Misc 11.15.18

The Miscellany News

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Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Volume CLI | Issue 10

November 15, 2018

Diabetes in daily life recounted

Scholar discusses Murakami

Frankie Knuckles

Jessica Moss

Assistant Features Editor

Copy Editor

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her cozy chair, she lets the audience into not only her academic mind, but also her personal one.

To that end, she refuses to spend her time on stage giving conventional lectures. Instead, she reads short excerpts of her writing (on See LECTURE on page 7

See MURAKAMI on page 5

On Nov. 2, writer and feminist Roxane Gay presented the annual William Starr Lecture. She read excerpts from her essays and answered students’ questions on topics such as identity and politics.

Roxane Gay delivers Starr lecture Holly Shulman

Assistant Arts Editor

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h, this is so quaint. Everything is so old.” That is how Roxane Gay, renowned author and 2018 William Starr Lecturer, described Vassar on See DIABETES on page 10 Wednesday, Nov. 3. Sitting in an

armchair at the front of the Chapel, she leaned her head casually on her arm, used to these types of events and “quaint,” “old” campuses.

This casual, conversational structure is what makes Gay’s lecture series so unique. From

E

xploring the nature of humanity is a common thread throughout many literary works. However, the pervasiveness of this theme does not detract from the singularity of each works’ conclusion.

Such interpretations tend to reflect a profound understanding of humankind, often informed by the author’s personal experiences.

Haruki Murakami is an internationally best-selling author who ponders these questions about humanity and its relationship with nature and society in his works.

Consisting of novels, short story collections, an illustrated novella and several works of nonfiction, Murakami’s writings have become noteworthy in the milieu of modern literary life and have been translated into over 50 languages (“Author,” harukimurakami.com).

On Thursday, Nov. 8, in Taylor Hall, Professor Emeritus of Japa-

Holly Shulman/The Miscellany News

n the morning of Nov. 1, 2018, I draft a Facebook post, proclaiming that we are now in Diabetes Awareness Month. I tell my friends to educate themselves about the disease with which I live every month. Last year around this time, I wrote an article for The Miscellany News detailing a day’s worth of diabetes routine. Not much has changed since, and that’s why I want to repeat the exercise; diabetes affects someone, relentlessly, every year. So, I am once again opening a window into the diabetes side of my brain.

I wake up at 8:24 a.m., minutes before my alarm, feeling weird.

My Dexcom (a continuous glucose monitor that measures my blood sugar at five-minute intervals) displays an error message, so I use my old-school glucometer and, sure enough, my blood

College reports Campus Men’s b-ball focuses on present Climate Survey findings Dean Kopitsky Columnist

Noah Purdy

Contributing Editor

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Inside this issue

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ARTS

Mollusk photography anything but a “snailure”

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he Vassar men’s basketball team is set to begin another season this weekend. Their 2018–2019 campaign kicks off with a home opener against the New Rochelle Angels this Friday, Nov. 16, at 7 p.m. The new-look Brewers hope to build on last season’s success with fresh faces on and off the bench.

The Brewers ended last season with an appearance in the Liberty League tournament, but the tournament berth was an unlikely testament to the grittiness of last year’s squad. After starting the season winless through the first eight games, the Brewers rallied, eventually qualifying for the Liberty League playoffs.

The turnaround was in part thanks to the resolve of the group.

Starting behind the eight ball meant the Brewers had to win more games with higher stakes.

But the team, led by senior and captain Jesse Browne—who averaged 15.6 points a game—went 7-1 in conference play in the second half of the season.

The comeback culminated in a win over Ithaca College and a sub-

Courtesy of Joe Clifford

ollowing the completion of the survey commissioned by the Engaged Pluralism Initiative (EPI) last spring, the College reported on its findings this week.

On Tuesday, Nov. 13, President of the College Elizabeth Bradley sent a summary of the results of the Campus Climate Survey, conducted by Rankin & Associates.

In her message, Bradley expressed, “I am thankful to those of you who completed the survey, and it has identified several areas of campus life that deserve more attention” (“Report on Campus Climate Survey,” 11.13.2018). She noted, however, that a mere 33 percent of those surveyed completed the survey—1,135 in total—leading to overand under-representations in the views participants expressed.

Bradley went on to highlight key findings. Overall, student respondents identifying as transgender and non-cis, students of color, students with disabilities and first-generation and low-income students reported lower levels of comfort on campus. Approximate-

ly one-third of respondents indicated instances of exclusion.

Additionally, according to Bradley, faculty, administrator and staff respondents reported high levels of feeling valued, though all three groups also indicated instances of exclusion or not belonging.

Further findings can be found in Bradley’s report, published on the Office of the President website.

Additionally, Rankin & Associates presented conclusions from those Vassar community members they surveyed at two information sessions on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

In her message, Bradley reflected, “This information is a call...to work harder at fostering a campus where we encourage dialogue and provide the needed resources to fully report and resolve exclusionary...offensive, or hostile actions.”

Bradley commended much of the work of the College and the EPI groups in increasing these resources. Her report mentioned efforts to create new inclusive community spaces as well as to increase and improve leadership development, bias awareness training and general structures that promote inclusion.

After an offseason filled with changes, the VC men’s basketball team will rely on experienced seniors such as Paul Grinde (pictured above) See BASKETBALL on page 18 to lead the way. Grinde averaged 14.3 points per game last year.

Unreasonable demands create “drama” OPINIONS in department

16 HUMOR

Strong house haunting and taunting dampen “spirits”

The Miscellany News

Page 2

November 15, 2018

It’s that time again.....

The Miscellany News Leadership Elections!

Editor-in-Chief Talya Phelps

Senior Editor

Executive Board elections: November 14

Leah Cates

Contributing Editors

Noah Purdy Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson Laila Volpe

Ed Board applications due: November 26

Features Opinions Humor and Satire Arts Sports Design Outreach Copy

Ed Board elections: November 28 Contact misc@vassar.edu for more info!

The Miscellany News 15

November

Thursday

Music on the Bridge Series 12:00 p.m. | Bridge Cafe | Music Dept.

15th Annual Hirsch Lecture 5:30 p.m. | RH 300-Auditorium | Office for Accessibility/ Educational Opportunity

Uber, Public Transit, and the Idiocy of the Smart City 6:00 p.m. | RH 300-Auditorium | Earth Science and Geography Dept.

VRDT Final Showings 7:00 p.m. | KH Dance Theatre | Dance Dept.

The Happy-ish Marriage: Couples’ Expectations, Experience, and Therapy in America 7:00 p.m. | TH 203-Auditorium | American Studies Dept.

Weekender_ 16

November

Friday

Priorities & Planning World Cafe 11:30 a.m. | CC 223-Multi Purpose Room | Science Planning Committee

Basketball (M) Kickoff Tournament - Vassar vs. New Rochelle

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November

Saturday

Rugby Playoffs

9:30 a.m. | RH 211 | AA Poughkeepsie

9:45 a.m. | Prentiss Old Practice Field | Athletics

Rugby Playoffs

Fencing (M/W) Matt Lampell Invite

9:45 a.m. | Prentiss Old Practice Field | Athletics

Squash (M) vs. Bard, Smith and U of R (Women)

10:00 a.m. | Walker Bays | Athletics

10:00 a.m. | KH Squash Courts | Athletics

Vassar College Choir: Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor K. 427

6:00 p.m. | EH AULA | South Asian Students Alliance (SASA)

World Cup

2:00 p.m. | SH Martel Recital Hall | Music Dept.

VRDT Final Showings

Mal Engine

6:45 p.m. | KH Dance Theater | Dance Dept.

2:00 p.m. | The Shiva | Unbound

The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

VRDT Final Showings

7:00 p.m. | Fit Center Gym | Athletics

Dinner of Festivals

8:00 p.m. | Black Box Theatre | Drama Dept.

12:00 p.m. | Joss Beach | VISA 9:00 p.m. | Rose Parlor | The Miscellany News

8:00 p.m. | Black Box Theatre | Drama Dept.

8:00 p.m. | Black Box Theatre | Drama Dept.

9:00 p.m. | Villard Room | Big Night In

Mal Engine

Nov. 15 Showcase

International Mug Night

8:00 p.m. | The Shiva | Unbound

8:00 p.m. | The Mug | Vassar Students MusiciansUnion

10:00 p.m. | The Mug | VISA

Rocky Horror Picture Show

10:00 p.m. | RH 200-Auditorium | FWA

Courtesy of Vassar Athletics

Pajama Jam

Mal Engine

Paper Critique

A Mis-Cast Cabaret

Rocky Horror Picture Show 11:45 p.m. | SC 212-Spitzer Auditorium | No Such Organization

Frankie Knuckles Lilly Tipton Patrick Tanella Chris Allen

Reporters Duncan Aronson Abby Tarwater Columnists Catherine Bither Isabella Boyne Jimmy Christon Christian Flemm Jesser Horowitz Dean Kopitsky Izzy Migani Emmett O’Malley Sylvan Perlmutter Holly Shulman Blair Webber Copy Anna Blake Natalie Bober Samantha Cavagnolo Madeline Seibel Dean Amanda Herring Phoebe Jacoby Anastasia Koutavas Lucy Leonard Francesca Lucchetti Caitlin Patterson Gillian Redstone Cartoonist Frank

6:45 p.m. | KH Dance Theater | Dance Dept.

8:00 p.m. | The Shiva | Unbound

10:00 p.m. | SC 212-Spitzer Auditorium | No Such Organization

18

Sunday November

Students of Sobriety Group

The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Assistant Features Assistant Design Assistant Social Media Assistant Online

Andrea Yang Steven Park Hannah Gaven Izzy Braham Myles Olmsted Rose Parker Kimberly Nguyen Teddy Chmyz Jessica Moss

Vassar’s fencing teams will don their masks and raise their swords in the Matt Lampell Invite on Sunday, Nov. 18.

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

November 15, 2018

Page 3

Acclaimed author Maggie Nelson delivers Gifford lecture Meghan Hayfield Guest Reporter

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n Thursday, Nov. 8, acclaimed writer and poet Maggie Nelson delivered the annual Gifford Lecture. Nelson was awarded the MacArthur “Genius” Grant in 2016 and the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for poetry in 2011. The author of more than nine books, spanning autobiography, poetry and theory, Nelson explores a variety of themes such as art, queerness, feminism, sexual violence and nontraditional families.

What is most remarkable about Nelson’s writing is its fluidity between genres. Each of Nelson’s nine books stands as a testament to this breadth: Nelson has written “Bluets,” a philosophical and poetic narrative on the color blue; two books chronicling the murder and subsequent murder trial of her aunt, “Jane: A Murder” and “The Red Parts,” respectively; and an art theory book titled “The Art of Cruelty.”

Nelson’s 2015 book, “The Argonauts,” a New York Times Notable Book that earned her a National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, details her experience with queer parentage and bodies in transition. First-year Victor Hom, who read “The Argonauts,” said he appreciated Nelson’s candor.

Hom reflected on Nelson’s topical range: “It was interesting because the way she writes, it doesn’t feel like she’s hiding anything—she’ll talk about sex and everything freely.”

“The Argonauts” is the book that launched Nelson into stardom. The memoir follows Nelson’s partner’s gender transition, which coincided with Nelson’s pregnancy. As

Ae n a K h a n In this week’s headlines...

A week after election day, the 2018 midterm elections have not yet ended. Democrats successfully took back control of the House of Representatives with a 227 to 198 majority, while Republicans maintained control of the Senate. Likewise, Democrats were able to flip several gubernatorial seats, such as Wisconsin’s, and to gain seats in state legislatures in previously deeply red and borderline Republican areas, such as in North Carolina and New York, respectively. However, votes are still being counted: In Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams faces pressure to concede to Bryan Kemp, who already declared his victory, despite thousands of uncounted votes. In Arizona, Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema led against Martha McSally, taking the seat vacated by outgoing Senator Jeff Flake. In Florida, the Secretary of State ordered recounts in the races for governor and senators (The New York Times, “2018 Midterm Election Results: Live,” 11.11.2019).

Congress will welcome a record number of women in three months’ time, including the youngest woman to ever serve in Congress with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY.16), the two first Muslim women in Congress with Ilhan Omar (D-MN.5) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI.13) and the two first Native American women in Congress with Deb Haaland (D-NM.1) and Sharice Da-

First-year student David Petersen reflected, “[‘The Argonauts’ provides an] interesting flash perspective on different things.”

“It’s a very in-your-face book—the first paragraph talks about anal sex,” Petersen elaborated. “It’s very open and it is self-reflexive. At one point Harry, Nelson’s partner, critiques the original version of ‘The Argonauts,’ as Maggie Nelson interprets their trans experience.”

Hom also noted the unique writing style Nelson employes in “The Argonauts”: “I’ve never met an author before, and it definitely feels like her personality had a lot to do with her work, so it was interesting to hear her talk about her life.”

Through this nontraditional form, Nelson analyzes what it means to not conform—neither to societal standards nor the rules of writing.

In considering Nelson’s body of work, and specifically her writing in “The Argonauts,” Professor of English Amitava Kumar stated, “Endlessly self-reflexive, Nelson returns the reader again and again to the scene of writing, and in doing this, she achieves a hybrid form that makes nearly transparent how language and mind and bodies, not to mention bodies in transition, are linked.”

Kumar introduced Nelson before her lecture on Thursday, and quoted from his response, “A Model for the Future,” to The Chronicle Review’s inquiry into the most meaningful book of the last 20 years. “‘The Argonauts’ is going to be a model for a lot of writing we will see in literary studies, feminist studies, queer studies, and allied fields,” Kumar read. “I have singled Nelson out, but if one thinks of other writers, like

Claudia Rankine and Fred Moten, it becomes clear that we are talking here of a collective shift, something like a revolution.”

At the lecture, Nelson read an excerpt from “The Argonauts” and previewed her next work, which is about the art world.

Nelson also discussed how her writing process has changed over the years: She spoke of writing on subways, envelopes and while drunk in her 20s in New York City; now, she said, she must write in silence.

Throughout her reading and in her answers to the questions that followed, Nelson carried with her a sense of perspective on life and art.

“Art is not the place to take cover,” Nelson asserted. “Art is like having a nail file and being in jail and trying to get out.”

As Kumar stated, Nelson’s writing holds in it the future. He elaborated, “I think academic writing, in the future, cannot continue to be [a] dull, solemn exercise in providing footnotes. Academic writing will have to be inventive, engage a wider public, and it can also be pleasurable, which is all that her writing teaches us.”

Kumar continued, “Any piece of writing, even when she’s telling the story of her aunt’s murder, is also an exercise in the art of form.”

The experimental and boundary-pushing blurring of genres is thus a phenomenon to which Nelson has contributed significantly.

“Well, any writer introduces students to art, to writing, but Maggie is special because she’s blurring the line always in my mind between criticism and creative writing,” Kumar said.

Kumar spoke of the two books Nelson

wrote about her aunt, who, as a student at the University of Michigan, was abducted and killed in the late 1960s. Nelson’s “Jane: A Murder” is an investigation into the killing.

While Nelson was writing “Jane,” new evidence reopened the investigation, prompting “The Red Parts,” a memoir reporting on the trial.

“There’s a general inventiveness in how one reports on this, in how I said, memoir, poetry and investigation into a homicide,” Kumar said. “That mixing is what I think is very exciting about her work.”

Held in Taylor Hall 102, this year’s Gifford Lecture drew a nearly full audience, with dozens also lining up after Nelson’s speech for a book signing. The Gifford Lecture is held annually as part of the William Gifford Fund for Visiting Writers. Former students and friends established the fund to honor Gifford’s career at Vassar, where he was a professor of English. The fund brings distinguished writers to campus in order to ensure that future generations of Vassar students experience Gifford’s commitment to the English Department and the craft of writing.

In this way, the wide scope of Nelson’s commitment to the many facets of her craft fit the goal of the Gifford Fund well. Her demonstrated reflections on the roles of art and her perspective on personal intimacy and formal experimentation provided a relevant model to interested students and attendees of a creative approach to writing, and even an intimation, as Kumar reflected, of where it is headed. To this end, Nelson offered her one piece of advice for aspiring writers, urging, “Stay very close to everything that makes you feel very curious.”

vids (D-KS.3) (The Washington Examiner, “13 women who made history by being elected to Congress this week,” 11.7.2018).

Jeff Sessions resigned as Attorney General of the United States this past Wednesday, Nov. 7. The diction he used in his letter of resignation indicated that he did not willingly leave the position and that President Trump forced his hand in the decision.

Trump replaced Sessions with long-time Trump loyalist and Chief of Staff for the Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker in a move that is causing concerns over the future of the inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney, has in the past openly questioned the legitimacy of the Russia investigation.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein led the investigation after Sessions recused himself from the role in 2017, a decision for which Trump has repeatedly denounced Sessions (The New York Times, “Jeff Sessions Is Forced Out as Attorney General as Trump Installs Loyalist,” 11.7.2018).

The Democratic Party now finds itself struggling to choose the next Speaker of the House after successfully re-establishing its majority during the midterm elections. Many newly elected candidates have hesitated commenting on—some outright denouncing—Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Democratic House minority leader for the past several sessions of Congress, as the next Speaker. If voted in, she will be the first person to regain the position of Speaker since Sam Rayburn (D-TX) did in 1955.

