The Miscellany News
Volume CXLVII | Issue 21
April 24, 2014
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Gustafson incoming VSA President Arlington firefighters ensure campus safety L Anna Iovine
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ast Thursday, April 17, the results of the Vassar Student Association (VSA) elections for the 2014-15 school year were announced. Annually, students vote in April for the next year’s VSA Executive Board, including the VSA President and the Vice Presidents, as well as class and house executive boards and student committee representatives. This year’s Strong President, Car-
olina Gustafson ’15, won the position of VSA President. “I ran…because I was surprised to find that I really liked being on the VSA this year as Strong President, but I also noticed during my time on the VSA that the same voices, perspectives and opinions are repeatedly heard over and over again,” she explained. One factor that made Gustafson run for president was the lack of diverse opinions in the VSA. She said, “I recognize that I hold a large
amount of privilege and cannot know the experiences of all students, but I also want to work to reach out to a variety of real student voices and work to change this culture. I hope to change the VSA from a body that is constantly talking and instead start listening to the needs of students.” Current Raymond House President Ramy Abbady ’16 ran for VP for Operations because he also wants to see change in the VSA. “A lot of See ELECTIONS on page 4
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he men and women of Arlington Fire Department are no strangers to Vassar College. Almost every weekend and quite often during the week, they are the people that can be seen on campus protecting it from the threat of fire . While students are out at Friday-night parties or events the Arlington firefighters are probably on their way to a dorm, called to duty by a fire alarm or an EMS call. The Arlington firefighters have reached out to Vassar through Twitter in
hopes of building greater camaraderie with the student body. . “The Arlington Fire Department is a great asset to our campus,” said Kate Pula ‘15, captain of Vassar’s EMS unit. Arlington Professional Firefighters Local 2393 is the local union of firefighters that serves Arlington and the parts of Poughkeepsie surrounding Vassar. Local 2393 serves a district that is roughly 22 square miles large and populated by over 33,000 people. The unit is comprised of 74 career staff members, including proSee FIREFIGHTERS on page 8
Summer storage adds end-of-year expense
Gabby Miller and Eloy Bleifuss Prados Guest RePoRteR and FeatuRes editoR
Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News
(From left to right) VP for Operations, Ramy Abbady ’16 , VP for Finance, Max Moran ’16, President, Carolina Gustafson ’15,VP for Activities, VP for Academics, Logan Hill ’16, Reuben Moncada ’15 and VP for Student Life, Hannah Matsunaga ‘16..
Lacrosse doubles win total Amreen Bhasin RePoRteR
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‘Midsummer’ reimagines universal themes Isabella DeLeo RePoRteR
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hen most people think of Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” they associate it with lush garden settings that mirror the resplendent feeling of being in love. The Shakespearean classic has a long performance history—from inside high school English classrooms to large productions in the Folger Shakespeare Theater— but Vassar’s upcoming rendering of the show will be entirely unprecedented. “What makes this particular production unique in that regard is the way it drains that stereotype [of the garden setting] away,” wrote director Sam Rebelein ’16 in an emailed statement. Rebelein’s rendition spotlights the complexities of love propounded by the play: disappointment, lust, confusion and the absurdity of puppy love. His version will take place in Athens, Oklahoma, circa 1930— The Dust Bowl, instead of Athens, Greece—and will feature interludes from circus troupe the Barefoot Monkeys. “Our version of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is set during the Dust Bowl where the fairies are traveling circus people and the lovers and mechanicals are citizens of “Athens,” Oklahoma. “We have really cool performances by the Barefoot Monkeys and an amazing eight yearold as one of the fairies,” said Asia See MIDSUMMER on page 16
“A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” presented by Merely Players, is set to premiere this Friday at 8 p.m. in the Shiva Theater. This specific production of the classic Shakespearian play takes place during the Dust Bowl and features the Barefoot Monkeys.
Inside this issue
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Vassar to consider alternatives to FEATURES Aramark
ith their first year at Vassar winding down, some freshmen may be in for an expensive surprise. Summer storage is an expense that many first-years don’t factor into their yearly college budget, but, as they are now learning, finding a space to keep their possessions is inevitable for students hailing from outside the Northeast. Even some of the cheapest rental units will go for between $150-$200 for the whole summer. The Col-
Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News
he men’s lacrosse team has welcomed their biggest recruiting class this year. Last year’s team boasted talent, but it lacked numbers, had an overall record of 3-11 and was 0-6 in Liberty League play. With the influx of freshmen, the team this year has managed to improve remarkably, already doubling their win total with a record of 6-8, 1-4 in Liberty League play. The team this year has had a tough schedule, playing against four ranked teams so far. The team first dropped a 14-5 nonleague game on Wednesday evening against NESCAC powerhouse Williams College. Freshman Sam Houston-Read was phenomenal for the Brewers and scored a hat-trick, including goals in the second, third and fourth quarters. These were his eighth, ninth and 10th goals of the season. Senior Max Herman scored his 130th career point for the Brewers, after he scored off a man-up opportunity with an assist from junior Sean Brazier. Herman also had another assist. Freshman Matthew Altman scored for the Brewers and fellow high school teammate freshman Liam Moriarty had two assists. Senior goalie Andrew Nicol had See LACROSSE on page 18
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lege will not grant any financial assistance to any students towards renting out storage units. Director of Financial Aid Jessica Bernier explained her office’s position on the issue. She wrote in an emailed statement, “The cost for summer storage is not something the Financial Aid Office will be considering to cover or subsidized as part of the financial aid package awarded to a student, as this is not a mandatory charge for all students.” See STORAGE on page 7
14 ARTS
CARES art show promotes creative medium for healing
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Women’s lacrosse prepares for pivotal SPORTS final games
The Miscellany News
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April 24, 2014
Some things don’t fit within these 20 pages. Stay in the loop with our online content! Editor-in-Chief Chris Gonzalez Marie Solis
Live updates from VSA council meetings, election results and breaking news
Senior Editors
Meaghan Hughes Palak Patel Marie Solis
Contributing Editors Ruth Bolster Bethan Johnson Aja Saalfeld Jessica Tarantine
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Noble Ingram Eloy Bleifuss Prados Joshua Sherman Samantha Kohl Lily Doyle Christopher Brown Tina Caso Spencer Davis Palak Patel Gwendolyn Frenzel Maddy Vogel Ashley Pecorelli
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Photo of the Week Sad Cactus Records and No-ViCE collaborated on one of the oddest shows of the year, which featured student bands and pizza in Rocky 300. Here, Nick Vargish ’16 of the Bong Riptides wails during his drum solo in “Butthole Rock.”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Jack Mullan Anna Iovine Natasha Bertrand Jacob Heydorn Gorski Jiajing Sun Assistant Design Elizabeth Dean Assistant Online Victoria Bachurska Reporters Amreen Bhasin Julia Cunningham Emma Daniels Isabella DeLeo Erik Halberg Sam Hammer Emily Hoffman Maggie Jeffers Shannon Liao Columnists Jonathan Safir Delaney Fischer Luka Ladan Zach Rippe Max Rook Lily Sloss Photography Eli J. Vargas I Alec Feretti Design Samantha Pianello Online Bethany Terry Copy Rachel Dorn Daniel Foley Sophie Kosmacher Christian Lewis Macall McQueen Marya Pasciuto Camilla Pfeiffer Emma Roellke Rebecca Weir
LETTERS POLICY The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers. Letters to the Editor should not exceed 350 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.
April 24, 2014
NEWS
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VC nominates Student Employee of the Year for first time Noble Ingram neWs editoR
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Cassady Bergevin/The Miscellany News
his year marks the first time that Vassar College has held the Student Employee of the Year (SEOTY) program. According to Vassar College Student Employment, SEOTY is a nation-wide student selection process that aims to recognize students whose work helps the College run. The program starts on an institution-wide level and moves to a regional level. Vassar is located in the Northeast Association of Student Employment Administrators (NEASEA). As the Student Employee website reads, “The student you nominate will be considered for the institutional Student Employee of the Year award, and, if selected, has the opportunity to move on to district, regional, and national consideration.” Assistant Director of Financial Aid and Student Employment Briane Balzer was the key person behind the institution of the program and explained her involvement in the process overall. “I am a member of both of these organizations and receive various information on the annual celebration. I was anxious to participate in this program because Student Employment periodically receives emails and phone calls from employers regarding certain students that simply go above and beyond their job duties,” she said. She continued “SEOTY is a way for employers to recognize these individuals in a broader scope. I think it is important to recognize them among the Vassar community as a whole because the entire student employment program is necessary for Vassar to function every day. With students who go above and beyond, it simply makes the program that much more stronger and effective campus and community-wide. It was also fun to celebrate the nominees and winner over a private catered tea event during National Student Employment Week.” This year, the SEOTY winner is Wilson Platt ’14. Platt works as a head consultant in the Writing Center. He responded in an emailed statement, saying, “It’s a huge compliment and feels incredible because I care a ton about the work I do, but...it also seems like a pretty arbitrary competition. In terms of what goes along with this title...the College told me I’ll get some
money from the national foundation. But I think it’ll be like 50 bucks. Vassar gave me a $25 gift certificate to Babycakes, which was awesome.” He continued, clarifying his acceptance of the award by saying, “I appreciate everybody who works with me more than anything, that this award, some of the stuff that got written about me, wasn’t just me. It was projects and ideas and collaborations from a lot of other people on staff.” Balzer explained the reasoning for choosing Platt, emphasizing his exceptional work in the Writing Center. “There is a very formal nomination and selection process for SEOTY and the selection criteria is based on reliability, quality of work, initiative, professionalism and uniqueness of contribution. All of our nominees exhibited these traits in the nomination forms, however, Wilson stood out slightly in front among the votes based on the levels for which he met the criteria,” she said. Platt was encouraged by the introduction program, explaining that he thought the program as a nice benefit for student workers. “The competition rewards going above and beyond, I think, and so I don’t know if that so much incentivizes the student worker body as a whole, but it at least makes losing yourself in your job, or really committing to it, more attractive,” he said. Balzer echoed this sentiment, saying, “It may be an incentive for some, but mainly, I hope it gets students a little more excited about their campus job. Even though it is a part time eight to 10-hour a week job on campus, in the post-college world, people who stand out in their occupation may encounter great opportunities from this, and I think it is important to show that this can begin in college with a parttime job.” She went on, “In addition, when someone is recognized for a positive contribution, I hope it makes him/her realize that their efforts no matter how big or small matter to others.” Platt also spoke to his own job in the Writing Center. According to him, a great worker has to love the work they are doing. ”I work at the Writing Center as one of two Head Consultants. It’s my favorite place, somewhere I feel myself, somewhere I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile, somewhere that brings me energy. At the Writing Center, we work with
Wilson Platt ’14, a head consultant at the Writing Center, is this year’s recipient of the Vassar Student Employee of the Year Award (SEOTY). This is the first year Student Employment on has held this program. students on their works (from essays, to creative, to cover letters etc), at any stage—from brainstorming an idea to working on a final draft. We’re trained to be hyper useful peers, to ask questions that push you toward a deeper understanding of your essay and of yourself as a writer,” he said. The new program also highlights the issue of student work on campus. Though many have positive work experiences on campus, not everyone has enjoyed their time as student workers. Elena Horvit ’16, a building manager, spoke to her views of student employment. “I think it depends on the job. I’ve had an awesome experience as a building manager this year, and I really hated my job at UpC last year. Vassar can be a different experience for people who have work-study jobs, for people who have to work weekend nights or really late hours on week nights.” She continued, “Some nights I have to work ‘til 2 a.m. when I have class the next morning. Last year, I had to work until 2:30 a.m. every Friday night all year. Those things have
sucked. But I’ve really loved the people I’ve met through work. I’ve found student employment to be a pretty flexible thing—little inconveniences, [though.]” Platt’s comments worked against this idea. He praised the work the College has done for student workers on campus. “I think the College treats student workers really well, and it’s definitely doable for students to hold jobs while taking classes. It is a commitment though, like any other activity,” he said. Horvit also expressed concern about the fact that many student employees didn’t know about the program until only a few days before the deadline of the nominations. Overall, however, Balzer championed the work of Student Employment at Vassar. “Since I began working here in 2011, my goals for student employment always revolved around the students and employers. I truly believe that the campus and community benefit in so many ways from the student employment program and I’m just extremely happy to be able to celebrate and recognize those who contribute day to day,” she said.
Heartbleed may leave computers across campus vulnerable Shelia Hu & Noble Ingram
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n Wednesday, April 23, the Vassar community received an email from Computing and Information Services (CIS) warning of a recent concern for a computer virus known as “Heartbleed.” As the email read, “Vassar Computing & Information Services has been working diligently to replace certificates on any servers that were identified to have the Heartbleed Bug vulnerability. That work is now complete, and we highly recommend you change your Vassar passwords.” According to the Business Insider, the Heartbleed Bug is a vulnerability in coding software that over half the websites on the Internet use when it requires users to log in with a username and password. This security bug was recently disclosed to the public, on April 7, when a fixed version was released. At the time, around half a million Internet users were believed to be vulnerable to the attack. The bug put security and private information at risk to be stolen through email, websites, instant messaging and VPNs. Essentially, the Heartbleed bug tricks the server into releasing information from storage, and this stored information is often time personal information like passwords, credit card information and other sensitive data (Businessinsider.com, “Heartbleed Bug Explained in One Cartoon,” 4.11.14). Usually, all of this stored information is encrypted, but Heartbleed can decode the encryption because of the vulnerability in a part of OpenSSL called Heartbeat. Regularly, the Heartbeat message contains a length field of the information the user is inputing and repeats it into the server to show that the connection is secure. Heartbleed is causing the length field to be longer than intended, sharing
more information and data without meaning to. The Heartbleed Bug has had a long exposure period, so a large amount of private information was vulnerable for people to take and exploit. There are four categories of data that were leaked: primary key material, secondary key material, protected consent, and collateral (heartbleed.com). Primary key material are the encryption keys themselves; with these keys, attackers are able to decrypt all the encrypted information stored in computer memory systems. Secondary key materials are usernames and passwords that are used in the websites that were vulnerable. Protected consent is the actual content that is handled by the online services, including financial information, emails, instant messages or any documents worth being protected by encryption. Leaked collateral are the other details that were exposed to attackers in the information content that was leaked. One of the most dangerous aspects of a computer bug is the fact that those whose information is leaked cannot detect if their information has been shared, as exploitation through this bug doesn’t leave any trace of it. This bug was discovered on April 1st by a group of security engineers at Codenomicon and Google Security, while they were making improvements to a safety feature in OpenSSL. Although a recovery patch was written fairly soon, it was discovered that the websites exposed by Heartbleed could have been exploited by users for at least five months before the bug was found. Some of the most popular websites that were affected include Yahoo!, Pinterest, Reddit, Soundcloud, Tumblr, Stack Overflow and Imgur. People are also able to check their most used websites at lastpass.com/heartbleed to see if those websites were exposed as well.
Tomas Guarnizo ’16 talked about how he was impacted by the bug. He explained, “It is a virus that is designed to gather personal information from webpage users, so there is not much you can do about protecting your information. There should be a list of pages online showing the likelihood of how they might have been affected.” He continued, delving into the deeper mechanical explanation of the computer bug, its functions and possible risks posed to Internet users who could be vulnerable. “It used a loophole in the system which was meant to protect information so the actual programs used for privacy protection services were the ones used to retrieve information from web users. I guess you could change your password, but I don’t know how much that would help. If you are worried about your information, you should stay offline.” The CIS homepage offers advice on creating safe passwords and offers detailed instructions. According to the CIS, some passwords are more secure than others. As the website reads, “As easy as it is to use “changeme” or “password” or your name, you are taking a huge security risk by using passwords that are easy to hack. There is an art to choosing a good password. While a good password may take longer to remember, it’s worth the effort to protect your desktop and the entire network. Passwords are an integral part of overall security. A weak password is one of the vulnerabilities most frequently targeted by a hacker.” Guarnizo also spoke about experiences he has had with stolen information and the kinds of situations people can expect if their private information is stolen by a computer bug. “Someone did take my information and used my debit card and stole some money so I had to go to Chase bank and get a new card. For-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
tunately, Chase paid me the money that was stolen and I got a new card. I am not sure if the bug had anything to do with it. There are also number generating programs that produce numbers of 16 characters and 3 characters in order to get card numbers and security codes. If people have these programs working all day long, one might match up, so that could’ve been what happened. Or maybe it was the bug, who knows?” he said. He continued, “I learned about all this through Google; funny how hackers were probably getting my information while I was looking up how someone was getting my information.” So much personal information is shared online today that any type of bug or program malfunction can lead to loss of private information to hackers ready take advantage of others. Vassar CIS has responded to Heartbleed, posting on their website and in several sent messages: “Vassar Computing & Information Services has patched and replaced certificates on any servers that were identified to have the Heartbleed Bug vulnerability. We highly recommend you change your Vassar passwords if you have not done so already.” Pushing further, it read, “Many of the other websites you log in to may be vulnerable, and you may be getting emails from those services, requesting you change your password. When this occurs, it’s important to remember the not to click on any links in the email. Phishers may use this opportunity to catch users with their guard down. Change passwords by going directly to the websites. If you use the same password (your Vassar password) for other sites or services, particularly banking or financial services, you should change those passwords as well, even if those services were not affected by Heartbleed.”
NEWS
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April 24, 2014
Candidates hope to institute changes in 2014-2015 VSA ELECTIONS continued from page 1 things led to me running,” he said. “There was a strange mix of me enjoying being a part of the VSA while simultaneously being very frustrated with how things went this year. I felt that being on Executive Board would give me much more agency in determining the direction the VSA would go next year.” Abbady continued, “I ran for Operations specifically because I felt it was the position best suited to changing the VSA’s practices and structure, which is my main goal.” Gustafson echoes Abbady’s concerns about the structure and culture of the VSA, saying, “I also noticed and repeatedly heard while on the VSA about how the VSA has a terrible reputation on campus because it is currently perceived as being very closed-off and inaccessible,” she said. “These were all issues I had also noticed during my time on the VSA this year and I really wanted to work to change this culture.” She also thought of her time as Strong President as good experience for the role. “I have been on Strong House Team for two years, and I feel that incorporating more of the culture of the strong—pun intended—community and sense of teamwork we have worked to cultivate in Strong could be beneficial for the workings of the VSA and its relationship with a variety of different students,” she affirmed. Reuben Moncada ’15, this year’s Main House President, was elected as VP of Activities. Moncada spoke to the campaign process that he underwent in anticipation of the elections.“The campaign process was fine. That week, every-
thing kind of piled up, the election, my job, and a huge pile of schoolwork, so getting out to campaign door-to-door was tough for me. What I ended up doing was resorting to some alternative forms of campaigning. I ordered fortune cookies that said to vote for me on the inside and handed them to people,” he said. He continued, looking to next year and his role as VP for Activities, “In terms of next year as VP for Activities, a couple of my goals are to encourage and help organizations plan more 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. programming due to a lack of such programming, and to buy more capital items for programming that organizations tend to use often, such as a better sound system for the Mug,” he explained. Another elected student, Hannah Matsunaga ’16, will be the new VP for Student Life. She echoed many of the sentiments expressed by Moncada about campaigning and the future. She said, “Campaigning went well. Next year, I want to continue the gender neutral bathroom initiative, make the Title IX/sexual assault reporting process easier, work on accessibility in residence halls and try to restructure Metcalf so students have better access to mental health services when school is not in session.” This year’s 2016 President, Max Moran ’16, ran for VSA executive board to hone his interests. He will be the VP for Finance for the 201415 school year. “I’ve been on council already for two years, and a lot of my energy went into Finance Committee,” he said. “As Class President, you’re expected to be involved in many different things, and I was ready to focus my attention on the commitment I cared most about
and felt could do the best.” “Campaigning is never easy and is usually stressful. This was the third time I ran in a campaign at Vassar, and I’ve been nervous every time,” Moran said on the campaigning procedure. “I’ve given so much time to VSA over the past two years, and it’s hard to boil that down into a twenty second pitch to convince others why to vote for you.” Several hours after voting closes, the results party takes place in the retreat. This year, students collected at tables at midnight on Thursday night. Many candidates reported this time as the most stressful part of the campaigning process. “I truly felt comfortable with any of the presidential candidates winning,” said Gustafson. “I was also really interested to see who would win each position, and I enjoyed hearing each position be announced.” “The results party was fun because I brought many friends with me,” Abbady commented on the event. He continued, “The results were very interesting, because I didn’t know who to expect for almost every election, since we had such a high number of people running this year. It was especially exciting to see who was going to be on Executive Board, with only one position—VP for Academics—uncontested.” Gustafson is excited with the results, expressing, “I also cannot wait to start working with our new Executive Board. They all are such great people and have such great ideas and I am truly humbled to have the opportunity to work and grow with them.”
