The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Volume CLI | Issue 7
October 25, 2018
Town hall reflects on China
‘Break’-ing news revealed Duncan Aronson
Courtesy of Vassar College Encyclopedia
Reporter
A
s if the semester doesn’t go by quickly enough, October break—a whole 216 hours away from the normal routine of Vassar—has come and gone. There is something profoundly sad about the passage of time. Time’s scarce and fleeting qualities draw attention to the ways in which we choose to spend our lives. Whether we devote our breaks to kicking our feet up on the table or remain in constant motion doing all sorts of activities, scouring syllabi or job postings, going home or elsewhere, dreading our return to school or impatiently waiting for it—the answers to these kinds of questions are little fairy lights illuminating how different internal and external influences shape how we use our time. Limited break time means we have to prioritize certain activities and allocate time accordingly. My conversations with several Vassar students indicated that they have experienced a triangle of competing break priorSee FALL BREAK on page 10
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
“The French Tank,” donated in appreciation of Vassar’s services during WWI by the French government, contained a leftover detonating cap. Despite this, the tank remained an integral part of social life on campus for two decades.
VC exhibits local Great War tales Jessica Moss Copy Editor
O
n Saturday, Oct. 13, Vassar College and the Dutchess County Historical Association opened “Over Here/ Over There,” an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the armistice of 1918, which ended fighting between the Allies and Germany (Vassar Info, “The Dutchess County Historical
Association and Vassar College are partnering to present the exhibit, ‘Over Here/Over There,’” 10.09.2018). The event, which is on display in the Faculty Commons in Main until Oct. 31, was part of the Dutchess County Historical Association’s “2018: Year of the Veteran” programming. According to the program description on its website, “While recognizing all veterans of all wars,
[the exhibit puts] a special focus on the brief moment at the end of the so-called ‘Great War’ when many felt they’d seen the closure of a war so large, so horrific, it was the war to end all wars” (Dutchess County Historical Society, “DCHS 2018: Year of the Veteran Regional Chamber of Commerce,” 11.15.2017). The exhibit, as a component of this broader programming, reviews how See VASSAR WWI on page 4
Ha Bui
Guest Reporter
O
n Wednesday, Oct. 9, the 12th annual and first Vassar local CHINA Town Hall meeting took place in the Villard Room. The CHINA Town Hall meeting is sponsored by the National Committee on United States-China Relations (NCUCR), a non-partisan and non-profit organization. This same organization laid the foundation for the 1960s ping-pong diplomacy, an exchange between table tennis players from the two countries that marked a detente between the United States and China. The event comprised an expert discussion on future Sino-American political and economic relations, as well as a live national discourse featuring Former Secretary of State and Professor Condoleezza Rice and NCUCR President Stephen A. Orlins, followed by a question-and-answer session. To kick off the event, Professor of Geography and NCUSCR Public Intellectual Fellow Yu Zhou introduced Executive Director and Founder of the American Mandarin Society, Chairman See TOWN HALL on page 5
College to feature fiery flamenco VC soccer teams nab historic weekend wins Abby Tarwater Reporter
O
n Saturday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m., A Palo Seco Flamenco Company will perform at the Skinner Hall Mary Anna Fox Martel Recital Hall. A Palo Seco is a New York–based group run by artistic director and choreographer Rebeca Tomas.
Since the company’s debut in May 2010, the group has been acclaimed by audiences for its innovative approach, which blends traditional flamenco techniques with the modern, metropolitan context in which its members live. Since A Palo Seco’s debut production at Theatre 80 St. Marks in New
Courtesy of Andrea Balducci via Flickr
On Oct. 27 in Skinner Hall, A Palo Seco, a New York–based dance company, will perform, providing students and community members a glimpse into its creative and modern take on flamenco technique and choreography.
Inside this issue
8
ARTS
Film by famed French director evokes historical specter
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York City, the group has been lauded by publications such as The New York Times and Theatre On-Line, the latter of which said that the company was “a feast for the eyes and the ears” (Theatre On-Line, “A Palo Seco”). The company has continued to perform at Theatre 80 annually, as well as appearing throughout the United States at prestigious venues, which have included the Chicago Flamenco Festival, Central Park Summer Stage, Jacob’s Pillow and the New Victory Theater. Tomas has received several accolades for her work, including the LMCC’s MCAF grant, the Jerome Foundation’s Travel and Study Grant and a New York Foundation for the Arts 2013 Fellowship. “A Palo Seco” is a phrase that refers to a stripped-down style of flamenco music, often consisting of singing or percussion alone, that is an integral element of Tomas’ choreography. This minimalistic aesthetic is representative of Tomas’ separation from the conventional flamenco tradition, while also demonstrating her adherence to its trademark emotional movements. Assistant Professor of Physics and Science, Technology and Society Jose See DANCE on page 8
Campus Climate questions gauge student OPINIONS perceptions
Myles Olmsted Sports Editor
I
t was a day of firsts for the Vassar soccer teams. Big firsts. The men’s side welcomed to Gordon Field the Hobart Statesmen, who came into the day tied for first in the Liberty League at 5-1-1 (6-4-2 overall), just in front of the 4-2-0 Vassar squad (8-4-0 overall) in the race for critical league tournament seeding. More than league rankings motivated the Brewers coming into the clash, however. For one, Vassar’s seniors had never beaten Hobart, despite the teams facing off at least once per year. In the last several seasons, a series of clashes and spats have left the Brewers with a strong distaste for the Hobart squad, adding fuel to their competitive fire. In the words of senior captain Tim Collins: “We hate those guys.” What’s more, last year the Statesmen knocked off the Brewers in the Liberty League finals, 2-0, ending Vassar’s season. That loss was fresh in the minds of the Vassar players heading into Saturday’s fixture, according to junior forward Kevin Baliat. “There was a lot of pain felt last year after we lost to them in the last few seconds of the final last year,” remembered Baliat,
18 SPORTS
“so no one wanted to feel that again, and that was the driving force we had today.” Two straight losses before Saturday’s game also served to spur the team. According to Collins, as the group prepared for the match, they focused on physical play, winning the ball back and playing their game. Said the senior captain, “We had a couple bad games in a row—didn’t play well— so we just wanted to get back to who we were, and possess the ball and play it around.” The game started slowly, neither side able to put together much coherent attacking play. Hobart won several early corners (the visitors would have seven on the day) but couldn’t fashion any solid chances, save a ball kicked into the Vassar net after being unlawfully knocked from the hands of Vassar’s junior keeper Will Marment. The home side’s best chance of a first half dominated by physical midfield play came about 20 minutes in, when an overlapping Henrik Olsson found the end of a needle-threading pass from sophomore Andrew Goldsmith. Olsson, a junior left back, controlled the pass and shifted it to his See SOCCER on page 19
From bleak to on fleek: United turnaround spurs critique
The Miscellany News
Page 2
October 25, 2018
Editor-in-Chief Talya Phelps
Senior Editor Leah Cates
Contributing Editors
Noah Purdy Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson Laila Volpe
Courtesy of Jonathan Hazin
Jonathan Hazin ’20 is studying abroad in Madrid, Spain, and recently enjoyed an excursion to the northern city of Bilbao. Hazin writes of the above photo, “Several new buildings in Bilbao kept their older façades intact and built around them. This old, stone building is now a gym and with modern apartments above.” On navigating the language barrier, Hazin adds, “I figured before going to Bilbao I ought to look up a few phrases in euskera, at least how to say “I do not speak Basque,” but I gave up that search pretty quickly. And for those playing at home, the answer is “Ez dakit euskaraz.” Real easy…...” To read more about Hazin’s adventures, plus those of fellow JYA-ers, visit farandaway.miscellanynews.org!
The Miscellany News 25
October
Thursday
Telling Your Story: Personal Statements That Work with Wake Forest School of Law
26
Friday
Senior Gift Kick-Off
12:00 p.m. | RH 307 | CDO
3:00 p.m. | Library Lawn | Office of Alumnae/i Affairs and Development
Burnam Panel and Reception
Acapella Til You Puke!
2:00 p.m. | CC 223-Multi Purpose Room | Office for Fellowships and Pre-Health Advising
6:00 p.m. | Rose Parlor | Home Brewed a Cappella
Take Back the Night 4:30 p.m. | CC Circle | Women’s Center
James Schamus Lecture 5:30 p.m. | SC 212-Spitzer Auditorium | English Dept.
REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN.
Community Shabbat Dinner 6:30 p.m. | Chabad on Fulton | Jewish Student Center
REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN. 8:00 p.m. | Black Box Theatre | Drama Dept.
Classic Halloween Movie Night
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October
Saturday
Halloween 5K Fun Run 7:00 a.m. | The Quad | Health Education
Students of Sobriety Group 9:30 a.m. | RH 211 | AA Poughkeepsie
Swimming (M/W) Alumni Meet 10:00 a.m. | Walker Pool | Athletics
Halloweenfest
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October
Andrea Yang Steven Park Hannah Gaven Izzy Braham Myles Olmsted Rose Parker Kimberly Nguyen Teddy Chmyz Jessica Moss
Assistant Social Media Patrick Tanella Assistant Online Chris Allen
Reporters Duncan Aronson Abby Tarwater Columnists Catherine Bither Jimmy Christon Jesser Horowitz Izzy Migani Emmett O’Malley Sylvan Perlmutter Blair Webber Copy Anna Blake Natalie Bober Madeline Seibel Dean Amanda Herring Phoebe Jacoby Frankie Knuckles Anastasia Koutavas Lucy Leonard Francesca Lucchetti Caitlin Patterson Gillian Redstone
Weekender_ October
Features Opinions Humor and Satire Arts Sports Design Outreach Copy
Sunday
Faculty & Guest Recital: Shouldering the Dead 3:00 p.m. | SH Martel Recital Hall | Music Dept.
Chopped 5:30 p.m. | CC 223-Multi Purpose Room | Vassar Food Rescue
Paper Critique 9:00 p.m. | Rose Parlor | The Miscellany News
11:00 a.m. | Joss Beach | Davison House
Volleyball (W) vs. New Rochelle 2:00 p.m. | KH Gym | Athletics
9:00 p.m. | RH 200 | Big Night In
Soccer (W) vs. Ithaca College
8:00 p.m. | Black Box Theatre | Drama Dept.
Halloween Cover Showcase
Courtesy of Vassar College
2:00 p.m. | Prentiss Competition Field | Athletics
Basketball (W) vs. Stevens Tech Scrimmage
8:00 p.m. | The Mug | Vassar Students Musicians Union
2:00 p.m. | Fit Center Gym | Athletics
Guest Recital: A Palo Seco 8:00 p.m. | SH Martel Recital Hall | Music Dept. Courtesy of Laurel Hennen Vigil
On Thursday, Oct. 25, the Women’s Center will host Take Back the Night, an international rally to raise awareness about violence against women in the night. Events often feature a march and a candlelight vigil.
REVOLT. SHE SAID. REVOLT AGAIN. 8:00 p.m. | Black Box Theatre | Drama Dept.
The Halloween 5K Fun Run, hosted by the office of Health Education, will take place at on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 7 a.m. The event begins on the quad and will be open to the public. Costumes are encouraged.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
NEWS
October 25, 2018
Page 3
Birth center founder discusses female empowerment Chris Dillon
Guest Reporter
C
l Roun a c i d lit
up
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ertified Professional Midwife (CPM) Ninotte Lubin came to Vassar’s Rockefeller Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 10, to talk about her efforts to establish the Grace Community Birth Center in Haiti. Lubin discussed how she dreamed of bringing positive change to Haiti through a compassionate approach to birth, motherhood and community. Oct. 10 also happened to be her own birthday, so Vassar students celebrated her by singing “Happy Birthday” after the lecture. Even though Lubin had led Visiting Assistant Professor of Greek and Roman Studies Tara Mulder’s History of Midwifery course the previous day, the lecture was still packed with students. Introducing Lubin, Mulder said that the two have known each other since 2011, when Mulder and her mother went to Haiti to volunteer in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake that killed nearly a quarter of a million people. Mulder’s mother is a CPM and helped with Mother Health International, where Lubin worked as a translator. At that time, Lubin was already planning on building a permanent birth center after she was inspired by the work of the midwives at Mother Health International. “I saw the care that they were giving to women. They were so compassionate, so loving, so human,” Lubin reflected. “I started right away to help the women.” Though she holds a degree in business management, midwifery became her passion. According to Mulder and Lubin, the latter is the only Haitian CPM and has been since she earned her certification in 2015. There is, however, a long history of traditional midwifery in Haiti. Traditional midwives, or matrons, deliver about two-thirds of births, meaning only about 36 per-
Ae n a K h a n In national headlines… Around the country, early voting has begun, and Democrats are looking to promulgate a “blue wave” in the upcoming general elections by overtaking Republican incumbents while maintaining their candidates in areas where Donald Trump won in November 2016. Republicans, though largely on the defensive, seek to maintain their majority and possibly flip certain seats at the local, state and federal levels. Democrats expect to lose a North Dakota Senate seat, as incumbent Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) seeks reelection in a heavily red state weeks after having voted against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Arizona is poised to elect their first female senator, as both parties’ candidates are women; if elected, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema will make history as the first openly bisexual member of the Senate. In other locations, including the Congressional race in NY-D19, the race for the junior Senate seat in Texas and the gubernatorial races of Florida and Georgia, Democrats place their hopes in Black, Latinx and college-educated white women voters. In these areas, the efforts by figures like Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Michelle Obama to mobilize voters have increased tenfold following the exposure of minority vote erasure scandals in North Dakota and Georgia. However, some political analysts, such as Stu Rothenberg of Inside Elections, caution against definitively expecting Democrats to successfully retake the House or Senate (CNN, “Here’s what should excite and depress Democrats so far in 2018,” 10.16.2018). Congress recently released documents that
cent of births in Haiti take place in a healthcare establishment. Traditional midwives receive little or no formal education, but, as Lubin explained, “[I]t’s a rich cultural tradition, [and] they are important figures within their own community.” Midwives thus fulfill a crucial role in Haiti, which has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the Western Hemisphere. Lubin said the challenges Haitian mothers face go beyond the simple explanation of traditional birthing practices being unsafe. Access to clean water, sexual education and urban healthcare centers are all factors that contribute to these statistics. Grace Community Birth Center aims to include the traditional midwives in their services. As Lubin explained, “We won’t phase them out; we’ll offer them training. The training will be a two-way process with both parties learning from each other.” For Lubin, midwives offer what medical facilities in Haiti lack. “What’s unique about the traditional midwives is they are a support group. When a woman is in labor, they have plenty of women around to support that person. In the hospital, you’re alone, nobody is there for you,” she said. After the lecture, Kamakshi Kanojia ’19, who is currently in Mulder’s History of Midwifery seminar, asked about how Lubin’s project plans to handle complicated pregnancies. Lubin said that they would work with mothers and would not turn them down for lack of money. Kanojia responded, “That’s the heart of midwifery—you’re there to give to people and to help them. If you say no because of money, then they can’t get the services.” As Mulder reflected, “[It is important that Grace Community Birth Center be] a fixture of the community, that people believe in it and use it, that it becomes like health care here where you don’t just have a pop-up hospital after a disaster that is then out of volunteers a few months after.” Though she
was part of this cycle of temporary, foreign aid after the 2010 earthquake, Mulder said that her experiences in Haiti convinced her that solutions had to come from within the country. Mulder recalled a day when her Mother Health International group went to the beach, and, as they swam, Lubin explained her fears about foreign administrators failing to understand the needs of local communities. After that day, Mulder realized, “We needed to get behind Ninotte, because she has the skills, she has the vision, and that’s when we really started to think that if a project is going to be successful here, it has to be a project that is conceived by and developed by a Haitian person.” During the lecture, Lubin explained how Haiti’s historically fraught relationships with other countries and its natural disasters have led to poverty and corruption. NGOs, she said, come with good intentions, but do not disrupt broader, historical systems of power. Corruption and people’s fears of it have been continual hurdles for Lubin’s project. She said that the most common question people ask her in the United States is, “Are you sure you’re going to use the money the way you should?” Haiti remains the poorest country in the Americas, but Lubin said that the birth center is one way to improve quality of life. “Pregnancy, though it should be something exciting, is one of the reasons for poverty in Haiti,” Lubin said. In 2016, the Grace Community Birth Center provided 20 women with prenatal and postpartum care. They served 30 women in 2018, in addition to providing community workshops and sexual education. The workshops have included topics as diverse as women in business, family planning and gardening. Some of the girls walk miles to come to the center, so the garden started as a way to feed them, but it also teaches self-reliance, explained Lubin. She said that in the same way that she had dreamed
of opening a birth center, the garden provides a way for young children to realize they are capable of creating something. When asked about the men in the community, Lubin said some have been helpful, but not all. Some men resisted her attempts to educate them; she explained, “We are dealing with a lot of violence. Sexual violence is one of them, and people don’t even think of that as violence. They feel like it’s normal life.” Working with more boys and young men is a continuing effort for the Grace Community Birth Center. Lubin explained that she chose the name “Grace” for the birth center because she was thankful for all of the support the project has received. The center is located in Terrier Rouge in the northeast of Haiti and was made possible by a donation of three acres of land. “I have received so much from friends, supporters, even those who were reluctant to support me but felt like they should. I felt I was giving back through grace,” Lubin said. Member of Vassar Haiti Project (VHP) Medical Advisory Board Dr. Kimberly Heller, who specializes in maternal fetal medicine, talked with Lubin after the lecture. “We make a lot of noise in this society about how much we love children, yet we don’t even give children health insurance, so there’s a lot of work to be done everywhere,” Heller said. Attendees gained valuable insight from Lubin’s presentation into community-based health care, in addition to finding resonances with courses and student organizations on campus. Heller, for one, saw the lecture as an opportunity to learn more and better contribute to VHP. As she expressed, “When I heard that she was coming, I hadn’t worked with her, but I wanted to find out as much as I can, be as supportive as I can, use her knowledge to help us with our project that we work with in Chermaitre in the north of the country.”
they claim prove Trump was directly involved in plans by the federal government to sell the FBI’s main headquarters. Democrats say that Trump wanted to prevent any commercial property from being built in its place that would compete with the Trump hotel located across the street. Should the Democrats earn a majority in the House in three weeks’ time, they intend to bring in FBI and General Services Administration (GSA) officials to testify and block the plan’s completion. The GSA originally intended to demolish the J. Edgar Hoover Building, but instead settled on plans to rebuild the headquarters. Former Trump Campaign Strategist David Urban stated on CNN, “This is something the White House and [incoming counsel] Pat Cipollone need to buckle in for … There’s gonna be a lot of this coming. A lot of it” (The Hill, “Dems zero in on Trump’s alleged conflicts of interest,” 10.21.2018). In Michigan, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is contesting state abortion rights after a pharmacist denied a woman medication necessary to catalyze a miscarriage and avoid an invasive procedure. The pharmacist cited his Catholic beliefs and refused to have the medication sent elsewhere for pickup. That pharmacist is no longer employed by Meijer—the supermarket chain in which the pharmacy was located—but he told Rachel Peterson, age 35, that he did not believe her reasoning and that he could not support her decision. Michigan law does not prevent pharmacists from engaging in “conscientious objection,” as stated by CEO of the Michigan Pharmacists Association Larry Wagenknecht. Peterson has filed a lawsuit with the ACLU citing discrimination based on gender, as a man would not have been denied the same medication, which is used for stomach ulcers (The New York Times, “Michigan Pharmacist Refused to Dispense Miscarriage Medication, Citing Religious Beliefs.” 10.18.2018).
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty. Russia denies violating the accord, which bans groundlaunch medium-range missiles between 300 and 3,400 miles. Trump also criticized Former President Barack Obama for not negotiating the treaty earlier in response to former violations. Former Soviet Mikhail Gorbachev denounced the move, calling it crude and clumsy (BBC, “President Trump to pull US from Russia missile treaty,” 10.21.2018). Following this announcement, Russia’s state-run news reported that Vladimir Putin will discuss the decision with U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton during the latter’s trip to Russia. The treaty was designed to offer protection to America’s European allies during the Cold War, and the sudden decision to pull out of the treaty comes after NATO confirmed Russia’s recent missile testing (CNN, “Trump says US is ending decades-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia,” 10.21.2018). Lack of progress in Brexit talks are exasperating businesses in the UK, as talks with the EU are proving increasingly futile, and the official dissolution of the UK’s ties to the EU looms closer and closer. 80 percent of surveyed respondents felt that stalled Brexit negotiations were negatively impacting investment decisions, to which Prime Minister Theresa May responded with affirmations to high-ranking industry members of a deal in the near future. Many deals, such as a £50 million fashion investment, have been canceled in the past week. Northern Irish farmers, meanwhile, have been seeing setbacks in plans to create more competitive machinery. After last year’s vote and the reduction in strength of May’s coalition government, the British public is looking increasingly pessimistic with regard to its financial future (BBC, “UK firms ‘near point of no return,’” 10.21.2018).
19th Congressional District of New York, where the House race between Republican incumbent John Faso and newcomer Antonio Delgado will come to a close in the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Rudd met Delgado over a year ago and encouraged the district residents to set aside political leanings and go vote (The Poughkeepsie Journal, “Paul Rudd, Democratic candidates look to spur enthusiasm in Hudson Valley,” 10.21.2018). Another Kingston rally is scheduled for Friday, and both Former Vice President Joe Biden and Delgado are scheduled to attend. Biden previously came out in support of the Democratic candidate, saying, “We need people like Antonio in Congress...I know that he has what it takes to make a real difference for people in upstate New York.” Faso recently came under fire for his offensive radio ads against Delgado and for his indictment on charges of fraud; he was also one of the first House Republicans to endorse Donald Trump (The Poughkeepsie Journal, “Ads critical of Antonio Delgado pulled by Radio Woodstock,” 09.21.2018). New York republican gubernatorial nominee Marc Molinaro is gearing up for a race deemed tougher than the one faced four years ago by Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who was outspent by incumbent Andrew Cuomo 9 to 1 and received little to no support from the State Senate. The legacy of the Trump administration has also rendered unpopular Molinaro’s anti-immigration stance and opposition to the expansion of abortion rights at a time when Cuomo is vulnerable, but not necessarily beatable. Astorino stated, “[T]he irony is the Republican donor base is not rallying around Marc as they should.” Republicans have been focusing more on conserving their seats in the House, Senate and gubernatorial positions in the South and Midwest, and so Molinaro’s campaign has not seen significant funding while Democrats may be at their weakest in New York State (The Poughkeepsie Journal, “NY governor’s race: Marc Molinaro faces a tougher battle than Astorino did 4 years ago,” 10.18.2018).
Around the world… The Trump administration has confirmed the United States’ intent to withdraw from the 1987
In our backyard... Actor Paul Rudd recently endorsed Democratic Candidate Antonio Delgado at a political rally in Kingston on Oct. 20. Rudd came to the area to visit his property, located in the
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Page 4
NEWS
October 25, 2018
Vassar, Dutchess County showcase WWI involvement widespread overseas contact increased the campus’ sense of involvement in the war: “If you were a student of those days, or a faculty member, when you were reading the Quarterly or the Miscellany, you were being brought directly and personally in contact with some of the people who were over there, helping people who had lost their limbs or those who were desperately hungry...” Johnson explained that, by including these personal, detailed accounts, he hoped to expose the exhibit’s attendants to the texture of life at that time. He further touched upon how this correspondence with those at the front facilitated action of those at the College: “The faculty, the administrators and the students were all reacting and acting as if [they] were at world war. The Vassar community was underpinned and strengthened by the way the students and the administration and the faculty and the alumni communicated and wished each other well, and then mourned the loss of some of the people that they’d come to know from their correspondences … The way they wrote back about what they were doing must’ve impressed upon the freshmen and sophomores and juniors of those years what the war was like in ways that, probably, The New York Times or the Sun didn’t.” Just as access to information on the warfront during the WWI era facilitated community involvement, the exhibit’s personalized accounts of the war similarly foster a connection between the present and the past. “Over Here/Over There” is a collection of panels with stories of Vassar community members’ experiences throughout the war, printed alongside photographs of these individuals. Johnson discussed the choice to use stories and photographs as the exhibit’s primary medium: “I think it’s important to know that more than 200 Vassar alumni were abroad during the war doing one or another kind of work, but I didn’t [focus on] the structural facts of things [as much as I
Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson/The Miscellany News
VASSAR WWI continued from page 1 various stages throughout the war impacted the lives of Vassar students and faculty and Dutchess County residents, while focusing on the roles and individual stories of underrepresented groups— such as people of color and women—in the war and on the home front. Vassar College Historian Colton Johnson, who collaborated with Dutchess County Historical Society (DCHS) board member Melodye Moore and DCHS Executive Director Bill Jeffway on the exhibit, spoke to his goal of sharing untold stories: “[The exhibit] is not just instructive, because there’s no syllabus or set regimen, as much as it is trying to give the sense of what the atmosphere must’ve been like if you were a reviewer, or a trustee, or if you were a freshman, or if you were a political science professor, or if you were an alumna. This was the kind of atmosphere that they were working in.” By sharing Vassar students’ and Dutchess County residents’ individual stories and war contributions, the exhibit transports attendees back to this bleak wartime era. Johnson also elaborated on how the exhibit dedicates space to both the home front and the battlefield, as Vassar student, faculty and alumnae/i involvement in the war increased over time. He explained, “The nursing camp was an extraordinary success. Once we had Vassar work abroad, I’ve taken the focus off the campus and focused on what the two major units that the college and the alumna formed and supported: the Relief Unit that worked with the Red Cross and Field Hospitals as nurses aids and the Canteen Unit, which helped support the feeding and social pulling-together of the troops, and I was fortunate enough to find commentaries on the front and what it was like and what they were doing.” Johnson received much of his information regarding popular opinion at the College from online Miscellany News archives and discussed how
“Over Here/Over There,” an exhibit on view in the Faculty Commons, makes stories of Vassar community members’ experiences throughout World War I accessible to present-day students. was] trying to share … the lives of those who were deeply touched by what they found themselves doing during the war.” One of the panels contained The Miscellany News’ description of the campus reaction to the armistice: “It was 3:30 A.M. Monday by a very cold watch and pitch dark. The confusion belied the shouts of ‘Peace! Peace!’ First came a helter skelter race through the corridors of all the halls. Then a crowd assembled under the porte-cochere of Main and sang jubilantly, in spite of chattering teeth...The sunrise of November 11 will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it from the top of Sunset [Lake]...” (“A Parting Shot,” The Miscellany News, 11.14.1918, retrieved from Panel 13). Further commemorating the intermittent celebration of peace following the armistice, Johnson concluded the Vassar portion of the exhibit on a humorous note. The 15th panel contains a picture of the “French Tank,” which the French Third Republic donated to the College in appreciation
News Brief
Outside the Bubble Details emerge in Khashoggi case [CW: This article discusses violence.] In an event that shocked the world, journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who moved to the United States after being threatened by the Saudi government for his criticisms of the kingdom, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to pick up his marriage license on Tuesday, Oct. 2, and never came out. After originally denying that Khashoggi had been killed in the consulate, arguing instead that he had left before he died, Saudi officials announced his death on Friday, Oct. 19, claiming that he was killed there in a fistfight. However, Turkish officials are skeptical, believing that he was murdered and dismembered (BBC, “Khashoggi death: Saudi Arabia says journalist was murdered,” 10.22.2018). According to video evidence, accomplice Mustafa al-Madani, a Saudi national and member of the 15-person team suspected in the incident, left the consulate dressed as the journalist, spurring rumors that the Saudi government organized the alleged murder. Analysts examined images of the double from the videos and found multiple body differences as well as the fact that the double wore different shoes than Khashoggi had been wearing when he entered the consulate (The Washington Post, “New footage appears to show Saudi suspect wearing Jamal Khashoggi’s clothing,” 10.22.2018). Turkish investigators also claim that they have audio and video evidence that Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents, and they are currently searching for his body. Since then, Saudi officials have arrested 18 people, indicated they would set up an organization to reform the intelligence agency and have given protection to Khashoggi’s fiancée. While President Trump and Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner have wavered over whether or not they believe the video to be true, leaders of countries including France, Germany and the United Kingdom are suspi-
for its services during and immediately after the Great War (“The French Tank,” Vassar College Encyclopedia). The photo’s caption reads, “No one was harmed in 1934 when a workman dismantling the rusting tank accidentally discharged a leftover detonating cap” (“Over Here/Over There,” Panel 15). Despite this glitch, the tank remained behind Josselyn House as a staple of student life on campus for two decades. These smaller stories within the greater narrative of WWI are what allow “Over Here/Over There” to recreate the feeling of the time, something lost when studying the war purely through facts. Just one of many tales memorialized in the exhibit, the French government’s appreciation of Vassar’s wartime contributions exemplifies the extent of Vassar’s influence during this era. The sum of all the narratives the exhibit contains reflects the fact that the Vassar community’s efforts both at home and abroad had a significant impact that shifted the course of history.
cious. In a joint statement, the leaders argued, “There remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened on 2 October – beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible” (The Guardian, “Jamal Khashoggi death: give us the facts, western countries tell Saudis,” 10.21.2018). The relationship between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman complicates the matter. Though Trump sent C.I.A. Director Gina Haspel to Istanbul to help with the investigation, he continues to support the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia despite popular opinion that the Crown Prince was involved in planning the murder. Trump’s main motivations for his neutrality seem to be the $110-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and other American business ties to the country. However, some feel that this act effectively supports Khashoggi’s murder by ignoring it (The New York Times, “On Jamal Khashoggi Killing, Trump Administration Sends Mixed Signals,” 10.22.2018). In contrast, other countries have reacted with outrage to the Khashoggi case. International responses include German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement that she would stop exporting arms to Saudi Arabia and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s threat to end a multi-billion dollar contract with Gulf nation. However, some countries, such as Egypt and Kuwait, support Saudi Arabia’s claim that they were not involved in Khashoggi’s death (BBC, “Khashoggi death”). Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel alJubeir announced on Oct. 21, “Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made and I assure them that those responsible will be held accountable for this.” His remark was met with doubt, as most Western countries feel that Saudi Arabia mishandled the ordeal by first claiming that Khashoggi was not killed in the consulate and
then sending out a body double (The Guardian, “Jamal Khashoggi death”). On Tuesday, Oct. 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid out the alleged conspiracy in a public address that coincided with the start of an investment conference; while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the event, around 40 government and business leaders boycotted amid the murder allegations (BBC, “Saudi summit begins amid boycott,” 10.23.2018). During his address, Erdogan demanded that Saudi Arabia reveal details of the incident (BBC, “Khashoggi murder planned days ahead, says Turkey’s Erdogan,” 10.23.2018). According to Erdogan, 15 Saudi officials entered the Istanbul consulate at staggered times to kill Khashoggi and, according to intelligence, they sent reconnaissance to the areas outside the city where investigators are now searching for the body. Erdogan stated, “This murder might have been committed at a consulate building which may be considered Saudi Arabian land, but it rests within the borders of Turkey” (The New York Times, “Erdogan Says Saudis Planned Khashoggi’s Killing in Turkey,” 10.23.2018). The disappearance and apparent murder of Khashoggi has rocked the world, and is bound to have polarizing political repercussions. More evidence will likely arise as the investigation and body search continues, but until then, the main question seems to be whether or not the Crown Prince was involved. The Saudi government staunchly maintains its innocence: Jubeir stated that the agents were not closely tied to the Crown Prince and that senior intelligence was unaware of the operation, asserting, “This is an aberration, this is a mistake, this is a criminal act, and those responsible for it will be punished” (The Washington Post, “Saudi attempts to distance crown prince from Khashoggi killing haven’t quieted uproar,” 10.21.2018). —Laila Volpe, Contributing Editor
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Oct. 18 crime alert Over fall break, on Thursday, Oct. 18, the Vassar community received a crime alert from Safety and Security Sergeant Heidi Hunsberger stating that a student had been chased by five to six individuals from the Rugby Field to South Lot. According to the email, the individuals used “sexually threatening language” to intimidate the student (Heidi Hunsberger, “Crime Alert,” 10.18.2018). This email was the second of two Safety and Security crime alerts during fall break, the first having been sent out on Wednesday, Oct. 17. The alert further identified the perpetrators of the incident as males between the ages of 18 and 22, all wearing athletic clothing. The email detailed that one was wearing long athletic pants with three white stripes running down the length. The student described all of the individuals, who had last been seen near Sunset Lake, as having a medium to dark complexion. In a statement on Oct. 23, the College revealed that Safety and Security has been working with the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department to investigate the incident. The College further stated, “The investigation is ongoing so we are not able to provide many details at this time. We can confirm that we have identified the individuals believed to have been involved and authorities do not believe that a continuing threat to our community exists at this time.” The statement reiterated Safety and Security’s general safety advice for all students, including remaining aware of your surroundings, traveling in groups, utilizing the campus shuttle and blue lights, not admitting unknown individuals into restricted buildings and locking doors and windows both when home and away. —Noah Purdy, Contributing Editor
October 25, 2018
NEWS
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VSA Updates Consensus Agenda—Passed
Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson/The Miscellany News
Finance allocations Pre-approved allocations • 700/700 from Discretionary for Lathrop House Lath LUV extra expenditures. • 70/70 from Community for RunVassar Food/drink for after Halloween 5k. Allocations • TBD/150 from Pre-Organizations from Spoon University Offer $10 subsidy per person, but they will rethink their budgeting for the semester. • 200/200 from Speakers for Business Club Exploring Your Social Entrepre- neur Within talk by Michael Caslin. Covering transportation and time costs, speaker willing to give talk for free. • 750/1095 from Capital for Bike Shop Allocating for 10 U-locks and 10 helmets. Awaiting quote from Fac Ops to determine if buying Bike Shop an angle grinder is the best option. Bike pump application a mistake. • TBD/410 from Collaboration for Big Night In BNI and Food Community need to discuss how much they can con- tribute from annual budgets. Will allocate from Collaboration for what is not covered by org
called “Walking around in Circles.” Equity and Inclusion chair will be meeting with the Bias Incident Response Team, as well as discussing the Vassar Sexual Assault Survey with administrators.
budgets. • 0/500 from Discretionary for International Students’ Association Pay out of annual budget for this event. Next semester will reevaluate bud- get health. • 1400/1400 from Speakers for The Underground Inside Human Trafficking: A Sur- vivor’s Perspective talk in Novem ber given by a survivor of human
trafficking. Executive Board Updates Chair of Academics The Academics forum will be on Sunday, Oct. 28, at 2:30 p.m. in Rocky 200. Chair of Equity and Inclusion There will be programming for Labyrinth Week in the Villard Room through Friday, including a talk by Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper
Chair of Finance Finance committee is sending out warnings to treasurers who haven’t completed their balance sheets. If they fail to complete the sheets, the committee will suspend their p-card access. Finance chair will meet with Board of Elections and Appointments (BOEA) this week. Vice President Senate will be dedicated to crafting the Guiding Principles. These principles lay out the main values and goals that the Senate holds. This process is usually done in Operations Committee, but Senate leadership wanted it to be a collaborative process. President The Trustees will be on campus this weekend and will hold dinners in some of the houses. There are Trustee meetings on Thursday—about student affairs and academic affairs—and on Friday and Saturday. Discussion of Guiding Principles —Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson, Contributing Editor
College participates in international CHINA Town Hall TOWN HALL continued from page 1
and Co-Founder of Lingo Labs Inc. and Deputy Director of the Office of China Affairs at the University of Maryland Nathaniel Ahrens ’97 as local speaker, along with Professor and Chair of Political Science Fubing Su as expert presenter. Ahrens, an accomplished entrepreneur and policy practitioner, has hosted Vassar faculty in East Shanghai and conducted students’ first International Studies trip to China. The Vassar CHINA Town Hall meeting was Ahrens’ first return to Vassar since his graduation. The event, explained Zhou, was the largest meeting in the Town Halls’ history, encompassing more than 100 sites in the United States and China. The first of its kind at Vassar, it posed a discussion regarding Vice President Mike Pence’s controversial speech on the Chinese government’s alleged influence on the U.S. congressional elections and Beijing’s military involvement in the South China Sea. Opening the discourse, Su acknowledged the alarming nature of Pence’s remarks. He further recounted the complex history of Sino–United States relations from the Cold War onward, wherein China was repeatedly regarded as a prospective rival of the United States. However, Su expressed his individual optimism about the relationship between the two nations, given major shifts toward positive American public perceptions of China. Su added in an emailed statement: “By no means, the current trade war will end on a peaceful note. The ball is on the Chinese court now. How the Chinese leadership responds will shape the future course. In my view, President Trump and [V]ice [P]resident Pence have not closed the door and labeled China the arch-rival. The immediate goal of this war is to force China to abandon many unfair trade practices and give American businesses, particularly high-tech firms, a chance to compete in the Chinese market. If the Chinese
leaders continue to push back, I am afraid that the United States may drift to containment at a faster pace.” Su elaborated, citing his optimism on recent news from Chinese leadership, which seems willing to make certain concessions. However, as Su stated, “[O]ne headwind may be rising nationalism and the shaky economy. After decades of reform, China has not moved away from a development model based on heavy investment and huge dependence on export ... Their own rhetoric in the past few years has also raised the anti-[W] est sentiment.” In contrast, both Ahrens and Zhou aired their concerns toward the imminent threats that this international relationship may face. Specifically, Ahrens said, “[I expect a] much darker next generation of Cold War.” In both the economic and the geo-political spheres, Ahrens expressed that Pence’s remarks were indicative of a grim future that has its root in an already troubled relationship. However, Ahrens explained his view on how relations between the two nations can improve going forward. As he wrote, “Despite my concerns about where things seem to be heading, I think we can and must work towards a mutually compatible future and a shared vision for humanity. This will require China to make certain changes in the political, economic, and security spheres, and will require the U.S. to work quietly and constructively with China, as well as focus on getting America’s own house in order. I think a major question is whether the current U.S. administration has the diplomatic subtlety and the political will to do so.” Zhou also disclosed his concern for United States–China relations given current economic realities and nationalistic sentiments on both sides. She remarked, “Basically, the U.S. and China economies have been deeply and comprehensively intertwined. The U.S. has gained in concentrating on higher profit end and China on
lower profit end. But China’s economy is moving to higher-tech content, so the conflict is inevitable ... The future is extremely uncertain and there is not a bright end.” Furthermore, Zhou noted the ostracization of Asians in conflicts over the years, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, World War II Japanese internment and the 1982 racially charged murder of Vincent Chen in Detroit. Following the brief response session, the meeting shifted to a live national discussion between Former Secretary Rice and Orlins. The 45-minute conversation included questions from both Orlins and the audience, addressing central issues regarding the countries’ differing approaches to human rights, religious freedom and military policy, and the symbiotic relationship between the two nations in techno-economic growth. Opening the discussion, Rice recounted eyeing “only a few horse carts, a few automobiles, and a lot of bicycles” in her first visit to Beijing. However, she stated that this does not reflect the modern-day capital. This remark set the tone for her acknowledgment of China as a burgeoning power on the international stage. In her answers, Rice mentioned China’s key role in tracking terrorism finance, further resolving the North Korea situation and instigating global techno-economic development. Specifically, she opposed the unnecessary use of military force in conflicts, condemned tariffs wars stunting free trade between the two nations and advised the United States to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. She also added that Sino–United States competition does not have to foster conflict, still demonstrating confidence in America’s ability to break through barriers set by other competing nations. Regarding the One-China Policy, which states the disputed claim that Taiwan is included in the People’s Republic of China, Rice stated, “We can open international space for Taiwan without violating the [policy].”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
At the same time, Rice firmly addressed the environmental issues raised by technological and economic development for both countries, especially China, and encouraged further transparency on the part of the Chinese government regarding persecution of Chinese Uyghur Muslims: “Why not let the International Red Cross come and see what is going on with the Uyghurs so that people can advocate for these people who are basically very helpless?” Rice concluded by evincing full trust in the necessity of the United States’ openness to Chinese students and U.S. students’ immersion in Chinese culture and history through direct interaction. She stated, “I think we’re going to do best in that regard…any way that we can find to get away from governments trying to get to know each other and getting our people to know each other.” In the ensuing exchange, one attendee mentioned structural shifts in Chinese foreign policy, to which Zhou added further anxieties, especially with regard to the nationalistic attitude adopted by leaders from both nations. Responding to a statement about a more auspicious politico-economic relationship for the countries, she also emphasized the irrationality of the current situation. With its goal of informing and educating attendees, the CHINA Town Hall meeting served as a symposium for expert speakers and visiting listeners alike to engage in conversations on two of the most powerful giants on the international economic and political stage today. Bringing the discourse to a close, Ahrens recalled a fleeting yet enlivening historical moment, still very much relevant to considerations of today’s international relations: “In his toast to Deng Xiaoping in 1979, Jimmy Carter quoted Franklin Roosevelt, who, on the day before he died, wrote, ‘[I]f civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships—the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together, in the same world, at peace.’”
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October 25, 2018
Fan muses on emotions evoked by Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ Dean Kopitsky
greeted by a scratchy and unaccompanied electric guitar. Honesty is a subject not often confronted in pop music, but his electronic narration seems to say what he is too scared to say himself. “We don’t talk much or nothin,’ but when we talkin’ about
of this bus ride, subdued by a pair of gas-station sleeping pills. When I woke up, the blackness of night covered the crimson, Tuscan and rust-colored leaves of fall. I didn’t know where I was, or who I was to the people around me. I was a kid wearing headphones and a hoodie, sitting next to a child resting gently on his mother, two girls on vacation from Italy and a sleeping Japanese couple. Earlier on the trip, they snapped a dozen photos of the sunset as we crossed the Delaware River. As I write this sentence, we’re speeding past what looks like an oil refinery north of Philadelphia. There are copper-colored lights popping out every few feet from its tall and exposed staircases. The lights are switched off on the bus. With time to spare and earbuds on hand, I couldn’t think of a better time to listen to “Blonde,” Frank Ocean’s second and most recent album. Certain records have a way of finding you in the right places at the right times. “Blonde” swallows me up. It embalms me in a solution of synth, catharsis and soul, warming and cutting as it rushes to find all the places it can fill. It consumes the listener; it carries you into sensory hibernation mode. We crest a highway overpass and, for the first time, I can see Manhattan. Most everyone is sleeping or looking at their phones. Some tourists reach for their cameras. The two-year anniversary of this album was this August. Genius, the foremost reference database for song lyrics, posted its cover art to Instagram to celebrate. I scrolled through the comment section expecting to find positivity and personal connections to the music, and they came in spades. Each comment was a paraphrase of “I fell
it (that’s why I started writing this). I couldn’t help but feel an urge to reach for the person sleeping next to me and shake them and tell them why I woke them. “White Ferrari” is a gem I missed before I listened to “Blonde” in its entirety. The beat sounds as if white noise was compressed into a synthetic violin, fading into an acoustic guitar played nonchalantly. All of a sudden, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver jumps in with a falsetto rap. “White Ferrari” is emblematic of what makes the album so effective. It’s catchy, it’s memorable, it has cheeky lyrics (“Mind over matter is magic, I do magic”), it even has a feature from another very popular artist, all giving it the appearance of a modern-day pop song. But “White Ferrari” sounds nothing like today’s pop. Ocean manages to stay above the fray with an immeasurable amount of authenticity that only he seems to be able to tap into. The city is coming into focus. Lights from the Empire State Building are cascading down its sides. The bathroom smells like sulfur and bubbles. “Blonde” is an album with a bunch of love songs, no doubt, but Frank keeps the pressure on with some of the most clever, personal lyrics I’ve ever heard. “Ivy,” the second song on the record, opens with “I thought I was dreaming when you said you loved me,” a line perfectly vague yet accurate enough to knock anyone out. Frank doesn’t even seem to be able to come to grips with what he’s saying himself. He switches between his own voice and a high-pitched, autotuned alias. In the songs “Nikes” and “Self-Control,” his intimacy is most exposed. “Sounds make you cry,” he croons on “Self-Control.” Yikes, Frank. A high pitched “poolside convo about your summer last night” is
something, we have good discussions.” Amidst the inarguably heavy emotions, there are moments to catch your breath and dance throughout the record. “Nights” is built off a riffing, electric bell. Drums loop in and out as Ocean does more rapping than singing. “Pink + White” offers more poppy vibes. It rocks up and down on an isolated keyboard playing sparse and repetitive notes. It’s similar to a song on Ocean’s debut studio album “Channel Orange,” titled “Super Rich Kids,” which provides a matured reflection on adolescent love and its privilege. In the song “Solo,” the dust falls, curtains close and you confront yourself, solo. A sound similar to an electric organ plays. Ocean is speaking to someone outside a club. Things are falling apart: “thinking we’d be better off solo.” This track offers a different take on lost love than most pop songs do. Instead of the faded-photograph, “I-miss-you” nebulousness of most pop music takes, Ocean captures a lost love in its explosive, red giant phase. The perfunctoriness of “Love me and I owe you two grams and a sunrise” burns with the acidity of indifference. By the end of the song, there’s noticeable emptiness. Frank’s parting words are “by myself.” The organ darkens as it glides to a muted but abrupt stop. There’s a massive traffic jam entering the Holland Tunnel. Everyone wants to get home, but for now, we’re stalled among red tail lights. As a trope, “Blonde” is a tour de force. It is dependable and expected. It is an R&B album of memorable love songs. It is Frank Ocean loosely crooning over synthetic drums and violins. It is the leaves turning red in the fall. It is tourists snapping photos with semi-automatic pace. It is a bus bathroom triggering my gag reflex after being
I
Courtesy of Aktiv I Oslo.no via Flickr
write to you from a bus bound for New York City from Washington, D.C. It’s the first Sunday of fall break. I slept through the first two hours
in love to [insert song here],” or “this music is still fresh two years later.” With “Blonde,” we’re dealing with weapons of mass emotional destruction. Listening to “Blonde” all the way through for the first time, I felt the need to tell someone about
Guest Columnist
Having debuted two years ago, Frank Ocean’s “Blonde” still features relevant, powerful lyrics and varied, original melodies that appeal to the performer’s devoted fan base. used by passengers for five hours. But despite all its inevitability, “Blonde” is ridiculously beautiful. It is relatable, almost cruelly, a feat only Frank Ocean seems to find achievable. It is 18 half-court shots taken blindfolded going swoosh. It is a personal masterpiece from hiphop’s most sincere genius. It is a child next to me FaceTiming his father as he snuggles up to his mother. It is Manhattan awash in white light. It is the highway illuminated by oil refineries as laborers work into darkness. It is a retrograding memory dragged into focus for one more trip down memory lane. Finally, we’re on the island. The bus closes in on Penn Station. People around me gather their things. The lights come on at the world’s driest and worst smelling club. No one speaks. Not surprising. After all, how could they?
Lenker intimately depicts rich inner world on ‘abysskiss’ Emma Bauchner Guest Columnist abysskiss
Adrianne Lenker Saddle Creek
T
he album “abysskiss” opens with a quiet, ascending guitar line, accompanied by nothing but a single piano chord that goes by unnoticed if you’re not listening closely. You can almost feel the vibrations of the strings as they move through the audible static of the room in which they were recorded. You can also feel the guitar filling this space, so much so that it is somewhat of a surprise when Adrianne Lenker’s airy vocals come in 15 seconds into the track. She lets out what sounds like an emotive, melodic sigh; it takes a moment to realize that she is singing words. “Warm/So warm/Screaming in the field/As I was born.” This fleeting, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it quality is present throughout “abysskiss.” It’s easy to let Lenker’s hypnotic voice and guitar work wash over you without paying much attention to her words or their meaning (I can say from experience that the record is a great one to fall asleep to). But look closer, and you’ll discover unique, intriguing and at times sinister details, particularly in her songwriting. Take the opener, “terminal paradise.” Seconds after describing her birth, she portrays the end of her life: “Terminal/We both know/Let the rest of me go/See my death become a trail/And the trail leads to a flower.” This stark and perplexing dichotomy is masked almost completely by the soft, intimate sounds of the music. Lenker is not new to the music scene. For
one thing, she’s the frontwoman of Big Thief, a Brooklyn-based indie rock band whose 2016 and 2017 albums “Masterpiece” and “Capacity” were some of the best in their genre. But Lenker has been making music since long before she met Big Thief co-founder Buck Meek (with whom she also released “a-sides” in 2014). In fact, she’s been recording and releasing music since she was a young teenager, partially thanks to the influence of her father, whom she’s described as eagerly pushing her down the road to child pop stardom. And this is far from the most unusual thing about Lenker, who was born into a religious cult, had a near-death experience at age five and spent the next few years of her childhood living out of her family’s van (Pitchfork, “Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker is One of a Kind,” 04.06.17). While her songs don’t usually refer to these events in specific terms, you can feel the weight of her past in each track, and it’s easy to sense that they were written by a woman wise beyond her 27 years. Her songs do sometimes feel like a glimpse at a memory, providing the listener with glimmers of a picture that only Lenker knows in full.
“The minimalism suits her songs well, and it’s always been easy to picture her voice paired with more strippeddown instrumentation.” Technically, the quiet, acoustic atmosphere of the record is a stylistic shift from Lenker’s more
electrified folk-rock sound with “Big Thief,” but it’s not a startling change. The minimalism suits her songs well, and it’s always been easy to picture her voice paired with more stripped-down instrumentation. Lenker’s vocals are unique; she possesses a heartbreakingly beautiful voice that is filled with intangible contradictions. She sounds both strong and fragile, gentle and severe, delicate yet a little rough around the edges. At times she is a sturdy and grounded contralto; at others she is a fluttering, bird-like soprano. Ultimately, it is the untrained, whispered quality of her voice that contributes most to its ethereality. She doesn’t sound quite like anyone else, particularly anyone within the realm of indie rock. The songwriting on “abysskiss” feels slightly different from her work with Big Thief as well. While Big Thief’s songs feel similarly mysterious and intimate, they are colored with characters and stories that the listener can nearly piece together. On “abysskiss,” her lyrics are more cryptic, yet filled with imagery and poetic phrasing. “No one can be my man/No one can be my woman,” she repeats like an echo on the verses of “from,” surrounding a series of vague, interrelated vignettes: “One ear to the ground/One dog at my neck/One tongue to my tongue/Wanting to protect me from…One ear to the floor/My dog barking loud/I couldn’t tell for sure/Where the screaming sound was coming from…One ear to your womb/Puppy on the floor/Baby’s coming soon/I wonder if she’ll know where she’s come from.” The following track, “womb,” is a message to an unknown recipient that feels tenderly open yet not quite decipherable: “Dripping your tears/Like a precious warm spring/My heart will always find you when your heart freely sings… When you hold me to your breast you’re bleed-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
ing as I bleed/Please reveal the question to me, let the answers leave.” On “symbol,” one of the more rhythmically driven tracks on the album, her words flutter out with alliteration, forming images that feel like ripples on a lake: “Fly make flea, make haste, make waste, eight makes infinity/Times I’ve tried to make breaks, embrace for the enemy/Meet my face to face, time try to find the diamond/Counting time as time counts me, the river to the island.” And on “what can you say,” she recounts a story with fuzzy details but unequivocal pain: “I’ve been busy turning into more transparent/I could look a lot like you/ For the sharp glass cutting of the cold wind/The sharp glass losing of your best friend/The story bruising as its written.”
“Lenker’s vocals are unique; she possesses a heartbreakingly beautiful voice that is filled with intangible contradictions.” “abysskiss” is a record that sounds both intimate and wide open all at once. Lenker doesn’t sound far away; in fact, it feels like she could be sitting right next to you. Yet the songs leave some space between the listener and the woman who penned them. Lenker doesn’t quite let you into her world, but she allows you to follow her closely, leaving a trail marked with both pain and beauty. The record ends as subtly as it begins: “To die in your arms/Your words forming again,” Lenker nearly whispers before one quiet final note rings out on her guitar.
October 25, 2018
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‘Tipping Points’ exhibit reflects changing political world Jimmy Christon
“You feel the anxiety, even if it’s from a distance.” I agree. I’m sure you’ve all seen that giant blue piece hanging in the corner of the gallery as you walk past. It’s ominous, eye-catching and intriguing. I would even argue that most of us who have wit-
need. This extends to the infrastructure of art on campus. As much good as a new science building does for this school, it would be a cardinal sin if the College ever valued places for classes over places for expression. Indeed, we should all be wary of
exhibit features 35 works from photographers from the Northeast United States. or better or for worse, art is a reflection of the time from which it comes—and turbulent times produce turbulent art. On display for the month of October in the Palmer gallery has been the exhibit “Tipping Points,” which focuses on pivotal social, environmental, psychological and political moments in our current day and age. The Palmer Gallery is usually a space that I take for granted. I like to visit it when an art class’ pieces are on display and see what other students have been doing. I like to walk by and just gaze at whatever catches my eye inside. For the first half of my college career though, I watched the pieces of that gallery be swapped out and only saw mere decorations change. But as I’ve gotten older and grown with all of the supreme wisdom endowed by age, I’ve decided that it’s a good idea to see as many pieces in exhibition here at Vassar as I can. I humbly suggest that you do the same. We as students are in a place where we will never get opportunities to view incredible exhibits so easily again in our lives, so you should take advantage of what we have here while you can. Even nobler than viewing incredible works is the idea that art could actually change the world for the better simply through its existence, and such a shift is what “Tipping Points” aims to accomplish. The exhibit is one that responds to the world in which we find ourselves. The summary for the exhibit reads: “The world is facing unprece-
pelling irreversible tipping points at a global scale” (Vassar, “Tipping Points a juried exhibition by Paul Mpagi Sepuya”). Whether you are looking at a photo of a man in his Walmart uniform next to a quote from him saying how hard it is to look cool in a uniform, or a picture of a grave in Panama, IA, each piece evokes the emotion described in the summary—the feeling that the powers that be in this world are affecting our lives in ways that extend both beyond our comprehension and our control. The picture of the grave in Panama comes from photographer Jen Moon. The piece also includes a quote from talk-show host Stephen Colbert: “Who’s Britannica to tell me that the Panama Canal was built in 1914? If I want to say that it was built in 1941, that’s my right as an American.” Above this quote is a picture taken from the viewpoint of someone looking up a hill at a grave from behind. We see a cross, and we can make out the arms of Jesus drooping down from either side. The (chilling) sense that I got from this piece was that of media and history outliving humans. America and its people have to deal with all of the heinous acts committed by politicians or by ordinary civilians in the name of democracy. But for most of us, the recognition of these crimes might come only from a throw-away quote from a latenight host, or from a coincidental name of a town far away. In “Tipping Points,” a real sense of displacement temporally, spatially and existentially is on display. Associate Director of the James Palmer ’90 Gallery Monica Church commented on the exhibit:
nessed this piece from a distance noticed the tension in an insidiously intriguing way: This exhibition draws you in with some sort of feeling, makes you feel on edge about the world around you, but leaves you with a sense of anything but dread. The exhibit is bright, filled with powerful colors and brimming with emotion. There’s an energy in the pieces that invokes the precipice of change. With this energy comes a blank feeling that the world is changing rather than stagnating. I’m not calling this feeling positive or optimistic, but it does entail a sense of hope—a hope that is well aware of the pain that surrounds our lives. The cover piece for all of this, featuring a man with durags hanging down his face, is equal parts solemn and brilliant. And that is art: taking in these contrasts that come with society and pulling something creative out of them. Art is a social presence, not just something we examine in the classroom. As the exhibit is closing on the day of this paper’s publication, Oct. 25, I can’t tell you to go and appreciate these pieces. Unfortunately, that time has passed. What I can inform you about is the special place on campus that is the Palmer Gallery. I’ve talked with too many friends that have just labelled this space as “that art thing,” and I think that’s a real shame. I had a very meaningful experience with “Tipping Points” this month because of the Palmer Gallery. The more that people choose to use spaces like the Palmer Gallery, the more we can learn to see the world for what it really is. Furthermore, if we support artistic displays on campus, then we can give the artists resources they
ever valuing the voice of the institution over the voices of students. There are many other spaces for art to be displayed on campus, and we shouldn’t think about them as just places for decoration. Art in all forms imbues life with meaning and changes our worlds. Do not forget to go out and experience all of the wonderful exhibitions that appear on campus. Even if you can just pop into the Palmer Gallery for a couple of minutes, it will be well worth your time.
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Izzy Braham/ The Miscellany News
The “Tipping Points” exhibit by Paul Mpagi Sepuya remains on display through Oct. 25 at Vassar’s Palmer Gallery, located in the College Center. The
dented change on multiple fronts—environmental, technological, sociological, psychological, and political. While historically things are always in flux, the exponential acceleration of so many factors is new to our age, as is the concept of humans pro-
Columnist
On display from Oct. 4 to Oct. 25, Paul Mpagi Sepuya’s “Tipping Points” engenders shock and awe in audiences. The exhibit explores experiences that are both personal and global.
Saville’s ‘Propped’ makes history, speaks to body image Taylor Stewart
Guest Columnist
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ritish painter Jenny Saville has long established herself as a cornerstone of contemporary art. Her portraiture earns comparisons to celebrities as distinct in time, style and circumstance as Peter Paul Rubens, Francis Bacon and Marlene Dumas. With her focus on fleshy female forms and a fan base among feminist theorists and art royalty alike, she might be the most important female artist in the Western world. Despite the importance of her work, Saville’s first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom was just last year; her success seems to come in swaths. Saville was born in Cambridge, En-
gland, in 1970. Her early artistic influences include her childhood piano teacher and Pablo Picasso (she likes how he depicts subjects as real and substantial and there rather than fleeting). She studied at Scotland’s Glasgow School of Art from 1988 to 1992. In 1990, she exhibited at the Royal College of Art Contemporary. She later attended the University of Cincinnati, where she recalls seeing “big women and big white bodies in shorts and T-shirts” (Widewalls, “Jenny Saville,” 01.09.2017). These themes would later make themselves known in her paintings. Today, art collector Charles Saatchi is a figure steeped in controversy, but he was integral in pushing Saville into prominence. In 1985, Saatchi, then co-owner of the largest ad-
Courtesy of dou_ble_you via Flickr
Jenny Saville’s larger-than-life self-portrait, “Propped,” sold at Sotheby’s in London in October for a record-breaking $12.4 million, the highest price ever paid for a piece by a female artist.
vertising company in the world, opened the Saatchi Gallery in London. He was famous for collecting millions of dollars worth of contemporary painting and sculpture, and throughout the 1990s he exhibited many of the works of the Young British Artists, or YBAs—a cohort that boasted Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and, later, Saville among its ranks. YBA works are not uniform in the least, but generally diverse, even shocking, in their approach to material and subject matter: Hirst famously preserved a tiger shark in formaldehyde in a huge glass display case, while Lucas has demonstrated a fascination for breasts and found objects like stockings and cigarettes. Saville’s first big break came in her early postgraduate years, when Saatchi offered her an 18-month contract to work at his London gallery. Her work was shown in “Young British Artists III” in 1994 and “Sensation” at the Royal Academy of Art in 1997, both organized by the art mogul, catalyzing a rapid rise to success. She told the Guardian in 2005, “What he did for me was amazing. I didn’t have lots of money. I make big paintings; I couldn’t afford to invest the time or money…Charles was like, ‘Whatever you want, whatever is your dream, do it.’ Things I’d wanted to do for ages, I could do. And it made me a bigger artist” (The Guardian, “Under the Skin,” 10.21.2005). In 1994, her triptych “Strategy (South Face/front Face/North Face)” was featured on the Manic Street Preachers’ album “The Holy Bible,” which earned as much critical acclaim for Saville as it did for the band. Earlier this month in a London salesroom for Sotheby’s—the world’s largest art business— her 1992 oil painting “Propped” sold for £9.5 million, or $12.4 million, against an estimate of £4 million. This not only broke Saville’s personal record for auctioned works, but also marked the highest price ever paid for a female artist’s piece. The nude self-portrait first garnered at-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
tention over a decade ago as part of Saatchi’s “Sensation” exhibition. It is quintessential Saville: A large naked woman sits on a chair, toes pointed (she wears flats), fingers swollen and clutching her lap, chin up, looking down at the viewer in ecstasy, disinterest, pain or something in between. Written across the surface is a quote from the French feminist critic Luce Irigaray. It is chilling, with a fleshly liquid quality only her brushstrokes could create. I welcome another Saville craze. One of my favorite things about her work is its power to unsettle. Her drawing skill is undeniable, only emphasized by the shapeliness of her figures and her crisp, wavey, multidimensional shading. Even though her art is pictorial, it is biting; she comments on beauty standards, playing with widespread cultural discomfort surrounding female sexuality and fatness. Her subjects may seem shameless at first in the full nude, with their proximity to the viewer, their legs splayed and faces contorted. Simultaneously, the viewer can tell they are insecure and anxious. As most of her early works are self-portraits, paintings like “Propped” reflect her concerns about her own body. “A large female body has a power; it occupies a physical space, yet there’s an anxiety about it. It has to be hidden,” she explained to the Guardian, citing the contradictory reactions her nude portraits can provoke—both the material comfort of “being in a mother’s arm” and “the anxiety that comes from living with flesh” (The Guardian, “Under the Skin,” 10.21.2005). Yes, her art is carnal in keeping with Western tradition, and her subjects command attention like those in Picasso’s portraiture, but Saville can stir great emotion—pain, contentment from freedom—and capture beauty and movement in a way unparalleled by artists of old. Her definition of art? “The ability to have freedom” (The Huffington Post, “Interview With Jenny Saville,” 06.08.2016).
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October 25, 2018
‘The Image Book’ criticizes representation of Middle East Christian Flemm
media more or less available for consumption, new projects from the Nouvelle Vague’s most irascible auteur tend to be met with preemptive eulogizing and general dismissiveness from devotees and detractors alike. Godard—one of the most significant filmmakers in the history of the medium—with each new film either succeeds in outpacing himself and others, or reveals a clueless lion lost in the grain of the digital age. It all depends on whom you ask. But as he continues to innovate and frustrate with each turn, never has Godard fallen short of eliciting the kind of reaction that has sustained and continually refilled his Myth. If one affords Godard that modicum of self-awareness which he, and his films, are so frequently (and often retroactively) granted, then his newest, “The Image Book” (“Le Livre D’Image”) strikes one as something of a polemic—occasionally wading into self-parody—on the forced destabilization of the Arab world by Western powers and their images. It explores how the Middle East has only ever been received by the West through a relay of distortions— through images of violence of varied origin. An essay film that utilizes clips ranging from the Lumière cinématograph to the iPhone, “The Image Book” recapitulates and reconstitutes actuality footage of atrocities, pairing them with the images those events inspired. This makes for gruesome viewing. Quite early in the film, intercutting Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Sálo” with the verité footage of the Holocaust that informed it, Godard positions cinema as a witness to history just as it counterfeits and copies it—the actuality and the Myth. Godard’s statement is a primer for the film’s footage of the Arab world, which juxtaposes images created by Arabs themselves with those manufactured by Hollywood within a Western framework. These images, when they arrive for the Western viewer, undeniably evince a sort of ready-made mode of representation—an inevi-
varying degrees of success. Where this turns from interesting to nauseating is when Godard’s politics, which are under-thought at best, bleed in, without follow through, to the film’s organizational schemata. For non–French speakers, approximately every other line of voiceover (which is often heard in multiple, layered echoes) is subtitled personally by Godard himself. Its images—which are distorted, overly saturated husks of their sources (and are at one point linked nonsensically to the aimed, colorful anarchy of Matisse and the Fauve project)—fly past the viewer with the familiar rapidity of one surfing through the camera roll of one’s phone. For this reason, “The Image Book” is a film suited not for the theatrical space but for the small screen. It is a film for the laptop, or for the iPad or iPhone—the images necessitate a smaller, personal environment. Let the laptop become the editing table, to which Godard so frequently cuts. Hold these moving, changing images as close as possible to your face. Samuel Fuller’s 1982 film “White Dog” is best remembered for its troubled, suppressed release in the United States, and for its didactic central metaphor. Here is a film about a canine that has been trained to viciously maul—and kill—Black Americans on sight. Despite the near-fatal attacks and occasional murders, the dog’s owner refuses to euthanize the creature and opts to have the animal retrained by professionals (with no success). The film queries whether it is possible for racism to truly be unlearned, after it has rooted itself in the mind of the individual. And if not, does one destroy the very being perpetuating it? What aligns Fuller and Godard’s films— aside from their didacticism—is in how the central metaphor trains the audience to type and objectify, to immediately suspect and foreshadow, to dehumanize and to render as an image the inevitable victim depicted on screen. The cinema-goer has been trained to do this. In “White Dog,” after the film’s cards are played and its
J
Courtesy of WILD BUNCH
ean-Luc Godard is dancing himself to death. At this point in his career, approaching 90, with over 50 feature films and countless other
table lineage, a cultural sign full of meaning—a Myth informed by all that came before. “The Image Book,” divided into five sections like the five fingers on a hand—the film’s opening shot—lifts and deploys its questions of representation with
Guest Columnist
Jean-Luc Godard’s enigmatic masterpiece, “The Image Book,” makes statements about the Western world’s treatment of the Middle East through its provocative images and editing. stakes are clear, one has become hyperaware of the Black American as little more than an object of violence. Godard, attacking representation in the culture of images with his typically disorienting freneticism, alerts the audience to this hyperawareness—the kind created and propagated not only by news media, but by social media as well—of one’s immediate associations of the Arab world and its denizens with moments of calm ceding to sudden tragedy, as seen (reported) through the eye of the digital camera. Machine guns gunning, bombs exploding—sounds superimposed overtop calm streets in the Middle East. One expects something to happen, but it never does. Before the bombs, everyone in the image is a suspect, commodified by complicity in an invisible crime from here and elsewhere. Apart from the ever-shifting dialogue on issues of war and representation—which are frustrating and revealing in equal measure— one wonders why Godard bothered to make the film, especially when it reads as a reiteration or footnote to his four-hour, eight-part image essay “Histoire(s) du Cinéma.” “The Image Book” opens with a hand, a crop from Da Vinci’s “Saint John the Baptist,” put impossibly to motion by harsh video grain. Emerging from the bottom
of the frame, pointing to the top, is an alert not of what is coming, but rather of what is above and forever out of reach. Is the hand pointing to something divine? The true human condition, Godard posits, is to think with one’s hands. “The Image Book” is a film in which the entirety of cinema passes before one’s eyes, in which the train that arrives at La Ciotat station departs with the same moral indifference for Auschwitz. Godard cuts to digital images of his hands working with celluloid at the flatbed editing table. “The Image Book” begins by the positioning the image—and the history of images—as something malleable, complicit in the reality it fabricates. The film ends by advancing this idea outside of the frame and onto the hands—the self—still the creator and master of images, of history. What do we do with our hands? Do they know not what they do? But Godard has said all of this before. He is convincing, but he seems lost. At least he knows it. The film ends on the sublime—from Ophuls’ “Le Plaisir.” A man, dancing until he drops dead. A woman’s shocked reaction. End. From Kino Lorber, expect “The Image Book” theatrically in New York next spring. Keep an eye out for the film as a traveling museum exhibition.
Flamenco dance troupe innovates with stand-out themes DANCE continued from page 1 G. Perillan is Tomas’ partner, and has helped her produce shows since she formed A Palo Seco in 2010. Perillan described why Tomas’ work is in many ways groundbreaking: “In introducing audiences to flamenco as an art form that lives,
thrives and evolves outside of its endemic context, Rebeca’s choreographies employ traditional props in unconventional ways and use musical accompaniment not typically associated with this genre.” He continued to describe the specificities to the innovativeness of the choreography, stat-
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Rebeca Tomas’ troupe A Pelo Seco aims to fuse traditional flamenco techniques with innovative movements and motifs, creating modern statements about both flamenco and dance in general.
ing, “Many of her pieces feature an all-female dance cast taking on the strength and poise of the male persona and challenging gender-specific stereotypes within the art form.” Assistant Professor of Music Justin Patch has also been working closely with A Palo Seco. Patch explained how the company is representative of modernity, stating, “The most obvious way is that they are a collection of artists and performers from all over the world. Rebeca is from Connecticut, I know one of her guitarists is from Spain, another from Argentina.” Tomas’ effort to create a globalized flamenco group is also apparent in her choreography, which often presents an amalgamation of this genere’s techniques. Although Tomas studied in Spain at the internationally renowned flamenco Academy Amor de Dios, she has also worked with teachers of various nationalities, which cultivated her knowledge and ability to present eclectic methodologies. Patch additionally identified where A Palo Seco’s generosity is a reflection of their inventiveness. Patch explained, “One of the main things they do is go to schools and teach about flamenco and Spanish culture. It’s an important part of preserving the art form and undoing some of the mythologies and exotifications that haunt flamenco and make people think of it as a novelty rather than an art form.” A Palo Seco will provide these lessons to the Poughkeepsie community: Tomas will teach
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
both dance and music master classes on Vassar’s campus at the end of the month in which she will explain the different music and dance forms with which her company engages. The dance master class will take place on Thursday, Oct. 25, from 3:10–4:25 p.m. in Kenyon Studio One, while the music master class will take place on Saturday, Oct. 27, from 1–2 p.m at the Skinner Martel Recital Hall. Although A Pelo Seco is known as an avant-garde flamenco group, Patch believes this label to be misleading. Patch stated, “The tradition of flamenco is fairly divergent. There are regional styles for sure, but there is so much mixing, both between regional styles and with other styles of music and dance, that there is no real value in talking about flamenco in the singular. There are many traditions.” The program of the show promises eight acts, including improvisational numbers, folkloric dances and guitar solos. Each piece adds its own modern twist, while still mainatining resonances to traditional flamenco styles and movements. Perillan encouraged all to attend, stating, “Audience members will be brought on a true emotional journey, at once experiencing the raw essence of traditional flamenco while also being exposed to boundary challenging motifs.” Audiences, students and community members alike are sure to be given a taste of the dynamic and creative world flamenco dance and its modern iterations offer.
ARTS
October 25, 2018
Campus Canvas
A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists
Page 9 submit to misc@vassar.edu
Excuse me, What’s your favorite way to be socially deviant?
“Sharing your drink when you have mono.” — Emma Tulchinsky ’22
“Putting on headphones in the middle of a conversation.” — Zaafir Hasan ’22
“I can’t say.” — Sarah Berry Pierce ’22
“Queer Rage.” — Oli Schmitz ’22
“Smiling in general.” — Melissa Hoffmann ’21
“Dyeing my hair blond.” — Jaan Choudhri ’21 Anja Zhou Class of 2020 Art history major This series of paintings depict the sights I find most beautiful, desirable and comforting—the folds of my bed sheets, the fluff of my pillows and the glow from my night lamp. I like my bed.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Hannah Benton, Photography
FEATURES
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October 25, 2018
High Line visit provides student with fresh perspective Frankie Knuckles ntil this past week, I had never been to Manhattan. Okay, technically I’d been there long enough to get from Grand Central
but who would take it? We leaned against the railing, looking down, trying to come up with solutions. A group wearing matching jackets proclaiming them as somehow affiliated with Jamaican
to LaGuardia last October break, but my travel stress prevented me from enjoying the experience. So when one of my close friends, Jessica Moss ’21 [Full disclosure: Moss is Copy Editor for The Miscellany News], a native of New York State, suggested we take a trip to the city over break, I was both excited and terrified. She assured me that we’d give the busiest tourist attractions a wide berth, since I get nervous in crowds. So this Thursday, we rode the train into the city without much of a plan, other than the vague mission to “see the city,” whatever that means. Once we took a couple of selfies in Grand Central, we set off to follow some directions from Moss’ mom to the High Line. It’s a public park constructed on an old elevated freight track. In places, the original track is visible, highlighted by the park’s design. All along the route, various tall grasses, trees and other flora are punctuated by art pieces. The park is a symbol for reclaiming old industrial spaces and making them beautiful and accessible to the community again. The air was cold enough to sting our nostrils as we wended our way through block after block. As the old adage suggests, we focused more on the journey than the destination. I tried my best not to look too Midwestern and to walk quickly enough to keep up with Moss (which required an extra long hop-step every so often). We developed a strategy for crossing streets before the signal turned: follow the person in front of us who seemed to know what they were doing.
softball walked up to the side of where we stood, stopping to pose. “Should we ask one of them?” I suggested in a hushed tone. Moss wasn’t satisfied. “No, I think they’re probably on their way somewhere, right?” A woman walked by wearing a really awesome peacoat with a muted pattern of black, grey and red and statement pockets. “What about her?” “No, no. She’s wearing leather leggings; she’s clearly intimidating.” “That guy over there in the yellow hoodie?” “No, I don’t get the right vibe.” A woman walked past a little bit closer. She looked friendly enough, with a pale red bob and a fleece jacket. “Excuse me,” Moss began. The woman stopped. “Would you mind taking a picture of us?” She extended her phone. “Yes, of course!” She spoke with an accent that I’d guess was Germanic. She took the proffered phone, and Moss and I posed. The woman held the phone in landscape orientation. “This way’s good, yeah?” We nodded, and she snapped a couple. She returned the phone, sticking around to see if we liked the photos she took. We did. After we had thanked her, she walked away, and we all went about our morning exploring the High Line. I went into the day expecting nothing but honking cars and passerby with their heads down, ignoring the outside world. Of course I found that, but on the High Line, I also found calm beauty amidst the sprawl.
Copy Staffer
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Frankie Knuckles/The Miscellany News
Above is a sculpture on the High Line, which accentuates the otherworldly quality of the park. Its landscaping mimics naturally occurring plant life, but is necessarily created by human hands. After a long stretch of travel in this fashion, we saw a metal staircase up ahead, connecting to what looked from below like a normal overpass. “That’s gotta be it, right?” I asked. She nodded. About halfway up, we began to groan. So many stairs. Or maybe we just like to complain. Feeling like we’d summited Everest, we reached the top. She took a picture of me leaning back on the railing that is now my Facebook profile photo. We sat down on a nearby bench. The sun shone on us, and the warmth was so pleasant that we even took off our coats. To our right, a couple posed for a photo in front of an outcrop-
ping of purple flowers, their outlines thrown into contrast by the sunlight. Whether inspired by that aesthetically pleasing example or not, Moss and I began to look for the best photo-taking spots as we meandered along the High Line. We stopped to admire various vignettes afforded by the intermittent breaks between buildings on either side of the path. When the sun was no longer blocked by the skyscrapers, it warmed the crisp air and dappled the tall grasses. Before too long, we reached a clearing overlooking 10th Avenue, and we realized we had a problem. Obviously, we wanted a picture together in such a quintessentially New York spot,
Students discuss iterations of home, ways to unwind perceives academic work as a low priority for break time. Josh Kim ’20, who took Vassar’s shuttle to Boston and stayed there for a few days, took a more middle ground approach to his break: “I usually try to catch up on work, apply for internships, relax and do things I couldn’t do during school, like watching Korean dramas and hanging out with friends. Basically, just things that you can only do during break when you have time to do stuff.” From these three examples, it appears that Vassar students feel the need to balance the aforementioned competing priorities. Each individual’s unique approach reveals something about them and informs their criteria for making the most of their breaks. I also asked my interviewees how they felt about coming back to campus and whether Vassar is their second home. Again, I encountered was a wide spectrum of responses. For those
Courtesy of Josh Kim
Josh Kim ’20 (bottom right) chose to spend his October Break with his friends in Boston. They not only caught up with the latest Korean dramas but also enjoyed quality time together.
Courtesy of Jenny Yun
FALL BREAK continued from page 1 ities: recreation, academic work and non-academic work. On the non-academic work end of the spectrum lies Adalia Wu ’21, who spent her break at home in New Jersey. When asked what occupied her over break, Wu replied, “Real-life stuff like apps for internships, buying things, etc. I feel like at Vassar you can’t really do any of those things. You are literally living in a bubble where you don’t take care of your life and the essential stuff. School life almost feels artificial or suspended in a different time and place.” I turned to Seung Beom Hong ’19, who for a portion of the break visited Pittsburgh with Vassar friends, and asked him whether he felt that he had relaxed over the break. Hong responded, “Yeah. I have nothing to do at school. I literally have nothing else so I have to study.” Although he is most likely a harder worker than he gives himself credit for, it seems that Hong
Wu (left) and Hong (right), two students with distinct cultural backgrounds, discussed Fall Break plans and exchanged definitions of home, reaching the conclusion that home is where you love. who cannot go home as easily or often, including many international students like Kim, Vassar is a second home—and for many their only one in the United States. Kim said, “When I’m in the States, I definitely feel that Vassar is my home. When I travel somewhere else and come back, I feel relieved. Like, ‘Oh, this is my home.’” Part of the reason he feels this way is because even though he cannot go home and reconnect with old relationships, he can develop new ones here: “Breaks definitely play a role in solidifying relationships. I wasn’t super close to some people— we would say hi when we bumped into each other, and that’s it. But during summer, I hung out with these people all the time. We cooked together, watched things together, hiked and biked together.” In contrast to Kim, Hong, a fellow international, presented a drastically different definition of home and, by extension, what Vassar as a second home means to him: “To me, Vassar is the only place I can stay in the States. I don’t think I can hate it—it’s where I sleep. Also, I know a family through church that I have had
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Thanksgiving with. But I usually use breaks to go see friends. But when I came back from Pittsburgh, it was a nice feeling, like, ‘Finally!’” In this sense, Wu’s experience is similar. Despite her home being New Jersey, Vassar still feels like another family to her: “Whenever I come back from a long break, I have a funny feeling in my chest, a feeling of nostalgia. It’s hard not to because I invested so much in the hominess of my dorm—on throw pillows, wall decorations, fairy lights, you name it.” Wu’s response points to an optimistic takeaway regarding how we use time and how we feel about Vassar. By putting effort into her dorm’s decor, Wu managed to make Vassar homier. Through his effort to share experiences and strengthen relationships on campus, Kim created a strong sense of social belonging, an important function of home. Hong’s flexible attitude toward home allows him to create one wherever he goes. All in all, it seems that Vassar students have the agency to make the most out of their breaks—to use our vacation time in line with our values and to embrace Vassar as a second home.
October 25, 2018
FEATURES October Break photo spotlight
Kimmie Nguyen ’19, Tùng Vũ ’19, Maddie Tong ’22, Nhân Nguyễễn ’22, Linh Nguyễn ’20, Thuỷ Lê ’21 and Sieu Nguyễn ’17 all hang out together during break for a wholesome fun time with friends. They went apple picking and toured around New York City for a day!
“I went to Greece. It was cool. I pet a cat.” —Rose Parker ’19
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“I went to Venice, Florence and Rome this break and now I consider Italy as one of the most beautiful places on the planet after I visited more than 20 countries across four continents.” —Wenxuan Guo ’20
From Brewer to educator: Vassar history recapitulated Ariana Gravinese Guest Reporter
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Kimberly Nguyen/The Miscellany News
atthew Vassar, founder of Vassar College, was a shrewd businessman from a humble background. He was born to English farmers Ann Bennett and James Vassar on April 29, 1792, in East Dereham, England (Hudson Valley, “The Pride and Joy of Po’keepsie: A Vassar College History,” 01.14.2011). The Vassar family came to America only a few short years after Matthew was born, and few predicted the legacy that he would leave behind. Once the Vassar clan arrived in America, they chose to settle in Dutchess County, NY, close to the familiar faces of friends from England. Matthew Vassar is known by the campus community as a brewer, and he was not the first of his family to hold that occupation: Thomas Vassar, Matthew’s uncle, was a brewer as well. Thomas sailed with the rest of the Vassar family, but forgot the hops and was forced to return to England. James and Thomas Vassar planted the first acre of barley Dutchess County had ever seen in 1799. Shortly thereafter, in 1801, they created a brewing company. After a fire burned down the family’s brewery and Matthew’s brother was killed by smoke inhalation, his father decided to return to farming. Matthew, however, had the desire to start his own brewery, and he was determined and driven in his efforts to achieve this goal. Matthew was not only interested in building his brewing business. Former Vassar College Historian and Professor Emerita of English Elizabeth Daniels wrote that he was ambitious and wanted to make money. He expanded his work into many different industries including the Poughkeepsie Savings Bank, real estate investing, patent purchasing and building an aqueduct that brought sufficient amounts of water. Poughkeepsie at this time was a thriving metropolis, but according to Professor Daniels,
Vassar holds many long-established traditions, one of which is ringing the bell atop Main Building before graduation. A senior captured this bird’s-eye view of campus during the ceremony. “No one was more active than he was,” (Hudson Valley). While Vassar’s business endeavors were thriving, he married his wife, Catherine, in 1813. They did not have any children, but they were close to their niece Lydia Booth, who emphasized the need for women’s education to her aunt and uncle. Years later, after visiting the hospital his late brother had founded, Vassar decided that he too wished to be remembered fondly after his passing. At that moment, he decided to create Vassar College, and in 1860 he purchased land just east of Poughkeepsie, where the college would offer educational opportunities to only women for over 100 years. However, in the fall of 1969, the College opened
its doors for the first time to a co-ed class. Originally, Vassar College’s campus was only 200 acres. At the first Board of Trustees meeting, Vassar presented attendees with a deed for land and $408,000. He explained to the Board how crucial educational opportunities were not only for men, but also for women. Addressing the Board, he stated, “It occurred to me, that woman, having received from her Creator the same intellectual constitution as man, has the same right as man to intellectual culture and development” (Hudson Valley). The construction of Main Building began in the summer of 1861. The building was designed by James Renwick Jr., most famously known for his role as the architect of the Smithsonian in
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Washington, D.C., as well as that of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Main was originally a building for administrative use, classes, dining and living—in fact, all aspects of college life took place in Main. On Sept. 26, 1865, Vassar College opened its doors to its first class of women. 353 students ranging in ages from 15 to 24 set foot on campus to begin their college education. Matthew Vassar had succeeded in becoming a pioneer in women’s education, and the College offered women an education of equal quality to that of men at comparable colleges and universities (Vassar Info, “A History of Vassar College”). Matthew Vassar’s legacy remains ever-present on campus and in college life, beyond just his last name. His statue, which he unfortunately was never able to see, sits outside Main Building. In 1864, Matthew purchased the Hudson River School painting collection from Dr. Elias Lyman Magoon, one of the first trustees of Vassar College, to inaugurate the College’s art collection (The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, “Hudson River School”). The collection can be viewed today in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. As a prestigious and century-old institution, Vassar College is inherently connected to the Hudson Valley and surrounding area. Vassar had a vision of what women’s education should look like. At the risk of outcry, he pushed to change the educational opportunities accessible to women. And yes, the old saying is true: “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for beer!” [This article is informed by the following sources: Hudson Valley, “The Pride and Joy of Po’keepsie: A Vassar College History,” 01.14.2011 Vassar Info, “A History of Vassar College” The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, “Hudson River School.”]
FEATURES
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October 25, 2018
Misc Quiz by Cassidy Nealon and Laila Volpe
The Miscellany Crossword
“Do The Monster Mash” ACROSS
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Answers to last week’s puzzle
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51. A drying agent 52. A lobster’s weapons 55. Grand Duchess Anastasia’s mother 57. Wicked deeds 59. A supremely spooky monster 62. A scornful person 63. Octagonal sign type 64. Wind nymphs 65. Kind of nobleman, or tea 66. Beige or fawn color 67. A commanding visage 68. Turn down 69. Shuck a skin
1. Reduce difficulty 5. A genie’s offer 9. Night-time coffee 14. Feather stuffing 15. A sea eagle 16. Communications of the future! 17. Electrical network 18. A lion, loudly 19. A most maternal monster 20. Typhon’s prison 21. Cloaks 23. All lit up 25. Turkish money 26. A knucklebone 29. Reckless rule-disobeyers 32. Promotions 35. A heavy tread 36. Liberal, fine, and crafts 37. Be enough for 39. A very thirsty monster 42. Muslim prayer leader 43. Tibetan spiritual figure 44. Friends’ Courteney 45. A bottlenose aquarium 50. East of north-east (abbr.)
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1. Knife’s blade 2. Heart artery 3. Playground pendulum 4. Also the be-all 5. Lupin’s kind of monster 6. Reason for the “Red Planet” 7. All tangled up 8. Superhumanly brave 9. Shame someone 10. Second-largest bird 11. Offset wheel 12. Carefully target 13. What 10 down can’t do 22. Brassiere, for short 24. Admission of error 26. Simple column style 27. A beginner’s course 28. County north of London 30. Tofu substrate 31. A brief sleep 32. Soliloquy 33. Cambridge’s most famous Matt 34. Bread gone bad 38. A tiny demon monster 39. Something unknown, for short 40. A way to break up where we
can still be friends 41. Red-and-black Darth 43. Thin layers of rock or metal 46. Floor it 47. This monster’s a g___ 48. Coddled to health 49. Measurements in grams 53. A pointy-hatted monster
54. Sleeper’s sound 55. Spouse of 55 Across 56. One of three Norse fate goddesses 58. A tater, for short 59. Car food 60. A tiny, crude house 61. Unrefined metal
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October 25, 2018
OPINIONS
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Campus Climate Where do you get your news? Roman Guglielmo ’20 I’m always really behind on the news when I’m here, and I probably get the most from my friends every day and seeing posts on Facebook. When I go home, though, my parents constantly have the news on TV so I get a lot from CNN and MSNBC, and I get some email chains about news, especially about environmental issues, since that’s what I’m interested in, among other things. But I don’t usually go on news sites.
Sophia Gaffney ’22 I guess normally from the Times, and when my family sends me news I try to seek it out. But mainly I try to use professional [sources], like I don’t click on random websites. I don’t actively [check sources for legitimacy], but I guess I use news sources that have been around for awhile and mainly trust that what my parents have told me is reliable.
Hikari Tanaka ’21 When I do look at the news, which I should probably do more of, I try to read The Washington Post and The New York Times. With The Washington Post, I grew up with it; my parents always ordered The Washington Post to our house so I guess it was always around.
Hazel Johnstone ’20 Usually it’s the News app on my phone. It’s easy. I choose things that seem reliable. I normally spend five to 10 minutes per day on reading about current events as well as articles that are fun and interesting to me. So for me it’s a combination of keeping myself informed and sort of entertainment.
Karen Nakayama ’21 I think I mostly use The New York Times and read some newspapers from Japan, so I get a perspective from outside of America and also an American perspective on the issue. So I try to see a balance between those two, I think.
Ross Guju ’19 You should not have asked me because I do not like reading news. I just do homework all day. I did the dual degree program with Dartmouth so I’m a math major, a computer science and electrical engineer, too. So basically I get my news on Snapchat. When I look at people’s stories, I’m like “Oh, ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians,’ why not?” Stuff like that, unfortunately. But when I’m back at home, generally Fox News is on TV. News is just people yelling. There’s nothing new or substantial to it.
Bevan Whitehead ’19 Normally it’s The New York Times and BBC, getting two world opinions, sort of. [I use these sources] because I feel like the BBC is going to have less of a bias and talk about things that are happening in the world that seem less America-centric.
Benjamin Haffey ’22 [Disclaimer: Haffey is not a paid actor!] I actually get all my news from the Misc. I love y’all. It’s great. I pick it up every week. Other than that, I haven’t been good about news and things. Just word of mouth, people talk about things, and you hear them talk about what’s important. That’s about all my sources. Thankfully not Fox, though. [The reason I choose my sources is that] it’s convenient. I like the idea of the old-timey aesthetic of getting your newspaper and sitting down with your coffee.
Traveling abroad reveals life, struggles outside Vassar bubble Catherine Bither Columnist
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still don’t know what was going through my head on that warm summer night when I bought the tickets. Searching through airfare rates late at night, a common habit of mine, I wished desperately to explore the world, imagining my life as a traveler. Suddenly, I stumbled upon tickets to Copenhagen—for $300. I thought of my need to pay for tuition, for books, for other necessities that I’d have to take of once I returned to school. But after a giddy phone call with a friend also looking for an adventure, I made the impulsive decision to buy the tickets anyway. I did not realize how enormous of an impact this 10-day journey would have on me until my return to the United States. Before departing, I anticipated I’d learn more about Danish life, like the country’s culture and art. I expected this experiential type of learning to be refreshing, a nice change from the classroom setting of Vassar. However, I didn’t anticipate how much I would learn about my life at home and myself as an individual.
“I did not realize how enormous of an impact this journey would have on me until my return to the United States.” Oftentimes, I have heard others talking about the self-discovery aspect of travel, and how it’s impossible not to learn a bit more about yourself when you’re in unfamiliar surroundings.
Yet, I did not expect myself to change at all. I did not expect to see my life at Vassar in a whole new light. Unprepared for my coming realizations, I researched all I could about Copenhagen and how to live in the city as fully and cheaply as possible. Those who knew of my extreme frugality questioned my motives for traveling to Copenhagen, one of the most expensive locations in Europe. I had never been to Europe before and was unfamiliar not only with the language and currency, but also with Danish customs. The worries and misgivings of my family and friends echoed in my head: What if, during an inebriated night out, I spend the money allocated for my next tuition payment on drinks at a dingy bar? How will I be able to eat with such a limited budget? What if something goes wrong, and I leave Copenhagen with a drained bank account and drained spirits? Added to this was my worry about traveling abroad as a young woman with no “adult” supervision. I had not traveled out of the country since before my teens, and I barely remembered how it worked. As I counted down the days to our journey, my apprehensions amplified. My friend and I came up with a budget, limiting ourselves to $20 between the two of us per day, which we anticipated would be more than enough. However, as midterms hit us in full force, we had to forgo our planning to deal with more immediate problems. So, on the day we planned to depart, we left New York with 1,000 Danish krone, the equivalent of $200, our backpacks and no plan whatsoever. Neither my friend nor I realized how little $200 is worth in Denmark, where a single, small meal in a mom-and-pop store can cost upwards of $10. On our first day, with our empty stomachs
and no food to sustain us, we quickly saw how careful we would have to be. I’ve never appreciated the Deece as much as I did in Copenhagen, weighing whether I should spend my last $3 on dinner or save it for breakfast the next day. Rather than remembering my complaining about the expense and inutility of the Vassar meal plan, I looked back on fond memories of mozzarella sticks at Late Night as my belly, grumbled in the middle of the night, far away.
“Consumed by work, extracurriculars and the campus itself, one can forget how surviving in the outside world feels.” Despite our limited finances, my friend and I resolved not to let this amazing opportunity go to waste, and, of course, we found free and close-to-free activities. We walked around the city, becoming familiar with our neighborhood and others. We made international friends and shared our common and different experiences and ideas. We discovered the joys of $1 boxed wine and sitting in parks, people-watching. At the end of our trip, we were so in love with the city that we trekked two-anda-half hours through the rambling Copenhagen streets and outside towns to the airport, just to enjoy our last moments and to avoid the $4 bus fee. Although, like many other Vassar students, money will be a concern for me for the foreseeable future, I did not know what it was like to
worry about daily food and transportation while isolated and thousands of miles and national borders away from home. It is easy to forget the dependency Vassar imposes on students. Consumed by work, extracurriculars and the campus itself, one can forget how surviving in the outside world feels. Going abroad, independent of any sort of institution, re-establishes the necessities of the real world. Vassar strives to prepare students for the real world, but it does so in an environment which could not be more different from real life. Perpetuating beliefs of the necessity of academic progress before self-reflection, of academic success before personal discovery, Vassar does not allow students the time to discover their true wants and desires, particularly if these desires lie outside of an academic setting. During my days of travel, I felt as if I had been living abroad for years, contrasting my new way of living to the day-to-day yet rapid succession of habits and appointments at Vassar. Sitting in a remote airport in Iceland on hour 11 of my 17-hour layover, returning from Copenhagen and one of the best experiences of my life, I now understand the necessity for young people to travel, to explore worlds outside of their neighborhoods and college campuses. I recognize how privileged I am to have had this experience. But I also appreciate the hard work, the three jobs I had over the summer, that went into paying for my college tuition, as well as funding this journey. With an abundance of homework and a sleep-deprived brain, a body wishing for affordable food and a little over 24 hours until class, I’m returning to the United States not only with new knowledge about Europe and independence, but also about myself and what I hope my life will become.
The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
Page 14
October 25, 2018
Vassar admin must play more active role in campus accessibility Jesser Horowitz Columnist
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n the last VSA Senate meeting before October break, President Elizabeth Bradley presented the seven working objectives for the next five years at Vassar College. They consist of the following (Twitter, [at]miscellanynews, 10.07.2018): 1. Sustain a faculty of world-class scholars and a dynamic and relevant curriculum. 2. Attract and support a highly talented and diverse student population. 3. Foster an inclusive living and learning environment where all students are valued and supported. 4. Cultivate an inclusive workplace where all employees are valued and supported. 5. Strengthen community partnerships and engagement in local and global issues. 6. Revitalize buildings and landscape to align with educational, accessibility and sustainability goals. 7. Improve shared governance to ensure that Vassar’s assets are stewarded successfully. Over the next few months, President Bradley and the administration will reach out to the student body to determine the specific goals that the college should adopt. According to the administration, Vassar’s community values will decide these goals. However, based on my observations, I predict that the community won’t value physical accessibility as part of its objectives. Past records have shown that the Vassar administration has categorically excluded people with disabilities throughout its history. As a result, who is left to defend our interests but well-meaning able-bodied and neurotypical students? And how effective can anyone be in fighting for accessibility when the struggle is not their own? Vassar College has been home to a variety of student-led disability rights groups, such as the Association for the Handicapped, the Vassar Student Association Committee on Disability Issues, Students with ADD and Learning Disabilities (SADDLE), the current Committee on Disability Issues and the Access and Disability Rights Coa-
lition. These organizations have, with varying levels of success, sought over the years to improve the accessibility that students with disabilities have to the school. Yet despite their efforts, much of the rhetoric and language surrounding disability have remained the same throughout Vassar’s history. In 1978, Ivor Muroff wrote in The Miscellany News, “[Many students with disabilities] believe that the college is hostile or insensitive to their needs” (The Miscellany News, “Handicapped Students Form Force to Reckon With,” 03.10.1978). In 1994, Shira Silverman, a member of the Committee on Disability Issues, referred to ACDC workers’ attitude toward a blind student as “paternalistic and discriminatory” (The Miscellany News, “ACDC Insensitive to Special Needs of Students,” 11.11.1994). In 2002, Laura Attanasio, an Assistant Features Editor at The Miscellany News, wrote an article about K. Mitchell-Healey, a member of the class of 2005 who struggled to get around campus after breaking her ankle and found it almost impossible to make it to her classes on time and even access her dorm (The Miscellany News, “Trying to Get Around: Disability at Vassar,” 04.19.2002). The fight for accessibility is not new, and as much as things have changed, a lot has stayed the same. My point is not that the disability movement has been futile. When Vassar students formed the Association for the Handicapped in 1978, the ACDC didn’t have a handrail, let alone a ramp (The Miscellany News, “Handicapped Students Form Force to Reckon With,” 03.10.1978). However, by 2008, pressure from students led to the installation of new accessible sidewalks near the Town Houses, Raymond House, the Old Observatory, Skinner Hall and Baldwin Health Services. In addition, magnetic “hold-opens” were installed on the doors to the stairwells and the main lobby of Main Building, and Davison House was renovated with a new elevator and accessible bathrooms and doors to student rooms (The Miscellany News, “College seeks to improve access for students with disabilities,” 09.11.2008). Peter Canino ’10, who broke an inch of his
Please, Tell Us More!
leg bone during rugby practice and had to rely on crutches, stated, “It’s actually been all right getting around. Most of the buildings are pretty handicapped accessible, and Security transports a lot of the times are very hasty” (The Miscellany News, “College seeks to improve access to student with disabilities,” 04.12.2008). However, the issue hadn’t completely disappeared. Roger Rothenberg, a member of the Class of 2011 who used a wheelchair, told The Miscellany News in 2008, “In a wheelchair specifically, getting around campus has not been that bad. But it’s also tiring and uncomfortable, and I’ve got to find elevators and ramps, which is a hassle” (The Miscellany News, “College seeks”). The biggest leap forward has pertained to rhetoric. In 1978, the student activists believed the administration was trying to portray students with disabilities as burdens, mostly so they could avoid having to pay to make the campus accessible (The Miscellany News, “Handicapped Students Form Force to Reckon With,” 03.10.1978). Now, the fact that the administration is even attempting to give off the appearance of prioritizing the needs of students with disabilities speaks to at least some semblance of progress. But, there remains a serious problem with the administration’s plan, namely that it relies on two flawed assumptions. First, the administration assumes that the student body will prioritize accessibility. The problem with this line of thought is that there is a lack of students with disabilities on campus to advocate for their own interests. Vassar’s inaccessibility has acted as a means of discouraging students with disabilities from attending, as noted by Beverly Carney, a member of the Association for the Handicapped who told The Miscellany News in 1978 that if the College was “more receptive to the visually impaired, more blind students would have been encouraged to apply” (The Miscellany News, “Handicapped Students Form Force to Reckon With,” 03.10.1978). The paradox of accessibility is that in order to make the campus accessible, we need students with disabilities on
Professors: What is a topic, idea, theory or breakthrough related to your field of study that you find absolutely fascinating or feel very passionate about? Explain why.
Prof. Charles Arndt III Russian Studies Dept.
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Courtesy of Charles Arndt
he year was 1990, my junior year abroad. The place: a village outside Moscow. My Russian friends and I had decided to visit an acquaintance’s dacha (usually a small, garden-enclosed summer house) in the dead of winter. Huddling around steaming cups of tea, someone inevitably passed along a guitar (this was what Russians of my generation did when they got together), which was eventually taken up by a young woman, who began to sing and play a melancholy ballad about two lovers separated by the Russian Civil War and their hopes to somehow reunite. The song hung on repetitions of adjectives modulating into masculine, feminine and neuter forms. I was struck by a beauty not just of meaning or images—but a beauty of sounds, images and meaning all working together. Another thing impressed me as well: This person, who was roughly my own age, who was not a musician or a master of guitar technique, had conveyed something of profound aesthetic beauty. Was this within the ability of all of us? Though I initially studied Russian because I was intrigued by the communist Other, I became increasingly drawn to diverse expressions of
Pictured is the Russian Department student band, The Post-Soviets. From left to right are: Alice Woo ’21, Aisha Malik ’21, Matthew Au ’19, Christopher Triggs ’21, Prof. Arndt, Jacob Ettkin ’21. beauty in this heretofore “foreign” language: from the futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky’s urban landscapes in his “reading room of the streets” to the way in which Afanasy Fet achieves move-
campus who can act as advocates, but in order to get them on campus, we need to make the school accessible. Second, the administration assumes that the student body is informed about accessibility issues. In 1978, Karen Rappaport, a deaf senior, told The Miscellany News that she had no idea that the steps to a building could be a barrier to education before attending meetings for the Association for the Handicapped (The Miscellany News, “Handicapped Students Form Force to Reckon With,” 03.10.1978). Even if there are students here who are able to advocate for accessibility, they likely won’t have enough knowledge to tackle all the issues that demand their attention. I have been the president of Access for almost three years now. I have been active in advocating for disability rights issues during my entire time here. I could name numerous changes that we need to bring about to make this school accessible. I consistently make it a point to bring up disability rights issues during org meetings, during VSA meetings and while writing for The Miscellany News. However, I would have no idea how to make this campus more accessible to blind students, deaf students, students with severe dietary restrictions and students with countless other disabilities of which I am not properly informed. Even the entirety of Access cannot attest to the needs of every person with a disability. We can do our best, but there is no replacement for proper representation. The administration should seek student input for the next five years, but it also must do right by students with disabilities. The Vassar administration should not base their accessibility goals on what the community values. Instead, they should base them on what is morally right and legally required. There may not be enough students showing up to ensure that the college values accessibility, but that does not give the administration permission to continue to ignore us. Regardless of what occurs, what students say or what anyone wants, Vassar College must take the initiative to make the campus more accessible.
ment in a poem without using a single verb. Indeed, Russian became for me not just a means of communication but also a way to convey beauty, which is, of course, another way of communicat-
ing. Throughout the years, a number of students here at Vassar have developed and are developing their own visions of beauty in and through the language. Some have combined their love of Russian with music, poetry, prose or the visual arts (or a union of the aforementioned). We even have a Russian Department student band, called “The Post-Soviets,” which plays traditional, rock and other types of Russian music. All this inspires a number of questions: Can a knowledge and appreciation of the beauty of another language, to paraphrase Lawrence A. Wilkins, further “humanize” us and make us more empathetic to others by continuing to open our capabilities of understanding and expression? Does our identity transform with the learning of a new language as we take on an additional vantage point from which to engage the world? While we’re not called to become natives of the country and/or culture whose language we are studying, as Karin Maxey (German Program, Northeastern University) has said, students do and should “aim to create their own multilingual identities.” I believe every student ought to study a foreign language – it’s not just about what you’ll learn, it’s about the beauty you can convey and about who you’ll become.
This segment is designed to be a space in which professors are invited to talk about any topic related to their work that they find fascinating. If you are interested in contributing, please write a 300 or more word response to the question shown above and email your piece to Steven Park at eupark@@@[at]@vassar.edu along with a picture of yourself or something relevant to your topic (examples include research projects, independent work or labs).
The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
October 25, 2018
U.S. should not leave nuclear treaty with Russia Sylvan Perlmutter Columnist
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resident Trump recently announced on Oct. 20 that he will withdraw the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), citing repeated Russian noncompliance with the Cold War era treaty’s terms. This proposed move has provoked consternation from the European Union, Russia and China and elicited mixed reactions at home. Although I agree that several supporters of the president have made sound arguments for withdrawing from the INF Treaty, I do not think that this administration, led by hawks like Pompeo, Bolton and Trump himself, is sufficiently committed to diplomatically resolving conflicts. Withdrawing from the INF treaty opens up the possibility of a renewed arms race and the further deterioration of the United States’ reputation abroad. The INF Treaty was signed in 1987 by the United States and the Soviet Union to decrease the risk of nuclear war, both sides committed to banning landbased ballistic missiles (nuclear and non-nuclear) capable of ranges from 500 to 5,500 km (300 to 3,400 miles). By 1991, roughly 2,700 U.S. and Soviet missiles were eliminated (The Washington Post, “How China plays into Trump’s decision to pull out of INF treaty with Russia,” 10.23.2018). The treaty received praise from the international community, and the committee of scientists in the Atomic Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board moved the hands of its “doomsday” clock back three minutes to signify the importance of the arms reduction treaty in decreasing the likelihood of nuclear catastrophe (Chicago Tribune, “‘Doomsday’ Clock Set Back 3 Minutes,” 12.18.1987). As the successor to the Soviet Union, Russia remains legally bound by the agreements signed by its predecessor (The Huffington Post, “Trump’s Planned Nuclear Pact Withdrawal ‘Not The Work Of A
Great Mind,’ Says Gorbachev,” 10.22.2018). After a rally in Nevada on Oct. 20, Trump stated, “Russia has not, unfortunately, honored the agreement, so we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out…[W]e are going to terminate the agreement and then we are going to develop the weapons [until both Russia and China agree to a new treaty] (NBC News, “Trump says U.S. will pull out of intermediate range nuke pact, citing Russian violations,” 10.21.2018). China never signed the treaty in 1987 and possesses a large arsenal of ballistics that would be banned under the terms of the current treaty. Trump went on to say that the United States will outspend Russia and China in building up their respective nuclear arsenals (Bloomberg, “U.S. Sails Warships Through Taiwan Strait in Show of Force to China,” 10.22.2018). Trump is correct that Russia has been in violation of the INF Treaty. The Russian military has been developing a new mid-range missile since the mid-2000s and began deploying it in 2016 (The Wall Street Journal, “Arms Control for Dummies,” 10.22.2018). However, there is little reason to believe that withdrawing from the treaty will result in a newly expanded treaty in the short term. Rather, this action risks reigniting a wasteful arms race and escalating proxy conflicts between the United States and Russia in Ukraine and Syria. The Trump administration has already alienated many international partners by unilaterally withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, and countries will be hesitant to negotiate with an administration that demonstrates a consistent disregard for diplomacy and multilateralism (The New York Times, “Where’s That Better Deal, Mr. Trump?” 05.08.2018). Furthermore, withdrawing from the INF Treaty would free the United States to station mid-range land-based ballistic missiles in range of China. This
would allow the United States to potentially exert more force in deterring China from encroaching upon the territory of the United States’ allies in the Indo-Pacific region but would also precipitously erode U.S.-China relations already strained by the Trump administration–initiated trade war. For China to acquiesce to U.S. demands to dismantle the majority of their mid-range ballistics would be politically unthinkable for the ruling Communist Party. Perhaps the various geopolitical quandaries that will come from withdrawing from the INF treaty could be effectively navigated by another administration, but I sincerely question the capacity of today’s leadership to mitigate conflict and negotiate with reasonable expectations. The administration is now dominated by men like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton who consistently reject the legitimacy of international institutions and agreements and aggressively promote military intervention overseas. Furthermore, the State Department has yet to recover from the mass exodus of experienced diplomats during the disastrous tenure of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Russia’s repeated defiance of the INF treaty and China’s aggressive posture toward U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific region are legitimate concerns, and perhaps withdrawal from the INF could yield some tangible benefit to the security of the United States and its allies. However, the people in the White House and Pentagon right now are not the people who should be trusted with that task. In the words of EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini: “The world doesn’t need a new arms race that would benefit no one and on the contrary would bring even more instability” (The Guardian, “EU warns Trump of nuclear arms race risk after INF withdrawal move,” 10.23.2018).
Page 15
Word on the street What’s your least favorite animal?
“Humans.” — Yasemin Smallens ’20
“Portuguese Water Dogs.” — India Futterman ’19
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Photo: Casey Kelbaugh
“Worms.” — Annika SethreHofstad ’22
“Spiders.” — Maggie Wu ’22
“Snakes.” — Louis Lopez ’22
MA and PhD in Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture Students at Bard Graduate Center in New York City study the cultural history of the material world from the arts of antiquity to the twenty-first century. Learn more at one of our fall open houses.
Address 38 West 86th Street, NYC
Open Houses October 29, 11 am November 6, 6 pm
territorial
“Mosquitos.” — Cristy Cai ’22
For more information admissions@bgc.bard.edu bgc.bard.edu/admissions
Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Hannah Benton, Photography The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
HUMOR & SATIRE
Page 16
October 25, 2018
Breaking News
From the desk of Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Editor
Void blesses sick student after 666-minute sneezing episode, causing boogers to erupt in suspicious fire Stealthy student steals senior’s VCard, sneaking friend into feast Blair Webber
Skilled at Taking VCards
F
Courtesy of Francisco Andrade
inding the VCard of the tall, brown-haired senior Fred Lazarus could not have come at a better time for Trisha Marshall. She stumbled upon the ID near the mailroom and picked it up, intending to return it, until she noticed the striking resemblance between Lazarus and her high school friend, Ben, who would be visiting that weekend. “I wasn’t sure how I was gonna get Ben food. My plan was to just wait with Ben outside the Deece until a big group walked in, and he could slip into the staircase and head upstairs then take the other stairs back down while I swiped in, but that’s risky. My older sister got caught doing that when she visited last month. The Deece workers weren’t happy,” said Marshall. “But Ben and this Fred guy look exactly alike. See? They’re both white, they both have brown hair—they’re indistinguishable.” Lazarus, in the meantime, has had a difficult time recovering his VCard. “I know I had it at the mailroom, but when I went back to check it was gone. It just disappeared. No one turned it in. Someone saw a girl pick one up, but they figured it was hers because she smiled at it and kept it. But like, it’d be nice to have. I need to do laundry,” said Lazarus, whose post in VC Lost and Found has 64 angry faces, 55 crying faces and no comments. Lazarus considered deactivating the card, but is certain that as soon as he orders a new one, he’ll find the old one. “This isn’t the first time this has happened. It usually turns up within a day or two, and I can give them my 999 at the Deece, so I’m not worried. Still, it’d like to have it back,” said Lazarus. Upon his arrival on campus, Marshall gave her friend, Ben, Lazarus’ VCard. Their first stop was Express for some convenient and tasty sandwiches. As Ben swiped Lazarus’ VCard, the Express attendant asked, “Hey, you’re Fred Lazarus? Congrats, man, that’s great about your research.” Ben, unsure what to say, replied, “Yes, my research. Thank you.” Marshall pulled him away from the register before the attendant could ask any
more questions, only to be intercepted by President Bradley and a bevy of reporters and Vassar College science faculty. “And here he is! The brilliant Fred Lazarus,” Bradley said, putting her arm around Ben. “Thank goodness we were able to track him down based on where he swiped his VCard. Fred, how does it feel representing Vassar as the first undergraduate researcher to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics?” “Uh yeah,” said Ben. Bradley and the crowd of reporters laughed uproariously. “Always the jokester,” said PB. “Let’s leave him alone, I’m sure he’s off to the lab to do more groundbreaking research. Now, who would like to go to Crafted Kup? I have gift cards for anyone who can tell me who the woman pictured on the stained glass in our library is.” “That was cool,” Marshall said to her friend, Ben, from out of town. “Let’s go smoke by the lake.” While the two headed to Sunset Lake, Lazarus desperately tried to get back into Jewett House. “Can you let me inside? I need to go to my room. I need my computer so I can go finish research in Sanders lab,” said Lazarus to a passing student. The student pointed to his headphones and shrugged. Stranded without an ID to let himself in anywhere, Lazarus moped around the quad until around 6 p.m. before deciding to go grab food at the Deece. At the door, however, he was turned away: After Lazarus gave the cashier his 999, the computer claimed the card had already been used. “Sorry, honey, someone already swiped a card with that number,” said the cashier. Lazarus spent the weekend in the tree with the big canopy by Chicago. “It was hard to get people to quit making out while I was trying to sleep, but it wasn’t that bad,” Lazarus said. Marshall and her out-of-town friend, Ben, after swiping into the Deece, spent the weekend attending Nobel Prize–winner events and feeling lucky to have stumbled upon Fred Lazarus’ lost VCard. Lazarus plans to deactivate his VCard as soon as he can get into a building with a computer.
Here is a fresh meme brought to you by memester Francisco. While it’s great that Ben can sneak into the Deece, I am often turned away because I look so different from my first-year picture.
Top 10: Which personalities to avoid, which to manipulate into marriage Dissertation by Izzy Migani, personality psychologist (type 10)
C
ollege. It’s a wild, lawless place. It’s a time when you find yourself. Work hard. Play hard. Get that degree. Make those thousands of dollars of tuition money worth it. It’s where you go to make those forever friends, forge professional connections and possibly find that special someone. I know what you’re thinking, though. Finding out who you are as a person can be tough. I get it. I’ve been there. I’m here to tell you, though, that it doesn’t have to be a difficult and confusing winding path of confusion and failure anymore! I can put all of your worries to rest, for I have experienced every possible college personality for the sake of all my fellow college students. Scientists have conducted experiments, recorded results and ranked possible personalities on a comprehensive scale from one to ten. There’s really no need to thank me; I did it for the greater good of the general college population. You’re all welcome in advance. 1. The cowboy: Yeehaw. The general lack of cows on college campuses is upsetting; the
students and faculty do not seem to enjoy being lassoed from long distances without warning. I tried corralling the Street Eats truck, but it wasn’t the same. Using a longboard is NOT equivalent to riding a horse. There are no steam trains to rob. Plus, the chaps are extremely chafe-y. Yee-haw? More like yee-naw. 4/10 stars. 2. The squirrel: Not a bad life. Have you ever wanted to be a squirrel? Hanging out in trees, collecting nuts, going through garbage cans, chewing on random objects, chasing other squirrels around trees, messing up the local energy grid. Does a diet of nuts and fruits and the odd Domino’s pizza crust sound scrumptious? It’s surprisingly healthy and good for the physique. You could pick a favorite hangout (e.g. a tree), but squirrel hands would probably be more useful than meaty human hands for climbing. For me, getting down from said tree also proved to be difficult. However, the life of a college squirrel is extremely pleasant. Only minor drawbacks have been observed. 8/10 stars. 3. The ’90s surfer boy: We’re just blonde boys
doin’ what blonde boys do. Chillin’ out, maxin’ relaxin’ all cool! We’re just blonde boys doin’ what blonde boys do! I’m Tommy! I’m Ethan! And I’m Jerome! Here’s a one-way ticket to the blonde boy zone! 1/10 stars. 4. The hunter-gatherer: Ever feel like there’s just no point? Ever ask yourself, “What am I doing?” Not me. I am here to build more huts than my rival. Then I will steal his wives. 7/10 stars. 5. The mattress: Did you ever wonder why they call it memory foam? Not because of its polyurethane framework, as well as the additional chemicals increasing its viscosity and density. That’s not it, you silly, silly goose. It’s because it remembers things. It’s never going to forget. It knows what you did. 2/10 stars. 6. The desktop: One day I’m going to be a computer. It’s immortal, gets to beep, smells like knowledge in there, has Microsoft Excel. It’s already started. There’s nothing ANYONE can do to stop me. 9.5/10 stars. 7. The impossible standard: Perfect attendance. Perfect grades. Perfectly sound in both
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
mind and body. Cries a normal amount. Participates in three clubs. Student-athlete. Runs a nonprofit. Model UN. Healthy diet. Friendly. Likes people. Financially stable. Has a dog. I could keep this up for half a second (I cried during “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” while writing this.) Truly tragic. 2/10 stars. 8. The iPhone X: I already feel very much like an iPhone X. Poor facial recognition software, sucky battery life, very delicate, stops working when thrown in water, buggy. 1/10 stars. 9. The Mii: Incredible. Life-changing. I could run around a room with odd, hazy boundaries in a cone-shaped ensemble and ball feet. I could space out my eyes so far it’s like they had different postcodes. I could be the size of a WWE fighter or a three-year-old child. I only communicate in squeaks and individual tones. Time doesn’t pass. I could be in the same space as Mii Jesse McCartney and Mii Benjamin Franklin. In my opinion, the ultimate lifestyle. 10/10 stars. 10. The student with a stable future: Huh? What? 1/10 stars.
HUMOR & SATIRE
October 25, 2018
Page 17
Vassar College sends otherworldly news to admitted students Frank
Frequent Flyer on Gateways to the Underworld
[TW: This article mentions suicidal ideation.] ello, and congratulations from the current Vassar student body! We would like to once again welcome you to the Class of 2023! This is a follow-up to the acceptance letter you received. We are so glad you made it through the application process, and we hope you choose to enroll at our prodigious institution. We also wanted to share some exciting news we recently received that may be of interest to you as you consider your options. If you’ve already toured Vassar, you probably know that the campus hosts the highest concentration of Steinway pianos in the world. The tour guides love to toss out that quirky little factoid as they lead you through the idyllic residential quad, walking backward and reciting their carefully tuned scripts. “That’s wild!” you may have thought, “So many pianos in one spot!” Well, there are a myriad of curious things about Vassar College. In fact, I’d bet that you didn’t know that in addition to Steinway pianos, Vassar College hosts the highest concentration of Underworld Entrances! That’s right! We are proud to announce that we recently achieved this astounding feat after one of our students accidentally opened up yet another gate when they took one for the team and ventured too far into the dirt pit in the basement of Raymond House, one of our nine residential halls. The other entrances include the printer room in Strong House, where the heat is so intense that only the bravest can sprint in to retrieve their papers; the basement of Blodgett, the oldest academic building on campus and the former site of a fallout shelter; and the Mug, a coffin-like room
H
Courtesy of razorieneve via Flickr
Pouty and angry Hannah ventures into the Underworld to visit her bro Satan. Hannah is pissed off by the lack of peanut butter in the Deece. She plans to rectify this through a deal with the devil. below Main House that is frequented by students on Friday and Saturday nights as they seek to escape the rigid bounds of their collegiate existence. We’ve gotta say, this addition has been necessary for a while now; the other passages were becoming intolerably congested. The Blodgett entrance was not made for the volume of people traveling back and forth between the College and the Underworld. Not infrequently, students at their wit’s end have turned back at the sight of unbelievable foot traffic in Blodgett’s basement stairwell, abandoning their noble quest to bargain with the devil for that A+. Unbelievable! Thankfully, Raymond’s Dirt Pit boasts a novel quicksand-floo-powder-trans-
porter method of supernatural travel. You step onto the soil, think of the devil or demon you wish to consult for emotional and/or academic support and BOOM! You’re meeting with your respective fiend in the gnawing, cavernous pit. Never has getting to the Underworld been so convenient! We, the student body, know that the “like a good neighbor, State Farm is there” system could NEVER equate. How did Vassar College, you may ask, acquire such a large number of gateways to hell? We must be the envy of all the other schools! I mean, even the unruliest of the straight-laced Ivy Leagues has just one (1) gate to Hades, and that’s only because
HOROSCOPES
their inflated endowment allowed their president, an executive of the underworld, to purchase it (*cough*HARVARD*cough*). Vassar certainly doesn’t have that kind of endowment (or those kind of connections), right? Well, well, well, let us tell you, young admitted student, that your question is neglecting the simple truth of doors: They open both ways. Other schools could never offer the symbiotic relationship with hell that Vassar does. Even if other schools’ student bodies were as eager to descend into hell as Vassar’s is (which they aren’t), they could not appeal as greatly to the residents of the Underworld. No college is as strategically placed (did someone say the Scenic Hudson Valley?) or as ripe for paranormal infiltration as ours is. Vassar College is justifiably the best place for demons to cross over. Besides the positive effect that the increased visitation and tourism has on the Underworld’s greedy economy, the cluster of doorways on Vassar’s campus allows agents of Hades to pass into our world to execute their business. What with the 400 or so faculty that Vassar employs, we speculate, due to the ghoulish vibes we get from them, that a large portion of them could quite possibly be among the legion of the dead. We also believe that granting many citizens of hell unlimited access to students who consistently mumble “hit me” at passing cars is a fair trade for the access that the students need to seek supernatural aid in completing assignments and receiving extensions. Class of 2023, the advantages of possessing such resources on a college campus are innumerable. We hope that you will choose Vassar as your undergraduate institution, so that you may explore all of these opportunities yourself. Sincerely, Your Spooky Student Body
Hannah Gaven
amateur astrologist
ARIES
March 21 | April 19
TAURUS
April 20 | May 20
GEMINI
May 21 | June 20
CANCER
June 21 | July 22
LEO
July 23 | August 22
VIRGO
August 23 | September 22
According to my mom, cacti are the sign that you are in a “weed clan.” If you want to show clan affiliation I suggest wearing cactus necklaces like my sister. If jewelry isn’t your thing, I can permanently tattoo your clan’s cactus on your butt. I haven’t tattooed anyone before, so it’ll be a new experience.
I don’t get how some women look so put together in airports with perfectly curled hair and six-inch heels. I show up with my underwear inside out and bloodshot eyes. I twist my ankle while staggering through security in sneakers while all of my ecstasy spills out of my quart-sized liquids baggie. Isn’t skin weird? It’s elastically leather stuff that holds all of your blood and bones in. We would be soup without it! The stars suggest that, in order to satiate your curiosity, you should brutally murder your lover after you catch them cheating, then peel off their skin to figure out who they really are on the inside. Now that we have crisp fall weather, you can finally put away your army of fans. While it might be a whirlwind, you’ll be happy once it’s done. Afterward, you’ll be too exhausted to put away your summer clothes. That’s totally fair! The stars recommend wearing only your bathing suit outside. Drinking solves all of my problems in life, like my terrible driving ability and my math homework problems. I no longer have to do any homework because other people have started to do everything for me. I know you’re jealous. I don’t know how I feel about emails. Are they actually important? What makes something important? What is a thing? Who am I? How big is the universe? How many bodies do I sleep on? Did dinosaurs call each other names? Why is there no place to fill up your 40L water bottle in the Deece without angering everyone else? Think about these “things.”
LIBRA
September 23 | October 22
SCORPIO
October 23 | November 21
SAGITTARIUS
November 22 | December 21
CAPRICORN
December 22 | January 19
AQUARIUS
January 20 | February 18
PISCES
February 19 | March 20
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
I thought of an amazing business plan that I can’t wait to pitch to the sharks in the tank. I will sell poop popsicles made from healthy people’s poop. Apparently healthy people’s poops contain important microorganisms and bacteria that can actually cure disease. The slogan: Sometimes life just gives you a lot of crap. Did you know that eating too many vegetables (especially spinach) turns your poop green? Green poop seems like the epitome of unhealthy, so the stars advise you to never eat any and all vegetables. Treat them like they are your deadbeat dad who stole your life’s savings and is vacationing in Cabo. Sometimes I really need to go to the bathroom but I’m too lazy to get out of bed. I seriously consider letting the water flow because I’m so warm and cozy. If you have similar uncontrollable urges, then consider this: you will probably have to clean your sheets. Or just pee away, and don’t wash ’em. Be lazy. Here’s a horoscope sent in from my grandpa: “Back in my day, I couldn’t get enough of college. That’s actually where I met your grandma. College is an important time in your life to learn and grow. It’s too bad that this is the only time in your life that’ll you’ll be able to afford housing.” “I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain.” Now I’m wet and my throat is scratchy. I slosh in my shoes. *squeak squeak* Maybe I should buy an umbrella or a rain jacket. Can I borrow your umbrella? If you see me looking like a puddle, please save me. It’s hard to be alone during break. You’ve been worrying about intruders, people peeping through your keyhole and how your parents were already living together at your age. If I were on that schedule, I would be married in two years and having children in five. HELP. I don’t even have a lover.
SPORTS
Page 18
October 25, 2018
Chaotic tableau of Staples Center skirmish dissected Emmett O’Malley n the night of Saturday, Oct. 19, the National Basketball Association witnessed a fight. It was more than a Zaza Pachulia–esque “Hold
uncoiled, Harden was off balance, several feet away, startled. Another referee, Jason Phillips, saw Ingram shove Harden out of the way. Phillips immediately strode toward Ingram and assessed him a
Ingram, who had been standing with the dead-eyed Lonzo Ball at half court, charged in, stutter stepped and threw a punch over Rondo and Tucker towards Paul. The punch glanced off of Paul, and as Ingram reared up to strike
complex story. Perhaps we should be talking more about the fact that in 2009, the Boston Celtics’ Public Relations Department requested that reporters not ask Rondo any more questions about his
me back, bro” kind of fight. It was more than the generic “If you shove me one more time, we got a problem” altercation, the kind of scuffle that normally yields a couple of technical fouls and maybe a subtweet. Saturday night’s fight one-upped even the most vicious form of recent NBA violence—the Draymond Green groin kick. Saturday night’s fight was an actual fight. And, while in observing the Rockets/Lakers scrap we can learn plenty about the players involved, we might even be able to ascertain something about ourselves, too. The fight began after the Rockets’ James Harden drove to the basket in a way that anyone who has watched him for the past few years will recognize: He exploded past the first layer of defense, got back to his left hand, slowed his stride to brace for contact, absorbed the contact, flailed as if shot, recovered from the apparently brutal blow and finished the layup. All 110 pounds of the Lakers’ Brandon “The Human Zipper” Ingram ended up against the stanchion below the basket. A pretty normal sequence, all in all. Ingram—the pride of Kinston, North Carolina, and the pupil of the NBA’s most infamous 21st-century tough guy, Jerry Stackhouse—did not think it was normal. His rage seemed to be initially focused on the referee Derrick Collins. As Ingram made his way toward Collins, pleading his case, Harden sauntered into his path. As Ingram approached Harden, eyes still still fixed on Collins, he gave a truly phenomenal get-theheck-out-of-my-way shove to James Harden. It’s worth noting that Ingram has the wingspan of a full-grown pterodactyl, so by the time his arms
technical foul. This launched Ingram into a state of apoplexy. He got right in the face of Phillips, bearing down on him like the NBA’s most horrific incarnation of Slenderman. Noted NBA peacemaker Lance Stephenson rushed in, pulling Ingram away from Phillips. From there, things confusing, exciting, dangerous and telling. Chris Paul, the NBA’s version of a fire ant, made his way toward Phillips. (Paul, the president of the NBA Players’ Union, always takes on the role of pseudo-diplomat.) Rajon Rondo, a man who has made an illustrious career out of being cunning and enigmatic, also slid toward the referee. As Rondo and Paul entered the fracas, Phillips moved to one side of LeBron James, Ingram and Rondo’s teammate. Now amidst a group of nine individuals (three referees and six players), Rondo and Paul stood on the other side of James. With the same sort of magnetism that draws two last-weekend lovers together at a college party, Rondo and Paul found each other. By now, we know the partial truth of what transpired soon after Rondo and Paul came together: After exchanging seemingly mild words with Paul, Rondo subtly spit in the face of the Rockets’ guard. (Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was not. We may never know. I do not think that it was, for what it’s worth.) Paul immediately retaliated to the spit. He put his right index finger quite literally in Rondo’s face. Specifically, in his right eye. Rondo reared back and struck Paul’s nose with his left fist. Rondo swung again. Paul countered with an uppercut. A slew of players—Eric Gordon, Carmelo Anthony, PJ Tucker and James—began to try and separate the two brawling guards.
again, Anthony and Gordon restrained him. James dragged Paul over toward the baseline as a host of security guards and assistant coaches contained Rondo. Just over five seconds passed between when Rondo spit on Paul and when James dragged Paul to the baseline, ending the melee. In those five seconds, we saw a glimpse of how every individual involved reacts in times of intense turmoil. Maybe. There’s a quotation, often attributed to the philosopher Plato, that I think quite usefully describes this phenomena. The platitude, of which I am quite fond, goes something like this: “You can learn more about someone in an hour of play than in a lifetime of conversation.” This quotation is not always used in the most flattering of ways in reference to me, someone who is psychopathically competitive in any recreational sports activity. Nonetheless, I think there is real wisdom contained within these words. So what should our takeaways from these fateful five seconds be? Perhaps that Paul and Rondo are two of the most abrasive players in the NBA; or that Brandon Ingram is both exceptionally volatile and deeply loyal; or that LeBron James almost always behaves in a way that transcends the impulsivity of sports; or that Carmelo Anthony is irrelevant; or that Eric Gordon exists most effectively on the fringes of a contentious moment; or that PJ Tucker loves to get in the middle of conflict; or that Lonzo Ball is inescapably reticent. Or, perhaps that all of these things are true. But the supremacy of context, even in a moment as apparently unembellished and unconstrained as this one, can tell us a different, more
feud with Paul, which apparently had begun when Rondo chided Paul for never winning anything (a decade later, this is still true). Perhaps we should be talking more about the fact that James Ennis—who wasn’t even on the floor when the real fight broke out—clotheslined Josh Hart in the minutes before the melee. Perhaps we should be talking about all of the unintended consequences that bringing LeBron James to the Lakers entails: intensity, pressure, anticipation and excitement. Perhaps we should be acknowledging that throughout the game, the Rockets seemed to be trying to rattle Ingram—pushing him and prodding him, poking him and provoking him. Why stop there though? Perhaps we should be digging into the recent personal struggles of each player. Looking into their histories with violence. Deconstructing their families, their hometowns and their demography. Perhaps we should be conducting thorough psychoanalysis, and projecting what their behavior in this instance says about their future ability to foster healthy relationships. Or, perhaps we should just stop. Perhaps we should be quiet, admire the passion they put forth for the sake of their own fulfillment and our entertainment, and move on. The Staples Center Skirmish could be remembered as a turning point in the Los Angeles Lakers’ season, or it could be remembered as evidence of the team’s inevitable instability. I hope it’s the latter, but if anything is true in sports, it’s that fandom allows our own underlying emotional state to bubble through and color our understanding of the vicarious thrill of competition. Just try not to spit on anybody.
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D.C. United turnaround illustrates MLS’ structural flaws Desmond Curran Guest Columnist
T
Courtesy of dcnerd via Flickr
he perfect storm has been brewing in the streets of Washington, D.C.—and no, this storm is not tremendously big and tremendously wet. This storm is black and red and threatens more than just eastern coastal cities. A new stadium, the return of a capable defensive midfielder and goalkeeper and the signing of Wayne Rooney have all had a hand in D.C. United’s complete turnaround in Major League Soccer (MLS). At the start of June, United sat dead last in the standings, so tepid and dilapidated that even qualification for the MLS playoffs seemed out of the question. Yet this past Sunday, Oct. 21, the team beat New York City FC to earn itself a playoff berth, with a game to spare. This miraculous turnaround has placed the rest of the league on alert; not only are D.C.’s new signings dangerous, but the entire team is also red hot and on a roll. What D.C.’s success has highlighted is that MLS is far more forgiving of missteps and poor form than other professional leagues. For a team that won just two of their first 16 games and sat dead last in the league in June to turn around over the next couple months and make the playoffs suggests that the first half of the MLS season might as well be irrelevant. The opening few months of D.C.’s campaign were essentially an extended warm up for the team as they awaited the opening of the new stadium and the club’s new signings. This lack of bite—this lack of cut-throat competitiveness throughout the season—leaves room for complacency. While I’m sure that no team in the MLS ever approaches a game with the mindset of “We’re doing well right now, it wouldn’t hurt us if we lost this one game,” the
The opening of the brand-new, soccer-specific Audi Field in July helped flip the trajectory of D.C. United’s season. United, who in June sat dead last in the standings, earned a playoff spot on Oct. 21. amount of wiggle room does seem to diminish the level of competition. What if the league eliminated this wiggle room? Would MLS be more competitive and entertaining? I believe so. Look at the English Premier League (EPL) for comparison: The EPL markets itself as the most competitive league in the world. This is, in all likelihood, true. The “top six”—Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea—always form the group of assumed title contenders, and between these six teams the competition is always fierce and unforgiving. But even these six are not guaranteed the ti-
tle. In 2016, an outsider, Leicester City—previously a mid to low-level club—famously won the Premier League against almost insurmountable odds. But even then, Leicester had to wait until their penultimate game of the season to secure the title. Every single game in Leicester’s title-winning season was crucial—had the team faltered at any stage, they would not have accomplished their miraculous feat. MLS lacks this environment of relentless competition. Part of this absence may be due to the existence of the playoffs themselves. Unlike the majority of other professional soccer leagues, the “regular season” in the MLS is merely the prerequisite jostling for coveted playoff berths.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
A single-elimination bracket then declares the champion. Theoretically, playoffs offer the best teams over the course of the season a blank slate and pits them against one another to determine a champion. What the theory fails to take into account, however, is that wildly inconsistent teams can squeeze in at the end. This is exactly what D.C. United is doing. Rather than building steam over the course of the season, maintaining consistent form and earning a spot in the playoffs, United has somehow passed the test after pulling an all-nighter—and not without some serious help. First of all, moving to the brand-new Audi field gave United a new home and fresh confidence. Second, the return of Russell Canouse and Bill Hamid solidified a United defense which had been leaky at best during the first half of the season. Finally, and most importantly, the signing of “el Señor Wayne” (as teammate Luciano Acosta affectionately calls Wayne Rooney) radically improved the team’s overall performance in the past three months. D.C. United is the only unbeaten team in the MLS since Sept. 1. Their place in the playoffs seems a just reward for such an impressive streak. However, this bounty derives from a playoff system that appears overwhelmingly generous and forgiving when compared with other professional leagues. As soccer lovers look to develop and grow the game in the United States, we should take the concerns about the level of competition in MLS raised by D.C.’s remarkable turnaround seriously. The red and black United storm has brought excitement to D.C. and the league in general, yet we should question the merits of a system in which such remarkable about-faces are possible.
October 25, 2018
SPORTS
Page 19
Brewers In Action
Courtesy of Nick Jallat
Courtesy of Nick Jallat
The men’s rugby team carries a 4-1 record into this weekend’s Central Divison Championship match on the Farm against Monroe, whom the Brewers defeated 29-15 earlier this season.
The women’s cross country team, ranked 27th in the country, took the top spot in the Seven Sisters Championship on Oct. 14, led by sophomore Hannah Martin’s second-place finish overall.
VC soccer’s big day sees wins over Hobart, William Smith SOCCER continued from page 1
right foot but placed his shot just wide of the far post. Hobart began the second half brightest, but in the 61st minute, sophomore Austin Lukasik broke free down the right side and whipped in a pinpoint cross to the back post, where it met the forehead of junior Mattie Mrlik. Mrlik’s third goal of the season sent him celebrating to the rapturous Vassar bench, while Lukasik pointedly jumped and gestured in front of the Hobart team. Down one, Hobart pushed forward. For the final 30 minutes, tackles flew in from both teams, the game enlivened by the opening goal. The Statesmen flooded into the Vassar box, wave upon wave, but the Brewer backline held firm, led by Collins and senior Tyler Gilmore. As Hobart desperately pressed for an equalizer in the closing seconds, Vassar first-year Nathan Logan picked up a misplayed clearance and, one on one with the Hobart keeper, calmly finished for his first career goal. Just seconds later, the whistle
blew. 2-0 final. It was a historic result for the Brewers. “It’s great, especially against Hobart,” attested Collins. “I mean, [we’d] never beaten them in our four years here, so it’s a really great win for us.” While on the men’s side the team’s seniors had never beaten Hobart, on the women’s side, the program itself had never beaten William Smith (Hobart and William Smith Colleges are virtually one college, linked in all but name and history). A draw in 2010 was Vassar’s only result against William Smith in 20 previous games. Furthermore, the Herons of William Smith came into the day ranked seventh nationally and undefeated in the Liberty League. In the four years that the current class of seniors has been at Vassar, their best result was a 2-0 loss in the Liberty League finals last season. Understandably, the Herons began the day as presumptive favorites. This may have helped the Brewers, according to senior captain Dahlia Chroscinski: “We definitely had an underdog mentality, which I think we thrive with,” she said.
The match kicked off in Geneva, NY, at the same time as the men’s reverse fixture. The play began evenly, with Vassar outshooting William Smith 8-6 in the first half. The Herons had the better chances early, but it was Vassar sophomore Skylar Herrera-Ross who tallied the game’s first goal, pouncing on a rebound in the 38th minute. In the second half—the favored Herons now down a goal—what had been a relatively even contest flipped on its axis. The Heron attack pinned the Brewers back, forcing them to defend desperately. After failing to win any corners in the first half, William Smith earned nine in the second. The second half saw the Herons rack up a staggering 19 shots. Yet the Brewer defense held firm, the team surviving the second-half siege largely thanks to a career-high 15 saves from sophomore goalkeeper Fiona Walsh. What allowed the underdog Brewers to cling to a one-goal lead? “Grit,” answered Chroscinski. “It came down to heart. They underestimated us, and once we got one in on them and took ad-
vantage of one of their mistakes, that definitely messed with them psychologically.” The victory over powerhouse William Smith—the first in program history—provides a boost for the Brewers as they near the end of the regular season and look toward the postseason. Chroscinski reasoned: “Knowing we have the power to do that and knowing that we can match any team’s competitiveness and skill, I think the next two games we should be able to come out strong the way we played against them and secure a good spot in playoffs.” It was a momentous day for Vassar soccer. The women’s 1-0 away win against William Smith and the men’s 2-0 home win versus Hobart both marked significant firsts for the teams and set them up for a successful home stretch. While senior captains Collins and Chroscinski stressed the importance of looking forward for their respective groups, it was Baliat who perhaps best captured the mood of both teams after their victories. “It was a big win,” he said, “and we’re going to celebrate tonight.”
Courtesy of Nick Jallat
Courtesy of Nick Jallat
Facing off against seventh-ranked William Smith, sophomore Skylar Herrera-Ross jumped on a rebound in the 38th minute, scoring the game’s lone goal as the Brewers held on for a 1-0 victory.
In the 61st minute of the men’s Senior Day match versus Hobart, junior Mattie Mrlik headed in Vassar’s first goal en route to a 2-0 win. For the seniors, it was their first time beating rival Hobart.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
SPORTS
Page 20
October 25, 2018
Athlete Spotlight: Field hockey’s Ally Aquilina-Piscitello
Sport: Field hockey. Where do you call home? Lexington, MA. What’s your major? Double major in political science and psychology. What else do you do on campus? I’m a tour guide! And HYPE whenever I can. Who was your favorite athlete growing up? David Ortiz. What’s your favorite building on campus, and why? New England!! It has the best classrooms and professors (and also the best bathrooms and water). What’s your best Deece hack?
The desserts are the best at lunch, and go to dinner at 5:30 to beat the rush. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you pick? Whoopie pies. Who’s your celebrity crush? Bradley Cooper. What’s been your most-listened-to artist or album in the last couple weeks? “Everything is Love” by the Carters. (It hypes me up for games.) Who is one person from history you’d like to have dinner with, and why? Oscar Wilde, because he embodied so many qualities that were seen as outrageous at the time, and he wrote dramatic, flamboyant plays that were seen as so scandalous. I would love to be able to experience him in his time.
What’s one thing about you people would be surprised to know? I’ve been addicted to Burt’s Bees chapstick since seventh grade. When and why did you start playing field hockey? I started in middle school. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to play because at the time I only liked lacrosse, but my mom made me. Why Vassar? The balance of academics and athletics, but also the small class sizes and the close prof-student relationships! What’s your favorite memory from playing field hockey at Vassar? Being [nationally] ranked for the first time and beating #6 Rochester last week. What have been the keys to your team’s
great success so far? Hard work, Grit and Determination. What are your team goals for the rest of the season? Win Liberty League and on to NCAAs! What do you like most about the being a student-athlete at VC? I like that it gives me a strict schedule and a group of best friends that know exactly what it’s like to have a tough schedule and physically demanding practices. What’s one piece of advice for first-years? Get involved in activities at Vassar, because having common goals with other people is what really solidifies your relationships with your best friends. Any last words? Awesome! Go Brewers!
Courtesy of Ally Aquilina-Piscitello
Courtesy of Ally Aquilina-Piscitello
Only a sophomore, Aquilina-Piscitello has played the fourth-most minutes on the team for the 141-0 Brewers this year, a key contributor on a defense that’s allowed only seven goals all season.
When she’s not on the field, Ally “AP” can be found leading tour groups around campus, scheming in the Deece and having her last name misspelled, all while compulsively applying Burt’s Bees.
Men’s Soccer
Women’s Volleyball
Vassar College 2, Hobart College 0
Vassar College 2, Ithaca College 3
October 20, 2018
October 20, 2018
Vassar College #
Player
Hobart College
S H SOG G A
#
Player
Vassar College
S H SOG G A
#
Player
Ithaca College
K
A
DIG
#
Player
K
A
DIG
0
0
0
0
1
Kaminer
0
0
0
0
2
Ninkovich
7
0
5
3
Floyd
4
62
1 3
2
Marment Bow
1
0
0
0
2
Barnes
0
0
0
0
4
MacMillan
1
41
15
10
Evans
13
1
3
3
Gilmore
2
1
0
0
7
Emmanuel
0
0
0
0
6
Ehnstrom
9
0
2
16
Stone
37
1
18
4
Curran
0
0
0
0
9
Acheampong
1
0
0
0
7
Gallagher
11
0
14
19
Adler
0
0
1 1
6
Goldsmith
0
0
0
0
10
Farmen
0
0
0
0
11
Kerbs
3
0
0
5
Hayashi
0
1
10
7
Stansell
0
0
0
0
16
Wigglesworth
1
0
0
0
15
McLeod
12
0
3
8
Runyon
0
0
1
8
Olsson
1
0
0
0
19
Martini
4
3
0
0
1
Schreeder
0
1
15
12
Stilwell
0
5
40
17
Baliat
1
0
0
0
21
Critchlow
1
0
0
0
10
Zucchero
0
1
25
17
Dyson
2
0
2
19
Collins
0
0
0
0
23
Kriak
1
0
0
0
12
Bialek
0
0
5
4
Lipton
6
0
2
21
Lukasik
0
0
0
1
25
Weisbein
0
0
0
0
1
McCarthy
1
0
5
22
Mrlik
3
1
1
0
27
Mangold
0
0
0
0
2
Hershberger 6
0
0
7
Jennison
5
0
3
Totals.......
74
70
108
1
Totals.......
Goalie Marment
Minutes 90:00
11
4
2
1
11
Totals.......
3
0
0
GA
Saves
Goalie
Minutes
GA
Saves
0
3
Kaminer
90:00
2
2
Totals.......
Set:
43
43
84
1
2
3
4
5
36
14
25
20
7
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Set:
1
2
3
4
5
34
25
22
25
15