Misc.12.01.22

The Miscellany News

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Food for thought: Kaleidoscope shares international cultures

Richard Lu Guest Reporter

The Office of International Students (OIS) in collaboration with the Vassar Inter national Students (VISA) returned on Nov. 16 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. with their most ex travagant event of the year: Kaleidoscope. Conceived in 2006 by OIS and VISA, Kaleido scope is an annual celebration of the various cultures that make up the Vassar interna tional students’ community. Director of In ternational Services Andrew Meade shared his thoughts on Kaleidoscope: “One of the things that makes Kaleidoscope special is that it is a multi-layered event…It is a celebration of culture and diversity that expresses itself through all the senses.” This year, the event took place in the Villard Room. With the pur chase of a $5 ticket, guests were given access to a buffet of delicious food, a talent show, a flag ceremony and a photo contest.

With Kaleidoscope being such a grand pro duction, the OIS and VISA teams had a large task on their hands. Tracy Cen ’25 [Disclaim er: Cen is the Social Media Editor for The Miscellany News] is an OIS Intern and one of the many people who worked behind the scenes to ensure that it ran smoothly. Most of her responsibilities involved reaching out to performers, vendors and students for the event. Although the event preparation was time consuming, she believed that the work was for a good cause: “Kaleidoscope provides a space for students to experience and learn

about different cultures and also bring in their own culture to the intercultural space,” she described. President of VISA Alisha Gup ta ’23 shared a similar sentiment. “[Planning Kaleidoscope] is always difficult because that tends to be a very heavy part of the semester in terms of workload,” she explained. “As president I make sure to check in weekly with the team…[and] I was so happy to see how successful it all turned out to be.” And a success it was! Thanks to the Social Con sciousness fund grant from the Vassar Stu dent Association (VSA), Kaleidoscope man aged to draw close to 400 attendees.

The night began with students rushing to get a taste of the buffet in the CCMPR, which featured food from 11 local restaurants. There were also dishes made by students and orga nizations. Vassar Alliance for Ukraine pro vided “varenyky,” a national dish of dump lings with cherry filling boiled in saltwater. A long line stretched out the door and wrapped around the Villard Room.

The first event of the night was the flag cer emony, where international students intro duced themselves and their countries to the audience. They waved their flags with pride in front of the large crowd. Some students even donned traditional clothing from their home countries. Ella Nguyen ’23 comment ed, “It’s great to see how people showcase their identities [and see] the pride that every performer had.”

The second act of the night was the talent

See Kaleidoscope on page 4

Ukraine spotlighted at first event

Emma Raff Guest Reporter

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, the student-run or ganization Vassar Alliance for Ukraine hosted the College’s first discussion panel on the Russo-Ukrainian War. The organization’s co-presidents Benjamin Fikhman ’23 and Ma rina Hrytsenko ’23 felt that this public discus sion was long overdue. The event consisted of five speakers and concluded with a Q&A sec tion. The organization also sponsored a fund raiser, selling pins and other items to raise money for Ukrainians affected by the war.

In an email correspondence, Fikhman stated, “As an organization seeking to raise awareness about the war and offering stu dents avenues to support Ukraine and its peo ple, we felt it was incumbent upon us to en gage the campus and do so in an educational and discursive setting.” He continued, “In re gards to the war, we are trying to do the most with the small part we are given this semes ter. That includes fundraising to help vulner able Ukrainians and being very vocal about our convictions, as well as personal stories of the org. members. We are looking forward to growing our presence heading into next se mester and potentially connecting with other campuses in finding solutions to help others.”

The discussion panel began with an intro duction from Professor of History Michaela Pohl, who provided historical context behind

the 2022 invasion and the subject of Russian colonialism. She first addressed the Russian missile attack that occurred in Poland that same morning, killing two citizens. Audience members asked Pohl for her predictions, to which she stated that the recent attack on Po land, even if unintentional, will escalate the war. “Putin will not survive politically or lit erally,” she said.

Following Pohl, Ukrainian-American Zoe Ripecky ’14 discussed how her Ukrainian identity influenced her time at Vassar, as well as her current humanitarian and environ mental work with non-profit organizations. An advisee of Pohl during her junior and se nior years, Ripecky wrote her thesis on gas corruption in Ukraine and traveled there to complete her Fulbright Scholarship, where she worked on modernizing the energy sec tor. “Ukrainian voices were not well-repre sented at Vassar,” she stated. Due to this lack of attention, she founded a campus organization called The Group for Tomorrow’s Ukraine, which was made up of mainly Ukrainian students who expressed their experiences through blog posts and informative articles.

Ripecky later became the head of oper ations and strategy at Razom, which, ac cording to its official website, is a non-profit Ukrainian-American human rights orga nization established in 2014 to support the people of Ukraine. Razom means ‘together’

Vassar Orchestra reflection

Allen Hale Columnist

On Saturday, Nov. 19, I had the honor of performing as part of the Vassar College Orchestra in our second and final concert of the fall semester. The orchestra’s previous concert had taken place on Saturday, Oct. 9, leading to a speedy turnaround in order to prepare our repertoire following October Break. Despite the difficulty of this task, all members of the ensemble pulled through to put on a great show, which included some of my favorite pieces I’ve played here at Vassar. Although I have written mainly on the expe rience of music from the perspective of a lis tener in previous articles, I thought it would be insightful to reflect upon the artform from a performer’s point of view, highlighting the work of the group as a participant myself.

I have been playing trombone since the fourth grade, and I entered Vassar having already played with various wind ensembles and bands. Wanting to try something new, I decided to audition for the orchestra here, of which I have now been playing with for three semesters. This recent concert’s line up included four pieces, with two having trombone parts for me to play. I was able to spend the first portion of the concert as a half-audience member, listening in from the hallway outside of the Skinner Recital Hall. The strings were the first to take the stage

followed by the concertmaster, leading the group in tuning after applause; Director of the Orchestra Eduardo Navega then took the stage to additional applause. “Deux Propos” by 20th-century French composer Henry Fevrier was the chosen work for the strings, a slower piece that highlights the violins in the melody. The performance came to a sub dued ending, leading into the introduction of additional members of the orchestra for Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto.” Two flutes, two bassoons and two horns joined the strings to accompany Adjunct Artist in Music Ian Ty son, the featured clarinet soloist. The piece is structured in standard concerto form, con sisting of three movements: the first fast, the second slow and the third fast again. Tyson played with a virtuosic ability that grabbed my attention, despite my personal unfamil iarity with his instrument; excellent dynam ic contrast and performative interpretation created a nuanced and engaging perfor mance requiring technical precision. Last ing around 30 minutes, the solo functioned as the centerpiece to the concert, requiring a large deal of preparation on part of the or chestra.

After intermission, the full orchestra en tered onstage for the next two pieces. I en joyed my parts for each of these two works, as they struck a nice balance between intrigue and a lower overall level of performance

Experience (or reexperience) the magic of a first snowfall with Guest Columnist Yaksha Gummadapu.

The Vassar Brewers have done it again! Read all about the the latest win from the Vassar men's soccer team.

Design Editor

Maryam Bacchus reflects on the everlasting presence of One Direction in her life.

Tracy Cen/The Miscellany News.

THE MISCELLANY NEWS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Leila Raines

Nina Ajemian

Monika Sweeney Janet Song Annabelle Wang

NEWS EDITORS

ARTS

Jacques Abou-Rizk Charlotte Robertson

Will Sorge

Ganesh Pillai Kai Speirs

Sufana Noorwez

Madi Donat

Nicholas Tillinghast Doug Cobb

Tracy Cen

Maryam Bacchus Jacqueline Gill

Caris Lee

GRAPHIC

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Allen Hale

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COPY STAFF

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Graphic courtesy of Sandro Luis Lorenzo ’24.

Vassar Alliance for Ukraine hosts first discussion

in Ukrainian. Following the start of the Rus so-Ukrainian War, Ripecky’s work adopted a humanitarian approach. “We were seen as a trusted organization in the U.S. that was sup porting Ukraine, and since Ukraine was at the top of everyone’s minds, we kind of blew up in support and were able to have a sustained emergency response effort.” Razom began to partner with larger organizations to transport hospital equipment to Ukraine. According to Fikhman, “[Ripecky’s] humanitarian per spective and experience, coupled with her Vassar past, is important to our organization and the campus at large.”

Finally, three current members of Vassar Alliance for Ukraine stepped up to share their stories surrounding their lives in Ukraine, providing a personal dimension to the discus sion. Hrytsenko is from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Her mother, sister and grandmother were at home when a bomb went off, demolishing a building a few blocks away and shattering every window of their own home. Hrysenko showed a picture of the rubble, saying, “The only reason my apartment doesn’t look like

this is luck.” She explained how it took her a long time to learn that the Russian language spoken in her household was a result of col onization, to which several Ukrainian audi ence members responded that since the war, their families are making a conscious effort to embrace their Ukrainian culture and limit their use of the Russian language.

The next student speaker, Karolina Naidon ’26, began her story with the destruction of her home: “Similar to other areas, for me, the morning of [Feb. 24, 2022] started with mis sile strikes in my city.” Naidon was born in Dnipro, and because a member of her family is disabled, she was forced to escape Ukraine alone. She went by train, surrounded by ref ugees. “Almost everyone on that train had lost their home,” she remarked. They were forbidden to leave the train, and eventually, they ran out of warm water and proper food. For up to four hours, she and others sat in complete darkness with the lights and their phones shut off, the sounds of shooting in the distance. “After that, we were in Poland. All the people were glad that they were safe but there were some who had left some relatives

there [in Ukraine] and yes, they were safe, but at what cost?” She concluded, “That was the last time I saw my family.”