“I also am sad to be handing Strong House Team off after being so involved with Strong for two years, but I also have full faith in the new team and cannot wait to see what they accomplish in the coming year,” she continued. Moran shared Gustafson’s enthusiasm, saying, “I am confident that every elected representative will do a superb job next year. I am excited to work with new people, especially since I don’t know many of the new House Presidents.” He did, however, recognize that many who wanted a position were shut out. “There were also many people who lost their elections who I have tremendous confidence in, and I really hope they get or stay involved in the VSA in the future. You don’t have to be elected to make a difference.” Abbady, too, recognized that many qualified candidates weren’t able to hold positions in the VSA in the same way that they may have in the past. “I wish that the VSA Council for next year was a little bit more diverse, but as this is a recurring issue, I’m not too surprised,” he said. Ultimately, though, he is excited for next year’s VSA. “I do have high hopes for next year. This year’s Council was not nearly as productive as I wish it had been, and I’m looking forward to being in a position where I can really push for meaningful changes, both within the VSA and with administrators,” he noted. Said Gustafson, “I am so happy to have this opportunity before me and, though I know it is going to take a lot of work, I also cannot wait to see what we can accomplish as a team and as individuals. I am so ready to get to work.”
Outside the Bubble
Vassar News Briefs
by noble Ingram, news editor Elizabeth Dean, Assistant Design Editor
by Anna iovine, assistant news editOR Noble ingram, news editor
Supreme Court Affirmative Action Decision
Sherpas in Nepal protest working conditions
Lecture by Harry Wu
Interpersonal Violence Panel
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court upheld Michigan’s ban on the consideration of race in college admissions in a 6-2 decision. Justices Ruth Bader-Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor did not agree, and Sotomayor wrote a 58-page dissenting opinion (ABC News, “High Court Upholds Mich Affirmative Action Ban,” 2.22.2014). Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his opinion that he believed their decision did not bear on whether affirmative action was legitimate, but whether the lower Michigan court which threw out the ban earlier this year had the authority to do so. Since the ban was democratically adopted, the Court ruled that the lower Michigan court did not have the authority to throw it out, and asserted that his ruling was most concerned with the constitutionality of striking down a voter-supported bill. However, Sotomayor wrote that the ruling was a failure to protect historically marginalized groups in American society. In fact, minority enrollment is down in Michigan state universities, as well in many of the other states which have enacted similar bans (Arizona, California, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington) (Reuters, “U.S. top court upholds Michigan ban on college affirmative action,” 2.22.14). Civil rights groups and liberal advocates have opposed the ban and voiced concern that the ban denies minority students the right to equal protection under the law. One civil liberties union lawyer who appeared before the Court, Mark Rosenbaum, argued that banning race from consideration was unfair because athletic ability and legacy status are still considered legitimate in admissions decisions. However, conservatives who have supported the ban hope that it will reduce race-based resentments. A statement from the White House said that President Obama feels that the consideration of race in college admissions can be appropriate in certain circumstances, but did not make any firm stance in defense of affirmative action. The decision itself did not comment on the constitutionality of affirmative action policies. In fact, the Supreme Court upheld an institution’s right to make admissions decisions while considering race as a factor last year. The decision only explicitly dealt with the constitutionality of the ban. However, the dissenting Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor expressed outrage and deep concern at the decision (Time, “Supreme Court: States Can Ban Affirmative Action Policies,” 2.22.2014).
Hundreds of Sherpa mountain guides have decided to leave Mount Everest, confirming a walkout certain to disrupt a climbing season that was marked by grief over the many lives lost last week in Everest’s deadliest disaster. Earlier Tuesday, Nepal’s government appeared to have agreed to some of the Sherpas’ demands in the threatened boycott. These solutions include setting up a relief fund for Sherpas who are killed or injured in climbing accidents, but the funding falls well short of what the Sherpas wanted (CBS, “Most Sherpa guides depart from Mount Everest after deadliest disaster”, 4.22.14). Mount Everest is now far more popular than most of the world’s other high peaks, with as many as 600 people a year reaching the summit, more than half of them Sherpas who are mostly members of a small ethnic group renowned for their skill at mountaineering (The New York Times, “Sherpas Delay Everest Climbs in Labor Fight”, 4.22.14). Tensions were coursing through Mount Everest’s base camp on Tuesday after a rowdy meeting where, according to people who were present, two-thirds of the Sherpas opted to cancel planned ascents. As a few teams of climbers packed their bags and began the long journey out of the Himalayas, two veteran expedition leaders left the camp by helicopter for an emergency meeting with Nepalese officials in an effort to avert a shutdown. “I would like to go back to my Sherpas and say, ‘Look, guys, I got what you wanted,’” said Phil Crampton, the owner of Altitude Junkies, a mountaineering company, in a telephone interview. “We want the Sherpas happy, we want the government happy and we want our clients happy. The bottom line is that if at the end of the day, the Sherpas aren’t happy, we will comply and cancel our expedition.” (NYT). The move would leave hundreds of climbers currently at Everest base camp without any safe and reliable way to get up the world’s tallest peak. But many climbing veterans were taking the developments in stride, and they showed solidarity with the Sherpa community. “People are sad, people are sad at the loss of life,” veteran climber and Everest blogger Alan Arnette told NBC News on Tuesday, after speaking with friends at the mountain. “When you go there, you get to know those Sherpas, you bond with them ... I don’t know anyone over there who’s not very emotional” (NBC, “Angry Sherpas to Ditch Mount Everest Following Tragedy”, 4.22.14).
On Tuesday, April 22, political activist Harry Wu gave a lecture sponsored by the Asian Students Alliance (ASA) and Amnesty International. “This lecture came about because ASA has yet to bring a lecturer to Vassar this year, and it’s important to us to hold an event that would inform the community about current issues in Asia,” said Jessica Au ’16, a member of the ASA. The Chinese Communist Party imprisoned Wu in 1960 when he was 23 years old. The Party monitored Wu when he criticized the Soviet Invasion of Hungary in 1956, resulting in his arrest four years later. Wu was charged with being a “counterrevolutionary rightist” and spent the next nineteen years in China’s labor prison camps. In an interview with PBS, Wu said, “The communist government treated me as enemy of the country because I came from a bourgeoisie family and was Catholic. Three years later, when I graduated from school, the police right away came to the college and, without any paperwork, without any trial, took me to the labor camps.” When Wu was released from the camps in 1979, he decided to dedicate his life to raising awareness of China’s human rights abuses. Shortly after his release, he could not find a job in China. “Fortunately, in 1985, I got an invitation from UC Berkeley, so I came to the United States,” he told PBS. “And I realized I had suddenly become a free man. I worked in Berkeley as a visiting professor, and my major was geology. Now I want to tell the people about my experience, my story. I just want to look forward to enjoying the rest of my life--just like everyone else.” “As a well-known activist in regards to human rights issues in China, it seemed appropriate to bring Wu as our next speaker,” said Au. At the lecture, Wu discussed what happened prior to his persecution and his experiences in the labor camps, as well as the labor camp system in China as a whole. He also discussed his work in the Laogai Research Foundation. Au said of the lecture, “What I found most revealing were the photos that he secretly took of the various Chinese labor camps to uncover the Laogai’s working conditions.” This is not the first time Wu has come to Vassar’s campus. In 1995, he delivered a speech entitled, “Behind Prison Walls The Red China.” At that lecture, Wu told Vassar students of the Chinese Communist Party, “They’re afraid of me, but I’m not afraid of them…I have the truth on my side.”
On Wednesday, April 23, CARES and SART representatives hosted an event called, “A Forum on the Title IX Process and Interpersonal Violence Panels at Vassar” in the Jade Parlor. Director of Counseling Services Wendy Graham helped facilitate the panel discussion. According to the event’s Facebook page, “This forum intends to start a critical and constructive conversation about how Title IX and the Interpersonal Violence Panel processes address sexual assault, harassment and gender based violence on this campus.” It continued, “The overall goal of this forum is to start a dialogue on how Vassar’s campus can be a safer, more supportive environment for people experiencing these issues in the future.” The panel presented issues of sexual assault and interpersonal violence as experiences that people across college campuses experienced. As the event page explained, “These issues are not unique to Vassar and Vassar is no exception to the fact that these crimes are perpetrated on our campus.”
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Earth Day This week marked “Earth Week,” an initiative hosted by Sustainability at Vassar, the Vassar Greens, Slow Food Vassar, Vassar Animal Rights Coalition (VARC), VEG and others for a week long celebration of Earth. The week features a variety of events including “Earth Day Dinner,” “SARC Veg Pledge,” and a “Community Food Security Workshop by Poughkeepsie Plenty Food Coalition and the Foodie Group Council” that are meant to celebrate environmentalism and eco-friendly initiatives. One event, the “Community Food Security Workshop by Poughkeepsie Plenty Food Coalition and Foodie Group Council,” held Tuesday, April 22, focused on environmental issues relating to food and took a specific Poughkeepsie scope. According to the event page, “Susan Grove, coordinator of Poughkeepsie Plenty Food Coalition, will be leading us in an engaging workshop and discussion about food security and access issues right here in Poughkeepsie and what is being done/can be done.” Another event, the VARC Veg Pledge, also took place on Tuesday. As the event page reads, “Going meat-free is one of the most important and effective actions individuals can take to ease the strain on our Earth’s limited resources, protect the planet from pollution, prevent global warming and save countless species from extinction.”
April 24, 2014
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New organic fertilizer safely aids a campus in bloom
Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News
Spring in in bloom at Vassar College and B&G personnel are spreading a new fertilizer across campus. The new fertilizer came as a result of a Vassar Greens initiative and includes organic ingredients. Julia Cunningham RePoRteR
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ith over 1,000 acres containing over 500 trees, Vassar’s campus demands caretakers: in particular, students. The Vassar Greens is a student organization dedicated to creating a more environmentally friendly campus. “The Vassar Greens pursue environmental and social justice through action-based campaigns that create lasting change,” reads their online mission statement. “We recognize the connection between social justice and environmental sustainability
and we strive to pursue consensus-based goals that incorporate multiple perspectives on the issues that our generation is facing.” Last year, students found another way to take part in the way Vassar’s grounds are treated and maintained. Members of the Greens decried the use of a fertilizer containing the chemical 2, 4-D, which they claimed is potentially harmful. Less than two weeks later, students. faculty, the Committee on College Sustainability and Buildings and Grounds personnel met for a joint forum and reached the decision to change the fertilizer used around campus.
“We could not have succeeded had we not cared for this place in which we not only study, but live,” the article on the Greens’ page stated. “And part of students’ ability to thrive at Vassar is our ability to determine our own future. In stopping 2,4-D from being sprayed, we take command of the College into our own hands.” Grounds Manager Kevin Mercer described the new commitments for landscaping and the new fertilizer currently being employed. He wrote in an emailed statement, “B&G pledge[s] that they will not use anymore conventional pesticides for the campus lawns. We now use a liquid corn gluten product for our premergent and an iron base herbicide that is called Fiesta which is a safe alternative instead of 2-4D and other harmful pesticides.” This spring, Buildings and Grounds has been busy applying the new fertilizer. The new mix, according to Mercer, is sprayed three times a year and contains organic ingredients. This fertilizer is in contrast to how Vassar lawns used to be treated. Said Mercer, “The fertilizers they used to used before my program was synthetic which causes a lot of environmental problems and multiple applications.” Mercer added that the crew will also employ sea kelp to help the the plant grow together with the right exact amounts of nutrients. According to Sustainability Assistant Alistair Hall ’11, although discontinuing the use of all fertilizer is preferable, it may not be feasible. He wrote in an email, “The fertilizer keeps the weeds away, and with the new fertilizer, it’s good because there is no need to block off chunks of area at a time and put up signs that tell people to stay away for four hours.” Not only can students become aware of issues around campus, but also of the ways
which they can help. Vassar Greens Finance Coordinator Devina Vaid ’15 described the College’s Resource Conservation Fund. She wrote in an emailed statement, “It’s a self-sustaining fund of up to $50,000 that helps implement students’ ideas to reduce the College’s carbon footprint.” She continued, “This year, I was very excited that the College Committee on Sustainability decided to fund my proposal for ‘heated air curtains’ on certain doorways on Campus.” . One of the initiatives that Taylor Mosley ‘15 of the greens has taken on is what she calls a trash project. “We believe it is important that people begin to realize where the trash they throw away goes in order to spread awareness of the importance of reducing waste and increasing recycling efforts,” she wrote in an emailed statement. From the pollution of underground water reservoirs to the emission of harmful gases, trash doesn’t just become someone else’s problem once it’s thrown away. Mosley wrote, “In order to increase the awareness of the effects of landfills and to encourage people to actively think about the waste they produce, we took pictures of the trash at Vassar, from the time the item goes into the trash to the moment it gets incinerated.” These photos are then to be displayed at the entrances of residential houses Projects like these, that were spearheaded by students, have proved successful in the past in making a greener campus Mercer still credits Dunsmith for making Vassar grounds care go organic. Mercer wrote, “He is a true leader and still to this day thanks me for developing this environmental safe program for our campus lawns to keep the community safe.”
Sola explores intersection between science and meditation Emilia Petrarca Guest RePoRteR
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courtesy of Toby Sola
ome Vassar students practice sports, others practice French vocabulary or ballet positions, but few practice mindfulness like Toby Sola ’14. And he’s got it down to a science. For those not familiar with meditation, the idea of mindfulness can be difficult to wrap one’s head around. But it’s actually quite simple. Mindfulness is about dealing with everyday situations with everyday practice. Sola gives three reasons for practicing mindfulness: to reduce suffering, increase fulfillment and be more kind to others. “If your mindfulness is at a certain level, even just the relaxation of your muscles is better than an orgasm,” Sola explained. “It’s insanely fulfilling and meaningful, even with the simplest of things. Life simply lived is dripping with meaning and fulfillment if you know how to approach it.” Sola was introduced to mindfulness practices in middle school, but became interested in the intersection between science and meditation during his time at Vassar. He has since participated in groundbreaking studies at Harvard University and the University of Vermont and is now sharing his knowledge of mindfulness in an ongoing project on campus. As a result of “mysterious but serious” health complications his junior year, Sola was forced to take a year off from Vassar. During this time, he was introduced to Shinzen Young, a meditation teacher who combines psychology with a variety of traditional meditations from all over the world in what Sola refers to as a “universal menu of mysticism.” In other words, Shinzen doesn’t teach one form of meditation, like breathing, for example, but rather an eclectic and highly ordered system of meditations that are based upon the work of a variety of mystical traditions, from Native American Shamanism to Christianity. An important feature of Young’s system is a “periodic table of sensory elements,” which includes all the senses of mind and body. In 2012, Shinzen extended an invitation to Sola to participate in a study at Harvard with neuroscientist David Vago. Vago’s study involved 20 participants (chosen out of a pool of over 300) practicing meditation in the lab throughout the course of a week. While there,
Sola was tested in a variety of ways, including with FMRI machines (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging), which means that his brain activity during meditation was caught on video. Among other things, Sola says the study might have lead to the discovery of a new form of emotional regulation that one can rely on during at all times of the day. “If you’re having a conversation, you can meditate on the person’s voice,” he explained. “If you’re in class, you can meditate on the professor’s voice. If you’re driving a car, you can meditate on the cars around you. It’s all very practical.” With extensive practice, meditation has fulfilled Sola in ways big and small, and he hopes to impart what he has learned to other students. In simple terms, when the human brain processes emotion, our limbic system is triggered and then suppressed by the frontal cortex, which sends neurotransmitters that basically say, “Calm down.” We all have some form of this biological emotional regulation. But with meditation, the suppression part isn’t necessary. Instead, the brain is triggered by emotion, but “calms down” without the use of neurotransmitters. “With meditators we saw emotional regulation via awareness and openness,” explains Sola. Back at Vassar, Sola has spent his senior year essentially trying to prove Shinzen’s theory of multiple meditation methods through his own scientific studies. “One of the things I’ve been exposed to here at Vassar is pedagogy, or the importance of how you teach something,” he said. His studies use independent and dependent variables to isolate how some forms of meditation work differently than others in order to prove the benefits of teaching a combination of them. Last semester, Sola’s study involved two groups of student volunteers. Both groups were provided with the same definition of mindfulness: concentration power, sensory clarity and equanimity. They also received the same reasons for practicing mindfulness and instructions on how to practice in daily life. What differed was that one group worked with just breathing exercises, while the other experienced Shinzen’s “full grid” of mind and body. “As I expected, the full grid group had
Toby Sola ’14, pictured above, has practiced mindfulness since middle school. Recently he’s become interested in how science can empircally prove the benefits of meditation on one’s emotional health. more ease practicing in daily life and more suffering reduction during negative emotional experiences,” said Sola. “However, the breath group, as you might expect, more or less reported deeper experiences during class while we were meditating.” His findings were in alignment with Shinzen’s philosophy, but Sola wanted to continue to experiment. This semester, Sola has three meditation groups: one just working with breath, another working with breath and the “self system”— mental talk, mental image and emotional body sensation—and a third working with breath and “world”—physical sound, physical sight and physical body sensation. “I’m expecting to see the group that just works with breath to have the deepest concentration during class,” Sola said. “I’m expecting that the ‘self’ group to have the most suffering reduction during negative emotional experiences. And I’m expecting the ‘world’ group to have the most ease practicing in daily life.” I sat in on one of these group sessions and the student participants (who are unaware of the different groups), responded with enthusi-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
asm and curiosity to Sola’s teaching. The class takes place weekly in the library meditation room—a welcomed break from studying. At the beginning of class, some students shared their experiences bringing what they learned into daily life. Two students tried meditating while swimming. Another student felt she had made a breakthrough during this particular session. As with most things, practice makes perfect. It takes time to understand both the techniques involved with meditation and your own individual reactions to the process. And while it is entirely about getting in touch with yourself and the world around you, the use of scientific methods helps Sola to understand the ways in which mindfulness can be achieved. And meditation never ends. “That’s the whole point.” For Sola, this is just the beginning. Post graduation, he will be continuing his work with Shinzen in his own home in Burlington, VT, where he plans to establish a residential training center for the practice and teaching of meditation combined with social justice.
