Misc4 28 16

The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVIII | Issue 20

April 28, 2016

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Destruction of Mudd opens space for new campus green Clark Xu Reporter

A

Ashley Pecorelli/The Miscellany News

s part of a broader plan to renew the infrastructure supporting the natural sciences at Vassar College, contractors from Daniel O’Connell’s Sons proceeded to demolish Mudd Chemistry. Welders and workers finished dismantling the steel frame of Mudd Chemistry on Friday, April 22 and have begun clearing the site to make room for a new green located to the north of Olmstead Hall and the Bridge.

Drawing on contractor expertise, the demolition has continued without major incidents. Project Manager Jeffrey Weinman explained, “The demo plan involved carefully stripping away the non-structural elements, such as the masonry façade, interior walls, windows, so that the structural members can be cut off and removed selectively, without de-

stabilizing the remaining frame.”

He continued, “The greatest safety risk is any unplanned structural failure or collapse. This is why a competent professional is brought in to assess the structure and assist in planning the demo sequence.”

The Chemistry Department, which has been housed in Mudd Chemistry since 1982, reports that the transition to the Science Bridge exhausted their support staff. Associate Professor of Chemistry Christopher Smart reflected, “The transition was incredibly complex and difficult. [At the same time], the transition was extremely smooth, due to our fantastic staff in the Chem Department who helped the faculty way, way above and beyond the call of duty.”

Noting that the transition began over the summer, Associate ProfesSee CHEM on page 4

The rubble of Mudd Chemistry Building lies in a mound between the Center for Drama and Film and Main building.

For the Chemistry Department at Vassar, the building represented more than 30 years of team work and innovation.

Rwandan Genocide #BlackLivesMatter the movement adressed on campus K Kaitlynn Vo Reporter

Stoddard Meigs Guest Reporter

I

f you were born in the 1980s, you may have a recollection of what happened in Rwanda in 1994. From April 7 to mid-July of that year, the Hutu committed a mass genocide against the Tutsi, an ethnic minority in the country, killing approximately

800,000 people. The result was international condemnation and the creation of the International Criminal Court for those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

This Wednesday, Vassar hosted Burundian diplomat for the UN in See UN on page 6

eeanga-Yamahtta Taylor came to Vassar on Tuesday, April 19 with the aim of sparking a discussion of the pressing issues of police brutality and racial discrimination ongoing in the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

A race and public policy expert, Associate Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and academic studying Black poli-

tics, the Black radical tradition and social movements holistically in the United States, Taylor was brought to campus to discuss her forthcoming book “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.”

For Savannah Smith ’19, Taylor’s lecture provided a fresh perspective on life as a Black American. “This enables us to have a wider lens through which to analyze, but through this, I have been extremely critical of what

it means to be Black in America,” she said. “The thought of what true equality would look like always leads to me to see it as an impossibility under the current political and economic system in America. Keeanga Taylor’s book and lecture essentially answered my questions and enabled me to have the language to articulate

these thoughts and views of mine.”

See BLACKNESS on page 7

Historic literary journal returns Polston named NFC Fencer of the Year I Elena Schultz Reporter

n his sophomore year, Alex Raz ’16, joined earlier this year by Palak Patel ’16, resolved to revive Vassar’s longstanding literary journal, the Vassar Review. This journal was originally published from 1927 to 1993, featured nationally acclaimed writers and is now celebrating its long-awaited return. Unlike the Vassar Student Review, the Vassar Review primarily features submissions from writers

outside of Vassar and aims to have an international audience.

However, the process of reinstating the Vassar Review was ambitious. Advisory board member and Professor of English Paul Kane remarked, “When Alex Raz first approached me about his idea to revive the Vassar Review, I was a little skeptical because I knew, from experience, that such a scheme required an immense amount of diligent work to organize and execute.” He continued, “But Alex had had experi-

ence with all of this already and I have to admit that he surprised me in how effective and determined he turned out to be.”

Arts Faculty Editor and Loeb Curator and Assistant Director MaryKay Lombino agreed. She wrote in an emailed statement, “When Alex Raz first told me he was reviving the Vassar Review I saw that it was a great idea and that he would be able to get it off the ground, but I had no idea how amSee REVIEW on page 15

Ashley Pecorelli/The Miscellany News

After nearly 20 years, The Vassar Review will return to print. Palak Patel ’16 and Alex Raz ’16 teamed up to bring the publication back. It will feature faculty, student and outside voices and will be available to academics nationwide.

Inside this issue

5

Nap Map provides relief FEATURES from finals

12

Bueller and Caulfield face off HUMOR in rap battle

Olivia O’Loughlin Guest Reporter

S

tandout sophomore fencers Eli Polston, Jonathan Alperstein, Annie Innes-Gold and Kirsten Denman have had remarkable success and shown strong leadership this season. These four athletes have proved their athletic prowess and earned conference acclaim. The team’s young talent gives them hope for even more success in the future.

Polston was named the Northeast Fencing Conference Male Fencer of the Year and was also awarded NFC First Team All-Star. Polston’s Fencer of the Year title is Vassar’s first in program history. Denman was also crowned NFC First Team All-Star due to her stunning 89.39 percent winning percentage. Both Alperstein and Innes-Gold were titled NFC Second Team All-Stars for their strong conference performances throughout the season.

Coach Bruce Gillman shared, “We had a very successful season and Eli, Jonathan, Kirsten and Annie were a big part of it.” Both Polston and Alperstein led the men’s team to an impressive season with a 25-14 record, while Annie and Kirsten led the Brewers to a victorious record of 24-23.” Gillman continued, “Eli had a great Northeast Conference season this year. He had the best record of all men’s fencers in the conference

18

across all weapons. He was especially strong at Boston College this past January, beating Fencers from BC, Brandeis, MIT and Brown.”

Leading the sabre team, Polston won numerous bouts against fierce competition and posted many undefeated wins along the way. In the beginning of the season, Polston posted 13 wins in the first Northeast Conference meet, going undefeated against Boston College with a record of 3-0.

His contribution led the Brewers to victory against Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston College and Tufts University.

Then, on Feb. 7, Polston had an untarnished finish as he posted 12 wins and led the sabre team to a 38-7 victory. In this conference match, Polston swept the competition with three wins against New Hampshire, two against Dartmouth College, two against Boston College and three victories against Sacred Heart University. His victories over Sacred Heart led Vassar to its first win over the Pioneers since 2009.

Other notable achievements of Polston’s include earning both of Vassar’s wins against New York University, finishing 2-1 against nationally ranked Columbia University and helping the sabre team earn second place at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Championship. To See FENCING on page 18

Revived nautical club sets sail for SPORTS spring sea-son

The Miscellany News

Page 2

April 28, 2016

Editors-in-Chief Rhys Johnson Palak Patel Noble Ingram

Senior Editors Zander Bashaw Emma Jones Anika Lanser

News Opinions Arts Sports Photography Design Online Copy

Shereen Sodder/The Miscellany News

While studying abroad in Bologna, Italy, Shereen Sodder ’17 took a trip to Trento in northern Italy. This was her view of the Piazza del Duomo from within the square with the mountain range Dolomites in the background. To learn more about Shereen’s travels, visit farandaway.miscellanynews.org!

The Miscellany News 28

April

Thursday

Weekender_ 29

April

Friday

Music on the Bridge

Biology Seminar Series

12:00pm | Bridge Building | Music

12:00pm | OH 266 | Bio Dept.

Late Night at the Loeb

Lecture: Katherine Dooley ‘06

5:00pm | Loeb | Art

Lecture: Fred Myers

5:00pm | Taylor 203 | Anthropology Dept.

Conversation Dinner

5:00pm | CCMPR | Campus Life

Toastmasters Intercollegiate Contest

7:00m | Kenyon 134 | Vassar Rotaract Toastmasters Club

Rocky Horror Show 8:00pm | Shiva | FWA

30

April

Saturday

31 April

Sunday

Juggling and Fire Arts Convention

Juggling and Fire Arts Convention

4pm | Sanders 206. | Physics and Astronomy Dept.

ALANA Fest

Baseball (M) v. RPI

A Sidewalk Astronomer

Baseball (M) v. Union College

Class Action Workshop

1:00pm | Prentiss Field | Athletics

12:30pm | Jade Parlor | SCIA

Senior Recital: Ruby Pierce

Vassar College Wind Ensemble

6:30pm | Rocky 300 | Vassar Conservation and Environmenet Cooperative

International Dance Festival 7:00pm | UpC | OIS

FlyPeople Spring Show

7:00pm | Dance Theater | FlyPeople

Rocky Horror Show 8:00pm | Shiva | FWA

VC Jazz Ensemble

8:00pm | Skinner | Music

Vassar Improv!

10:00am | Villard Room | Barefoot Monkeys

12:00pm | The Quad | ALANA

1:30pm | Skinner | Music

Rocky Horror Show 2:00pm | Shiva | FWA

Rugby (M) v. Westfield State 2:00pm | Farm | Athletics

Senior Recital: Alyssa Caplan 4:00pm | Skinner | Music

FlyPeople Spring Show

12:00pm | Prentiss | Athletics

3:00pm | Skinner | Music

BSU Study Sesions

3:00pm | NE 105 | BSU

BalletX

7:00pm | Dance Theater | Dance Theater

Paper Critique

9:00pm | Rose Parlor | The Misc

Crossword Editors Alycia Beattie York Chen Collin KnoppSchwyn Assistant Features Julia Cunningham Alan Hagins Assistant Arts Matt Stein Patrick Tanella Assistant Design Talya Phelps Charlotte VarcoeWolfson Assistant Copy Claire Baker Assistant Social Media Hannah Nice Web Master Andy Carrera Reporters Amreen Bhasin Ashley Hoyle Jeremy Middleman Sieu Nguyen Sabrina Oh Elena Schultz Kris Weber Clark Xu Columnists Jimmy Christon Jillian Elkin Saachi Jain Evelyn Frick Steven Park Penina Remler Josh Sherman Jesser Horowitz Photographers Alec Ferretti Ashley Pecorelli Design Christa Haryanto Klara Kaufman Scarlett Neuberger Samana Shrestha Copy Gabriela Calderon Sophie Deixel Noah Purdy Sophie Slater Laila Volpe Rebecca Weir Laura Wigginton

7:00pm | Dance Theater | FlyPeople

9:00pm | Rocky 200 | Vassar Improv

Rocky Horror Show

George Clanton / Negative Gemini / Machinegirl

VC Madrigal Singers and Women’s Chorus

10:00pm | The Mug | ViCE

10:00am | Villard Room | Barefoot Monkeys

Eilis Donohue Nick Barone Connor McIlwain Zach Rippe Sam Pianello Sarah Dolan Kelsey Quinn Jackson Ingram

8:00pm | Shiva | FWA

8:00pm | Skinner | Music

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only corrections for any misquotes, resentations or factual errors for ticle within the semester it is

accept misrepan arprinted.

April 28, 2016

NEWS

Page 3

Hamachek challenges political polarization of U.S., Vassar Jeremy Middleman Reporter

O

isn’t a real way because politics isn’t a flat spectrum because there are ideas that fall on both sides.” For a modern example, Molwitz pointed out that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul supports legalizing marijuana, a stance more typical of Democrats than Republicans. “But more or less, if you say you’re right wing, you probably support many of the issues because there is generally a general ideological consistency on each side,” he pointed out.

Nor did he agree with Hamachek’s suggestion to create a new classification spectrum for political ideology concerning individual rights.

“While I don’t think [the system] is perfect, it doesn’t really make sense to just say, ‘Let’s scrap it because there are problems with it,’” Molwitz argued.

For VCLU President Pietro Geraci ’18, the

lecture had greater implications than just outlooks on history and political science. “This fit right in with campus climate and Vassar culture, because differing political ideologies are not respected at Vassar. If you’re not in the Vassar mainstream leftism, people judge you before they even get to meet you–especially if you’re conservative.”

Geraci continued, “What Hamachek’s talk did was say, ‘You’re both going for the same thing...but this bickering and pre-judging is tearing our liberties apart.’ The government is just using this to get more power. If the Vassar community were to realize that both sides just want to see a better America, even though they have different ways of going about it, then perhaps they would be more willing to talk to them and engage in civil discussion.”

Jeremy Middleman/The Miscellany News

n April 21, the Vassar College Libertarian Union invited Segueway Business Consulting Practice CEO Brent Hamachek came to Vassar and challenged the integrity of the United States’ traditional political structure with a lecture titled “How America Broke Its Wings: The Causes and Effects of the Right-Left Divide and How to Repair It.” His main message was that the classic divide between political Right and Left has sunk the country into political stagnation so that it fails to address the needs and wants of the people.

Hamachek’s interest in America’s political divide stemmed from his own voting history.

He voted in Ronald Reagan’s first election in 1980. Years later, he heard that people were saying that the people who voted for Reagan had racist tendencies, albeit sometimes subtle ones. “How did that happen? How did me and my buddies drinking beer up in Michigan, cheering for Reagan when we were 18; how did that turn us into somebody with a firehose in Memphis in 1958 chasing African Americans off the street?” Hamachek wondered.

Hamachek concluded that these accusations of racism are examples of how people skew the dialogue against one another. He compared this tactic to the idea of seeing constellations among the stars. “We’re doing the same thing in this country. We’re connecting a handful of data points about the people around us and we are using those data points to create elaborate pictures about who they are and who we are,” he conjectured.

To further elaborate, Hamachek argued that the terms Left and Right do not have universal definitions and are therefore invalid. He said, “If we’re all using the same terms, they ought to mean the same to everybody. Right now today in America, we are spending way too much time talking at and past each other, insulting each other, not listening to what other people are saying, not thinking about what we are say-

ing ourselves.”

For Hamachek, it is the rhetoric employed by both sides that is distorting and preventing discussion. He exclaimed, “This isn’t a movie critique...where all your opinions are as valid as the other. That’s not what this is. We’re using real terms to label real people to make real decisions. And mostly what we’re doing is using them as insults.” Hamachek referred to the Founding Fathers as examples of dialogue done right. He praised them for their ability to set aside their preconceived notions about political ideology to target the nation’s problems, in stark contrast with today’s leaders.

Hamachek traced this lack of listening to a timeline of events including the French and Russian revolutions, World War II and the Vietnam War, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights Movement and the United States Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. He argued that Hitler and Stalin, both totalitarian leaders in their brutality, had to be differentiated to be opponents. For that reason, totalitarianism and communism were placed on opposite ends of the political spectrum.

After the war, the McCarthy-era accusations of communism polarized the political climate.

Because Republicans opposed communism, Democrats compared them to fascists in terms of their points of view. Hamachek speculated that the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and Roe vs. Wade served to further solidify the differences between those groups.

Although Hamachek billed the event as non-partisan, its accuracy and applicability were seen differently from students on both sides of the political spectrum. Not all students agreed that politics could be as easily dichotomized as Hamachek suggested. Vassar Democrats member Seth Molwitz ’18 said, “Sure it’s interesting that some people don’t want to have a valid discourse. And I think that that’s definitely a problem. But I think that he’s picking at certain pieces of discourse and using it to paint a general trend that doesn’t exist ... There

On April 21, VCLU brought Segueway Business Consulting Practice CEO Brent Hamachek to campus to discuss polarization and its adverse effects on both society and politics.

Just Food encourages awareness, organizes donations Eilis Donohue News Editor

A

ly from dining services, but we do events which are a little more unique I think. It’s more coordination needed.” King commented, “There’s this widespread misconception that ACDC’s got tons of food left over, which isn’t the case ... Not that we don’t have food left over, but we try to [use it]. So the biggest opportunity we realized would be catered events.”

But the group also coordinates donations from sources outside of Vassar’s dining services, including several vendors who come to Tasty Tuesday and the weekly farmer’s market, as well as several restaurants in the town.

Just Food has found further inspiration from the food recovery movement in the form of an internationally popular event called Feeding the 5,000, which was started by the food waste organization Feedback Global. The screening and talkback on April 21 featured a video of one such event that took place in Brussels in April of 2014. It showed swathes of people gathering in

Courtesy of Vassar Just Food

t the end of the spring 2015 semester, a new pre-organization cropped up on campus simply called Just Food. It is one of several organizations at Vassar dedicated to improving campus sustainability and mindfulness in conjunction with the newly ordained Office of Sustainability. Just Food’s focus is, as its name suggests, the conscious consumption of food. Their work involves locating campus events that serve food and coordinating volunteers to collect the inevitable leftovers for donation.

Entirely run by volunteers on and off campus, the group reflects a collaboration between students, campus dining, and local restaurants and shelters to make sure leftover food goes to people who want and need it. One of the org’s founders Siennah Yang ’18 explained that she was inspired to ask for allies in this mission among Poughkeepsie vendors and Vassar students after she heard about the Food Recovery Network, a national organization specifically designed to help colleges and universities reduce food waste.

To find out more, Yang emailed activist and lecturer Tristram Stuart, who appeared in the documentary “Just Eat It,” which Just Food screened April 21. She then spent a month last summer asking local restaurants to donate and contacting churches, shelters and organizations like Dutchess Outreach Lunch Box, which allocates food and other necessities to people in the community. She and other dedicated volunteers developed a network alongside the organization Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, and Just Food was born. Fellow organizer and one of last year’s Sustainability Interns Saskia Comess ’17 summarized, “A project that I worked on all year was trying to start food recovery at Vassar and it was lot of meetings and things, so we didn’t actually do food recovery, but it was kind of setting the administrative groundwork for actually being able to do it. Then this year, when I met Nicole [Yaw ’18] and Siennah, they were really interested and super organized so we started the group together.”

Although they find Food Recovery Network’s

resources useful and gained insights from a recent conference held by the organization, the leaders of Just Food decided to keep their group separate from the nationwide conglomerate for the moment. Yaw explained that their independence partly stemmed from a desire to keep their options open and possibly incorporate other environmental issues and initiatives surrounding food.

The logistical function of the group is quite impressive: the volunteers make 10 to 11 runs per week, saving food from receptions, house dinners and all kinds of campus events as well as from local vendors. Since 2015, they have rescued 20,049 pounds of food, according to Yang.

Thanks to Campus Dining Director Maureen King, they were able to procure a refrigerator for the food to safely store it until a community volunteer can drive to Vassar and deliver the donations to a shelter. Yang noted, “I think most of the branches [at other schools] rescue main-

A new pre-organization, Just Food, is working to reuse food waste and bring leftovers from campus to people who need them. The group hopes to make students conscious of their food usage.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

disbelief and delight around large pots of food, prepared and served by volunteers. The food is all sourced from local restaurants looking to dispose of leftovers. Just Food, in coordination with Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County, plans to host a Feeding the 5,000 event in Poughkeepsie next fall. Students who are interested to see what it’s all about can attend the one going on in Union Square in New York City on May 10.

Food recovery is especially crucial in communities like Poughkeepsie where 26 percent of citizens experience food insecurity (“Poughkeepsie Plenty: A Community Food Assessment,” Winter 2014). The contrast with the abundance of food at Vassar is stark, but Just Food sees it as an opportunity to share. Sustainability Intern and Just Food member Liza Ayres ’18 said, “I think at this point in our community here, the two most important things are education and engagement, so just having people be aware of the food insecurity that exists within Poughkeepsie, so close to our campus, and then somehow getting them engaged to do something about it.”

One of Just Food’s main goals is to impress the importance of looking at the societal implications of food distribution and waste. Comess remarked, “I think a lot of the time [food] is not thought of as any particular kind of issue, it’s just how you feed yourself, and college students are very involved in those kinds of issues, so I think that looking at food as another way to address those problems is very important.”

With the growth of the org, additional publicity and events like Feeding the 5,000, the group is optimistic that the food recovery movement will gain traction at Vassar. King speculated, “I think students like the concept, but I think sometimes it’s hard for them to make the connection.” Comess agreed, “It’s very easy to be a little bit mindless about what you eat, how much food you take, how you dispose of that and you can get away with it, if you don’t think about it, nothing particularly bad will probably happen to you, but it does have wider reaching effects. I think a lot of Vassar students do care about this, if they know and they stop to think about it, they would be happy to do it.”

NEWS

Page 4

April 28, 2016

Professors celebrate Bridge modernity, chem community CHEM continued from page 1

News Briefs

Brazil’s President potentially facing impeachment On April 17, Brazil’s lower Chamber of Deputies passed a notion to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, who was re-elected in 2014. 367 of the 504 house members voted to impeach, well over the two-thirds necessary for the motion to be approved and passed on to Senate. If the majority of the Senate (41 out of 81 senators) approves the impeachment, Rousseff would be asked to temporarily step down for 180 days from her presidency in order to defend her position in an impeachment trial (CNN, “Brazil’s lower house votes for Dilma Rousseff ’s impeachment,” 04.18.16). Her position would be taken over by Vice President Michel Temer during her period of suspension.

While the vote was taking place on Sunday, there were massive crowds of protesters and supporters of Rousseff outside of Congress. Rousseff was accused of breaking federal accounting laws by misappropriating public funds in order to gain votes for re-election in 2014 (USA Today, “Lawmakers vote to impeach Brazil’s president,” 04.18.16).

Rousseff has stood her ground following the impeachment approval in the lower house, claiming that the impeachment is an unjust, sexist coup. As the first female president of Brazil, first elected in 2010, Rousseff claims that her actions are being unfairly criticized and that she is being treated differently than her male predecessors. She defended herself saying the budgetary actions she took by borrowing money from state banks has been done by presidents in the past, yet they have not faced the same criticism (CNN, “Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to fight impeachment,” 04.19.16).

After the impeachment trial, which can last up to 180 days, if more than two-thirds of Senate, which is 54 senators, finds her guilty, she will be permanently removed from office. Regarding replacements if she is successfully impeached, next in line to the presidency is Vice President Temer, who is facing impeachment possibilities himself for also manipulating public funds. The next

top floor, Rossi reflected, “There was a really nice student lounge with a fair bit of natural light where the chemistry majors would make the Friday afternoon liquid nitrogen ice cream.”

Students and staff all found the building comfortable and familiar. Co-founder of Women in STEM at Vassar College Neila Kline ’16 agreed, “It was a comfortable and quiet space to convene before and after classes, and really only drew chemistry students.” Comparing the old lounge to various study spaces in the Science Bridge, Kline suggested that the influx of non-majors has made Science Bridge less intimate and a lot noisier than Mudd was.

Mudd Chemistry also had an unusual setup in its basement which allowed for easy communication. Donhauser explained, “The bottom

floor was essentially one big, open research lab that faculty and students shared. I believe that was one factor that led to a culture of collaboration and collegiality in our department.” In addition to creative chemistry, the windowless concrete walls also provided a layer of security, shielding peaceful researchers below from inclement weather. Rossi remembered a time when she remained unaware of a hurricane going on outside the lab until she finished her work and emerged.