The final speaker, Valerie Malykhina ’25, lived in Donetsk and then Mariupol. “I have been displaced for the past eight years, since the Summer of 2014,” she said. Her family simply climbed into their car and started driv ing. “I thought it would only be two weeks.” Malykhina also described what it was like to not hear from a close Ukrainian friend for three weeks. “By the third week, I had start ed hoping that her death had been quick and painless.” Her friend was eventually able to make contact. She and her family had been sheltering in a basement for nearly a month.

The stories that were shared by the three students, as well as Ripecky and Pohl, were not only informative but deeply personal. According to Fikhman, to hear and under stand their experiences would greatly benefit the Vassar community. When asked what he hopes people will take away from the event, Fikhman responded, “Vassar Alliance for Ukraine hopes attendees will gain a more nuanced understanding of the invasion. By providing context and detailing the existence

of a strong historical precedent behind Rus sia’s aggression, we promote a well-informed student body and campus community.” He added, “we hope that the insight students gain from our speakers answers their own ques tions and spurs further action and participa tion in our organization.”

A sense of unity has developed in Ukraine and amongst Ukrainian students. Hrytsenko recalls her trip to Ukraine this past October where she witnessed nearly 200 people spon taneously break into the Ukrainian national anthem, hanging out of windows, peering out of storefronts and standing in the middle of the street. However, this sense of solidarity has yet to develop in the greater Vassar com munity. Fikhman said, “Surrounding student activism, we seek to promote an energized student body that is educated on the issues. That will promote the spread of solidarity and accurate information about the war.” It is the goal of Vassar Alliance for Ukraine to create a pro-Ukrainian campus, a campus that de nounces violence and genocide and assures that the experiences of our Ukrainian stu dents are recognized and understood to be a vital aspect of a united community.

Image courtesy of Melissa Roybal '23.

Image courtesy of Ben Fikhman '23.

Miscellany

Kaleidoscope shares cultures from nations beyond

show. There were 13 incredible routines listed on the roster. Acts represented a mix of tal ents: singing, dancing, playing instruments and a combination of all three. Ayman Elsid dig ’26 thought this was the best part of the night. “It was nice to experience the cultures of different people,” he said. Meade also had a few special moments of his own. “I have al ways found the Flag Ceremony to be a simple yet beautiful and profoundly moving event,” he revealed. “Feeling the energy in the Villard Room and glancing up periodically to see what photos are showing all add to the deli cious flavor of the event.”

Kaleidoscope offered a gateway for some performers to share their passions in music. Emma Zhuang ’24 and Zhixian Xu ’23, both international students from China, per formed the dramatic piece “Der Erlkönig” by Schubert, based on a mythological poem by Göethe, as a piano duet. “As classically trained musicians, most of our performances are inside the Music Department, but Kalei doscope is a wonderful opportunity for us to share our passion with a larger audience and a different community,” Zhuang explained. “Now that we did perform the piece, it feels like a dream come true and [fulfilled] a prom ise we have kept for each other.”

For other performers, Kaleidoscope al lowed them to raise awareness about a top ic that was close to their hearts. Karolina Naidon ’26 was able to make a statement through Kaleidoscope. In collaboration with Vassar Alliance for Ukraine and musical band “Listopad,” she sang renditions of both modern and folk songs from Ukraine. “For us, the main goal was to participate and share Ukrainian culture… [and] to highlight the current events in Ukraine,” she stated. As an international student from Ukraine herself, she wanted to form an organization that ed ucated American students about the current invasion of Ukraine and helped Ukrainians in need of humanitarian aid. Despite their difficulties scheduling rehearsals, Naidon and her group persevered and brought an un forgettable performance to Kaleidoscope. “As for the performance, despite the shortage of time we felt satisfied,” she explained. “I was glad to share with everyone a little part of rich Ukrainian culture, and I thank everyone who supported us during our performance.”

A performance by Vassar’s all-inclusive, non-audition dance organization Korean Dance Group (KoDC) concluded the eve ning. The popularity of K-pop has steadily increased in the US over the years, per Bill

Wang ’25 was one of the many dancers par ticipating in this multipart showing. “[The] audience has always been on their A-game when it comes to showing us their support,” she shared. “[It] is always really energizing whenever we’re dancing.” The audience re ception to KoDC’s performances is what De sai hoped for. “All of our performers put in so much hard work and effort at each rehearsal to create the best performance we can give,” she added. “We hope to continue performing at Kaleidoscope for years to come!”

All and all, Kaleidoscope managed to showcase the many cultures at Vassar in an engaging three-hour event. It also embold ened students like Elsiddig to become more involved with the international community at Vassar. Elsiddig was inspired by his friends in the flag ceremony this year, remarking “I might represent my country, Sudan [next year].” The event also brought students clos er together in ways they wouldn’t have ever dreamed of. Zhuang explained, “In fact, [Zhixian and I]…performed in Kaleidoscope before we met each other. Ever since we got to know each other, we have been playing together.” The OIS has continued to be a re source for international students seeking a second home. “It is a huge joy and privilege to be able to work with the amazing students from OIS and VISA to create such an elabo rate and beautiful celebration,” Meade con cluded.

board, and with such a surge in prevalence, it comes as no surprise that KoDC was one of the most heavily anticipated performanc es of the evening. President of KoDC Avani Desai ’23 shared, “It's a great opportunity to

showcase Korean music and dance, and it's also a chance for us to show off some of our hard work before our Fall Showcase.“ The audience erupted with cheers numerous times throughout the performance. Crystal

Tracy Cen/The Miscellany News.

Image courtesy of Karolina Naidon '26.

Image courtesy of Richard Lu '26.

Playing in the orchestra: A student's perspective

stress. Although I’ve managed to get to the practice room in preparation for the concert, I knew I still had to be 100 percent focused in order to play all of my parts well. We en tered onstage again before playing Charles Ives “Postlude in F,” a lesser-known work with romantic tendencies that depart from Ives’ typical association with the American avant-garde. Situated between the two lon ger pieces on the program, “Postlude” served as a transition for the orchestra, allowing the group to establish their togetherness. The middle section contains a brief melody line played by all three trombones, later fol lowed by a powerful, resonant brass chorale that drives the piece towards a minimal con clusion. A passage of this sort is one that is felt physically by the performer of the piece, leaving you completely devoted to bringing this written-down piece to life. The nuance of this work lies in its interpretation, rather than what is strictly made clear to us in no tation; even if the lines often appeared tech nically easy, I had to exert great effort into my timing and breathing with the rest of the orchestra so as to maintain uniform sound.

The final piece of our concert was Sibel ius’s “En Saga”, It showcases the composer’s late Romantic period style while also hinting at the advent of modernism within particu lar passages. Although the piece looked sim ple upon first impression, I quickly realized

the amount of lung power and concentration my performance would require in order to achieve a result I could be proud of. “En Saga” ended up being one of my favorite classical works by the time the orchestra had begun to play it in its entirety; as the piece began, I sat in excited anticipation, grinning as the bassoons made their melodic entrance a minute into the piece.The brass section be came more and more involved as the piece increased with intensity, focusing on uni ty in order to stay in tune as a section and time our rhythms cohesively. My part often moved into the upper register of my range,

physically tiring me out. The areas towards the end contained key melodic figures, re quiring me to push past any fatigue in order to project my sound into the space of the au ditorium and reach the back of the crowd. At this point, I had gone through rushes of adrenaline, attempting to keep my com posure for important moments in order to continu ally maximize my breath capacity. After finishing my last section, I noticed my body shaking from a combination of ner vous energy, tiredness and excitement from being able to be part of the performance. Al though a piece can sound satisfying to me as

an audience member, having the chance to play for a group is far more intense, allowing me to hear the performance in the totality of its nuances and details when I am placed at the center of an ensemble. It enables a direct connection to the music itself that makes you feel oriented towards its authorial intent, bringing it alive to others as your instrument rings in harmony with the rest of your fellow performers. As the concert came to an end and we stood for the crowd, I was once again reminded of the joys involved with perfor mance and why I wish to continue being a musician.

'The Car' is a journey in Arctic Monkeys' new sound

As I walked along the path to the Deece, listening to the Arctic Monkeys’ seventh studio album, “The Car,” I saw a crow land on the tip of a fourth-floor Noyes window, perched and looking out onto the Circle. I took out my phone to capture the image, turn ing back to see it flying away. As muses go, this felt pretty typical. However, in relation to the album I was listening to, it felt more significant than the ordinary just-missed-it moment. The idea of change, of a past that feels so distant from the present that, like a bird flying away as you pull out your camera, feels uncapturable. Yes, the Arctic Monkeys is the band that made generational rock hits like “When the Sun Goes Down” or “505” and iconic ballads like “Do I Wanna Know?” And yes, it’s that very same band that released another spacey concept album on Oct. 21 of this year. But no, they don’t care if you don’t like their new sound. Like a bird flying away, the band acknowledges their former place as genre-defining rock and rollers, but they are on to new and exciting things.

“Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,” the band’s sixth studio album released in 2018, prioritized ambience with a stripped-back, resonant sound fit for a hotel in space, not for hectic grunge basements like its older projects might have been. It was the Monkeys’ first album in five years, following the widely-lis tened “AM” that debuted in 2013 to widespread radio playing and fandom. “AM” may have substituted the group’s acoustic, raw aesthetic for a more electronic, mainstream one, but it still retained the harder, rocking elements that made the Arctic Monkeys so popular. This album is undoubtedly their most com mercially successful, and so to follow it up with a project of entirely different sound—one explicitly crying out to be listened to in far more low-key, personal settings—was surpris ing to many. While most, including myself, overcame the initial shock and surprise in or der to appreciate the project for the psychedel

ic, toned-down soundtrack that it is, a general desire for the band to return to their old sound remains. Enter “The Car,” in which songwrit er and frontman Alex Turner addresses these issues directly, in keeping with the band’s new sound in daring and fascinating ways.

The project’s opening track, “There’d Bet ter Be a Mirrorball,” sounds like it could have easily fit onto its predecessor album. With Matt Helders’ relaxed, nonchalant ride sym bol-tapping groove, the track is a slow, spacey stroll onto the ensuing musical journey. The track introduces the idea of the titular car, meant to symbolize change throughout the album. In the intro, Turner is lamenting the end of a relationship he is desperately trying to keep alive. “So do you wanna walk me to the car?/ I’m sure to have a heavy heart/ So can we please be absolutely sure/ That there’s a mirrorball for me?” The walk to the car represents the end of this connection, and so the “mirrorball” Turner is pining for is also symbolic - he’s asking for one last dance. In this sense, he is dealing with change by des perately seeking closure in any way possible, even by hoping for a situation as improbable as finding a disco ball in a parked car.

The car as symbolism for change contin ues on “Jet Skis on the Moat,” in which the titular vehicle gets a paint job. This upgrade also represents a change, this time one far more gradual. This could allude to the band’s adopting of new sounds and aesthetics, about which Turner not-so-subtlety queries, “Is there somethin’ on your mind/ Or you happy to just sit there and watch/ While the paint job dries?” If this addressing of audience was not obvious enough, Turner’s most explicit recollection of the band’s contrasting sounds comes on the album’s seventh track, “Big Ideas.” Referencing the group’s transition from making music that was widely adored to that of a far more niche enjoyment, wide spread only in its controversy, Turner croons “We had them out of their seats/ Wavin’ their arms and stompin’ their feet/ Some just hys terical scenes/ The ballad of what could have been.” The ballad in this case, of course, being

the trajectory of the band had it simply con tinued with its vintage sound, which has con tinually proven to be more widely-appealing than the group’s more psychedelic efforts.

This cohesive motif of change is emblemat ic of one of the album’s biggest strengths: the depth of its songwriting and subject matter. “The Car” is a swirling, reflective look at a me teoric rise to fame, and the toll that stardom in this line of work can take. Each song feels like a distinct snapshot of a specific feeling or sentiment that Turner associates with the group and its relation to the music industry.

On the upbeat, groovy “Hello You,” Turner laments the money-centric nature of the en tertainment industry, pitting the group as the counter to this corporate ethos. Going on to using the titular car to take a true trip down memory lane, he asserts, “This electric war rior’s motorcade/ Shall burn no more rubber down that boulevard,” implicitly referencing the band’s more hard-hitting rock sound. “The Car” boasts carefully crafted and clever lyricism throughout the project, each meta phor an exercise in meticulous songwriting. Aside from the excellent vehicular represen tation driving each track forward, Turner is able to perfectly convey these potentially dif ficult-to-discern sentiments through expert use of comparison and symbols. For example, on the very “AM”-sounding “Sculptures Of Anything Goes,” the abstract but telling title expanded upon to describe the group’s future musical output, which, like sculptures, takes an idea and molds it into something befitting with the artist's image, underlaid by a firm material. The group may not know exactly what is to come, but it has a vision, and it is something it wholeheartedly intends to ex plore to fruition.

The diversity of sound on this album also makes this release one of the band’s stron gest to date and an improved follow-up to the group’s initial foray into this new sound. While I can appreciate the layered, atmo spheric production of “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,” “The Car” has those elements even more fine-tuned, interlaid with even more

sonic influences. “Body Paint” feels more fa miliar in its bare, vocal-centric sound, while tracks like “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” feature groovy bass lines and bouncy, upbeat rhythms.

In contending with this diversity of sounds, this contrasting of styles and clashing of aes thetics, Turner and the band have a lot of memories to reflect on, a lot of change al ready having occured, with more ripples still likely to be felt. It could prove to be a lot to deal with, but heartwarmingly, on the al bum’s concluding track, Turner sings, “Some times, I wrap my head around it all / And it all makes sense.” If this album is the group’s way of telling us, the fans, that it’s time to ac knowledge the change in style we may have been trying to ignore, then acceptance is the word. It’s time to move on, to have enough re spect for a group that has provided fans with so many memories. It’s about allowing the band the privilege of doing so in the future in good conscience, in ways that feel genuine and true to them, as all music creators should be afforded the right to do.“The Car” is an in credibly joyful listen because it’s not simply a goodbye, signifying the end of something, but a “bon voyage,” a continuation of the musical exploits of a group so talented that it can en tirely change sounds, and still be adored by millions upon millions. As “The Car” proves, sometimes the best way to react to change is to have the unwavering faith that whatever comes anew is worth it.

Image courtesy of Vassar College via Vimeo.

Ganesh Pillai

"There'd Better Be a Mirrorball," "I Ain't Quite Where I Think I am," "Sculptures of Anything Goes," "Perfect Sense"

Night changes: An honest, matured reflection on One Direction

Maryam Bacchus Design Editor

Life comes full circle at the weirdest times. It most recently happened to me when I created a playlist entitled “one direction songs that remind me of u” and revisited the sensational boy band One Di rection’s entire discography. When these albums were initially released, I was in el ementary and middle school and lived vi cariously through them. I spent my nights romanticizing the songs and wondering if I would ever make sense of the lyrics. Now, 10 years later, I have a new perspective on my favorite songs. Reader, I present to you an honest review of my favorite One Direc tion songs, past and present.

Beginning with tunes from the group’s first album “Up All Night”, we have the classic “What Makes You Beautiful.” This one is (hopefully) on everyone’s throwback playlist as a song that bonded a generation. I remember listening to it with my cousin on my iPod touch and getting all the feels when Harry’s solo (you know the one) would start. Probably the first song I heard by the band, this bop is timeless and still resonates every time it’s put on blast. If you haven’t already, use it as a “feel good” song next time you and your friends can’t decide what to play. Also on the album is the title track “Up All Night.” I most recently revis ited this one while walking back from a production night for The Miscellany News that ran later than planned. I knew I was in for a long night and it just felt right. The actual song is about falling in love with someone and staying up late with them. As a tired college student, this one still gives me hope that fun nights of adventure dedicated to making new connections are ahead, rather than more mind-numbing ly boring nights spent coding in my Davi single. Rounding out the album is a song I did not pay much attention to back in 2011. “I Should’ve Kissed You” is upbeat, catchy and underrated. Listening to it now, the

lyrics sound like an internal conversation everyone has with themselves at least once. I definitely recommend giving it a listen if you have a “one that got away.”

One Direction’s sophomore album “Take Me Home” is by far my favorite of the five. The songs on this album have the high est highs (see Zayn in “Kiss You”) and the lowest lows (see “Change My Mind”). The track that has brought me back to this al bum countless times over the past year has been “I Would.” Whether it’s poorly scream-singing the chorus at my friends as we discuss our love lives or sitting in my room during a hype-me-up jam sesh, to me this is another one of One Direction’s hidden gems. My second song of choice is actually a midpoint between the other two I love from this album. Set to a drumheavy and fast paced beat, “Loved You First” is the perfect song for when you find your self feeling “sad-happy,” as I like to call it. Last but definitely not least: The track that has remained my rock from 2012 to 2022 is “They Don’t Know About Us.” This was the first song added to the aforementioned playlist, and it has only gotten better over time. The beat drop into the chorus always makes the lyrics all the more impactful. Overall, this album was the hardest to pick highlights from, but I think these three do it justice.

Another difficult album to pick from was the band’s third album, “Midnight Memo ries.” One of the more broadly emotional songs released, “Story of My Life,” is about love in the context of experiencing different places and stages of life. The music video for this song had my younger self in tears; it showcases meaningful photos from the in dividual band members’ lives. Listening to it in my college dorm room while looking at the photographs of my life on the walls only deepens my connection to the track. I used to wonder what growing up would en tail and, though I am still in the process of it, I now have some of the answers. The sec ond track that still appeals to me is “Don’t

Forget Where You Belong.” For the longest time, I wanted to leave my hometown and never look back (main-character style), and this song only amplified those feelings. Having accomplished part of that goal by leaving for college, I now find myself look ing back quite frequently and missing the nuances and familiarity of the physical and social community I grew up in. My final selection taps into the inner hopeless ro mantic. “You & I” is a slow song about love that can defy any obstacle it's faced with. 10-year-old me considered this the defi nition of a love song; it’s the type of song someone would sing to you after throwing rocks at your window to get your attention. Though I no longer hold out hope for the latter, I still appreciate the sweet vibes and meaning behind the song.