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April 24, 2014
Special Report
Campus food services leave students hungry for options Aramark contract extended, alternatives in consideration Joshua Sherman oPinions editoR
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Joshua Sherman/The Miscellany News
o matter the weather or time of year, lunchtime at the Retreat on an average Vassar weekday is a long and cramped affair. As students, faculty, staff and visitors pour into the café located on the south side of the College Center, a packed Retreat leaves patrons scavenging for open tables and enduring lengthy lines to both order food and pay for their meals. Finding a way to ease the crowds of patrons has been an ongoing goal for both Vassar and Aramark, the College’s food service company. In reality, though, the woes of the Retreat actually spell a grander issue at work about the structure of dining on campus and what the future will hold for students. As its food service provider, Aramark has been with the College for nearly 25 years, first arriving back in 1989 to help improve food quality at the All College Dining Center (ACDC) and replace a Vassar owned and managed dining system. Since then, Aramark has expanded to manage most dining facilities on campus, including the Retreat, Express Lunch, Kiosk and UpC’s Java City. All of the dining facilities report to Maureen King, Senior Director of Campus Dining at Vassar and Aramark employee. “The Retreat was never designed to handle the volume that it currently does,” said Maureen King in an emailed statement. Since the Retreat moved into the College Center back in 1975, the College population has increased significantly, and the way campus dining works has dramatically altered. Every student on a meal plan is allotted an amount of dining dollars that can be spent at the Retreat, as well as at the Kiosk and Java City. Originally, the Retreat had limited daytime hours and, for some years, was not even part of the meal plan. Over time, however, it grew to become an extremely popular dining option because of its central location on campus and was then included in the meal plan for all students. In order to help relieve the volume of customers at the Retreat, Aramark has been searching for ways to encourage students during lunch to dine in areas aside from the Retreat, such as the Kiosk, Express Lunch and ACDC. The introduction of new sushi trays earlier in the month has been one particularly visible way Aramark is trying to help reduce waiting times. But the woes of the Retreat’s crowdedness come amongst numerous other complaints about dining here on Vassar’s campus. Two other common concerns include the prices of à la carte items at facilities like the Retreat, as well as the availability of late-night options. All of these issues continue to represent much of the criticism Aramark and Vassar receive over campus dining. With respect to pricing, Aramark has complete control over the retail prices on campus and does not need Vassar’s approval. In fact, the prices of items at the Retreat and other facilities do not even need to follow a set guideline, such as a minimum or maximum profit margin. According to Maureen King, the prices are set at the discretion of the Aramark managers here on campus. Maureen King noted, “[We] get from Aramark a retail sheet, which tells us by the area of the country what, for example, a bottle of soda sells for.” That information is then used along with other known costs and the prices of similar items sold at local restaurants to determine the final selling price. Maureen King will also occasionally visit local businesses such as the Acropolis Diner and My Market when considering prices. As a result of all of this, prices in the Retreat are generally less expensive than those found at local restaurants, but are also usually more expensive than the prices found at local supermarkets. This holds true especially for grocery items such as fresh fruits and milk, but also for prepared foods like sandwiches. A 16 oz package of strawberries selling for $2.50 at Stop and Shop will go for $4.29 in the Retreat. Meanwhile, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, which costs $3.00 at Stop and Shop, sells
for nearly double at the Retreat. Though some students bemoan the prices of these groceries, Rory Moon ’15 sees the costs as a trade off. “I’ve complained about the price a lot, but one thing I try to keep in mind—and something a lot of students don’t think about—is that Vassar spends most of its money on making this education affordable for its students,” he said. Maureen King, addressed the concern about pricing, stating that she does not see the Retreat as a dining facility that offers supermarket prices. Maureen King noted in an emailed statement, “I would classify the Retreat as a retail outlet.” But while Maureen King considers the Retreat a location much like that of My Market or a local restaurant, Aramark remains one of the largest food service companies in the United States and likely has much greater buying power through itself and partnered suppliers, such as Sysco, than these local businesses. Greater buying power means Aramark can negotiate lower prices for the same goods or grocery items sold in locations such as the Retreat. However, Aramark does not disclose exactly what profit margins it earns on the goods sold in locations such as the Retreat and other retail locations. According to Bryan Swarthout, Director of Budgets and Enterprise Services at Vassar, Aramark’s compensation depends on a number of factors, including the amount of tax-exempt debt the College uses to finance renovations, such as the ACDC’s roof replacement. “IRS rules require we establish a band around the potential compensation for Aramark to ensure they don’t earn excess profits supported by tax exempt debt,” said Swarthout. “Where within the band Aramark’s actual compensation lands is dependent on total revenue generated by the dining program.” As a result, Aramark’s compensation varies. In the 2009/10 fiscal year, Aramark was compensated about $3.6 million, and in the 2010/11 fiscal year it received nearly $4 million, a $400,000 increase in compensation year over year. Another aspect of pricing that remains in large part a mystery is the wide variety in meal equivalency value. Meals can be purchased in blocks of 10 or more at $12.50 per meal. However, retail prices for these meals vary across campus. For example, meals swipes used for breakfast and dinner at the ACDC carry different retail prices. Meal equivalency for Express Lunch and at Java City also carry different values depending on the items purchased. The lack of meal equivalency at other venues also leaves most students without dining dollars, but with an excess of meals by the end of the semester—meals which won’t roll over from one semester to the next. “The Retreat is fine in general,” said Moon, “not many options but for its size that’s reasonable—but it is way too easy to swipe your way through all your dining bucks there because of the pricing.” With respect to late-night dining, Aramark recently operated a test run of “Late Night at the Deece,” which offered hot food options for three weeks this semester in the east side of the ACDC through late night hours. While the new dining option offered a variety of food choices to students and was well received according to updates from the VSA Council, its prices were, much like with other facilities, compared to what restaurants charge. At this time, though, there is no joint committee that exists at Vassar to collectively decide the goals of dining on campus. There was a Food & Dining Implementation Committee as of 2010; however, it is not a committee listed either on the VSA or Vassar College website. Instead, both listed the VSA Food Committee, a student-organized committee that works with Maureen King to discuss student concerns about dining on campus. The VSA Food Committee, however, has only a brief description on the Vassar College website, with few details on its specific goals and projects. According to current Committee Chair Sarah King ’16, its goals change year after year. Instead of being given specific tasks by the
Campus Dining struggles to offer viable food options with meal swipe equivalency to students. As a result of that, meal swipe equivalency often includes few and unfulfilling options, like above. VSA, the Food Committee focuses on whatever projects and goals are set by the chair of the Committee, who is elected by the student body during spring elections. Sarah King noted that she rarely receives instruction by the VSA on what to discuss or proceed with the food service company, so she focuses on what concerns students bring to her. Sarah King added, “If there was a concern from students to make a more structured Food Committee that could be done.” Another now-discontinued committee was the Campus Dining Review Committee (CDRC), which was created during the 2011/12 school year to address concerns about poor food quality in the ACDC. The CDRC conducted a number of focus groups and surveys and toured other school’s dining centers, trying to find solutions to a number of student concerns. Co-chair of the Committee and then VP of Student Life for the VSA Charlie Dobb ’12 worked closely with Director of Campus Activities and Assistant Dean of the College Terry Quinn and Maureen King to bring forward the concerns of students and improve dining on campus. According to Dobb, Aramark was very receptive to this kind of student feedback. He said, “Aramark struggled to come up with ideas, but they were happy to help where they could. Vassar is a unique dining audience and I think, frankly, Aramark just wasn’t sure how to most satisfy the audience.” A memorandum from the 2012 CDRC notes over a dozen different changes that were made to the ACDC in response to the CDRC’s efforts. Dobb also noted that Maureen King was instrumental in helping implement these changes that were made to campus dining and listen to the resulting feedback. The CDRC then dissolved after completing its research. For some though, these changes were not enough. “As a vegan, I was relegated to cobbling together a meal out of side dishes (hummus, steamed/roasted veggies, salad, etc.) rather than offered a hearty main dish,” wrote Alessandra Seiter ’16 in an emailed statement. However, there is no exact answer as to solving these many concerns and complexities about campus dining. While Aramark has been at Vassar for nearly 25 years, according to Swarthout a new contract has not yet been proposed for the company. “Vassar and Aramark are currently executing annual extensions of our relationship while Vassar evaluates strategic alternatives for dining,” Swarthout noted in an e-mailed statement. Aramark’s last five-year contract was initiated in 2008 and expired in 2013. According to Dean of the College Chris Roellke, these “strategic alternatives” could mean potential alternatives to Aramark. He noted that he plans, upon his return from sabbatical next year, to discuss the current situation of dining on campus, which may include having a Request for Proposal (RFP) from Aramark as well as other dining services companies.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
“With the current college store about to be vacated and the forthcoming opening of the new [science center], the timing could not be better for a comprehensive examination of dining services at Vassar.” Roellke noted in an e-mailed statement. An RFP would allow these companies to pitch their vision of campus dining to Vassar and suggest new ways to approach dining on campus. “Such an examination should include consideration of a potential RFP as well as other strategic alternatives to our current dining arrangements.” Roellke added. He also acknowledged the work of Terry Quinn and her efforts to work with Aramark to respond to student feedback. “If Vassar were to hire a new dining service company, I would love to see a greater variety, quality, and frequency of vegan options in both the Deece and the Retreat,” said Seiter. For Moon it is pricing and quality that are his main concerns. He stated, “It’s my opinion that the quality we get is a little below what we pay for, so if we were to switch I’d like to see the price go down or the quality of the food go up.” In addition to adding the variety that Seiter and Moon hope for, RFPs could also give Aramark the opportunity to rethink dining on campus and propose new styles of dining. One potential model is that of Middlebury College, where students can enter a dining hall as many times as they’d like during a set meal period during the day. Dobb also noted that, while on the CDRC in 2012, a number of students expressed interest in having RFPs. However, according to Dobb, there was a cost analysis discussed and it was decided that improving Aramark facilities was the best decision for the time. “It was a money call, but we [students] were definitely interested in [an RFP],” said Dobb. Yet, another possibility is for Vassar to consider returning to an in-house dining service, something in which the union workers at the ACDC and other dining facilities are interested. Cathy Bradford, an ACDC worker and Shop Steward for SEIU, is one such person suggesting an in-house dining service, managed through SEIU as opposed to a food service company such as Aramark. She’s confident that SEIU employees could potentially offer a less expensive but still effective dining option for Vassar’s campus. For now, Aramark remains Vassar’s food services company, but an opportunity exists for Vassar to consider the dining options it has through Aramark, the dining options it wants to create with future spaces and whether the best choice is to continue building off our 25-year relationship with Aramark or instead start from scratch. No matter who runs campus dining at Vassar, one thing it will demand is collaboration. Said Maureen King, “A lot of the decisions are made jointly.” —Additional reporting by Contributing Editor Ruth Bolster.
April 24, 2014
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Rental unit prices leave students with annual fiscal burden STORAGE continued from page 1
Bernier continued saying that unlike tuition, room and board and health service fees, all of which the Financial Aid Office does consider mandatory and will subsidize, there is no set amount students are required to pay for summer or semester storage. The price of a locker or trailer will vary significantly based on a number of different factors such as the storage company, the size of a rental unit and whether or not a student decides to share the space with one or two friends and split the cost. Some students live close enough to drive back and can bring their possessions with them back home, dispensing with the necessity of summer storage altogether. Marie Pitre ’15 thinks that the annual costs associated with summer storage takes too big of a bite out of a student’s budget. She said, “It’s a huge financial burden and the school should at least cover some of this, but they don’t. Financial aid doesn’t do enough, in my opinion.” Pitre is from Southern California, and for
her, along with hundreds of other students, driving home at the end of the year is not a viable option. “It’s hard because you have your life here and your life back at home,” she said. “So you don’t want to have to transport six to seven boxes of crap whether it’s a bike, a chair, a rug, a fridge or your clothes.” With no on-campus or college-affiliated storage facility, students have to turn to private storage sites that are miles away from campus. Monday, April 21 was the first day of the Residential Life Storage Expo where outside vendors set up tables in the College Center and give interested students a rundown of the available options and pricings. Size is the single greatest factor in determining the price of a rental units. The smallest-sized and thus cheapest units are the most popular among Vassar students. One of the most affordable options is a Page Self Storage 4 x 6 x 8 ft. unit available for $152.00 for the entire summer season. However, this deal comes with the caveat that students are responsible for bringing their
Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News
Summer storage expenses are one of the costs students will incur that are not included in financial aid packages. Students are also faced with the challenge of transporting their belongings to storage facilities.
belongings to a storage site eight miles off campus. Last year, finding an off-campus locker for his items was not enough for Jordan Palmer ’16, who then had to figure out how to get his possessions to its location several miles off campus with no car. Palmer’s first task was finding the cardboard boxes into which he could pack his belongings. He described how, because he made his plans so late, that he had to be creative in scavenging some discarded boxes. “I went to the Retreat dumpster to get left over boxes to put all my stuff in, I probably could have prepared better ordering boxes online but just with all the work I had to do, I just didn’t,” said Palmer. “One of my friends had a car and I borrowed it, then I drove to the storage space which was on Route 9...If I didn’t have access to any car at all I would’ve been in trouble, because I wouldn’t have had any way to get my stuff there myself,” said Palmer. Addspace charges $240.00 for the relatively small 4 x 4 x 3 locker, but they do provide an extra service. An Addspace truck will drive up and deliver the locker to the front of a residence hall. Students will fill the lockers, which are then loaded back on the trucks and taken to the storage facility. Addspace also offers a cheaper rate of $426.00 for current sophomores going abroad in the fall and storing their belongings for almost eight months. According to a representative at the expo, Addspace rents out more than 200 of these 4 x 4 x 3 units every summer, which would make them one of the most popular options among Vassar students. The amount of space in a rental unit advertised can be misleading for the first-years. Both Pitre and Palmer made the mistake their freshman year of renting a storage unit that was too large for their needs. Said Pitre, “I just think it’s Vassar’s job to let us know that we should share the storage spaces, if I had gone into my freshman space alone, I got the largest one, or even two of us, I would have been paying significantly more.” Pitre continued, “Most of the time when you get storage space, they’re pretty large so you can’t fill it up all by yourself so you need anoth-
er person, which makes the cost much easier.” Palmer also described how felt like he overspent in his freshman year. “I paid more than I should have…I mean, I should have been on top of it, but like I said, the work-load got in the way, I had all these finals and essays to worry about,” he said. Students looking to save money should find a friend or two and agree to divide the space in a rental unit. Doing so can cut the cost of storage to under a hundred dollars. “I got three people in a medium sized room for $80 per person for the whole summer, which is a really good price,” said Pitre. “But as a freshman, you wouldn’t know that going into it by yourself and it would cost $200 for you, by yourself, for the entire summer.” Unlike Vassar, at some liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, students don’t have to worry about the costs involved because the school handles student storage directly. Haverford College offers free storage space on a limited, first-come-first-serve basis. Students at Middlebury College can store their belongings at a facility over the summer for only $10 per box or item. Meanwhile, other colleges grant storage only to select students who fulfill certain criteria. Wellesley students living more than 300 miles away from campus are allowed to store two large items, and students living more 600 miles away four large items. Williams College grants storage rights to international students and students on financial aid with sufficient need as determined by their office of financial aid. Even if Vassar has no storage facility, Pitre suggests that there are other ways the College can help students. She points specifically to how not all have the means of transporting boxes and furniture to self-storage sites. Pitre said, “I think [Vassar] should definitely look into providing us with a way to at least get there because we don’t have any shuttles currently.” More often than not, the choice to rent a summer storage article is not a choice at all, given all a student’s belongings. “You have to leave it all here because you can’t drive three days cross country with it all,” said Pitre. “I’m not willing to do it, at least.”
Classic picnic staple transformed into versatile vegan treat Jennifer Barone Guest Columnist
N
courtesy of Jennifer Barone
ow that spring has finally arrived in Poughkeepsie, there is only one thing on my mind: picnics. Where I grew up in Cranbury, N.J., picnics were an age-related ritual. When you reached a certain age, you suddenly had the right to picnic in a certain location. The most desirable picnic location was in the gazebo, but that location was only accessible after years of picnicking on the dock on Brainerd Lake, in the graveyard, in a cornfield, in the three parks and in your best friends’ backyards (if you have not already guessed, Cranbury is a ridiculously small town with no attractions). For me, the first picnic of the season is a highly anticipated event that involves slathering on layers of sunscreen, trying to avoid getting various insect bites and making an absurd amount of food. Unfortunately, I have not yet picnicked at Vassar this semester, but when I do, I will certainly be making a tuna salad. Tuna salad is a picnic staple. It is good with chips, in a sandwich or simply by itself with a spoon . However, my tuna salad has been absent from my picnic repertoire since I stopped consuming fish. But, six months ago, as I was flipping through a cookbook, I discovered that chickpeas apparently serve as a great substitute for tuna. If you are confused by this substitution, I was initially right there with you. After reading the mock tuna salad recipe I chose not to make it for two months, even though the recipe photo made my mouth water. It was not until I was eating chickpeas in a different recipe that I noticed that these beans do indeed have a remarkably fishy taste. So one day in my SoCo kitchen I set out to
make a mock tuna salad. Halfway through the recipe, I realized that I was supposed to add both fresh dill and dill pickles. While dill is not my favorite herb, I do use it occasionally, but pickles, on the other hand, are a fear of mine. Just watching someone eat a pickle is enough to send me fleeing from a room. At this point in the recipe process, I am cursing myself because I did not fully read the ingredients list before starting, but I decided to continue with the recipe by just omitting both the dill and the pickle. The final product was incredibly bland, and the taste of vegenaise, a vegan mayonnaise alternative, dominated the salad. I tried to salvage the recipe by any means thinkable, but everything failed. For the next three days, I unhappily ate the leftovers for lunch. With my first attempt a failure, I feared that maybe mock tuna and I were not going to happen. However, while at home over spring break, a trip to my happy place, also known as Whole Foods, finally gave me a much needed push in the right direction. I was picking up a new bottle of Sriracha when I noticed a couple shelves above a little container of kelp granules. The packaging claimed that the granules imparted the flavors of the sea—it even has a picture of the ocean on the bottle—and since it was inexpensive, I decided to give it a try. As a result of my impulsive decision to buy kelp, I now have a mock tuna salad recipe that I look forward to making, because it is simple, versatile and tastes amazing. My favorite way to eat the salad is as a sandwich with extra mustard, sliced tomatoes, sprouts and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds to add a crunch element. The next time you are dining al fresco, consider packing this easy mock tuna salad to share with your friends.
The Recipe Directions (Makes four mock tuna sandwiches)
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained & rinsed 2 stalks celery and 2 green onions, sliced 1/2 red bell pepper, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 3 tbsp vegenaise 1/2 tbsp yellow mustard 1/2 tbsp lemon juice 1.5-2 tsp. kelp granules Salt, pepper 1. Smash with fork or pulse with food processor until almost no whole chickpeas remain. 2. Mix in prepped veggies plus vegenaise and mustard with the chickpeas until combined. 3. Season to taste with kelp, lemon juice, salt and pepper. 4. Serve as a sandwich, with a side of chips, or dig in with a spoon!
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
FEATURES
Page 8
April 24, 2014
Arlington Fire seeks to foster connections with students FIREFIGHTERS continued from page 1
courtesy of the Arlington Fire Department
fessional firefighters, paramedics and EMTs. In the words of Justin Carlon, a firefighter with the unit, Local 2393 is an “all-hazards fire department.” Not only is Local 2393 responsible for fighting the fires that occur within its district, but it also provides Emergency Medical Services, Rescue and first-responder services to the district, as well as responding to all car accidents. Last year, Local 2393 received over 5,200 calls, according to their official records. Of those 5,200, around 400 of them were from Vassar alone. The majority of their calls are caused by smokers or by steam from showers, yet the unit fought a total of 134 very real fires across their district in 2013. According to Carlon, once a report or call has been received by the station, it only takes between two and four minutes for firefighters and EMTs to be dispatched and arrive at Vassar. This quick response time has been crucial to stopping fires before they spread and reaching students who are in need of medical aid. “Eighty-four percent of the time fires are food-related,” Carlon said, “But responding quickly prevents damage from occurring.” In the past week alone, Local 2393 has been called to Vassar on four separate occasions. “We’re here quite a bit,” Carlon laughed. In addition to his work as a firefighter, Carlon also handles Local 2393’s public relations and social media outreach. Much of his work involves maintaining the unit’s Twitter account, which is updated every time firefighters are dispatched. “We’re not just ‘the fire department,’ we’re part of the community as well,” he stated. “I and a lot of the other firefighters live locally and we understand how great an impact the College has on the community.”
With their station located only minutes from campus, the Arlington firefighters union Local 2393 is always close at hand to respond to Vassar emergency calls. be they fire alarms or EMT alerts. Carlon hopes his department will begin to run events at Vassar that could range from CPR Certification classes to talks on fire safety and prevention. “We as a union would like to get more involved with the student body,” he said. Carlon also wanted students to be aware of potential new policies that could drastically affect campus safety. Vassar is tax-exempt as a school, which means that it does not receive a bill whenever Local 2393 responds to a call on campus. This is great for students, who don’t have to fear being charged a great deal of money for requiring medical attention. However, recently, several of the commissioners that oversee the
Arlington Fire District have been considering hiring ambulances from private commercial companies rather than continue to fund Local 2393’s. These private companies would charge a fee whenever one of their ambulances was dispatched to campus. Not only would contracting out the ambulances be very expensive, he believes there are other worrying implications. With Local 2393’s ambulances a mere five minutes away on a bad day, getting to campus is rarely an issue. However, the commercial ambulances the commissioners are considering contracting could be based 30 to 45 minutes away from campus. In serious life-or-death situations, Car-
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lon pointed out, a half-hour or more is far too long to wait for EMT’s and paramedics to arrive and administer care. “I really think it would drastically affect the safety of the College,” He stated. Additionally, the new EMTs would lack any familiarity with Vassar. “We know the college really well,” Carlon said, “We know the community, the culture, the campus layout.” The commercial EMTs would not have this familiarity that members of Local 2393 have gained after years of protecting Vassar. Carlon continued, “If we get a call saying someone passed out in the Mug, everyone knows exactly where to go to get to them because we’ve been there so many times. The new EMTs wouldn’t have that familiarity and that could be dangerous.” Carlon and his unit believe that it is in the best interests of all that they continue to serve Vassar rather than the outside EMTs. “We [Local 2393] provide some of the best service in the state, and we want to maintain that.” he said. As residents of Poughkeepsie, Vassar students are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections when the fire commissioners are up for reelection in December. Meetings of the current board are held every first and third Monday at 7 p.m. of each month at Local 2393’s headquarters on Burnett Blvd, and Carlon encouraged students to attend and listen in on the proceedings. Even if the ambulances are contracted out, Local 2393 will continue to serve Vassar and its environs in all their other capacities. To do that to the best of their ability, Carlon believes it is important to build more connections between Vassar and Local 2393; particularly between the student body and the firefighters. He said, “Keeping Vassar College safe keeps our community safe. And that’s what we want to do.”