The move to the Science Bridge presents novel opportunities to explore space, but it also creates challenges. According to Rossi, there is an emerging shortage of offices and traditional classroom space on campus. Since the Bridge classrooms are different in design from the fa-

Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

sor Chemistry and Department Chair Zachary Donhauser corroborated, “I’d also add that the move-in phase to the new building isn’t done yet! There are still boxes to unpack and labs to set up.”

Despite the toll that the transition took on the Chemistry Department, with all of the time that it took to transfer the entire department’s equipment, faculty and administration decided together that the best choice was to move to the Science Bridge. Considering the condition of Mudd Chemistry, President Catharine Hill explained, “While innovative for its time, there have consistently been problems with water leaks, which can be incredibly problematic for those working in the building.” Although built in 1984 and relatively young on this campus, Mudd was not in as good condition as was expected. Professors observed that the building was also energy inefficient.

Mudd Chemistry, however, was not always as run-down as it appeared in its final days. In its heyday, the building hosted a vibrant scientific community of Vassar faculty, students and visitors alike. Professor of Chemistry Miriam Rossi explained, “It was a place where many students got started on their first research experiences, including some that are now faculty members themselves! In the early 1990s, I drove a U-Haul truck from Philadelphia with a large, heavy and complex instrument—a single-crystal X-ray diffractometer—thus making Vassar the first undergraduate school in the U.S. to have one onsite She went on to say, “I was personally involved in inviting and hosting stimulating visitors, such as Nobel Prize winning scientists Linus Pauling, H.C. Brown and Baruch Blumberg, writer Anne Sayre and physician Oliver Sacks.”

With every space carefully allotted to classrooms, offices and laboratories, professors and students circulated throughout the building to study, work and experiment. Referring to the

Chemistry students working in the now deconstructed Mudd building had access to cutting-edge technology that is often unavailable to students at some of the College’s peer institutions.

in line would be House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, who has been accused of corruption and taking multi-million dollar bribes. The third in line would be Head of Senate Renan Calheros, who is also under investigation for being tied to the corruption scandal related to Petrobras, the national oil company (BBC News, “Could Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff be impeached?” 04.17.19).

All of this is happening amidst the worst recession in Brazil’s history, the Zika virus outbreak and the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics. There are hopes that the Olympic games will help Brazil with the current economic recession–however, being the host of these large-scale events always holds the risk of putting immense financial strain on countries that are poorly structured to properly budget for them. ­—Shelia Hu, Guest Reporter Latest Ohio shootings may be connected to international drug ring On Friday April 22, eight family members were found dead in Piketon, OH. Seven adults and one teenager were found dead at four different crime scenes by a relative. The sole survivors were a newborn, a six-month old and a three-year old (CNN, “‘Just Heartache’: Ohio community wonders who killed 8 family members,” 04.24.16). The victims were found in separate homes within miles of each other and it is estimated that the killings were carefully planned executions that were carried out at night.

Each of the victims was shot in the head, prompting the mass murder to be labeled as “execution-style killings.” It is currently unknown whether there is one perpetrator or a group and there is no evidence that any of the dead committed suicide, likely ruling out a murder-suicide (CNN, “Ohio Shootings: What we know,” 04.25.16).

Following the discovery of the bodies, authorities found that three of the four residences where the killings occurred contained extensive marijuana-growing operations. Officials claim that the marijuana

was likely not grown for personal use as the operations found were quite sophisticated, suggesting the killings may have a more complex backstory.

Back in 2012, State Attorney General Mike DeWine issued a press release on the discovery of marijuana growing operations in Piketon that may be tied to a large Mexican drug cartel. Investigators found over 1,000 marijuana plants in abandoned warehouses they believed belonged to the drug cartel.

However, it is not yet known whether the Rhoden family was related to that marijuana operation and if their killings were the doing of an international drug ring (CNN, “Marijuana ‘grow operations’ found at Ohio slaying sites,” 04.25.16).

Gun laws in Ohio are not strict, with no permits necessary to purchase rifles, shotguns and handguns, no registration of firearms necessary, no licensing for owners necessary and citizens are permitted to carry around handguns (NRA-ILA, “Ohio Gun Laws”).

In 2013, the Brady Campaign rated Ohio with a “D” rating, based on state regulations that were considered irresponsible measures that could potentially lead to gun violence and death. Research for the campaign found that the states with the strictest gun regulations also have the lowest gun-death rates in the country; additionally, only six states required background checks of gun buyers before purchase as of 2013 (Brady Campaign, “2013 State Scorecard”).

In 2013 there were a total of 339 recognized mass shootings in the United States, 325 in 2014, 371 in 2015 and 118 so far in 2016 (Mass Shooting Tracker, “US Mass Shootings”). Despite the established correlation between gun laws and gun-death rates, many states claim that gun laws violate the Second Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms.

Police have warned the surviving members of the Rhoden family to be cautious of a follow-up attack by the perpetrators.

—Shelia Hu, Guest Reporter

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

miliar Mudd rooms, professors and students will have to be more creative about what a learning space should look like, especially in a highly specialized field such as chemistry.

Chemistry Professor Joseph Tanski was more optimistic, arguing that the Bridge’s innovative design gives it longevity. Donhauser agreed, “We’re now equipped with modern, more spacious and better equipped spaces for our research and I expect that the number of collaborative research projects with our students will continue to grow.”

Others hope that the physical transition will also mark a thematic one. Kline expressed a vision for the new building, suggesting, “Vassar shows dedication to strengthening its research programs. We hope that this new building can create more opportunities for women and other minorities to engage in research alongside faculty members, and to increase our representation in these disciplines.”

Rossi observed that despite Mudd’s shortcomings, the building had sentimental value for generations of students and for the faculty who began their careers in its halls. Her statement certainly applies to Smart, who reflected, “My entire teaching career was in Mudd, so in a way all of my moments were there.” He continued, “I had a very hard time watching Mudd come down. Each day I could look into some space in which I had spent considerable time. It is different from leaving a building that will be used by someone else. With Mudd, it’s just gone.”

Looking forward to new projects, Hill concluded that the master planning process is turning to new projects on campus, including the space left behind by Mudd Chemistry. Weinman predicted, “In my experience working here over the past three years, one of the things I have appreciated about the campus is the many natural green spaces and significant architecture of the buildings. I think the finished product of the restored landscaping will mesh well with the feel of the campus.”

Trump, Clinton pull ahead in Tuesday’s primaries On Tuesday, April 26, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary elections in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland. Bernie Sanders triumphed in Rhode Island, the only state of the five where independents can vote in the primaries. Despite his losses, Sanders asserted that he intends to remain in the race. He suggested, however, that his motives might shift away from winning the Democratic nomination and toward other goals, such as shaping the Democratic Party’s platform.

In a campaign rally in Philadelphia on the same day, Clinton expressed her intentions to unify the Democratic Party and to back progressive ideals with real plans (Washington Post, “Clinton decisively wins Democratic primaries in 4 states,” 04.26.2016). She named similar objectives for the Democratic Platform, such as increasing minimum wage and creating a cohesive vision for the future of the Democratic Party and of the United States.

Donald Trump won all five states–Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut–on Tuesday, and he has already turned his attention to the general election, directing a fair amount of verbal attacks not at Cruz or Kasich, but at Clinton, over the past few days (Oregon Live, “Donald Trump sweeps all five states: April 26 primaries live updates, results,” 04.26.2016).

Most notably, he declared that Clinton’s success is a direct result of her gender, arguing that if she was a man, she would receive no more than five percent of the vote.

Both of Trump’s Republican opponents, like Sanders, plan to move forward in the election. Trump also encouraged Sanders to run as an independent, should he lose the Democratic nomination to Clinton (CNBC, “Clinton takes four states, limiting chances of Sanders nomination,” 04.26.2016).

The next primary will be on May 3 in Indiana.

—Emma Jones, Senior Editor

April 28, 2016

FEATURES

Page 5

Students find, reclaim themselves through BTSAV zine Matt Stein

Assistant Arts Editor

S

Courtesy of Break the Silence

urvivors of abuse have gone through indescribable pain, anxiety and confusion, and are not always able to find proper outlets to share their stories. Break the Silence at Vassar (BTSAV) has created a new platform for these survivors. Until Friday, April 29, BTSAV will be accepting submissions for their forthcoming zine. The goal of their zine is to provide a voice of empowerment for survivors and a creative outlet to express how they reclaimed themselves or how they’re still struggling. All submissions will appear anonymously and can take on any form, be it poem, testimony or artwork.

BTSAV, established in 2011, is an online community that strives to end personal violation and empower victims by sharing their stories.

The testimonies on their website also appear anonymously. BTSAV also provides a list of resources for survivors to reach out to both on and off campus.

In Spring 2014, BTSAV posted their first zine. It included a mixture of personal stories and artwork from survivors of sexual abuse and also had instructions and resources for survivors to go to. While they are currently compiling their upcoming zine, members hope it will take on a similar vein as their first and will make this zine available online.

BTSAV member Erin Boss ’16 explained the motivation for the second zine, saying, “We wanted to produce another zine this year, and we decided the theme would be on reclamation—reclaiming self, experience and space after violence or trauma. For the process of creating the zine, we are mostly drawing on what we did the first time around. We had a few zine-making events, tried to get the word out through weekly listserv emails, advertised on Facebook and tabled at Sexual Assault Awareness Month events.”

This zine is part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). All throughout April,

Break the Silence at Vassar, BTSAV, has created a platform for survivors of abuse to share their stories anonymously. The project began in 2014 and has returned this year. there have been events that BTSAV or CARES have organized to raise awareness about sexual violence and how to prevent it. Some highlights have included the “Supporting a Survivor” workshop and a lecture from transgender rights and anti-violence activist Princess Harmony Rodriguez, which were both run by the Sexual Assault & Prevention Program (SAVP) and CARES, one of Vassar’s 24/7 peer-listening services. There was also a bystander intervention workshop tailored for the LGBTQ community.

SAVP coordinator Charlotte Strauss Swanson discussed the importance of SAAM and the environment it strives to create. She explained, “We need safe spaces to talk openly about what sexual violence looks like, to listen and learn from survivor stories and perspectives, and to

collaborate to prevent violence on our campus and in the community. Our hope is that these events raise awareness about the ways in which sexual violence impacts us all and the strategies we can use to prevent it.”

This Monday evening in the Aula Center, SAVP and CARES co-hosted “Art in Solidarity,” which saw many different artists, ranging from a capella groups to spoken word poets, perform for a night of artistic healing. BTSAV was there with a zine-making station to encourage people to help with their current issue. Notably, the event featured an open mic that allowed people to tell their stories and have an open discussion over these serious topics. Art pieces made by survivors were also on display.

Some of the on-campus resources available for victims includes CARES, Sexual Assault

Response Team and The Listening Center, all anonymous support services. SAVP provides emotional counseling as well as accompaniment for appointments at Metcalf and off-campus facilities. Feminist Alliance also provides a space for discussion on similar topics and strives to end sex- or gender-based oppression.

If you wish to get involved with any of these organizations, the listening centers have an application process and many of the student organizations meet weekly and are open to new members.

It is important for victims and survivors to know that they are not alone in their experiences and there’s a multitude of resources for them to reach that are more than glad to help and provide the support needed. There are always friends to turn to and even Vassar faculty are willing to be there. For those who know somebody who is a victim, a supportive approach is to remind them that you are there for them and that they are not to blame for what happened.

“Zines can be a platform for survivors to have their own space to explore different aspects of their experiences and to heal. It’s very important for the community to hear the voices of survivors, to support them and to make space for their experiences. I think other types of student art exhibitions could work well for the same function,” BTSAV member Gracen Evall ’17 said about what she hopes this zine accomplishes for survivors and the Vassar community as a whole. “I am hoping that survivors will be able to use this zine however it could best help them, and for those who feel alone in their process of healing, I hope it gives people space to realize a community.”

Boss’ sense of duty in writing about the difficult subject of sexual assault has invigorated greater meaning to the zine: “I love being part of the process because I think it can be a powerful way to process experience through political work. Making something for a zine is an individual act of creative energy, but the result is a collective work of solidarity.”

The top spots across campus for optimizing “work” Alan Hagins

Assistant Features Editor

W

Map courtesy of Google Maps; Grahpic couresty of Sarah Dolan

ith the end-of-semester quickly approaching, the number of sleep-deprived students has skyrocketed on campus. The Miscellany News decided to help these students out by seeking out the most sleep-worthy spots around campus. We spoke with a team of nap-experts, self-referentially described as “The Slumber Squad,” to inform us about the comfiest locations.

Each nap location on the map provides a unique space for sleepy students to fall into deep day-dream reveries remarkably absent of the stress of finals period. There’s something for every kind of napper. Whether you’re a power-napper, a booze and snooze, or an eyes-wide-open type, there’s a location waiting for the imprint of your sleeping body. While there are signature nap locations equipped with the nap essentials of solitude, comfort and silence, there are other locations which provide for the eccentric nap enthusiast.

The library meditation room is a traditional nap sanctuary with pillows and soft carpet, while the chapel’s pews provide a twist on an old classic. The open echoic space provides a place to unleash the napper’s subconscious creativity, float out of body and into the lucid dream of your dreams. If you think you look your best asleep, perhaps the performative atmosphere of the CDF is the right venue.

Or, need to nap quick for respite between classes? Try one of the Main locations like the Jade Parlor, Rose Parlor or the fifth floor MPR. As senior napper Tatiana Londono ’16 said, “When in college, you realize you can nap anywhere. Even the floor can be pretty comfy when exhausted.” For tired students everywhere on campus, Vassar’s spaces are a great uncharted playground of nap locations.

We invite you to find the best personal nap spot to suit all your nap ambitions, and as a reminder, sleep tight.

Each location provides its unique quirks for nappers looking to snooze in the afternoon. The CDF basement and the third floor of the CDF provide a quiet carpeted floor and soft mood-lighting. The Jade Parlor provides a variety of couches and chairs to sit back and take a nap. At the library, curl up on one of the circle couches on your way to the art library. If you need another nap once you get there, go to the Jade Room and sleep on one of the long couches with plush, black leather cushions. Or observe the main quad from above in the mediation room and let the dreams come on.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

FEATURES

Page 6

April 28 2016

Dollenmayer weaves together history, crosses disciplines Maria Bell

Guest Reporter

“I

’d love to see more speakers who illuminate similarly neglected aspects of the German past in order to show that German culture is much more complex and heterogeneous than many people think.”

That, according to German Fellow Lea Vogtt, is exactly the draw of Kate Dollenmayer’s lecture on April 20, hosted by the German Department. It wove together German history, Cold War Politics and the intricacies of film.

The Audiovisual Archivist at the Wende Museum in Culver City, CA, Kate Dollenmayer is an advocate for grassroots cultural heritage preservation and additionally draws on experience as an educator, filmmaker and editor. Associate Professor of German Studies Silke von

der Emde invited her to speak about the film class she’s teaching, “Cinema Behind the Wall.”

Dollenmayer showed films from two categories: home movies and movies produced by the East German government. She showed them on two old projectors, the way they would have been shown in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Dollenmayer’s lecture did not merely repeat a well-known discourse on Cold War East Germany—it gave insights into the often neglected aspects of everyday life of the people who actually lived in the GDR. Von der Emde described the experience: “Kate Dollenmayer took viewers on a surprisingly lively journey through a neglected corner of aesthetic history: the non-theatrical films of communist East Germany.”

Courtesy of Wanderlust in the City

Audiovisual Archivist at the Wende Museum in Culver City, CA, Kate Dollenmayer, gave a lecture on April 20. While she was hosted by the German Department, her lecture was multi-disciplinary.

Vogtt found the lecture a fascinating approach to the subject. She explained, “Kate took authentic material which you would never see in any history book. It was not just interesting because of what was shown but because of how she presented this material. She neither provided a ‘real’ lecture, nor did she attempt to present the films as parts of a coherent narrative, but she let every film speak for itself.”

Students did not have to have a specific affiliation with the German Department to appreciate Dollenmayer’s work. Ethan Moses ’17 heard about the lecture from von der Emde, and was blown away by the sheer emptiness of the city of Leipzig captured in a driving instructional film. He recalled, “I would have loved to see more home movies—they are so hard to preserve and teach us so much about the texture of East German culture at the time.”

Dollenmayer’s lecture was compelling in large part because of the aspects of life that it revealed that aren’t covered in textbooks.

Vogtt, who grew up in West Germany, found that the lecture gave her new insights into her own country’s history. As she said, “We talked about Germany’s Nazi past a lot at school because it still is the big cultural trauma of the German people. While this is, of course, very important, I think that the more recent German past is often neglected as a consequence. Kate managed to bring a bit of it to light, and I really want to learn more about this part of my country’s culture and history in the future.”

Faculty and students from multiple departments attended the lecture. Von der Emde recalled, “One of my colleagues in Russian met with Ms. Dollenmayer the following day to talk about materials from the Soviet Union that are housed in the Wende museum and that Kate Dollenmayer also curates at the museum.

There were lots of connections to Cold War history and culture in Germany and Europe.”

Chris Slanger ’19, a biochemistry major, was most interested in the Cold War aspect of the lecture. He found that everything he saw and

heard was new information to him and loved watching the films on 35mm film projectors.

He said, “From the lecture, I learned how much of German cinema was influenced by the government. I did understand that the government was very controlling, but I did not realize that they funded many movies to be made, such as educational or labor films.”

While many attended who were already familiar with film or German history, others like Moses and Slanger went in large part because they don’t study this topic in the classes they usually take. Moses said, “I couldn’t really do the lecture justice. I encourage any students who have even the tiniest interest in anything from German history or film to check out the archive at the museum’s website.”

Even for those familiar with the topic already, these archives from which Dollenmayer pulled the videos for her lecture hold material hardly anyone has seen before. As Von der Emde pointed out, “These films have not widely been seen at all, neither in Germany nor here. It’s fascinating material that gives insight into everyday life in the GDR and is a great addition to the official feature and documentary films.”

Voggt hopes this lecture will begin a chain of similar, multi-disciplinary lectures. She said, “There is no lack of fascinating people coming to Vassar’s campus, people who can capture the attention of everyone, from biology majors to philosophy students.” One example she provided was a graphic artist the German Department is hosting next fall for a three-week residency where she will work with students on artist books and show materials on women artists in Germany. Lectures like Dollenmayer’s make students think about subjects in unique ways.

Vogtt concluded, “I hope it encourages them to engage with German culture even more, and to appreciate the ‘everyday’ historical artifacts we leave behind. After all, the ‘little things’ like educational videos are just as much part of our culture as the ‘big artifacts.’”

Different perspectives offered of UN response to conflict UN continued from page 1

went on, “Other ethnic groups are characterized as killers and are thus cast as people who need to be killed themselves. We have found these manipulations in the media, in official speeches, by individual speakers in the UN.” Rukundo went on to imply that the UN was too entangled in the politics of the region. He said, “In Burundi they are starting to demonize the president of the republic until they conspire to kill him. They will say that certain kinds of people are planning to destroy another ethnic group. They make lies to make all this real.

They go all over the world making conferences just trying to destroy these societies.” This kind of rhetoric, Rukundo argued, was in part responsible for other uprisings including the Arab Spring, the reporting of which, Rukundo said, was distorted, “Quaddafi was not a dictator as it is printed today.”

Ryangoma said that in his own experiences, the media could cause harm in its portrayals. “A

few hours before I came here there was a group of Hutu refugees that has been attacked from five different positions. The media does not pick it up,” he said. “They are Hutus when the media machine puts it out there ... They made a word mean killer (Hutu), they lose their human status.”

Towards the end of his time, Rukundo circled back around to his original message, calling for countries to work together and citing the ongoing crimes in the region that are regularly overlooked. “Refugees from Rwanda are burned alive in many other African countries. How can we just keep quiet in the face of such atrocities? The United Nations sees this but they do nothing,” he said, adding, “We have to work with countries, UN, refugees, everyone, to find a common ground to see if we can solve these waves of atrocities.”

Ryangoma explained that Rwanda had not begun as a country marred by war. “The narra-

Courtesy of Oxford University Press Blog

New York City Dr. Levi Rukundo and survivor of the Rwandan genocide Iggy Ryangoma, to speak about their experiences regarding the atrocities in the Great Lakes region of Africa. Rukundo, who holds a PhD in clinical psychology, specializes in the resilience of children exposed to trauma, terror and war, and applied positive psychology. Rukundo is also the founder of the non-governmental organizations Regard a L’Enfant Traumatise, which takes care of orphans in the Great Lakes region of Africa, Trauma Healing and Integration Services, which works with traumatized refugees in South Africa.

Ryangoma, a graduate of Berkelee College of Music, is the father of four talented young musicians who form the family band The Magical Bunch. Ryangoma suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and credits his recovery to his family.

Rukundo’s talk focused on the UN reaction to the Rwandan genocide, citing them for gross inaction in the face of incredible horrors. His message was simple: “I want peace, security and truth through global exposure to these issues.”

The UN has been widely criticized for the passive role it played in the Rwandan Genocide.

In the award winning movie “Hotel Rwanda,” which is based on events that occurred during the genocide, UN Colonel Oliver, played by Nick Nolte, has the telling lines, “We’re here as peace keepers, not peace makers.”

This image became especially haunting when Ryangoma provided his own explanation of the genocide. He explained, “They started the war using children who had been trained for three days and given AK-47s and sent into towns. It’s something that the rebel armies will do to debilitate the opposition. They sent in children to fight men who only know how to fight other men. The men didn’t know what to do.”

Rukundo explained the United Nations rhetoric in the ongoing violence in the region. As he said, “We have to say no when people try to inject hatred between ethnic groups. We have to teach love. The UN works on the minds of people. They will elevate some groups and this destroys other communities and traditions.” He

The Burundian Ambassador to the UN in New York City accompanied by survivor of the Rwandan genocide spoke about their involvement in the Great Lakes Region in Rwanda.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

tive that was given about Rwanda was written before the first bullets started flying on Oct. 1, 1990, that’s the day the war started. Before that they were talking about how they wanted to be the Switzerland of Africa.”

Ryangoma brought humor into his lecture, bringing in quotes from “Rush Hour 2” to expand on his understanding of how the conflict began. “Behind every big crime there’s a rich white man waiting for his cut,” he said, adding, “I have gone back to try to piece things together after leaving Rwanda.” Ryangoma went on to determine exactly who was behind the beginnings of the turbulence in that region of Africa, from Rwanda to South Sudan. “What’s been going on in central Africa?” he said, “The characters causing these events are still out here today.”