Perhaps the most interesting to revisit was the fourth album, appropriately titled “Four.” Unlike the others, I had been listen ing to it continuously, particularly during quarantine. In lieu of actually going to so cial events, my best friend and I would drive around, listen to music and have many parked-car conversations. Given the state of the world at the time, we became very attached to “Stockholm Syndrome.” This song carried me through the pandemic and some of my lowest times at Vassar. While the world being in lockdown felt like a weight, it also brought me some of the best memories, and I long to go back at times. I also spent significant time dreaming of the future, particularly about what adult life would be like, and “18” was the perfect background music to those thoughts. I con vinced myself the start of young adulthood would be one of the best years of my life, and when I finally turned 18, I constantly made jokes about how I had a year to find my soulmate so the song could play at our wedding. I was unfortunately unsuccess ful, but to anyone turning or currently 18, give the song a listen and be filled with hope for the next year! Rounding out the album, the perfect compliment to “18” is

“Night Changes,” a song about how quickly growing up happens. In the song, the sub ject reflects on a past relationship and the changes from that period of their life. In re cent weeks, I have frequently been compar ing my pre-college life to my current life, and reminiscing on the various milestones I have hit and the song only furthers .

The group’s last album was released during my transition out of being a super fan. Many of these songs were actually a first listen for me, and only two of them re ally stuck. As a now-adult with the ability to book a hotel room, “Perfect” is a fun and slightly mischievous song I misunderstood as a child. It describes what seems to be a one night stand but in the most romantic way possible. As a more “emotional con nection” person, I can appreciate the fun framing of the memory. On a more som ber note, “Infinity” is an emotional song about heartbreak and wishing a relation ship could have worked out. One of the biggest lessons I have learned recently is how to make peace with unfortunate cir cumstances, but still allow myself to have feelings about them; this song is the perfect example of the concept.

In 2016, the band went on a “hiatus,” which they have not yet returned from. While part of me still holds out hope the band will come together for some type of reunion, the members have found their own individual paths, as have I. Since then, I have experienced a global pan demic, graduated high school and started college, the last of which being something I have been looking forward to since I be came a One Direction fan. I have also lived through many events that have reshaped how I view certain songs and made them all the more meaningful. This reflection makes me wonder where I’ll be and what I’ll feel in another 10 years. I encourage anyone reading this to revisit music you wouldn’t normally think to go back to and listen to it from a new point of view. It truly is a won derful experience.

Image courtesy of One Direction via Wikimedia Commons.

Student experiences, re-experiences a New York snowfall

As I embarked on the long walk back from the Vassar Athletic and Fitness Center (AFC) to my cozy dorm in Lathrop, I felt a lit tle droplet of water fall square on my cheek. As it slid down my face like a solitary tear, I thought to myself: “Ugh, I don’t even have an umbrella.” I was annoyed that my tired and aching body would be drenched by another rainy night on campus. Then, I noticed the drops remained on my coat in the form of little white specks. It’s snowing! All of a sud den, I wasn’t exhausted or annoyed anymore. I was back in first grade, during winter break, playing in the snow with my sister while my parents shoveled the giant white heaps from our driveway in Chester Springs, PA. I re membered curiosity getting the better of me and asking my sister through chattering teeth if it was okay to eat the snow. She replied in her know-it-all manner: “Well, it's just frozen water. You’ll just be, like, really hydrated.” She didn’t say “duh,” but every time my sister spoke between the ages of 11 and 14, the “duh” was implied and omnipresent. Inspired by my trip through past memories, like a child that doesn’t know any better than to listen to every impulse, I stuck my tongue out to taste the snowflakes as I made my way past the TAs. It was instinctive; it was snowing and my tongue had to know.

Since my family moved to Hyderabad in 2012, a city in South India where jackets are an unnecessary expense, I hadn’t seen or felt snow. That conversation with my sister was my last memory of snow. This was my reunion with snowflakes. This was also the first time in my life that nostalgia held any real power over me. It gently stretched my lips into the widest smile and held them there as I looked up at the sky in wonder. It provided me with warmth and the burst of energy I needed to realize that I had actually missed the snow.

This was a shocking revelation since I was worried that my time in a tropical country would make me New York winter’s most gull ible victim. However, the snow was already forming a little mountain on my head, and the cold was seeping from the ground into my Converse—I felt nothing but comfort.

Snow meant time with my family, some thing I was missing since coming to campus. I took out my phone and sent a video of the snow coating the ground to my family group chat. I followed it up with a one-sentence text that failed to capture the complexity of what I was feeling but made my excitement clear: “IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!” What I really wanted to say: “I miss you, and I wish we were all to gether like we were the last time I remember it snowed.” My heart was full at the thought of re-experiencing snow, but I also longed to hear my parents reminding me and my sister to bundle up before we raced out the door to go sledding. In that moment, I didn’t know how to thread together those loose thoughts. I missed my family in so many ways and was so grateful for the snow that night that I couldn't form the long-winded sentences I now write to express myself.

As I walked into Lathrop with a dazed smile still taking up the majority of my face, telling everyone I ran into that it was snowing, my phone buzzed. It was a text from my dad in response to my brief video. Like father, like daughter, he had an equally short response: “Let it snow, let it snow…” There weren’t nu merous lines to read between, but somehow I felt as though he and I were thinking the same thing. Once upon a time, snow used to mean having a family snowball fight. Now, it meant reminiscing about the times we had family snowball fights. Of all the things na ture already gifts us, it was on Nov. 15, 2022 at 6:32 p.m. that I learned that it could also gift me parts of my childhood in a manner so viv id that it was as though no time had passed at all. I hope that every time it snows, you think

about what every past snow meant to you, good or bad, and how many new memories the coming winter has to offer. Just as I did during the first snowfall of the season. Like Mr. and Mrs. Gummadapu would say, make

sure to wear a scarf. And a hat. And gloves. And also three sweaters of course. I might be making fun of them, but they’re right. You can never be too prepared for what the snow may bring.

Yaksha Gummadapu

Guest Reporter

Image courtesy of Nathaniel Kratovil '26.

Image courtesy of Nathaniel Kratovil '26.

Image courtesy of Nathaniel Kratovil '26.

MBK programs support youth of color in Arlington

It has been nearly two years since the Ar lington School District adopted a branch of “My Brother’s Keeper” (MBK) in February 2021. Since then, the Arlington program en rolls 20 to 25 students at both LaGrange and Union Vale Middle Schools.

Begun in 2014 under the Obama admin istration, MBK consists of several initiatives aimed at helping underprivileged youth of color. For example, the MBK Family and Community Engagement Program enhances the academic opportunities and the career de velopment of students by fostering individu al relationships with families of MBK stu dents. MBK administers “Challenge Grants” to individual New York school districts to bol ster their college services and career-focused programs.

Currently, the MBK Fellows program con nects high school seniors with educational and career opportunities by placing them in

a local government office, business or educa tional institution. MBK student fellows are then able to create and design service projects to benefit their communities at the schools that they attend. According to the New York State Education Department, there were 247 fellows in 2021.

The MBK Exemplary School Models and Practices program began in 2016 and is meant to expand educational opportunities that build confidence and “academic identity” for MBK students. Since the program’s incep tion, MBK has added the Native American Program to enhance the academic and career readiness of Native American students—pri marily boys and young men—to close tra ditional opportunity and educational gaps present in society. According to the New York State Education Department, in 2018 alone the state provided $750,000 to 11 school dis tricts to fund this program.

United with 30 other New York communi ties, Arlington’s incorporation into MBK is monumental. As NY Education Department

Board of Regents Chancellor Lester W. Young Jr. explained, “By achieving this milestone, we are able to reach more boys and young men of color and help make a difference in their lives. The additions of Arlington, El mont, Roosevelt, Sewanhaka and Uniondale will make our MBK community network even stronger.”

Between 2016 and 2017, New York became the first state to write My Brother’s Keeper into state law. The State Education Depart ment supplied a $20 million budget to sup port these programs. However, Poughkeepsie Coordinator Da’Ron Wilson acknowledges that increasing funding to the programs to provide more travel and internship oppor tunities would allow for more benefits to the children and adolescents engaged in the pro gram in Poughkeepsie and beyond.

Wilson further shared reflections about MBK’s direct effects on the community: “The most rewarding part is to see former students returning and working with current students to give them examples of how to succeed in

life. It also connects the current students to the different networking opportunities that are available to them.” In the Arlington and Poughkeepsie communities, Wilson credits the initial Brother 2 Brother program—which mentors young people in academics, social life and career development, beginning as early as elementary school—as being inte gral to the successful implementation of the MBK program throughout Poughkeepsie. He believes wholeheartedly in the program’s mission, expressing his own desire to see stu dents get ahead and seek out opportunities they may not otherwise have access to.

Building on the many successful programs already in place, Wilson noted his dreams for MBK’s future and how it can expand and evolve going forward: “I think that the MBK can continue to grow and be a part of every school district across America and then even tually global. If the principles and foundation can spread to the everyday work of school systems, outcomes for children will be much different.”

Joan Didion’s treasures auctioned in Hudson

Anna Meyer Guest Columnist

Two plain couches covered in white slip covers greet visitors walking into the Stair Galleries auction space in Hudson, NY. Despite their unassuming looks, the couches once resided in the living room of Joan Didi on, a renowned American writer. Across the room, a pair of iconic dark Celine sunglasses emanates an aura of cool aloofness—Didion’s signature attitude.

On Nov. 16, the sunglasses and pair of couches sold for $27,000 and $9,000, re spectively, in an auction of Didion’s personal items. The auction, titled “An American Icon: Property from the Collection of Joan Didi on,” featured 224 items including household objects, furniture, fine art, prints and books. The $1,920,700 raised in total by the auction will be donated to causes supporting research and care for Parkinson’s Disease in New York and Sacramento City College’s scholarship for women writers, according to the Stair Gal leries website.