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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
April 24, 2014
Page 9
VSA Council New Traditions Committee holds promise needs further T revision THE MISCELLANY NEWS STAFF EDITORIAL
he Senior Class Council is currently saddled with the burden of planning and executing large all-campus events like Serenading and Halloween Weekend. These types of events take a lot of time and effort to organize, rack up the most instances of damage to buildings and harm to students and are typically difficult to plan because of the lack of interested volunteers for the various planning positions and committees. In the past few Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council Meetings, council members have formulated plans to establish a Traditions Committee that would be composed of passionate students and would handle the brunt of planning these types of events. We at The Miscellany News feel that this idea is a promising one that could be extended to cover all-campus events not only hosted by class councils but also house teams. Groups that host these large all-campus events are given a daunting, often stressful task that falls on the shoulders of a few individuals. Many organizations choose to host all-campus events regardless, but class councils and house teams are often expected to do so even if it’s not a requirement for them as it is for VSA-certified organizations. Historically, Serenading and Halloweekend have been planned by the Senior Class and events like Seven Deadly Sins and Primal Scream Pancakes are hosted by house teams. While these groups of students may be qualified for the undertaking of these events, having a committee responsible for planning and hosting them would ensure that a more diverse group of students would have a say in all stages of their realization. Furthermore, having a separate, voluntary committee of students dedicated to planning of these events would ensure that tasks would be given to students who are invested in the success of the event and are not merely obligated to plan them due to their involvement in house team or class
council. In opening up these event-planning processes, students who may have issues with how large functions are run would have the opportunity to have more of a direct say in them. That being said, we at The Miscellany News also believe that the name “Traditions Committee” may not be an appropriate for this committee. As the VSA conceives it, the Traditions Committee would seek to uphold the traditions of the college. However, since many of these historically enduring all-campus events have been canceled, the committee should instead seek to uphold the remaining traditional events that work while also making a concerted effort to introduce new events to campus that could also hold promise for becoming annual functions.. We at The Miscellany News also believe that the Traditions Committee would be advantageous in establishing more institutional memory among students planning these large events. While house teams and class councils may pass down their knowledge to incoming members, the relaying of information about the shortcomings and successes of events is not always assured. A committee whose sole purpose would be handling large all-campus events could more easily preserve and pass down this knowledge to future committees. The Traditions Committee also would generally take much of the burden off of groups that are already responsible for many other tasks with more priority than all-campus events. While house teams may still remain interested in holding their annual events, if they think their efforts would be better served elsewhere, they should feel free to do so trusting that there is a committee that could host the event should there still be a demand for it. Oftentimes, house teams feel compelled to host these traditional events because the cost of the event has already been figured into their annual budget. House teams are
given a yearly budget with the expectation that some of the house’s money will go towards programming. This practice leads to house teams feeling pressed to host events so as to use up the money they were given for this purpose. If this responsibility was given to a committee, there would be less pressure on house teams to hold events. As a result, house budgets could be used solely for the interests of the house. Moreover, the most successful all-campus events are ones that are established and, historically, have had a good turnout. However, age old traditions are often canceled each year. Such is the case with 50 Nights, the Shiva Rave, Day Glo Toga and HomoHop, which were all disbanded due to student behavior and other disorderly conduct. Often when these events are canceled, no new events are organized to take their place and new events that have recently arisen have not been met with the same level of success—perhaps because they lack the historical resonance. Recently, the Josselyn House Team hosted Battle of the Bands, which had a fairly good turnout. Straying away from typical house team-hosted parties by creating more interest-specific events could spur greater success for all-campus festivities. We at The Miscellany News believe that focusing on a particular interest, instead of throwing an event for the sake of it, will allow for more successful events. Therefore, the creation of a new committee will allow interested students with perhaps a wider variety of perspectives to work together toward a goal all are passionate about. Ultimately, we at The Miscellany News support the creation of a committee that aids house teams and class councils in throwing all-campus parties and believe it would result in more successful events.
Evan Seltzer
I
t’s that time of the semester again—where I write an article of importance and relevance that none of you read. I only jest, I’m sure there are one or two of you who will skim through it. The Judicial Board has undergone some key changes this year, some that have already improved the way we operate. The most notable has been the clarification of the requirements for serving on the Board. We have historically experienced difficulties running smoothly because students either ran when they were not allowed to or misunderstood stipulations to serving on specific panels.
“The Judicial Board has undergone some key changes this year...” To be more specific, you are not allowed to run if you plan on leaving Vassar for one of the semesters (e.g. studying abroad). Students are now required to check a box confirming that they will be on campus all year before submitting their application. Failure to report can result in an expulsion from the Board. In addition, students must also confirm, via check box, that they are comfortable with the Chair being privy to their history of misconducts. The Chair will not know what occurred should class representatives have violations on their record, but simply which
panels they are not allowed to serve on. For example, if a student has a history of academic violations, the Board will not allow this Rep to serve on Academic Panels. There are several reasons for this that range from the perception of impartiality to ensuring that the Reps never have to recuse themselves from a panel due to an unbeknownst conflict, an experience that many could find embarrassing. The Board has also taken strong steps to ensure that each class representative commits a considerable amount of time to their position. Last year, there was a disparity in attendance among Reps, with average absentees ending above four per semester. This also indicated that some students were dedicating inordinate amounts of time to the board, serving on as many as three to four ti mes as many panels as their fellow board reps. I understood this to be not only an unfair burden on the few and a failure by the many, but also an injustice to students who elected reps to represent them in the judicial system. Accordingly, when running for the Chair position last spring, I pledged to make this issue a cornerstone of my potential chairmanship. Maintaining that as one of the key promises from my platform, I now feel that we’ve addressed this inexcusable inequity. By creating a master list of everyone’s class schedule and a contemporaneous attendance sheet, I’m proud to say we now have an average absentee of one. It should be noted that I am a political science major who partially (read: mostly) chose Vassar because I knew I would never have to take a single math class. Yet even someone as quantitatively inept as myself realizes that this significant decrease
T
While these may seem like minor reforms, their effect substantially improves the efficiency of the Board. But there is still more we can do. While we have established our first website, I will be the first to concede that it is still in its preliminary form. It needs to be improved, though even I am unsure of the direction in which it should take. As I mentioned in my last piece, it would be greatly appreciated if any of you had feedback regarding additions that could be made to the page. Most students don’t completely understand how our judicial branch operates in relation to the administration, and it’s imperative that we work on addressing any misconceptions. If you have a strong feeling about the Board or the overall process, especially if it’s negative, please feel free to contact me. Even throw in an expletive here or there, so long as it contributes to improving the Board I am content to hear any complaints. Enjoy spring’s unfashionably late arrival, everyone. You may see me lathering on my SPF 75 out there, and I’ve always got backup for those of you who also struggle in the sun.
he VSA is a miserable mess. Every participant struggles with it. How many times have you heard someone in the VSA say that they hate the VSA? This could be for a number of reasons. First, it is an enormous amount of time and effort—often more than over ten hours a week for any active member. Second, the projects we work on do not have immediate results. In fact, depending upon the interests of a handful of administrators, it may have no results. Third, the social atmosphere of the VSA can be both false and harmful. Fourth, and most important, the VSA does not effectively represent the Vassar student body. Composed of only those who are empowered enough to run in a public election, the VSA is often heavily populated by cis-gendered white males. Composed of only those with the time to spare, we often have a council of students who do not rely on work-study for things like food and laundry. Composed of only those who understand the system of Robert’s Rules and parliamentary governing, we often have a council of “career” VSA members— members who have done student government for a number of years. Even those who do it for one year are absorbed; with three or more VSA meetings a week, council members hardly have the choice but to be knee-deep in political drama. So, we have a governing body that structurally lends itself to being populated by white, upper-class, cis-gendered males. Unfortunately, bogged down in tradition and routine, the VSA is utterly unwilling to alter itself. If the structure is in the bylaws, it’s the gospel truth, and only a supernatural amount of effort, passion and rage with ever change it. We have a specific, accepted culture in the VSA, and that is one of elitism, formality, silence, inaction, posturing, selfishness and petty argument. Instead of dissenting on the council floor, members stay passive and angry. I’m not exempt from it. This culture breeds small cliques, where those with similar goals bond together and battle the rest. Soon, battle becomes the only underlying factor. Not leadership, not progress, not action. Simple, petty, useless battles. We speak about each other viciously, but speak to each other with only thinly-veiled aggression. It quickly becomes a destructive atmosphere. It actively disempowers those who participate in it, up to the point they feel the only outlet is social media. Or, perhaps, writing an article for The Misc. A major contributor to this cycle is the lack of perspective. Everyone on VSA becomes guilty of it. We become so used to our weekly battles that we forget what we signed up for in the first place, or why we do what we do. We forget that Vassar is actually much larger than the VSA. We forget that the VSA is not really representative of the campus. We forget that there is a whole world outside of the VSA—like, a whole planet. People who struggle to even have a representative government; people who die and live and hurt and work and deal with problems we privileged youths couldn’t imagine. We forget that all of us are in a place of privilege. We have access to an education while there are people who fight poverty and disease and hunger every day just to get to school. That massive world is not something the VSA needs to be govern by. It is something it needs, however, to keeping its thoughts and actions balanced. Something as a reminder that America, Vassar and the VSA are not the end-all be-all of existence. If we fund one org or another, if we change that position or those, if we add a document to the list of governing documents or not—none of it will change the world. None of it will alter the universe or save a life. It’s all practice and all nonsense, until we get out of this tiny bubble that is the liberal arts experience. As someone who spent a good deal of energy and time this year trying to improve the student government experience, I can’t help but feel that I spent a whole year throwing my body against an immovable brick wall. But, just because some of us get tired doesn’t mean the action should stop there. I sincerely applaud every person who is prepared to work on the VSA next year—on and off council. It’s an undertaking. There is an incredible amount of work to be done. I can only hope that some of what we did this year has helped to pave the way for future change.
—Evan Seltzer ’14 is Chair of the Judicial Board.
—Ruby Pierce ’16 is the outgoing President of Cushing House.
—The Staff Editorial represents the opinions of at least 2/3 of the Editorial Board.
Judicial Board meets year-long goals: reforms policies, increases efficiency Guest Columnist
Ruby Pierce
Guest Columnist
means each representative is truly fulfilling their responsibilities.
“Most students don’t completely understand how...judicial branch operates...”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
Page 10
April 24, 2014
Administrators fail to heed effects of climate change Martin Man
Guest Columnist
I
t appears we have finally made it through the long and harsh winter. As the weather finally warms up (and hopefully stays so this time), Vassar is dedicating a week of activities and discussions to the environment as part of Earth Week. 2014 has already seen its fair share of extreme weather events around the world, including across the United States. We had the Polar Vortex in January, followed by months of unusually cold weather across the East Coast. Meanwhile, the West Coast experienced continued drought and unusually high winter temperatures. But short-term global weather variations, however extreme, are difficult to link to long-term climate change. Warmer Arctic oceans leading to a weaker jet-stream—which is generated by differences in temperature between polar regions and the equator—brought cold air farther south into the United States this year than usual, as well as warmer temperatures across Russia, Greenland and Alaska. So it is conceivable that our weather this year was affected by global climate change. Let us be reminded that foremost among the things the Vassar Bubble is not immune to is climate change. Whether or not the 2014 Polar Vortex was directly caused by human-induced climate change, it gave us a personal taste of what Vassar might be like subjected to extreme weather due to such changes. Let us also not forget that whilst we may have simply considered the bitter cold an added nuisance, extreme weather and climate change have much greater impacts on communities across the world. Heavy floods destroy homes; drought endangers food security; freezing temperatures are potentially deadly for those without heated shelter. Battles that generate greater impetus for action due to their immediate personal impact and proximity often take the stage at Vassar when it comes to issues of social justice and
activism, with discussions about climate change pushed backstage. Whether this is due to a lack of controversy on campus about the need for action or a lack of will to address long-term issues, the effects of which are international rather than interpersonal, does not excuse the general atmosphere at Vassar which seems to be content at letting environmentalism stop at composting and personal behavioral changes. It can often seem as though our activism is only limited to the campus and framing campus issues as part of a larger system linked to the rest of the world is a continuous struggle. The ridiculously obvious fact is that Vassar, despite the meter-high slate wall that marks us off from Poughkeepsie, is undeniably situated on planet Earth and necessarily is implicated in global systems. As the Vassar College Administration continues in its second year to shirk its commitment to sustainability and divest from the fossil fuel industry, let us be reminded that the rest of the world continues to progress, and that calls for political action against global climate change grow louder. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the third part of its Fifth Assessment Report last week. In it, the UN panel concluded that it is eminently affordable for the world to switch to clean energy but that the cost will rise dramatically the longer we wait. Although effecting the change from fossil fuels to investing in renewable energy would only minimally impact global economic growth, it depends on concerted international cooperation and action in the coming decades. As reported in The Guardian, “To avoid the worst impacts of climate change at the lowest cost, the report envisages an energy revolution ending centuries of dominance by fossil fuels.” In addition to the IPCC report, UN climate chief Christiana Figueres in January expressed the need for heavy investments in clean energy on the order of one trillion dollars a year to make the shift from a fossil fuel-based economy in order to keep rising mean global tempera-
tures in check. President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim similarly called for policy changes and divestment at a press conference at the World Economic Forum this January. He said: “Through policy reforms, we can divest and tax that which we don’t want, the carbon that threatens development gains over the last 20 years.” And in a call that could just as easily be directed at Vassar College, “Corporate leaders should not wait to act until market signals are right and national investment policies are in place.” Calls for action targeting the fossil fuel industry are not limited to international organizations. If the Vassar administration won’t listen to students’ arguments, maybe it will when the same arguments are voiced by Desmond Tutu— after all, Vassar is so proud of its anti-Apartheid action, is it not? In a recent Guardian article, he stated, “There are many ways that all of us can fight against climate change: by not wasting energy, for instance. But these individual measures will not make a big enough difference in the available time. People of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change.” “We can encourage more of our universities and municipalities and cultural institutions to cut their ties to the fossil fuel industry.” Further on the religious front, multi-faith groups from the USA and Australia have addressed a letter to Pope Francis requesting that he support fossil fuel divestment by encouraging churches, organizations and investors to divest, appealing to the Pope’s championing of humanitarian causes and relatively progressive attitude. If such moral and rational arguments are unable to break through to the Vassar administration, perhaps some cold financial reports will. Even financial organizations are now recognizing the International Energy Agency warning that only a third of current fossil fuel reserves can be burned before 2050 if we are to have a
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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
50 percent chance at avoiding a 2 degree Celsius rise in global mean temperature—beyond that, scientists warn of unpredictable cascade-effects in climate deterioration. Reports by HSBC Global Research and Standard & Poor’s warn investors of decrease in value of coal and oil, respectively, as global demand decreases in the coming decades, recognizing the need to adhere to limitations in burning fossil fuel reserves and the fact that two-thirds of all reserves are considered “unburnable.” If the College Administration won’t listen to its own student body, considering the divestment campaign a passing fad for student activism, then perhaps it might prefer one or all of the voices sampled here. And if it blocks its ears to them all, then we have to ask, to whom are we beholden? The financial advisors and “specialists” stubbornly defending the status quo? A status quo that is part of the same system we are taught at Vassar to challenge. A system that exacts violence on the environment and all who depend on it, some more vulnerable than others—a system that is in fact self-destructive. Digging a little deeper, then, we are confronted with another level of hypocrisy in addition to Vassar’s fossil fuel investments coinciding with its “commitment to sustainability.” This deeper hypocrisy shows itself as a betrayal of our supposed goal to foster critical thinking. Or, as President Hill recently quoted from the College’s mission statement, to “promote analytical, informed and independent thinking and sound judgment.” The College seems content to direct student criticism against national and global political, social, and economic systems, but favors defending the status quo when the same informed thinking and sound judgment is directed against it. Vassar College fancies itself a leader, training a population of future leaders, but shirks away when it is held responsible. It’s time for Vassar to step up. —Martin Man ’16 is an art history major.
April 24, 2014
OPINIONS
Media continues to fuel body image woes Lily Elbaum Columnist
I
think most people, of any gender, have some part of their body that they’d like to change, that they wish was different or that they just kind of don’t like. It’s the nature of humans to always be in competition, and our bodies are no exception. There is, definitely, an ideal for people that is promoted by society. That ideal ranges somewhat depending on your upbringing and personal feelings, but it exists, nonetheless. There is a certain paragon that each person is somehow supposed to mirror while still maintaining their individuality. Of course, whether that ideal is achievable or even healthy is debatable. And yet, people spend thousands of dollars each year trying to come closer to that ideal. Plastic surgery is a booming business across the world. One keeps hearing of new, sometimes strange, fads that come from countries all over, while breast implants remain a popular choice in Western countries, particularly the United States. The media plays a huge role in our conception of the ideal body, and this effect has been enhanced with the growth of media in recent years. Society reflects the media, although that image changes over time. Picture the old ads for pills that would help women to gain weight because they couldn’t get a date since they were too skinny; now
“The media plays a huge role in our conception of the ideal body...” there are pills and supplements aplenty to do the opposite. Now there are many self-help articles telling us to take charge and be happy with our bodies—to not to worry so much and that
a “natural” body type is really what’s attractive and desirable. Simultaneously, the same newspapers and magazines that carry those articles also have material and advertisements dedicated to telling us how to get healthier—and thinner and leaner and fitter. Essentially, we are not supposed to be happy to with our body we have until we perfect that body; but not until then. Like a lot of girls, I started having body issues in middle school. I was around new people and things were changing and it was all very confusing. I was bombarded with the realization that I didn’t look like the girls on TV; the ones with the perfect hair and the perfect skin. The ones who looked great in a bikini and never had a zit. But those same girls were shown to be unhappy with their bodies or with their hair or some other little thing. “If those girls aren’t satisfied with how they look, how can I be?” I thought. Maybe their trials were supposed to be relatable, but all they really did was enforce the stereotype that you have to look a certain way in order to be considered acceptable. There was a big spectacle made a few years ago when a picture circulated around the Internet. It was a set of store mannequins who were “bigger”—in other words, they were more average-sized and looked less like oversized Barbie dolls (who are famous for being completely unrealistic and having feet designed only for high heels). Reactions were torn between congratulating efforts to promote a healthier body image and condemning them for promoting an obese society. To be fair, obesity is a huge issue, especially in the United States, but having realistic mannequins is hardly promoting the idea of a fatter society. They were promoting the idea that not every girl (yes, they were female mannequins) looks like a supermodel, nor should they. In Venezuela, there was a scandal a couple years ago when a mannequin maker started producing ones with the “ideal” female
body—huge breasts, a small waist and large hips and butt. An hourglass shape taken to extremes. Many women in Venezuela try to match this ideal with silicone injections in both the ideally larger areas, and as a result, many have also suffered serious complications and, in some cases, even died. And then there is the perpetually popular media spectacle of the “living dolls” who have been so altered as to look like their plastic counterparts. They are often compared to Barbies for their extreme proportions; one made headlines recently for her desire to live on nothing but light and air.
“Essentially, we are not supposed to be happy with our body.” If nothing else, this all says that something needs to change, though that’s been said for years now with no resulting change. Societal change doesn’t happen overnight; it happens over years. But it undoubtedly happens. The question is how it will change. Will an unrealistic ideal of too-thin girls and overly muscled men persist? Or will ideals shift towards more natural body types? But what body type is that exactly? Because it isn’t the same around the world and across different races. And this is only a small part of the large issue regarding gendering and gender roles which spans across far more of our life and is impacted even more heavily by the media. Perhaps, though, one day we won’t look at the TV and wish we looked more like someone else who looks “better.” —Lily Elbaum ’16 is an international studies major.
VSA needs to better express its relevance Christopher Brown sPoRts editoR
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his past week, Vassar had the honor of cycling through another round of student body elections. We obtained a brand new panel of executive board members, a whole new VSA Council to interrogate and hate on and a slew of eager rising sophomores to fill various house team positions. However, one alarming fact made me realize the declining trajectory that many students at Vassar College experience: Out of the four positions for Senior Class Council, only one position was filled. There is currently no one in the positions of 2015 President, Vice President, and Secretary. The fact that out of a group of 650-plus people, three could not come out of the woodwork and run for the positions listed showcases the high level of apathy with which many students of this campus are stricken. From where did this apathy come? Has it always been there? I argue that the lack of concern for the workings of student run government at Vassar College is due to many reasons. First of all, let’s please remember that this is student government at a private college. I, like many other members of the Vassar community, realize that the VSA can make very little change, and therefore just refuse to invest much effort into it at all. At a school where most of the institutional change comes from corner offices in random sectors of the administration that students don’t know exist, the VSA serves as the small voice that the students have in determining the course that this institution takes, which honestly makes me sad. However, I’m not the constant cynic that says that the VSA is useless all the time. There have been many instances of success from projects started by VSA Council members. The Gender Neutral Bathrooms Initiative started by the previous VP for Student Life and continued by the current VP has been an extreme plus for this institution and takes a big step forward. It helps greatly with the inclusion of oppressed groups here on campus.
This is one of many changes where the VSA actually improved the lives of students on Vassar’s campus. So why, in a position where you get some power and a pretty little sticker to put on your resume, does not a single person choose to apply?
“However, I’m not the constant cynic that says the VSA is useless all the time.” I believe that people don’t really care because they just do not know what the VSA even does, let alone what their class president does. Speaking from personal experience, as a student that regularly attends VSA meetings and interacts with board members, I cannot list one thing that the Class of 2016 has put on in terms of a campus-wide event since last year’s Freshman 15. Some will tell me that it’s my burden to learn what is going on throughout this campus and stay up to date on all the events. But why is it my burden? It should be the burden of the VSA council to make every student on this campus aware of what they are doing, what events they are planning and what changes they seek to make in order to improve the lives of students on this campus. If the members of the VSA want to make true change, they need to take a step back from trying to make mindless changes to amendments within their own bylaws and focus on student outreach. I’m not claiming that the VSA needs to make extreme structural changes. That’s a discussion for another column. But I do believe that there is hope to change the attitude of the student body so that we don’t get to the week after the election process ends and realize that we have more that 15 open positions that re-
quire many discussions surrounding special elections and appointments. I have to believe that if people knew what the hell was going on in their class council or on their house teams, a few of those people would be bound to apply, and we would not have this problem. It is alarming to me, as a student on Vassar’s campus, that there are so many problems within the VSA. Members of the VSA have a unique position of power on this campus where they have the ability to speak for a much larger constituency. So it scares me when all I hear about when sitting in on VSA meetings is that there is endless internal problem after internal problem. It makes me question if the VSA can make any sort of legitimate change. It makes me lose faith that I have a voice at Vassar, and that discourages me further from believing in the mission of the VSA, which is, I’ll remind you, to improve the lives of Vassar students while at Vassar. The lose of one’s voice is the most deplorable thing that can happen to a student. When the body that is designed to allow one’s voice to be heard is not functioning, it is understandable that people are more or less annoyed with the system in place. As we near the end of an academic year and the start of another, we will be accepting a new eager batch of freshmen. It’s important not to start off their Vassar experience by limiting their exposure to the VSA Executive Board to nothing more than a quick introduction. They need to be made aware of what the VSA does, what the VSA does not do, and what they can do to get involved. We may never get 100 percent voter turnout in an election or get a huge crowd to come to campus-wide dialogues. But when we see students desire to meet over issues such as a Student’s Bill of Rights, there is something fundamentally wrong with the workings of the VSA that ultimately needs to be solved. —Christopher Brown ’16 is a political science major.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
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Word on the street What is the nicest thing anybody has ever said to you?