The rich white men, in this case, are a group of four Washington insiders, the names of whom Ryangoma at first seemed reluctant to divulge for the sake of peace. He finally did mention former American State Department envoy to Sudan Roger Winter and member of the U.S. Agency for International Development Brian D’Silva. “Those of us who have seen the fires they set still burning today, we finally understood,” Ryangoma said. “They sat in an Italian restaurant drinking beers, gave themselves tribal names and came up with the plan.”

The messages of Rukundo and Ryangoma were well harmonized throughout the lecture.

More than anything, they both desired peace and safety for all. They both conveyed a great love for the Great Lakes region of Africa and appeared to carry the weight of the regions troubles. In the end, however, the most striking similarity was their distrust of the formerly imperialistic nations that seemed to have started it all, then stood by and watched.

There is an explanation for the ongoing genocide in the Great Lakes region that the two men care deeply about, Rukundo thinks its a larger force: “Cyclical violence in the region is the devils work to finish off the people there. This part of Africa has the greatest natural riches in the world. There is a mighty invisible hand behind all this, a hand that uses the world.”

April 28, 2016

FEATURES

Page 7

Summit starts conversation about local development Aditi Chandna and Alan Hagins

Reporter and Assitant Features Editor

W

way to connect some colleges to businesses but I wanted to host this event so that everyone could find out more about this idea and apply it at their own institutions and help their own communities. There will be an event next year, hopefully,” added Justine Porter.

She also explained why the decision was made to hold this event at Vassar. “We held this at Vassar because it’s a huge space and Allister Hall, the sustainability coordinator at Vassar helped me set this up. To hold this event here the people who came had to drive through the city and see the poverty and then come to a college full of wealth and prosperity and I think this really juxtaposes that difference and shows that we can connect this resource to the community.” With all its resources, Vassar stands in a solid position to play a key part in the Sum-

Courtesy of Xuewu Zheng

hen searching for answers, look within.

That piece of age-old wisdom applies equally to local economic development, according to the Poughkeepsie Wealth-Building Summit, as it does to our personal lives. On Friday, April 22, Vassar hosted the Summit to foster grassroots economic development through local stakeholders such as local businesses, non-profits and educational and medical institutions.

Conference Director of the Poughkeepsie community Wealth-Building Summit Justine Porter spoke about the event and why it is of importance to the economic development of the county and the community as a whole.

“Often times when we think about economic development on a county and city level we think about how we can attract businesses, but annually in the U.S., we spend over 800 billion drawing businesses from one community to another. The problem is that this is a net loss over all because we are just taking jobs away from another county. And often when you attract a business the jobs that are created are for educated, highly trained workforce and there are not necessarily jobs for people who are unemployed in that area. I live and work on Main Street, I’m a community organizer and I work in a community space and I work with many of the non-profits in the city of Poughkeepsie.”

Porter’s mantra to support locally developing businesses, rather than pioneer new growth from outside communities was built on more than intuition.

As a community organizer, Porter has done extensive on-the-ground research, some of which happened five minutes away from campus. “Living on Main Street I see a lot of the poverty there because I’ve worked with a lot of organizations and I feel that unemployment is a big issue here. We have a 14.5 percent unemployment rate in the city and 30 percent poverty rate which is pretty high. When we talk

about economic development we need to talk about creating jobs for people below the poverty line and for people who are unemployed,” said Porter.

High rates of poverty bring a host of other problems along, not least of which are medical complications. “We have so many hospitals in this area. How can we connect these incredible resources with those in need? This event is all about getting together the people who make decisions at big institutions like Vassar and getting businesses and non-profits to really hear how other communities are doing this successfully and getting them to do more,” said Porter.

This is the Poughkeepsie Wealth-Building Summit’s inaugural event, and they hope to have many more that will help the community. “Originally I thought maybe I could find a

The inaugural Wealth-Building Summit adressed issues of economic development as a means of redistributing the wealth and labor. Leaders of the Summit hope to hold it yearly.

mit. Porter explained how this is just the beginning and there is still a long way to go for the community to start reaping benefits from this program. “This is a start of a conversation. This day was basically about getting the information about this model into the hands of people who are leading institutions and getting them to think about how they can connect their institutions with the community. This will lead to more flourishing business and industry. There is a huge hospital expansion program going on, as well as recent changes in colleges. And this event is definitely the start of this conversation.”

The 50 organizations which partnered for the event such as Bard MBA, the Culinary Institute and local coffee shops and banks that attended the event are willing to cooperate and help out as much they can.

AmeriCorps Vista, Nora Culhane, also talked about the event and what it means for the outreach of the community. “I work for Hudson River housing on the middle main initiative and I’ve been placed there through AmeriCorps. Our mission is to make poverty history and we are placed in areas that need help. I work on the middle main initiative and I help revitalize main street Poughkeepsie. So being here is really exciting because we are trying to redirect all the wealth that’s already in the community.” She also talked about all the people who want to help make this dream a reality.

“I’ve met so many new people and I’m so glad they’re all interested in this plan. I’m so excited to see everyone collaborate because that’s what we need. This is a long-term thing that will take a long time, and a lot of planning but it is definitely an amazing start.”

The Poughkeepsie community Wealth-Building Summit is the beginning of a long-term plan to boost the economic growth and development of the city of Poughkeepsie. As part of the community, Vassar hopes to build from within and promote economic development in a sustainable way.

Taylor delivers rhetoric of blackness, Black radicalism BLACKNESS continued from page 1

a little more humanity to the book.”

At the same time, Ballard explained that the wealth of knowledge that Taylor brought with her was hard to follow. “It got kind of difficult to read Keeanga in the book while simultaneously trying to wrap your head around the bulk of information she gives.”

Tatiana Santiago ’19, though excited at the opportunity to engage with the author of her class’s current studied novel, admitted a deviation in ideology from that identified with Taylor’s Black Marxist ideology. Regardless, Santiago conceded, “I really appreciated that Professor Mampilly brought her into our Africana Studies class.”

As for Mampilly, the set of expectations he hoped his students would achieve inculcated itself in a holistic acknowledgement of individual cosmology and universal engagement. He said, “The Black Radical Tradition is drawing renewed attention due to its ability to help make holistic sense of the dominant trends in American political life, from the brutality of policing and the carceral/security state to the injustice of economic inequality. By allowing students to engage with a leading voice of Black radicalism, I hope that they can understand how their individual experiences with racism or classism are not solely about interpersonal animus, but rather emerge from the contemporary configuration of economic and political power that structures our social life.”

However, it is difficult for students, at the same time, to agree wholeheartedly with Taylor. Smith explained, “Even though I agree with a lot of what Keeanga says and I believe that her book is an important one to read when thinking seriously about what Black liberation means, I think it is equally important to challenge what has been presented critically, because I believe you learn more from questioning material critically as you do from accepting what is written as truth.”

Ballard approached the presentation with an equivocal understanding of the necessity of filtered contexts in understanding another’s ideas and expressions. Specifically, Ballard discussed the benefit of engaging in both an in-class Q&A

Courtesy of Princeton University

Professor of Africana Studies Zachariah Mampilly knew he wanted to incorporate her work into his curriculum the first time he was exposed to Taylor’s work. “I first encountered Keeanga’s writings in the journal Jacobin,” Mampilly explained. “As someone deeply interested in the Black Radical Tradition, I was excited to see a new voice deploying this extraordinary intellectual tradition to explore contemporary social phenomenon.” Mampilly said he reached out to Taylor in the fall and was fortunate enough to secure her visit to Vassar before her book came out. “The attention the book has received has been extraordinary and Keeanga has emerged as one of the most in-demand speakers in the country,” he said.

Mampilly said Taylor’s new book worked well in conversation with other foundational readings already part of the Africana Studies department and helped illustrate the ongoing conversations happening in academic settings and current events. “I included Keeanga’s book as part of the core readings for the new Introduction to Africana Studies course,” he said.

“The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the breadth and depth of Africana Studies as a field. So on the syllabus, I included both seminal readings from the vast Africana canon as well as newer voices like Keeanga’s so that students can see that Africana Studies remains a stunningly vibrant and dynamic intellectual field.”

The connection between current class content and Taylor’s lecture helped Smith and fellow classmate Tamar Ballard ’19 to follow more easily. Ballard said, “I was excited about the lecture because we were reading her book in my Africana Studies class, so I thought it would be a good opportunity if I could hear, directly from the author, about the thought process surrounding the book.” Ballard went on, “It was definitely nice to put words to a face in a sense.

It’s one thing to read someone’s writing, but to actually be able to see how passionate they are about a specific topic and get more background information surrounding the purpose and influence of the book was something I thought gave

Princeton University Professor Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor visited Vassar on April 19 to deliver a lecture “The #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation,” named after her forthcoming book. session as a student and attending her lecture as an observer: “It was a good opportunity to be able to see Keeanga and hear her talk about her book in her own words, especially since books (by nature) have to go through some kind of editing process (even if it’s a little), so it was a opportunity to get her raw opinion on things inside and outside of the book.”

Mampilly explained that Taylor’s presentation was both a representation of her book of the same name as well as an offering of her own experiences. “The presentation touched upon many of the themes within the book–the failure of a Black elite to produce change for the majority of black people; why poor whites should make common cause with Black people and other people of color; the limits of identity politics; and the need for a broad front to challenge the contemporary capitalist order. Keeanga is a participant within the long tradition of Black Marxism and her words in speech and in print

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

seek to make sense of racialized capitalism in the United States and its legacies.”

Regardless, the sense of active understanding and worthwhile discussion on such nuanced and connotative topics was meaningful for all involved. Especially among this sample, though, was Mampilly’s position as a particular moderating role and conducive liaison.

Mampilly’s opinion on the most rewarding aspect of the event speaks to his pedagogical and dually paternal experience: “By far, having Keeanga join the Introduction to Africana Studies class was the highlight. After a very brief presentation, students bombarded her with nuanced and thoughtful questions about diasporic consciousness, Black radicalism, identity politics and so much more. Not all were convinced by her arguments, but the session itself was one of the most interesting I’ve participated in as an academic. Keeanga was highly impressed and my students made me proud.”

FEATURES

Page 8

April 28, 2016

Caderna ’16 documents environmental issues in thesis Emily Chancey Guest Reporter

R

ecognizing the threat climate change presents in the Great Lakes, Environmental Studies major and Michigan native Colin Caderna ‘16 set out to explore the problems impacting the region in his documentary film thesis.

What he first thought of as a film consideration of climate change in an area of personal importance quickly became a historical piece probing different issues relative to the environment plaguing the Great Lakes.

Caderna described his initial ideas for the documentary saying, “I’m from Michigan, so I’m really passionate about the Lakes. In my town, I was surrounded by a lot of climate change deniers. So my reaction was to show them that this is real and that really highly-aware, educated people are talking about this and not just studying about it, but acting

on it. It turned into something different but something that I think is really important for awareness.”

Climate change is never once mentioned in the film. Instead, Caderna focused on the environmental history of the region as well as the unpredictability of the Great Lakes and the energy resources considered in its future. “Right now there’s an energy movement going on in Michigan with these old coal plants dying out and thinking about what’s going to take over.

People are saying natural gas but that’s not where we should go. We should move to solar and wind and water power rather than continue to burn these dirty sources.”

Caderna spent a year exploring the realities of environmental issues in Michigan as he produced his thesis documentary. Before finally cutting and editing his film together, he interviewed nearly 75 Michigan locals and environ-

Courtesy of Colin Caderna

Pictured is a shot of the Great Lakes from Colin Caderna ’16’s Environmental Studies documentary thesis. In it, he adressed issues of climate change as it pertains to the Great Lakes.

mental scientists from the area, filming nearly 50 of them in conversation.

His network of contacts and interviews expanded as a result of his uncle, a connected barber in Ann Arbor, MI. Caderna said, “My uncle and I were talking about the film and he said he knew this great guy—Paul Webb—who studies fish and he’s pretty famous. We met at a coffee shop and Paul Webb gave me five people. I met those five people, started interviewing and those people sent me to more people.

It expanded but only nine interviews made it because I found my thread—the story I wanted to tell.”

Caderna said the production process boiled down to one question: “How was I going to convey those messages and what the people in those interviews were saying?” As a largely self-taught filmmaker, he didn’t have many of the professional tools necessary to shoot a film. Rather, he relied on a friend with a drone company who filmed high above urban Detroit.

Caderna himself shot additional B-roll using his personal tripod.

Caderna’s thesis transcends just the Environmental Studies Department. His advisor and Professor of Geography and Chair of Earth Science and Geography Mary Ann Cunningham said, “His work is incorporating ideas that come from environmental science classes and ideas that come from policy and politics and also ideas about how different cultural groups understand the environment differently. I think that the integrative thing is important.”

The result of all of this work is an approximately 40-minute documentary film thesis entitled “The Water Lords” that has aired on YouTube. The documentary itself is broken into four parts: Part I - The Invaders, Part II Fallout, Part III - Fossils, and Part IV - Sharing.

Throughout the piece, Caderna was not afraid to approach authorities and locals alike.

For instance, in Part IV, Caderna spotlights a community living in the Michigan basin where the water is currently carcinogenic and undrinkable. For that reason the community has requested water from Lake Michigan. Caderna

said, “I have competing voices—the mayor of that town and the mayor of other towns saying why we should or shouldn’t do this. So, it’s a history.”

The four parts of the film are connected through music. Caderna collaborated with Vassar musicians and professors, bands from his hometown and sounds he himself filmed. He worked with Zach Kondak ’16 to create an organ soundtrack as well as harpist and Adjunct Artist in Music Ashley Jackson on a harp recording. A man on the streets of Chicago became his third music track. Caderna himself rapped in the fourth track. He elaborated, “My friend in high school that had a band made a really cool EP that I liked that never really blew up. He doesn’t sing on it. But I like to rap to it.

Over the winter, I went to a studio and recorded over that instrumental and that’s the final track in the film.”

Of the experience as a whole Caderna said, “It was really cool to do the whole thing—to have the idea, to network with so many people (time-consuming but really rewarding; I met with a lot of famous people who are really influential in the science, political, activist worlds), then to edit and to create and select the music.”

Cunningham added, “Environmental Studies also tries to help students find a way to take action on environmental issues and obviously a documentary film is very much doing that. And so, I think that it is a good example of the kinds of things the department likes to encourage.”

Cunningham may have asked Caderna questions to keep him on track, but she reflects that the documentary spotlights Colin’s own voice.

Caderna hopes that the film is both an entertaining and educational motion picture, a medium he is particularly drawn to. “I want to do environmental activism and film as a medium to spread whatever cause I’m doing,” he said. “I’m really interested in energy transformation right now. And in this film, there’s a lot of people who are really passionate about these things like nuclear power telling their stories were voices that need to be heard.”

Green Juice recipe to revolutionize your healthy lifestyle Rafaela Vega del Castillo & Sarah Evans Guest Reporters

M

aintaining your health on a busy college schedule can be challenging. Running from place to place (and not for exercise) makes healthy choices hard and getting all the vitamins and minerals you need becomes even harder. Luckily, there is a green salvation that’s tasty and can be customized for all your qualms and health needs. Green juice is a nutrient-packed blend of vegetables and other nourishing supplements that can keep your vitality high and your immune system strong. The best part of making your own juices is incorporating vegetables and fruits that aren’t already a part of your daily diet, or veggies that you might not even like! We all have those foods.

Right?

The idea of green juicing does not have to be limited to a juicer. You can create yours by throwing ingredients into a blender and pulsing them into a beautiful smoothie. While juicing often allows you to experiment by combining many juices and flavors, blending allows you to retain the fiber in fruits and vegetables. This lets you add more beneficial fiber and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids–like chia or hemp seeds–and maintain the integrity of your produce! Fiber and protein always make a smoothie a more satisfying meal or snack.

And if all of those healthy words sound intimidating, just think: you will be eating as though you recently worked out, sans the work-out. Just name-drop some of those ingredients to your friends and they will be amazed at your new, healthy lifestyle. Not to mention you will be getting yourself one step closer to that summer-ready body.

In our quest to maintaining your health and helping others stay healthy along the way, we have complied a list of four green juices to help your body rejuvenate with a boost of nutrients you might be lacking!

ENERGY

Green Matcha Smoothie: This natural Japanese green tea blend will give you a health boost of energy, without the caffeine jitter or afterward crash Ingredients: 1 banana, frozen 1 stevia packet 2 handfuls of kale, or spinach 1 tbsp chia seeds 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp matcha powder 1 cup almond milk, or nut milk of choice

PROTEIN

DETOX

Detoxifying Turmeric: Curcumin is an active ingredient in turmeric, which acts as an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-bacterial. It is detoxifying and promotes digestive health. This juice offers a powerhouse cleanse rich in manganese, zinc, B group vitamins, vitamins C and A, and iron.

Ingredients: 1 apple, cored 2 cups coconut water 1 lemon, juiced 1/2 piece of ginger (1 inch), peeled 1/2 piece of turmeric (1 inch), peeled 1 to 2 handfuls of leafy greens 1-2 tsp raw honey

IMMUNE SYSTEM

Immunity Boosting: There’s always that time of the year when you get sick and can’t seem to get better no matter what you do or how many times you go to Baldwin. For those moments in life, we’ve come to save you with a healthy immunity booster. Say good bye to all the Emergen-C packets your mom sent you and say hello to a stronger immune system!

Ingredients: 2 cups spinach 2 cups orange juice 3 bananas 1/2 piece of ginger (1 inch), peeled 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp ground cardamom

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Courtesy of bostommagazine.com

Protein & Green Goodness: Protein is vital, especially if your diet does not tend to include animal produce. We have created a green juice recipe that will provide you with just the right amount of protein. This smoothie can be drunk as a pre- or post-workout snack, too!

Ingredients: 2 cups kale 1 banana, frozen 1/2 cup blackberries, or blueberries 1-2 tbsp almond butter 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, or other yogurt alternative 2/3 milk, or milk alternative 1 tsp flax seed 1/2 tsp cinnamon

*Indications for the four recipes: Combine all ingredients into a blender and pulse until veggies have liquefied and texture is smooth.

For an added twist add your favorite nuts or additional green veggies (cucumber, broccoli, celery).

April 28, 2016

OPINIONS

Page 9

The Miscellany News Staff Editorial

College must sustain gender neutral bathroom initiative

O

n Tuesday, April 19 Target announced that all employees and customers may now use whichever restroom or fitting room aligns with their gender identity. The company has faced significant backlash over the past week, most notably in the form of a boycott movement started by the American Family Association (AFA) when it released a petition on Wednesday of Target’s restroom and dressing room policy. The Target initiative comes at a time when transgender rights, and specifically debates over gendered restrooms, are on the minds of many Americans. North Carolina recently passed a law requiring all people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender they were assigned at birth, which disproportionately affects transgender people. This prompted several major corporations–such as PayPal, Apple and Coca-Cola–to publicly oppose the legislation.

Opponents of gender-neutral restrooms and of the right to choose a gendered bathroom that matches gender identity often cite a fear of sexual assault as a consequence of people using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

Studies have found no evidence to suggest that gender-neutral bathrooms make women more vulnerable to sexual assault; however, they have found that 59 percent of transgender women and 75 percent of genderqueer individuals have been verbally harassed while using a gender-dichotomized bathroom (Journal of Public Management and Social Policy, “Gendered Restrooms and Minority Stress: The Public Regulation of Gender and its Impact on Transgender People’s Lives,” 2013). The assault that opposers fear actually disproportionately affects transgender and genderqueer people. Others object to using bathrooms based upon gender identity simply because the idea makes them uncomfortable.

Such rationalizations ignore the dangers that transgender individuals face in gendered bathrooms every day, instead blatantly prioritizing

the comfort of cisgender people over the safety of the transgender community.

Objections to gender-neutral bathrooms on the basis of safety and comfort are not limited to Southern states and conservative groups.

While Vassar has acknowledged the need for gender-neutral bathrooms, the limitations of the initiative necessitate an increased awareness on the behalf of students and faculty alike.

During a forum with the VSA in November, former Director of the LGBTQ and Women’s Centers Judy Jarvis stressed the importance of continuing to push for more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus and of educating students and faculty about trans allyship and the importance of gender-neutral bathrooms. While only four buildings on campus still do not have at least one gender-neutral bathroom, an improvement from 13 total buildings on campus in the spring of 2013, Jarvis stressed that there is still work left to be done in implementation and education. She had at that point received three complaints from professors or staff members who, in some way, objected to the gender-neutral bathrooms initiative (The Miscellany News: Vassar College Live, “VSA 11.8.15”).

Jarvis spoke at the VSA meeting as an advocate for the VSA General Body Resolution on gender-neutral restrooms. Enacted in Nov. 2015, it states, “The College is committed to including at least one gender-neutral restroom in new buildings constructed on campus to the extent feasible.” The Bridge for Laboratory Sciences– the most recently-constructed building on campus–upholds the Resolution, but just barely. The new science facility features exactly one gender-neutral bathroom, and it is inconveniently located in an obscure corner of the second floor.

The design of this new building shows that reluctance, not bureaucratic complications of renovating already-existing restrooms, is what prevents the College from committing to the

gender-neutral restroom initiative beyond the bare minimum in academic spaces.

The Vassar Queer Health Initiative (VQHI) has called for the majority of bathrooms across campus to be labeled “all-gender.” They asserted that a select few restrooms should remain female-only restrooms, in order to acknowledge the ongoing systemic oppression of women.

Earlier in the semester, as a part of this movement VQHI members hung “all-gender” signs on many of the restrooms in the academic buildings that still exclusively have gendered bathrooms, as well as in buildings that already meet the minimum requirements, like Main Building and the Bridge. Within days, many of the signs had been taken down. There is still clear resistance on campus to the institution of gender-neutral restrooms, so it is absolutely crucial that we as a student body do not let this issue fall by the wayside. The discomfort of cisgender people is negligible compared to the ability of trans or gender non-conforming students to have access restrooms in which they feel safe.

For those who do not depend on an all-gender restroom for their own comfort and safety, it is easy to be oblivious to the fact that the gender-neutral bathroom initiative is still necessary. However, during this time of national controversy over gendered bathrooms, we must acknowledge that Vassar has not completely progressed past the same issues. Every building on campus needs to contain a gender-neutral bathroom. Many of the buildings that have either no all-gender bathrooms or an all-gender bathroom in an inconvenient location are thoseaccessed primarily by the public, such as the Bridge Building, the Loeb and the library. It is not enough to only provide for students in the private, residential context of dorms.

Vassar needs to make a commitment on this issue instead of settling for the minimum in order to assure that students are safe and comfort-

able in academic spaces. Trans allyship means providing for the health and safety of all students in the public as well as private sphere.

