying, “One of our toughest matchups will be against Sacred Heart University. Every year we

go against SHU multiple times during the season, and they are often the best-ranked team at our competitions.”

VC fencing, with Gillman at the forefront, has worked hard to come up with ways to make success in Northeast Fencing Conference and NCAAs possible. Gillman explained his goals for the team: “To make the team more mentally strong both on and off the strip.” Like any other collegiate sport, team chemistry and mental training is a big part of VC fencers’ focus in the 2014 season. To increase focus on the mental aspect of the sport Gillman has made an important staffing decision; “We have Coach Matt Mitchell, PhD and Clinical Psychologist working with the team this season and as a Vassar Alum and foil fencer, he should be able to help.”

As a captain, Artis will work to translate the importance of mental toughness, commenting, “Regarding the mental side of things, we want everyone to maintain their intensity and focus when they are on and off the fencing strip. Also staying mentally fresh, positive, not getting too frustrated as well as challenging yourself.”

On the strip, the fencers have been training to improve the physical side of their skill set as well as their mental fortitude. Artis outlines the team’s plan concerning team endurance, explaining, “Regarding our goal to build team fitness, it’s something that we have been working already in this preseason. We had team lifting sessions in the Kenyon Weight Room with Coach Cam Williams who is Vassar’s Strength and Conditioning Coach. He has given us many tools that we can use on our own to become stronger and also integrate into our practices.

Speaking of practices, this year the Captains have worked on diversifying warm ups (some agility, strength, cardio, etc) just so that we are building ourselves physically all around.”

Some of these plans are already coming into fruition, said Stevens; “We’ve already been improving the quality of our practices, doing team workouts and setting personal and team goals

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for ourselves.”

Gillman’s final, and perhaps most important goal for his 2014 athletes is as follows: “To provide the best experience for all our student athletes. One that they will treasure for the rest of their lives.”

Athletes have already recognized this value at work on their team this semester. Stevens said, “Our head coach, Bruce Gillman, is incredibly supportive and does whatever he can to help us achieve our goals.”

Stevens recognized that it is not always easy to keep spirits up during the season. She went on to explain, “And as with any sport, balancing school and fencing is hard when you’re in the middle of the season. We have a period in February where we have four meets in two weeks (each meet consists of fencing 2-6 schools).

Keeping the momentum and enthusiasm up when your team is tired and stressed about homework/sleep can be challenging.”

With the support system that the fencing team provides, Gillman’s goal has the possibility of coming into fruition. Artis appreciates this aspect of his sport, saying, “I’m definitely excited to start a new year with the team. Each new year feels like the slate has been wiped clean and you can start all over again. Each new year is an opportunity to be better than you were before, Looking forward to new obstacles and achievements is always an exciting prospect.

We have a lot of new faces this year and that is always exciting. New members to the team always bring an energy with them that is refreshing and fun.”

Senior sabre captain Kathleen Konno elaborates on her role as a one of the captains of the women’s team, saying, “I’m really excited to watch this team grow and bond together. It’s fun to see the freshmen begin to fit into their roles and grow more comfortable in them. It’s a big honor to be the captain of this team, I think it’s going to be one of the most successful years in program history.”

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October 30, 2014

Fall Frisbee season offers opportunity for development Erik Quinson

Guest Reporter

I

Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

f you wander past Noyes Circle on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday afternoon, you will notice a peculiar group of breathless and dirty men and women. Perhaps you’ve wondered about them: who are they, where do they come from, and why don’t they have a field of their own to practice on?

This is Vassar’s Ultimate Frisbee Team: a team of committed Vassar students, who are self-run and mostly self-taught. They operate outside of the Vassar Athletics Department but still compete against other schools and in national competitions. A keystone of the Vassar community for decades, both the men and women’s teams have represented the College at one time or another at nationals.

Though the team describes itself as relaxed, the practices are still competitive. Elise Symer, senior and one of the captains of the women’s team, said, “There’s often a theme to practice, an offensive or defensive strategy. There’s always a goal in mind to learn a new strategy of the game, so we’ll do drills that mirror it and will use it in our scrimmage if we’ve talked about it and practiced it that practice.”

The level of practice difficulty is really up to the individual player according to Symer; “It’s on an individual basis, but we take it as seriously as it permits us to still have fun while playing. That doesn’t negate a level of competitiveness and every spring we talk about how far we want to go.”

It’s important to note that the fall season is really more of an education in the game for new players, and so, though there are a few tournaments, the official season doesn’t start until spring. What makes this so beneficial for the team is that it gives time for new players to get some experience playing competitively and learning the basics of the game. Sam Plotkin, senior and four-year player, said “The captains coach, but there’s a general understanding that the older players are responsible for guiding

younger players, showing them how to throw and making sure they catch with two hands.”

As far as competitions go, the team set out for their first competition two weeks ago, on the weekend beginning with the 10th of October. They had forty-four players go, with a lot of new members making up the numbers. It was hosted by Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Symer said, “We brought two mixed teams, we purposefully made the teams equal and we had a bunch of rooks, so it was a learning tournament, and we didn’t do great.”

Symer conceded that the results were representative of this learning process, “We didn’t win a lot. There were a lot of close games. We didn’t get crushed by anyone, and they were fairly even scores. One of our teams won one game, and the other won two over the course of the two days.”

An interesting facet of Ultimate Frisbee, which distinguishes it from any other competitive sport offered at Vassar, is that men and women can compete together at tournaments, though it seems this occurs less rather than more often. This most recent tournament happened to be coed. Plotkin, when talking about the recent tournament, expressed her enjoyment when the teams were mixed, saying, “Frisbee, at least the way that we choose to play, is about having fun more than being the dominant team on the field, especially when it’s coed because it’s fun to play with everyone on the team.”

There is only one additional rule when the game is coed: the team starting on offense at the beginning of each point decides the ratio of men to women. Though it’s true that both the men and women’s team enjoy the chance to play together, both Plotkin and Symer admitted that the play got more competitive when the teams separated into men and women. Symer acknowledged that, “Whether it’s coed or not depends on the tournament but it’s not uncommon. We usually play separately. In general, we don’t have a lot of chemistry when we play to-

As the fall season continues, the College’s club Frisbee teams look to continue practicing before the days become frigid. This semester is dedicated to teaching incoming player the basic skills of the sport. gether since we don’t practice together.“ Symer’s very excited about the women’s team this year, although they’re lacking all their junior players, who decided to go on a semester abroad forgoing their commitments to Vassar and the Frisbee team. Luckily for the team, they will be back in the spring, to join the new recruits. Symer understands her role as a captain for these new players, “It’s great getting to know them and making friends with them, and it’s mine and Sasha’s [Fisher-Zwiebel, senior and other women’s captain] job to keep them involved and make sure they know that they’re the future of the team.” It’s the constant battle all non-varsity sports fight, getting and keeping new recruits, but, given that, as Plotkin proudly states, “The important thing to note is we have one of the largest orgs on campus and

we’re also disproportionately large for a Frisbee team.”

Though they have plenty of players, they’re always looking for more. The team is an organization and not part of the Vassar Athletics department, which has its pros and cons, perhaps one of the biggest cons being they don’t have a real field to practice on and have to work around the athletics department when trying to find space to host tournaments. On the other hand, literally anyone can start playing at any point. Plotkin noted that sometimes people will just stop by and ask to join in, and the team is built on exactly that kind of relaxed and inclusive attitude. Symer believes that “The reason we’re successful as a team is because we all want to be friends with each other and we’re always welcoming.”

Brewer teams prepare for final playoff push over break Eli J. Vargas I

Tournament, VCMS faced off against RPI this past Saturday, October 25. The game was close for the first half until RPI opened it up with two second half goals. The men were unable to respond and fell 2-0. With the loss, the men drop to 3-2 in league play. VCMS looks to avenge their loss as they face Bard College this Saturday at 12 p.m. on the road.

Sports Editor

Field Hockey

This past Friday and Saturday, the Vassar women’s field hockey team played two tough games. Friday, they lost 1-2 to St. Lawrence University, a game in which freshman Storm Sideleau managed to net a nice goal to even the score at 1-1, before St. Lawrence answered in overtime in a tough loss for the Brewers.

Saturday, the Brewers played #13 ranked Skidmore College in another closely contested match. Junior forward Lauren Wiebe scored the lone goal for the Brewers in the first half, but Skidmore came back in the second half to score two unanswered goals. Despite the loss, the Brewers qualified for the Liberty League Tournament and received the #3 seed with a record of 11-4 overall and 3-3 in league play. In their last match of the regular season, they play at New Paltz on Saturday at 1 p.m. They travel to Skidmore Nov. 5 for a rematch in the first round of the Liberty League Tournament.

Men’s rugby played two games over the break. Sunday, Oct. 19 they faced rival Marist College in a physical matchup that saw the Brewers prevail 39-14 at the Farm in their last game before the playoffs. Senior flyhalf Nich Graham led the way for the Brewers with a total of 14 points scored.

This past Saturday, the men were up against #4 seed Molloy College and showed that they earned the #1 seed: a solid win 41-14. Sophomore center Seamus Taylor left with a fractured fibula in the first half, but that didn’t stop the Brewers, as freshman Joseph Simon scored three tries as the men ran away with it. Up next for the College’s men is Sacred Heart University in the tri-state conference semi-finals this Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Farm.

Women’s Rugby

VCWR played two conference playoff games over October break and were victorious in both.

On Sunday Oct. 19, the Stony Brook Universi-

courtesy of Vassar Athletics

Men’s Rugby

Cross Country

Over the break men’s and women’s rowing started off their season at the SUNY Albany Invitational, where they experienced improvement as their strokes were strong and the day progressed. ty Seawolves came to the Farm to face the #2 Brewers. The women struggled with possession in the first half but quickly rebounded to win 69-5. Sophomore flyhalf Mary-Margaret McElduff had a notable performance as she tallied 19 points.

This last Saturday, the women continued their playoff push with a win over Hofstra University.

In a more fiercely-contested game, the Brewers won 29-17. Seniors Meg Slattery and Kathleen Gould each had two tries for the Brewers. In their next contest, the Brewers have their hands full against an undefeated Rutgers University team. The women look to avenge their loss to Rutgers at the Farm this Saturday at 12 p.m.

Women’s Soccer

While the rest of the College was enjoying their break, VCWS soccer was busy playing to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Brewers

played hard and won two close matches with the help of junior Emma Nichols and the rest of the Brewer defense to go 2-1 over the break.

Saturday, Oct. 18, VCWS faced St. Lawrence University at home in what became a hotly contested match, as the game was decided by a free kick late in the game by junior Lucy Brainerd.

Next, the women played William Patterson University on October 22nd in another close win; sophomore Jordyn Matthews scored the game’s only goal in the opening five minutes.

This last Saturday, the Brewers faced the second place RPI women at East Campus Stadium. Unfortunately, VCWS couldn’t respond to the scoring from RIP and fell 3-0. The women look to create some momentum as they travel to Union College this Saturday to play at 2 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

In the hunt for a spot in the Liberty League

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In their final meet of the regular season, the College’s XC teams traveled to separate meets as the men participated in the Connecticut College Invitational. Meanwhile, the women traveled to Mount Holyoke College to compete in the Seven Sisters Championships on Oct. 18.

The VCXCW finished second to Wellesley College, and senior Cassidy Carpenter earned All Seven-Sisters accolades as she finished fourth with a time of 22:58 on the 6k course.

In Connecticut, the men finished 11th out of 18 teams and were led by freshman Phillip Brown, who finished with a time of 27:04 on the 8k course to finish 42nd overall. XC hopes to have rested their bodies and prepared themselves over the break as their next meet is the Liberty League Championships this Saturday at RPI in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Men and Women’s Rowing

This past weekend on Saturday, Oct. 24, both the men and women traveled to compete at SUNY Albany Invitational in the last scheduled gala this fall. The men’s novice 8+ in their first race placed third out of three with a time of 6:44.3, while the women’s novice 8+ finished second of three with a time of 6:26.5. The varsity men 8+ improved as the day progressed. In the first, they came third of four and came in at 6:35.7 and in the second race, they improved enormously with a time of 6:05.3 and finished second. The women’s varsity 8+ came third of four with a time of 7:22.4.

The men’s varsity 4+ won their race, and the women had two teams compete, with their A team coming in second out of five, and the B team coming in third.