“People calling me a nice guy.” —Tim Brown ’16
“That I have really nice knees.” —Megan Anderson ’14
“Your ambivalence makes you attractive.” —Athony Centeno ’14
“That I reminded them of a bouncing clementine.” —Caroline Maguire ’14
“That I’m opening for Ghostface Killah Saturday.” —Blazer ’17
“Oh my god I love your hair it’s so soft.” —Wade Crouch ’16
Lily Doyle, Humor & Satire Editor Spencer Davis, Photo Editor
OPINIONS
Page 12
April 24, 2014
Artwork serves to support survivors of domestic abuse Emma Redden Guest Columnist
TRIGGER WARNING: This article discusses instances of sexual assault.
Editor’s Note: This article original appeared in Gawker as “This is a [unfinished] story about violence”
3
0.25° N, 97.75° W—I am in Austin, Texas, two thousand miles from home, asking strangers on the sidewalk to talk about the epidemic of abusive men. I am asking people I don’t know to be brave. This is a story about bravery. *** Last summer, Jeff From and I drove 10,00 miles around the United States and asked strangers to show support for survivors of domestic abuse. We did not stand on sidewalks and in parks seeking survivors, though some identified themselves as victims. Violence in homes is so common, so familiar, the numbers make it impossible to talk to large groups of people without some having stories of their own. We photographed members of the public as well as employees and staff of domestic violence service centers and asked them all to answer one question, “why is it important to support victims of domestic violence?” In response, participants hand wrote statements of support, which we overlaid on their photograph to make a series of portraits. My whiteness, his whiteness, his manhood move us more powerfully than this car. We are too fair to threaten the imagination of strangers and the men who threaten mine often can recede into the spaces between Jeff’s fingers and toes. Maybe my white skin is my shield, and maybe I’m just not allowed the sword. This is an elegy to my unearned protection. This is a story about perception.
36.17° N, 86.78° W—It was the fourth night. I walked alone to the empty parking lot because some days I want too badly to believe that I can be my own protector. I only needed my toothbrush. I don’t know if women without men smell differently, or shine differently, but it didn’t take long for me to be in the company of four men. Immediately, one approached me. And I told him to leave. He asked me why I didn’t love him, why I didn’t want him. He asked about my mouth and why I didn’t want him. The five of us were alone, my phone was dead in my pocket and I couldn’t find the keys to lock the car. I assumed if I left, they’d take everything we had, and leave us stranded in a city we hadn’t yet met. So I stayed. I wonder if Jeff’s exploration of our hostel that night—which lead him curiously through two unmarked doors and onto the parking lot—that the trip lasted more than just those first four days. The boys threw my stolen sword back at my feet, and apologized only to my “protector.” 30.25 N, 97.75 W—It is the fourteenth day and I am trying to make friends with the courage we need to really begin this project. I am traveling with a man, being trapped by men who only apologize to other men. I am scared, in the fist space above my belly button, to test strangers, to see if other people care about something I am sure, is too important. Measuring my life through the existence and absence of fear feels similar to measuring love through tears—but sometimes that’s just the kind of love it is. This story is about that kind of love. 35.67° N, 105.96° W—Behind us stands the American Indian War Memorial, and across from us, the gazebo houses a man who holds long limp balloons that silently beg the passing children to pull on their mother’s sleeve and ask permission for the magical man to turn rubber
and deep breaths into puppies. The couple in tie-dye who walks by in arm and hand and say good luck but no, they aren’t interested in participating. I wonder about their relationship to each other’s fears. The woman in running gear stops and talks about how violence is a cycle—how we teach what we’ve been taught, we hurt like we’ve been hurt, we dominate like we’ve been dominated. The man with the blue goatee says he doesn’t believe in violence at all—not terrorism in lands we’ve never tried to understand and not terrorism in the spaces between two people who share beds and forks and children. 34.05° N, 118.25° W—We hear the news. He chased his wife down the street and stabbed her, again and again. He killed her. This has never been a story about saving lives. 37.78° N, 122.42° W—I can’t see the blue sky clearly through the wires and flags overhead. The trolley is yellow and the signs are red. The man with his dog listens to our tale, suggests a place to get clams, and says this isn’t something he can talk about. I wonder if he is scared. A mom pushes a stroller and we speak above her son’s head. I wonder if he will ask her questions about violent men and I wonder if she will talk to him about his father or uncles or himself one day. The man smoking a joint walking down the street stops and tells us about AIDS, the importance of condoms and living each day like it’s the only one that will ever matter at all. I wonder if I will die before I am ready, too. The woman with the backpack answers, “Because we are human.” I wonder if this could ever be a story about humanity. 41.71° N, 73.92° W—I am in Poughkeepsie, New York, two thousand miles from Austin, Texas, curious about what the trip meant. The portraits have been published into a book filled
with a hundred people and an index of hotline numbers, power and control wheels, safety plans and addresses. I think about the women who live lives so stifled by structural violence that photographs and phone numbers don’t mean much at all. This book can only be for women who have a telephone, women who have access to services with waiting rooms, women who can read, women who speak English or Spanish. When I imagine who may flip through the pages, I imagine the women I work with at the local domestic violence service center. This may be a story about them. One in four women in this country are survivors of abuse. I imagine the book read by a young woman in a blue-lit waiting room. She hadn’t before known of the National Domestic Violence hotline. A mother reads it. She hadn’t understood her daughter’s abuse. She had never seen charts that drew her son-in-law’s face so vividly. A gay man reads it. He didn’t realize it was still abuse if he was a man. This isn’t a story about saving lives. But maybe this could be a story about planting seeds. I wonder what it means to talk about abuse everyday—what it means for women to profile men who hurt, everyday. I’m not sure where to place the abusive men in my life I know and care about, and some I love. I wonder what it means for me that I think I know the red flags, in my dreams. Abusive men don’t yell, don’t manipulate, don’t use their hands or words as weapons on the first date, or the second and most likely not the third. Men often become violent only after love and trust and piety. Could I dismiss violence, dismiss the flags I had always painted red, seem only to be theory or chart words? Will I fall in love with an abusive man? I don’t know. I think this is a story about me.
The Miscellany Crossword by Jack Mullan, Crossword Editor
ACROSS 1 Bedrock belief 6 Criticism, informally 10 US affiliate of a Qatari news co. 14 Nas’ dis track from “Stillmatic” 15 How the cautious play it 16 Pie à la ___ 17 Stash 18 2002 Literature Nobelist Kertész 19 Passion 20 Kismet 22 2012 site of Obama “scandal” 24 Hosp. units 25 Traffic control org. 27 Place for a piercing 28 Brooklyn athlete 29 Stage on an instruction manual 31 ’60s war zone 33 Greek peak 36 Arrange from A to Z, say 38 2001
Gyllenhaal role 42 Like caramel 43 anchor− hoisting cry 45 21st century cavalry 46 April filing duty 48 Autobús alternative 49 Fascinated by 50 Icelandic band Sigur ___ 52 Defer (to) 54 Defib operator 57 Toll hwy. 59 Postal department: Abbr. 60 W.W. II Greek resistance org. 63 Cocktail 66 TV’s Science Guy 68 Desert bloomers 69 Say yea or nay 71 Pico de ___ (12,000−foot volcano on the Canary Islands) 72 Arabian Peninsula land 73 Cadaver study: Abbr. 74 Old lab burners
Answers to last week’s puzzle
75 Marine rescue grp. 76 Leafy vegetable 77 TV exec Arledge DOWN 1 Since: Esp. 2 Playful swimmer 3 Common Halloween costumes 4 Part: Prefix 5 “The Origins of Totalitarianism” author 6 State Dept. agency 7 Mary had a little one 8 “It’s ___ country!” 9 One half of a ’90s Nickelodeon duo 10 Asian nurse 11 The NBA’s all− time greatest 12 Catching a few zz’s 13 Earn 21 “Jeez louise!” 23 Diploma holder 26 “___ can survive everything but a misprint”: Oscar Wilde 29 Twain adventurer 30 Courage 32 Spanish ciudad 33 Halloween mo. 34 Al Green’s “___−La−La (Make Me Happy)” 35 Cause for a TV−MA rating 37 Not our 39 Anchorman
Burgundy 40 Piece next to a bishop: Abbr. 41 Great Society inits. 44 16 oz. 47 Justice Sotomayor’s org, for short 51 Big name in subaltern studies
53 Hang on a street corner 54 Ed. council: Abbr. 55 Sir’s counterparts 56 Breath mint 58 Coin of Stockholm 60 Pacific weather phenomenon
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
61 Name meaning “From the moon,” in Turkey 62 Reagan attorney general 64 Last dynasty of China 65 Right leaning? Abbr. 67 Jared of “Requiem for a
Dream” 70 Summer in France
April 24, 2014
HUMOR & SATIRE
Page 13
Breaking News
From the desk of Lily Doyle, Humor & Satire Editor
Easygoing news editor tragically uninformed about campus events, unfortunately not prophetic either
Humor editor only person The Misc says goodbye alive never offered a cig to best EIC since ’Nam Lily Doyle
I
Remarkably Uncool Outgoing Humor Editor
have never been offered a cigarette. Not a single time. Seriously, not once. If you’re reading this right now, and you’re like hey, Lily, we are close personal friends and I am positive that I have offered you a cigarette, you’re wrong. You haven’t. P.S.—I’m pissed about it. You might be saying, hey, Lily, don’t be mad! Cigarettes kill you! Haven’t you seen those incredibly terrifying advertisements?! Indeed, friend, I have, and I don’t smoke, so don’t worry. Those advertisements really sunk in. In fact, I think they sunk in too much. You know how smoking has always been portrayed as something that “the cool kids” do and that’s how they will corrupt you and you’ll take one drag of a cigarette and then BAM, you’ll be in the 13th Circle of Hell, partying with Johnny Depp and Madonna? Well, there’s some truth to that. Let’s take a quick look at who smokes: Europeans. Cool. Russians. Cool. Connor Martini. Cool. All of these people have things like great fashion sense, or winter sports abilities, or the ability to drink vodka without wanting to die, or ubiquitous control over the Class of 2014. I know, I was as surprised as you were at the discovery that Putin’s takeover has reached as far as Vassar, but, friends, it’s true. He’s our new class president. Connor Martini just dresses well. Still cool. Anyways, if all of those people are “cool” and are just offering cigarettes to youth all willy-nilly, then why have I not been offered one? You’d think an older sister would have tried to draw me in with her nefarious habits at some point. Especially in high school. It’s well known that high school is prime “cigarette addiction” time, because you’re youthful, and that’s the time when strangers offer you modeling contracts but you’re still dumb enough to believe that they were sincere, and you do stuff like buy clothes from Forever 21 and are impressed by their “quality.” At that time, I was a teacher’s daughter who read Harry Potter repeatedly. I was a prime target for corruption. But no. Clearly, I am so dramatically uncool that it didn’t even seem worth it. Why even bother? Not even smoking can help me. It would just be a
waste of a cool stick (what I call cigarettes). Even when I was abroad, Europeans smoked their cigarettes casually around me, never offering one up. Europeans, goddammit! They offer their cigarettes to everyone! They have cigarette trees! Their cats smoke! They won’t sell you a coffee unless you also have a cigarette to smoke with it, because if you are going to stain your teeth one way, you might as well go all the way. These are all true facts that you should probably consider before going abroad. Somehow, despite not being able to escape cigarettes in Italy, I was never offered one. This is not to say that I actually want to smoke a cigarette. Not because of any particular reason, except for the fact that I think I’d choke when I breathe in and possibly die (not cool). I just have never really been interested, despite the very convincing argument that you should ‘‘try everything once!” That’s dumb. You know what I’m not going to try once? Snake charming. Jumping out of an airplane. Unicycling. Wheatgrass shots. Using candle wax to give myself a Brazilian. Traveling to Death Valley in the middle of the summer. Eating the Tequila worm. Stop telling me to try shit! I don’t want to! If I wanted to, I would try it, but wheatgrass is stupid and bicycling with two wheels is hard enough for me! Along the same lines, if I wanted to smoke a cigarette, I would just go to the store and buy a pack and try one and donate the rest of them to the Russians who are in charge of the senior class. Maybe my lack of desire to try one is the reason I have never been offered. Maybe someone busts out a cigarette and the light and joy in my eyes dies immediately. Maybe there is some shared symbol that people who smoke have. Say there is a smoker next to me, and another smoker walks by, then they tap their left arm twice, then pull their ear and that way, the smoker next to me knows not to bother. It seems that the closest I can get to the cool cigarette brands lifestyle is through spending a lot of money on a camel. Whatever I’m doing, it’s working, and I am willing to sell my secret to anti-cigarette commercial campaigns, in exchange for a job and an apartment and a 12-15 page political science research paper.
Chris Gonzalez
Plebian, Former Fancy Man
S
ince the end of last April, I have devoted my mind, body and sexual appetite to a higher power, The Miscellany News, and as odd and questionable my decision to do so, swearing my undying and unwavering allegiance to this paper hasn’t taken that much of a toll on my life (note to the Administration: The Misc in no way endorses hazing—the sacrificed squirrels and blood offerings were only done by me. The Misc is perfect, we are perfect). Indeed, I consider the heavy bags under my eyes the most appealing feature on my perpetually tired face, a sign that I served my time on this rag well. I’m hoping these babies can earn me a free year-long membership into Poughkeepsie’s RCC (Raccoon Community Center), which, no matter what anyone tells me, I know deep within my shriveled up, bottomless soul exists. And if I don’t think about how much better my cumulative GPA would look going through a shredder than appearing on the bottom of my transcript, I can totally look back on the past two semesters as the high points of my short—and possibly shortened—life. Between the caffeine highs and all-nighters, I’ve easily shaved about 23 years off my life, meaning that I should be hitting my mid-life crisis at about the age of 28. Even so, Dean Chris Roellke knows me by name and often calls out to me while standing in line during Tasty Tuesdays, and that’s really all I need on this Chipotleless campus. But sadly, dear readers, my reign...er...I mean...time as Editor-in-Chief has come to an end (pause for uproarious applause from student body at large, VSA Exec board and Council, Administration, faculty and staff and squirrel population). Wipe your tears, all, I know this will be a rough transitional period for the entire campus, including all the students yet to matriculate who will sadly never get to experience my greatness (or lack thereof). I assure you, however, that my successor, drag race partner, co-secret agent, Pynchon lover, fellow avocado enthusiast and coffee bean snorter, and potential New York roomie for the summer, Marie Solis, will do a [insert appropriate adjective of your choosing here] job running the most valuable source of in-
formation this campus has to offer....the Misc LiveBlog. As for the paper? Meh. No one can really tame that beast, however hard we might try. And, oh, do we try. I have the bite marks on my lower back to prove it. Watching her move from Senior Editor to Editor-in-Chief has been a bittersweet experience. It’s not even a matter of losing all of the power I once held (and let me tell you, it was a shit-ton of power—like, who thought it was ever a good idea to put me in charge of things or people? I can barely remember to shower more than once a week). But The Miscellany News has been like a baby for me these last couple of months. Not the cute kind, mind you—it’s resembled that kind of demon-infant mix that cries at all hours of the night and only allows you enough sleep so that you never actually get any rest. It leaves you feeling like you’re in some limbo where the difference between life and death is paper thin, but you’re definitely sure that you never actually want real kids, because the good Lord knows you’re not capable of caring for another life when you can’t even copy-fit a 900 -word article. Anywho... After Marie’s election, I may have run around the office changing every computer password and locking the door to what is no longer my personal office/porn dungeon as an attempt to keep her away from my Precious. But then I moved on. I guess she’s the younger, more ambitious and enthusiastic foil to my tired, boozed-out sack of burnt out. And though it isn’t a requirement for the job, she can rock purple lipstick in ways that I never could. But, oh, have I tried... So now what? Every morning, I check my email out of some Stockholm Syndrome-induced reflex. I lay awake at night dreaming about headlines with typos, angry emails from students, hate messages from my mother, student-athlete housing. Some things just don’t ever really leave you. On the upside of things, there’s more freedom with this new sense of purposelessness that has been thrust upon me. I’m trying and, like Beyoncé, I’ve been drinking to figure this shit out. There are a lot of little things I have to sort out, a lot of little things before I can enjoy living a post-EIC life.
VC’s Sophie’s Choice: Beer or Meryl Streep by Jemma Howlett, Mascot Enthusiast
Y
ou know the situation: You’re in a Costco with your great-grandmother, casually stealing extra free samples from the cheese case. Suddenly, a thought strikes her and she turns to you and asks you about the mascot of your college. With a mouth full of creamy gouda, you tell her. Then, like everyone else, she responds, “What even is a brewer?” You then take two minutes to explain to her that it is exactly what she thinks it is: a beer brewer, someone who brews beer. “Oh, is that it?” she croaks before taking a nap in the middle of the aisle. This experience can be confusing and frustrating for all unfortunate parties involved. Today’s image of a brewer isn’t something strong, powerful or glorious like a mascot should be. Instead, the stereotype of a brewer is a skinny, hipster guy in a plaid shirt and glasses who uses words such as “woody,” “glassy” or “hoppy” to describe
some malted barley or microbrew only available at the one store in Chinatown. I mean, Matthew Vassar was a brewer, but is that ever relevant? Definitely not when it comes to deciding a school’s mascot. In order to combat the ridiculous existence of our current “mascot,” a petition has started circulating around campus to change it from a “brewer” to Vassar College alumna/ actress/Academy Award winner/superstar/ goddess/flawless angel Meryl Streep ’71. The petition began on April 6, 2014 and will be collecting signatures until the end of the school year. The mascot change would come with many benefits (to students, faculty members, America and, for some unexplainable reason, some cities in Canada), the first of which being ridding the mascot of the beer reference that has deterred donors in the past. Donors are typically hesitant to en-
dorse a school with an alcohol-related mascot, but the amicable feelings delivered due to Meryl’s branding, combined with the lack of alcohol, could cause donations to skyrocket. The money from these donations could be used in constructive ways, such as renovating a dorm or turning the TH path into a moving sidewalk like those ones that no one really uses in airports. Athletes are also excited at the prospect of being able to have Meryl’s face on their jerseys. Currently, they are not able to have the brewer on competition gear because of the alcohol reference and NCAA rules. Meryl will eradicate this problem and give a fresh new face to Vassar sports teams. SAAC (Student-athlete Advisory Committee) has dreamed up jerseys with The Deer Hunter Meryl for regular games and The Devil Wears Prada Meryl for championships. The
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
new mascot would also be allowed at games where our giant styrofoam stein has never been before. The stack of applications to play Streep as mascot at games and events is already over 100 sheets thick, and rapidly growing. It seems that the idea chimes with everyone. When asked, Streep states, “I’m surprised this hasn’t already happened, I mean, I really am the only logical choice.” Some variations on the mascot have been Meryl’s head on a womp womp’s body or putting Streep and Lisa Kudrow into the app that blends faces together, but Meryl seems to have gained the most momentum. The change in mascot would increase donations to the school, heal sore relationships, increase student morale and give us all a warm fuzzy feeling. To sign the petition, send Cappy an email with the subject, ‘Down with the Brewers, Meryl for Mascot!”
ARTS
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April 24, 2014
Third-annual art show raises awareness of sexual assault Samantha Kohl aRts editoR
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courtesy of CARES
rt is a medium that taps into the emotional and mental and has the ability to create connections between one’s self and another’s. Art is also a medium that allows for its creators to reflect and comment upon human experience and all of its caveats. Art’s power and ability to evoke emotion in its viewer has lent itself to an array of causes; most recently, the Vassar Haiti Project’s recent art display. On Wednesday, April 30, CARES, Sexual Assault Violence Prevention (SAVP), Breaking The Silence at Vassar (BTSAV) and Fem Alliance will hold their third annual art show in the AULA in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The show aims to raise awareness of sexual assault and all of its repercussions by means of a variety of media, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, quilts, live spoken-word poetry and song. Professor of English Molly McGlennen will kick the event off with a few words about the show and the power of its content. Art has the power to affect not only its creators but also its viewers. “I immediately think of Frida Kahlo, who experienced a number of traumatic events in her lifetime, including a crippling bus accident as well as an unhealthy relationship with her husband, Diego Rivera,” stated Kristina Arike ’14 of CARES in an email. “Her self-portraits are moving, I think, because they register the trauma she felt in such a palpable way. Some of them are difficult to look at, yet beautiful at the same time, and I think that they are important to consider when talking about historical precedents of art created in response to trauma.” And by compiling works of art that raise awareness of sexual assault, the art show holds power beyond even each work’s artistic value. “I think that this event is an opportunity for those affected by interpersonal violence to engage with the issue at whatever level they feel most comfortable,” stated Arike. “We invite the campus community to participate by submitting art works as well as performing during the
The CARES Art Show will take place in the AULA on Wednesday, April 30, beginning at 3:30 p.m. The art show is a part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month and will feature art related to the topic. open-mic portion, but we also hope that people come to the event to look, to listen, and to be open to the powerful healing capacity that creative outlets can have.” The CARES Art Show seeks to raise an understanding of recovery and experience of personal violation by means of artistic forms. The show will include an array of artistic media, as well as an open-mic session for poets wishing to speak upon the subject of sexual assault and personal violation. “By including a diversity of art forms, both visual and performed, the event can include anyone who considers themselves to be an artist,” said CARES buddy Essie Asan ’17. “That also means that our event appeals to anyone— from lovers of poetry to art connoisseurs. What is most important is that the larger Vassar community becomes aware of this huge issue that remains in the dark to most.”