We at The Miscellany News endorse the necessity of gender-neutral bathrooms that are present, accessible and visible, along with education for those who may still be apprehensive about them. This could include education for new students and their parents either on campus tours or during freshman orientation, or factual flyers in academic buildings’ restrooms that encourage Vassar staff to see the necessity of this initiative. As evidenced by the fact that academic buildings are the remaining hurdles for this initiative and that Jarvis received complaints from Vassar faculty and staff, the education of those who work at Vassar in academic buildings will be crucial to the success further implementation and normalization of all-gender restrooms on campus.

To anyone who has never experienced a public, all-gender restroom, as is true of many people in the United States, the thought of sharing such a space with other genders can be unsettling. However, this is a cultural norm that most Vassar students say is easy to surpass after living in the dorms for only a short time. Preemptive discomfort simply does not take priority over the ability of trans students to be able to use a restroom to which they feel welcomed. Transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary students all deserve to feel safe and welcome on this campus, which is impossible to achieve without safe restroom spaces. This is a conversation that we need to continue to have, and it is important that we do not preemptively consider ourselves to be fully successful because we are not North Carolina’s state legislature.

—The Staff Editorial expresses the opinion of at least two-thirds of the Miscellany News Editorial Board

Cruz-Kasich alliance underscores GOP’s need for reform Nick Barone

Opinions Editor

O

n April 25, 2016, Ohio Governor John Kasich and Texas Senator Ted Cruz formed an unlikely alliance to curb the unprecedented political success seen by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. After Trump’s decisive (and startling) victory in New York, the other two GOP candidates decided to step to the side in certain key states—Kasich in Indiana and Cruz in Oregon and New Mexico— to allow the other a clearer path to victory.

The tactic may end up having an impact on Trump’s delegate count. New York Times politics and policy writer Nate Cohn observed, “As I wrote recently, the whole Republican contest could come down to Indiana. The state has 57 pledged delegates, and it awards those delegates on a winner-take-all basis statewide and by congressional district. As a result, the difference between a narrow win and a loss is huge for Mr. Trump. If he wins statewide— even by a point—it will be fairly easy for him to reach 1,237 delegates with a victory in California” (The New York Times, “Why Cruz-Kasich Deal Has the Potential to Stop Trump,” 04.25.2016). However, due to the fraught nature of this recent alliance and the irregular nature of polling, the weaknesses and implications of the alliance implicitly indicate larger issues within the GOP and its future as a party.

Trump responded in typical Trump fashion. “Wow, just announced that Lyin’ Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination.

DESPERATION!” (Twitter, 04.24.2016). His director of social media went on to assert via Twitter, “Two losing politicians–mathematically eliminated from receiving the nomination–trying something NEW! They will FAIL!” While it is always easy to dispel Trump’s sensationalist ravings on social media, he may actually—I can’t believe I’m writing this—have a point.

Despite Cohn’s argument that the Indiana primary may halt momentum, it is crucial to note that Donald Trump’s campaign is supported by a populace with deep disillusion-

ment in the state of establishment politics.

Is it not possible for the recent Cruz-Kasich alliance to energize and generate even more support for Trump’s institution-shattering campaign? As reporters Matt Flegenheimer and Jonathan Martin wrote, “For Mr. Trump, who has argued repeatedly in recent days that Republican leaders are conspiring to stop him as part of a ‘rigged’ nominating system, the new alliance against him could provide further evidence for his argument to his grass-roots supporters” (The New York Times, “Ted Cruz and John Kasich to Coordinate Against Donald Trump,” 04.25.2016).

The potential impacts of this alliance may prove to be even more damaging to the “Never Trump” movement. While I’m still reckoning with whether or not the bizarre coalition is effective or productive in any way, what truly astounds me is what this could mean for the GOP. The political posturing of Kasich and Cruz’s campaigns serves as an unexpected complication into the circus narrative that constitutes the 2016 Republican primaries.

Let’s start with the Texas senator. Ted Cruz’s statement read, “Having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket in November would be a sure disaster for Republicans ... To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico” (Ted Cruz 2016, “Cruz campaign releases statement on upcoming primaries,” 04.24.2016).

Cruz’s campaign statement diverges significantly from past statements surrounding his relationship with John Kasich. In the past, Cruz has accused Kasich of being a spoiler in the race and postured that Kasich was potentially vying to be Trump’s vice president. The sudden 180 hints at a renewed sense of political pragmatism within the right-wing candidate.

The campaign has prided itself on ideological purity and its appeals to hard-line conservatism. Therefore, the recent decision to form an alliance with Kasich functions as a crucial turning point in Cruz’s rhetoric.

In his March anti-Trump speech, 2012 Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney echoed similar sentiments, saying, “If the other candidates can find some common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election ... I’d vote for Marco Rubio in Florida and for John Kasich in Ohio and for Ted Cruz or whichever one of the other two contenders has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump in a given state” (The New York Times, “Transcript of Mitt Romney’s Speech on Donald Trump,” 03.03.2016).

While politicians and pundits on the left and the right criticized Romney’s speech for simply rehashing tired, hackneyed, obvious criticisms of Donald Trump, it nonetheless set a new, more aggressive tone for the Republican establishment’s treatment of Trump. This tone has now manifested itself in the dissonant marriage between a relationally moderate Republican from Ohio and an evangelical Christian who is hated by some of the most distinguished members of his party.

Similarly, Kasich’s statement (Kasich has explicitly stated that he is not encouraging people to actively vote for Ted Cruz in those key states) read, “Our goal is to have an open convention in Cleveland, where we are confident a candidate capable...will emerge as the nominee. We believe that will be John Kasich, who is the only candidate who can defeat Secretary Clinton and preserve our GOP majority in the Congress” (John Kasich 2016, “Kasich campaign statement on upcoming primaries,” 04.24.2016). It’s interesting to note that, despite being in third place and having significantly fewer delegates than his rivals, Kasich and his campaign are more confident. Their statement places more focus on Kasich as a candidate rather than the newly-formed partnership.

Shifting focus from the partnership to Kasich himself underscores the campaign’s tone of Kasich as the only stable, moderate candidate running in the GOP primary.

It’s a positive and potentially productive first step that Kasich and Cruz recognize how irreversibly damaging a Trump presidency could be to our country. However, if there is anything

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

to be learned from this decision, it is that the GOP is crumbling before our eyes and, perhaps for the first time, candidates are actively acknowledging it (albeit tenuously, given Kasich’s remarks about voting for Cruz). The primaries have been a litmus test for the palpability of the Republican Party’s platform and establishment figures; Trump’s rise functions as a rejection of that framework, especially among the working class.

While I normally wouldn’t give much attention to the Republican primaries given that I will never vote in one, the dangers of a Trump presidency are readily apparent. Despite the fact that anything that could hopefully prevent the former host of Celebrity Apprentice from becoming president of the most powerful country in the world, there is a major, striking issue that must be raised in regards to Kasich and Cruz’s newfound alliance.

Overall, the alliance fails to properly acknowledge the context behind Trump’s rise.

The GOP’s curtailing of LGBTQ rights, its gutting of the Voting Rights Act and its unfair and unabashed repudiation of anything Barack Obama says or does have created an atmosphere conducive to Trump’s rise. Obama gave a speech in Austin in March in which he said that Trump was a “distillation of what has been going on in their party for more than a decade...

This is the message that’s been fed–that you just deny the evidence of science. That compromise is a betrayal. That the other side isn’t simply wrong, we disagree ... So they can’t be surprised when somebody says, ‘I can make up stuff better than that’” (CNN Politics, “Obama derides GOP establishment’s Trump dilemma,” 03.12.2016). The Republican Party is in need of long-term reform if a Trump-like figure is to be avoided in the future. The coalition acknowledges Trump as a problem but does not recognize why he was allowed to exist in the political sphere in the first place. As the complicated and multilayered carnival act of the Republican primaries continues, the Republican establishment and its candidates must realize that they let this happen and take the necessary steps to restructure internally.

OPINIONS

Page 10

April 28, 2016

Dissonance exists between candidates, American public Emma Jones Senior Editor

A

s counterintuitive as it may sound, it appears that the American public will soon elect a president that a majority of them dislike.

Assuming that Clinton wins the Democratic nomination and either Trump or Cruz secure the Republican vote–which seems most likely at this point–the 2016 election will come down to which candidate Americans hate the least, instead of which one voters wish to see in office.

In fact, all three candidates are less popular than the losing candidates of the past five election cycles (The Washington Post, “This election is an unpopularity contest for the ages,” 04.19.2016). Although typically a candidate’s favorability increases in the months before the election, the current state of the polls does not reflect this trend.

This presidential campaign, more than most, is “being driven heavily by the ‘no’ factor, or the motivation voters have to turn out to prevent someone from getting elected” (U.S. News, “The Most Hated Candidate,” 02.26.2016).

Since the start of their campaigns, neither Trump nor Cruz has been viewed more positively than negatively by voters.

Trump, as expected, attracts the most contempt, with a net favorability rating of minus-41 (The Washington Post). 65 percent of registered voters have a negative view of Trump, making him the least popular candidate in recorded U.S. history. Moreover, only 12 percent believe that Trump has the right temperament to take on the role of U.S. President.

Cruz currently holds a rating of minus-23, with 49 percent of the voting population holding a negative view of him. Additionally, Cruz has been much maligned by figures in his own party. Senator John McCain and Rep. Peter King have both spoken at length about their disdain for Cruz.

Although this undoubtedly indicates that the Republican Party needs restructuring, Demo-

Letter to the Editor Dear Members of the Miscellany News Editorial Board: We were disappointed you did not go to the source when writing your editorial “Career Development resources benefit some over others” (4/21/16). The piece contained myriad inaccuracies, including a claim that the CDO provides “little outreach” to first generation and low-income students. In fact, the CDO intentionally emphasizes this work.

This year alone, we collaborated with Transitions to host eight separate workshops and events, drawing a cumulative attendance of more than 225 first-generation and low income students. At our most recent event, Finding Empowerment in Your Everyday Activities, student leaders discussed the importance of extracurriculars, wage labor, and the skills they provide.

Additionally, the CDO facilitated or co-hosted a variety of sessions for all students related to “life beyond Vassar,” including four budgeting workshops, two renting workshops, and 15 alumnae/i panels and career chats featuring a variety of majors and industries (including psychology, film, and music). We continued our programming partnerships with the Office of Alumnae/i Affairs and Development, Women’s Center, ALANA Center, Office for International Services, and Questbridge, as well as with a number of student organizations, including the Business Club, Council of Black Seniors, and Vassar Alliance of Women in Foreign Affairs. We always welcome the opportunity to collaborate with academic departments and student organizations to provide relevant and timely programming for all students.

Space prohibits us from correcting all the errors in the editorial. We invite any student to come in and meet with us to learn more about the programs and resources we offer, or to provide constructive feedback.

Stacy Bingham Director, CDO & Assistant Dean of Studies Tyler Fultz ‘15 Fellow in Career Development and Co-coordinator, Transitions Program

crats are not immune to the overall cynicism of the American public. Perhaps the United States needs to reexamine not only the individual vices of each party, but the party system itself and the political environment which it both creates and exists in.

While Clinton started out with more positive ratings than negative ones last April, her favorability has changed. She now holds a minus-24 rating and 56 percent of voters view her negatively. Public opinion of Clinton, however, has proven to be constantly in flux during the course of her political career and, unlike the popularity of Trump and Cruz, her favorability is subject to change. That being said, only 19 percent of voters currently believe Clinton to be honest and trustworthy.

However, while candidates usually have the chance to win over voters as the campaign progresses, both Clinton and Trump have long-established reputations. It is unlikely that either one would be able to recreate their image between now and November.

If it comes down to Trump and Clinton, Trump, of course, has more to overcome in order to win over voters. Nonetheless, Clinton cannot count on Trump’s infamy to secure the White House.

The differences between Clinton and Sanders are far more pronounced than those between Clinton and Obama eight years ago, and therefore Clinton will have to work that much harder to convince Sanders supporters to come to the polls in November.

Bernie Sanders, whose chances of presidency unfortunately look increasingly slim, has garnered the most positive ratings. This factor, however, seems increasingly irrelevant in the turnout of the 2016 primaries.

Ironically, the current outgoing president appears to be the only one benefiting from the toxic atmosphere of the 2016 election; over the past month, his approval rating has gone up to 50 percent (MSNBC, “Unpopularity contest: Poll

shows grim outlook for 2016 winner,” 04.18.2016).

Unfortunately, this seems to be the only thing Americans can come to a consensus on.

The growing gap between voters’ preferences and the eventual election outcomes is an alarming development in an increasingly polarized nation.

Not only is the U.S. becoming more polarized along party lines, but also within the two major parties. Among Sanders voters, 41 percent view Clinton negatively, and within the Republican party, 56 percent of Cruz’s voters have a negative opinion of Trump. While growing tensions and heightened hostility during election years is certainly nothing new, the effects and scope of the current cynicism seem likely to stretch beyond the November election.

The election may well be decided by the electorate, which has also become increasingly polarized in recent years and which is also not impervious to the “no” factor. The future president should not be determined by who can “keep the more-hated persona away from Pennsylvania Avenue,” which it may come down to in the electorate (U.S. News).

According to Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, the upcoming election “will be the first time in the history of polling that we’ll have both major party candidates disliked by a majority of the American people going into the election” (The Washington Post). The growing cynicism of Americans will undoubtedly affect not only the polls, but the presidency of whoever occupies the Oval Office next.

A blatant unpopularity of whichever candidate is elected is likely to weaken the power of the president.

Peter Hart, Democratic pollster for Public Opinion Strategies, asserts, “The Republicans have a party problem, and the Democrats have a candidate problem” (CNBC, “Unpopularity Contest: Polls Show Grim Outlook for 2016 Winner,” 04.18.2016). Regardless of each party’s individual weaknesses, the lack of candidates

that meet public approval exposes an issue that is much bigger than a specific candidate or the current state of any one political party. A government in which a widely disliked and distrusted politician can end up in office is not truly a democracy.

The problem is not the critical nature of the public; this criticism is a positive trend in a nation that necessitates significant social change.

Rather, it is the disjuncture between the vision for the future that voters have, and that held by the majority of the candidates, that raises a red flag.

While it is always beneficial to have a multiplicity of perspectives on national issues, the presidential candidates should reflect the most commonly held outlooks of Americans, which is not the case in the current election. The U.S. needs to focus on closing the gap between the political sphere and the social climate which it should ideally reflect.

No matter who wins the general election, the air of cynicism and disenchantment surrounding the primaries is a clear sign that something isn’t working. A democratic election should ensure that the most popular candidate wins; the current system seems only to ensure that the least popular candidate does not win. If Trump becomes the nation’s next president, American democracy can no longer uphold even this meager claim.

The purpose of a democratic election is not to vote against the worst potential leader, but to vote for the most qualified candidate. A nation primarily fueled by hatred for the opposite political faction cannot possibly maintain a social climate of tolerance and acceptance.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board is onto something when it says, “It’s time to overhaul the process–or the parties themselves” (“Donald Trump? Ted Cruz? Hillary Clinton?

We do it Wrong,” 04.20.2016). It would be in the nation’s best interest to come to this realization sooner rather than later.

“Bernie or Bust” ignores danger of Trump Jesser Horowitz Columnist

I

t should not surprise anyone reading this that I do not support Senator Bernie Sanders. Last week, I wrote an article about why I support his primary opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. I stand by that article, and I stand by my support of Secretary Clinton.

However, if Bernie Sanders were to win the Democratic Party nomination, I would gladly support his candidacy. He has a lot of very good ideas that I support, he’s honest and his genuine commitment to change is infectious.

At the very least, he is far better than any of the Republicans currently in the race. John Kasich, while clearly best of the bunch, disappoints on key issues such as abortion and the right to organize. Ted Cruz, likely zodiac killer, pals around with homophobic, abortion-doctor killing extremists and has called for xenophobic policies such as the patrolling of Muslim neighborhoods. Donald Trump goes without explanation. The idea of any of these candidates winning the presidency terrifies me to such an extent that I could never vote for a third-party candidate. I would expect the same out of a supporter of Senator Sanders; not because of party loyalty, not even because Hillary Clinton is a good choice for the position, which she most certainly is, but because we cannot allow someone like Donald Trump to become President.

However, there has been a growing “Bernie or Bust” movement of young, upper-middle class, white, male supporters of Senator Sanders who refuse to support Secretary Clinton under any circumstances. They are fervent believers in the cause and they do not view voting for Secretary Clinton as any different than voting for a Republican. These ultra-fervent supporters of Senator Sanders’ campaign, to an even greater extent than supporters of Donald Trump, disgust and terrify me; not only because of their complete ignorance regarding Secretary Clinton and her policies; but because they are so determined to get their candidate elected that they are willing to let the entire country burn. They reflect poorly on Senator Sanders’ supporters, on the Democratic Party and on the American progressive movement as a whole.

Moreover, these “Bernie or Busters” will lead to the election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency. Their stubborn belief that Sanders is the only acceptable candidate could divert enough votes away from Hillary Clinton to give Trump the White House. Let’s face the facts: Bernie is very likely not going to win the Democratic nomination. Any belief otherwise is no more than wishful thinking. While he may keep running, his reasons for doing so likely have more to do with spreading his message and less to do with actually winning. Supporters of Senator Sanders need to become comfortable with the fact that the Democratic Party’s nominee will be Hillary Clinton; and, if Hillary doesn’t win in November, Donald Trump will be our next President. Not Jill Stein. Not Gary Johnson. Donald Trump.

I say Donald Trump and not Ted Cruz or John Kasich because at this point I am convinced Trump will be the Republican Party’s nominee this November. Even if he is unable to gain enough delegates to win prior to the convention, the movement to stop him is already starting to fizzle. Megyn Kelly has made her peace with him and I believe that other establishment figures will soon follow suit.

For the majority of my readers, I do not need to and therefore will not explain why a Trump presidency would spell disaster. I am attending Vassar College, and I am writing for Vassar College’s newspaper, and most of my readers are Vassar students and Vassar students are traditionally very liberal and socially aware. I would be flabbergasted if there were more than 12 Trump supporters total within the student body.

Therefore, I will assume that the majority of my readers do not need to be convinced that Trump would make a bad president.

But it does seem like some of my readers need to be told why Trump is most definitely a worse candidate than Hillary Clinton. Specifically, certain liberal readers need to be reminded why Trump is a worse candidate than Hillary Clinton.

It is somewhat understandable how a conservative, who approaches politics with a completely different set of values, could honestly believe that Trump is the better candidate. It boggles my mind, however, how a liberal, who approaches politics from the viewpoint of liberal, who holds

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

a liberal set of values, could look at these candidates and decide that there isn’t enough of a difference for them to vote for the Democrat.

So, let’s take a brief look at why Secretary Clinton would make a better president than Donald Trump. Regardless of how much more you might like Bernie Sanders more than Hillary Clinton, she would make a great president.

She is experienced. She’s fought for progressive ideas for her entire career, she’s championed health care and education reform. She has the ability to compromise while simultaneously sticking to her principles. I gave a longer, more detailed version of this argument in my last article, that details the specifics of my case, but in the interest of space, I will leave it at this: Hillary Clinton has a track record of pushing through progressive reforms. Even without comparing her to Donald Trump, she would be an excellent choice for the presidency.

And even more important than that, as President, she will be the one appointing not just Scalia’s successor, but likely the successor of Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Whoever wins this November could do lasting damage to the country that extends far beyond their time in the Oval Office. Who do you believe would be more likely to cause such damage? Hillary Clinton or the candidate who said that women who have abortions should be punished? Some of my readers might argue that it doesn’t matter who they vote for, because they don’t live in a swing state. If you’re from a state like New York, you can stay home. The state will probably go blue anyway, right? Hopefully, there won’t be enough people sharing that viewpoint so that blue states will turn red. But if that’s not the case, I suppose there isn’t as much harm, although I shudder to think of what would happen if enough people from New York stay home.

My takeaway is this: if you support Bernie Sanders, good for you. I don’t agree, but good for you. But if you believe so strongly in your movement that you are ready to ruin the lives of millions of people out of spite, then we have a problem. You might not like the idea of picking between the better of two evils, but if Trump is elected president, you’ll have a lot more to complain about.

April 28, 2016

OPINIONS

More quantum computing research needed Steven Park Columnist

I

n 1965, co-founder of Intel Gordon Moore made a famous prediction: the number of transistors on a microprocessor chip, and thus its performance, will continue to double every two years. Widely known as Moore’s law, this bold claim transformed the semiconductor industry as processor chip manufacturers rushed to fulfill this prediction every year. While attempts have been successful for the past 60 years, transistors are now starting to reach their physical limitations and Moore’s law finally seems doomed to fail. But computer software company D-Wave Systems, Inc. has a solution: if processors can no longer speed up on a classical level, then why not design processors that function on a quantum level?

While the topic of quantum mechanics may appear daunting at first, the general basis behind this fascinating science is rather simple.

To provide a brief summary, quantum mechanics is a relatively new branch of physics that focuses on processes happening at an atomic level. It arose when scientists realized that rules of physics governing the world at a large scale don’t seem to match the behavior of subatomic particles like electrons and photons. While objects in classical mechanics exist in a specific place at a specific time, objects in quantum mechanics can exist in numerous different places and be different things at the same time. Additionally, quantum mechanics isn’t just confined to theoretical physics. Companies that can incorporate this new variable into their machinery could potentially change the entire industry of their field, which is ultimately what D-Wave is currently trying to accomplish.

For the past several decades, the semiconductor industry built faster, more efficient processor chips by building increasingly smaller transistors.

The idea is that the smaller the transistors are, the more you can squeeze on a microprocessor chip and the faster the chip can process information. So far, the most advanced microprocessors have circuit features that are only 14 nanometers long, which is smaller than the size of most vi-

ruses (Nature, “The chips are down for Moore’s law,” 02.09.2016). Experts estimate that in a few years, manufacturers may start building transistors that are only 10 atoms long. But despite the industry’s successful track record, there is a definite limit to how small a transistor can be before it becomes too unreliable to use. That is why D-Wave used the bizarre rules of quantum physics to create a supercomputer that can process data much faster than what classical computing will ever be capable of. In 2015, the company announced the construction of the world’s first fully-operational quantum computer, the D-Wave 2X system (D-Wave, “Meet D-Wave,” 2014).

The big question for most people, however, is how does a quantum computer work? Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gained huge media buzz on the internet when he offered his own explanation: “What quantum states allow for is much more complex information to be encoded into a single bit. A regular computer bit is either a 1 or 0—on or off. A quantum state can be much more complex than that because as we know, things can be both particle and wave at the same time and the uncertainty around quantum states allows us to encode more information into a much smaller computer” (Maclean’s, “Trudeau versus the experts: Quantum computing in 35 seconds,” 04.19.2016).