Pelosi has made it clear that she believes she engineered many winning strategies for the Democrats in house races this past election season, and no clear alternate contender has come forward (Washington Post, “‘Know the power to win:’ Pelosi engineers a House Democratic comeback,” 11.7.2018).

Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah has seen intensified fighting between Iranbacked Houthi rebels and the Saudi coalition, and medical staff have been forced to flee. The U.S. has renewed its call for a ceasefire as the United Nations attempts to provide aid and end the civil war that has cost over 10,000 lives and resulted in one of the worst famines of the last century.

Shelling and hospital ransacks have become commonplace in Hodeidah as the Houthis seek to reinforce their control over the city, through which 80 percent of the country’s food imports and relief supplies enter. The Saudi coalition hopes that by ending the Houthi presence in Hodeidah, it will cut off the main supply source and force the latter group to enter negotiations (“The Guardian, Fighting in Yemen city of Hodeidah reaches residential streets,” 11.11.2018).

On the 100th anniversary of the World War One armistice in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech denouncing the nationalism that triggered the Great War and that is now bubbling up in populist states. Present at the function in Paris were Trump, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin. Macron beseeched these leaders to “fight for peace” and avoid the nationalism that was a “betrayal of patriotism” in stamping out “the most precious thing a nation has—its moral values.”

Merkel reflected the same sentiment in her own statements at the Paris Peace Forum on Sunday afternoon in the presence of Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Trump, a self-proclaimed nationalist, did not attend the peace conference and left for the United States. He also cancelled a visit to a veterans’ cemetery, citing bad weather (BBC, “Armistice Day: Macron urges world leaders to reject nationalism,” 11.11.2018).

Approximately two years after the Rohingya genocide began, Myanmar officials

stated on Sunday, Nov. 11, that they would be ready to receive more than 2,000 Rohingya survivors currently seeking shelter in Bangladesh out of a total of 5,000, as per an agreement between the two countries.

However, there is a growing list of returnees who refuse to return to the Rakhine state from which they were forced to flee due to mass murders and pillaging by the Myanmar military, and Bengali officials will not force them to return. Additionally, the UN has stated that repatriation is not yet safe, and some 700,000 refugees are still displaced (Reuters, “Myanmar prepares for first Rohingya returnees, but U.N. warns against rushing,” 11.11.2018).

In international news...

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

In our backyard...

New York State has returned to Democratic control as the State Senate, Assembly and governorship are now all held

by Democrats. Incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo won a third term against Republican challenger Marc Molinaro, winning by nearly 1.3 million votes, and he will now have the support of Senator and Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and of a new Democrat-majority State Legislature in enacting abortion rights and gun control in the state (The Poughkeepsie Journal, “Andrew Cuomo won big and has a new powerful ally. What will he do now?” 11.9.2018).

With regard to national races centered around New York State, Kirsten Gillibrand won another term as the junior United States Senator from New York.

Likewise, Antonio Delgado won the election to serve as the Congressional Representative for District 19—in which Vassar is located—beating incumbent Republican John Faso (The Poughkeepsie Journal, “5 takeaways: Delgado talks transparency, push for greater health care access in first term,” 11.9.2018).

NEWS

Page 4

November 15, 2018

Election viewing encourages student political engagement Rachel Yang

Guest Reporter

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Hannah Gaven/The Miscellany News Hannah Gaven/The Miscellany News

n Tuesday, Nov. 6, voters flocked to polls across the country, eager to have their voices heard. That night, Vassar students gathered in the Aula, where the VC Democrats, Vassar Women in Foreign Politics and Democracy Matters hosted an election night viewing party. These orgs provided a space for students to watch the CNN coverage of the midterm election results while enjoying pizza and the company of their peers.

Even at the beginning of the event, the room was buzzing with excitement. The students at the event were engaged in discussions about the political landscape and the representatives being elected. Only a few students used their open phones and laptops to complete assignments. Instead, the majority of them were researching representatives who were running for office or polling results as they came in.

Viewers were eager to see how their votes had impacted the country.

After the event, both attendees and organizers had overwhelmingly positive things to say about the turnout and the conversations that transpired. According to members of the Vassar Democrats executive board Cecilia Bobbitt ’19, Yase Smallens ’20, Josie Schermerhorn ’21, Clara Schaeffer ’21, Ivanna Guerra Navarro ’20 and Claire Brigden ’21 in an emailed statement, “The Aula was filled until we starting cleaning up at 11:45 p.m., a successful event in our opinion. Regardless of the results, we created a space for the Vassar community to come together. We believe that most people left the election watch

party feeling more hopeful for a progressive future.”

Attendee Tessa Charles ’22 reflected on the gathering: “The atmosphere of the viewing party was so hopeful and welcoming. I loved how supportive everyone was in making sure people had the opportunity to vote!” The supportive environment encouraged students to engage in open discussions about the elections, which represents a crucial step in making sure that every young person is an active political participant.

The event showcased Vassar students’ extensive political participation and awareness, which attendee Laura Vidano ’21 suggested is indicative of the type of commitment that will be seen from young people throughout the coming years. Vidano explained, “Everywhere I went on election day, people were talking about the election. I kept hearing people saying they just voted, reminding each other to vote.

After hearing for so long about how young people aren’t engaged in the political process, the energy on campus during this election has given me a lot of hope for the future.”

The organizations involved encouraged students to continue these conversations.

One such way students can do so is by attending the weekly meetings of VC Democrats, Vassar Women in Foreign Politics and Democracy Matters, each of which provides attendees space to engage in political discussions. The continuation of these discussions, in cultivating increased voter participation, is a crucial step toward altering the political landscape to reflect young people’s voices.

News Briefs Jeff Session resigns On Nov. 7, 2018, President Trump forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign from his role, which he had held since Feb. 8, 2017. Sessions has been replaced by Matthew Whitaker, his chief of staff since Sept. 2017 and a Trump supporter.

Sessions’ forced resignation was not shocking, as Trump expressed his anger following Sessions’ recusal from the investigation of Russia’s alleged role in influencing the 2016 presidential election. In the months leading up to Sessions’ resignation, Trump had expressed his displeasure toward Sessions, calling him a “beleaguering” attorney general in a tweet from July (USA Today, Jeff Sessions is out as Attorney General: Here’s what we know,” 11.07.2018).

In his resignation letter, Sessions wrote, “Since the day I was honored to be sworn in as Attorney General of the United States, I came to work at the Department of Justice every day determined to do my duty and serve my country. I have done so to the best of my ability, working to support the fundamental legal processes that are the foundation of justice” (New York Times, “Jeff Sessions Is Forced Out as Attorney General as Trump Installs Loyalist,” 11.07.2018).

Sessions was an early Trump supporter in his role as a senator from Alabama, helping Trump form his agenda and acting as his campaign foreign policy advisor. Trump subsequently nominated Sessions for the role of Attorney General, and Sessions was sworn in on Feb. 8, 2017.

Their relationship became strained after it was revealed that Sessions had met with

then–Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak while working with the Trump campaign, even though Sessions had announced under oath that he had never had contact with Russian officials. Following this revelation, Sessions recused himself from the investigation into Russia’s possible interference in the 2016 election.

Trump was reportedly “furious” at the recusal (Intelligencer, “The Complete History of President Trump’s Feud with Jeff Sessions,” 11.07.2018). “Sessions should have never recused himself and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Trump told The New York Times (CNN, “Sessions out as Attorney General,” 11.07.2018).

Whitaker, Sessions’ successor, is an Iowa native who began his career as a federal prosecutor. He served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa under the Bush administration and, most recently, as Chief of Staff under Sessions before being promoted to Attorney General (New York Times, “Matthew Whitaker: An Attack Dog With Ambition Beyond Protecting Trump,” 11.09.2018).

Whitaker will now lead the investigation into Russia, and White House aides have predicted that he will defend Trump in the investigation. According to The New York Times, “Mr. Whitaker will rein in any report summarizing Mr. Mueller’s investigation and will not allow the president to be subpoenaed.” Reports say that Trump chose Whitaker because he hopes that Whitaker will calm Mueller’s Russia investigation (New York Times“Matthew Whitaker: An Attack Dog”).

Three wildfires ravage California Wildfires have been burning throughout California, destroying homes, forests and lives. As of Nov. 14, there are three active fires. The most destructive, the Camp Fire, started in Butte County and has spread to the town of Paradise, CA. So far, the Camp Fire has forced 250,000 people to evacuate their homes and has destroyed 109,000 acres of Northern California. The Camp Fire is the worst fire in the history of the state and the third deadliest, with a death toll of at least 48 and 110 missing by the print date.

The other two fires, Woolsey and Hill, have destroyed 157 buildings in total. The Camp Fire is 25 percent contained as of Nov. 13, Woolsey is 10 percent contained and Hill is 70 percent contained (CNN, “It’s not over yet, high winds threaten progress made fighting California fires,” 11.11.2018).

As of print, at least 6,700 buildings have been affected by these fires. People are continuing to evacuate because of high winds, which cause the fire to spread.

Currently, there is a slight break in the winds, but they are expected to start back up again.

According to Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen, “Mother Nature has given us a short reprieve...but we know tomorrow Mother Nature’s gonna turn her fan back on and the winds are going to start blowing” (CNN, “Death toll rises to 23 in California’s Camp Fire,” 11.10.2018).

Trump recently caused controversy when he tweeted, “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” (Twitter, [at]realDonaldTrump, 11.10.2018).

Many took issue with these comments, which blamed the residents of California for causing the fires. President of the International Association of Fire Fighters Harold Schaitberger said in response, “His comments are reckless and insulting to the firefighters and people being affected” (CNN, “Trump’s tweet on wildfires angers firefighters, celebrities,” 11.11.2018).

This is not the first time California has suffered from wildfires. The year 2017 saw the most destructive wildfire season in the state known to date: Over 9,000 fires were responsible for the death of 47 people, including two firefighters, and more than 18 billion dollars in damages. The 2017 fires burned 505,900 acres of land.

Not only did the wildfires destroy thousands of homes, buildings and lives, but they also affected the air quality. According to CNN, air quality officials stated, “[These fires caused] unprecedented levels of air pollution in the Bay Area.” Air quality is determined to be harmful when the air quality index (AQI) level surpasses 201; during the 2017 fires, a level of 486 was recorded in Napa (CNN, “The wildfires in California just keep shattering records this year,” 12.26.2018).

The three fires currently raging in Northern and Southern California are ongoing, as are search and rescue efforts and evacuation orders.

—Olivia Watson, Guest Reporter

NEWS

November 15, 2018

Page 5

Lecture reflects on nature of man in Murakami’s oeuvre MURAKAMI continued from page 1

ters throughout Murakami’s novels. Sekine characterized this recurrent theme as a critique of hegemonic male power, saying, “[Murakami is] against modern Japanese literature as this male-dominated subject.

He uses these characters who are not very macho, and with important goals.”

Sekine also explained that Murakami’s characters’ acceptance of—and even attachment to—their own weakness in “A Wild Sheep Chase” is a portrayal of humanity’s mundane idiosyncrasies as something to be cherished: “This [ending] is the value of the individuality of his own ordinary self, and the heroism of the self, not as something spectacular, but [as] something fragile. This mundane uniqueness that everyone has can be appreciated, protected.”

Following the talk, Dollase reflected again on her students’ comments about Murakami’s fragile characters: “I myself want[ed] to know why [Murakami’s] works attract audiences regardless of age and culture. Prof.

Sekine’s talk, I think, helped me understand the reason—Murakami is always on the side of the weak.” Murakami’s characters’ weaknesses, counterintuitively, are thus what give them their literary strength.

Throughout the lecture, Sekine traced the motif of the natural world in Murakami’s books. Discussing “Hear the Wind Sing,” “A Wild Sheep Chase” and “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,” Sekine said, “[Murakami] contemplates nature’s indifference to, and disunity with, humanity.”

Dollase elaborated on the historical and cultural significance of this theme: “In Japanese culture, nature was viewed with awe and appreciation as people believed that

sacred spirit[s] reside in nature,” she wrote. “[Murakami’s] works kind of relate; he believes that wind, for instance, is powerful but occasionally soft, and more importantly blows equally on anyone with no discrimination.”

The interplay between memory and violence was the final motif Sekine examined.

He analyzed “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle,” which deals with a family’s private struggle coupled with wartime memories. According to the lecturer, the novel analogizes characters who harbor dark desires with violent historical war figures. Sekine concluded that Murakami characterizes modern sexual violence as possessing the same degree of domination as historical wartime violence.

Following the lecture, Dollase opened the floor for questions. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow of Chinese and Japanese Judit Kroo asked for elaboration on Murakami’s idea of small, private memories as the locus for remembrance of history. Sekine responded, “His idea is how to remember, and it’s piled through generations. It can be transferred from one generation to another. Structurally, he tries to connect the violence of wartime and today’s private violence. So he pretty much is optimistic in terms of his [confidence in] stories’ ability to convey memories from one generation to another.”

According to Dollase, Murakami’s ability to convey these generational memories is part of what inspired Sekine’s interest in his work in the first place. “Prof. Sekine said that when he read Murakami’s works for the first time, he felt that a writer who could put into words the ambivalent feelings of people of his generation had finally emerged,” she

Pre-Approved Allocations: • 43/43 from Capital to Bike Shop for a chain link remover to remove chain link from bikes.

• 71/71 from Capital to Bike Shop for a round saw bit for cutting u-locks.

• 350/350 from Discretionary to Burlesque for security for remaining Burlesque shows this semester.

Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature Eiji Sekine delivered a lecture titled “Haruki Murakami and His Persistent Dialogues with the Mystery of Humanity.”

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reflected. “Murakami’s constant resistance against machismo and the oppressiveness of authority was what Sekine had been feeling.”

Ciara Murray Jordan ’21, who attended the lecture, spoke about Sekine’s strategy of connecting seemingly disparate stories to paint a clearer picture of Murakami’s views.

Murray Jordan noted, “By summarizing his work while following these themes throughout, [Sekine] disclosed a uniformity that wouldn’t have been observable to the average reader.”

Speaking to what makes Murakami special, Murray Jordan concluded, “By examining Murakami’s views on human nature— ourselves—we as students can find ways to reflect on our own nature. It’s why so many people read and study his books.”

Jessica Moss/The Miscellany News

nese Literature at Purdue University Eiji Sekine lectured about Murakami’s dialogue on the relationship between humanity and nature, collective memory and violence and their recurrent presence in his books “Hear the Wind Sing” (1979), “A Wild Sheep Chase” (1982), “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World” (1985) and “The WindUp Bird Chronicle” (1994–95). The lecture was sponsored by the Chinese and Japanese Department and co-sponsored by the Dean of the Faculty Office, the Asian Studies Program and the English Department.

Associate Professor of Japanese Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase indicated in an email interview that her department invited Sekine—who was her PhD dissertation advisor and the inspiration for her eccentric taste in stories—to discuss this topic due to his recent research about Murakami and his study of the idea of Otherness in Japanese literature. As the president of the Association of Japanese Literary Studies (AJLS), which was co-founded in 1991 as the Japanese Literary Association, Sekine is also a significant figure in Japanese literature studies in the United States.

Prior to Thursday’s lecture, Dollase invited Sekine to join her Youth in Japanese Literature class, in which students and the professors discussed the allure of Murakami’s stories, especially to young people.

According to Dollase, “[Murakami’s] lonely characters isolated from the community and group, they said, were relatable to them.”

Sekine also discussed Murakami’s use of relatable characters in his lecture. He traced the presence of gentle leading male charac-

turn to campus at 10 p.m. Programming will be tabling on Wednesday, Nov. 14, and tickets are $5.

Planning Committee Chair of Planning Sam Steeves relayed a message from Dean of Strategic Planning Marianne Begemann that the Shakespeare Garden will be undergoing renovations to restore the plant beds and make the space more accessible to the campus community.

The committee is looking at the VSA governing documents as they relate to transparency. Committee members aim to clarify the class senator positions.

Allocations: • 107/157 from Collaboration to Quidditch for security costs of Yule Ball.

Academics Committee • 3850/3850 from Speakers to ASA The committee to review the reapfor Asian American Studies pointment of Dean of Studies Ben Lotto Speaker Series Part 1: Professor has begun its meetings. Students with Gary Okihiro. any questions, concerns or opinions are welcome to direct them to Chair of AcaProgramming Committee demics May Venkat at vsaacademics[at] The committee will be hosting an vassar.edu. all-campus event at the Chance Theater in collaboration with ViCE, VCSS and President WVKR on Friday, Nov. 30. The event is The Engaged Pluralism Initiative from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. with a capacity of (EPI) presented the findings of last 900 students. It is UV-themed and per- year’s Campus Climate Survey on former lineups will be announced in the Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 12:30 to 2:00 coming weeks. p.m. in the College Center MPR and The committee will be selling tickets from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in Rocky 200. for $5 in the College Center beginning President Tamar Ballard encouraged with the week of Nov. 20 and running all students to attend these information up until the event; tickets will be $8 at sessions and talk to administrators rethe door. garding concerns they may have about The next shuttle to New York City the data. will be on Saturday, Nov. 17. It will leave from Main Circle at 8 a.m. and will re—Julian Corbett, VSA General Intern

Wondering if The Miscellany News is “write” for you?

Come to Paper Critique in the Rose Parlor at 9 p.m. on Sundays and find out!