Due to its expressive nature, art is an ideal medium by which the organizers of the CARES Art Show have chosen to raise awareness. “Art allows for the expression of the ineffable/ unspeakable, an adjective often applied to interpersonal violence and other trauma,” continued Arike. “To create art is a way to work through certain feelings and memories in such a way that does not disempowered the survivor, as other responses to sexual assault sometimes do, but rather the survivor is empowered to interpret as well as to present whatever they wish howsoever they wish.” The organizers of the event seek to maintain an open and inclusive environment, in which they will offer refreshments, as well as the opportunity for attendees to create art themselves by adding squares to BTSAV’s quilt project. “The CARES Art Show is a great way to reach a lot of people in a medium that is highly
accessible,” said Sara Cooley ’15 of Fem Alliance. “Not everyone, even if they have experience with sexual assault, can relate to articles that are steeped in feminist academia. Those are obviously very important, but art is a good way to bring the issue to people who would otherwise not understand or be interested in learning about these issues.” The open and inclusive nature of the fair incites greater opportunity for awareness and understanding of the issue to spread. It also draws a very real and stigmatized issue into light. “I would like those with no experience with sexual assault to understand that it is a prevalent and pervasive issue both on and off campus, and that, looking at statistics, if they think they are not affected by it, they probably are,” Cooley stated. Furthermore, art has the ability to inspire, and it is that very facet that will ultimately result in getting people talking. “I would like everyone to feel inspired to get involved with anti-sexual assault activist projects on this campus. Art is an excellent outlet for survivors because, as I mentioned, anti-sexual assault academia is not a field that everyone is comfortable working in, and not everyone has the tools to write or respond to feminist analyses of rape culture,” Cooley continued. “Art in some form is something many people can do, and it is a medium that can create community and facilitate healing.” The event will ultimately be a healing and therapeutic one. Gianna Constantine ’15 of CARES wrote in an emailed statement, “Art is a cathartic process, regardless of whether the end result matches the original intention. I would love for the Art Show to encourage survivors to explore making art as a tool for recovery.” Artists featured in the show were given a huge amount of liberties in rendering their experiences. Constantine stated, “Addressing trauma directly can be a near-impossible task for some survivors. Art provides media in which survivors are free to be as vague or as specific as they feel they need to be.”
‘Bloody’ comments on dark moments in American history Samantha Kohl aRts editoR
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of passive viewers.” What is crucial for a satirical play that can be very offensive is that its audience constantly reflects over the action on stage and maintains a critical eye. “Vassar is unique in its ability to be very scrutinizing. We have a different way of evaluating things and I think it’s important, especially with this kind of musical, that we remain critical and are always analyzing,” said Matt Mendoza ’15, the band’s guitarist and vocalist. Ultimately, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” is an agent that will bring America’s darker past to light. “The reason we do not talk about these issues is because the system succeeded in marginalizing native voices,” Kahn said. “This play is highly politically-incorrect, which is necessary. That kind of satirical acerbic comedy is necessary to get at these issues, principally the
issue of, which is actually a line in one of the songs, ‘do you really want the American people running their own country?’ It’s this conflict between tyranny of the majority, populist ideals, democracy and protecting the Constitutionally-stated values of this country, which have often been in conflict in troubling ways.” Shwayder hopes that “Bloody Bloody” will open up dialogue on campus about an events that happen in its audience’s backyard: “Theater and satire, which this show largely is, is a way to draw the audience in with fun lights, music and dancing and then you trap them in this intense conversation that they probably hadn’t thought about, that will open up a dialogue. I hope the audience does reach out to me and the actors afterwards to continue talking about the play, the way it’s written and the subject matter.”
courtesy of Arden Shwayder
he genre of musical theater is often known to be kitschy or happy-go-lucky, enticing audience members with upbeat music and comedic situations. At first glance, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” seems to be an archetype of this genre. Deduced to its most basic form, “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” written by Alex Timbers, is a satirical rock musical about the founding of the Democratic Party in the United States of America. But, in reality, the show possesses much darker themes and is really a portrayal of one of the darkest—and most under-looked—blights in America’s history. The show comments upon America’s treatment of Native Americans by retelling a critical history of Andrew Jackson. “It pretty much explores how he was the first political celebrity and how it parallels the modern political landscape of how these politicians we have now are basically celebrities,” said Arden Shwayder ’16, the show’s director. “The writers of the show thought Andrew Jackson would be a good figure to study because his legacy is so incredibly infamous and complicated and nuanced because he was the first people’s president—he says it many times throughout the show—but it also explores how this was an impossible thing to be.” Upon proposing “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” to Future Waitstaff of America (FWA), Shwayder entered into a larger dialogue regarding a dark section of America’s history. Along with Shwayder, the cast and crew all participate in the dialogue surrounding the play’s subject. “One of the biggest issues we are studying and having conversations about as a cast is treatment and forced relocation of Native Americans, which was America’s first real genocide, and how Jackson, as a figure, was trying to be the people’s president, yet his definition of people was white Americans,” said Shwayder. All who are involved in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” feel implicated to bring to light a part of American history that has yet to receive
the correct amount of attention. “It’s about America, our values, our propensity to forget and push things to the side and to not deal with really difficult issues,” said Aidan Kahn ’14, who will be starring as Andrew Jackson in the show. “In this issue in particular, it’s the fact of the decimation and ethnic cleansing of First Nations Peoples. It’s not just something that we can push aside or gasp at as having been a bad thing that our forefathers did. Rather, we are all still implicated today to a great extent.” The play will be performed outdoors in the Center for Drama and Film Quad, which will prevent audiences from fully losing themselves into the world of the play. “People will look around and think to themselves, ‘Look at that man-made lake over there. Look at all of these things. I probably benefit from Jackson’s stuff all the time,’” Shwayder said. “It will force the audience to think even more of the story at hand and how they personally benefit or benefit from it. It’s not just this separate thing that happened in history—it’s still happening today.” The play further brings audience members into the conversation by being entirely selfaware. “The format of the play is kind of like the nightmare of an AP US History teacher who puts on a play and it becomes too real in some pretty fucking scary plays,” said Kahn. “It becomes horribly violent and horribly vulgar. My character says some horrible shit. So it’s important that we break the forth wall.” One of the methods Shwayder employs to keep the audience in constant awareness is by keeping the band involved with the play’s action at the forefront instead of hidden away in the pit. “When you make the audiences aware of themselves, they can’t be zoning out and staring into space and thinking about what they’re going to have for dinner,” Shwayder said, “They have to think about the space they are sitting in and actually be a part of the story—especially in this story, in which they are all implicated in what has happened. It’s great to make the audience active participants instead
“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” provides a historical and social commentary in a satirical and self-referential manner. In “Bloody Bloody,” the forth wall is constantly broken to inspire conversation.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
April 24, 2014
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Workshop to promote female voices in electronic music Jake Solomon Guest RePoRteR
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courtesy of The Guardian
ith an eclectic mix of producers and musicians becoming popular in recent years, the electronic music industry seems to be representative of a wide array of people. However, the industry is lacking in an extremely important aspect: representation of female-identifying artists. An electronic music production workshop that hopes to address this problem in an environment that caters specifically to women is coming to Vassar on Friday, April 25 from 3 to 5 pm in Rocky 112. The music workshop, “Pink Noises,” will focus on both music production and songwriting in a setting that will only be open to female-identifying students in order to provide a safe space to explore creativity. This workshop is unique in its mission of addressing the underrepresentation of women in electronic music and its method of bringing music education to Vassar with well-known musicians and producers. “Pink Noises” is the brainchild of Vassar student Joanna Kloppenburg ’14, who sees the importance of making the music scene more accepting of female artists. Kloppenburg said she hopes that the workshop will be able to aid the fight for gender equality in the music industry. “I hope this workshop will help more women, even the women who didn’t get to take the workshop but are aware of it, to consider electronic music production as a creative outlet. I also hope that the artists, who will be teaching a workshop for the first time, will consider facilitating more workshops for women in the future.” She went on, speculating that the workshop may also be a space for larger reflection on the industry’s marginalization of women. “Perhaps it will also allow those are involved in the genre in any way to reconsider what kinds of sexism and inequalities may be embedded in its [the industry’s] structure, as they may not be obviously apparent to everyone,” she said. The workshop will include classes taught by highly respected female electronic music producers and musicians. Gordon Schmidt ’17
wrote in an email, “The first workshop is taught by Cherushii and Aurora Halal, two extremely talented contemporary electronic musicians and producers, who will focus on mixing and production using both hardware and software recording techniques (Ableton and MIDI). Maria Minerva, a renowned electronic musician from Estonia, will teach a songwriting workshop that will focus on the development of an autonomous female voice through electronic music.” The fact that the electronic music industry is male-dominated gives the world an interesting view of female producers and musicians. Schmidt wrote, “If you were to ask Aurora Halal to describe her music, ‘female’ is not the first word that she would use. And yet in most music publications and press releases, Halal and other contemporary electronic musicians are always referred to as ‘female producers.’ Yet you would never find Rolling Stone magazine referring to Skrillex as a ‘male producer.’ That’s because electronic musicians are considered male by default.” These artists are working to change this aspect of the electronic music industry and spreading awareness through this workshop is a step towards creating a more inclusive environment for all musicians and producers. Schmidt wrote, “Gender inequality is rampant in every single part of the music industry. However, the tide is changing. I really believe that gender equality in music is a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if.’ Workshops like these are part of an increasingly powerful network of people who are devoted to providing a better platform for the female voice in electronic music.” There are many different reasons for the persistence of gender inequality in the music industry, and some of the worst offenses apply specifically to the electronic music scene. In an emailed statement, Lars Odland ’17, who has a WVKR radio show, wrote, “In practically every segment of music production or creation women are underrepresented, and as such, I think it becomes much easier for genres like electronic, that have a mostly male listenership (or at least, the perception is that mostly men
NO-ViCE and WVKR are hosting an electronic music production workshop titled “Pink Noises.” The workshop will focus on the often under-represented portion of female musicians in the electronic genre. listen to this type of music), to continue to only cater to male listeners.” In spite of the sexism that is present in the music industry, the producers and musicians coming to Vassar have overcome many obstacles and have become successful artists. Kloppenburg wrote in an email, “Maria Minerva has never restrained herself to one particular genre of music, which demonstrates a deep curiosity and respect for varying musical histories. She also often incorporates feminist text into her music and has often stated that her music is catered more for women than from men, that it is an attempt to open more women up to underground electronic music.” Along with Minerva, two other electronic artists, Cherushii and Aurora Halal, will be teaching a workshop collaboratively. Kloppenburg wrote, “Cherushii also demonstrates a vast knowledge of electronic music’s history, and de-
votes part of her career to education of this history through her radio show, ‘Midnight Express.’ Aurora Halal is involved in many sectors of the creative arts: she is a video artist, directing both conceptual videos and music videos.” Although female voices are present in many electronic songs, they are only clips of other songs created by women, so it can be problematic when these clips are sampled by men in other sectors of the music industry. Kloppenburg wrote, “[Electronic] music, especially house and techno, is often created by sampling both musical and vocal segments from other songs. Female voices are more heavily sampled by men, and it is men who are mainly cutting and reappropriating these female voices outside of their contexts, which very often transforms these voices into sexualized or vulnerable objects, as opposed to an expression of independent female desire.”
Student radio shows celebrate musical interests, creativity Emma Rose
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them. Though my listenership is fairly small— my show is at 1 a.m.—I hope that someone heard a song they liked or became interested in the genre that they didn’t listen to before.” According to Angela and Tomás, waking up for a 9 a.m. extracurricular is taxing, but once in the station, the pair enjoy their show, and their choices of music welcome in Tuesday mornings. Dancing and laughing about past shows creates an environment of ease and inspiration. Airtime represents a new way to get creative. Unlike other art forms, radio draws a veil between the artist and the audience. Vassar’s soundproof recording studio, nestled into the tallest tower of Main, removes the creative process from its reception. Hosts cannot see how many people tune into any given show, nor can they alter their set based upon the audience’s reactionary cues. Angela laughed as
Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News
riday night, I found myself recording a halting PSA under the DJ handle “Mediterranean Rose.” Until then, I thought of the radio station as an elusive hideout that my friends disappeared to at all hours of the night to record. Shelves of CDs covered the walls, and a couple of couches welcomed radio tag-alongs such as myself. After botching my premier radio appearance by saying on-air “a bunch of numbers” as opposed to the correct thing to say, which would be each individual number, I scanned the titles and the overall mass. I loved that physical music makes up the studio where it is enjoyed and celebrated. My friends finished up the show and we re-entered a Vassar Friday night. After meeting Angela Brown ’16 that night, I approached her to gain a more formal understanding of the radio culture at Vassar. We quickly nailed down the basics: She co-hosts with Tomás Guarnizo ’16, a close friend since the beginning of their freshman year who enjoys a similar taste in music. Angela (or dj johntapscott) and Tomás (or dj madcow)’s 9 to 10 a.m. slot on Tuesday morning focuses on Bossa Nova, a genre of Brazilian music that is a fusion of samba and jazz and directly translates to “new trend.” When asked about the process of gaining approval for airtime, Brown responded with one word: “intimidating.” The extensive interview-process follows lots of forms and the submission of an hour-long mock playlist. One also shows their dedication to the radio programs by working four hours on other radio shows and reviewing two albums featured on another radio station. Angela prepped by reading biographies of her favorite musicians and researching her music tastes. The beginnings of their radio show, titled “Bossa Nova and so Much More,” proceeded formulaically. Angela described to me the amount of planning that went into creating a rhyme and reason for each track and the orga-
nized themed days: This Tuesday! A Boogaloo special! Only after some time on the air did she began to feel comfortable, and once she decoded the soundboard, the extensive planning seemed unnecessary to a successful and engaging show. Soon, Bossa Nova began to play all sorts of music, allowing the connections between songs to provide as much of a dialogue as the songs themselves. Tracks no longer stacked homogeneously based upon genre or artist but comprised a new whole. Thus, through stringing together original lineups, radio hosts become musical curators who guide listeners. Lars Odland ’17, whose hosts “Planeta Tropicalia” under the handle dj glitter, said, “I’m able to influence the music on campus, and that’s a fairly big responsibility. People are able to hear new music from me, and I enjoy being able to provide that service to
91.3 FM WVKR, Vassar’s independent radio station, allows student DJs and its listeners to explore an array of genres and to connect with listeners who are not necessarily associated with our college.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
she recalled saying to Tomás, “Who’s even listening to this? Let’s just play what we want to play.” Although the “Bossa Nova” team knows their show has listeners, the distance between their audience and their work allows Angela and Tomás to comfortably experiment. Radio’s dual qualities of the public and private inspire honest work as radio hosts pursue their passions candidly in front of others. This intersection of interests behind closed doors extends to Vassar listeners: Who is listening to Vassar radio? “Our 5 p.m. time slot in particular is great; we get to soundtrack the drive home from work for all of the Hudson Valley. There’s one listener who calls us every week on his commute home. Things like that make the show worth doing,” said Tim Brown ’16, or rather, DJ Pop Vulture, a host of WVKR’s “The Teen’s English.” Many people listen, but much like the producers of the show, the listening happens in intimate and individualized settings, such as in one’s car or from their dorm room. Time slots also hugely dictate when listeners listen to what. “The Teen’s English, for instance, airs on Wednesdays from 5-6 p.m. and is the station’s designated time to air “80’s UK jangly guitar pop.” “Planeta Tropicalia” airs on Saturdays from 1-2 a.m. and airs ‘60s and ‘70s Brazilian music. Late night slots will not get much traffic, as most people either immerse themselves in homework or go out. No one’s awake to hear an early morning slot. An afternoon slot could attract more casual listeners, aided by a speaker pressed to a dorm window blasting Bossa Nova across the quad. Angela believes her fan base comes mostly from friends and family and even locals in Poughkeepsie ,but that Vassar Radio lacks a community: “People need to reconsider radio as a medium.” And it is not just the listeners who benefit from campus radio shows: “I realized that having that commitment would force me to discover music that I otherwise would have never heard,” stated Brown.
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April 24, 2014
Play earns ‘Soldier’ fresh take on superhero trope new life in historic setting Max Rook Columnist
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Anthony and Joe Russo Marvel Studios
MIDSUMMER continued from page 1
Atlas ’17, who plays both Snug and Cobweb in the play. The change of setting will encourage a more personal connection and heightened understanding of the play, stripping away any preconceived notions of the audience. This version will stress the play’s universal themes, while underscoring a sense of urgency integral to the work. “The process of ‘placing’ these plays in more contemporary contexts, like the Dust Bowl, is exciting, and I love finding those threads of emotional truth surrounding the processing of love and loss that transcend historical specificity,” wrote Julianne Johnson ’16, who will be playing Helena. The addition of The Barefoot Monkeys greatly adds to the show’s setting. “We are really lucky to have The Barefoot Monkeys as additional carnies, which really enhances the ‘Dust Bowl’ and magical feel of the show,” stated Sybil Engelby ’16, the show’s lighting manager and production assistant. Shakespeare’s concept of love in the play is not entirely magnanimous, and so Rebelein’s setting reflects the complicated nature of it in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” “This [type of setting] allows us to explore a lot of the underlying themes of the play, like how ridiculous and fickle love can be because the backdrop doesn’t suggest a full, wondrous relationship,” wrote Rebelein. “If we put [Hermia and Lysander] in a dying, dusty forest filled with old, gnarled, broken trees, we begin to see how their relationship is not quite as well-founded as we might think.” The set design tries to make the play as accessible to the audience as possible, since Shakespeare’s language can read as antiquated and difficult to parse. “By using more recent and recognizable cultural iconography in the design of the set, costumes, and lights, it transports the still relevant and moving themes of the play into a setting that the audience can understand more readily,” wrote Noah Mintz ’16, who plays Egeus. Vassar’s own Barefoot Monkeys will take the place of Shakespeare’s fairies. The group’s performance adds a dimension to the play often lost in more traditional adaptations. Their costumes, punctuated by bright, lush colors, animal print, vests and mismatched designs, will contribute to the carnivalesque atmosphere of the play. “[The Barefoot Monkeys’] presence gives the show a lighter, more circus-like feeling so that it doesn’t get bogged down in the emotional turmoil of the lovers, but continually shapes the world of the play to be a place of fantasy and trickery and light-hearted deception,” wrote Johnson. “We’ve also tried to avoid the more traditional Monkey approach of strict choreography. A lot of the acts don’t use the typical sets of moves that Monkeys use in their shows, and I think it really comes through in the numbers. There’s something different about this performance, not just because we only have four performers as opposed to our typical twenty-fifty, but because we’re exploring dynamic movement as our inspiration, rather than a set of tricks,” wrote Lauren Huang ’15, who will be playing a Carnie. Although Rebelein takes many artistic liberties with his rendition of the play, the cast and crew of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” remain faithful to the comedic element of the play. “I often struggle to maintain composure and hold back laughter during rehearsals,” wrote Stage Manager Lee Ann Meeks ’17. “Sam’s vision of ‘Midsummer’ really brings out all the comic moments, big and small,” wrote Max Fine ‘17, who will be playing Oberon and Theseus. Rebelein hopes that his interpretation—that simultaneously highlights the work’s dreary and fantastical elements—will encourage the audience to think more deeply about the many different and complicated manifestations of love. “By pumping new life into the play with a change of setting and a re-interpretation of some of the now taken-for-granted parts of the play, I want the audience to think more deeply about what they mean when they say, ‘I love X,’” wrote Rebelein. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be performed at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 25th and Saturday the 26th at the Susan Stein Shiva Theater.