Although initially impressive, Trudeau’s explanation is not quite correct. While it is true that conventional computers use bits that are either a 1 or a 0, the quantum states of quantum computers don’t allow more information to be squeezed into a single bit (The Washington Post, “Actually, Justin Trudeau doesn’t get quantum computing,” 04.18.2016). A quantum bit, or a qubit, is in a state of complete mystery until it is measured, at which point, it becomes a normal 0 or 1. However, what makes quantum computers so powerful is that being in that state of complete mystery, known as superposition, allows a qubit to be 0, 1 or both at the same time (D-Wave, “Quantum Computing,” 2014). This characteristic is what gives quantum computers like the D-Wave system their most valuable feature: the ability to consider all possibilities simultaneously and choose the best one.

While a classical computer solves a problem by considering each possible solution one at a time, experts estimate that a quantum computer can process and solve a problem up to a 100 million times faster than a conventional computer (ExtremeTech, “Google: Our quantum computer is 100 million times faster than a conventional system,” 12.09.2015). Given this extraordinary speed, it’s little wonder that Google, NASA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Department of Energy have all showed great interest in D-Wave’s product (BBC, “Quantum computing: Game changer or security threat?” 04.05.2016).

Quantum computing allows the tech industry to not only meet the predictions of Moore’s law, but also greatly surpass them. The D-Wave 2X system is expected to become an irreplaceable asset in solving optimization problems that require sifting through enormous stockpiles of data. Examples of the D-Wave computer’s applications range from finding more accurate patterns in weather to becoming the cutting-edge tool in financial analysis that’s worth millions of dollars (BBC). Its ability would usher a new age of computing that scientists in the past would have deemed impossible.

Despite all the promise that it offers, quantum computing remains a relatively infantile field. The D-Wave system is not perfect and their processing capabilities are currently limited.

In addition, quantum computers like D-Wave’s cost between $10 million to $15 million due to the difficulty behind building one (BBC). These machines require liquid nitrogen to cool its hardware to just above absolute zero (-273.15 C) in order to maintain its quantum state and any interference, whether outside or inside, could potentially destroy the fragile balance in the system.

Yet despite the difficulties involved, the field of quantum computing has attracted the attention of international organizations around the world who are interested in a slice of this revolutionary new benchmark in scientific achievement. In the end, we should expect further details about the semiconductor industry’s latest and greatest solution as it seems like Moore’s law won’t be broken anytime soon.

Graph of the Week

Page 11

Word on the street Do you have any last words for Mudd building?

“Mudd delenda est.”

— Jordy LaForge ’18

“I didn’t really care for you.”

— Jorge Gruber ’18

“I want a glass brick.”

—Jason B ’16

“Good luck.”

— Eric Fishman ’18

“You only had 25 years but that’ll probably be longer than the bridge.”

— Anthony Walker ’17

“I never knew you, but I wish I did.” ­­—Dakota Lee ’19

On Tuesday, April 24, Donald Trump won five primary contests in Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

1,237 delegates are needed to clinch the party’s nomination, with Trump less than 300 delegates away from this mark. This massive sweep arrives in the wake of a newly formed Kasich-Cruz alliance designed to halt Trump’s momentum, with the ultimate goal of causing a contested convention. For more information, see Nick Barone’s article “Cruz-Kasich alliance underscores GOP’s need for reform” on page 9.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Zander Bashaw, Humor & Satire Editor Sam Pianello, Photo Editor

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 12

April 28, 2016

Breaking News From the desk of Zander Bashaw, (Former) Humor & Satire Editor Nate Silver projects 60% increase in chance of freshmen taking molly on Founder’s Day after lecture from stufel.

Albums pass STDs as the Humor writer cops out with newest unwanted surprises create your own “Matt” Libs Zander Bashaw Surprise Editor

Suprise Albums Gigantic Artist Names A Review

I

n recent months, many of the world’s most popular artists have decided to release surprise albums, works that are shoved on the public without pretense. Evidently, many artists have decided that whether or not the next content will be good is not enigmatic enough, and the date and reason for album releases should be a mystery as well. Perhaps this technique is a way to break free of standard musical production tropes, or maybe it is a way to distract the public from less-than-lifechanging musical works. Regardless, artists are doing it, so that means somebody should be reviewing it.

A lot of the time, an artist or musical group will make some sort of announcement about a release time of an album and then the avid fans can expect to see their favorite’s work come out four to six months late. (Looking at you, Frank Ocean.) The buildup to the piece’s release is a lot like watching the previews from an IMAX 3-D movie: by the time the content you want comes out, you already have such a migraine from the previews that you can’t be anything but comatose for the feature production.

The standard album release protocol is really the only option for 90 percent of artists. Now I hate the cliche of the struggling artist as much as Rafael hated Michelangelo’s muscular Christ figures, but this is definitely a big problem in the music industry. Since the synthesis of humanity, people have always wanted to cheat each other.

This is something that you can see universally, across every media of expression. In the music world, terms like “limewire” or “Spotify” or “youtubetomp3.com” come to mind. And that’s just in my short digital lifetime. The point is, artists have to do what they can to avoid losing

money to Spotify, which itself is losing money while it’s customers lose patience with the constant ads. It’s a lose-lose situation, especially for up-and-coming musicians, which each and every student at Vassar pretends to be interested in.

So what happens when musicians the likes of, say Beyonce, release a secret album? The first thing that occurs is that a lot of questionable news sources start posting links to it on Facebook. Remember that these accounts stem from those old school Facebook pages where you had to like the page to see a “mind blowing” picture.

The malware that fans receive on their computer is a con of the surprise release.

One benefit for fans is that this scourge of media attention caters to the band-wagon leapers.

The artist’s “true” fans, are just as susceptible to malware as the new fans. . Surprise albums, like surprise parties can foster a sense of community among the vaguest of acquaintances.

I’ve discussed some pros and cons for the fans, but what do surprise albums bring to the few artists for whom it is economically feasible to do them? Firstly, it gives these musicians a chance to procrastinate. To best illustrate this, I’m going to compare this to my area of expertise: no, not the Humor section, but undergraduate academia.

Imagine, if you could, just hand in your paper of any topic to a professor whenever you want, and the whole department would go nuts about it. Who cares if it was supposed to be 10 pages about “The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” written in present tense? Your 370-word treatise about saving Dining Bucks written entirely in the passive voice will no doubt be hung on the English Department’s bulletin board.

Overall, the concept of surprise albums is a total cop out. It gives artists the chance to feed into the clickbait hysteria online, while also being able to put out questionable content. For the indignant reader, this is not a jab at Queen B (I haven’t listened to “Lemonade,” as weird as that is to say out of context). I’m pointing out that the surprise album format gives leniency for a artist to not produce content that the listeners were requesting. After all, the concept of “surprise” means they weren’t expecting anything at all...

Chris Allen

Insert Byline

W

ow, that was a/an (adjective) dream. I was eating (food item) with (famous Vassar alumna/alumnus) in (building on campus). Was it a dream, or a vision of my future?

Ugh, sunlight. Mine own eyes suff’r below the cruel, (Shakespearean adjective) star in the heavens. What time is it? Let me have a look at my (time telling device) ... OH (naughty words)!

It’s (time) and I slept through class! I’ll have to send Professor (name) an (apology email/ edible arrangement) in order to make up for this. Well, I guess I better remove myself from this (furniture item) and get myself together. I need to (bathroom activity), and the best place to do that is the bathroom. Oh look! It’s (name of best friend/mortal enemy)! I always run into that person in the bathroom.

I’m (adverb) hungry. Let’s see what they have at (dining establishment). I need to use some of my (meal swipes/dining bucks/VCash/real people money). After that, I’ll head to my next class. The great thing about a liberal arts education is that it covers so much territory. Professor (name) has big plans for today’s class. We’re going to discuss and debate the nature of (abstract concept), do a lab experiment focused on (incomprehensible science thing), practice communicating in (language) and then study a piece by (artist/author/ composer/filmmaker/playwright)! It’s almost as if my professor is keeping the focus of our class super broad and vague so that a Mad Lib about it can apply to any student!

Now, I’m meeting with some (friends/mortal enemies) for dinner. We’ll probably get into some (adjective) debates about politics and entertainment. (Friend 1/Mortal Enemy 1) thinks (presidential candidate or world-famous rapper) would make a great president, because they know exactly what’s best for our country and they won’t take money from the big banks because they’re not a gold digger. (Friend 2/Mortal Enemy 2) disagrees, and somehow changes the discussion to a violent squabble over which season of (TV show) is the best. “It’s totally (season number)!” says (Friend 1/ Mortal Enemy 1). “Because (character) shows a

lot of development in that one!”

Now it’s time for org meetings. Agendas and finances, dialoging and planning; heck (yeah/no)!

The meeting begins with check-ins, during which I boldly proclaim, “My day has been (adjective).

(Specific person) told me that my (article of clothing/personality flaw) was (adjective). Other than that, nothing much to say. Glad to be here.” Personally, I (verb indicating feeling) org meetings because we do a lot of (verb ending in -ing). I hope that someday I will be elected as the (officer position). Holding an officer position would look good on my resume so that I will be better equipped for the future or, as I call it, the ultimate game of Mad Libs.

Everything beyond (graduation/this week) is completely uncertain, like a blank waiting to be filled. I don’t know if I’ll live in (location 1) or (location 2), and I don’t know if I’ll work as a (career 1) or a (career 2), or just roam the world in search of sustenance like a nomadic gazelle. However, it’s (day of week) night, which means it’s time to tuck away that existential dread and party!

On this particular night, the party I’m at consists of myself and (number between 0 and 2,450) people in the TH’s, consuming (arguably addictive substance). Within (number that is equal to 5 x 1 minutes), I decide that the party is lame and I skedaddle. (That’s right, you don’t get to choose that verb. It’s skedaddle.) I (verb) aimlessly back to main campus along the TH path, which is littered with (noun), (noun) and (name). Suddenly, an idea arises. The library is the (superlative adjective) building on campus, so why not pay it a visit right now? And so, with (friends or lack thereof), I proceed to enter the not-24-hour section of the library through (secret entrance that nobody knows about). Here I am! Yep, it’s the library, except at night! Isn’t this (adjective)?

Suddenly, WOOWOOWOO! The alarm (verbs)! One thing leads to another, and then everyone at Vassar College knows of my shenanigans. (Deity of choice/authority figure/Cappy) will never see me the same way again. My (family member) will get a phone call, but that’s the least of my worries. The world will know my shame.

All in a day’s work.

Whiny white boys perform a not-so-celebrity rap battle Talya Phelps, Not A Phony Holden: Good morning, Ferris Poo-ler, this is Principal Rooney Here to say you’re flunking out because your intellect is puny I can drop rhymes harder than I drop swears and curses And I’ll knock off your block with my literary verses!

My hunting hat’s handsome and I’ll cut you with my words Cuz I think your whole franchise is strictly for the birds!

Holden: Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Is there anything in your brain?

I may be complicated, but you’re criminally insane You’re a smug little thief and your hair is mediocre I’d kiss Ackley before I’d touch you with a ten-foot poker!

You call yourself Abe Froman, sausage king of Chi-Town So take a bite of my wiener, you impudent clown!

Holden: Yeah, I called a call girl, but you committed grand theft auto And you’ll never fool me with your shows of bravado You’re a third-rate friend: Cam thinks you’re a meanie And my sister Phoebe loves me, while you’re hated by Jeannie!

I can only go up, in ten years I’ll have it made In a decade you’ll be dismayed ‘cause you peaked in 12th grade!

Holden: As I stroll downtown, I hear everyone chanting “Save Ferris,” they say—that’s a wish I’ll be granting But I won’t save you, I’ll save your whole movie’s cast From producing a movie with your ugly fat ass!

John Hughes did you wrong—he directed a nightmare And he gave you a name that’s a ride at the fair!

Ferris: Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop you could miss it I’ve got no time to waste, so I’m gonna be explicit You’re a super screwed-up child with no character evolution And you’re the worst damn writer in your mental institution!

Ho-ho Caulfield, pathetic “catcher in the rye” One angry little worm who’ll never be a butterfly!

Ferris: Doff that stupid red hat so we can battle properly First: I’m a better lover than you’re ever gonna be You’re repressed and awkward, so you’re Pencey’s oldest virgin I’m so skilled with Sloane, I don’t play “doctor” but “surgeon!”

You’ve got the hots for Jane, but she knows you’re a wimp: You didn’t bang the whore you ordered, but you still paid her pimp!

Ferris: How’s it feel to be written by a creepy old geek?

Let’s be real: Salinger’s an Antolini-level freak He won’t sell the film rights, while I sell hella tickets His fan club’s so quiet I can hear the chirping crickets!

But I bet you can relate to an author who’s reclusive Since your pathetic social life is equally elusive!

Ferris: It’s no wonder that your brother Allie’s pushing up daisies He couldn’t stand another day with a family of crazies I’m a legend, on a float belting “Danke Schoene” While you’re flirting with a housewife on the uptown train!

Your book’s a circle-jerk and you’re a whiny masturbator I’ve got places to be, so I’ll see you Strad-later!

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

HUMOR & SATIRE

April 28, 2016

Page 13

Yik Yak leads prospies astray purely for Yakarma points Steven Park and Vanessa Tate Blue Shovel and Yellow Acorn

H

it. The Deece is separated into two sides, a big side for teams of athletes and a small side if you’re scared of the big side like me. Seating is always difficult to find, so I recommend sneaking the food and silverware out like everybody else. By the way, don’t eat the fish, even if it has a really fancy name. It’s all the same shitty fish.

Here we are at Main building where most of the administration offices are located. They’ll send you a lot of direct-to-trash emails over the week. If you see the words “Arlene Sabo,” “Jeff Horst” or “In-the-Pink,” just go ahead and recycle those. They’re always about the latest

sprinkler repairs or robbery at the TA’s. As we exit, make sure to wave at the good people of the CIS. They’re the ones in charge of the absolutely wonderful and nonexistent WiFi here on campus. It’s the only thing on campus that’s more unstable than my emotional well-being.

If you have a paper due tomorrow, have fun staring at the network connection lost screen for several hours. Don’t worry, CIS will send an email warning you about it the day after.

Okay, it wouldn’t be a real Vassar tour if I didn’t mention that horizontal tree branch, so here it is. It’s the longest unsupported branch in the world, but then the Guinness World Book of Records caught us with the wire supports and banned us. In honor of our attempt to cheat the system, we like to tell every tour group about it to get a small laugh out of them.

Finally, here’s the library. This is where students go to start that 10-page essay that’s due tomorrow or have their weekly existential crisis. If you look to your left, you can see one student questioning every decisions he made in his life and contemplating quitting school and being a male stripper. Don’t worry buddy, you can’t escape even if you wanted to.

As we’re approaching the end of our tour, I’ll talk about Vassar’s vibrant social life. Over the weekend, all the parties and drinking happen in the Town Houses. You’ll quickly discover that alcohol is the only thing that’s keeping us alive right now. TH 114 is especially lit on weekends, so make sure to check that shit out.

If you’re not at the TH’s on a Friday night, chances are that you’re sitting alone in your room crying about how you don’t have any friends. Don’t worry, everyone does it. And yes, the social scene here COULD change, but no it won’t.

Oh shit, there’s campus security. With that, I have to run. I’m really not supposed to be on campus and the Bias Incident Response Team is currently trying to find me. But one sec, does anyone have a kik?

Samana Shrestha/The Miscellany News

i everyone! My name is Yik Yak and I’ll be showing you around Vassar College today.

Don’t worry about the mask; it’s just to make sure you don’t know who I am. Since you guys are here just to skip school, I’ll tell you things about Vassar that actually matter. If I buffer or anything like that, just make sure to refresh. Everyone good? Okay, let’s start the tour!

So the first spot on our tour is the quad, where a lot of students stay on campus. Students are guaranteed housing for their first year, but for the other three years here, you have to deal with a broken lottery system. It’s not the most tightly run operation and I would say the only thing that frustrates students more than room draw is their pre-registration results for next semester.

In any case, Vassar has a total of nine dorms available on campus. If you look to your front, you’ll see Jewett going through its third fire alarm this week. If you’re curious about the cause of the fire alarm, either someone smoking weed, someone burning toast or someone burning weed in a toaster. Get used to that loud ringing, everyone, because you’ll be hearing lot of it at Vassar. I guess we can’t check out the Jewett rooms now, so let’s head to Raymond.

Now, everyone will tell you how each dorm has its own unique strengths and weaknesses.

I personally don’t know what the strengths are, but the weaknesses for all of them are the mice and cockroach infestations. Actually, Cushing has a bat, so I guess that’s special. For those of you wondering if the administration will do anything about this problem, don’t raise your hopes. That’s probably the most important thing I’ll say on this tour.

As you can see by all the disrepair around you, the administration has a bone to pick with Raymond or something. They recently released a detailed plan on all the renovations

that will happen for the next several decades and Raymond didn’t appear even once in that 40-page document. The only good thing I can think of is the fact that everyone here gets a single, but that’s only because all the former residents are hellbent on leaving. Alright, let’s get out of here before we all get cholera. Don’t forget to say hi to the Rat King on your way out.

The next stop is the Deece, where all students are expected to eat but no one really wants to. It’s pretty mediocre most of the time, but at least the mac and cheese makes up for

The Miscellany Crossword

“Henry”

by Alycia Beattie, York Chen, and Collin Knopp-Schwyn ACROSS

1 Mario vehicle 5 Rocky layer 11 Key intermediary for Bitcoin (abbr.)

14 “That’s a great ___!”

15 Amuse, often with tales 16 Thing Paul Revere allegedly muffled with a petticoat 17 About how long it takes light to travel 1 meter in a vacuum 19 Link 20 Royal Observatory measurement (abbr.)

21 He won his first Oscar in 2016 for “The Revenant” 22 What attackers to do castles 24 The 1−Down of Swing 28 Not oranges 31 Makes 32 John B, for one 33 Team that became BAL in 1954 34 Slice 37 1−Down who first appeared in 1933 38 1−Down who sponsored a Bible; also, Lebron 40 1−Down who puts numbers on the boards 41 Maligned pig home 42 Element of the psyche, according to Freud 43 Bewitch

Answers to last week’s puzzle National Holiday

D A

N

K

A

L

O

E

V

E

R

Y

U

T

E

S

E

T

E W K U

S

H

A R

T

Y

P

A

L

S

A

U

L

A M M A N

C

A

R

E

M A O

R

I

A

R

I

D

O G

R

E

S

E

N

N

E

D

A

I

R

B O N

N G

F

E

R

E

R O M A

R

A G

E

K

A

B

G

E O

R G

A R

S

O N

G B

L

A

D

J

A M E

S

O

P

I

N

E

R

E

T

E

G G

S

P

L

I

F

Y S

Z

E

O

A

F

C

R

I

B

H

E

N

E

F

C

Y

A

B

E

A V

A

I

L

E

D G

E

L

I

M E

R

E

T

R O

Z

I

O

N

L

O

U D

E

N

E M Y

E

A

T

S

© CC-BY 4.0

L

44 Assegai 46 Curmudgeonly 47 The 1−Down of Rock and Roll, apparently, even though Chuck Berry exists 51 God 52 Append 53 Discharge 56 “___ a Small World (After All)” 57 Michael Behe, Ben Carson or Rick Santorum ACROSS 62 Most of Avatar (2009) 1 1 Mario vehicle 63 “The ___ and the Nottie” (2008 movie 5 Rocky layer that made $1.6 million 14 11 Key intermediary for 64 The Aral, for example (2 words) Bitcoin (abbr.)

65 Tater unit 14 "That’s a great ___!"

17 66 Erick and Parrish, for two 15 Amuse, often with tales 67 Stupid fish, or point on a fishhook 16 Thing Paul Revere 20

Henry

drama all last century 36 Gender−neutral singular pronoun 38 Wrangler maker 39 Algae product 40 Smol 43 Progressive mobile carrier 44 Plop down 45 Cupid’s boo 46 All the hits from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s!

47 Formal proclamation 2 3 4 5 6 7

Collin Knopp−Schwyn, York Chen and Alycia Beattie

48 Bad advice for a climber 49 Stop by 50 Composer Erik of “Gymnopédie No 1” 53 Home of a sinking tower 54 Drug−taker 55 Poke with a shiv 58 Com starter 59 “And so on...”

60 Used up 61 Yoink 8 9 10 11 12 13

15

19

18

21 allegedly muffled with a petticoat 1 Partial nickname for 24−Across, 37−Across, 24 25 26 27 17 About how long it takes 38−Across, 40−Across, 47−Across light to travel 1 meter in 2 Batman West a vacuum 28 29 30 31 3 “Tango Maureen” musical 19 Link 4 “The ___ of Pooh” 20 Royal Observatory 32 33 5 Earthy also−rans measurement (abbr.)

6 Intel gathering 21 He won his first Oscar in 7 “Long ___ and Far Away” 38 39 37 2016 for "The Revenant" 8 Mystery Machine, for one 22 What attackers to do 9 Old age 42 41 castles 10 Teacher’s plan 24 The 1−Down of Swing 11 American pole 28 Not oranges 44 45 46 12 Not−quite−tundra 31 Makes 13 Prep for a photo, as a bird might 32 John B, for one 47 48 49 50 18 33 “___ No More” Team that became BAL 23 Egos’ and superegos’ counterparts in 1954 2434 Place for posts 51 52 Slice 25 37 “Again with the sex!”first 1−Down who 26 Dorothy, or what took her appeared in 1933 57 58 59 60 56 27 38 Psychic’s ballswho sponsored 1−Down 28 Requests some knowledge a Bible; also, Lebron 62 63 2940 Scheme or plan 1−Down who puts 30 Pay,numbers with up on the boards 66 65 3441 Cold’s nonexistent Maligned pig enemy home 35 42 Country with whom we had MAJOR Element of the psyche, according to Freud © CC−BY 4.0 43 Bewitch MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE26 Dorothy, or what took 44 Assegai her DOWN 46 Curmudgeonly 27 Psychic’s balls 1 Partial nickname for 47 The 1−Down of Rock 28 Requests some 24−Across, 37−Across, and Roll, apparently, DOWN

16

22

23

34

35

36

53

54

55

40 43

61 64 67

49 Stop by 50 Composer Erik of "Gymnopédie No 1" 53 Home of a sinking tower

ARTS

Page 14

April 28, 2016

Britomartis transports audiences back to childhood Matt Stein

Assistant Arts Editor

E

Britomartis’ shows tend to be eccentric and innovative in their usage of texts and design.