Didion grew up in Sacramento, CA, before moving to New York at the end of her life, and passed away last December from com plications related to Parkinson’s Disease. The collection reflects her California roots that followed her from Sacramento to Manhattan, according to Stair Galleries fine arts specialist Lisa Thomas.

“California was so much a part of her that when she came to New York, I think she wanted to bring that sort of light, bright shimmer of the California coastline to her

New York apartment,” Thomas said. “The white slipcovers, the floral upholstery—the apartment was light and bright. I think that reflected the California in her and she wanted to live in that sort of space.”

The collection was open to the public during the first two weeks of November, drawing an enormous response, according to Thomas.

“It's been a bit of a pilgrimage for people who want to come and see (the collection) in person and feel the aura of Joan Didion in the space,” Thomas said. “It’s been overwhelm ing for some people. We've had some people moved to tears, and everybody has been pretty emotional about it.”

Didion’s work spoke to readers across gen erations, ranging from those who grew up in California in the ’60s and ’70s to a younger generation who knew her as a style icon and a strong female figure in the male-dominated New Journalism literary movement.

Though much of her writing is non-fiction, Didion’s subjective commentary and distinct ly perceptive personality shine through. Nev er the center of attention but seemingly om nipresent, her ever-critical yet open-minded voice brings to life the realities of America’s cultural epicenters in the mid-20th century. Through her writing, Didion preserved the unsettled energy present during a time of so cietal tumult and constant change in America for future generations to read about.

Reading her work now invokes a kind of bittersweet nostalgia for a time before we were alive, distinct from that of other New Jour nalism authors. The rose-colored tint that many authors paint the hippie movement in is wiped away by Didion’s cynicism. Unlike other New Journalism authors—for example, Eve Babitz’s obsession with men, or Hunter S. Thompson’s drug usage and misogyny—Didi on perceptively captures the world in a man ner clouded only by a lens of relatable anxiety. Didion’s sense of self that shines through her essays makes her writing read like the journal of a close friend who observes every moment with a remarkably keen eye.

“It's very emotional for people,” Thomas said. “When you revere an idealized artist, like a writer, you become sort of emotionally attached to the books and the person. I think a lot of the interest has come from that.”

The auction provided an opportunity for fans of Didion to get a glimpse of what lies behind her famously shy, standoffish public persona.

“I think it reveals another side to her than a lot of people were aware of,” Thomas said. The

items in the collection look more like some thing you would see in your grandmother’s living room than what one might expect from an acclaimed member of the intellectual elite. “When you see her personal belongings, and how they looked in her apartment in her per sonal space, you get the sense of her personal side—more relaxed, a sense of humor.”

All of the furnishings and items in the apartment setup are humble and cozy, re vealing Didion’s down-to-earth character. Although it is difficult to know what famous people are like in everyday life, seeing Didion’s home gives visitors insight into the personal side that laid behind her public persona.

When curating the collection and display, each item was carefully selected to peel back a layer of Didion’s story, according to Thomas. The kitchen items—Le Creuset cookware, a kitchen table and chairs, Santa Catalina cook books—reveal Didion’s love for cooking; the items used for entertaining guests—porcelain, silver—show her affinity for entertaining. Viewers walking through the staged living room can easily imagine Didion perched in the rattan chair with a book.

“We wanted to…choose items from the col lection that we could weave together to tell her story about who she was, where she was from, what was important to her and how she lived in her personal space,” Thomas said.

The space also features many famous piec es of art, including works by Richard Dieben korn, Robert Rauschenberg, Jennifer Bartlett

sold for a combined $45,000.

The dining room table where Didion’s hus band, Gregory Dunne, suffered a fatal heart attack one evening during dinner is particu larly evocative. Didion writes about Dunne’s death in “The Year of Magical Thinking.” See ing the table in material form, rather than on paper, reminds viewers of Didion’s life that existed outside the pages of her writing.

Thomas’ personal favorite piece from the collection, a Vija Celmins print titled “Ocean Surface,” pairs well with Didion’s essay, “Holy Water,” relaying the importance of water to Didion. The image shows just the surface of the ocean; everything beneath is concealed.

“It kind of represents what we saw of Joan Didion as a public persona, which was the surface of the ocean and then…there's so much going on below the sea that we never know about,” Thomas said. “I feel like that re ally encapsulates who Joan Didion was.”

Although anyone who never met Didion during her life never will, viewing Didion’s collection—the photographs, the furniture, the sunglasses— makes the mystery that shrouds every famous figure slightly less mysterious: a dip below the surface of Didi on’s outer image.

and Cy Twombly. Julian Wasser’s recogniz able photographs of Didion and her Stingray were hung next to Annie Liebovitz’s portrait of Didion and her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. On a desk corner, two Patti Smith prints inscribed to Didion leaned against the wall. They

Nathanial Dexter Guest Columnist

Image courtesy of Anna Meyer '25.

Image courtesy of Anna Meyer '25.

From the desk of Madi Donat, Humor Editor

Mariah

Nicholas Tillinghast Bozo with the Logos

Ioften look at Vassar’s logos and think, no offense, that they were made by a bunch of losers from the 1800s. As someone who has seen many logos, I think I could do much better than whatever logo nerd designed these, because I’m approaching this from the perspective of a logo jock. Through these redesigns, Vassar could see upwards of a 10 percent increase.

Figure A is a redesign of a certain type of text logo we call in the design business

a “wordy-word logo,” because of the words. This particular redesign was inspired mostly, if not completely, by the Subway logo from 2002-2015, back when it was king. Ever since the company rescinded the five-dollar footlong, Subway just isn't what it used to be. When I was younger, the ov en-roasted chicken with lettuce was the sandwich of the century, but as an adult, it’s not even the sandwich of last week. I want you to look at the current Vassar text logo with its fancy letters and then look at this redesign and tell me which one you find more fresh. Think of the additional colors as a mighty surprise: Instead of root ing for just two colors, gray and burgundy (lame), you can root for four colors with the addition of Hunter green and high lighter yellow.

Figure B. In this second design, I pret ty much kept the original Vassar font but added an additional, minimalist logo to the left that does not rely on the intersection of letters, a mistake colleges too often make. One of my all-time favorite logos is the Na tional Geographic’s thick yellow rectangle. Making space for the fact that National Geographic has already claimed that shape and also the fact that all shapes are subser

vient to the rectangle, I tried to create my own shape that could possibly rival it, and have named it the “Super Eliptogram.” I want students to look at Vassar’s logo and think: “There’s the Super Eliptogram! I re ally adore learning at Vassar College.” As for the little tagline I put at the bottom, I don’t think Vassar has ever been particu larly strong in the tagline game, so I’m not gonna argue that this one is particularly good either, but it’s also not inaccurate.

Figure C. I’m already this far along with redesigning Vassar’s branding, so I’ve de cided that as a college, we need a bonafide mascot. Think of this creature as our own personal Philly Phanatic or Gritty, but our mascot will be named Charles G. As you can see in the picture, Charles G. has the rough proportions of a deep-sea creature and the strong legs of a horse. He will be 12 feet tall. Since I am a big fan of mascots that wear their teams’ uniforms, Charles G. will wear Vassar soccer shorts and cleats always, except when he’s at Alumni events, in which case he wears khaki Chi nos, a bow tie and heels.

There you have it. Through these rede signs, Vassar can once again be the place where people go.

Figure A. Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News.

Figure B. Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News.

Figure C. Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News.

ARIES

March 21 | April 19

TAURUS April 20 | May 20

GEMINI May 21 | June 20

HUMOR

HOROSCOPES

Madi Donat Astral Projector

Getting a break is nice, but it’s always a million times harder to get back into things. This week, remind yourself of the relent less grindset by throwing yourself in with reckless abandon. Say yes to everything, no matter your schedule. Make plans that overlap, bail on stuff you scheduled months ago; who cares! It’s the end of the semester!

It’s that time of year when everyone is so, so sleepy. Just so sleepy. Unbelievably sleepy. Tired and sleepy and tired. But instead of napping once (or twice) a day, try experi ments in stimulants. Indulge in a healthy Monster, or perhaps a Red Bull. Or maybe just dunk your face in ice water. There are no rules when it comes to staying awake.

LIBRA

September 23 | October 22

Look out for chance encounters this week! Any stranger you happen upon could bring you luck. Whether they provide friendship, advice, or… something else, you may be in for a surprise! Remain wary, though. Not every stranger is a friend. Some of them will give you unsolicited advice about your appearance and body. Not cool.

CANCER June 21 | July 22

There are times when we feel simultane ously low on energy and also desperately in need of meaningful interaction. Look for friends this week! One place you can look for friends is Walker Field at night. There are many deer that graze there, and you can probably get to talking with one and become inseparable thereafter.

SCORPIO October 23 | November 21

Are you on fire with capital-O Opinions this week? Has spending time with your family radicalized you even more than you already were? Did you kind of enjoy yelling at your Republican cousin? Maybe outsource that anger to other pathways. Try Googling ways to get your energy out. Jumping jacks, maybe?

SAGITTARIUS November 22 | December 21

Get your energy up! Now is the time for running! Fighting! Yelling! Cracking jokes and making everyone love you! It must be really hard to be so charismatic and charm ing. Meeting new people is always great, but try not to posture too much. You are not Hank Green on TikTok, blowing our minds every two seconds. You are you! With fewer horse facts.

Life is too short to wear matching clothes, I feel. Try different outfits, or maybe do one of those randomizers online to get even more out of your comfort zone. I wish we could all be as cool as Ashley Tisdale on the red carpet in 2004, but we cannot be. But maybe tomorrow you can throw on a scarf and a newsboy cap and have the time of your life.

LEO July 23 | August 22

VIRGO

August 23 | September 22

It’s dry skin season! And I. Am. Itchy! It’s really such a beautiful time of year. Being cursed with dry skin is hard, but it doesn’t mean we have to make sacrific es. You can do anything you want to as long as you are properly lotioned. Plus, maybe someone will touch your hands and compliment how soft they are. We can dream.

Are you feeling highly self-critical this week? Confidence may be diminished as we enter into these sad, cold winter months, but never fear! I am here to tell you: You’re worth it! You’re awesome! You’re more in teresting and intelligent than everybody else. Your note-taking habits are genius and unparalleled. Congrats.

CAPRICORN

December 22 | January 19

The stars are telling me that this week you will see visions. That’s not a bad thing, because my bestie Hildegard saw visions, but she also had really bad migraines, so that wasn’t great. If you find yourself experiencing premonitions, write them down! If they come true, you are magical. If they don’t, who cares? Visions aren’t real anyway.

AQUARIUS

January 20 | February 18

PISCES

February 19 | March 20

Do good deeds this week! Embrace your quirkiness to do acts of kindness in creative ways that other people wouldn’t think about. Do macramé for someone you care about! Make them a collage out of mag azine cutouts, ransom-note style. Take a voice memo about your feelings and trans late the sound bite into a graph.

Fantasy is fun and all, but the real world can be just as fun! There is such beauty around us. Today I was walking to class and I saw the brown grass against the brown buildings and I thought, “Whoa!” You know? Anyway. Beauty is every where. Make friends with a bug this week! Take pictures of dead trees! Why not?

HUMOR

The return of the listicle: Ranking ten of Vassar’s water fountains

ly so no one will be subjected to their terror again.

And so I return! It has been a while since I last ranked aspects of this beautiful campus. And what better a comeback than to definitively order the locations from which to be gifted the lifeblood of all of us humans? Thus, here is my opinion on the best, and the worst, of water fountains at Vassar. While my rankings are, as always, indisputable fact, I must provide a small caveat. Though I am well into my fourth and final year at this lovely institution, I can’t say I’ve drank from each and every water fountain that Vassar has to offer. So I will simply be listing 10 of the fountains which I deem worthy of discus sion, as filtered (hah) through my personal experience. It also must be noted that a lot of these water sources will be judged by their temperature. For me, the ideal temperature is what is scientifically referred to as “ice fuck ing cold.” I’m talking 32.00001 degrees Fahr enheit. So cold it hurts your whole mouth. The haters out there will argue that cold water is bad for your teeth (true), is bad for your voice (true) and makes you much more prone to the ever-unpleasant brain freeze (also true). To them, however, I say: Ice water is my little treat. I deserve a little treat, and I get to make the rules. Cold water = best wa ter. Let’s go.

10. Skinner fourth floor

That’s right; we’re starting from the bot tom. If you’ve not yet had the harrowing journey of trying to get water from this fourth floor monstrosity, I envy you. Skin ner technically has water fountains on every floor, but the validity of this one gets less and less credible by the day. Not only is this water fountain befuddlingly freestanding (as in, it’s an actual water fountain with a pump and a spout and stuff, but it’s just kind of a column that gets plugged into the wall), it also only sometimes works, and the temperature is consistently a tossup. And, of course, the most egregious thing about this “water foun tain” (if you can even call it that) is its ire. This thing will spray water on you with reckless abandon! If you want to get a little drink, a little sip, before your class in Thekla, to hy drate since you’ve obviously just walked up four incredibly steep flights of stairs because our elevator is still touch-and-go, and you’re scared you’re gonna get stuck in it, you will inevitably walk in with just enough water on your pants to make everyone in the class think that maybe you peed yourself. This water fountain is evil, and I would campaign for its removal, but we in the Department al ready have so little; I can’t imagine this being taken from us, too.

9. College Center Retreat side

The question I have for you is this: Do you even know what or where these are? If you answered anything other than, “Yes, defi nitely,” you will understand why these water fountains are placed so low on this list, only slightly above the aforementioned bane of my existence. The thing about these water fountains (yes, somehow there are two of them) is that most of the time they don’t even work. The times they do, however, are noth ing to be excited about. These water fountains are so sad and dismal with their water quality that it makes me feel sorry for them. I am a really big empath, especially when it comes to water fountains, so this is actually pretty hard for me to talk about. But I’ll brave it for the mere reason of me saving you a miserable trip to fill up your water bottle, which for the record doesn’t even fit under the stupid spout. A word to the wise: If you’re trapped in Col lege Center and need water, choose anyplace but these. Other options are available to you. I promise, this is not all there is. And who knows, maybe they’ll just break permanent

8. The Bridge

An unfortunately low placement coming from a building with so much in its favor! The Bridge, the newest entrant into Vassar’s quirky cast of buildings, has failed me only once, and it is with this water fountain. Those who constructed it tried really, really hard to make it good, even going so far as to provide an extra little spigot specifically for water bottle filling-up. Their kindness aside, this water fountain is pretty bad. The flow rate is poor, the temperature is lackluster, and the spigot really just reminds me of being at the dentist’s office and having to spit bloody sali va into their weird porcelain sinks. Why not just use the other water bottle spouts with the little sensor and the clicker that 100 percent just lies to you about how many plastic bottles it has saved? Are you not supposed to be an eco-friendly building? How can we purport to love our women (et al) in STEM if we won’t even provide them the decency of a nice wa ter-bottle-filler-upper? I don’t think that can be correct. We should campaign for a better water fountain in the Bridge, considering nothing else on this campus needs fixing.

7. Lathrop second floor

My time in Lathrop was incredibly wellspent, and I look back on those years fond ly, thanks in no small part to the proximity of this water fountain to my various rooms. I lived on the second floor for three years, and I can say for certain that this little water fountain got me through the ups and downs of those times. I have fond memories of refill ing my Brita at one in the morning instead of doing my homework. Despite my nostalgia, however, this water isn’t actually that good. It never tasted quite right, and I felt like the Brita was the only thing keeping me from un known troubles in the future. Also, its loca tion remains baffling. Lathrop has only two water fountains, and they are located way on the South side, one on the first floor and one on the second. The vast majority of Lath rop’s inhabitants live on the third and fourth floors, so really it’s all messed up and turned around. This second-floor water fountain may have been in somewhat close proximity to me, but that is where its benefits tended to end. It was right next to the bathroom, and, crucially, right next to a giant garbage can that was always, always overflowing, so that corner of hallway never ceased to smell like the most awful mix of weed and old ketchup packets. Lathrop was kind to me, and this water fountain was a part of that, but that doesn’t mean it was very good.

6. Deece water dispensers

Let me get one thing straight: This is NOT referring to the soda fountains. (Those will come later.) These are the little black and silver dispensers by Your Kitchen and Glob al, which claim to have the choice between room temperature and cold water but in reality only have the choice between warm and lukewarm water. Temperature is very important to me, as stated above, and I will not tolerate being lied to about how cold my water is. If you are showing me a snowflake, I am expecting the liquid therein to feel like a snowflake! Is that too much to ask? It’s also so low on this list because so many better water vessels are right there at our disposal.

I’d even take the large, hotel-style carafes located by Oasis and Kosher, which aren’t even insulated and sometimes contain mys tery produce sliced up for our tasting plea sure. Strawberry water? Sure. Cucumber water? Maybe. Cantaloupe water? Abso lutely not. The Deece is a beacon of endless sustenance, and its vast array of choices have spoiled me into detesting these water dis pensers. I encourage you all to invest in some

self-respect and just go to the soda fountain.

5. College Center Express side

Now we are approaching the respectable, upstanding, dignified citizens of Waterville. This water fountain, with its approachable sensor and spout, has never ceased to provide me with a perfectly acceptable, okay-tasting bottle of the stuff. If I’m ever in a pinch and can’t get to my top choices of fountains in time, I will never be upset about getting some swigs from here. One thing that does knock it down quite a bit, however, is the fact that for a while, it wasn’t really working. They may have replaced it for all I know, but those days of not being certain of the utility of this, Vas sar’s most okay-est water fountain, were very scary to me indeed. Now I rest easy knowing that it is viable, but that also takes some of the excitement out of it, you know? Con sistent and not great is always less fun than inconsistent and not great. Maybe I just have a weird thing about that, I don’t know. Don’t psychoanalyze me about my water fountain opinions.

Regardless, this one is perfectly alright. And only alright.

4. Chapel basement

This one is a little bit of a secret. Technical ly, there is no water fountain in the Chapel. If you were to ask me if there was one, I would probably tell you there isn’t. You can refill your water bottle in the bathroom sink and think about your sins. But, in all technicali ty, one does exist. It is behind a locked door to which few have the key, and it’s not fantastic (it’s one of those break room-style ones that doesn’t plug in, it just has the replaceable gi ant water bottle that you have to cautiously flip over and trust that you won’t flood the place), but it’s worth it for the secrecy. I’ve tak en people there for solace from the heat vari ous times, and it’s always cool and calm down there, except for the bugs and maybe also the mold. It also tastes pretty good, mostly be cause it’s already been pre-filtered by Dasani or whatever. What more can I say; this water fountain is one of the many awesome perks of my on-campus job working for the choirs. If you are my boss and you are reading this, please know I love my job, and I am sorry I abused my power to show other people this water fountain. Please do not fire me.

3. Express/Retreat soda fountains

I’m counting these two together because they live together in my mind. The Retreat soda fountain is lovely, but it’s always stress ful in there because there isn’t much room. Also, sometimes the flavor is a little weird. Express, on the other hand, has amazing ice, on the off chance that the ice is actually working that day, but doesn’t always have the best water. It’s always a tossup. That said, I really enjoy the temperature of all soda foun tain waters, and it goes without saying that any place I can get ice with my water is an immediate win. I just wish they had a better

track record is all. But again, I can’t empha size enough how important the temperature is to these guys. It’s so important. The ice is so cold. I’m getting emotional just thinking about it. I told you I was an empath for water fountains. I hope they can feel my joy as I feel theirs. Wow. How lucky I am to be so close to these beacons of hydration, and how lucky you are to be reading about my opinions on them.

2. Skinner second floor

This is some real water, folks! Talk about quality: Good temperature, good mouthfeel, good location; it has it all. Every time I’m in Skinner, I know this fountain has my back. Now, it isn’t perfect: It’s definitely old, so it can look a little concerningly crusty at times. It also is pretty short and stout, so you can’t always fit your bottle under without some ex pert maneuvering. The taste all but makes up for it, though. It also helps that I’m in Skinner every day, so I always have the opportunity to be hydrated from this device. It’s also quite enigmatic to me, mostly because every other water fountain in the building is pretty weird and gross, including the one in the staff copy room (yeah I’ve drank from the Skinner copy room water fountain… don’t be too jealous). I don’t know what they did to this one to make it so good when compared to the sub-par-ness of all of the others. Perhaps this water foun tain made a deal with the Devil to ensure it reigned supreme over all others. Maybe there is some sort of water fountain feud happen ing that I am not privy to. Regardless of the reason, please know that this water fountain is great, and if you’re in the neighborhood, I’d definitely give it a try.

1. Deece soda fountains

We all knew this was going to be the win ner (I hope). There is absolutely nothing wrong with these, except for maybe the fact that everyone knows they’re the best, so there’s always a line for them. These soda fountains provide nothing but the most beautiful, clean, cold, supple water for us, and we do nothing to thank them for their service. Maybe I’m crazy, but I feel as though I was put on this earth to experience the joy and ecstasy that is Deece Water. This whole article was written as an ode to Deece Water.

Eric Feeney, if you’re reading this, know that anything else in the Deece can turn upside down, and I will be fine as long as I have my Deece Water! The satisfying clink of ice cubes in my metal water bottle does nothing for me unless I know for a fact they came out of the soda fountain by the dish return (and the one by Global is nice, too, but the dish return is obviously superior). No water can touch Deece Water, on this campus or elsewhere. It is everything. It is magical. I hope to become good enough to finally deserve it. Until then, I will simply keep relishing in its goodness for as long as I am on this campus, and spreading its gospel to everyone I meet.

Madi Donat Very Hydrated

Madi Donat/The Miscellany News.

How to become an expert at procrastination

Alyssa Willeford Byline Unavailable

Are you guilty of procrastinating? Have you ever looked at something and thought, “Nah, I’ll deal with that later?” Do you regularly put off till tomorrow what you could do today? Are you, in fact, avoid ing something you have to do right at this moment by reading this stupid column? Then you, my friend, are a procrastinator. But don’t worry: There’s hope for you yet! With my expert advice, brains and brawn (not that I have any brawn to speak of), I’ll help you shake your bad habit of putting things off and get you walking the straight and narrow path once more! Starting next week.

The main problem with fighting pro crastination is that not doing what you’re supposed to be doing is easier, in the short term, than sitting down and getting it done. Of course, lying around, ignoring your work is no good either, because then it hangs over you like the sword of Damocles or the Nixon-administration light fixtures

in the Raymond basement. You simply have to have a rational conversation with yourself and lay out the facts—namely, that getting rid of your worries about your work in the long run is worth the short-term stress—then laugh and go back to watching TV. Still, thinking about your work is al most like actually doing it!

The next thing I always try is to trick my self into working. Some of the tasks I have to accomplish hardly feel like work at all, and sometimes I’ll start with one of those, just to get the ball rolling. For example, writing this column essentially consists of pounding wildly at the keyboard until I have a little more than a single-spaced page of pure idiocy; it’s really very meditative, and I look forward to it every week.

Of course, these clever hacks don’t work. See, the thing about me is, I’m a dumb b*tch, and I always see myself coming from a mile away. The part of my brain that wants to slack is much cleverer and more resourceful than the part of my brain that wants to get stuff done, meaning that

I swat aside my own silly ploys with little more than a derisive snort. I always man age to evade my own better half, much like Road Runner dodging yet another one of Wile E. Coyote’s intricate traps.

So, what else can you try? Well, a good method is goal-setting. Make sure to set a realistic goal that you can actually achieve. Consider that enormous paper you haven’t started that’s due in three days. It was as signed to you nine weeks ago, and so far you’ve made no progress whatsoever. As such, given your pattern of work so far, a satisfying, achievable goal would be to fin ish the whole thing in half an hour, then go get blackout drunk playing Jackbox with a herd of first-years you’ll never speak to again. For extra reinforcement, beat your self up when your inevitable failure draws near!

As a last resort, you can always try the old delayed-reward method. Simply set aside some of your hard-earned cash for a nice non-Deece dinner (an old roommate of mine swore by the Wendy’s 4-for-4),

then put your nose to the grindstone and work until the delivery guy shows up with your hopefully-hard-earned food. The shame you know you’ll feel eating an un deserved treat will really make you want to knuckle down and get to work—or maybe the ravenous little snack weasel inside of all of our minds will help you ignore that and dig in anyway. Hey, you tried, right?

So there you have it: my top, what, four procrastination tips? You’ve proba bly spent your life battling these self-de structive tendencies of yours, but now I’m sure you’ll be relieved to hear that simply reading this column has banished them all. Don’t believe me? Try it out! Sit down at your laptop and start your homework. Prove me wrong!

Aw, did you figure me out? Well, hey, it was worth one last shot. Remember: I’m always willing to go the extra mile for my readers! I would do anything to help you get your life into better shape. Except, of course, for working on my senior thesis— but I swear I’m going to do that tomorrow.

Poetry Corner

Anna Kozloski

TRIALS AND TURNIP-ULATIONS

'Twas a matter remarkably queer That a turnip had grown from each ear, And to make matters worse He’d not see a nurse; The prognosis, indeed, was unclear.

OPINIONS

Student bicyclists need more bike racks in front of dining hall

Harrison Walker Guest Columnist

As an avid biker on Vassar’s campus, I’m generally quite pleased with the quali ty of biking amenities here. However, Gor don Commons, commonly known as the Deece, remains a contentious spot for bike parking. Though a new set of racks has been installed, it is not sufficient space, nor close enough to the Deece to discourage parking on the handrails.

Don’t get me wrong, Vassar is a very bike-friendly campus. In fact, as of 2020, The League of American Bicyclists gave Vassar a silver rank among bike-friendly colleges. Only 221 schools nationwide re ceive any ranking at all, whether platinum, gold, silver or bronze. Bike parking is widely available in most spots across campus, al lowing me to bike to and from classes fre quently. Vassar even has its own bike shop, where students repair other students’ bikes and your bike can be serviced, often at no cost. The shop fixed a flat tire of mine just last week and was very helpful.

Most of the bike parking on campus comes in the form of what are called “wave” style racks, though more recent installa tions have been “staple” style (also called U-racks). There are some sets of racks that connect only to wheels, such as those found at the residential houses, but almost all pub lic, frequently used locations have wave or staple. Wave parking can be found directly on either side of the Deece, near the College Center, near the Thompson Library, etc., and staple style can be found by the Bridge, between Swift and Metcalf, and, as of Sep tember, by a large installation between the Deece and Noyes, among other locations.

Staple racks are considered safer than the wave racks, since you can attach both wheels

to the rack in addition to the frame, accord ing to Reliance Foundry. However, the racks are also much less space-efficient, because you can only fit one bike on each staple. The rack near Metcalf and Swift halls has six sta ples, so only six bikes can fit there at a time. If there were a wave rack of the same foot print, it would be able to fit twice as many bikes.

The wave racks near the Deece were large ly overwhelmed towards the beginning of the year; I found it to be more consistently busy than most racks on campus. One of the most popular destinations on campus, it only had capacity for 26 bikes, while the library racks, for example, have a capacity of 38. In September, there were 20 staple racks added between the Deece and Noyes, adding the same number of bike spots. More park ing is great, but this addition is frustrating to me for two reasons.

One, as mentioned, staple racks are infe rior to wave racks in density, and while the security of locking a bike to a staple rack can be greater, most cyclists on campus don’t take the cautions to lock in this especially safe way, where the frame and both wheels are locked to the rack. However, by random observation this past Tuesday night, of the 15 bikes parked at 20 available spots by the Deece, not one of them had all three ele ments locked. And only three of the 15 had the frame and one of the wheels locked. The greater space efficiency of the wave racks would be more helpful and utilized than the safety offered by the staple racks.

Two, the bike racks are still at a distance from the Deece. We use bikes so that we don’t have to walk as much, and cyclists, as well as students in general, are often in a hurry. If there isn’t available bike parking in the immediate vicinity of the destination, many people will lock their bikes onto rail

ings or other implements.

Locking bikes to the handrails is terrible, as it gets in the way of all pedestrians and cy clists, especially disabled community mem bers. Since the bikes will often jut out into the pathway, it hinders accessibility for peo ple who need the handrails to get up to the Deece (as the AEO Office has made known recently with flyers at the handrails). I re cently saw someone lock a scooter to the wheelchair accessible ramp railing, which is just as egregious.

While the additional parking was add ed to prevent cyclists from parking on the

handrails, it is not working as well as it could be if the racks had greater capacity and were closer to the Deece. To this end, I think a new wave rack installation on the concrete cor ner to the right, directly in front of the Deece would be much more effective in solving the problem. I always check if there is space in the wave racks before parking on the staples, so this addition would certainly be used.

Parking on the handrails is unacceptable, and I support any measures the College takes to prevent it. Yet, to stop cyclists from doing so, we need adequate and convenient park ing amenities.

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole. MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Tori Kim/The Miscellany News.

Sufana Noorwez/The Miscellany News.

OPINIONS

Is the book better than the movie?

Leila Raines Editor-in-Chief

Is the book better than the movie?

This age-old question continues to persist as more books and written texts are translated onto the big screen. As a book-loving English major, my knee-jerk reaction is to always assert that the book is better than the movie. For me, reading has always been centered around my own imagination and interpretations. The im ages presented in written text have given me more agency in constructing the visu als for myself. And a lot of times, if a book I am reading has a movie adaptation already released, I have the most productive read ing experience when I read the book before watching the movie, or else I approach the book with the specific images instilled in me from the movie.

A lot of book-to-movie adaptations that miss their mark usually prioritize trends that producers will think will make them the most money as opposed to the fans at the heart of the work being adapted. While many of the movies that flooded the YA fiction trend of the 2010s were disappoint ing, the one film franchise that proved the most disappointing was the “Percy Jackson” adaptation. I approached the 2010 “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” adaptation having grown up reading the beloved book series, which already set my expectations too high for the film, es pecially as it followed in the footsteps of the ever-successful “Harry Potter” film series, a similar fantasy middle-grade series. How

ever, looking past the unrealistically high expectations set by my nine-year-old self, many of the decisions that the creators of the first “Percy Jackson” adaptation made ul timately resulted in the film’s downfall. For example, the characters in the movie were aged up; in the original series, the titular protagonist Percy was 12 years old, adding to the childhood charm of the book series, as readers got to see the characters grow into adolescence and young adulthood. How ever, the movie version of Percy is 16 years old, presumably to better appeal to a teen audience, as the author of the original series Rick Riordan—who famously criticized the film adaptations of his series—elaborated in a note he wrote to producers back in 2009. As Riordan expressed, aging up the charac ters felt like a complete departure from the core essence of the series, which was cen tered around the adventures of a young kid who matures into his power.

A more recent example: the 2022 adapta tion of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion.” After wit nessing many disappointing book-to-movie adaptations that have let me down time and time again, I went in with very low expec tations, which surprised me, considering my love for Austen’s novels. And while I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would, there are many elements of this new version of the much-cherished Austen novel that definitely relate to these broader discus sions on the role of the audience and the fan base in the production of these adaptations. Austen lived and wrote in the early 19th century and her writing expertly navigates and plays with the conventions and customs

of this time period. So, Netflix’s attempts to modernize often fell flat throughout the adaptation. The inclusion of 21st-century, Gen Z terms and phrases like “ex” or “he’s a 10” felt distanced from Austen’s period, completely overpowering the subtle, clever nuances of Austen’s story. I often wondered as I was watching the film: Would I have en joyed this more if I hadn’t read the book and didn’t have such a heightened understand ing of the world of Austen’s literature?

This is not to say that book-to-movie ad aptations are essentially bad, or even that films in general are inferior to books. There have been numerous great book-to-movie adaptations. For example, Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of “Little Women” not only excels in cinematography, but Gerwig bril liantly incorporates context surrounding the book and the author, Louisa May Alcott, into the film, particularly in regard to the ending. As Camille Canti explains in her introduction to the Barnes & Noble edition of “Little Women,” after the initial publi cation of the first part of the book, many readers at the time pushed for all of the women, including Jo, to marry. And while Alcott doesn’t have her protagonist marry readers’ first choice—Laurie—Jo still marries nonetheless, despite her resistance to mar riage throughout the majority of the book. However, instead of adhering strictly to the plot of the original novel, Gerwig creatively reimagines the ending of her own adapta tion of the story, flipping back and forth be tween the romanticized ending that Alcott had originally written—Jo’s marriage to Mr. Bhaer—and an ending that adhered more

to Alcott’s own biography, with Jo meeting with a publisher over the draft of her novel and debating about the ending of that story, with the publisher pushing for Jo’s character to marry. Thus, Gerwig preserves the pub lished ending of “Little Women” while also expanding upon it, capturing the deeper narrative underlying the surface of Alcott’s original novel. However, this artistic move would not have held as much significance, or even happened at all, without these liter ary complexities grounded within the cre ation of the original text.

Of course, there are many other notable book-to-movie adaptations; some of my fa vorites include “The Perks of Being a Wall flower,” the first two installments of “The Hunger Games” film series and the 2005 adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice.” And sometimes, especially with more difficult texts that are harder to read (cough cough, Shakespeare), watching the movie be comes more insightful than trying to parse through 16th-century English.

But a lot of book-to-movie adaptations respond to a strong appraisal from an audi ence of readers; people obviously have read and enjoy these books, and studios create these movies in order to continue feeding off of this fanbase. And while the overar ching question—“Is the book better than the movie?”—exists in a larger discussion on the continuing pattern of remaking fan-favorite stories (e.g. live-action remakes of old Dis ney animations), it continues to reveal what needs to be at the core of these adaptation projects: the readers and their experiences reading the book.

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

Leila Raines/The Miscellany

Men’s soccer season capped off with NCAA win

Villamil Guest Columnist

Last month, we covered Vassar men’s soccer earning its first NCAA tourna ment berth since 2016. The weekend after our story ran, the Brewers did one better.

By both ranking and recent program suc cess, the Brewers entered their Round of 64 matchup against Babson College as the underdogs.

The Beavers won the Round of 64 last season and had just completed an impres sive championship run through the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC). They were also ranked 13th in the country and first in their regional rankings.

But, as usually is the case in sports, rank ings and past wins become only a distant memory when an elimination game be gins.

After a scoreless first half, a 53rd-minute Babson goal opened the scoring. 14 minutes later, captain Owen Fauth ’23 answered with the equalizing goal that would push the game into extra time and then penalty kicks.

And while Babson held the tournament experience advantage, Vassar was only eight days removed from experiencing the pressure of penalty kicks to determine elimination in the Liberty League semifi nals, when they had three penalty kicks saved in a loss to Skidmore.

This time around, Vassar executed flaw lessly under duress. The Brewers scored on their first three penalty attempts—the only three they would need as Babson sent three straight attempts over the crossbar after connecting on their opening try.

Though keeper Eric Wnorowski ’23 did not have to make any penalty saves, his impact in goal was undeniable as his pres ence forced the Babson players to operate

within tight margins and make mistakes. Wnorowski finished the match with eight saves, including a crucial save in extra time that assured the game would be decided by penalties.

The victory marked the end of a de cade-long NCAA tournament win drought and the third tournament win in program history.

A day later, the Brewers came close to making program history once again, as they fell to eighth-ranked Bowdoin Col lege in penalty kicks. A victory would have earned the Brewers their first Sweet Sixteen appearance in program history.

The program’s success this season is made even more impressive when consid ering that it happened under the tutelage of first-year Head Coach Jonathan Hood.

Hood, who came to Vassar after a suc cessful four years as the Assistant Coach at Colorado College, praised the team’s ability to grow with a completely new face enter ing the mix.

“I cannot say enough good things about how the team responded to a new coach coming in,” he told The Miscellany News in an email correspondence.

Hood credited the team’s success to their ability to implement improvements in the specific areas he identified as needing em phasis heading into the season.

“Some things I wanted to emphasize in cluded a front foot mindset, which entailed a more dynamic attack, higher defensive pressure and tactical versatility,” said Hood. “The team was very receptive to these ideas and responded well every day in practice, which allowed for these concepts to be ad opted well and incorporated into our style of play.”

Such improvements were on display throughout the entire season as the team was often able to emerge victorious regard

less of how the game unfolded.

Early in Liberty League play, the Brew ers won big with shutouts against RIT and Bard. In the last week of conference play, Vassar was able to win two crucial games against RPI and Ithaca 2-1. And, of course, in the NCAA tournament, the team was able to hold its own in defensive battles for all 120 minutes of play to force the game into penalty kicks.

The more dynamic Brewer attack had three offensive players, Owen Fauth ’23, Ryan Lane ’23 and Duncan Keker ’25, named to the Liberty League All-League First Team. The stout defensive side was also well-recognized with goalkeeper Eric Wnorowski ’23 and defensemen Nolan Al exander ’23 and Danny Berry ’25 earning second team honors.

Along with the improvements Hood was

able to successfully implement, the impact of this year’s senior class cannot be under stated, as reflected in all-conference recog nition. As first-years, their season ended in the first round of the Liberty League tournament. Four years later, they finished their careers by advancing as far in the na tional tournament as any Vassar men’s soc cer team ever has.

And while the Class of 2023 will certainly be sorely missed, Hood is optimistic about the program’s future.

“I know the team is eager for more and thus are motivated to work toward taking the program to new heights,” said Hood.

“With the vast majority of this special group returning for next season and the ad dition of some great first-year players, we are all excited about getting back to work in preparation for 2023.”

Nick

Monika Sweeney/The Miscellany News.

Monika Sweeney/The Miscellany News.

By Harrison Walker