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uperheroes are all around us. Not in the sense that you’re going to run into Batman any time soon, but in the sense that pop culture is currently overwhelmed by people in colorful costumes and capes. The superhero film is no longer a novel concept, and in many cases, the genre has grown tedious—the recently rebooted “Amazing Spider-Man” trilogy being perhaps the best example of this. In a world where there’s a new comic book movie in the theaters every three weeks for an entire summer, it’s easy to forget that there are some genuinely new things going on in the genre. Marvel’s current wave of films—the “Avengers” cycle, if you will—have mostly been solid, entertaining blockbusters, with “The Avengers” standing out as the clear highlight, but the manner in which these films have become interconnected has never been attempted before on the big screen. Ever since Nick Fury walked on screen after the credits of “Iron Man,” Marvel’s movies have been different, with each new movie contributed to the larger world. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” the ninth film in this universe, takes advantage of how this world, and this set of characters, has been built up to be the best superhero film since “The Avengers.” We first met Captain America, played by Chris Evans, in 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Where the “Iron Man” movies have been technology-filled action flicks and the “Thor” movies large scale cosmic epics, the first “Captain America” was a war story, showing how the US government developed
a super-soldier project to turn scrawny Steve Rogers into the studly Captain America we know in order to fight Nazis in World War II. That film ended with its hero frozen and lost at sea, only to be rescued in modern day for in “The Avengers,” during which he attempted to come to terms with a world that had radically changed in the sixty years he had been unconscious. And that all sets the stage for “The Winter Soldier,” the first film that deals with the question of how Captain America, a character whose stars-and-stripes aesthetic could easily come across as hokey in a modern setting, fits into today’s world. The answer, it turns out, is to look backwards: Directors Joe and Anthony Russo and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have created a paranoid thriller in the vein of ’70s classics like “Three Days of the Condor” and “The Parallax View.” The Russo brothers are best known for their work on cult sitcom hits “Arrested Development” and “Community.” Based on these credits, at first glance, the Russos may seem like an odd fit for an action spectacle with a gigantic budget; however, both of those shows—”Community” in particular—heavily rely on pop-culture pastiche, which makes the brothers a perfect fit to graft that conspiracy thriller aesthetic onto the standard Marvel movie style. Make no mistake, all of Marvel’s films share a similar look, with jumpy, handheld camera work in action sequences and frequent use of too-flat lighting. “The Winter Soldier” doesn’t do much to deviate from that style. Instead, its new direction comes in plot: When the film begins, Captain America finds himself increasingly doubtful of the work he is doing alongside SHIELD, the global peacekeeping agency headed up by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. SHIELD is planning to launch a satellite system with clear parallels to modern drone warfare, and the political allegories continue throughout the film. From there, the movie takes a number of delightful twists and
turns, so I’ll hold off on too much summary. The film still needs an engaging cast of characters, a qualification it fulfills exceedingly well. The Marvel films have always been exceptionally well cast, and Evans continues to be one of their best finds. His Captain America is the perfect blend of the exceptional and the relatable, representing an American ideal not of jingoistic patriotism but of a willingness to question authority and stand up for what is right. He’s still a symbol of nationalist pride, certainly, but one with a refreshing amount of complexity. The film also makes great use of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, a character who got off to a rocky start in the generally subpar “Iron Man 2” but was a much better fit in “The Avengers.” Her playfully flirtatious dynamic with Evans is one of the film’s highlights, and hopefully she’ll get a movie all to herself soon. The only major addition to the Marvel cast of heroes is Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, who serves as a sidekick in the comics and here acts as a fun foil to the experienced duo of Captain America and Black Widow and adds a welcome degree of diversity. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” isn’t likely to change the mind of anyone who is completely sick of superheroes. It still follows many of the genre’s formulas, escalating the stakes in the third act so absurdly that the scale gets a little silly. This is still very much a superhero movie, but it is a very good one, which takes full advantage of the opportunities that the interconnected Marvel universe affords. This movie even ties closely to the television branch of the universe, ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD,” which has come a long way from its mediocre beginnings. None of these connections are essential to “Winter Soldier‘s” success, admittedly, but they reward a level of engagement that goes beyond typical summer blockbuster fare. That amount of ambition in a genre that could so easily be staid is absolutely worth experiencing.
Great concerts, food abound at Coachella Lily Sloss Columnist
Coachella Paul Tollett Indio, California
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0,000 people attended the Coachella music and arts festival, weekend two, in Indio, California. The vast festival covered several acres of land, hosting five main stages and multiple smaller ones. Of the art pieces, a few stand out in reflection. An enormous astronaut man, wheeled slowly across the field. A series of cubed mirrors, arranged to allow multi-present selfies. Recycling bins designed like video game characters, a movement to promote recycling. The field was loud, dusty and vivid, which made me feel as if I was trapped in Coachella-land. A Coachella virgin, I was elated to attend 26 acts over three short days. The highlights were many. I caught the end of MS MR’s act, delighted as I listened to the pink-haired Vassar alum belt “Hurricane.” Lizzy Plapinger, lead vocalist, was cheery and bouncy, standing in stark contrast to many of the other female artists we saw—Lorde, Banks and Lana Del Rey, artists who defy pleas to smile. The audience, largely unfamiliar with the band, at least where I was standing, bobbed happily in tandem. Haim, consisting of three sisters Este, Alana and Danielle, provoked simultaneous envy and my desperate need to befriend them. A rock band from California, their music lacked the elements of desperation evident in many other artists. Haim, conversely, seduces and surprises their audiences, evoking a comforting mixture of eagerness and satisfaction. The outfits alone were enough to inspire: a Snoop Dogg t-shirt on Alana, the youngest, and a Peter Pan collar and striking lipstick on Este, the one with their legendary “the faces.” Pre-Coachella, I had heard rumors of Haim’s performance being ultra fantastic because of the many hilarious performance expressions,
but I remained unprepared. Este stretches her mouth to unforeseen lengths and laughs and glares at the audience, all within moments. Alana sings so close to the mic she nearly licks it; the audience, as expected, goes wild. Danielle, with a fierce, serious expression, will momentarily whisper the song lyrics so the audience unconsciously leans forward as a group. The Haim sisters are incredible, multi-talented performers and singers. Each sister plays at least two instruments. Alana, with her naughty expressions and sky-high shorts, played at least three during the single performance. My primary regret of the weekend was that I never got to meet them. Another regret was Ellie Goulding. I was extremely excited to see her. “Lights” was my number one favorite jam freshman year. The song “Anything Can Happen” always reminds me of “Girls,” my number one fave show. How could she possibly suck live? Because she is, perhaps, mildly insane. Ellie, sporting a bindi, came bounding onto the stage—cultural appropriation was common at Coachella. I spotted no fewer than fifteen white men wearing full Native American headdresses. What Hinduism or Native American tradition have to do with music festivals is beyond me, but the appropriation was rampant among blonde white girls in particular. Anyways, Ellie Goulding was wildly disappointing. Live, her songs sounded identical to the radio. Her dance moves were similarly lacking. She also maintained a wild-eyed, confused expression for the extent of her performance. I had to stop watching her face, eventually, because it was too off-putting. Flume, an EDM producer and DJ, was a surprise delight. Australian born and the ripe old age of 22, Harley Edward Streten spun the festival-goers into a fervor. Mashing together variations of his original songs, like “Sleepless” and “Holdin’ On,” the music was uplifting and simultaneously grounding. Easily the best act to dance to. The enormous Coachella tent was stuffed with ongoers, close to 40,000 people jiving and sweating and laughing and enjoying themselves. The young men near me, rolling on ecstasy, paid little attention. They
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were too entranced by one of their friends, a raver using finger lights and making the colors dance. Their loss. Flume was amazing. The experience of attending Coachella must not be limited to the musical acts and art pieces alone. A fundamental pull of the festival is the food. Over the course of three days, I enjoyed massive amounts of sinfully good eating. From Beer Belly, an LA-based restaurant that seems to specialize in fattening already fatty foods, I enjoyed bacon fat fries. Cooked in bacon fat, tossed with bacon bits, arugula, and chili morita, and served with maple vinegar dip, these fries delight as quickly as they clog your arteries. Another source of joy were the short rib braised tacos from Kogi, the original Korean BBQ taco truck. I enjoyed my “extra meat” soft tacos with kimchi on the side. My mouth is dripping remembering their hearty, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth taste. As a lover of all things dessert, I also indulged in the Portland-based “farm-to-cone” ice cream shop, Salt & Straw. Its blood orange chocolate sorbet was so rich it tasted like ice cream. The scoop was too large, considering how rich it was, but it was perched atop a waffle cone—so how could I complain? A second treat was a raspberry-lime popsicle from Sweet Clementine’s Popsicles, sweet and light, the perfect food for the hot day. At $5, it was one of the cheapest items available at Coachella, but I also finished mine in approximately a minute and a half. The women working the stand were so cool that I did not even want a popsicle until we started talking. Weigh the benefits for yourself. The experience at Coachella was ultimately amazing. The security and additional workers at the event were extremely helpful and generous, the artists were consistently timely and energetic, and the space was kept clean. If anything, the largest complaint would be towards the 14 year olds in floral headdresses, sitting on strangers shoulders to they could “get a better look” and block everyone behind them. If Coachella could just arrange some sort of an age and maturity requirement, the festival would be perfect.
ARTS
April 24, 2014
Page 17
Maslany excels as multitude of clones Palak Patel
Guest Columnist
Orphan Black Graeme Manson Space
S
aturday was a big night for me. Not because of the Spring Concert (sorry, Danny Brown), and not because it was my friend’s birthday (sorry, Sam), but because it was the season two premiere of one of the greatest shows to ever grace my laptop screen: “Orphan Black.” BBC marketed the show as a Canadian science fiction television show, but don’t let “Canada” throw you off. It’s legitimately one of the greatest shows on television right now, and about 85 percent of that is in the star, Tatiana Maslany. As a TV show, “Orphan Black” is very complicated. I highly recommend taking your time when watching season one so you don’t miss any of the smaller nuances, especially in Maslany’s acting. She does a great job of embodying each clone and making them truly unique. She draws on those talents once again in the premiere and truly shows the audience why we hated the Emmys so much for snubbing Maslany. The best parts of the show will always be when they put the clones together and have them interact with each other. It is as if each clone is played by a different actress who just happens to look exactly like Maslany. Even better is when they have the clones interact with Sarah’s foster brother, Felix. Big spoiler alert here if you haven’t seen the first season, but Maslany basically carries this show on her tiny little back. She plays Sarah Manning, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Beth Childs, Rachel Duncan, Helena and various other clones. Yes, clones. Suspend your disbelief, people, the show really knows how to sell this gimmick. Season two picks up right where season one left off. Sarah is racing through the city trying to contact the various clones and family members she has to find out the location
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of her daughter, Kira. You have to hand it to both of the co-creators of the show because they really know how to amp up the tension through the writing and directing of this episode. The shaky camera, taut music and creepy point-of-view shots throughout the cold open (the opening scenes before the title sequence and opening credits) drag the viewer to the edge. Maslany does a great job of reminding us that Sarah Manning really is the main character of this show. Sarah is the ultimate con artist, and she will do anything for her daughter. Her desperation is clear, and we truly believe that when locked in a bathroom with nowhere to go, Sarah would take a fire extinguisher and break a hole in the wall to get away from her attackers instead of giving in and allowing herself to be caught, thus pushing her further away from her goal of reaching Kira. The best Maslany point in the episode has to be when she is Sarah Manning sneaking into a party as Cosima Niehaus. Sarah is portrayed with a cockney accent while Cosima has a casual American drawl. Maslany’s portrayal in that specific scene is so perfect, though. You know it is Sarah just by the small bits of body language, and at one point, Sarah is so nervous that she lets a little bit of her cockney slip out. It’s so small that you have to watch it carefully to notice, but it’s in those small details that this show really and truly shines. Aside from the perfection that is Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black” is just a really smart show. The premiere was fully aware of the world in which it lives by casually referencing the US Supreme Court ruling from last year where they declared that you can’t patent naturally occurring genetic material, but you can patent synthetic material. Cosima verbalizes the serious issues of morality and autonomy for herself and her fellow clones. In season one, we found out that the clones were patented by a group known as the Neolutionists. Cosima wonders about her own autonomy and how far the Neolutionists would be willing to go in order to keep their patents and their information, because in the end the clones are just test
subjects to a group of scientists. It doesn’t matter to them that the clones have lives and families, and “Orphan Black” does a great job of subtly asking these questions and placing the audience in a role of complicity within this universe. “Orphan Black’s” writers also went ahead and adjusted their second “villain” of the show, the Proletheans. They were set up as a caricature of religious fanaticism from last season’s Helena (witch, ugh), but by the end of the premiere the Proletheans were opened up as a group, portrayed by actual actors and given more purpose for the rest of the season. With these introductions, the “Orphan Black” universe just got richer and more intriguing. While “Orphan Black” addresses some serious topics within its narrative, the writers also know when to draw back. The pacing is wonderful in every episode, and the writers know how to keep the tension rising before allowing for that much needed bit of release through the comedic breaks. Any time Felix is on screen, you know you’re going to get a respite from the high-strung intensity of the show. Our first shot of him this season was in a gay club, in the middle of a harem of men, casually wearing ass-less chaps. Fans from the first season will love that Felix stayed the same throughout the series, and the slight gags are hilarious. The premiere set the tone for the rest of the season. It helpfully eliminated the stray police procedural storyline from the beginning of season one and actually gave Art, Beth’s old police partner who began to investigate the clones during season one, more of a purpose with the show and the clones than just randomly showing up and arresting Sarah. The writers set up the season so it can go in any different direction, keeping with “Orphan Black’s” theme of sudden twists and turns. Moving into the rest of season two, I am immensely excited for where this season will take us. There’s a great line-up of guest actors coming in plus the great surprise at the end of the premiere leaves me begging for the next episode right away. I honestly can’t wait until Saturday—you all know where I’ll be.
A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists
Excuse me, What historical event would you like to be made into a musical?
“Reformation, but with specific attention paid to Martin Luther’s struggle with constipation.’” —Maranda Barry ’16
“If you made a musical about the Dust Bowl, I’d be interested in seeing the creative choices made.” —Nikki Lohr ’17
“Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.” —Gabi Mintz ’17
submit to misc@vassar.edu
“The Revolutionary War. No question.” —Daniel Cooper ’16
“The Communist Revolution in Russia.” —Logan Serp ’17
I have began to experience very strange and vivid dreams, and when I wake up from my sleep, I feel a desperate need to catalogue them. However, because I can’t draw at all, I’ve started collaging images on to one and other in an attempt to depict these dreams. I put the finished product on my blog, sleepingwithsoraya.tumblr.com, which has become a dream journal of sorts. In the first image I ever made, I depicted a dream in which I try to save myself from a lion that’s trying to eat me by pulling its jaws apart with my hands. —Soraya Perry ’17
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“The first time someone tried crystal meth.” —Kiran Kawolics ’15
Spencer Davis, Photo Editor Samantha Kohl, Arts Editor
SPORTS
Page 18
April 24, 2014
Senior Zaziski’s performance highlighted in annual stats Jonathan Safir RePoRteR
O
Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News
pposing teams game plan around Vassar College’s very own number three hitter, senior infielder Brett Zaziski, who forces Liberty League opponents to change the way they think and strategize about pitching to the entire men’s baseball team. He has also helped to change the way the competition views Vassar baseball overall, as the Brewers are now coming off their first playoff berth in program history. “He’s just a game-changer,” explained sophomore Brooks English in an emailed statement. Zaziski is a feared opponent in the Liberty League, both in the lineup and out on the ball field. On the season, Zaziski has three home runs, 15 runs batted in (RBI) and 22 runs scored while hitting .439 and also holds an on base percentage (OBP) of .553 and slugging percentage of .773. Zaziski is the team statistical leader in 12 batting categories: average, runs, hits, triples, homers, RBIs, total bases, slugging percentage, walks, hit by pitch, OBP and intentional walks. Zaziski also leads the entire Liberty League in batting average, runs, home runs, total bases, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. It’s more than just a hot start as Zaziski batted .449 last season and had a total of 20 doubles— which are both leading numbers in the Liberty League. Zaziski started his baseball career at a young age. “I’ve been playing baseball since before I can remember. Since before I could walk,” he wrote in an emailed statement. “I’ve just always had a love for the game.” He continued, “I became interested at such a young age because my brothers played baseball. I grew up around the game, going to Yankees games, and before I could even formulate memories, I was playing baseball.” In high school, his team won the Conference and Group IV State Championship during his senior year. Zaziski was Third Team All-Group IV, batting .380 as a senior and .442 as a junior. He was also a three time All-Conference player,
and two-time All-County player while lettering three years for the team. His accolades while at Vassar include earning All-Liberty League honors as a freshman. As a freshman, Zaziski hit .361 and led the team in hits and as a sophomore hit .331 and led the team with 31 RBI’s and 22 doubles. The next year, he earned All-Liberty League and All-Region honors as a sophomore. When making a decision on what college to attend, Zaziski chose Vassar College for a variety of reasons. “I chose Vassar over the Air Force Academy because of Vassar’s terrific academics, their nice facilities and Head Coach Jon Martin.” Teammates have obviously taken notice of Zaziski’s dominance. “It’s always fun to watch him play the game,” English wrote in an emailed statement. “He is also a great teammate, as he cares about making the players around him better as well. He knows the game of baseball so well, it has been a great learning opportunity playing with Brett.” Freshman Trent Berg agreed. “He’s a great natural leader who leads by example,” Berg wrote. “As a freshman, he has been a great teammate to look up to and has had a real captain’s presence.” Sophomore Nick Johnson added, “Brett has been tremendous for the team all season long. He has pushed us to be our best and has really helped bring the team together as one.” Coming off a year where he was First Team All-Liberty League, American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Region and the Jewish Sports Review First-Team All-American, Zaziski has set the bar high for this season. So high, in fact, that teammates often joke about it. “By now, he should have at least 12 home runs and be hitting .850 so I consider what he has been doing a disappointment,” English joked. “He is quite literally a man amongst boys.” Johnson added, “Brett has been otherworldly on the field this year.” According to Berg, Zaziski’s success is not at all a surprise to him. “Brett was expected to be
Senior infielder Brett Zaziski has broken many records and won various awards during his time on the Vassar men’s baseball team. Zaziski will end his final season with the team in the upcoming weeks. an offensive leader for us, so his league leading stats are not unprecedented,” he wrote in an emailed statement. Zaziski said that what he enjoys most about college baseball includes the number of games that the team gets to play in a season. However, he mostly enjoys the team aspect of playing collegiate baseball. “The team chemistry is great; we all get along really well.” He added, “As a team, I think we are the best in the conference. But anything can happen in baseball, and we are currently a little lower in the standings than we would like to be. Individually, it has been going well but I always feel like I can be doing better and this year is no different.” Regarding the team and its season thus far, Johnson wrote, “Although a relatively small sample size, the team has been performing
well. Our expectations are to make the playoffs and we are currently on pace to do so.” Berg also added, “The team is working hard to get to the playoffs which has been the goal the entire year.” As for the offensive catalyst and the onetime Liberty League Performer of the Week (as of March 17, 2014), Berg continued to say, “He plays the game the right way and competes at the plate on every pitch.” Off the baseball field, Zaziski is a Political Science major who enjoys watching hockey. The team will need to continue relying on the hot bat of Zaziski, as the season winds down and the playoffs are not far off. As for after Vassar, Zaziski explained, “I have always wanted to play professional baseball since Little League.” He added, “I hope to get drafted or signed after college.”
Men’s lacrosse launches fundraiser for multiple sclerosis LACROSSE continued from page 1
This year has been a more successful year for the Brewers than the past few. It’s been all about improvement and hard work in order to help pile on the wins. The team’s win percentage last year was .214, and now they stand just shy of breaking .500. Brekne has been incredibly proud of the way his team has been performing so far. “Quality of play has been good. We have shown a lot of improvement this year by getting to the six win mark and are looking forward to getting our 7th this Saturday vs Clarkson.” One of the highlights of this season has been the strong performance against Liberty League opponents. This year, the League is incredibly tough, with three top ranked teams: number nine Union College, number 20 St. Lawrence University and number one Rochester Institute of Technology. But the team managed to pull out their first League win of Brekne’s career. “Beating Skidmore this year is a memory that
will always stand out in my head. It was the first time in my career that we beat a Liberty League opponent.” “The Liberty League is known as one of the top two leagues in college lacrosse and our hard league schedule made us a better team in the end. We beat Skidmore for the first time in school history, and Saturday vs. Clarkson is big for us,” explained senior Drew Nicol. “Getting to two league wins, finishing in 5th place, and setting the school record for wins would be a nice ending to the season. We were able to improve so much from last year because of the hard work and focus from all the players.” He continued, “We carried our strong work ethic from the offseason into our preseason. We fought unfortunate weather early on, and continued to work hard.” According to junior Jesse Hartman, “I think some of the teams in this league are incredibly
courtesy of Vassar College Athletics
nine saves out of 23 shots on goal. The following Saturday, the team traveled to number nine nationally-ranked Union College for their second to last Liberty League matchup of the season. This was also their final away game of the year. Despite a hard fought game, the men left with a 19-7 loss. Herman had two goals and Moriarty had the lone assist for the Brewers. Freshman Chris Billups had his first collegiate goal, while fellow freshmen Brandon DeStasio and Gianni Gelornino also scored along with junior Scott Brekne. Nicol was strong in the net, making 16 saves off of 35 Union shots on goal. While these last two losses have been disappointing, the season has been bright for the young Brewers. They have shown strong improvement in just one year. According to Brekne in an emailed statement, this has been partially thanks to a strong team dynamic and knowing how to work. “We get along great as a team. Our dynamic has been work hard play hard, knowing when to roll up our sleeves and when to relax.” According to Brandon DeStasio, the last game was a battle. “We started off pretty well. Union scored first and then we tied it up. Then Union went up by two and we came back and scored again,” he wrote. “We battled in the beginning but then we let the game get away from us. We ended up losing 19-7.” Over spring break, the team competed against SUNY Cobleskill. “They were playing far better than they were last year. They improved a lot,” said spectator sophomore Erik Halberg [Full Disclosure: Erik Halberg is a reporter for The Miscellany News]. “That was the game that Max Herman broke the all time assist record at Vassar. The team got really excited. They went sprinting around the field to pull the record ball out of a snow bank.” He continued, “Their defense was really strong. Andrew Nicol in goal...if anything went past him, it was just by chance.” Their final score was 21-5, one of their largest margins of winning in program history.
The men’s lacrosse team, including Dylan Staub, pictured above, has increased their recruitment process immensely since the past year. They have also set up a fundraiser to raise money for National MS Day.
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talented, and there were many points in the season that we played extremely well against our opponents. Beating Skidmore was a historic win for us.” With the Skidmore win behind them, the team has a very specific goal for their last remaining game. They play Clarkson University at home on Senior Day this Saturday. Brekne is optimistic about their prospects. “We have one game left and we are very confident that we are going to get the win over Clarkson at home for senior day.” The team hasn’t just had a banner year on the field: off the field, they’ve worked hard too. This year, the men’s lacrosse team has launched a fundraiser in order to raise money for the National MS Society. The team decided to dedicate their 2014 season to Nicol’s mother Debra Nicol as she continues to fight Multiple Sclerosis. The team has raised over $500 so far. They’ve sold orange (the color of MS awareness) bracelets with burgundy lettering that say “DN XXII” and “Cure MS.” According to DeStasio, “We dedicated the season to her, and to fundraise, we have been selling bracelets throughout the season.” He continued, “They are available at every home game through Andrew Nicol or Scott Brekne.” The XXII is Nicol’s jersey number and has been his entire athletic career, but it is also a dedication to his mother, as it is her birthday. The bracelets are available at every home game this season. They are also available by emailing Brekne at or Nicol. Brekne had nothing but praise for Nicol and his family’s contributions to the team and is proud to honor Nicol’s mother this season. “We put together a fundraiser this year for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in honor of our teammate and co-captain’s mother. Both our captain and his family have made a huge impact on our program. It is something that we wanted to do to say thank you to them and show our love as a program for the entire family.” Come support the Brewers this Saturday at 1 p.m. on Senior Day at Gordon Field against Clarkson.
April 24, 2014
SPORTS
Page 19
Sager’s colorful presence NBA staple Instant replay improves MLB O accuracy Zach Heinz August Rippe Columnist
ne of the biggest stories surrounding the NBA playoffs this year has little to do with the players and teams themselves. While there have been some exciting games and odd occurrences, the story circulating throughout the league now is that of a sideline reporter, TNT reporter Craig Sager. Craig Sager, who has been a fixture along the sidelines throughout the past decade, has just been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and is scheduled to miss the next three to four weeks of the playoffs. While his actual reporting has always been nice, Sager is best known for his eclectic fashion. He boasts a large collection of loud, colorful suits, which he wears to each and every game that he reports. Most of the time, Sager’s suits speak louder than his reporting.
“Most of the time, Sager’s suits speak louder than his reporting.” Players and coaches have constantly attempted to comment on and tease him about his unusual (some would even say ugly) style, to the point where his reporting becomes somewhat of a playful banter. There is even a Tumblr devoted to Craig’s unique fashion sense, consisting of a game-by-game update of his clothing choices, ranging from vibrant reds and whimsical paisleys. A few years ago, Kevin Garnett told Sager to burn every part of his suit, all the way from his pink blazer to his matching cherry red shoes and socks. When the average viewer sees Craig on TV, they tend to make judgments about his suit and the nature of his interviews. Yet
what many people fail to realize is that Sager has been at this for quite a long time. His suits are a staple of any in-game interview, and if you pay attention, it’s not easy to miss him. In an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2012, Sager described how his interesting fashion sense developed. He said, “I grew up in Batavia, Illinois, a small town out in the corn fields, west of Chicago. It was boring. For our senior picture, they said, ‘black or navy blazer.’ And I thought, Why do I want to look like everybody else? I was a big fan of The Monkees, and I had this electric blue nehru jacket, like one Micky would wear. So I wore that and showed up and they said, ‘We told you: a blue or black sportcoat.’ I argued that it was actually blue, created a little controversy. But, now, you look at the yearbook and everyone looks exactly the same. Except for me.” Craig’s clothes have always helped him to stand out. While in Florida filming a resume tape, he realized he had nothing to wear. Naturally, he went over to the nearest Goodwill store and found a blue, yellow and white jacket. While his tape was successful, the people at the television studio explained that he couldn’t wear clothes like that because the cameras couldn’t adjust. Neither could Sager. To this day, he puts extensive time and research into what he will wear each night, analyzing which city he will be traveling to and whether his suit will fit the color scheme of the home team’s arena. Sager takes his fashion extremely seriously, often displaying his extensive knowledge of brands and designers whilst defending his choice in attire. Perhaps Sager’s greatest “nemesis” on the court is Spurs Head Coach Greg Popovich. Popovich rarely (if ever) answers Sager’s questions seriously and often provides snarky comments until Craig’s time is up. This has been done to the point that fans look forward to and document their meetings. Yet Pops, along with the entirety of
the NBA and its TV partnerships, know that Sager is a great guy. Upon the announcement of his leukemia, players, fans, organizations and various presences around the NBA have expressed their sentiments for Craig. The TNT crew picked out their wackiest suits and donned them in honor of Craig the other night. Every coach interviewed during the playoffs on April 20th wished Craig good luck as well. Tributes have been pouring in across the league in all shapes and sizes. One of the most notable was a heartfelt message from Popovich. During game one of the Spurs Mavs series, Craig Sager’s son came out and interviewed Pops. Sager’s son asked simple, straightforward questions and Popovich answered seriously. The first part of the exchange was brief, yet Popovich then addressed Craig through the camera, exclaiming, “We miss you. You’ve been an important part of all of this for a long time, doing a great job. We want your fanny back on the court and I promise I’ll be nice. Get back here. Good luck.”
“Tributes have been pouring in across the league in all shapes and sizes.” Sager, wearing a Captain America hospital gown and lemon-colored socks, was touched by the exchange and the gesture. His reporting and presence have become a part of the NBA. He is a character, but a warm, jovial one at that. Sager is always smiling, constantly takes snarky (sometimes cruel) jokes at his expense in stride, and is as good a reporter as anyone in the league. Sager is a special part of the NBA. He, his suits and his reporting will be sorely missed. Get well soon Craig!
NBA teams prepare for playoff season Clyff Young
Guest Columnist
E
verything about this past weekend was great—everything. It was warm. It was sunny. Danny Brown put on an awesome show. Spring will soon give way to summer, 90-degree days with 100 percent humidity. Most importantly, however, we are entering the nucleus of the best all-around season and two-month stretch of sports of the year: midApril through mid-June. This period starts with the Masters and ends with the conclusion of the NBA and NHL seasons. Because of the limited number of games each team plays in the NFL, there is almost no noticeable difference in intensity between the regular season and the post season. However, regular and post-season NBA and NHL are night and day. Something turns on; a switch is flipped for the players in pursuit of the Larry O’Brian Trophy (NBA) and Lord Stanley’s Cup (NHL) when the playoffs begin. It is a beautiful thing to behold, especially for the NBA’s legions of domestic and foreign fans for which the NBA playoffs are king of the sporting calendar. The first weekend of NBA post season action set the bar high, with several games decided by fewer than ten points. The two closest games of the weekend came out of the western conference by way of the threesix seed matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors, and the four-five seed matchup between the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers. Second-year point guard for Portland Damian Lillard put on a stunning and poised performance in his first ever playoff game, showing he merited his status as an All-Star starter this year. Lillard was only a second line story, though, for his teammate and fellow All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge scored a playoff franchise record 47 points before fouling out in overtime in what would end up being a thrilling 122-120 victory for Portland’s only professional sports team. Although an exciting game that was tied at 104 before the
Warriors pulled away to win, the best moment from the Clippers 105-109 came when the Clips’ Blake Griffin (accidentally) spilled or threw his water on a Golden State fan lucky enough to be sitting courtside. But just because those two games had the slimmest margins of victory doesn’t necessarily make them the most interesting games that were played on Saturday and Sunday.
“We are entering the nucleus of the best all-around season...” Perhaps the distinction of most interesting game goes to the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks. After a blistering start to the season that saw the Pacers take a commanding lead in the eastern conference over the defending champion Miami Heat, the Pacers appear to have fully and totally collapsed. This total collapse has seemed to carry over into the postseason, with the Pacers playing a listless brand of basketball. This is far different from their usual high energy style of play. Of the top four teams in the playoffs (the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat), the Pacers were the only team to lose their playoff opener. Not only did they lose on their home floor, they lost to a Hawks team that had a losing record during the regular season at a full six games below .500. In a perfect, imaginary world where the NBA doesn’t have conference playoffs and the tournament includes the top 16 teams regardless of geographic location, the Hawks wouldn’t have even sniffed the playoffs. But they are in, and have improbably stolen home court advantage from a Pacers team that was unbeatable in Indianapolis during the first half of the regular season. Although they lost the first game, it is almost unfathomable that the Pacers would actually lose a
best-of-seven series against the Hawks. Even so, the Pacers are on their heels. If the Pacers do indeed lose—fingers crossed that they do—the Heat will inevitably make it back to the finals, which is, after all, what any self-respecting basketball fan should want. No team has made it to four consecutive NBA Finals since Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics did it in the mid 80s. No team has won three consecutive NBA championships since the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers in the early 2000s. The Miami Heat have a chance to do both of those things this year, and that would be good for basketball, no matter how you slice it. The only thing better than the Heat being in the Finals is the Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder both being in the Finals. Back in 2012, LeBron James and the Heat won their first title against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Kevin Durant, who just had one of the best individual seasons in league history. This year, the Thunder seems like the only team that can beat the Heat, with Kevin Durant being seemingly unstoppable. It would be fitting if the Thunder finished what started with them: a dominant stretch of basketball including two titles from Miami. James and Durant are unquestionably the two best players in the NBA right now. Everyone should want to see them do battle on the game’s biggest stage. If the Thunder beat the Memphis Grizzlies this Monday, they will lead the Griz two games to none and will be well on their way to the young franchise’s second championship berth. But as anyone who watched the NBA this season can tell you, no one is safe in the western conference, which has been stronger than any the eastern conference in recent memory. The Heat will sweep their opening-round series with the Charlotte Bobcats, but after that, they could run into trouble against the Brooklyn Nets or Chicago Bulls, both of whom gave the Heat good games this year. Nothing is certain, except that the playoffs are here and that drama will ensue.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Eli J. Vargas I Columnist
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he NBA and NFL have been reaping the benefits of instant replay for years, and the MLB has finally succumbed to the allure of having correct outcomes to games, with minimal human error from umpires every night during the season. The positive effects that instant replay has had in other professional sporting leagues, especially during the postseason , have not become apparent in the first month of instant replay in the MLB. . But over the course of the season, it will improve, and over the years, looking back, people will wonder how baseball was ever played with such uncertainty in the outcome of games, when cameras were readily available to give a second opinion the whole time. Although I do appreciate the human element of baseball umpires, mainly their dramatic effects, I do prefer instant replay to be involved in determining the outcomes of games. For players and managers, they leave everything on the field. They invest countless hours and their emotions to be the best. They do whatever they can to gain the upper hand on the opponent, and for how much money they are being paid, why wouldn’t they? But with so much effort being put forth by the players on the field, they deserve to have the sense of security that comes from knowing that the only thing standing in the way of success is their own set of skills and athletic ability. The extensive replay system has just been implemented this year, and it is far from perfect. This is obvious to fans and players, but who honestly expected it to be perfect within only a month of the MLB season starting? Implementing such a drastically revamped system of replay to a league with 30 teams and stadiums is a difficult task, so it is understandable that there will be mistakes. The NBA and NFL still experience mistakes, and both leagues have been using replay for more than ten years. Mistakes will always be part of the game, but at the same time, just like the NFL and NBA, the MLB should continue to attempt to perfect that which cannot be perfected to take the game to its purest form: a game in which the outcome is only decided by the people who are competing. Besides the new replay system having some flaws, the most ardent detractors of this technology scream that baseball games are already long enough without having to wait for umpires to review the call. This is a fair point, since last year’s MLB games averaged two hours and 58 minutes. But so far, replay reviews have only averaged a little over two minutes, which, when compared to a manager coming over and arguing a call, kicking dirt at an umpire’s feet, gesturing at an inanimate object, and possibly being thrown out, might actually save time. As far as the human element is concerned, umpires still have the ability to botch calls, but it is up to the manager to challenge the call and put the play up for review. ESPN Stats & Info’s Doug Kern reported on this issue, concerning instant replay affecting the outcome of a game, “Top of 6th. Ben Revere originally ruled safe on a pickoff attempt at second, called out after replay. Next two batters had base hits that would have scored Revere, had he still been on base.” I disagree with this statement. It is unknown whether or not one call can really affect the game in this exact way. With a runner on base, the pitcher may have thrown different pitches to which the batter would have reacted differently, and there is no way to tell that if the runner wouldn’t have been picked, the runner would have scored. You could just as easily say that since the runner was picked off, it caused those next two base hits to occur. Maybe the batters saw that there were two, and that there was nobody on base, so in a close game, they became more aggressive which led to their hits. This whole argument deals with ambiguity in chance and causation, which no one can be completely be sure of in the first place. Baseball has always been resistant to change, and this is reflected by many fans’ resistance to the new instant replay. The process of instant replay is still new to umpires, many of whom have been umpiring for more than 25 years without the aid of this new technology, and this start to instant replay is sure to get better. Instant replay is something that is changing the game, but for the better, and over the course of the season–especially come playoff time–many fans will come to change their opinion.
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April 24, 2014
Women’s lacrosse eagerly approaches season climax Sam Hammer RePoRteR
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courtesy of Vassar College Athletics
urrently, the women’s lacrosse team holds an overall record of 9-4, and is 4-3 in the Liberty League. With two games left in the season, the women’s lacrosse team has the ability to make it to the playoffs if they are able to win both of these games. This past Friday, the team traveled to Potsdam, N.Y. to play Clarkson. The Brewers secured an 18-11 road win, and were led by junior Dara Davis who scored six goals. Sophomore Isabelle Goldstein had an impressive performance as well by scoring four goals and leading the team with two assists. On Saturday, April 19, the team traveled to Canton, N.Y. to play St. Lawrence University and won 7-5. Goldstein, along with senior Phoebe Tzannes, led scoring with two goals each. The Brewers were led defensively by junior goalie Kate Pula, who allowed only five of the fourteen shots on goal to score. This entire year has been challenging, especially during the team’s trip to Colorado Springs over March break. Senior Captain Phoebe Tzannes wrote, “I think overall our season has been one of ups and downs. We’ve had some moments where we really came together as a team to accomplish something, and moments when we really weren’t playing up to our potential and knew it. These next few games it will be crucial that we continue to work hard and play at the level we should be playing at.” Fellow senior captain Malena Harrang agreed that the beginning of this season has been powerful. “We’ve had a very intense season this year so far. We began our season over spring break in Colorado Springs,” she wrote in an emailed statement. “At an altitude of over 6,000 feet, it was definitely a challenge to acclimate. We won two games and lost only to a DII school. We did really well at the beginning of the season with out of league games. Liberty League games are always much more compet-
itive. Although we lost to RPI, William Smith and Union, I felt great about the effort and fight we put up. They are the top three teams in the league and we had to play them for our first league games.” The team has not let early struggles get the best of them. According to junior Dara Davis, the players will instead use their frustration over losses to motivate themselves to win these next four games and make the playoffs. “We’ve had a good season overall, but haven’t been getting the results we’ve wanted. We should have won more games, and this frustration is keeping us fired up and determined to win these last few Liberty League games.” Although it has been tough, this season has left no shortage of memorable moments for the women’s lacrosse team. “Some of my favorite moments came during our trip to Colorado, when we played teams we had never played before and earned the wins by playing tough and together,” explained Tzannes. “Also, during the William Smith game, even when we were down by nine goals, we never gave up and fought back to a three goal deficit which says a lot about our work ethic and ability to bounce back after being dealt big blows. We could have easily given up and accepted the loss, but we fought until the very last second of that game, and I know that if we meet William Smith again, the outcome will be different.” Senior Catherine Fiore’s favorite moment happened in a match against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: “A standout game for me would definitely be RPI. Even though we lost, I felt the offense really came together during that game and I feel like we really saw our potential against on of the top teams in the country.” Last year’s team went 11-3, before falling to RPI in playoffs. A few key players from last year graduated, but the upperclassmen are quite pleased with the current group. “The team this year is incredibly close knit, and I think most of us know how important these bonds will be
Women’s lacrosse looks to win their last games in the season to move on to Liberty League finals. Isabelle Goldstein, pictured above,and her team currently hold a 9-4 record and League record of 4-3. The second thing is that this is an incredibly self-motivated team. Everyone puts in extra hours of individual work, helps coach each other and makes it to Varsity gym regularly. I’ve been impressed by the culture of hard work every single year.” The remaining games this season will be difficult, but fans can help them by showing their support and attending the games. Fans should especially try to come out for the final game on Saturday, April 26 against Rochester Institute of Technology, since the Brewers will host their Senior Day. “We’ve had an away season this year, which means that we only have four home games,” wrote co-captain Harrang. “Our last home games are April 25th and 26th, and we’d love for people to come out and support!”
even after graduation,” Tzannes wrote. “We all have a great time together, but we also push each other and expect a lot out of each other both as teammates and as friends.” Harrang complimented the contributions of the freshman class, stating, “Although we lost some key seniors, many of the players are returners so we feel like we are just picking up from last year. Plus, we gained a great group of freshmen who were able to come in and immediately contribute on the field.” The women’s lacrosse team is dedicated to improving, and the players work together. “First of all, we are all such good friends and sincerely like hanging out with each other,” wrote Harrang. “Even outside of practice, you’ll usually find us together. It’s always a good time.
Track teams to send runners to ECAC Championships Weekend Scoreboard Tina Caso
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Women’s Golf
On Sunday, April 19, the women’s golf team competed in the Jack Leaman Women’s Championship in Amherst, MA. On day one of the tournament, the team placed 10th, finishing with 355. Sophomore Angela Mentel tied for second place with 74. Mentel’s round broke both her own career low and the school record. The previous record stood at 75 from the 2011-12 season and was held by senior Nicole Bronson. Sophomore Aimee Dubois finished with 86 (12-over) for day one. On day two, the team finished the championship with 734. Women’s golf will next travel to the Crumpin-Fox Golf Club in Bernardston, Mass. this Saturday and Sunday for Liberty League Championships.
WOMEN’S TENNIS VASSAR courtesy of Vassar College Athletics
Women’s Rugby
This past weekend, women’s rugby team was edged out of the Tri-state Conference Sevens Tournament. Against the University of Albany, the team tied 12-12. In the second match, the team fell to Stony Brook University 29-5. However, the team managed a 20-14 win during the third match versus Molloy College. The women’s rugby team will next compete on Saturday, April 26 against Southern Connecticut State University and on Sunday, April 27 against Norwich University. The match on Saturday will take place at home, and kickoff will occur at noon on the Vassar College Farm. Women’s Tennis
On April 19, the women’s tennis team celebrated its annual Senior Day to honor senior captain Lindsay Kantor. The team ultimately fell 8-1 against No. 13 ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT is ranked No. 5 regionally. Only the No. 1 doubles team of junior Samantha Schapiro and freshman Shayna Becker were able to pull off a win against the No. 7 ranked doubles team in the Northeast. Kantor and sophomore Lauren Stauffer brought their No. 3 doubles match to a standstill, until MIT won two matches for a final score of 9-7. The women’s ten-
Junior Ariel Bridges was named Liberty League Performer of the Week. Both the men’s and women’s track teams at Vassar will be sending members to the ECAC championships coming up later in the semester. nis team will travel to St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. for Liberty League Championships this weekend. Matches will take place between April 26 and April 28. The team is placed at the No. 7 seed. Men’s Track
Last weekend, the men’s track team traveled to Rochester, N.Y. to compete in Liberty League Championships. On April 19, senior sprinter/ jumper Abe Gatling finished second in both the 400 meter dash and 200 meter. In the 4x400 meter relay, he was able to lead the squad to a third place finish. Junior Andrew Terenzi was second in the 800 meter run, and freshman distance runner. Alfredo Mazzuca placed third in the 10,000 meters which allowed him a spot in ECACs and in the school record books. His time was 32:11.18. The men’s team finished the championships in the Top Five with a total of 48 points, along with RPI, St. Lawrence University, Rochester Institute
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of Technology and Union College. Women’s Track
The women’s track team also traveled to Rochester last weekend for Liberty League Championships. Junior sprinter Ariel Bridges was named Liberty League Performer of the Week, after winning the 100 and 200 meter dashes. She also led the 4x400 squad to a title, along with junior Heather Ingraham and freshman Lucy Balcezak, and broke the school record in the 200 meter dash. Ingraham achieved the 400 meter title. Senior Aubree Piepmeier finished first in the 1500 meter run championship, and junior Cassidy Carpenter finished third in the 10,000 meter, which qualified her for ECACs. Freshman Emma Howlett also qualified for ECACs in the 5,000 meter run. Freshman Alex Gittens, junior Nina Andersen and freshman Laura MacDonald all broke personal records. The women’s track team finished in fourth place overall.
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