Last spring, Britomartis’ show “Nocturne” drew heavily from very abstract concepts and members’ dreams. The lighting of that show was blinding one moment and minimal the next, and the general outline chose nonsense over narrative. Their shows also often feature a dance number, adding to the activity on stage.

Unlike most of the other student theatre troupes on campus, only Britomartis and Idlewild hold auditions for their shows every semester. At the end of the production, new members are interviewed to determine whether or not they will be permanently inducted into this group. Britomartis welcomes students of all backgrounds and theatre experiences.

One of the defining features of their troupe is

the wide range of different skills each person contributes to the group, like international students bringing stories of growing up in another country.

Expressing how this show can transform the audience into the children they forgot they once were, Collier said, “I think this show lets [sic] you revisit that place of childhood imagination that we all long to return to. It’s like listening to a bedtime story or picking up a good book. That’s the excitement we’re trying to tap into.”

Rudnick added, “It’s a show that’s silly and funny, but at its core we’re talking about stuff that everybody can relate to. We all remember what it was like to be a child and as college students; we’re living in this weird space between childhood and independence.”

Courtesy of Britomartis via Facebook

veryone remembers the joys of childhood.

Sadly, you grew up. Those years of innocence passed you by years ago and now you’re on the cusp of the long road of adulthood and its many struggles. But they’re not necessarily gone. Britomartis, one of Vassar’s non-hierarchical devised theatre groups, will be able to immerse you back into that old, familiar place with their show and remind you of what it means to be a kid again.

This semester, Britomartis’ show “Motherfuckers: A Fairy Tale” is just as boundary-pushing. On April 28 and 29, Britomartis will be on Graduation Hill by Sunset Lake, performing a production thematically centered around childhood. In the event of rain, the alternate space is Blodgett Auditorium. The show’s runtime should be around 30 to 45 minutes.

In an emailed statement, ensemble member Liam Collier ’16 explained what separates “Motherfuckers” from previous Britomartis productions: “It’s a fairy tale. Sometimes it will feel like a typical show. Sometimes it will feel more like a ritual. It should be a lot of fun though. You’re going to see new takes on some familiar characters, but also some characters [of] our own invention. There’s a lot of humor– especially amongst the pirate characters–but there’s also some really genuine conversations about motherhood and childhood and growing up.”

All of the scenes were written by Britomartis members, but the inspiration for these scenes has a wide variety of sources, including lines of movie dialogue and song lyrics. Particularly in this show, there are several scenes that are modeled after characters from members’ childhoods, like Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Princess Mononoke. Some of the characters in “Motherfuckers” are historical too, like Queen Elizabeth.

Britomartis member Tessa Rudnick ’18 elaborated on the group’s redefinition of outside

sources and characters within the new world they’ve created for the show. She explained, “This is only my second semester in Brito, but this semester we’ve returned to bringing in a lot of outside sources and it’s been really rewarding to play around with someone else’s words. Also, I’ve never had the pleasure of creating an entire world and mythology with others before and it’s been really exciting to watch this world and these characters come alive.”

Britomartis is a non-hierarchical theatre organization, so there is no specific role each ensemble member takes on. Instead, each person serves as director and designer for the production, and acts in it as well. This allows for every show to truly take on a collaborative result from every member.

Ensemble member Nneoma Njoku ’18 described how this group dynamic has impacted rehearsals: “[It’s been] like playing make believe in the woods with your neighborhood friends on a summer day.”

Communication was key in facilitating this dynamic. Collier said, “For the first few weeks we did a lot of talking. We told stories about our childhood, about our relationships with our parents, about puberty and sex and love and loss. I feel like one of the challenges of making a piece about such pertinent themes is that we just want to go on talking forever.

Getting things down on paper and then getting those things on their feet is much harder.”

He continued, “We do a lot of writing individually and then share it with the group. Then we take those pieces and sort of smash them together until we have a show.”

Britomartis creates an original piece of work every semester, just as they collaborated on this show with only a general topic to guide them. Their show in the fall was called “The Beatrice Abrams Memorial Collection: A Very Erotic Experience.” Very unconventional in nature, it consisted of several avant-garde art pieces, which the audience explored before the actual show began.

Britomartis, one of Vassar’s devised theatre troupes, will present “Motherfuckers: A Fairytale” on Graduation Hill by Sunset Lake. The show builds on some of the quirkier tendencies of the troupe.

Acoustics lecture, demonstration defines the indefinable Noah Purdy Reporter

“A

rchitecture is frozen music,” said German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. These two entities—architecture and music—have indeed proven inseparable throughout history. Sound, in its many forms, is as crucial to the performance of collective worship as the space in which it takes place.

What one may not immediately consider is the science behind this awe-inspiring synthesis, and it is this intersection between art, religion and science that Associate Professor of Physics David T. Bradley presented in his lecture “Worship Space Acoustics: The Sound of Space” in the Chapel on Thursday, April 21.

Bradley’s talk was presented in concert with the new course “The Sound of Space: Intersecting Acoustics, Architecture and Music,” cross-listed with the Music, Physics and Art Departments, as well as the Creative Arts Across Disciplines 2015-

16 theme of “Sound and Silence.”

Though the science of acoustics is objective by nature, the lecture began with two subjective elements. First, attendees entered the Chapel immersed in the majestic architecture and the stirring sounds of Sarah Johnson ’16 on the organ. The lecture then began in the dark, with an auditory montage of various worship practices: the plaintive cry of the shofar, a Spanish Catholic mass, Buddhist monks chanting in unison, a muezzin’s melodic call to prayer.

To connect these spiritual experiences to a basic understanding of the science behind their acoustics, Bradley started, naturally, with a sound: a solitary clap. From this simple clap, a high-pressure impulse signal, we can learn a lot about the acoustics within a space. As Bradley put it, “This is the holy grail—no pun intended—of acoustics ... From this impulse response, we can learn a lot about the room.”

And the audience did learn a lot, as Bradley

Courtesy of Vassar College

Physics Professor David T. Bradley gave a lecture on the acoustics of religious spaces. The lecture complemented his class and recently published book–both of which explore acoustics.

went on to walk the audience through the building blocks of acoustical analysis, including the subjective components—reverberance, clarity, loudness and speech intelligibility—and their objective counterparts—reverberation time, the clarity index, strength and the speech intelligibility index.

As Bradley’s student Daniel Melody ’19 wrote in an emailed statement, “We are currently analyzing spaces of our own around campus, so it was interesting to see how Dr. Bradley went through the process himself and which acoustical/architectural factors he focused his efforts upon.”

In short, the four key parameters that worship space designers must consider are optimizing reverberation time through volume control and sound absorption, eliminating acoustical defects, minimizing ambient noise and maximizing the dynamic range to make the initial impulse sound as loud and clear as possible.

These four elements are true to virtually all worship spaces around the world, despite vast differences in religious beliefs and practices. For example, regarding the biblical Tabernacle, the portable temple of the wandering Israelites, Bradley informed, “...one biblical scholar said, ‘God created the world in six days, but he used over 40 to instruct Moses about the Tabernacle.’” Such was the importance of the precise construction, both literal and figurative, of the worship experience.

Bradley continued, citing modern examples from the 67 religious buildings featured in the book that he co-edited, “Worship Space Acoustics: 3 Decades of Design.” He explained the idiosyncratic challenges of each space, from a wall separating men and women in an orthodox synagogue in Massachusetts to acoustical defects from the domes of a mosque in Atlanta.

Bradley then explained a special project, the Tri-Faith Initiative complex in Omaha, NE, which aims to unite the three Abrahamic religions. “I like this idea,” Bradley expressed, “because one of the things I learned in working on the book is that there’s a lot of commonalities across these different kinds of worship spaces. They have a lot of the same goals.”

Bradley connected this idea to recent strife over BDS at Vassar, saying in reference to the Omaha collective, “This idea of three very differ-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ent religions all occupying the same space...I think is really inspirational, and it speaks to some of the things happening on campus with regards to interfaith dialogue ... You wouldn’t expect that kind of conversation from a physics talk.”

A final component of the lecture came from some of Bradley’s students, who measured the acoustics of the Chapel live. They utilized an omnidirectional loudspeaker to play chirps from the low- to high-frequency range. This element struck a chord with the collaborative nature of both the course he is co-teaching and of real-world acoustics itself.

Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Christine Howlett, the second professor involved in the “Sound of Space” course, touched on her specialty relating to acoustics: “Depending on what singers hear (or don’t hear)...[they] may end up having to adjust the way they are singing, or rely on the conductor much more.” Such adjustments may include singing more slowly in reverberant spaces and more quickly in less reverberant spaces.

Associate Professor of Art Andrew Tallon, the other professor teaching the course alongside Bradley and Howlett, shed light on the idea of imbuing religious buildings with the “sacred geometry” of music and acoustics. “Why can’t we include those same [mathematical] relationships in a building in some way?” he posited as the attitude of early cathedral designers.

Bradley completes the acoustics course trifecta, supplying the science behind the music that Howlett explicates and the historical and artistic developments that Tallon describes.

Ultimately, Bradley’s lecture sought to explain how acousticians quantify the ineffable for a more careful understanding of how all of the elements—sound, architecture and religion—come together to create that undeniably magical quality. “These spaces,” Tallon described, “deploy all sorts of tricks to convince the faithful attendee of a liturgy there that he or she really is in a liminal zone between earth and heaven, that there’s some kind of transfer operating in that space, on that day, through the liturgy that’s performed and the space that surrounds, that’s just taking that person a little bit higher.”

April 28, 2016

ARTS

Page 15

40th annual ALANA Fest highlights campus cultures Patrick Tanella

Assistant Arts Editor

T

Courtesy of Vassar College

he ALANA Center provides opportunities and resources to support students of color and foster cultural, social, academic and creative expressions in a comfortable and affirming gathering space. However, its remote location can isolate it from other parts of the campus and students may feel uninformed about what the Center attempts to accomplish.

Each year that changes with ALANA Fest, however. ALANA Fest is a celebration of the different communities of color on Vassar’s campus, with this year being the event’s 40th anniversary.

Held on Saturday, April 30 from 12 to 4 p.m., ALANA Fest promises to bring people together through food, entertainment and a welcoming atmosphere. Its 40th anniversary will be larger by having more vendors, performers and it is striving to persuade more members of the community to come.

The event seeks to look back on past years and reflect on how far the Center and Vassar’s community as a whole have come. An intern at the center, Frank Najarro ’18, has put together the event along with Joaquim Goncalves ’18.

Najarro is excited to be an integral part of this program and the inclusivity it promotes. He explained, “This year’s ALANA Fest has a motley of food, performers and inflatables. We are bringing two outside performers, Kilusan Bautista, who will be doing a rap/theatre-stylized piece, and Pacific Rhythm will be performing several traditional dances from Southeast Asian islands.”

Bautista is known for being a Brooklyn-based, experimental artist that is currently touring his solo theatre production, “Universal Self,” which is a presentation of the contemporary struggles of working-class Filipino Americans. Pacific Rhythm is a New Jersey Polynesian dance group that combines tradition with entertainment, with their fire dancing being a particularly popular aspect of their routine.

In addition to the outside performers, several Vassar-based artists, such as Vassar UJIMA and

The ALANA Center will host their 40th annual ALANA Fest. The celebration will provide a space for marginalized student voices and identities on campus to celebrate their heritage and cultures. a newly-formed band called Parks and Rec, will be performing.

Bollywood dancers from a class that is conducted here and Richard Lee, the winner of the Battle of the Bands, which is an annual band showcase held by Josselyn House, will also be doing a showcase. Finally, Vassar Sori, the Korean drumming team, will be putting on a special show. Various cultural and ethnic food options will be available, and attendees will be allocated a specific amount of tickets that can be used to purchase the free offerings. The goal is to have as much interaction with the food and activities as possible.

ALANA Fest is distinct from other on-campus events by not only inviting the general Vassar community to this free event but also encouraging the Poughkeepsie community at large to come and enjoy this festival. Najarro comments, “The entire program is free. It’s just

a great time to be together and celebrate culture in the springtime right before classes end.

It also provides a time for people who may not necessarily know what the ALANA Center is all about to become more informed.” In addition, ALANA Center organizations will also be tabling and have activities for the general public.

When he volunteered to put the event together, Najarro knew it would be a big undertaking. He has coordinated the publicity, programming, performers and the ALANA Center orgs. Anyone can tell that this is a lot for one person to handle. Najarro said, “It’s in less than 10 days...wait eight...oh my God.” The semester is quickly approaching its end, and it is time for members of the Vassar community to come together for this celebration.

This four-year-old tradition is regarded by many as enlightening and vital for the community as a whole, and especially for students of

Revival of long-standing Vassar Review 20 years later REVIEW continued from page 1

bitious it would be.”

Over the span of two years, Raz and Patel networked with a number of faculty members and offices on campus before bringing everyone together at the beginning of this academic year to begin the real work. This newly formed editorial board solicited and edited submissions from renowned and emerging artists from all over the world. Advisory board member and Professor and Chair of the English Department Mark Amodio observed, “Going from a student idea...to a publication in the space of two years is pretty remarkable.”

Of course, the expedited publication time was due in part to a strong team of students, professors and school faculty. The Vassar Review is comprised of seven sections, each consisting of two student co-editors and a faculty member.

Raz noted, “Student-faculty collaboration is important to the project and looking nationally, we couldn’t find any other journals that are quite so intimate with students and faculty and trust student knowledge on level with faculty knowledge.”

The theme of the first edition of the revived Review will be “Trauma and Träume: Pain and Dreams in Art & Literature.” Raz remarked, “We thought the theme would speak to a diverse number of selections.” It certainly did, and submissions by gif artists, poets and basket weavers poured in, which complemented the written pieces nicely.

“The art wouldn’t be as good without the writing, and the writing wouldn’t be as good without the visual works either,” noted Arts co-editor Catherine Lucey ’19. “The goal was to do something completely different than other literary journals, and a major factor of that was accepting all types of mediums in our journal,” Patel added [Full Disclosure: Palak Patel is the Editor-in-Chief of The Miscellany News].

“One of the things I really love about it is that now it includes visual art and digital media, so it’s a much broader type of publication than the original, yet at the same time, it pays homage to the old

one by including an archival section,” Lombino wrote. The Review will feature archived poetry by alumni like Elizabeth Bishop ’34, which was originally featured in an earlier incarnation of the Vassar Review. Raz added, “It’s exciting in a way to know that you’re pulling from a history that other people tangibly felt when they were in this space, so I think that’s definitely palpable here.”

While paying its respects to the past, the Vassar Review intends to focus on contemporary issues.

“The journal was the work of the female students on campus in a predominantly male-centered industry,” Raz explained. “Of course, having a space for marginalized artists and marginal identities is certainly important to the journal...”

A launch party will be held May 5 in the Loeb sculpture garden to celebrate the anticipated release of the revived journal’s first edition, including a pre-screening of digital media works and live music. “It should be a very nice celebration,” Amodio said. “I’m watching with great admiration as they really have pulled this together.”

Most importantly, the launch party will include copies of the journal for sale. Amodio explained, “Selling them is part of the model that’s going to make this viable. Certainly a sizeable investment of time and energy has gone into this, but then there’s also a pretty substantial economic investment in it as well, and the model is to make this self-sustaining, not to turn a profit on it but just to make it so that it can generate itself.”

Literary Nonfiction co-editor Christian Prince ’18noted, “We want it to be something that people around the country can purchase and get excited about and doesn’t have to be this Vassar-specific project ... Of course, Vassar students can uniquely appreciate it because they go to this school.”

Digital Media co-editor Esteban Uribe ’17agreed: “As Vassar students familiarize themselves more and more with the journal, it’s going to get more student support and more people will want to be involved...and the more people who are involved, the better it’s going to be.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

color. Programming assistant at the ALANA Center Nina Nakao ’18 fondly recalled her very first time at ALANA Fest last year, which solidified her commitment to the ALANA Center.

She explained, “Last spring was my first semester on staff and the whole day was devoted to created a really fun atmosphere that was also focused on centering people of color. I feel that celebrating people of color is rare on this campus, and to have an event that is purely honoring our culture and ethnicity is essential. I appreciated the atmosphere and that all sorts of people were willing to set aside a day during a really busy time to come together under this event.” “ Altogether, everyone that is working on this event or has attended it has reinforced that it is essentially an inclusive celebration. Najarro commented, “It is part of the ALANA Center, so we encourage all people of color to come and celebrate, but as well as the general Vassar population. We want to share with this community that houses us that we have these cultures and identities and that although we can be critical about them and we definitely fight in different respects, we also know how to celebrate, to have fun and to be thankful for our cultures and our skin colors.”

Unfortunately, Vassar allocates only a small portion of its budget to the ALANA Center, which results in a limited number of events each semester. Besides faculty dialogues and workshops educating students about race and ethnicity, there are not many events that are capable of bringing the campus and people of color together.

Najarro acknowledged the opportunity this event holds for those that crave more ALANA-based events. He said, “The center itself seems to be isolated many times, but this is a way we can get the center out to the residential quad and everyone can see the things that we do and love, we see and we talk about on a regular basis.” ALANA Fest is a rare opportunity of inclusion for every member of the Vassar community in its celebration of cultural and creative expressions.

ADVERTISEMENT

ARTS

Page 16

April 28, 2016

The Life of Pablo is actually really good BalletX lends modern take on craft John DeLeonardis Guest Columnist

The Life of Pablo Kanye West GOOD Music

Sabrina Oh Reporter

T

o expand or to tweak? Perhaps both, for BalletX. This innovative group explores athleticism, emotion and grace in their dance. More importantly, upon personal discretion, BalletX adapts the vocabulary of classical dance to appeal to a more present-day audience.

According to the Chair and Resident Choreographer for the College’s Department of Dance Stephen Rooks, “BalletX is Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet company.

BalletX unites distinguished choreography with an outstanding company of world class dancers. The company was founded in 2005 and challenges the boundaries of classical ballet by encouraging formal experimentation while preserving rigorous technique.”.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Miriam Mahdaviani-Goldstone elaborated, “At Sunday’s performance, works by four noted choreographers will be presented, including work by BalletX’s founding artistic director, Matthew Neenan, who is also the highly acclaimed resident choreographer of the Pennsylvania Ballet.”

BalletX, comprised of about a dozen dancers, puts on three annual performance series with audience members of all ages and backgrounds at the Resident Dance Company of the Wilma Theater. The group participates in both national and international tours.

BalletX’s contribution to the American dance community has been recognized and supported by grants and donors.

Member of VRDT Anna Beeman ’18 explained, “BalletX is a well known contemporary ballet company residing in Philadelphia, PA. Vassar has been extremely fortunate to have acclaimed ballet companies and dancers in the past such as Alvin Ailey, Daniil Simkin’s Intensio and Sara Mearns. BalletX is another great company with a wonderful reputation in the dance world.”

Mahdaviani-Goldstone added, “Neenan is in very high demand all across the country, so it is a big honor that he has carved out time in his schedule to bring BalletX to Vassar.”

Rooks echoed similar sentiments. He asserted, “This show continues our department’s commitment to bring fine dancing to [the] College.”

Advanced dance students will also benefit from the opportunity to take a master class with the Associate Artistic Director of BalletX Tara Keating.

Beeman noted the unique texture BalletX brings to the stage. “Since they are a contemporary ballet company, their works are more current and they do not perform traditional storybook ballets,” commented Beeman.

Rooks noted, “[The purpose of the show] is to bring a world-class contemporary ballet company to the Vassar Community.”

More specifically, Rooks hopes that the Vassar community will leave with a renewed perception of dance as an art form and the mutability of genres, such as the flexibility of classical dance and, interchangeably, contemporary dance. He concluded, “I think that the audience will love the show, and perhaps rethink their thoughts about the boundaries and potential of classically-based dance.”

Mahdaviani-Goldstone saw BalletX this past summer and is excited for their debut on campus. “I saw BalletX perform Neenan’s work titled ‘Sunset o639 Hours’ at the Joyce Theater and was struck by his imagination and originality. The piece by Neenan presented at Vassar is called ‘The Last Glass,’ set to the wild street-parade sound of music by the American indie-rock band Beirut,” she explained.

Beeman made note of the appeal of oblique movement and combinatory style. “I think especially for Vassar’s community, the type of repertoire they do will be more interesting due to the more abstract nature of the movement. I think having a company such as this one come to Vassar is great and shows that ballet’s tradition can mold into a contemporary setting and satisfy current interest,” concluded Beeman.

T

here’s a phrase often used when describing fans of the highly influential though widely detested Kanye West—we either love him or hate him. Unlike many albums that have come out recently (Deftones’ “Gore,” A$AP Ferg’s “Always Strive and Prosper,” Animal Collective’s “Painting With,” etc.), I bet that your first impression when you hear the album won’t change much on repeated listens—it’s literally, like its creator, a love-it-orhate-it kind of album. If the review of this album from the 04.21.16 issue of the Misc leaned more towards the latter, I’d like to present an opinion expressing the former; another interpretation of the same multi-track “album,” or musical tapestry.

As a whole, I think this album is yet another one of the too-stellar releases this year that make it hard for me to rank which songs rise above its others (I also mean The 1975 and the late David Bowie). I reckon that the only lesser tracks are those that Kanye uses to help a friend get some shine, like Chris Brown on “Waves,” both Vic Mensa and Sia on “Wolves” (in its recent revert back to its original iteration from SNL a few years ago) or new G.O.O.D. Music signee Desiigner getting a replay of his own track “Panda” on Yeezy’s album, catapulting the high-schooler’s original to be the No. 1 song in the country right now. Besides these, the only “single” released so far, “Famous,” is actually the weakest offering on the whole album—in fact, it’s the only track that feels noticeably lesser (besides my opinion that “Waves” could do with another guest’s verse or some kind of bridge section). Kanye has said that he thought “Power” was the weakest lead single he ever had, and that “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” was an overappreciated album (for it was his “apology

to the public”). Perhaps “Famous” as the single is intentional, being the least-spectacular song on the album—“if you don’t like this, you can at least be thankful that every other track is better!” The track features staples of a cool Kanye west tune: a Rihanna hook covering Nina Simone, Swizz Beatz (coming out of the woodwork) to hype the track up and an awesome sample flip by Kanye of Sister Nancy’s classic groove in “Bam Bam.” I additionally wonder what reviews of this album might say had Kanye kept the album at the original only-10-song tracklist he publicized through pictures of his notepad. Surely this would have been an effective and noticeable mirror of “Yeezus”—same number of tracks, same ridiculous concentration of only 10 great tunes. Because it feels like a culmination of every album-era of Ye’s career up to this point, “The Life of Pablo” is the logical next step to its predecessor’s very overt riffing of a single style. If “Yeezus” was a focus on hard, digital beats and lyrics evoking a paparazzi-flash view of world-famous celebrity West’s life, then “The Life of Pablo” is a sonic melting pot of all of his albums, yet with these same elements from “Yeezus” also at its own core.