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

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November 15, 2018

Mystery documentary ‘Shirkers’ celebrates creativity Sydney Salk

Guest Columnist

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group of teenage girls, a mysterious man and a dream. It sounds like a scenario out of a movie, and it is, but it’s also real life. “Shirkers” (2018) is a documentary that follows the events surrounding a film shoot in the summer of 1992 in Singapore. At just 19 years old, Director Sandi Tan wrote a screenplay and created it with the help of her friends Sophie and Jasmine, as well as Georges Cardona, a visiting American filmmaker. Cardona was, and still is, an enigma to those who produced “Shirkers.” The girls were unsure why he was in Singapore and why he decided to invest so much time in their project, as it was fronted by teenagers with no filmmaking experience whatsoever.

After the shoot, the group went their separate ways, but Cardona withheld the footage from the girls for so long they did not find it until after his death. What happened that summer was the creation of Tan’s dream, but Cardona had turned it into a nightmare.

In the documentary, Tan pieces together the events of that fateful summer through anecdotes, letters, tapes, film clips and zines, forming a unique vision of a Singapore in 1992 that few knew. The recovered clips of the original “Shirkers” serve as a time capsule that does not deserve to be lost to the world. It is the city rising up against the forest. It is the kitsch of bakeries and mannequin shops. It is children waiting outside a house in technicolor costumes, watching the world grow around them. The original “Shirkers” was a surreal story about a 16-year-old killer who needs to find people to take with her, either to heaven, hell or somewhere else unknown. The film features a kaleidoscope of unique characters, young, old and canine. Tan, who stars in the film, serves as a walking metaphor for death in her hot-pink sailor shirt with camera in tow.

It has a dreamlike quality that was many years before its time. Tan even notes that she sees glimmers of what “Shirkers” should have been in Wes Anderson’s “Rushmore”

(1998) and Terry Zwigoff’s “Ghost World” (2001). All of this was almost lost because of Cardona.

Cardona was so present in Tan’s life for that period of time that his disappearance seemed unfathomable. First, he would only communicate through tapes sent in the mail, and then not at all. He even sent the girls a box of static-filled VHS tapes just to mess with them. Tan did not know for certain whether Cardona still had the film until she found it after his death. Soon, the documentary turns from a remembrance of what “Shirkers” was to a quest to figure out why Cardona hid the footage. The film uncovers the entirety of Cardona’s life through interviews with people whom he hurt.

What comes through is the psyche of a man so warped that he decided to invest in the dreams of others just to dash them. Cardona is made out to be death incarnate, and in a way, he deserves that.

“Shirkers” is not just about the persecution of one who destroyed; it is also a

celebration of those who create. All of the people featured in the documentary interviews are creatively talented, from musicians to activists to Vassar’s very own Sophia Harvey, who now serves as the chair of the film department. “Shirkers” shows that to be young and full of so many ideas is a fleeting state that deserves to be captured and utilized while it lasts. The drive to create something despite youth and inexperience is what both the original and the current version of “Shirkers” are all about. It is writing innumerable letters in extremely small and messy print with a dried-up pen.

It is chewing gum when you’re not allowed to and purposely, obnoxiously doing so. It is making something with your friends not because you should, but because you can.

In the beginning, “Shirkers” implies that this spark is only for youth, but it is clear through Tan’s masterful storytelling and style that the spark lives on and cannot be dampened by anyone—not even death himself.

Hudson Valley Cultural Events 11/18: Take a swing through the Woodbury Farmer’s Market, which boasts an impressive variety of local fruits, vegetables, cheeses and meats.

Location: 30 Valley Ave, Central Valley, NY Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

11/19: Visit the East Fishkill Library to get a glimpse of local artist Fred Fodera’s paintings, which focus on birds and landscapes.

Location: East Fishkill Community Library, 348 Route 376, Hopewell Junction, NY Time: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

11/20: Come see artist EB Gregor’s solo exhibit, “Look Around.” The exhibit will feature acrylic, watercolor and mixed media paintings of landscapes.

Location: The Donald Gallery South Presbyterian Church, 343 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry, NY Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

11/21: Go see “Shadows Searching for Light” by Angela Fraleigh. The installation is inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper that aims to reimagine marginalized female figures.

Location: Edward Hopper House, 82 North Broadway, Nyack, NY Time: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

11/22: Watch a movie at the Poughkeepsie Galleria and make sure to treat yourself to some red vines. (The Arts Section does not condone twizzlers.)

Location: 2001 South Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Time: Up to you!

11/23: Check out an exhibit on abstract painter Dorothea Rockburne’s large-scale works from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Location: Dia: Beacon, 3 Beekman Street, Beacon, NY Time: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

11/24: Catch a glimpse of the exhibit “Petit: A Group Exhibition of Smaller Sized Art,” which includes pieces from over 50 local artists from the Hudson Valley and New York Metropolitan area.

Location: Emerge Gallery, 228 Main St, Saugerties, NY Time: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

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November 15, 2018

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Comic books display meaningful artistic perspectives Taylor Stewart

Guest Columnist

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works with larger-scale creators, has noted a rise in the number of constituent stores over the past three years. Digital platforms for reading comics are now readily available.

Not only is any distress over the death of comics unfounded, but it also stems from the perception of comics as artless, silly, just for kids and even harmful. Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada explained to Wired Magazine, “This kind of doom-and-gloom thinking started with Dr. Fredric Wertham, which then trickled into American society in general. For decades, comics were labeled a dumbed-down kids medium. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.” Wertham’s book “Seduction of the Innocent” created a comics scare based on “corrupting the children!”, immoral images and scantily clad superhe-

Courtesy of Pixabay

host Comics Festival debuted on Oct. 27 in Glasgow. Co-founded by João Sobral, Jessica Taylor and Julia Scheele, the fair was the first of its kind in Scotland— an arena to browse, discuss and even create alternative comics. The free and local event featured an array of work from cartoonists, comic collectives and small press operations in the Glasgow area. Along with an impressive lineup of exhibitors were opportunities for visitors to get involved, including a Collective Wall Comic inviting both creative professionals and enthusiastic readers to draw on panels as well as participate in puppet-making, screen-printing and comic workshops. Sobral, owner of the indie micropublisher and editor at O Panda Gordo, organized Ghost Comics in hopes of promoting what many perceive as a dying, long-dead or feeble art form. He explains, “I think the comics industry is full of people who’ve tried it, and then never done it again because what’s the point really if no one seems to care?” He says that he is “obsessed with comics in such a way that seeing talented people give it up makes [him] sad” (It’s Nice That, “Ghost Comics Festival Shines a Light on Glasgow’s Alternative Comic Scene,” 10.26.2018). Doubtless many other comics fans share in Sobral’s wistfulness for industry losses. There is a popular idea that Anglo-American comics are not what they used to be and, in turn, turmoil is increasing among die-hard readers. For example, many consider Comic-Con International superficial or corrupted by popular forces, more a costume gala than a cross section of comics culture. They lament over shop closings and criticize new stories and crossovers. Supposedly, smallpress publishers and the comics industry as it should be are doomed.

However outspoken these comic-book purists are, the numbers say otherwise. As graphic novels have outgrown superhero stories, the North American industry made more than $1 billion in 2017, as opposed to about $850 million in 2012. European actors

like Europe Comics, a digital venue run by 13 publishers, and the French Comics Association are breaking into the American market. Comic book events such as MoCCA Arts Fest in New York and the D.C.based Small Press Expo enjoy increasing popularity (Publishers Weekly, “Selling Graphic Novels In a Changing American Marketplace,” 10.19.2018). We’ve experienced a renaissance of sorts in non-superhero graphic novels ever since the publication of series like “Bone and Amulet.” In the United Kingdom, independent publishers experienced a 79 percent increase in sales last year (The Guardian, “Small Indie Publishers Report Booming Sales,” 11.20.2017).

Small stores like Comics Conspiracy in Sunnyvale, CA, have experienced an uptick in sales and an expanded, younger audience. Diamond Comic Distributors, which

Contrary to popular belief, comics as a form of creative expression are not dying out.

However, there is still a need for the public to recognize the artistic value they hold.

roes, which prompted publishers to form the Comics Code Authority (Wired, “Does Comics Culture have an Inferiority Complex?” 07.17.18). Under the Comics Code Authority, major American comics underwent pre-publication review for “unacceptable” content. The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency even conducted an investigation into the comic books industry. (CLBDF.com, “Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval,” 11.09.12) American superhero series from this regulatory era tend to be considered the best of their kind by panicked purists. This erases the bounty of alternative and underground comics we see today.

Efforts like Ghost Comics Festival serve to support independent artists, directly engage small-press readership and show that comic books, zines and strips are as much works of art as are the paintings in the MoMA, as much works of literature as those on our reading lists for English class.

Alternative comics are a reflection of local character, as seen in the creations of artists like Edinburgh-based Gloria Oyster, who exhibited at Ghost Comics. (Oyster records her misadventures in customer service and dialogues about the balding effects of hair dye she picks up around Scotland.) The non-superhero genre also captures people’s idiosyncrasies, humanity’s foibles, in a lighter, more accessible way than thick volumes. Not to mention, they are beautiful to look at. Cartoons extend from the mundane and simply physical (exhibitor Grace Wilson illustrates her pinching her stomach rolls in a dressing room) to the mad (as seen in Marvel and DC, of course, as well as the dreamy drawings of Glasgowbased Kathryn Macdonald). Such is one of our most creative methods of storytelling, of showing off artistry both literary and visual.

The “doom-and-gloom thinking” Quesada mentioned only manages to stir panic among readers. Particularly, we must not submit to the idea that the heyday of comics is past. On the contrary, one of our most valuable art forms is booming.

Roxane Gay offers student body witty, thoughtful advice LECTURE continued from page 1

Wednesday, she chose two essays from her book “Bad Feminist,” “Typical First Year Professor” and the titular piece) and spends the rest of the talk answering audience questions, preferring, as she puts it, “to talk with you, not at you.” This is also emblematic of Gay’s style as a writer: as Associate Professor of English Eve Dunbar said in her introduction, “[Gay] listens, she hears us and she creates in response.”

“Bad Feminist” was the required summer reading for the Class of 2022. Each year, Vassar invites the author of the selected book to campus to give the annual William Starr Lecture.

Dean of First-Year Students Denise Walen said in an email correspondence that she and the Writing Committee chose “Bad Feminist” and Roxane Gay this year because “[The committee was] struck by the book’s ‘strength,’ ‘counter-intuitive way of thinking’ and ‘compelling’ ideas …

Gay invites us to build a better society and does not shrink from identifying struggles and weaknesses within the U.S. society.”

Gay extended the same invitation in person on Wednesday, and students gladly accepted, taking the opportunity to pick the brain of a second-generation Haitian woman who has made a tremendous im-

pact on American culture and who refuses to be silenced by anyone who would prefer that people who share those identities remain quiet.

One student posed a question directly related to Gay’s identity, requesting insight into Gay’s ability to reconcile her Blackness and “woman-ness” in spaces where those identities are not traditionally welcome. Gay responded quickly, giving the impression that she has offered the same advice to many Black women before: “I try to remember that I have the right to be in any space I’m in … I also try to make sure I’m not the only one. We have to show up in numbers.”

Another student asked how to handle situations in which white people expect people of color to be authorities on topics of broader minority experience, to which Gay responded with her characteristic bluntness: “The older I get and the less fucks that I give, the more I tell people that I am not the spokesperson. Allow yourself to say, ‘This is not my burden, and I refuse to let this be my burden.’ When that happens in the classroom, push back and tell your teacher to do better, because this is Vassar and we should be doing better.”

Gay was aware of her audience: not only was she responding to the student’s ques-

tion, but she was also issuing a warning to the professors in the room that they must do better.

Gay did not let students off easily, either: She reminded the room, “People who attend schools like this have a lot of privilege and need to use it.” She encouraged students to look into and challenge the allocation of Vassar’s endowment, recalling how she worked with a group of peers in high school to push her school to divest from Coca-Cola, which at the time was supporting South Africa’s apartheid regime.

Proving that her political engagement has sustained from those days to the present, Gay implored audience members to ask her about the 2018 midterm elections, which had taken place the day before.

When one student finally did, Gay was positive in her analysis: “Last night was a good night, and I wish more Democrats would pause and enjoy it. Last night was a victory, even though there were some disappointments.” She spoke to the problem of increasingly misrepresentative polling.

She commented, “[With minorities running for office more frequently,] people lie to the pollsters because they want to seem better than they are.”

Gay went on to share innumerable in-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

sights in about 45 minutes of questions and answers—ranging from the self-proclaimed controversial assertion that “if you don’t believe in a woman’s right to choose, you’re not a feminist,” to reminding the audience that “survivors of trauma need to protect themselves first and foremost.”

She spoke about writer’s block, Twitter and several celebrities’ bodies, referring to one as “Daddy.” In short, she gave a lecture so dynamic and wide-ranging that it could only be the product of allowing hundreds of college students to ask whatever was on their young, growing minds.

That breadth of topic was precisely what Walen had hoped for when she invited Gay to campus. Walen wrote that “The talk went very well … The students asked very thoughtful questions and Roxane Gay was generous about responding at length, shifting easily between very different questions on topics like writing, the midterm elections, feminism, and identity.”

That ability to talk about everything and anything—from sensitive, painful subjects to light and funny life moments—is what gives a writer range and depth. It is what makes Gay’s work so relatable and creative. It is why, in Dunbar’s words, “[Gay is] one of the fiercest and most prolific writers in the U.S. today.”

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November 15, 2018

Suzanne Blier presents fresh, insightful view of Picasso Christian Flemm Columnist

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Christian Flemm/The Miscellany News

Blier’s foray into the world of modern art with her lecture on Picasso is a first for the writer and art historian, who focuses primarily on African Art and Architecture.

Courtesy of Yijia Hu

n Tuesday, Nov. 6, the Department of Art History welcomed the Alan Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, Suzanne Blier, to lecture on one of the most intensely studied and canonical of modern paintings: Pablo Picasso’s “Demoiselles d’Avignon.” Famously, Blier taught Vassar’s first course in African Art as a graduate student at Columbia University in the 1970s. Her lecture was both a welcome homecoming and a gentle reminder of the critical gaps still extant in the department’s course curriculum—African Art being one of those critical gaps. Introducing Blier, Professor of Art on the Conover Mellon Chair Molly Nesbit indicated that the lecture was as great a time as ever to “replant the seed and get the conversation going [about African Art at Vassar, again].” Now one of the eminent scholars of her field, Blier presents new evidence on “Demoiselles”’ African origins.

After recognizing the life and influence of the departed, legendary art historian and former Vassar faculty member Linda Nochlin, who attended Blier’s lectures on African Art, Blier wasted no time reiterating the established narrative of historical inquiry into Picasso’s “Demoiselles.” The lines shifted by her evidence, if they disturb a narrative, only do so to refill the

painting with urgency. This is no easy task, as the painting’s infamous 1907 exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants shocked and provoked in a way hardly imaginable for today’s gallery hopper.

The painting is a large canvas depicting five women in a rather strange, encumbered space. The figures, frozen in a brown, womblike cavern, are prostitutes.

Posing for the viewer, their gaze confronts ours—our gaze, the solution to the equation for a night of salacious activity. These women are waiting to be bought. In much the same way as later cubist paintings, Picasso’s “Demoiselles” deploys the concept of the classical nude but in a flat, highly geometric and lined space to suggest the grotesque. This is art as commodity, to offend and to disgust. Crucial to Blier’s lecture, the two women on the right are adorned with African masks.

The prevailing narrative suggests that something actually lay beneath the masks—that Picasso painted over two human faces. Most art historians contend that Picasso covered the two faces with something foreign, and something he thought to be savage, in reaction to a fear of women and of sex. Standing in polite opposition to this narrative, Blier presents evidence suggesting that, on the contrary, by dating a photograph taken by Picasso of a friend and her child standing in front of the canvas, the masks persist actually as an original element of the painting. Blier suggests

On Nov. 6, art historian Suzanne Blier lectured on Picasso’s “Demoiselles d’Avignon,” providing a personal and critical framework with which to conceptualize the piece. a level of intentionality present in the painting at its outset, previously unknown to art historians, now open for debate.

Blier then ascertained the specific imagistic influences that resulted in the masks of the finished painting. She indicated that that the masks were not ones that Picasso would have seen in the flesh, but rather in any four books on African Art. Not shying away from Picasso’s history of racist male chauvinism, Blier noted that one of these books, a collection of photos with commentary by gynecologist Carl Henrich Stratz on the supposed “social evolution of women” (with Dahomey Amazons as the starting point and European women as the end), is not only deeply racist in scope but also perturbing in that its photographs of children verge on pornography. There are figures in this book that appear in poses quite similar to the crouching figure in the “Demoiselles.”

But as Blier charts one historical narrative, from thence emerges a deeply personal one. Blier, never shying away from the personal, is following Picasso through Paris in the early 20th century—a journey

that took her to various bars, museums and books. One must leave the frame, moving far from its aberrant elements, to make one’s way back in. Her lecture reminds us that the act of historical inquiry is always personal. But in the same way, an historical inquiry can only approach reality—truth, the proper order of things—as close as our own remembrances of things past. Fragmented, they recede from view as we draw them ever so close.

History is never reconciled with the present. When it speaks, it speaks in insecure absolutes. When it congeals, it slips away from itself, refusing submission to the autocratic impossibilities of narrative. With the arrival of new evidence, for any piece of art so historically pivotal, a light emerges just under the door of absolute knowing.

It bleeds into the room, filling it with lively, electric conversation. Now, there are new wars to be waged, and more cards to be played. Now there are new questions, with new, impossible answers. Blier has set the stage for further inquiry. This is art history—a living history, squirming and writhing against its own picture frame.

Rock album ‘Daughters’ provides intense experience Jimmy Christon Columnist

Daughters

Daughters Hydra Head Records

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f you are a fan of Nine Inch Nails or anything else even fairly industrial, you will love the rock band Daughters titular album, “Daughters.” The comparison to Nine Inch Nails is almost mandatory, but it not entirely accurate. If Nine Inch Nails is a musical proclamation of cynical atheism, then Daughters’ album “You Won’t Get What You Want” is a musical act of full-blown nihilism.

I was talking with a friend about the album earlier this week. I had played them a snippet of a song, and then I turned it off in favor of another song. I told them that this song makes my body feel the same way that it does when I am having a panic attack.

Now, if you are asking yourself why anyone would ever want to induce such intense feelings in themselves, then you will need further enticement to go and listen to this wonderful album. For those of you that are like my friend—those of you that are smiling at the idea of a piece of art providing such

a visceral experience—I doubt you need any further explanation of what makes this album great. So go on and listen. For those of you in the first camp, allow me to make a case for “Daughters.”

I could provide a myriad of examples about how interesting this album sounds or something that sounds “objective” when it comes to music. But no such creation exists. I could talk about pretentious aspects of the album such as the production or the mastering, things about which I am sure that neither of us know. And, besides, any sort of objective discussion of this album would just be an attempt to avoid the elephant in the room—the elephant being just how stressful this album is. This album knows no calm. It is all storm.

This album will stress you out, and it will knock you out of any calm state. This is a fact.

This album is always—always—tumbling, revving and thrashing. The percussion alone on the record is intense with its unceasing, unrestrained beats. It’s like the sound your heart makes when you are doing your cardio routine.

I could make this heartbeat comparison many more times. It’s always uncomfortable to really focus on just how noticeable your heartbeat really is, and this album will draw this fact out of its listener. The persistent beat

to this album is so relentless that I can’t think of anything else but a panic attack when I listen to this album. This is also a fact.

I haven’t really done much to explain why you, dear reader, should find these facts convincing enough to listen to “Daughters.” So now I’ll switch to my own opinions about why I like this violent album.

Take, for instance, the song “Guest House.”

The beat for this track is like some weird, mechanical whirlwind, which, paired with the unhinged vocals, is intense to say the least. This song exhibits perfectly that anxious and visceral feeling I’ve been trying to describe. The terrible drumbeat mixed with the vocalist’s guttural yell of “LET ME IN!” is just insane.

It’s stuff like this that illuminates what music can do. I’m sure we all have our own personal connections to the music to which we listen to daily, but to listen to something so far out there that it makes you uncomfortable? That is an experience that will guarantee you a new outlook as to how music can affect you.

And this music will affect you. I do not know who is yelling “LET ME IN!” on the track “Guest House,” but the whirling instruments assure me that it’s no one good.

Even more so, the way my body feels when

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

this song is on makes me want to run away.

Moving my body to this song is not a form of expression­­—it’s not even a requirement.

Instead, it’s closer to hypnosis. This song will pull these feelings from your body and move your body in ways that you won’t even be aware of. This is not my opinion, this is a fact.

And in my opinion, this feeling is magical.

There is nothing else out there like music, and there is no better music out there than the kind that makes you move unwillingly.

You can be a dead-set nihilist, believing in nothing more than the idea of your own existence, but you will be shaken powerfully by the fact hidden beneath this song. When listening to this album, you only know for a fact that something else exists outside of yourself in this world, and that it is making you move because it gives you no other option.

In my opinion, this is magical. No other experience in life can give you this feeling other than love itself. That might sound like hyperbole, but I implore you to go back to “Guest House” and listen to that song again; listen to that track and note how it moves you as if you were possessed. There is nothing else in the world like this other than true passion.

There is nothing else out there like the feelings that this song, and this album, provide: absolute terror and absolute vitality.

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November 15, 2018

Campus Canvas

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

Page 9 submit to misc@vassar.edu

Excuse me, Shellf Portrait

Into the Void

Where’s the saddest place you’ve fallen asleep?

“In a cabin of 12-year-old girls for eight weeks.”

— Kai Greenlees ’20

“I fell asleep on a table by Express.”

— Rachel Walter ’22

Herbie Takes Tivoli

“In the Chapel during orientation.”

— Sefa February ’21

“I’ve fallen asleep in the econ lab in the Blodgett basement.”

— Maddie Singer ’19

“In anthropology class. It’s a 9 a.m.”

— Sophie Schoenbrun ’22

Beach Daze

Katie Swiercz Class of 2019 Astronomy major When I met Herbert on a rainy day in Aarhus, Denmark, I knew he was speshell—it was love at first slime. Traveling with Herbie taught me that inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes, always help your friends come out of their shells and if you’re feeling stuck, it never hurts to look for another perspective.

“Second floor, Joss bathroom, west side. On the floor, not the toilet.”

— Max Singer ’19

To see more of Katie’s amazing art, check out @sagelyshot on instagram.

Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Hannah Benton, Photography

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

FEATURES

Page 10

November 15, 2018

Kaleidoscope Photo Spotlight

Quite Frankly Frankie Knuckles

Assistant Features Editor Quality Advice-Giver

Have a question you want answered? Submit your quandaries at http://bit.ly/2RFnXfk Hey Frankie, Who am I? Sincerely, Future Philosopher Dear Philosopher,

Q

Student’s pancreas still fails to function DIABETES continued from page 1

sugar is 54. A normal reading is between 70 and 150, so this is significantly low. I calibrate my Dex, then pop four glucose tablets and wait to feel better. When I do, I get dressed.

I don a blue-ribbon covered headband and head to breakfast. I get my usual: a scoop of potatoes, two cups of coffee and a piece of toast with Sunbutter. I take my normal bolus (a supplementary dose of insulin to counteract carbs eaten. Basal insulin, by contrast, is a constant drip).

I head to my first class. Beforehand, I tell one classmate that November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Another walks up in the middle of the conversation, just as I’m saying it’s nice to have a whole month dedicated to diabetes. “A month celebrating people who die from sugar?” the newcomer asks.

More calmly than I feel, I say, “That’s a good example of the type of thing you might not want to say to someone who has diabetes.”

My righteous outrage subsides, and we go into the classroom. People make light of my disease all the time, and frequently it’s from ignorance, which I don’t take personally. During class, my phone vibrates with a Dexcom notification: rise rate alert.

I know the vibration pattern without having to look at my phone. I figure more insulin won’t make me drop. I subtly take out my pump and up my basal rate by 20 percent, hoping to head off hyperglycemia (high blood sugar).

My effort fails, and I end up having to go to the bathroom twice during class. A symptom of high blood sugar is frequent urination, which isn’t conducive to a classroom setting.

In my next class, it’s time for a mid-morning snack. Usually, I try to eat it before class starts, but in the kerfuffle of getting my academic materials ready, I sometimes forget. As class begins, I check

my Dex. Still on the high side, at 158. I bolus for my snack and let the insulin deliver for a couple of minutes, then get the foilwrapped pastry out of my backpack. I wait for my professor to pause. He looks at me and says, “You can open it.” I do, quickly, to be as little distraction as possible.

Forty-five minutes later, my Dex vibrates in three long pulses. High blood glucose. It’s just that kind of day. I set a basal increase of 30 percent for the next 30 minutes. Class continues, and even though I have to go to the bathroom again, I don’t want to. It’s an excellent class. I wait and go between classes.

Despite my efforts, my blood sugar remains high an hour later. I don’t want to bolus because I’d risk crashing soon, and I’ve already eaten my snack, so I don’t.

High blood sugar is soporific; I fidget with my pen to stay awake.

After my third class, I eat a 3 p.m. meal.

My blood sugar is in range, so I bolus only for the carbs. I eat rice and broccoli, then wander the internet. My post has some shares, mostly from diabetes camp friends. I’m pulled from my internet reverie by another Dex alarm: a fall rate alert.

I turn off my basal for a half hour, hoping that’ll balance things out. I decide to delay my afternoon walk before my four o’clock class. Fifteen minutes later, I’m holding steady, so I pack up and take a truncated turn about campus.

Clearly I shouldn’t have, because I start to dip down again just before my two-hour creative writing seminar starts. I turn off my basal again, for an hour this time, and take two glucose tabs, just to be safe.

When I keep dropping, I add two more glucose tabs, making a full treatment. I feel foggy but hope it will dissipate. I wonder if I overestimated my portion of rice or overcorrected for my high.

A few minutes later, my Dex tells me I’ll be urgently low within 20 minutes. It even counts down the minutes. I waffle Frankie Knuckles/

Best Wishes, Frankie P.S. This should teach you the entailments of messing with philosophy majors with too much free time.

All photos courtesy of Christa Haryanto ’19 and Shreya Suresh ’21

The Miscellany News

uite frankly, I suspect this was a joke submission. But far be it from me to avoid the big questions in my lowly advice column. Personal identity is one of life’s biggest questions, so here’s my primer on it.

Philosophically speaking, possible answers abound here. You could be the synthesis of your actions and experiences. You might just be a consciousness of things around you, with no kernel of self underneath. You could have an onion of consciousness, even. You might have a soul as well as a brain, or you might not. You could even be a brain in a vat, with all your experiences fed to you by machinery. But these are all really answers to the question “What am I?” or, following American philosopher Daniel Dennett, “Where am I?” But who are you? That’s a more complex question. It assumes that you are a who to begin with (not everyone will accept this).

My mom, Victory Knuckles, the original quality advice-giver, would say that who you are isn’t what you do. But she’s never settled who you are, if that’s not it. When introducing yourself at a party, you start with what you do, because it’s the best angle for fishing around for social commonality. “Tell me about yourself,” the proverbial conversational partner demands. You answer with whatever preoccupations consume most of your mind; maybe that you’re a philosophy major or that you submit things online under the cloak of anonymity just to see how much chaos you can create. These are aspects of who you are, but none of them, no matter how many qualities you list, can encase your entirety of being. Or Being, for my Phenomenology and Existential Thought folks.

As Father John Misty’s enduring existential crisis classic “Holy Shit” states, “No one ever knows the real you/and life is brief.”

No one may even include yourself. But that leaves the question: Is there even a “real you?” Or are you simply an amalgamation of others’ conception of you, internalized and hodgepodged with your experiences until you have some idea who you are? And is there even enough time in our brief lives to fully address this question?

The answer is really up to you. Everyone must answer (or choose not to answer) the question of identity for themself. But I hope my response gets you thinking. And if you want to think more, consider taking some philosophy courses. There’s a 105 running in the spring called “Personhood: Subjectivity, Identity, and Difference.” It seems like it’s up your alley.

Above is the author’s Dexcom graph, with time on the x-axis and blood glucose on the y-axis. The grey area shows the target range, while red is low and yellow is high.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

between taking more glucose tabs or not, and decide it’s safer to take another one.

Ten minutes later, the reading is still dropping, but I feel that indescribable ache behind my brow bone that means my blood sugar is rocketing up. I decide to check with my glucometer again. It says 150, so I calibrate. My Dex tells me to test again in 10 minutes and recalibrate. My sister (who also has type one) says that the discrepancy between my Dex and glucometer might be because I’m constantly dehydrated. I try to recalibrate, and it doesn’t take, again. I contemplate the metaphorical resonances of inaccurate measurements, especially ones on which my life depends.

We take our 10-minute break in the middle of class, and just before we resume, my pump beeps to tell me I have to change my infusion set soon. I huff. It’s a day of alarms.

At the next prompt, I calibrate my Dexcom again. I’m down to 111. I wonder if it predicted a low because I’m dropping.

Just in case that’s happening, I decrease my basal rate by half for an hour. I’ll check again soon to make sure I’m trending the right direction.

Five minutes later, I’m 115 with an arrow up, so I put my basal back to normal. In another 20 minutes, I’m 152. High again. I’ll correct with dinner.

I get some rice, beans and jambalaya and bolus accordingly. I guess it’s about a cup of rice, which is 45 grams of carbs, and probably another 15 or so for the sauce. I know I usually dip low after starchy meals, so I lower the bolus a little bit.

Not enough. An hour after dinner, I’m going low again. I eat fruit snacks because I’m getting tired of chalky glucose tablets. I do some homework and chat with my friends, then get ready for bed. An hour after I fall asleep, my Dexcom loudly announces that my blood sugar is, once again, high.

Today has been a frustrating day for me, blood sugar wise, but it wasn’t peculiar.

People think that insulin and technology make diabetes easy, but that’s not true.

Insulin isn’t a cure, but it keeps me alive.

Even with improved tools for diabetes management, I struggle every day to keep my numbers in an acceptable range. This November, try to remember that some of us have to be our own pancreas.

November 15, 2018

FEATURES

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Nguyen ’20 navigates crossroads of multiple identities Duncan Aronson Reporter

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identity: “I’m a Media Studies major. I love my major, and I love thinking about community formation and identity formation through different forms of media. Media studies really ties in with my Asian American Studies correlate.”

Having first discussed Nguyen’s relationship with identity and media studies with identity, it was only natural that the conversation honed in on the overnight sensation and Facebook group, “subtle asian traits.” The group is a perfect case study for her academic interests, and she wasted no time giving her two cents: “This Facebook page called ‘subtle asian traits’ is so interesting because it came out out of nowhere, and suddenly every single Asian person seems to be a part of this group.

There are so many memes! The memes that get popular really fast are the Chinese or Korean memes, and that goes back to who are the most prominent in the Asian community in the U.S. So every time I see a Vietnamese meme I get so excited and go like, ‘Oh my God, I understand this one.’”

Nguyen still believes in the importance of pan-Asian identity and community, and that “subtle asian traits” is ultimately good: “Despite there being many memes specific to certain Asian identities, there are a lot of memes that also appeal to the general Asian-identifying population. I also think that the fact that it’s a meme page bringing people together is really interesting because it’s such a novel form of community.

Meme pages could be the future of community-building.”

Considering everything we discussed,

I couldn’t help but think that Nguyen is a quintessential Vassar student. She has engaged with her identity to reflect on her place in society at large, represent and welcome Asian identities in Vassar’s social and academic settings and tag her friends in Asian memes.

Duncan Aronson/The Miscellany News

hether she’s working at the Information Desk, delivering laughs in underground improv performances or running around as president of the Asian Students’ Alliance (ASA), Heather Phan Nguyen ’20 always carries a bright, buoyant air about her. Her sentences are often punctuated with laughter. During our interview, Nguyen constantly interrupted herself to shout enthusiastic greetings to acquaintances even if they were across the College Center.

In my conversation with this bubbly ball of energy, she described how being a first-generation low-income Vietnamese student has been a major focal point throughout her life. When I inquired about her work at ASA, Nguyen explained how she was motivated by her childhood experiences: “I want to make it clear that there are no expectations for what it takes to be Asian enough. I feel like that was something that I like kind of grappled with growing up in the white suburbs of Utah.

Whenever people looked at me they’d be like, ‘Are you Chinese or Japanese? Or Korean?’ So I make sure that people who come to General Body meetings know that no matter where they’re coming from, their identity is valid and important and that we can talk about it.”

She experienced this warm welcome firsthand when she first joined ASA’s executive board: “I looked up to [Wendy Liu], who was Vice President when I was a first-year on the executive board. She was

also Transitions and first-generation and low-income. I feel like having her on the board helped me feel very comfortable in my identity. Having her there and having that representation in that space really helped me a lot.”

When I asked about the significance of distinguishing her particular niche of low-income Asian students, Nguyen answered, “We are less prominent in the public eye just because of the Asian Model Minority Myth. It’s the idea that all Asian-Americans and Asian students are super hard working, all have parents who went to college, come from financially stable households and have black belts in karate and played piano and violin.” She referenced the controversy around Harvard’s affirmative action discriminating against high-performing Asians as a case that creates or reinforces this image.

Nguyen knows that this image does not describe her and feels it is incumbent on her to spread this understanding to others: “I just feel like my experience as a first-generation low-income Asian individual never aligned with that. So one of the things that I’ve been thinking about since coming to Vassar is my identity and how by being involved here, I’m expanding the narrative of what it means to be Asian and Asian-American in higher education because people like me are often overlooked.”

Nguyen’s contributions to the narrative on Asian identity in higher education do not stop with her extracurriculars. She explained how, by no coincidence, her academic interests also revolve around her

Here, Nguyen flashes a bright smile after a thought-provoking interview with the Misc across the Information Desk countertop.

Org of the Week: Vassar-West Point Initiative bonds peers Ariana Gravinese Guest Reporter

T

Courtesy of May Venkat

he Vassar-West Point Initiative is a student organization that works to bring together the two communities.

Their first event of the year, Overnight at West Point, is taking place the coming weekend (Nov. 16 to 17), and Vassar participants will have the opportunity to tour the campus, attend a class and socialize with the host students.

Lead Student Coordinator of the Initiative May Venkat ’20 plays a major role in helping with planning alongside the faculty members at Vassar and West Point, as well as cadets at the United States Military Academy (USMA). She shared, “I coordinate events, panels, discussions and visits to bring together members of the Vassar community with West Point cadets.”

The Vassar-West Point Initiative was made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, which supports building relations between the military academies and their neighboring liberal arts colleges.

Venkat explained the history of the organization: “The Initiative has been headed by Professor Robert Brigham and a professor at the United States Military Academy.

This year the faculty sponsor is Professor Curtis Dozier, as Professor Brigham is on leave.” Venkat also works alongside Colonel Jason Musteen and Cadet Jenny Wang at West Point in order to plan events and make the Initiative accessible.

Venkat then talked about how she became involved in the Vassar-West Point Initiative and what sparked her interest.

She recalled, “I have been the coordinator since my sophomore year. I became involved in the Initiative my first year after hearing about the program at Professor

A group of West Point cadets visited campus last semester and shared a day alongside their Vassar peers. This photo captures the group next to the statue of Matthew Vassar.

Brigham’s faculty lecture during orientation.”

The Vassar-West Point Initiative is unique in the sense that both Vassar students and West Point cadets are able to experience a taste of each other’s lives for one day. Venkat stated, “During the overnight, students have an inside look at cadet life. We are able to tour the campus, participate in cadet activities, get a sense of a cadet’s day to day life, watch a football game and stay in the barracks.”

Venkat highlighted the differences in the life as a Vassar student and that of a USMA cadet. The latter’s daily schedule

is strictly regimented from morning to night. Venkat remarked, “The USMA is very different [from] Vassar: uniforms, regiments, survival swimming, obstacle courses, engagement skills training, the cadet mess and the architecture.” Another major difference is that only 20 percent of the cadets are female in comparison to the 59 percent female students at Vassar.

Venkat noted that an important takeaway from the Initiative is the fact that the two schools can come together to share where they plan to go in the future. She said, “Discussing differences and experiences helps us grow and develop under-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

standing about our neighboring school.”

While Vassar students will be heading to West Point this weekend, the cadets will make their way to our campus in the spring. Venkat elaborated, “Cadets have greater choice in meals at the Deece, walk around campus freely and get to wear ‘civilian clothing.’”

Org member Diego Betancourt ’21 reflected on his time during the trip to the USMA last year: “I really enjoyed the experience of going to West Point through the Vassar-West Point Initiative; it allowed me to experience what life is like for cadets. The exchange made it possible for me to further understand the day-today workings of West Point and the importance of understanding the role of service members in our country.”

Another member, Emma Grace Ottolino ’21, commented, “One of my favorite parts about the Initiative is learning all the West Point vernacular. Just sitting and talking to the cadets gives a glimpse into just how different their experiences are from mine. Getting to tour them around Vassar was also so fun, and it was a joy to show them a more ‘traditional’ college experience.”

Venkat summarized the ongoing purpose of the org, saying, “The Initiative is an effort to bridge the military-civilian divide, [so] we engage students with different lives, backgrounds, majors and future plans to bring together more well-rounded and learned leaders.” The exchange has not only bonded the neighboring institutions but also connected individual members of the communities. Overall, the Vassar-West Point Initiative is dedicated to broadening the horizons of all parties involved.

FEATURES

Page 12

Misc Quiz

by Frankie Knuckles

-basic yet wholesome -lives in Main -thinks the glass is all full: half water and half air

THE GRILL

“Kidnap the kidnapper of the Lindbergh baby to prevent the kidnapping.”

— Ian Shelley ’22

-lactose intolerant, still eats pizza -lowkey bourgeoisie -has a very specific, very time-consuming hobby

“Hilary Duff and her children.”

— Annie Trentman ’22

“Peeta Mellark.”

— Gracie Nayman ’22

“Taylor Swift.”

— Ethan Skuches ’22

GLOBAL

1. De-grease 6. Orangutans, for example 10. Twitter tag 14. Clean a board 15. Social standard BRICK OVEN 16. Bullets COFFEE AND SWEETS -smells like desperation locks -sophomore who’s still -drinks caffeine after 6 p.m. 17. Lions' undeclared 18. Give up on -probably hungover -kinda greasy -power walks everywhere 19. Famously awful movie 20. Inducted into 22. Ruler of Edinburgh 23. Fabric webbing 24. Hair gradients 26. Play in the shallows by 30. Walkable water 47. The vocal first half of a mechanical solar 31. Bovine ACROSS system 1. De-grease 32. Cancelled a TV show 49. Entrance exam 6. Orangutans, for example 33.

Dishonorable 50. A bear’s lairsmen 10. Twitter tag 51. Blooms, scientifically 35. Woven fiber material 14. Clean a board 54. Choking fog 15. Social standard 39. The wickedest kind of egg 56. Enormous birds in the 1001 Nights 16. Bullets 41. Someone who always 57. Frivolous female stock lands on 17. Lions’ locks characters, in opera their feet 18. Give up on 63. Mosquito malady 19. Famously awful movie 43. Like a sheet-forming rock 64. October birth stone 20. Inducted into 44. Units ofcovering corn 65. Egg 22. Ruler of Edinburgh 66.

Small purse, for needle and thread 46. Make changes 23. Fabric webbing 67.

Hourly rate 24. Hair gradients 47. The first half of a mechanical 68.

A spicy dance 26. Play in the shallows solar system 69. A hamlet, thorp, or one-horse town 30. Walkable water 70. Storageexam building 49. Entrance 31. Bovine vocal 71. Baby Snowy or Barn 32. Cancelled a TV show 50. A bear's lairs 33. Dishonorable men 51. Blooms, DOWNscientifically 35. Woven fiber material 1. Tractor-trailer 54. Choking fog 39. The wickedest kind of egg 2. Fossil berry morpheme 41. Someone who always lands on their56. Enormous birds in the 1001 3. Scream a screed feet 4. One who logs in Nights 43. Like a sheet-forming rock 5. A twig broom 44. Units of corn 57. Frivolous female stock 6. Spring an ambush 46. Make changes characters, in opera 7. Eggs stolen from a liege lord 8. A spooky lake 63.

Mosquito malady Answer to last week’s puzzle 9. Not often 64. October stone 10. An eggbirth straight out of crime fiction 11. Acovering love, in French 65. Egg 12. With mirrors, deception 66. Small purse, 13. Locks onto for needle and 21. Remove 30 Across thread 25. 15 Across, superlatively 67. Hourly rate 26. Lumps of paper CONCESSION 68. A27. spicy dance Spinning skating jump STAND 28.

Hindu divinity 69. A hamlet, thorp, or one-horse 29. Ben Costa’s position at the Misc town 34. GSEG, GGSE, SEGG, EGSG 36. Coleslaw, fries, or a small salad 70. Storage building

“Good Eggs”

on the street

OASIS

-went abroad for a semester, -has random bursts of energy constantly talks about “when I Eggs -only eats different kinds of Goodlived in Paris” potatoes -in a continual state of chaos -will be around at 3 p.m. or 1 and tumult ACROSS a.m.

-popular but insecure

If you could, who would you like to kidnap?

Word

submit to misc@vassar.edu

Tag yourself: Deece station edition

HOME

November 15, 2018

Ben Costa

71. Baby Snowy or Barn DOWN 1. Tractor-trailer 2. Fossil berry morpheme “President Bradley.”

3. Scream a screed — Lucy 4. One who logs in Gammon ’22 5. A twig broom 6. Spring an ambush 7. Eggs stolen from a liege lord 8. A spooky lake 9. Not often 10. An egg straight out of crime fiction 11. A love, in French Benjamin Costa 12. With mirrors, deception 40.

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Remove 30 Across 45. Ease tension 25. 48.

15 Plants Across, newsuperlatively seeds Eggs like 26. 51.

Lumps of French paperpotatoes 52. Mega Millions, for example 27. 53.

Spinning jump Come to skating pass 28. Hindu divinity

29. Ben Costa's position at the Misc 34. GSEG, GGSE, SEGG, EGSG “My dog from home not tellsalad 36. Coleslaw, fries, or and a small my parents and not 37. Similar to let Vassar know.”

38. Permits to — Jamelia ’20 40. Harp-shaped Watson constellation 42. Waldorf-_______ namesake 45. Ease tension 48. Plants new seeds Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire 51.

EggsBenton, like French potatoes Hannah Photography 52. Mega Millions, for example 53. Come to pass 55. Thick paint primer 58. Most famous talk show host, sans a letter 59. 21 down, naturally 55. Sign Thick of paint primer 60. a lie 58. Most famous talk show host, sans a 61.

In addition, besides letter 62. ofnaturally wooden siding 59.Piece 21 down,

The Miscellany Crossword

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

November 15, 2018

OPINIONS

Page 13

Letter to the Editor To the students of Vassar College, and the community at large, Last week, Sylvan Perlmutter ’19 wrote a powerful and heartbreaking account of his experience in the aftermath of the anti-Semitic attack in Pittsburgh (The Miscellany News, “Jews must organize after Pittsburgh attack,” 10.31.2018). In addition, co-President of Access Jesser Horowitz ’19 wrote an account detailing his experience dealing with anti-Semitism at Vassar College (The Miscellany News, “Tiring war against anti-semitism wages on,” 10.31.2018). Access and the Disability Rights Coalition want to send a message to Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Horowitz and the entirety of the campus that we stand against all forms of bigotry. We want to provide our official response to the events of the past few weeks and contribute to a larger conversation on how we must reshape society in the aftermath of these attacks.

So long as any person suffers from discrimination, violence or bigotry, regardless of the reason, every disabled person’s freedom and human dignity is threatened.

For the executive boards of Access and the Disability Rights Coalition, intersectionality is more than a buzzword. It is a core tenet of our philosophy: Every individual is a culmination of various intersecting identities, and it is our responsibility as activists to defend each and every element of a person. Fighting ableism also requires fighting institutional racism, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, transmisogyny and any other form of bigotry that holds back progress.

In the past few weeks, the United States has been hit with tragedy after tragedy. In Kentucky, a white nationalist murdered Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones in a targeted racist act against African-Americans. In Pittsburgh, a Nazi sympathizer fired upon Jewish congregants in the Tree of Life Synagogue, killing 11: Joyce Fein-

berg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger. In Washington, D.C., the President of the United States announced his intention to end birthright citizenship, in flagrant violation of the United States Constitution and, more importantly, basic human decency. Access and the Disability Rights Coalition strongly condemn the attacks in Kentucky and Pittsburgh and the possible revocation of birthright citizenship. They are antithetical to everything that Access, the Disability Rights Coalition and Vassar College values.

In 2017, when a coalition of neo-Nazis, white nationalists and other staples of the far-right marched on Charlottesville, they chanted, “The Jews will not replace us.”

They bought into a conspiracy theory that “Zionist-occupied governments” were importing Muslims and Black people to breed with white women and overtake the Caucasian majority in Europe and the United States. This motivated the gunman in Pittsburgh, who admitted that his act was a strike against the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Anti-Semitism is a racial issue, tied closely to anti-immigrant sentiment, anti-Black racism and Islamophobia.

Anti-Semitism, xenophobia, racism, sexism and the rise of fascism are of deep concern to us, and the struggle of Jews, women, POC and the LGBTQ+ community is our struggle. This is not only because of the ableist violence of fascist regimes but also because the violence that arises from white supremacy affects members of our community through various intersecting identities. If any disabled person is suffering, we are all suffering.

White supremacy is evil, and all of its supporters must be opposed by whatever means necessary. This is not a controversial position, but it is a difficult one to

stick to. It is easy to condemn evil in the abstract, but often not so easy when it is personal. We must condemn the shooter who kills 11 people in a synagogue, but we must also confront our friends who excuse anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers like Louis Farrakhan or David Irving. We must condemn the police officer who kills an innocent Black man or woman because of the color of the skin, but we must also confront our family members who think that African-Americans are lazy or that they should “get over slavery already.”

We must condemn Donald Trump’s sexual violence, but we must also come to terms with abusers in our own life. It is not enough to oppose white supremacist patriarchy in theory; we must apply it to practice.

We must rise up. We must resist. We must storm the polling places and vote, regardless of the election—federal, local or student. We must defy social norms when they keep us silent. We must break the law when it is unjust. We must revolt, however we can, in small ways and in big ways. We must protest. We must remain vigilant. We must center marginalized identities. We must wield our own privilege to help others. We must get angry.

We must stay angry. We must demand a better future. We must confront hatred without fear, without remorse, not necessarily because it affects us personally, but because it’s right.

Access and the Disability Rights Coalition are ready to take on this challenge alongside you. While we are shocked by events in Pittsburgh and Kentucky, these are not isolated incidents. This is the culmination of many, many years of American politics and rhetoric. This political language has come with terrible costs: fear, the violation of our most basic human rights, political violence, religious violence, loss of life and domestic terrorism. This cannot continue.

We are not defeated. We have not lost hope. We are not giving up. We are energized. We are angry. We are ready.

This is our call to action. The battle against white supremacy has just begun, and we intend to do our part. We stand with every disabled person, every person of color, every immigrant, every Jew, every Muslim, every woman, every survivor of sexual or domestic violence, every individual that is afraid of their own country. We will join you in this fight, because it is our fight too.

And to those who stand in the way of progress, to neo-Nazis, to reactionaries, to Brett Kavanaugh, to Donald Trump, to Richard Spencer, to the Ku Klux Klan, to the Creativity Movement, to Jared Taylor, to Louis Farrakhan, to every person who stands behind a hateful ideology of white supremacy and anti-Semitism and white nationalism and patriarchy: Your days are numbered. We are the next generation.

We are the future of America. We will outlive you. We will outlast you. And we will replace you.

Signed, Access and DRC Executive Boards Carina Cohen, DRC President Jesser Horowitz, Co-President of Access Eric Parlin, Co-President of Access Sarah Garijo-Garde, DRC Vice President Chris McCann, Co–Vice President of Access Lauranne Wolfe, Co–Vice President of Access Nora Culik, DRC Treasurer Gabrielle Ho, Treasurer of Access Clara Layzer, DRC Secretary Bronwyn Pappas-Byers, Secretary of Access Nicole Stern, Freshman Representative of Access

Death of Whitey Bulger reflects flaws in U.S. prison system Sylvan Perlmutter Columnist

[TW: This piece contains discussion of violence and death.] nown for murdering at least 11 people, James Joseph “Whitey” Bulger Jr. ruled the Boston underworld for decades before he fled from imminent arrest in 1994. In 2011, he was finally captured in California and sentenced to two life sentences and five years for his crimes (The New York Times, “Whitey Bulger: The Capture of a Legend,” 2014).

His long reign at the top of the criminal underworld was assisted by his status as an FBI informant, which allowed him to pass along information that damaged his criminal rivals while avoiding arrest himself.

Therefore, Bulger’s murder on Oct. 30, 2018, within hours of his transfer to U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia, was likely a long-awaited punishment for “snitching.”

The main suspect in the murder is Fotios Geas, a Mafia hitman from Massachusetts with “a particular distaste for cooperators” (The New York Times, “Whitey Bulger’s Fatal Prison Beating: ‘He Was Unrecognizable,’” 10.31.2018). Bulger was 89 years old and confined to a wheelchair at the time of his death and could not have stood a chance against the men who bludgeoned him to death with padlocks wrapped in socks.

The world is not worse off after Bulger’s death. His reign of terror in Boston brought

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untold suffering to many families. But at the end of the day, he should not have been murdered. His death indicates an astounding level of negligence on the part of the officials entrusted with his life and reflects the serious safety concerns faced by prisoners in the United States.

The authorities and those higher up in the prison system have noticed numerous irregularities in Bulger’s transfer from a prison in Florida known as a safe haven for former police informants to a prison in West Virginia with a particularly violent reputation. Bulger’s death marked the third murder at U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton this year.

Previously, West Virginia senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito and three other lawmakers had sent a letter to the Bureau of Prisons, admonished the April and September deaths at Hazelton and cited its failure to follow congressional directives to hire more full-time correctional officers (CNN, “‘Whitey’ Bulger was prison’s 3rd slain inmate this year, and lawmakers were warning about its violence,” 11.03.2018). Although the officials in charge of the transfer process knew about Bulger’s status and notoriety, the warden still chose to transfer him into U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton’s general population, where he was at acute risk.

“He would always be considered a target because of his criminal background, status as informant, and age. Never, ever, to be placed

in general population status,” stated Bob Hood, a former federal Bureau of Prisons chief of internal affairs. “Personally, I would have placed an inmate like Bulger on protective custody status” (NBC News, “Ex-prison investigator: Moving Whitey Bulger to violent West Virginia pen a ‘death sentence,’” 11.06.2018).

“The federal law enforcement in charge of Bulger failed to ensure his safety and effectively sentenced him to death.”

The federal law enforcement in charge of Bulger failed to ensure his safety and effectively sentenced him to death. The Bulger case serves as a stark reminder of the high level of danger that American prisoners face.

According to a 2016 article by Mother Jones, 19 percent of all male inmates in U.S. prisons said that they have been physically assaulted by other inmates, and 21 percent said that they have been assaulted by prison staff.

Not only that, between three percent and nine percent of male inmates reported that they have been sexually assaulted behind

bars, which suggests that more than 180,000 current prisoners may have been victimized (Mother Jones, “What We Know About Violence in America’s Prisons,” 07.2016).

This lack of safety, as well as poor conditions, abysmal pay and racialized over-sentencing, ultimately contributed to the recent prison strike in 17 states across the United States (BBC, “US inmates nationwide strike to protest ‘modern slavery,’” 08.21.2018). In fact, America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 665 prisoners in jail for every 100,000 people (Pew Research Center, “America’s incarceration rate is at a two-decade low,” 05.02.2018).

For a justice system to function properly, someone sentenced to jail should only suffer as much punishment as they have been sentenced to by a court of law. Even if the courts assign prisoners a less severe punishment, sentencing people to prison exposes them to significant risks of assault and murder. This disparity between the level of punishment mandated by the law, which in and of itself is often too harsh, and the actual severity of what prisoners must endure in a poorly run and exploitative penal system represents an indictment of the inhumanity of our current approach to criminal justice. Let the murder of Whitey Bulger remind us of how our criminal justice system fails the important task of safeguarding inmates’ most fundamental right to security.

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

November 15, 2018

Self-care must separate itself from beauty industry Isabella Boyne Columnist

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eminist, civil rights activist and writer Audre Lorde once said, “Caring for myself is not an act of self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare” (The Huffington Post, “Self-Care Is An Act Of Political Warfare,” 10.26.2018). She used this phrase to describe her battle against liver cancer and as part of her intersectional feminist theories as a Black lesbian woman in the United States.

Today, however, this mantra has become a tagline for the “self-care” movement within the makeup and skincare industries, a way for corporations to sell the act of soaking in a bubble bath as a radical, political subversion of society’s constructs. Corporations have ironically capitalized on self-care—the very notion that one has value, regardless of wealth or social position—and made it valuable precisely because of the profits that it can bring.

Rather than recognizing the importance of self-worth in a society filled with racism and misogyny, corporations have turned self-care into a label that they can stick onto brands in order to make more money.

Self-care is not a new notion. However, this concept may have made a huge comeback due to the rise of the Internet. According to one study, students often use the Web to identify strategies for self-care, alternative therapies and other wellness-related information. After the 2016 election, the researchers noticed a significant rise in the public appeal of self-care; Google searches for the term soared to the highest they had been in five years after the election (National Public Radio, “The Millennial Obsession With SelfCare,” 06.04.2017).

The younger generation took to the internet to describe their own self-care routines, treating them almost like rituals for coping in the current world in which we live. In one particularly prominent 2017 New Yorker piece, writer Jia Tolentino claimed that her skin care routine served as a means of dealing with today’s political climate. She stated, “For me, right now, [skin care] functions as part of a basic dream in which the future exists” (The New Yorker, “The Year That Skin Care Became A Coping Mechanism,” 12.18.2017). As this chaotic political state became the new normal, it seems that self-care and skin care did, too. The idea of caring for yourself and finding your own inherent value has now become vital to the idea of skin care.

However, skin care and self-care are about more than just politics: They have become a method of dealing with symptoms of mental health problems. The subreddit r/SkincareAddiction often features threads that discuss how skin care helps with mental health. From my experience frequenting the forum, many people talk about how an improvement in their skin has made them more confident, therefore alleviating their issues with depression and anxiety. Other commenters talk about how skin care pushes them to adhere to other basic self-care habits, such as brushing their teeth, or acts as a distraction from negative thoughts. This attitude toward skin care does have a scientific grounding to it: Studies show that habitual skin care routines can reduce anxiety, depressive thoughts and issues with control.

“Neurologically, there are processes in the brain that take place leading to anxiety,” said NYC-based psychologist Sanam Hafeez, PsyD. “It’s often recommended to do

something pleasurable or productive to get the mind focused on positive activity and off negative thoughts” (Byrdie, “How Finding a Skincare Ritual Helped Me Move On From My Eating Disorder,” 06.08.2018).

Unfortunately, as consumers started viewing self-care as a vital part of skin care, corporations quickly took advantage of this trend.

A blog post by makeup and skin care brand “Ofra Cosmetics” has advertised the company with the slogan, “Turn Your Skin Care Routine Into A Self-Care Ritual,” and the skin-care brand “I AM” has marketed their products as “skin care/self-care products that make you look and feel BE-YOU-tiful,” implying that product-based skin care and self-care are one and the same (Vox, “The skin care wars, explained,” 03.09.2018).

Whilst companies selling the notion of taking care of yourself may not seem like an awful message, it is important to recognize the underlying intention. Something which used to be about an individual reclaiming their value in a racist, misogynistic, capitalist society has become an easy way for skin care companies to rebrand themselves and make more money.

In the past, skin care brands have used women’s insecurities as a way to market themselves, pushing their customers to fight wrinkles that make them look old and banish that one pimple that everyone has definitely noticed. Now, companies have adopted the language of wellness and self-care to say the same thing, just in more discrete manner.

Not only that, the beauty industry has started to label its products as “all-natural,” “eco-friendly” and “wellness-promoting,” which are all essentially terminologies of the self-care movement. Corporations have

stopped talking about lines and wrinkles, and instead started talking about “healthy” or “glowing” skin. Beauty expectations for women, particularly when it comes to aging, haven’t disappeared—corporations have just rebranded them. Rather than using the term “useful,” a variety of euphemisms have taken its place: “renewing,” “vitality,” “radiant.”

However, the implication behind these words is still the same (The New York Times, “The Ever-Changing Business of Anti-Aging,” 09.12.2017). These brands promote the idea that disdain toward aging isn’t due to the social constructs of beauty in society but rather that looking youthful is simply natural.

This new self-care age dictates that women shouldn’t make a scene over aging or over trying not to age, because doing so should be easy.

Women who choose to embrace skin care, or even those who find their happiness in trying a new moisturizer, are not bad or wrong for doing so. The same goes for those who reject conventional skin-care routines: They are not gross or unclean. Yet, the ideology behind skin care and self-care is not just about products for your skin. This is about a system that preys on insecurity and makes women feel that any choice they make is the wrong one: Either they are gullible for falling for the skin-care scam, or they are committing some heinous crime by not using face wash.

Therefore, we should seek to help one another not only by fighting the appropriation of self-care by big businesses but also by striving to not judge others for the skin products they use if they obtain joy from using them. Women should have the freedom to choose how they view self-care without the influence of either companies or their peers.

Voter support for neo-Nazi reflects dismal state of GOP Jesser Horowitz Columnist

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Steven Park/ The Miscellany News

ot many eyes were on Dan Lipinski during Election Day on Nov. 6. A seven-term congressman from Chicago, Lipinski is the kind of Democrat that the national party tries to ignore. He’s pro-life, anti–marriage equality and the only Illinois Democrat in Congress who voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Politico, “Anti-abortion Democrat snubbed by party for reelection,” 02.25.2018). Yet he won a decisive victory, garnering over 75 percent of the vote. In most contexts, this would have been an easy mandate were it not for one crucial fact: His opponent, Republican nominee Arthur Jones, is a Nazi (Chicago Tribune, “Holocaust-denier Arthur Jones loses in Illinois 3rd District, but still gets more than 25 percent of the vote,” 11.07.2018).

The terms “Nazi” or “fascist” are common epithets for political opponents, especially on the right. Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton—all of these public figures have been called Nazis in recent years, although none of them are. When I say that Art Jones is a Nazi, I am not saying that he is very far-right—which he is—or that he opposes immigration—which he does. What I am saying is that Art Jones is literally a neo-Nazi.

Jones is a former member of the American Nazi Party. In 1976, he ran for Mayor of Milwaukee as a member of the National Socialist White People’s Party. Even Tim Schneider, the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, described Jones as a Nazi. He told the Chicago Tribune, “Arthur Jones is not a real Republican—he is a Nazi whose disgusting,

bigoted views have no place in our nation’s discourse” (The New York Times, “Denounced by His Party as a Nazi, Arthur Jones Wins Illinois G.O.P. Congressional Primary,” 03.20.2018).

Jones explicitly ran on a platform of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. His website proudly reads, “This idea that six million Jews were killed by the National Socialist government of Germany, in World War II, is the biggest, blackest, lie in history,” and “Jewish International Communism and Jewish international Zionism are directly responsible for the murder of at least 300 million people and these bloodthirsty criminal vampires may yet ignite a third world war, if we don’t stop them” (Art Jones for Congressman, “Holocaust?”). His website refers to the Confederate flag as the “flag of White counter revolution,” calls the LGBTQ+ pride flag “an attack on traditional Christian morality and

religious freedom” and says Israel is conspiring to put the country through endless wars in the Middle East for Israel’s benefit (Art Jones for Congressman, “Flags of Conflicting Ideas”).

However, on Election Day, more than one in every four residents of Illinois’ third Congressional District voted for Jones, which caused him to win several suburban precincts and perform strongly in others (Chicago Sun-Times, “Holocaust denier gets nearly 40 percent of vote in 2 Mount Greenwood precincts,” 11.07.2018). To be fair, winning only a quarter of the total votes would usually be considered a resounding failure, but considering Jones’ reputation, it’s alarming that he would even be as popular as he was.

I am not going to claim that the reason he did so well is because 26 percent of the district are Nazis. That’s probably not true.

Chicago Alderman Matt O’Shea argued that

it was mere ignorance that bolstered Jones’ campaign, stating “As much as I’d like to think I have an electorate that’s engaged, I think there are some folks who strictly vote Republican, they don’t research candidates.”

Lipinski himself agreed, saying, “There’s no question that some people everywhere support this type of hate, but the insinuation that people in my district, especially on the Southwest Side in the area where I grew up, would support a Nazi, I find that insulting.” A few voters even told the Chicago Sun-Times that they voted for Jones purely by accident (Chicago Sun-Times).

Art Jones disagrees. “After all the exposure of me being labeled the ‘Holocaust denier’ in the media, it’s impossible for me to believe,” he stated. Daniel Rother, a resident of the area, agrees with Jones’ conclusion. He told the Sun-Times, “There’s a lot of prejudice in Mount Greenwood. Residents probably don’t support that Jones is a Nazi, but they support that he’d keep the neighborhood white. That’s just the mindset” (Chicago Sun-Times).

We now know the floor. No matter how bad the candidate is, if they are a Republican, they can expect at least 25 percent of the vote. Whether it’s because of ignorance or support, this is not a good look for the Republican Party. I have very little to add since the facts speak for themselves. Conservatism in America has become fanatical, and the depths of blind party loyalty, of ideology over country, are about to hit rock bottom. To disgruntled conservatives around the country and those liberals and progressives who want an honest and decent opposing political force, I only have one message: It’s about to get a lot worse.

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

November 15, 2018

OPINIONS

Page 15

Enforcing gun control via social media endangers rights Jonas Trostle

Guest Columnist

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arlier this November, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams made the following claim: “A three-year review of a social media profile would give an easy profile of a person who is not suitable to hold and possess a firearm” (Foundation for Economic Education, “New York Lawmakers Want to Screen Gun Buyers’ Social Media History for Hate Speech,” 11.06.2018).

This is not a simple throwaway statement, either. Adams is currently working with New York State Senator Kevin Palmer to draft legislation giving the police such power. We can tackle this claim in a few steps.

First let’s lay the groundwork: No matter how you personally feel about guns, good or bad, fun or dangerous, the United States Constitution recognizes a limited individual right to own a gun and to use said gun for lawful purposes. In Caetano v.

Massachusetts (2016), the Supreme Court ruled that this right applied to all weapons in common use, not just weapons available as of 1789.

In other words, the scope of the Second Amendment is not restricted to muskets and flintlock pistols, just like how the Fourth Amendment, the right to be free of unreasonable searches, is not limited to just “papers and effects” as described in 1789. The Fourth Amendment applies to your phone and your computer, requiring the police to obtain a warrant before they invade your privacy, and the Second Amendment applies to modern weaponry

in the same vein.

In regards to the First Amendment problems that come up, we must remember that speech is separated into two categories: protected and unprotected. Most all speech is protected, with the main exceptions being true threats, defamation, fraud and incitement, all of which are rigorously defined as to make it expressly clear what speech falls into those exceptions.

This raises the question: What would a review of a social media profile look for?

Searching for unprotected speech during a gun background check would be asinine, because finding such speech wouldn’t be grounds for denying the person a firearm, but rather sending the person to prison. If someone made a true threat, then they should be referred to the justice system to undergo legal action, not denied a gun license by a bureaucrat at a glorified DMV. Moreover, this dilemma raises further questions about what types of speech should disqualify a person from owning a gun, because defamation is unprotected speech, but I see no reason why a person who slandered someone else is inherently a danger to others and unable to own a firearm.

“But,” I hear you say, “maybe they aren’t just looking for unprotected speech, but speech that would suggest a history of violence or maybe hateful speech directed at protected classes.” This, I concede, is probably the point of the bill. After all, I think we can probably agree that if we all had our druthers, people who say things like “all women must die” and “Jews are termites” would not have guns.

But—and you will hate me for saying this—those statements are protected speech, and we do not reduce anyone’s freedoms for speech that we just don’t like.

If we allow someone to remove a right we have, based upon the protected speech we make, it’s not really protected, is it? If you think that this bill will be narrowly tailored enough and that the people in charge of distributing gun licenses will be discerning enough, then by golly, do you have another thing coming.

Let’s take a potential example in which the legislators actually try to tailor this law to avoid sweeping up hundreds of examples of clearly non-dangerous speech and assume that they only look at speech which denigrates a protected class or someone based on an immutable characteristic. This seems okay on the surface, but it quickly falls apart in practice.

Under such a law, someone who supports the Confederacy or neo-Nazism (that “or” is inclusive, by the way—the two are definitely not mutually exclusive) might be unable to buy a gun, but so might someone who is just a huge fan of Dukes of Hazzard and has their flag (which is the Confederacy flag) as their profile picture.

A person who tweets out Hitler quotes might very well be a Nazi, but they could also be a historian specializing in the historical linguistics of leaders during WWII. These examples might seem contrived, but I’m sure that the government is great at noticing individual idiosyncrasies. That’s obviously why it has so many standardized forms.

If you think this lapse is minor, then

consider phrases like “men are awful” and “#cancelwhitepeople,” both of which denigrate classes of people based on immutable characteristics (in this case, sex and race).

Under this law, people who say such statements on social media wouldn’t be able to buy guns, but they certainly aren’t dangers to society, and there is no reason for the federal government to infringe upon their rights.

If you truly are anti-gun, however, you wouldn’t mind this over-breadth. After all, you don’t want anybody to have guns, so collateral damage would function as your collateral benefit. In that case, let me propose a different experiment. The right to keep and bear arms is expressly spelled out in the Constitution on equal footing with freedom of religion, the press, speech, the right to a fair trial, to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures, to be free from incriminating yourself and all other enumerated rights.

Replace “hold and possess firearms” with any of these other rights and see if you still support this bill: “A three-year review of a social media profile would give an easy profile of a person who is not suitable to practice their religion”; “A threeyear review of a social media profile would give an easy profile of a person who is not suitable to have a fair trial”; “A three-year review of a social media profile would give an easy profile of a person who is not suitable to vote.” Look at this now and tell me genuinely if this is okay. This is not okay, not by any stretch of the imagination. This is not a gun rights issue. This is a rights issue.

Drama Dept. overworks students with excessive hours Alice Woo

Guest Columnist

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urrently, the number of hours that a student must devote to the class DRAM-200: “Experimental Theatre” rests entirely on the prerogative of the director.

While this can be beneficial when the director and stage manager understand basic time management and efficiency, nothing can stop a director from arbitrarily deciding that they want all of the cast there for the entire rehearsal process, whether or not they are engaged in the immediate activity of the rehearsal. This happens too often in the Drama Department for the administration to turn a blind eye.

First, let’s take a look at the math. An actor working on a department production receives a half credit (0.5). In a normal six-week course, the maximum amount of work per week for a six-week, half-credit class is 10 hours. If a professor uses all 10 of those hours in combined class (2.5 hours per week) and homework (7.5), you can see that a half-credit, in a normal six-week course, amounts to at most 60 hours in total. The majority of professors do not come close to this maximum, even when they include additional weekly film screenings.

There is no doubt in my mind that Vassar’s Drama Department takes advantage of the Dean of Studies’ lack of supervision in a way that is extremely detrimental to students. For students to attend the full duration of every rehearsal, they will be present for 84 hours, plus 25 mandatory hours of crew assignment. One hundred and nine hours total is twice the amount that an academic class worth the same

amount of credits is allowed to assign.

Even if a professor of a six-week academic course decided to pile on an especially heavy load, there is no way that they could match that number of hours.

In a current Drama Department production, the director has made the demand that all actors attend every rehearsal on the justification that “this is an academic class.” This justification has no legitimacy.

If it stands, it will continue the precedent that directors can decide, at will, to make actors spend their nights in the Center for Drama and Film, whether directors require their presence onstage or not. When directors allow students to do homework, they acknowledge that students can easily spend much of the rehearsal not engaged in the DRAM-200 work. Therefore, why should they have to be in attendance at all?

Second, requiring students to work that many hours is unethical. When a director decides to make a demand such as the one given this semester, they are prioritizing their personal principles of commitment above efficiency, understanding and the well-being of the students. As their principles have no policy justification given Vassar’s credit hours standards, I don’t believe they have the right to demand this of students.

Of course, DRAM-200 is an academic class. Students should understand the consequences of missing class. However, by requiring students to devote 109 hours to an academic class, they are essentially demanding more time spent on one class than any other. This often forces students to choose between their drama production, their other classes and their mental

health, the last of which should be put first, but often is not. The Drama Department’s requirements of actors can turn out to be destructive in the lives of their students, more so than other classes, due to the personal pressure piled on by directors.

“The Drama Department’s requirements of actors can turn out to be destructive in the lives of their students, more so than other classes” Though I acknowledge that Department productions are academic classes, the way their demands preclude students from participating in drama and the arts outside of the Department further reflects the attitude of Vassar’s Drama Department, an attitude that places rigidity over the students’ exploration of the arts. It’s quite confusing, really, that professors of the arts would be so unsupportive of their students participating in the thriving student theater community on Vassar’s campus.

One way to show that support would be to have even a modicum of understanding for students so devoted to drama that they participate both within and outside of the Department. That support is nowhere to be found.

The rehearsal issues of this semester are symptomatic of the attitude of the Drama Department overall, as well as show busi-

ness as a whole. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, we’ve seen woman after woman come forward to reveal the male abuse of power in show business. Directors expect actors to conform to whatever standards are set forth under threat of making enemies in the business.

I’m not saying that Vassar’s problem is directly comparable to the abundance of sexual assault cases being brought forward in Hollywood (although there have been multiple SAVP investigations regarding Drama Department professors). However, the incidents occurring in the Vassar Drama Department serve as a microcosm of the unhealthy aspects of show business that should be unacceptable in a place of education.

If the administration cares about the well-being of their students, as they claim to in regard to their tight hold on overload applications and next year’s transition to fewer permitted credits, then they will revise this policy. They will present a genuine framework of expectations for students and professors alike.

If the number of hours an actor can be called is at the discretion of the director, then schedules must reflect the needs of the production. If an inexperienced stage manager is unable to take on the workload of scheduling rehearsals efficiently, the solution should be to give support and training on how to stage manage, not to waste the actors’ time. I have genuine hopes that the Drama Department will address these issues and offer real change, and I urge fellow students to speak with the Department Chair if they have strong feelings regarding this issue.

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

November 15, 2018

Breaking News

From the desk of Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Editor

Psych major uses slapping as positive punishment to prevent all 51 students from requesting psych stats Mystery of vulva-arranged furniture solved, but ghost persists Blair Webber

Disgruntled Ouija Board Owner

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Frank/The Miscellany News

n ancient and storied institution such as Vassar inevitably entices a variety of spirits still lingering in certain corners of its campus. None is quite as disruptive as the spirit in Strong House, who identifies herself simply as “Kathy.”

Students have made numerous attempts to contact Kathy by Ouija board, but the ghost proves consistently uncooperative.

What paranormal investigators and various students who have encountered her do know is that Kathy is the restless soul of a student who attended Vassar in the mid1970s. Little personal information is known about Kathy beyond this, but she has cited numerous reasons for returning to Vassar, including her latest quest to burn all bras in Strong House.

In fact, one of Kathy’s latest obsessions has caused quite an issue over the course of the semester. Every single one of the fire alarms activated in Strong House has been connected to a sighting of a woman in a button-down, high-waisted jeans and an earth-fiber vest sprinting down the hallway with a flaming bra screaming “Porn is the theory! We don’t need men!”

This past week, Kathy dragged Strong House resident Mykel Leese out of bed by the hair, screaming that it was high time they created a society without men.

“It was a little disconcerting,” Leese said of the experience. “So much of what she says is geared toward white, cis women.”

Other Strong residents observed similarly upsetting shortcomings and blind spots in their paranormal visitor’s ideology.

“She’s not even a little intersectional,” complained a sophomore living in Strong.

“Like, she keeps writing ‘W-O-M-Y-N’ on the bathroom signs. And it’s super hard to

explain the spectrum of gender through a medium. We’ve tried. She just screams ‘down with the patriarchy,’ and then usually the fire alarm goes off, but sometimes she arranges all the furniture in the MPR into the shape of a vulva. Also, no one here cares who wears a bra and who doesn’t.

Like, that’s not an issue for us in Strong.”

Kathy’s most irritating habit, beyond frequently setting off the fire alarm late at night, stems from her love for Aretha Franklin.

“I love Aretha Franklin as much as the next guy,” said Leese, “but I’m tired of waking up to a punk metal cover of ‘Respect’ blasting in my ears. Also, I thought she was a 1970s lesbian separatist, not a ’90s Riot Grrl. Why does she scream everything?

What era of feminist ideology does she come from?”

Kathy also targeted Student Fellows in Strong with what seems like a protest against penetrative sex.

“All of the condoms we keep on our doors were cut open. It looks like they’d had the tips cut off, then been cut down the side to make dental dams. Also, she’d arranged them to spell ‘Ban Penises,’ which was a little much,” said Student Fellow Jenji Warner.

To address the interruptions and safety concerns, Vassar College brought in a team of Catholic exorcists from New York City. Their efforts seemed only to provoke Kathy’s ire, however, inciting a rash of fire alarms going off and the sounds of “Respect” blasting through the dorm for a solid 48 hours.

Strong residents are consulting other spiritual leaders, but considering Kathy is often seen burning her own ghostly stick of sage, hopes remain low that her spirit can be put to rest anytime soon.

Above is real proof that Strong House ghost Kathy exists and is on the prowl.

I heard that she not only wields a flaming bra, but also licks sleeping students.

Collection of serious poems continued: Literary analysis still required Stolen from poet Izzy Migani

A poem on the laws of aviation: Is this joke overused?

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly.

Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible.

Yellow, black. Yellow, black.

Yellow, black. Yellow, black.

Ooh, black and yellow!

Let’s shake it up a little.

Can you believe this is happening?

I can’t. I’ll pick you up.

Looking sharp.

Use the stairs. Your father paid good money for those.

Sorry. I’m excited.

Here’s the graduate.

We’re very proud of you, son.

A perfect report card, all B’s. ...

Very proud.

A Haiku about that time I spent two minutes trying to pick up my VCard from the ground Why am I useless It has been like two minutes It’s embarrassing A poem on acrostics: You can’t tell me what to do, mom Imaginative Super Awesome Byeet Eyeet Lyeet Lyeet Ayeet

A poem on getting places: I’m late, I know, I’m sorry I always tell myself I will get there on time I sometimes believe myself, though I mostly know it’s a lie Turns out if I’m waiting for myself to get there early, I’ll be following a paradigm Of always putting off getting ready to the last minute; the cycle will only amplify.

Thus vainly thinking that I’m efficient, responsible and young, Although I knows my days are past their best, Simply I credit my false speaking tongue: Thus is simple truth that I’m always late is suppress’d.

But is always being late that unjust?

Is sneaking in through the back of the classroom getting old?

O, my bad habits will change I certainly trust, And a future in which I’m frequently responsible and on time will be told: However I lie to myself and myself lies to me, And in our faults by lies forever slightly late I will be.

A poem on different types of meals I can eat at 2 a.m.

Thou still unravish’d stuffed pizza crust, Thou foster child of bread and cheese, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than Starbucks marble loaf: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy stale bread crust Of deities or mortals, or of both, In the fridge or the dales of the freezer?

What men or gods are these? How many calories doth this have?

What mad pursuit of hunger? What struggle to pace oneself?

What of eating sprinkles straight from the mouth of the jar? What wild ecstasy?

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

A concluding poem on the state of the world: New York Times, hire me World’s oldest cheese found In Egyptian tomb, a piece of good news until You find out it may be filled with a deadly Disease, if we can’t drink the sarcophagus juice If we can’t eat the tomb cheese What even is the point Of modern archeology

November 15, 2018

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 17

Sleepy student joins all clubs, regrets inability to say no Francisco Andrade

Unironic User of LOL

C

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and pngimg

ollege: a time for exploration, a time to go out and try new things and sign up for activities you’ve never thought of doing before, a time to feel like you should be working on homework for one class while literally working on homework for a different class.

When the semester started and you were eager to jump into a new chapter of your life and expand your horizons, of course you were excited to hear about the club fair.

The clubs presented all of their activities in front of you, and you thought, “Well hey, I’ll look around and get my feet wet with one or two clubs max that have to do with my interests.” But you had forgotten that you lack any confrontational ability whatsoever, which became a problem when LITERALLY anyone asked you to join a club: of course your immediate response was, “Oh yeah, of course, I’ve always been interested in that!”

Even though it’s a “Rocky Horror” production and the three people standing at this booth represent the largest amount of people you’ve talked to (or wanted to talk to) in five months.

Then, after you sign up for about 12 of these activities, the next responsibility you face is coming to terms with the harsh reality that you probably shouldn’t be working a student job, playing three sports (you’ve got the back problems of a 67-yearold ditch digger, what were you thinking?)

A tired student became jealous of the sleeping spirits in the cemetery and took out his anger by setting the ghosts on fire. Hopefully the heat will rouse the lazy apparitions. and participating in a debate team (even if you could debate, you wouldn’t have to be on this team!). Oh well! At least that’s the extent of it! Go have yourself a quiet meal where no one can bother yo— “HEY WANNA JOIN RUGBY?!”—A voice suddenly breaks out.

“Fu—” “Have you thought about rugby?! Great way to stay in shape!”

“Haha yeahhhhh...sure sign me up...”

“Okay awesome! Now, sorry, I have to go

to my job as a mall kiosk vendor. I have a deep passion for bothering people right as they are about to eat.”

That went well. Okay. It’s fine, really!

You aren’t doing that much...Yeah, you have that paper to write, but you can do it on Saturday. Oh wait, it’s tech week...Well, at least Sunday is open! Right after coaching hours and two group rehearsals...Do people really need even need eight hours of sleep per week? You’re sure that’s just a rumor.

HOROSCOPES

Not to worry, though! You’re a strong person! You can just push through it and maximize your time. Should you be concerned that you’re literally sweating black coffee? No, of course not, you’re not premed!

Wait, are you? You should probably ask your pre-major advisor.

“Hey how are classes going?” asks your advisor.

“Hahaha oh great!” you respond, though you’re drowning in both responsibility and school work. “Could go for a bit more next semester honestly haha.” What the hell are you talking about? Back out of this now, you masochist.

Advisor—”Yeah? Well I saw you eyeing that German abroad poster! You should sign up for that intensive German class. It’s two credits in one semester!

“Sounds great, sign me up!” WHAT. You use LOL un-ironically in real-life speech!

You are not ready for another language.

“Sweet, I’ll put it on there!”

Okay, well at least you’re highly motivated...That’s what we’ll call it, and I’m sure a lot of companies will be very impressed by the fact that you literally joined all of the clubs in the school.

Time for a break.

You get back to your room and stare at your lovely view of the cemetery. At least it’s reassuring to know that someone out there is getting some sleep. Now get back to work; you have a newspaper article to send to the Misc before 5 p.m., and you haven’t even started.

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

Have you been bored with academic readings? Perhaps there are “Twilight” fanfics in which Bella is on her period and Edward drinks the blood. Sounds sexy, right? Please look into this for me and send your suggestions.

Thanksgiving is coming, and I want chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. That’s right, Mom. This horoscope is all for you. However, if anyone else makes me pumpkin muffins, then I’ll adopt you as my mom.

If you don’t want to fail your test this week, then you must post the lamest note you have on your phone. I have a note from 2014 that says “emily is the best and hannah i know that u are so jelouse.” I can only assume that my sister wrote this.

It’s time to embrace your true identity and become a vandal. You must have smoke coming out of all of your holes after the renaming of the Deece. The stars tell you to rename the Deece in your own way on the little triangles on the table.

Things are looking up for you this week.

And down. And left and right and forwards and backwards. There will be a lot of misdirection in your life this week, so don’t follow any advice.

I wear glasses, and when it rains, I can’t see. I’ve decided to remedy this by never wearing glasses. Now I can’t see anyone, which is great because then I don’t have to talk to people. I would recommend reading in the dark so you can reap poor eyesight rewards.

LIBRA

September 23 | October 22

SCORPIO

October 23 | November 21

SAGITTARIUS

November 22 | December 21

My favorite pair of pants has a hole in the crotch. Sometimes I like to test fate and wear them even though I know they might rip right up my butt crack. I think we should all wear our pants torn apart at the crotch because I have a lot of cute pairs of underwear that have not been appreciated.

I really dislike having explosive diarrhea. I don’t know about you, but I find it to be unpleasant. Sadly, the stars predict that you’ll have uncontrollable diarrhea this week, so stay close to the bathroom. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

On Saturday night I lay in my bed and started my 200-page psych reading. If I don’t get to have fun on the weekends, you don’t either.

This weekend you must do something really boring, like read the College Handbook, or I’ll smite you.

The weather is making my skin so dry

CAPRICORN that my hand is ready to flake off. In at-

December 22 | tempts to rehydrate, I will be gathering loJanuary 19 tion and using it to pour myself a bath. All are welcome to come slip and slosh around.

Email me for details.

AQUARIUS

January 20 | February 18

PISCES

February 19 | March 20

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Apparently these horoscopes are always too mean and specific. Here’s your nice horoscope: You will have a great week. Enjoy the one fun week of your life until I go back to demanding that you do chores for me.

The stars suggest that you will go to class this week. Watch it happen, and you’ll know I’m psychic. If you want readings, I’m available; however, I require payment in food that you can’t get at the Deece.

SPORTS

Page 18

November 15, 2018

Butler trade intersects with hypocrisy of VC activism Emmett O’Malley Columnist

R

ecently, I’ve been very much stuck in my own head. Full disclosure: It hasn’t been great. But after hours of something close to contemplation, I think I’ve stumbled onto something close to a profound existential question. (It’s not a question I came up with, it’s a question that people smarter than I have been asking for a very long time).

It’s a specter that haunts everything I do and see. I see it everywhere. I see it at lectures. I see it in the Jimmy Butler trade.

I see it in my alphabet soup. I’ll see it at graduation. Maybe after reading this something-close-to-interesting article, you’ll see it, too.

On Vassar Activism Last Wednesday, Nov. 7, I attended Roxane Gay’s lecture in the Chapel (humble-brag?). During the question-and-answer section, a particularly astute first-year asked Gay (this is liberally paraphrased, but whatever): “What can students at a hyper-privileged, elitist institution like Vassar do to push back against the oppressive systems that we—in one way or another—so often benefit from at a place like this?”

Unfortunately, Gay—who was educated at both Phillips Exeter and Yale—seems fiercely set on and strangely comfortable succeeding in the viciously capitalist zeitgeist. Nonetheless, in response to this unknown student’s question, she said that looking within while at an elitist institution can often be the most effective way of challenging the invidious status quo.

Indeed, at a place with a billion-dollar-ish endowment, student activism centered around how that endowment is invested can be truly impactful. So impactful, in fact, that the administration will eagerly let down its kindly facade if the Vassar Student Association (VSA) transcends its role as Bureaucratic Arm of the Vassar Administration.

(Regardless of where you come down on the 2015–2016 Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) debate, we can learn a lot from the way the higher-ups reacted to its progression. Indeed, if the VSA had enacted the change for which various politically focused student organizations were pushing, then it would have had its budget evaporated by the Administration, and thus lost any semblance of pseudo-autonomy.)

Intra-Vassar activism is rare. Even when it bubbles up—like in my first year, when discussions of both BDS and divestment from fossil fuels were circulating wildly— it rarely has much staying power. In fact, I doubt that most of the first-years or sophomores reading this article even know what I’m talking about.

More alarmingly, and more tellingly, I doubt that almost any student reading this has a robust understanding of the way Vassar invests its enormous endowment (for what it’s worth, I certainly don’t). It is an endowment so large that it dwarfs the GDP of many small countries. (For reference, Vassar’s endowment is only slightly smaller than the GDP of Grenada. Harvard’s endowment is about the same as the GDP of Serbia.)

“We are all striving for a certain form of personal attainment.

We are doing so, at least superficially, of our own volition.”

Vassar has been around for about 160 years. The vast majority of us are here for only four years. The school is a massive machine composed of eerily similar parts and students—always different, and always the same, year after monotonous year.

Tangentially related to this central phenomenon is the fact that the vast majority of Vassar students are obsessed with their own standing within the school and the supposedly corresponding standing they will attain after graduation. Indeed, college is almost universally conceptualized as a means to an end.

That end, for Vassar students, is probably one of just a handful of things—maybe you’ll go work for a non-profit, or become a lawyer, or a doctor, or work at a think tank or a consulting firm. Maybe, particularly if you’re a white male athlete, you’ll go work in finance or energy. If you’re really different, maybe you’ll try to make it as some sort of creative in the same channels in which previous Vassar creatives made it.

Maybe, instead of just becoming a teacher, you’ll work in education policy. You tell me.

And yet, there’s a very logical justification for this sort of environment. We are

all striving for a certain form of personal attainment. We are doing so, at least superficially, of our own volition. We want what is best for ourselves and those closest to us, and we’re willing to make the “sacrifice” of hard work to make it happen. We are hustling. And you can’t knock the hustle.

On the Jimmy Butler Trade On Saturday, Nov. 10, the Timberwolves dealt Jimmy Butler and Justin Patton to the Philadelphia 76ers for Dario Saric, Robert Covington, Jerryd Bayless and a second-round pick.

The move concluded a fascinating saga, one defined by Butler throwing what was essentially a months-long tantrum just so he could finally leave Minnesota (aka, the 2012 Chicago Bulls).

The post-Decision NBA landscape has been largely defined by players realizing a previously unseen level of freedom. Perhaps most concisely indicative of this is a brief examination of the dislocations of the best players in the NBA (I won’t even bother enumerating LeBron James’ movement in the past decade, as he’s the catalyst of this moment for obvious reasons); Kevin Durant left OKC for Golden State; Kawhi Leonard forced his way out of San Antonio; Paul George forced his way out of Indiana; Dwight Howard left Orlando for Los Angeles (and left being good for being bad); Chris Paul forced his way out of Los Angeles; LaMarcus Aldridge left the Blazers for the Spurs. Heck, 12 of the 15 2014 All-NBA performers are on different teams than they were just over four seasons ago.

Absurd.

And what has this meant to the league?

Well, that depends on who you ask. There’s a compelling argument to be made in favor of this sort of movement. For one, it speaks to our baseline ideals of liberty. These are grown people making grown-people decisions. They should be allowed to move about the market of their own volition.

That’s what liberty means, in this context.

This argument makes sense to me. On its surface, I think it makes sense to just about everybody. But it stops making sense for many people when the league’s parity appears out of whack. It stops making sense if you’re a Minnesota Timberwolves fan, and Butler seems set on destroying your franchise from within for the sake of his own personal gain. But, then again, you can’t knock the hustle.

So Butler got his way. Good for Butler. In getting his way, however, he undermined not only the organization of which he was a part, but also the teammates with whom he was supposed to be in concert. In a blinding pursuit of personal gain (undergirded by the ever-worthwhile principles of personal liberty and autonomy), Jimmy Buckets is now a 76er. He went from playing with the second-best young center in the NBA to the best center in the NBA. He went from playing with Andrew “You Can’t Knock My Hustle If I Never Hustle” Wiggins to the transcendently talented, and actually effective, Ben Simmons.

He’s now on the most talented team in the Eastern Conference. If he is the winning-obsessed baller he professes to be, there’s really not a better spot for him to flourish.

On the Intersection of the Two A common philosophy for the socially aware meritocrats (like myself, oftentimes) at a place like Vassar is that once we achieve the standing we’ve always desired, we’ll make a “difference.” Once we gain financial stability, a comfortable life, we’ll have room to be radicals. We’ll make the world a better place (smiley face!), from a shining spot atop the New York City on the hill. To paraphrase Ta-Nehisi Coates, we want to be radicals with pensions or 401Ks. But when is enough, enough? At what point will we hustling meritocrats totally alter our consciousness and stop with the game of personal gain? At what point will we begin with the world-altering activism?

I don’t think the answer to that question is a particularly optimism-inducing one, nor do I think it’s at all possible to be a radical and succeed in a system that’s designed to squelch the cries of real radicals.

I ask a similar question of Butler’s new position. Butler—one of my favorite players to watch in the NBA—has been at the heart of drama for three years running (starting with the Bulls and moving to the Timberwolves). Now that he is on the second- or third-best roster in the NBA, is that enough? Will his frustrations suddenly stop? Will he be the championship-challenging superstar that he always seemed to think he could be?

Let’s conclude with Shakespeare, because that seems like a smart thing to do, and I think I’m out of smart things to say…

“What’s past is prologue.”

Preseason over, Mee has men’s basketball set to launch BASKETBALL continued from page 1

sequent trip to the Liberty League tournament.

This year, the Brewers are without Browne, their 1,000 point scorer, but they maintain a strong foundation.

Vassar welcomed new head coach Ryan Mee last May. Mee brings Division I experience, coming to the team from Davidson College, where he was an assistant coach for six years.

I had the chance to ask Mee about the upcoming season earlier this week. When discussing his mindset heading into the season at the helm of a new team, Mee said, “We’re dedicated to building an environment of trust, commitment and care.”

Mee went on to say that those objectives entail a sense of responsibility that the players owe to their teammates, their coaches and themselves.

Earlier in the semester, The Miscellany News conducted an extensive interview

with Mee, in which Mee spoke about his transition to Vassar. I wanted to ask him what he has learned in the month or so since regular practices began. “We’re focused on the now,” Mee replied. “We had eight guys on the sidelines to start practice. But those guys are back and healthy, so we’re excited to get started with a healthy roster.”

Mee takes the approach to the now seriously.

As he’s no stranger to the Liberty League (he played basketball for the University of Rochester), I asked the new coach if there was a team against which he was looking forward to playing. But he wasn’t looking that far ahead.

Instead, Mee wanted to stay focused on the short term—he was most excited about the upcoming game against New Rochelle: “[the New Rochelle players] get out and run, they’re fast paced. It’s going to be a great test for us to start the season.”

The Brewers look to their experienced

returners to build off of last year’s success.

Senior center Paul Grinde averaged 14.3 ppg and 8.2 rpg in his junior campaign, anchoring the team with 34.1 minutes per game.

Grinde and sophomore Zach Bromfeld comprised a tough-minded frontcourt that helped the Brewers crash the boards to third in the Liberty League in rebounding margin. Guard Alex Seff brings his 7.9 ppg and 25 steals from an injury-shortened last season into a senior role.

The team has a tough road ahead of them, no doubt. Starting a new season with a new coach can present a difficult adjustment.

But the transition brings with it opportunities, said Mee, who stated, “Sometimes it’s easier on the younger players under a new system.”

And the underclassmen are ready for the challenge. Sophomore Lance Tebay, a forward, will look to build off a stellar first season in which he worked his way into the starting lineup to average 23.8 mpg and 7.0

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ppg.

Whatever happens results-wise, the 2018–2019 season should bring an exciting brand of basketball to Vassar. Mee models his system after the pace-and-space style that currently dominates the NBA. The Brewers will look to get out on the break and spread the defense. Playing in a four-out, one-in set, the Brewers hope to light it up from three in a continuity-driven, flowing offense.

Looking ahead, the Brewers have several non-conference tune-ups before their conference opener against Ithaca later in November. Ranked sixth in the Liberty League preseason poll, the Brewers have the Liberty League tournament in their crosshairs once again.

While it is going to be a drawn-out regular season, culminating in February— over 25 games from now—the Brewers are poised to take on the challenges and joys of another chapter.

November 15, 2018

SPORTS

Page 19

Brewers In Action

Courtesy of Joe Clifford

Courtesy of Joe Clifford

Sophomore Max White has starred for the 2-2 men’s swimming and diving team, capturing three Liberty League Swimmer of the Week honors and setting various pool records.

The Vassar women’s fencing team won all seven matches at the Vassar Invitational thanks in large part to senior Sophie Blumenstock, who went 18-0 in foil on the weekend.

Courtesy of Joe Clifford

Courtesy of Joe Clifford

Senior Megan Horn led the women’s cross country team to a seventh-place finish in windy and muddy conditions in the Atlantic Regional meet in Logan Township, NJ.

After three losses to start the season, the men’s squash team has righted the ship with three straight wins. Senior Caden Gruber has played the first position in all matches.

Worthy winner Martinez snubbed in MVP shortlist Daniel Bonfiglio Guest Columnist

T

in the Hall of Fame, shouldn’t they be?

There are many hitters in the Hall of Fame who were not great fielders. Ted Williams was actually negative in defensive runs saved over his career, and one cannot imagine that Babe Ruth was the greatest outfielder. The great Derek Jeter, of all people, has a career -13.6 defensive WAR. Defense was not considered when voters admitted these players, because the offensive numbers were there. Just because the Mariners and Red Sox decided to use Edgar Martinez and Ortiz’s talent in what they perceived as the best way, does not mean that the players should be punished for it. Both DHs were the face of their respective franchise, and Ortiz brought three titles to Boston.

J.D. Martinez was also not exclusively a DH in 2018. He played 52 games in the outfield and, while not an amazing outfielder, he was far from a defensive liability. During

the World Series games played at Dodger Stadium (where, being a National League park, there is no DH) the Red Sox never hesitated to start J.D. in the field, suggesting we can attribute the club’s decision to make him a DH more to strength of the other Red Sox outfielders—two of whom won Gold Gloves—than to Martinez’s defensive shortcomings.

The MLB must define more specifically what they look for in an MVP. Is it just the numbers or WAR, or is it something else?

Mike Trout may have been more valuable to his struggling Angels than J.D. was to his talented Sox. But by that logic, the MVP would always come from a losing team. Jose Ramirez did not even crack the top three in any major statistical category.

J.D. led the best team in baseball over the crest they couldn’t clear in 2017, all while being the most feared player in the game.

Does that not make him the MVP?

Courtesy of Keith Allison via Flickr

he Boston Red Sox dominated baseball this year. They won a league best 108 games in the regular season, went 11-3 in the playoffs and won the World Series easily, beating the two next-best teams to get there.

A team of five 2018 All-Stars, the Red Sox were led by ace pitcher Chris Sale, fan favorite Mookie Betts and newly-acquired slugger J.D. Martinez, the latter two seemingly favorites for Most Valuable Player throughout the year. In a team as dominant as Boston, it made sense that the two leading players would also be the top candidates for MVP. However, after the season, Major League Baseball announced the names of the three MVP finalists in each league, with Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez and Mookie Betts tabbed for the American League. To the surprise of many fans, J.D. Martinez was not even included as a finalist.

For a long time, the most important statistics those within the baseball community used when evaluating a hitter was batting average (BA). The most basic of stats, BA simply tells the percentage of the time a batter gets a hit versus the number of times they come to the plate. When we talk about legend Ted Williams, we first recall his historic .406 batting average season.

Recently, however, new stats have been brought to the forefront, becoming more important to many fans, analysts and teams than batting average. On base percentage takes walks into account for a truer measure of how often a player gets on base, and slugging percentage includes extra base hits, measuring the average number of bases acquired per plate appearance. On base plus slugging, a sum of the two stats, has become the most consulted number when discussing a hitter.

In the modern era, defensive metrics

have seen an overhaul as well, and the archaic fielding percentage has been replaced by defensive runs saved, or ultimate zone rating. These stats use new technology to measure the number and kinds of plays certain fielders make compared to their peers and can then calculate the number of defensive runs saved to which this equates.

And, in what could be the most complete measure, a player’s wins above replacement (WAR) takes all of these numbers into account using a formula few understand to determine for how many wins a player is actually responsible.

J.D. Martinez finished the year with a .330 BA, .402 OBP and a 1.031 OPS, not to mention 43 home runs and a whopping 130 runs batted in. He was without a doubt the most feared hitter in baseball this year.

However, while he ranks in the top three for every stat mentioned there, he is only ranked seventh among American League players in WAR. Why is this? Because J.D. Martinez was predominantly a designated hitter (DH) this year, meaning he did not play the field.

The status of the DH has turned into a heated topic in recent years, with Edgar Martinez and David Ortiz—the two most successful DHs of all time—becoming Hall of Fame eligible. Many fans (and Hall voters) believe that since a DH can only ever contribute offensively, they are inherently less valuable than position players, not to mention that while the rest of their team is out on the field playing defense, a DH can stay in the heated or air-conditioned clubhouse, taking batting practice and preparing for their next at bat.

Not only is a DH a one-trick pony, they also have an advantage over everyone else doing that trick.

That being said, the achievements of these players cannot be ignored, and if they compile numbers impressive enough to be

With a .330 BA, 43 home runs and 130 RBIs, J.D. Martinez led the best offense in baseball to a World Series win. Yet the prevailing criteria for MVP voting left the Red Sox DH off the list of finalists.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

SPORTS

Page 20

November 15, 2018

Athlete Spotlight: Dual-sport standout Anna Zucchero ’21 Where do you call home?

My home is Newton, MA. What’s your major/correlate?

I’m an education major.

What else do you do on campus?

Other than academics, I’m a member of the women’s volleyball team and the women’s frisbee team. I also dabble in the art of various intramural sports.

Who was your favorite athlete growing up?

Growing up I played soccer until I was in high school, so my favorite athlete was Mia Hamm.

What’s your favorite building on campus, and why?

My favorite building on campus is either the Bridge or the Old Observatory—the Bridge because I just love working near the window and outside on the patio in the spring and the Old Observatory because I love the dome room. It has a sick skylight and a whole children’s book library inside.

What’s your best Deece hack?

If you take any premade sammy for lunch, or I guess whenever, really, and you press it,

it makes it so much better.

If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, which would you pick?

It would probably be chicken, because I could prepare it in a bunch of different ways, I guess. Love a chicken.

Who’s your celebrity crush?

My celebrity crush is Bradley Cooper, of course.

What’s been your most listened to artist or album in the last couple weeks?

My most listened to artist in the last couple weeks is probably Frank Ocean. I guess I’m just always listening to Frank Ocean.

Who’s one person from history you’d like to have dinner with, and why?

Probably Robin Williams. I know he was an actor and a comedian, but I do think he made history, and I think he’d be so fun to talk to.

What’s one thing about you that people would be surprised to know?

I actually never had had a plum until this past summer. So yeah, it’s pretty wild.

What’s your hottest take?

I have no hot takes these days. My friend

Emmett O’Malley—shoutout—told me this the other day: They’re actually making a “Toy Story 4” that’s said to be coming out next summer, so that’s interesting.

What’s been your favorite memory from playing volleyball at Vassar?

My favorite memory would have to be sitting in the Deece last season with a bunch of teammates and finding out we got a bid to the NCAA Tournament. We were watching on the computer and we saw Vassar on the bracket and we started screaming and the whole Deece went completely silent. It was awesome.

Why Vassar?

I chose Vassar for the chance to play volleyball and frisbee, the two sports I’m passionate about. And for the smaller class sizes compared to larger colleges and universities.

What do you like most about the being a student-athlete at VC? I just love playing a team sport in general, building that community with your team and being able to use those relationships built through playing a sport together to help you in any aspect of your life.

What’s different about playing Ultimate frisbee then playing volleyball?

First off, frisbee has running, so that requires me to be a different kind of in shape.

Also I think frisbee is more wild and new for me; I’ve only been playing for three years so I think it’s still that stage where I’m obsessed with it and want to get better, like all the time.

What do you like about playing frisbee here?

Frisbee here is just another whole level of Vassar that I appreciate so much. The people I’ve met through the frisbee team are just incredibly cool and fun and kind. It’s not a cult, I swear.

What’s one piece of advice for firstyears?

Use your NROs early. Like, right now. I think these are the classes where you’ll most want to use them.

Any last words?

For my last remark, I would like to share a riddle: The man who built it doesn’t want it.

The man who bought it doesn’t need it. And the man who uses it doesn’t know he’s using it. What is it?

Women’s Basketball

Vassar College 1, MIT 4

Vassar College 81, New Paltz 92

November 10, 2018

November 13, 2018

Vassar College #

Courtesy of Anna Zucchero

Courtesy of Anna Zucchero

Women’s Soccer

Player

MIT

SH SOG G A

#

Player

Vassar College

SH SOG G A

# Player

M

New Paltz

FG REB A PTS

# Player

M

FG REB A PTS

00

Walsh

0

0

0

0

1

Mueller

0

0

0

0

20 Peczuh

34 8-16 4

1

25

14 Simon

38

6-6

2

2

28

3

Trasatii

0

0

0

0

2

Apostol

1

0

0

0

32 Nick

31

5-10

5

0

18

34 Bettke

33

2-3

6

1

17

7

DeBenedictis

0

0

0

0

3

Reilly

1

0

0

0

12

35

7-13

3

3

15

21

36

0-0

3

1

15

9

Chroscinski

0

0

0

0

4

Miller

1

0

0

0

24 Sussman

24

2-4

5

1

6

32 Ziogas

19

1-1

2

0

1

14

Seper

0

0

0

0

5

Bailey

0

0

0

0

4

22

0-1

0

2

0

25 Teape

24

0-0

2

0

0

16

Cutler

0

0

0

0

9

Struckman

5

5

1

0

30 DeOrio

20 5-13

7

1

13

3

24

5-5

4

1

15

17

Lavelle

0

0

0

0

11

Berzolla

4

1

1

1

22 Schmid

11

1-2

2

0

2

45 Niemeyer

15

1-2

7

2

12

19

Ferry

0

0

0

0

13

Nichols

2

1

1

0

34 Pettirossi

1

1-1

0

0

2

12

Van Pelt

5

0-0

3

0

2

21

Moss

1

1

1

0

17

Nielan

0

0

0

0

15

Mousley

11

0-0

2

1

0

4

Glover

2

0-1

0

0

2

23

Andrews

0

0

0

0

21

Groff

5

3

1

0

3

Douglas

6

0-2

1

0

0

20 Maurer

3

0-0

0

0

0

29

Tanner

1

0

0

0

33

Tong

0

0

0

0

14 Leong

5

0-0

2

0

0

1

1

0-0

0

0

0

1

1

0

9

81

7

92

Totals.......

Goalie Walsh

Minutes 90:00

3

GA

Saves

4

8

22

Totals.......

Goalie Mueller

Minutes 90:00

GA 1

12

4

2

Cenan

Gillooly

Totals....... 200 29-62 35

Dietz

Howell

Whelan

Totals....... 200 33-65 33

Saves

1

2

3

4

1

2

3

4

0

23

21

21

16

22

23

21

26

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