The hilarious coital thought experiment in “Freestyle 4” or lines on “No More Parties in L.A.” are quite akin to the sexual descriptions in “I’m In It,” the samples on both “FSMH Pt. 1” and “On Sight” sharing similar lyrics, and even the soul manipulation on “Bound 2” seemed to signal the effect that Kanye uses multiple times on “Pablo,” where he takes an old sample and digitally affects it using up-to-date electronic stylings and technology.

The minute differences Kanye has made (mostly in mastering) for all the major streaming services since the album’s original Tidal-only release are not attempts to fix broken songs. They are instead a showcase for what the very near future will hold, regarding albums released on get-itnow (but never physically) streaming services. If you’re not going to spend the resources to massprint it and sell and solidify that, say, CD as the definitive, unchangeable version of the art, why does it matter if the artist wants to keep updat-

ing it? Further, like many of Kanye’s tactics, this repeated addition to his product keeps supplying media outlets with reasons to post about Kanye West. Say what you will about him, but the man certainly knows how to keep getting you to see or hear his name (though headlines will usually try to accompany that with whatever light they believe you should see him in at that moment).

The changes prove that Kanye knows he could make a quality song a quadrillion different ways, from adding a 10-second choir backup down to a simple, single knob twist on some EQ or effect.

The former change is found to add celebratory light to the lovely hook of “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” the latter maybe in “Freestyle 4,” increasing the song’s disturbing brazenness by making the interlude’s horror movie strings much more easily discernible in the mix. A similar effect can perhaps be heard in the noticeably-affected “Feedback,” where the beat’s menace is at an equal level to its original, yet with a different edge or flavor coming from its core kicks.

That silly “bleached” line on “FSMH Pt. 1”? Actually genius. Like on his much-lauded “MBDTF,” in this line he summarizes that his luxurious and lust-filled lifestyle can affect his everyday, normal self. He gets reminded of this carnality when he looks at that shirt he mentions; If he does this dirty deed, and then gets the dirtiness from that deed on his clothing that he wears around and presents to others, then he becomes what he’s using to represent himself. He feels like an asshole.

That once-sexy idea that he acted on just seems gross now, an effect that occurs after plenty of sexual releases.

If this is too long a defense, I can summarize it by saying that I think more thought and careful consideration have been put into many of this album’s seemingly dumb or crass lines than the work’s detractors have described. Somehow, I don’t think there actually is any filler on this full hour of an album. After all, if you want a work of art to be more highly detailed, you’re going to have to make quite a few more brushstrokes— maybe even after the painting has already dried.

A$AP Ferg falls flat on sophomore album Jimmy Christon Columnist

Always Strive and Prosper

A$AP Ferg ASAP Worldwide

T

alk about running the gambit! A$AP Ferg’s “Always Strive and Prosper” is probably the definition of the sophomore slump. Ferg puts out an album that is muddled by being unfocused and scatterbrained. What good there is on this album is outweighed by how forgettable the rest of the album is.

A$AP Ferg is a rapper out of Harlem associated with the A$AP rap group, which I know has more than just Rocky and Ferg, but I’ve never heard of any other members (doesn’t help that they’re only listed as “A$AP mob” on the one track they are featured on). Ferg’s last release, “Trap Lord,” was exactly what it sounds like, a trip into a trap house filled to the brim with bangers from beginning to end.

Ferg also released a mixtape between albums on which he experimented with his style - not to much acclaim. Ferg’s new album is kinda in between the two projects, making it hard categorize his style definitively.

My first big complaint with the album is that Ferg is trying his absolute best to appeal to both sides of his fanbase. On one hand, he wants to keep the fans that made “Trap Lord” a successful album, which means putting in tracks like “Swipe Life” or “Let it Bang.” But on the other hand, Ferg wants to experiment with his style, and by experiment I mean he wants to copy Lil B. I’m not saying that Ferg’s musical style is the same as Lil B’s (although they both croak out their lyrics and feature production by Clams Casino), but both Ferg and Lil B put out this persona of a rapper who’s loves everyone and wants everyone to get along and see the beauty in the world. For Lil B, it’s hard to tell if he is genuine or not, but with Ferg, I really get the sense that it’s just an act.

Ferg will be the first, second and last person to tell you that he’s a nice guy that just wants everyone to realize their inner beauty with songs like “Beautiful People” and “I Love You.” Sure, the message is commendable, but I can’t shake the feeling that Ferg doesn’t genuinely believe this.

Take the song “Beautiful People,” for example. It makes me sick. Ferg is trying to force a cathartic moment on the listener and it fails miserably. Ferg just doesn’t get that moments like these have to be developed and occur naturally, not haphazardly placed wherever he feels like. This song also has a terrible, terrible outro featuring a speech by “Mama Ferg.”

Maybe Ferg and his mom were having a fight during the recording of the album, because this speech is literally phoned-in. There’s something hilarious about a rapper not being able to get his own mother to record a speech for him in the studio and instead just has her do it over the phone.

“Ferg is trying to force a cathartic moment on the listener and it fails miserably.”

Ferg also tries to juggle many different styles at once. One track he’s trying so desperately to sing (on the Big Sean-featuring “World is Mine”), the next he’s trying to reprise his role as the Trap Lord. You might think he’s pretty proficient at the latter category, especially after how well he did on “Trap Lord.” But then you hear Ferg get consistently outshined by his features such as Rick Ross, Schoolboy Q and A$AP Rocky.

As with most albums that take this scattershot approach, nothing really comes off as memorable. There is a five-track stretch on this album that doesn’t do anything but attempt to make songs that have already been made a thousand times before, the exception

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

being an absolutely killer verse from featured rapper Rick Ross on “Swipe Life.” Ross brings a frantic energy to the track that the album sorely lacks.

There is a stretch at the beginning of this album where Ferg really does find his groove, however. The first four tracks on this album (excluding a skit) are pretty killer. “Rebirth” is a short track that introduces Ferg’s new persona, the “Hood Pope,” but Ferg’s rapping makes up for the terrible name. “Hungry Ham” features guest producer Skrillex on an energetic anthem to Ferg’s block. “Strive,” my personal favorite from the album, is a catchy HouseEDM track that Ferg actually meshes very well with. Finally, “Psycho” tells the story of Ferg’s crazy uncle and features production from the always excellent Clams Casino.

If there was one thing I would wholeheartedly commend from this album it would have to be the production. If Ferg can’t keep up with the shifting styles of this album, the beats most definitely can. From the EDM-inspired tracks to the quiet and simple “Let You Go,” the production on this album perfectly matches the style of each song. Unfortunately, the same compliment can’t be given to Ferg.

Ferg simply isn’t ubiquitous. On every single track he uses the same croaking voice and only changes up the speed at which he raps. If it’s a slow song, Ferg raps slow; if it’s a fast song, Ferg raps fast—that is all he changes. Pretty funny then that Ferg’s style works the best on the songs that are the furthest from hip-hop on this project. “Hungry Ham” and “Strive” are two EDM-inspired tracks and they absolutely bang. From the fast-paced chorus on “Hungry Ham” to the hook on “Strive,” Ferg works wonders over theses tracks and I can’t imagine anyone else doing a better job. If only the rest of the album were like these tracks.

For the rest of the album, I was left thinking about how much better the songs would’ve been if someone other than Ferg was creating the song. Other than the first four tracks and that killer Rick Ross verse, Ferg really doesn’t bring anything memorable to the table with this album.

ARTS

April 28, 2016

Page 17

PJ Harvey puts spotlight on struggles Saachi Jain Columnist

The Hope Six Demolition Project

PJ Harvey Island Records

I

n her ninth studio album, “The Hope Six Demolition Project,” PJ Harvey brings her music to an entirely new level, seamlessly incorporating the political into her record. The English alternative rock musician has always been multifaceted in all art forms, from music to poetry to visual art, and this album showcases even more palpably how Harvey blends various different components together.

The 11-track album, which was released on April 15, was recorded in front of a live audience in London, a choice that only accentuated Harvey’s desire to extend the scope of her album to a global, inclusive message. The lyrics chronicle the injustices she has seen in various places around the world, and these unflinching observations are what make Harvey transcend from a songwriter to an activist.

The opening track “The Community of Hope” introduces the rest of the album perfectly, but with an upbeat, ebbing melody that is out of place with much of the other tracks. “The Ministry of Defence” gets to the gritty reality of what the album is about, with a harsh, pulsating guitar riff and powerful vocals. The lyrics are particularly potent with their haunting imagery: “Human hair / A kitchen knife / And a ghost of a girl / Who runs and hides / Scratched in the wall in biro pen / This is how the world will end.” The lyrics echo the famous line from T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men,” which is also a partially political work, and the poet is one of Harvey’s many influences.

“Line in the Sand” protests against the mindless slaughter and bloodshed that war causes, though the lyrics are sometimes generic and cliché. The lyrics remind me of when people say that they have lost faith in humanity, which is entirely unhelpful and

Campus Canvas

fails to address the specific institutional powers at play. Compositionally, the song is one of my favorites, and the contrast between Harvey’s high-pitched vocals and the deep, low vocals of the background singers is exceptionally well done.

Another one of my favorites is “River Anacostia,” with its slow, melancholy melody that stays true to its name as it echoes the ebbing and flowing of a river. Harvey’s vocals are rich and distinctive, and she encompasses an impressive pitch range. The closing track, “Dollar, Dollar” is the most similar in tone to “River Anacostia,” with its eerie, rhythmic melody and beautiful, compelling vocals. The opening of the track, with voices of people from various countries revisits the theme of global integration. Three quarters of the way in, a saxophone solo brings in jazz and blues elements. The song is fitting as a closer, with the lyrics describing a boy begging for money to no avail. It is the only song in which Harvey herself is a partaker, rather than just someone reporting and describing what she sees, because the incident has a lasting effect on her: “All my words get swallowed / In the rear view glass / A face pock-marked and hollow / He’s saying dollar, dollar / I can’t look through or past / A face saying dollar, dollar.”

“Chain of Keys” stands in sharp contrast to the former song, with its distorted, sonic instrumentals, sounding like an organized march. Harvey’s vocals shine again, and the backing vocals are especially effective here.

The lyrics are evocative of devastation: “The ring is in a woman’s hand / She’s walking on the dusty ground / The dusty ground’s a deadend track / The neighbours won’t be coming back / 15 gardens overgrown / 15 houses falling down / The woman’s old and dressed in black / She keeps her hands behind her back / Imagine what her eyes have seen / We ask but she won’t let us in.”

The penultimate track, “The Wheel,” like “Dollar, Dollar,” also speaks of desolate children: “Now you see them, now you don’t / Children vanish ‘hind vehicle / Now you see them, now you don’t / Faces, limbs, a bouncing skull.” The lyrics evoke a sense of hope-

lessness and despair, with the same tragedies occurring over and over again in a never-ending cycle.

“Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln” is not one of my favorites compositionally, but it is powerful and inspiring in its lyrical content and the way it seems to rally voices together as if in a marching protest, the repetition only reinforcing that effect. “Medicinal” stands separate to the theme of many of the other songs, not overwhelmingly political but exploring the power of nature instead: “I looked about, and what I see? / Medicinals grow around me, rising from the gravel / Sumac and the Witch Hazel / Come to soothe our primal sores, come to soothe our troubles.” The last verse, however, brings light to the real issue: “But do you see that woman, sitting in the wheelchair? / With her Redskins cap on backwards / What’s that she’s singing? / As from inside a paper wrapper / She sips from a bottle / A new painkiller.”

“The Ministry of Social Affairs” is also one of the most powerful in its message: “See them sitting, in the rain / As the sky is darkening / Three lines of traffic are edging past / The ministry of social affairs / At a junction on the ground / An amputee and a pregnant hound / Sit by the young men with withered arms / As if death had already passed.” The monotone repeated words of the background vocalists allude to the greedy, one-track minds of capitalist institutions, and the distorted, incongruous instrumentals further echo the injustice of the state of things.

“The Hope Six Demolition Project” is ambitious in its undertaking. In many ways it succeeds: Harvey’s vocals are as compelling and expressive as ever, and many of the lyrics are poignant. Fans of PJ Harvey will certainly enjoy the album, and it includes some of her best songs. As a political work, however, it is incomplete; the lyrics make often-vague allusions to the devastated state of the world, but don’t go any further than that. Harvey’s own reactions to and place in this chaos is missing, and the album lacks the concreteness it needs to be as powerful as it had the potential of being.

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

Excuse me, Who has the sexiest voice?

“Cappy, duh.”

— Kiki Walker ’19

“Kiki Walker.”

— Ichar Heffernan ’19

“Kermit the frog.”

—Jake Namaroff ’16

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“Jeramih.”

— George P. ’19

Art for me has always been about trying to translate an emotional experience into a visual one. The art I love to look at, and the art I try to make, thinks about how shapes and lines can illicit empathy. To this end, most of my work features depictions of people. We see and interact with bodies constantly but rarely slow down to actually process them. I try to make sense of bodies visually in a way that incorporates the emotional and social significance we ascribe to them.

—Kayla Miron ‘18

“Morgan Freeman: everything he says is a song.”

— Philip Macaluso ’19

“Scarlett Johanson, but Bernie is good too.”

— Amanda Su ’18

Zander Bahsaw, Humor & Satire Editor Sam Pianello, Photo Editor

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

SPORTS

Page 18

April 28, 2016

Land ho! Seaworthy Brewers finally ready to set sail Jamie Anderson

A

Guest Reporter

so that they are all seaworthy,” said Lange. The VSA disbanded the organization after the spring semester last academic year. The Sailing Team couldn’t even secure facilities because of a definitive lull in sailing activities up until now.

“We started off going to a boathouse that hadn’t been touched since before Hurricane Sandy. It reminded me of an Egyptian tomb. However, through a great deal of hard work by our small group, we’ve made the boat house and our fleet usable again,” said Niver.

It had been so long since the sailing team took water that Kardek had to take inventory on essentials and repair boats herself. With the boats water-ready, the team was able to take its first trip on the water in five years. Despite the lack of wind, the positive trip was a testament to the team’s dedication to get the club back on

Courtesy of Vassar Athletics

fter being disbanded last spring, the Vassar Sailing Club is back in full force. Although in the past, the club has struggled with numbers and funding, this year’s team boasts a large recruitment class itching to get out on the water. Students reinstated the club this past semester as an effort to offer more opportunities in lesser-known sports. President junior Alex Lange, Treasurer senior John Tapscott, Secretary freshman John Terwilliger, as well as Vice Presidents freshmen Sophie Kaplan, Joe Niver and Haley Kardek represent the executive board that administer the club. The exec board members’ efforts have steadily picked up steam throughout the year, with several members coming on board after the activities fair at the beginning of the fall semester.

Since the club’s reinstatement, the members of the exec board have worked out many of the logistical and administrative aspects of restarting the sailing organization. “We have set up meetings with key administrators and our faculty adviser, Bob Brigham, to set the right number of items in order. After only a week of advertising, by putting our sail up all over campus, we had 70 people come to the AFC to take a swim test and showed a grand amount of interest in the team,” said Terwilliger. Nearly twice that initial amount have shown interest in the club, making it the largest pre-organization on Vassar’s campus.

Behind all of these efforts is President Lange, who has been at the helm since the beginning of the year. Lange and Tapscott have been working with their fellow exec board members and other students to build the club from the ground up.

“Our President has been a great informational resource and advocate to get us back on the water as well as becoming an actual org again,” added Terwilliger.

Restarting the Sailing Club has presented more logistical obstacles than just meeting with administrators and getting people together for

swim tests. The team offers Learn-to-Sail clinics on both land and water. Although all amounts of experience are welcome, swimming proficiency is required. New recruits must also attend a practice to learn the basics of sailing before entering the water. The existing members have taught the more unexperienced students to help them get acclimated to the team and the unfamiliar environment. The process proved to test the older members, who had to remember the basics of sailing, as well.

The club has consistently faced difficultly in getting people to the boathouse so they can actually get on the water. “[W]e started from an org with no money, no members and no idea where Vassar’s boats actually were, to hav[ing] just finished our fourth general body practice, our third on the water, fixing up all the boats

The sailing club is ready to set sail again after a short period of inactivity. 70 students passed the swimming test and nearly twice as many are on the list as they look to get their feet wet.

its feet.

The exec board’s goal is not simply to make the transition from pre-organization to officially recognized student organization. “I call us a team, because, as President, I want us to compete against other schools. I come from Annapolis, MD, which is known to some as the sailing capitol of the world...[so] I hope that we’ll be able to race against other schools and win,” Lange said.

Each member of the exec board has vastly different levels of experience. Lange grew up on the Maryland waters and Niver has sailed for the better part of a decade, while other members are comparably inexperienced. Approaching the club as a rookie, however, hasn’t proved a deterrent for the students’ interest in getting the team recognized or participating in the process. “Although I had no sailing experience whatsoever, I was confident in my floormate, Joe Niver, and the others who had experience that we could make something out of what he had,” expressed Terwilliger.

The Sailing Team hopes to continue moving forward and transition from being a pre-organization into a recognized official student organization, and ultimately, compete as a team in some capacity against other school’s sailing teams. One of the only difficulties the Team has encountered in terms of leadership and direction is that their Treasurer, Tapscott will be graduating in just a few weeks.

Fortunately for this band of new sailors, the Team has already found a replacement for their former financial leader, Alison Breeze. The Sailing Team is nonetheless making great strides in garnering popular interest on campus and gaining membership, in part due to the full-sized sail put up on the quad as advertisement. In other words, things are looking up for the sailing club.

As Terwilliger expressed, “Every setback that we see and overcome is a testament to the determination and will of our exec board and the enthusiasm of others on campus to revive the sailing team.”

Standout fencers foil NFC en route to lofty successes FENCING continued from page 1

round out an impressive season, Polston fought hard to the leaderboards as he was awarded 18th out of 33 competitors in the NCAA Northeast Regionals.

Alperstein also steered the men’s team to victory through tremendous epee performances. Alperstein stated, “One of the highlights of the season was the epee squad win against Brown, Harvard and Penn State.” Nevertheless, he had many other high points throughout his successful season.

In the first Northeast Conference matchup, Alperstein topped both Boston College and Yale University with 3-0 records and bested Tufts twice on Jan. 25. Alperstein then went on to secure nine wins in dual matches against the University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College and University of Massachusetts. With two wins in epee bouts, Alperstein helped Vassar conquer the defending NCAA champion

Columbia University.

“Not only did he do well in the NFC this year, but he finished second at NEIFC Championships as part of our strong epee squad that went 27-3 on the day, winning us the Vitale Cup for the first time,” elaborated Coach Gillman. Then finally, to top off his strong season, Alperstein placed 31st at the NCAA Northeast Regionals.

Coach Gillman beamed, “Jonathan has been our strongest epee fencer for the last two years. He commands respect both from his teammates and his opponents.”

The success continues on the women’s team under the leadership of foilist Kirsten Denman and sabreur Annie Innes-Gold. For the second year, Denman and Innes-Gold have dominated the competition and led the Brewers to triumphant victories.

Denman continues to impress the fencing world with her tenacity and hard work. “She has been our strongest foilist for the past two

Courtesy of Vassar Athletics

Sophomore Eli Polston was named NFC Fencer of the Year for this past season. He has compiled an impressive record to date and still has two years to improve and dominate the rest of the conference.

seasons despite having acute back pain that is often very debilitating and limiting,” explained Coach Gillman. Nevertheless, Denman does not let anything stop her as she continues to bring home big wins for the Brewers.

In the first Northeast Fencing Conference meet, Denman ended with 14 wins, defeating MIT and Boston College twice each and dominating Tufts and Brown with perfect 3-0 records.

On Jan. 30 although Yale University edged Vassar 5-4 in a tough match, Denman showed great determination as she earned three wins against the Bulldogs. Then in the last NFC matches of the season, Kirsten finished with an impressive 11-1 record in Northhampton, MA. Against New York University, Denman shined through the competition for the second year in a row. Last season, she led the team to its first ever victory over NYU. As a sophomore, Denman ended with a perfect 3-0 win over the Beavers as she outscored her opponents 15-7.

To finish an outstanding season, Denman was awarded the individual foil Champion of the Eastern Women’s Fencing Conference with wins over Stevens, Haverford and John’s Hopkins. Additionally, Denman finished second in the NFC in foil and ended in 22nd place in the NCAA Northeast Regionals. Overall, Denman had an impressive season and looks to bring Vassar even more success over the next two years.

While Denman led the foils team, Innes-Gold conquered sabre competition in another extraordinary season. Starting off strong, InnesGold won 16 bouts of 18 in the first Northeast conference meet as she defeated MIT, Smith, Boston College, Tufts, Brandeis and Brown.

Innes-Gold was also the only sabre to defeat Columbia, whose team is top-ranked by the NCAA. At the Eastern Women’s Fencing Conference Championships, Annie was crowned the sabre title as she topped No. 1 seed Julia Yang from Stevens Institute in an exciting 15-13 victory. Going into the EWFC Championships, Innes-Gold was seeded sixth for the individual bouts competition and had to face fencers from John Hopkins and Stevens who had defeated her earlier

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

in the day. Nevertheless, Innes-Gold competed confidently and eliminated the top three seeds to claim her title. Coach Gillman remarked with a smirk, “I was impressed with the way she was able to change her tactics in order to do that.”

As a strong leader, Innes-Gold led the sabre team to earn seventh place in the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Championships and then individually attained 35th place at the NCAA Northeast Regional matchup. From the first to the very last bout, she proved to be a very talented contender and found much success along the way.

As Innes-Gold stated, “I thought we had a really good season overall. This season was great because we had strength in the foil, epee and saber squads, so we didn’t have to rely too much on any one squad to carry the team. One highlight was having so many members of our team medal at the NEIFCs.” These special four fencers look forward to a bright 2016-2017 season as they continue to grow and lead the Brewers. Innes-Gold hoped, “I’m looking forward to trying for an even better season next year, and hopefully as a team we can win the Northeast Fencing Conference Championships.”

The positive attitude continues on the men’s side as Alperstein expects the team to continue their success and clench first place in the conference next season.

Polson agreed with Jonathan and added, “We are looking really good next season, we are losing only two starters on the men’s side and picking up some great foil fencers next year. I think the team will really come together and it is going to be a great year. I am also excited to get the chance to try once again to make NCAA Championships, many people were close last year and I am excited to try again next year.”

Eli Polston, Jonathan Alperstein, Kirsten Denman and Annie Innes-Gold triumphed time and time again in their 2015-2016 season. Perhaps the most exciting thing about this dominant core of athletes is that, to the delight of Coach Gillman and horror of other conference teams, they have more time to grow and compete for the Brewers.

April 28, 2016

SPORTS

Kobe legacy in need of critical assessment Hanna McGuire Guest Columnist

[Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault] s a Los Angeles native, I grew up considering Kobe Bryant a physical manifestation of a god. He commands the court with ease and intensity as he sinks unimaginable shots. He makes basketball beautiful.

Kobe’s decorated career is almost unmatched.

He holds five NBA championship rings, is a twotime finals most valuable player, stands third in all-time scoring and has been an NBA all-star 18 times. Not to mention he won two Olympic gold medals and scored 81 points in a single game.

Not too shabby.

Such greatness is hard to maintain for so long. We all knew Kobe’s final days as an NBA player would come eventually, but my fellow Laker fans and I didn’t think it would be now.

It’s hard to imagine the Lakers franchise without Kobe. It doesn’t seem right. Kobe played the last game of his career on April 13 in a sold-out Staples Center in Los Angeles. Fans paid upwards of $25,000 to see the legend take the court one last time.

And he didn’t disappoint. Kobe scored 60 points, including the game-winner. That’s the sixth time in his career he’s posted 60 points or more in a game.

Since announcing his retirement, the attention on Kobe increased tenfold. Fellow players, fans and the media have reminisced on Kobe’s 20-year career with the Lakers. Nike even made a special shoe in his honor.

The purple and gold confetti commemorating the supreme athlete caused everyone to lose sight of one major event during his tenure: the rape allegations Kobe faced 13 years ago.

In June 2003, a 19-year-old woman said Kobe raped her in his Colorado hotel room. She reported the incident to the police, telling them he choked her and physically forced her into sexual intercourse despite her struggle and constantly saying no.

The events that followed are painful at best.

A

Kobe first lied to the detectives, but then admitted to having sex with the woman after finding out they had physical evidence proving he had sexual contact with her.

Kobe later said he should have given the woman money or a car to bribe her against coming forward against him.

The case went to court, where Kobe claimed innocence. Kobe’s attorney and the media created a not-so-pretty picture of the teenager, describing her as a mentally unstable, fame-seeking sex fiend.

With her life in shambles, it’s easy to see why the young woman couldn’t testify and subsequently dropped the criminal charges against the Laker.

As a result of the allegations, Kobe lost his endorsements with McDonald’s and Ferrero’s Nutella brand. Nike temporarily dropped the basketball star, but picked him up again shortly after.

This time around, the company used his now “bad-boy” image to its advantage, coining him the Black Mamba. That’s the sole consequence Kobe faced.

Even worse, some speculated the event helped boost Kobe’s career. ESPN commentator Skip Bayless argued the star “couldn’t sell sneakers because he didn’t have enough edge ...

Colorado, it brought a little attention to him, like it gave him a little bit of sizzle.”

In other words, Kobe’s mistreatment of another human being brought him more fame.

Rape isn’t sexy or flashy; it’s illegal.

I was eight years old when these allegations surfaced. I didn’t know what sex was, let alone sexual assault. The only thing I remember about that fateful 2003 season was that Kobe and Shaq had an issue, but I didn’t know why.

Maybe I was too young and naïve to notice, but people didn’t discuss what happened. Laker fans and the media seemed to have blinders on, blocking out Kobe’s actions because of his fame and skill.

And that’s just it. What happened remains

only a small blemish on Kobe’s career and nothing more. His fans didn’t hold him accountable and the media didn’t make an example out of him. What message does that send?

To compartmentalize Kobe’s athletic talents and his rape allegations is inherently wrong. In doing so, people are accepting his wrongdoings because of his professional success. Kobe remains on a pedestal because of his high value.

When my friend and I spoke about our conflicting feelings she said, “Every time we speak in awe of Bryant, we perpetuate the idea that women are worth less than basketball and that rapists may live on with impunity.”

Imagine that, women deemed less important than a sport.

Athletes, celebrities and the like are constantly idealized despite their utterly repulsive actions. Tiger Woods, Ben Roethlisberger and Greg Hardy are a few athletes who come to mind. Celebrities’ images are never completely destroyed, while the women they abuse have their lives pulled out from under them.

In 2003 rape was an issue, but it wasn’t at the forefront of discussion like it is now. It’s hard to say whether the public would react similarly had Kobe’s allegations surfaced today.

Kobe is considered a role model. People young and old look up to him and mimic his play, attitude and actions. Being a perpetrator is not excluded. If the media had shamed Kobe’s behavior and knocked him off his immortal pedestal, rape culture might look a bit different now.

I don’t know how to negotiate being a Kobe fan anymore. Although his playing days are over, his legacy will remain in basketball’s history forever. Yes, he is undeniably gifted, but that can’t overshadow his abusive behavior.

As Kobe’s final season ends, I can’t help but wonder why people continue to push away the rape allegations as if nothing happened. As a longtime Laker fan I recognize Kobe’s basketball greatness. But he’s no hero. To call him that compromises everything I stand for as a woman.

King of clay ready to play another day Robin Drummond Guest Columnist

H

istorically speaking, April has been a very good month for Rafael Nadal, and that proved to be true again last Sunday.

Nadal captured his second title of the month at the Barcelona Open for a record ninth time.

The Spaniard, currently ranked fifth in the Emirates ATP Rankings, defeated sixth-ranked Kei Nishikori of Japan in straight sets in just over two hours. By winning the title, Nadal earned his 49th clay-court title, tying him with Guillermo Vilas atop the Open Era list. The Barcelona title comes exactly one week after Nadal was crowned champion of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, a tournament that he has won on nine other occasions.

“It was a very close match,” Nadal said.

“There were a lot of chances for both of us but I think I have been solid. When you play against players with such a high level, the match is often decided by a few moments. So I feel happy that I handled all these moments well mentally.”

Although these victories have been expected from the Spaniard in the past, his recent form has left many questioning how much longer he has atop the tennis pedestal. Nadal has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but has always managed to storm back in emphatic fashion, usually around this time of year when the players of the ATP tour travel to Europe to battle it out on the red clay.

“Nadal has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but has always managed to storm back in emphatic fashion...”

During his first stint as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, Nadal started 2009 off as well as he could have by capturing the Australian Open title in Melbourne, his first grand slam on a hard

court. However, a knee injury derailed the remainder of his year as he suffered his first ever defeat at the French Open, a title he had won for the past four consecutive years. The injury forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon two weeks later. Nadal’s Grand Slam year ended at the semi-finals of the U.S. Open when an abdominal strain greatly contributed to Juan Martin del Potro’s demolishing of him. The loss also cost him the No. 1 ranking.

Nadal picked up 2010 right where he left off in 2009 when he retired from his Australian Open quarterfinal due to another knee injury. At this point the tennis world was questioning just how long the Spaniard would be able to continue to compete at the level they had come to expect.

Nadal’s extremely physical style of play had always been the cornerstone of his career, but it now looked like it would be the cause of his demise. His unrelenting desire to win every single point he played captivated and inspired millions around the world, but slowly broke his body down after a few demanding years on the pro tour. The sporting world began to accept that Rafael Nadal was the tennis player equivalent of a giant star found in space; creating a blinding light, growing larger and faster than one can really comprehend, only to become too big for its own good and collapsing in on itself.

But when a giant star dies, a neutron star is born. The European red clay gave life back to Nadal. He came roaring back and won titles in Monte-Carlo, Rome and Madrid, before reclaiming the French Open crown. He would close out the year by winning his second Wimbledon title and his first U.S. Open, making him only the fourth man to ever win all four Grand Slams. He would also regain the No. 1 ranking.

“The victory here confirms that I am better and I am very happy,” Nadal said after his win on Sunday. “It is a very, very, very, emotional week for me at an important event. It is an emotional moment after some tough moments. But that’s part of life. It is part of sport in general.”

Those “tough moments” Nadal was referring to have been the norm in recent years. A few more injuries and the emergence of Novak Djokovic has kept Nadal out of the winner’s cir-

cle over the past few seasons. In 2015, another knee injury appeared to have a dramatic effect on Nadal’s level of play and he failed to win a Grand Slam for the first time since 2005. He picked up a number of losses to players ranked well outside the top 50, failed to win a Master’s 1000 title, was not able to make it past the quarterfinals of any of the Majors and, perhaps most surprisingly, did not win a clay court tournament in Europe. 2016 didn’t get off to a promising start either, after he lost in the first round of the Australian Open to compatriot Fernando Verdasco and failed to win a title in two tournaments in South America against weak opposition. Nadal was quickly becoming illegitimate–a dangerous name to see in the draw, but not one that could do serious damage against the top four players, and one that could easily lose to someone ranked 70 spots lower than him. However, a string of good matches at the BNP Paribas Master’s in Indian Wells put Nadal into the semi-finals against Djokovic. Although the world No. 1 dispatched him relatively easily, the fact that he was even playing against big names again was a step in the right direction.

“A few more injuries... has kept Nadal out of the winner’s circle over the past few seasons.”

With two big titles on the dirt now under his belt, Nadal is starting to look more and more like his former self. He has yet to be tested against the likes of Djokovic, Federer or Murray, but he will surely be looking to send a message to them if they meet in the draws of either Rome or Madrid. If he were able to maintain and increase the level he is currently playing at, it would certainly not be a surprise to see the King of Clay hoisting the Coupe des Mousquetaires over his head when the French Open ends at the beginning of June.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 19

Talking NFL drama with Adam Adam Joseph D’Agostino Sr. Special Guest Columnist

G

uess what everybody? I’m back to throw some more hot takes your way before I graduate and never write an article ever again! I’m usually wrong. But here’s the thing, I’m not going to stop making these predictions. Why? Because I love sports and I love stories and the NFL is all of that wrapped into one massive package.

Now I know the season is only a few months long, but here’s the beauty of the NFL: it never stops dishing out stories! In case you didn’t know, it’s draft week, which means every team is going to get their pick of the top collegiate players to join their squads. It’s the moment many kids dream of and I can only imagine what it must feel like when when you’re picked up by a squad (unless it’s the Browns, then you’re just in college all over again basically).

Here’s a quick breakdown of some pre-draft trades: The LA Rams traded basically their entire supply of draft picks for the right to pick first overall, essentially guaranteeing the Rams their pick of QBs Jared Goff or Carson Wentz and, as blog mastermind PFTcommenter puts it, Jeff Fisher a retirement home in Tennessee whenever the Rams fire him. Due to this move, the Eagles traded four picks to the Browns to pick second, giving them whatever QB the Rams don’t take. I love this because it means Sam Bradford is really pissy about getting $17.5 million for the year and being put on the chopping block and it means the Giants have a better chance at Ezekiel Elliot. Now I’m sure the Eagles are going to drop Sammy “NoACLs” Bradford off somewhere like Denver, but I like to think they are just going to take the cap hit and let me laugh at them.

Completely overshadowing the Eagles and their empty trophy case however was the news that Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady’s Deflategate suspension must be upheld according to a federal court. If there’s one team on this earth I hate more than Philadelphia, it’s New England, so this news couldn’t be better for me! The beauty of it is, the court case is about the commissioner’s power to suspend a player directly and due to collective bargaining the court has ruled ol’Rodger Goodell has that power.

Here’s my favorite thing about this: Brady and NFLPA now only have two options going forward, an appeal to the federal court to hear the case again or...take it to the Supreme Court! Can you imagine the chaos if Tom Brady takes his four-game suspension case all the way to the top?

As much as I love this sport, there’s no way this should be allowed. Yet here we are and boy do I hope it gets taken way too far and we all end up drinking beers and eating barbecue in D.C. this summer while Brady awaits a final verdict. It’s not like this case is going to hurt Brady financially. The man restructured his contract just in case and he’s going to lose like $250,000, and honestly the teams they are playing aren’t so great so they should make it out at least 2-2. But I’m sure Brady won’t go down like this, and I can’t wait to see how far he takes it.

The other story I could talk about right now is Johnny Manziel. I’m only going to say two things on the trainwreck that is Manziel because he honestly shouldn’t be anyone’s topic of conversation at this point. The first, and most important thing I can say is, Manziel deserves the indictment he received this week. Never once has he been held accountable for his actions and I’m happy to see that he finally, hopefully will be and maybe down the road he can be a decent human being. Secondly, it’s pretty funny/sad/whatever you want to call it that the guy said he was living with Von Miller (Super Bowl MVP and stand-up guy) and the two were trying to turn their lives around, only to then say he was actually living with Josh Gordon. Now I really don’t know who Johnny’s roommate is, and honestly, I don’t think he knows either.

Anyways, aside from Johnny and like Greg Hardy still being terrible humans, I’d say the NFL is in good standing. It’s ridiculous as ever and hopefully we end up seeing the Patriot poster child in D.C. this summer or whenever. I don’t know, whatever, someone will probably blow off their thumb with a firework.

SPORTS

Page 20

April 28, 2016

Lax shines bright, looks to youth for future inspiration Annie Hsu Reporter

T

Courtesy of Vassar Athletics

his past weekend proved a glorious senior day for the Vassar women’s lacrosse team.

Their match against the visiting University of Rochester on Saturday marked the final home game for seniors Isabelle Goldstein, Paige Abramowitz and Kim Mulvehill. Coach Judy Finerghty praised her seniors’ performance on the field, explaining, “All three of our Seniors played beautifully and showed great desire on the field. Izzy Goldstein, Paige Abramowitz and Kim Mulvehill have been staple players and leaders for our team so we will miss their everyday hard work and performance.”

With two league games left, the team acknowledged the focus needed to successfully compete. “The Liberty League is a highly competitive league and every match is hotly contested. Sustaining that degree of intensity and elevated execution for the entirety of every game is required, and our team recognizes what it means to compete and how much effort it takes to win,” explained Coach Finerghty.

The Vassar team was able to beat the Yellowjackets 12-8. The win puts the Brewers at 6-7 overall and 2-5 in conference play. Sophomore Storm Sideleau led the team in goals with four while freshman Fiona Macleod and senior Izzy Goldstein each had three. Junior Julia Trudell and senior Kim Mulvehill finished the points with one goal each. Goldstein is now five points away from tying the all-time record for career points, as she currently has 235. “The team achieved a heightened performance level during our last three games. They came together as a team, competed valiantly on the field and elevated their performance these past two weeks specifically,“ said Coach Finerghty. “The strengths of the team this year were that we have a lot of very talented players, and that we have amazing team chemistry. We’re all good friends on and off the field and that makes playing with each other really fun. Our biggest obstacle was definitely the fact that our league

is incredibly competitive, with teams that are nationally ranked. Each game was a tough fight, but we learned something new and improved every time.” said senior Paige Abramowitz.

The seniors’ four years on the team have provided them with some of the most impactful moments of their college careers. Goldstein shared, ”Beyond wins and losses the bonds I’ve made on and off the field are going to stick with me for the rest of my life...I will never forget beating Union in overtime my freshman year to make playoffs, after beating William Smith the day before-both wins were the first in program history against those teams, and it was only the second time in history that we earned a spot in playoffs. Those wins didn’t come easy, and no one expected us to win. I think I’ve carried that with me-that no game is decided before you walk on the field. That’s the mentality we are going to take into our final Liberty League games against Union, the top ranked team, and William Smith this weekend.” Abramowitz also commented, “As a senior who has had the honor of being on this team for four years, I can say that it has made me the person who I am today. Being a college athlete teaches you vital life skills, and being coached by Judy has been a wonderful experience...My lacrosse career at Vassar has been overwhelmingly defined by the amazing people who I have met. Everyone who I have played with has contributed something important to the team and to my life. I will miss playing lacrosse competitively, but I will mostly miss doing it with my best friends.

Vassar women’s lacrosse is an amazing community and life experience.”

Goldstein dipped into her well of experience to provide some words of wisdom for her younger teammates: “I’d advise someone to give it your all, push yourself, go the extra mile and work harder than you thought possible. At the end of the day it’s not about results, but knowing you gave something your all is an amazingly satisfying feeling.”

“We have a very young team, and this proves

Senior Izzy Goldstein had a three goal performance on senior day. She is now only five points away from the all time career points record with 235. Her leadership will be sorely missed on the lax field. to be a strength and a weakness. New players bring new elements to the game and team dynamics, but it also means that there is a period of adjusting to new players and teaching the fundamentals that are characteristic of our style of play,” said Spadinger. Although Vassar is about to lose three seniors, the team is lucky that it also has many young members. The team boasts nine freshman who will have three more years to improve. “This team is young, but we have a lot of talent and chemistry. It’s fun to see different combinations of players begin to work really well together. We play an unselfish, passing offense, and when we get the ball moving,” explained Goldstein. “What is so cool is how much of an impact this class of nine freshmen is already having on the team. I’m so excited to watch them play for the next three

years,” she continued.

Looking ahead, Coach Finerghty said, “We are continuing to work and grow as a team and looking for a strong finish to our season...We feel confident that the team will continue this upward trajectory and that is our goal for our next two games. The team has a great degree of confidence right now and we want to continue playing hard and improving on the field every day...We do have a strong core of returning players for next year including our five juniors (Sydney Spadinger, Darby Stahl, Phoebe Hankins and Co-Captains Julia Trudell and Brittany Botticelli), who have all impacted our program in significant ways. We expect them to provide our team with continued leadership and momentum heading into our final week of play.”

Without a doubt, seniors show out in final matches Hanna McGuire Guest Reporter

Women’s Tennis

On Saturday, April 24, the Vassar women’s tennis squad played its final home game of the season against Liberty League opponent William Smith College. Despite going down 1-2 after doubles, the Brewers battled through to capture the win 5-4. No. 6 junior Connie Yoo won handily 6-2, 6-1 while junior Shayna Becker cruised past her opponent 6-2, 6-0 at four. Sophomore Courtney Geiss clinched the match for Vassar with a 6-0, 6-1 victory at two. With the win, the women are now 12-7 overall and 5-1 in conference play.

The squad will travel to Troy, NY on Saturday to take on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for its final match of the regular season.

Men’s Tennis

The Brewers traveled to Canton, NY on Saturday, April 24 where they captured a much-needed 7-2 victory over Liberty League challenger St. Lawrence University. The doubles sweep put the men in control and gave them momentum going into singles. Freshman five Jamie Anderson clinched the match with a 6-1, 6-3 win. Now 8-13 overall and 4-2 in league play, the Brewers will host their final match on Saturday, April 30 against Liberty League member Hobart College.

Men’s Lacrosse

Baseball

Over the weekend, the Vassar men’s baseball team hosted fellow Liberty League member Rochester Institute of Technology in two dou-

Women’s Rugby

The women’s rugby team rode their depth and knowledge of the game all the way to the Tri-State Conference 7s Championship Final this weekend where they defeated Stony Brook University 17-5. The most dramatic match of the day, however, was the quarterfinal against Rutgers Universtiy. Down 15-12 with two minutes left, junior Mary-Margaret McElduff regained possession of a lost ball. As the Rutgers defense rushed towards her, senior captain Darienne Jones told McElduff to kick the ball ahead, a tactic rarely used by Vassar. Senior captain Taylor Nunley recovered the ball and shipped it to Rachel Jones, who sprinted through the posts to score the game winning try with no time left.

cross-river rival Marist in the final could not be overcome and Vassar fell 24-14.

Women’s Track

At the 2016 Liberty League Championships, the Vassar women’s track team finished fourth as a team with 79 points and saw great individual accomplishments. Senior Mollie Schear finished third overall in the 100-meter dash, earning a personal best of 13.09. She posted another personal best in the 200-meter dash with a 26.76 fourth place finish. For the trifecta, Schear ran a season-best leg of the 4X100 meter relay to help the team finish third with a 50.37. The Penn Relays starting Thursday, April 28 at the University of Pennsylvania is up next for the women’s squad.

Men’s Track

Similar to the women, the Vassar men’s track squad finished fourth in the 2016 Liberty League Championships with 68 points. The Brewers

gained success in many races, including the 4X100 meter relay. Foursome Morrie Lam, Peter Winkeller, Kyle Estrada and Dylan Manning captured six points for Vassar and set a new school record with a time of 42.92. Sophomore Philip Brown also excelled in the 1000-meter to qualify for the ECAC Championships with a time of 32:13.23. The men will join the women’s squad at the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania starting Thursday, April 28.

Women’s Golf

Over the weekend, the Vassar women’s golf team competed at The Orchards Golf Club in South Hadley, MA for the 2016 Liberty League Championships. The team posted a team score of 348 in the first day of play and 356 in the second. All five members of the squad finished in the top 20 on the first day, most notably sophomore Annie Hsu who posted an 85 for ninth place.

Men’s Rugby

The men’s team had a drama-filled day as well. In the semi-final, they went down 17-0 to William Paterson at the half. It was the heroic play of senior captain Eli Vargas that put them back in the match. Vassar began the half strong as sophomore Gary Garcia zipped in for an early try to cut the lead. Vargas, the team’s definitive MVP on the day, scored the second try around the corner. With a minute left, Vassar kicked off into the sun. As William Paterson fumbled the ball, the Vassar defense pressed up. WPU eventually kicked the ball away and it landed right in Vargas’ lap. Determined as ever, he ran through five defenders on his way to the game-winning score. Unfortunately, another early hole to

Courtesy of Vassar Athletics

Continuing Liberty League play, the Vassar men’s lacrosse team hosted the Tigers of Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday April 24. Senior Noah Parson scored two goals, passing his own record for most goals in a season at 121. He also holds the record for most assists at 51 and total points, 172. Despite Parson’s solid play, the Brewers took a hard 21-8 loss against the Tigers, the top team in the conference. The men now hold a 7-7 overall record and stand 2-3 in the league. Vassar will next play Bard College on Wednesday, April 27 for its final home game.

ble headers. On Saturday, April 23, the men won 9-1 in the first and 9-8 in the second to sweep the Tigers. Despite trailing the entire game, the Brewers scored nine unanswered runs over the last four innings to take the victory. Sophomore Bobby Kinne and junior Mike Koscielniak each contributed two runs for the win. In the second day of competition, the squad swept again, this time with scores of 2-0 and 6-5. With the win, the Brewers improve to 15-15 and 10-6 in League play.

Next the men will take on Mount Saint Mary College on Wednesday, April 27 and another Liberty League contender Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute over the weekend.

Senior captain Lauren Stauffer has been a strong competitor throughout her four years at Vassar. She is just one of the many dedicated seniors in the midst of their final days at the College.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE