Volume CXLVI, Issue 15

The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVI | Issue 15

February 21, 2013

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Tim Wise condemns ‘white obliviousness’ Jail deal spotlights T recitivism Bethan Johnson neWs eDitor

Rachael Borné

ContributinG eDitor Emily Lavieri-Scull/The Miscellany News

he thirteenth annual All College Day began on Monday with an all-campus lecture titled “Beyond Diversity: Challenging Racism In An Age Of Backlash” by anti-racist author Tim Wise. Earlier in the day, Wise held a smaller workshop on issues of racism, sexism, and class discrimination, and their effect on the college campus experience. The renowned activist, who has written books such as White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, lectured on issues of white privilege and the daily implications of race in America. The lecture, which occurred in a packed Villard Room, proved to be the best attended All College Day event.

The lecture, which was a collaboration between the the Vassar Student Association (VSA), the AL-

ANA Center, and Africana Studies Program, marks the culmination of months of planning. According to an emailed statement by Associate Dean of the College Ed Pittman, “[Campus Life and Diversity Office] made the decision in late November...after connecting with VSA.” This was Wise’s second visit to Vassar, his first being in 2005 to speak about affirmative action.

Among the motivating factors for inviting Wise to speak was his experience of contextualizing issues of race and inequality within a collegiate setting. According to the All College Day website, “Wise has also lectured on diversity and racial incidents on college campuses and how students and others can respond.”

The gorup felt this familiarity with college settings would prove valuable in addressing the rising tension See TIM WISE on page 4

Tim Wise addressing notions of ‘over-privelige’ at his All College Day presentation “Beyong Diversity: Challenging Racism In An Age of Backlash.”

Vassar joins long list of WBC’s target schools Chris Gonzalez feAtures eDitor

with additional reporting by

Marie Solis

feAtures eDitor

F

or the last two weeks, after the news broke about Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) planning to protest the College for its acceptance of homosexuality, Vassar students have been working together to figure out the best way to react. Of course, WBC has protested on both college campuses and high schools in the past, which has left a constant grow-

Students from Kansas, Syracuse report anti-climax at WBC protests ing record of how other student bodies have dealt with the organization.

For Cushing House Student Advisor Natalie Hine ‘14, the events on campus are not that different from the protest WBC held across the street from Shawnee Mission East High School, her former high school in Kansas. Hine wrote in an emailed statement that WBC objected the

philosophy of her high school for the same reasons that prompted them to schedule a protest against the College.

“We had a gay homecoming king and cheerleading captain the year they came, which I think triggered their visit and reflects our school’s general acceptance of homosexuality. I had many openly gay friends

there who felt comfortable in our school’s socially liberal environment, which WBC obviously didn’t appreciate,” wrote Hine. While the school warned students to be cautious in their interactions with WBC, the Religion major recalled nothing prevented her classmates from getting involved.

She said, “Students were excited by the prospect of a counter protest and did not hesitate to do so. We knew that we wanted to share a message of peace and love, to contrast See WBC on page 8

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or years the inmate population in Dutchess County has far surpassed the jail capacity, but not until recently have we seen a proposal to build a larger, more efficient facility gain speed. The issue is highly contentious, as legislators and members of the community alike are split right down the middle—either supportive of the construction or deeply opposed, with few compromises in sight.

Because of the steep cost, long timeline and drastic reorganization a completely new jail would inevitably necessitate, some local lawmakers believe a renovation to the existing jail located on North Hamilton Street would be a more viable option for both taxpayers and the inmates currently incarcerated.

For Dutchess County Legislator Richard Perkins, representing Hyde Park, constructing a completely new facility is an unnecessarily drastic measure that requires more careful deliberation.

“I’ve been waiting for a fair comparison,” he said. “You’re not just building the few beds that you need.

You’re building a whole jail over again. You’re abandoning the existing facility.”

Perkins argued that a new jail in Dutchess county is counterproducSee COMPROMISE on page 6

Speaker series incorporates queer Student-run ski team voice to Vassar archive, community builds lifelong bonds Christopher Brown

John Plotz

Guest rePorter

AssistAnt sPorts eDitor

I

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courtesy of Uptown Magazine

n the first of three events in the Queering the Archive Series, activist and writer Darnell Moore will speak about his initiatives to identify the voices of queer people in the Newark area.

The idea for the Queering the Archive speaker series arose from one professor’s recognition of the institutional silencing of queer voices and his desire to insert these voices into our regular discourse. Assistant Professor of English and Women’s Studies Hiram Perez has established this program on a curricular and community level. This semester, he is teaching a class of the same name in the Women’s Studies Department that focuses on archival practices, and the extent to which queer voices do and do not exist within them.

This program is an extension of this class, and is open to the entire Vassar community.

Perez was inspired by the event “Smashing History: 150 years of LGBTIQA history at Vassar” that took place during the Fall 2011 semester. While the event opened his eyes to issues of the documentation of queer voices, he found room to See ARCHIVE on page 16

Darnell Moore, above, will lecture on Feb. 27 from 1-3 p.m. as part of the Queering the Archive Series. Assistant Professor of English Hiram Perez established the program.

Inside this issue

7

FEATURES

Hidden gems for the keen eye at ACDC’s sandwich station

9

OPINIONS

Staff Editorial: How to make the anti-WBC movement even better

ith winter varsity sports ending and a new season kicking of, Vassar College’s ski team continues to prosper as a completely student run organization. Although it is not officially recognized by Vassar Athletics, the ski team uses VSA funding to make it possible for members to travel to exhibitions, such as the recent Costume Race in Vermont. A close knit group, the Vassar ski team focuses on building camaraderie as well as gaining experience on the slopes.

The ski team, or the VC Brewskis, as they call themselves, have no coaches or coordinators to help set up travel plans or expenses. This means that they have to rely on team members to book hotels, find tournaments to attend, and manage funds in order to stay active. The team is led by two captains, junior Anna Been and senior Carmen Angleton, who have been a part of the team for the entirety of their Vassar careers. A lack of a coaching staff requires students to teach the less experienced members the basics of skiing.

“We usually have a junior and a

15 ARTS

senior captain so we can learn the ropes and then teach it to someone new the next year,” noted Been in an emailed statement.

The Brewskis take advantage of the long winter here in the Northeast and get in as much skiing time as possible. “As a team we usually race anywhere from two to four weekends each winter,” explained Been. The team also spends a week during winter break in Sugarbush, a ski resort in Vermont. All Vassar students are allowed to attend this event.

This year 48 teams from the Mcbrine division, the skiing division that Vassar is a part of, attended the Sugarbush event, some of whom had never skied before. Wrote Been, “This trip really builds camaraderie, and is incredibly inclusive because you have all grades hanging out together. Some people sign up for Sugarbush as a group of friends, and some sign up alone and get put in a condo with a group of people that they later become friends with.

Sugarbush is kind of our ‘practice’ before the racing season.”

One such member who attended Sugarbush was freshman Marya Pasciuto. Although Pasciuto has See SKI TEAM on page 20

Our survival guide for surviving the Godless post office

The Miscellany News

Page 2

February 21, 2013

miscellanynews.com Blogs Multimedia Breaking News

Editor-in-Chief

David Rosenkranz

Contributing Editors Hannah Blume Rachael Borné Adam Buchsbaum Aashim Usgaonkar

Miscellany Media presents

News Bethan Johnson Leighton Suen Features Chris Gonzalez Marie Solis Opinions Lane Kisonak Humor & Satire Jean-Luc Bouchard Arts Jack Owen Steven Williams Sports Meaghan Hughes Photography Katie de Heras Design Aja Brady-Saalfeld Online Alessandra Seiter

Wednesdays at the Aula: PoTown Swing (Coming Soon.)

CORRECTION: In the 2.14.13 issue of The Miscellany News, Director of the Writing Center Matthew Schultz was wrongly attributed to a statement made by Senior Lecturer of English Karen Robertson. Schultz was also incorrectly described as having joined Vassar in 2006 instead of 2011. These errors have been corrected for the web.

Letter to the Editor Matthew Schultz

T

he editorial staff at the Miscellany News should seriously consider consultation with the Writing Center staff. Since my arrival at Vassar in January 2011 (not 2006 as the February 14, 2013 issue of the Misc. indicates), I have been interviewed three times for features in the paper: Once for a biographical piece upon being named Director of the Writing Center, once for a feature on the Writing Center itself, and now in an attempt to create division among the faculty with regard to technology in the classroom.

In each of these three instances I have been grossly misrepresented. During my first interview the writer didn’t actually write (or record) any of our discussion. I should not have been so surprised when sentences that appeared in that article as direct quotations were not familiar to me. When one places text between two sets of quotation marks, thereby attributing that exact text to a particular author, one has an ethical responsibility to make absolutely certain that each and every word is exactly as previously stated. To do otherwise is both irresponsible and dishonest. Put simply, it is bad writing.

When asked if I would provide insights into the current programs and resources offered by the Writing Center for a second article, I agreed though insisted that the writer and I conduct the interview via email so that there would be a written record of my responses. In that article, not only were statements clearly labeled “off the record” included in the piece, but also direct quotes were taken out of context and edited without proper indication such as ellipses.

Ellipses indicate that a writer has modified a portion of the statement by removing text that is not pertinent to the argument at hand. Unfortunately, in this instance, the text removed was central to my explanation of future Writing Center projects.

The most recent, and likely final, interview that I gave The Miscellany News contains such egregious misrepresentation that I feel compelled––as a writing teacher––to call attention to the unacceptable practices of at least three of Vassar’s journalists. I will not proceed through this article paragraph by paragraph highlighting

each instance of idle language, but will focus the reader’s attention to a few major concerns.

Let’s begin by looking at the photo’s caption (pay special attention to how I use quotation marks in what follows––not a single character is changed.): “Senior Lecturer of English, Karen Robertson, above, feels that Moodle and email should not replace in-person conversations.

Other professors praise the potential of Moodle to enrich class discussion.” Of course, Dr. Robertson’s opinion that “email should not replace in-person conversations” does not imply that Moodle cannot “enrich class discussion” (notice how I didn’t use quotation marks when I rearranged that sentence to suit my needs, though still cited the idea presented by directly quoting the final portion of the thought?). In short, one could––and many do––believe that technology simultaneously “should not replace in-person conversations” yet can still “enrich class discussion.”

Fact check. It’s the most basic tenant of responsible journalism. In this case, the writers did not even need to fact check; they simply had to pay attention to what I wrote in an emailed statement. I have been teaching college level courses since 2006: first at Saint Louis University (2006-2010) and then at Vassar College (2011-present). Each and every detail in a story is as important as the main claims. Do not be lazy. Search diligently for the correct information, for the most perfect word, for the strongest evidence to support your argument. Your ethos depends upon it. Write as if each and every reader is skeptical of each and every syllable in your reporting. Even if no one reads your piece, you will have reaped the rewards of disciplined practice and your next article will evidence this growth as a writer.

One of the greatest disrespects a writer can pay to his or her interviewee is to misrepresent their ideas in a way that seemingly pits them against their colleagues. I was incredibly clear in my email that, “The thing to keep in mind is that every professor, every course, every department, every division, and every institution is different. Therefore, my responses can only be unique to my teaching philosophy and learning goals.” Of course, this invaluable qualification

did not make it into the article because it would have undermined the writers’ desire to show professors disagreeing. I don’t disagree with my colleagues. I believe they have made the best pedagogical decisions for their students. The thought and generosity that goes into these decisions should be praised, not obscured. Such is the tragedy of this piece.

Finally, the most disturbing paragraph in this article is the concluding quotation attributed to me. Now, I don’t necessarily disagree that professors work incredibly hard, as do administrators and support staff, but I simply did not write this––not a word of it (and have the email correspondence to prove it). Pitting faculty against administration and staff is a disheartening trend in higher education that must stop. Each and every employee of this and other colleges and universities share in the mission to educate future generations of free thinkers and ethical citizens. Anyone who has sat in my classroom, or served on a committee with me, or attended an administrative meeting with me knows that it would be completely out of character for me to suggest that “we are all pushed and I don’t know how much more we can take on.” This is slanderous. Not only to me as an employee of the college, but to all my colleagues who will never stop taking on more responsibility in the name of education.

Sometimes the stories we want to tell simply don’t exist. This is why creative writing is just as important as journalism. Please understand your medium and abide by its conventions and codes. Perhaps the Miscellany News staff doesn’t have the greatest of examples when we consider the lazy––and more often, inciting–– reporting coming out of major news organizations. But you’re not being paid to pander to a political agenda. And right now, at Vassar College, writing for the storied Miscellany News, you have the opportunity to develop your own ethical code and high standards to fall back on when faced with tough decisions in professional journalism. Look not to the national pundits, but to your professors here at Vassar. They are the exemplary readers, thinkers, and writers.

They are the diligent researchers and careful, honest attributors.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Assistant Opinions Gabe Dunsmith Joshua Sherman Assistant Sports Chris Brown Assistant Photo Jacob Gorski Jiajing Sun Assistant Copy Farah Aziz Assistant Design Palak Patel Crossword Editor Jack Mullan Reporters Amreen Bhasin Charlacia Dent Noble Ingram Carrie Plover Eloy Bleifuss-Prados Columnists Zoe Dostal Luka Laden Zach Rippe Jill Stein Juan Thompson Eli J. Vargas I Photography Cassady Bergevin Jonah Bleckner Spencer Davis Emily Lavieri-Scull Design Bethany Terry Online Victoria Bachurska Rachel Dorn Youngeun “Ellis” Kim Copy Sophia Gonsalves-Brown Jacob ParkerBurgard LETTERS POLICY The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers.

Letters to the Editor should not exceed 450 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.

ADVERTISING POLICY The Miscellany News (1) reserves the right to reject or edit any advertising copy at any time; (2) will not accept advertisements that promote discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, sex or sexual orientation, nor will it accept advertisements of a political nature or advertisements that promote products or services illegal in the State of New York: (3) will print every advertisement with the word “advertisement” above it; (4) shall not be liable for failure to print, publish or circulate all or any portion of any issue if such a failure is the result of circumstances beyond the paper’s control.

February 21, 2013

NEWS

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All College Day panels engages issues of racial equity Bethan Johnson and Noble Ingram neWs eDitor & rePorter

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Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

n Tuesday, the campus hosted several panel and group discussions as part of All College Day, an all campus community-oriented program of events that took place from Monday evening to Wednesday. The Tuesday discussions took place in the afternoon and focused on the topic of “Race, Privilege, and Power.”

All College Day has been an institution at Vassar for many years and has featured a wide variety of themes including “Bursting the Vassar Bubble,” “Building Community at Vassar,” and “Engaging Campus Tensions.” According to the Office of Campus Life and Diversity’s website, one goal of All College Day is “to create open and honest dialogue on matters of campus life.” Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life and Diversity Ed Pittman explained further: “The goal of All College Day is to bring together all members of the campus community to think about and discuss issues on campus and to work together as a community to build solutions.”

This year was different in that All College Day actually spanned several days, beginning with the Tim Wise lecture on Monday and proceeding through a series of discussion on Tuesday before the more traditional community-building events on Wednesday.

Each discussion on Tuesday was led by either a member of the faculty, administration, a specific committee on campus or the student body. Every discussion approached the theme from a slightly different angle. As Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Julian Williams, who led one discussion, said, “We want to talk about something relating to the wider theme while also talking about something that no one else was talking about.” Discussion topics included white privilege in the LGBTQ community, race-conscious admissions in higher education and racial profiling and policing on campus.

Williams continued, speaking on Monday in anticipation of the event. “The overall theme is race, power and privilege. Each conversation is expanding upon that theme. They’re three words but they mean so much to different peo-

ple and different groups. Being able to expand upon that in a different way or take a different angle… is something I find really enjoyable and I’m excited to see what others are doing.”

Mr. Williams helped facilitate a discussion entitled: “A Shift in the Paradigm: The Diversity Imperative at Vassar and Changing Landscape of Race Conscious Admissions in Higher Education.” He focused on the political issue of affirmative action and the ways in which Vassar can continue to maintain a diverse and inclusive environment. Before the event, Williams made his goal clear: “What I hope to do… is just have a big conversation on these issues, to try to engage all the participants.”

Another discussion that took place on Tuesday was titled, “’What does it feel like to be a problem?’—A Conversation about Student Life, Profiling, and Safety.” This discussion was the second installment of a three part series hosted by the Committee on Inclusion and Excellence.

Students, faculty and administrators discussed the ways Vassar students can respond to issues of racial profiling and how to improve and regulate interactions between students and security.

The discussion also focused on ways in which Vassar College relates to the surrounding community and how successful the college is at welcoming outsiders and how we define who “belongs” here.

Assistant Director for Campus Life/LGBTQ and Gender Resources Judy Jarvis ‘07 and Kate Dolson ‘13 hosted a discussion titled “White Privilege in the LGBTQ Community,” in the LGBTQ Center during the first blocked off period. Designated by the All College Day planners as a campus-only discussion, over a dozen students worked to address both the role of white privilege in the Vassar and at-large LGBTQ community. The event asked white students to describes instances of their own complicity in overt and covert forms of racism, and students of color to explain their history of being affected by these forms of racism. The facilitators asked students to discuss these experiences in small groups and then illuminate the act of owning racism and white privilege to the group at large. The dialogue also dealt with the role of racism in Vassar’s dating culture and

Lea Brown ‘15 discusses the origin of her last name at an All-College Day panel titled “Talking about Race, Racism, Inequality and White Privilege.” Students considered issues raised during the Tim Wise lecture. the student’s discussions and opinions on national issues, such as marriage equality. Jarvis explained, “[Jarvis and Dolson] were excited to lead this session, coming from a space of both identifying as white queer women, and that so often conversations about racism and conversations of white privilege are led by people of color. And that people of color too far often... undeservedly have the burden of explaining to other, or elucidating these topics, when it is our responsibility to own it.”

Angelica Gutierrez ’13, a panelist in the discussion, praised the number of people who attended the discussion on Tuesday. “I’m really excited about the turnout. This is actually the second of three discussions and the first one wasn’t well attended.” Pittman echoed the optimism felt about the amount of attention these discussions were receiving. He noted, “Each discussion had about 20 people, which is good.

But that adds up to over 200 people which is really powerful.”

Gutierrez continued by stressing the importance of events for Vassar like the one she was a part of. “It shows that the Vassar community is interested in community issues. We care about everyone who visits campus.”

Williams agreed with this sentiment, underlining the importance Tuesday’s discussions had in making this All College Day a success.

“We need to maintain open spaces so we can have these conversations, and we don’t always have to agree on them. That’s the point I always try to bring out is that… we can all think differently, we can all feel differently but let’s talk about it and let’s create the open spaces where we can. Then we can all learn from each other.”

Ultimately, people responded to the events positively and praised both the faculty and administrators who hosted the events as well as the students who attended them. Said Williams, “I think everybody’s done a really good job. We ‘re just hoping to keep adding to these conversations.”

Alumnae/i offer encouraging outlook of post-graduation Eloy Bleifuss Prados and Emily Hoffman rePorter AnD Guest rePorter

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lumnae/i returned last week to share advice and to tell their stories of struggle and success in life after Vassar. All three panels, each one with a different focus, shared this general advice to students: be persistent, do what you love and get your foot in the door.

The panels took place on Friday, Feb. 15 and Saturday, Feb. 16 and were hosted by various college offices, departments and organizations.

On Friday, the Office of International Services hosted its sixth annual International Alumnae/a Panel, which featured Americans working abroad or internationals working stateside in a variety of fields. Two panelists appeared in

person, while four others Skyped in from overseas--one from as far away as Tajikistan.

Later that same evening in the Rosenwald Theater, a panel of ten recent graduates who were involved in film, television and online media introduced themselves and discussed their career trajectories.

Then on Saturday, the Council of Black Seniors (CBS), in congruence with the Career Development Office (CDO) and Office of Alumnae/i Affairs and Development (OAAD), hosted an event. The panel consisted of five Vassar alums who answered questions that were posed by the CBS. President of CBS Christie Chea ’13 spoke about choosing the final panelists: “Our main

Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

International alumnae/i Skype in to share their experiences in the job market after Vassar. Graduates at the panel cited college extracurriculars as shaping their interests and opportunities in the “real world.”

Intaim was to have a mix of class years, professions, and post-graduation experiences.”

This was the CBS’ first alumnae/i panel. One of the missions of the organization is preprofessional services and programming for seniors. Other events in the past include a shadowing program involving alumnae/i called “Take a Senior to Work Day.” They decided to do something different this year.

The alumnae/i reflected on the positive aspects of a liberal arts education. Students have expressed anxiety about this type of education when faced with a job search. “The beauty of Vassar is that you can dabble in different areas,” said Keity Gomez ’10.

Damon Johnson ’02 echoed Gomez’s thoughts. “You’ll never have a better opportunity to practice being the master of your own path than at Vassar.” Furthermore, the alumnae/i believe that participation in extracurricular activities was what helped them gain confidence. “The first two years were rough for me, coming from a first generation family,” said Joel Arce ’08, “but finally being able to be confident, to advocate for others, that took me being a part of programs at Vassar, such as Poder Latino and the Council for Black Seniors.”

They also spoke about their heavy involvement in extra-curricular activities and clubs that helped them gain experience and an understanding of their passions. “It all started with ViCE and wanting to get into music...I considered that to be the beginning of my career,” said CBS panelist Monte Bailey ’90, a former chairperson on ViCE, who worked as a Director of Marketing and Promotion at Time Warner and at Universal Music Group.

Panelists of the CBS event warned students to be realistic. Their successes would be dependent on factors largely beyond their control.

“These were the best years of your life,” said Chief Information Officer at Dickinson College

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

and international panelist Robert Renaud ’76, paraphrasing Meryl Streep’s 1983 commencement address. “The rest of your years are like high school. It is a lot about how good looking you are, who you know, and a lot of luck.”

Some alumnae/i were even confronted with discrimination after college. Caitlin Feeley ’02 entered a career in video game design, a predominantly male business. Feeley is now a project manager at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Education Arcade. but she told the audience at the media panel that it was a hard climb to success. “The ladder rungs were greased,” she said.

For others, like international panelist Joan Shore ‘56, discovering a career was a journey.

Shore explained that in her time, before Vassar went co-ed in 1969, ambitions after graduation were very different for women.

“I grew up in a generation,” said Shore, “where the ultimate goal was to get married and have a family.” While she was originally interested in architecture, her plans changed after she got married, had children and moved to Brussels.

In Europe, she ran through a gamut of jobs as an art critique, a journalist and a freelance writer. She now resides in Paris and is a contributor for the Huffington Post and an author of two books.

Media panelist Sam Wootton ‘10 moved to New York City. When he was offered work, it was an accounting position at Home Box Office (HBO) miniseries Mildred Pierce. He had studied film at Vassar, but he took the job anyway.

Then one day, a production manager approached him and asked if he would be interested in working as a director of photography on a new television series HBO was developing. No official name was attached to the show yet, so they were calling it the Untitled Lena Dunham Project. Today he holds production assistant credits for five episodes of Girls.

NEWS

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News Briefs Poughkeepsie contemplates new arts district

An arts district may come out of the upcoming zoning renovation of the city of Poughkeepsie.

Home to The Chance Theater, the Barrett Art Center, the Bardavon Opera House and the Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie already has a thriving art community. Mayor John Tkazyik believes this community could benefit from a new art district. The zone would give a focus to the arts contributions to the city, especially that of downtown Poughkeepsie. Tkazyik told the Poughkeepsie Journal, “Such a focus could capitalize on existing foot traffic and provide for artist studios and lofts where artists could live and work” (“City of Poughkeepsie may create arts district,” 2.10.13).

City officials have enlisted help from leaders of Poughkeepsie arts organizations. Linda Martson-Reid is President of the Dutchess County Arts Council, a nonprofit arts service organization.

She, along with Tkazyik, believes the district will strengthen the arts community and culturally enrich Poughkeepsie. Martson-Reid explained, “We can say ‘an arts district,’ but it’s got to be a coordinated effort with all these people together.”(Poughkeepsie Journal).

In addition to a district, there are also plans to build an art center in Poughkeepsie. The Mark Walhimer Exhibition Design of New York City has proposed building the center that would be comprised of the Dutchess County Arts Council, several other nonprofits, as well as a lending museum. Vassar has already allocated several works from its collection to be given to the museum, should it be built (Poughkeepsie Journal).

An arts center, and district in general, has the potential to benefit Poughkeepsie economically as well as culturally. In 2011, nonprofit arts and cultural organizations generated $264,480 in local government revenue and $327,953 in state government revenue. These organizations employ 221 people full-time.(Poughkeepsie Journal).

Steps are being put into motion to make the arts district a reality. According to Martson-Reid, a focus group concerning the arts district has been created. Moreover, The Dutchess County Arts Council hired a consultant using a grant from the Dyson Foundation. Mayor Tkazyik hopes the zoning update, including the arts district, will be completed by the end of this year (Poughkeepsie Journal).

- Anna Iovine, Guest Reporter

February 21, 2013

VSA ruminates on divestment resolution O

n Sunday, Feb. 17, the resolution in support of divestment from fossil fuel industries was proposed for a second time in Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council, and subsequently tabled again to the Student Life Committee. The Council began with a forum with Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources Marianne Begemann ’79 and Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration and Director of Investments Stephen Dahnert.

The tabling of this resolution is the latest setback to the divestment proposal, which has been in the works since September. “Vassar needs to commit to figuring out how to do divest[ment], and publicly,” wrote Noah Bogdonoff ’14, a co-coordinator of the divestment campaign, in an emailed statement.

“We need to actively engage in the national dialogue even if we know that our managers aren’t going to sign on right away. When we make our collective voice heard, people will begin to listen. More people will begin to talk. And when people begin to talk, politicians begin to listen.”

Begemann began the forum by describing the Campus Investor Responsibility Committee (CIRC), which has discussed the divestment proposal for several weeks. After the discussions are finished, it will make a recommendation to the Trustee Investor Responsibility Committee (TIRC), which will report to the Board of Trustees.

At one point, CIRC member Dahnert, expressing his personal views only, said that he strongly opposes divestment. He views the campaign as well-intentioned but misdirected. “First and foremost, divestment as proposed is highly impractical for Vassar given the structure of our investment portfolio,” he wrote in an emailed statement. “Any such divestment would be costly to Vassar and could severely impair our ability to generate strong, consistent investment returns, undermining the endowment’s sole purpose:

providing financial resources in support of our educational mission. This is not just due to the potential loss of these specific investments, but because the proposal as written could effectively require us to leave many of our investment managers (co-mingled funds) where we cannot select individual investments, and also severely constrain the universe of available investment options going forward.”

During the forum and subsequent discussion of the resolution, VSA Council members pointed out several times that goal of the divestment proposal is to make a political statement and not necessarily a practical impact on fossil fuel industries. “We know that divestment won’t cripple the fossil fuel industry from an economic perspective, but it will show our politicians just how desperate we are for some true leadership,” wrote Bogdonoff in an emailed statement. “Rallying has not worked; lobbying has not worked; suing has not worked. We’re not giving up on those tactics, but we recognize that they’ve been robbed of their efficacy. We need something new, a strong stance linked to a symbolic action. Divestment is exactly that.”

Bogdonoff continued, “It’s become increasingly clear that the only way to mount sufficient pressure is to take a strong stance like divestment–to say to our politicians, ‘You have not done your job. You haven’t regulated the fossil fuel industries. You haven’t stopped them from exploiting our land, water, and health. So we’re going to use the only tool you’ve left us–our money’.”

Dahnert, however, believes that divestment would have no impact whatsoever on the targeted companies, whose stocks are successful and in high demand. Instead, he advocates for staying invested and having a voice in the companies’ policies shareholders. “Vassar has voted proxies on equities held in our name for many years, and we have also on occasion written letters to corpora-

tions in which we invest, stating our position on important issues… While I recognize that we will not be able to effect significant changes immediately with any companies through shareholder engagement, I think we stand a much better chance of influencing corporate behavior if we are an investor than if we are not.”

Dahnert labels divestment a “feel-good measure” that does not address the core problem. “Divestment will not harm targeted companies or cause them to change their business practices, nor will it reduce carbon emissions,” he wrote in an emailed statement. “And it could cause some to conclude ‘we’ve done our part’ when they should instead be focused on the actual problem: consumption… I would encourage those who are passionate about this issue to become engaged in activities that actually will help reduce emissions. The primary emphasis should be on reducing consumption, which is what drives the energy industry.”

When the motion to table the resolution was made for the first time on Sunday, the coordinators of the Vassar College Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign were hesitant.

The students cited their months of preparation and the need to get on the Board of Trustees’ agenda this semester. Begemann had mentioned during the forum that the campaign should aim for the May Board of Trustees meeting. After subsequent discussion, the presenters conceded that they would like to spend some more time making the resolution clearer and more effective.

“I do support the resolution being tabled, especially since the reason for doing so was to make it stronger, more irrefutable,” wrote Bogdonoff in an emailed statement. “Our conversations have indicated that the Council recognizes how important divestment is, which is incredibly heartening. Everyone on the campaign looks forward to bringing this back to the table and getting it passed.”

Wise urges questioning of over privilege

Meteor strikes central Russia injuring over 1000

TIM WISE continued from page 1

Early in the morning on Friday Feb. 15, a meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere above Alaska. At approximately 9:20 a.m. it streaked across the Siberian sky, creating a tremendous shock wave that injured approximately 1,200 people. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. The shock wave resulted both when the meteor entered the Earth’s lower atmosphere and from the energy it released upon slowing down. The meteor was calculated to be about 50 feet in diameter and weighed about 7,000 tons.

The city of Chelyabinsk in central Russia, inhabited by one million peoples, was most affected by the meteor. Shattering of glass from the explosion caused most of the injuries. Glassware was fragmented in buildings where windows were not broken. Furthermore, the roof of a brick and steel factory caved in. The meteor injured more people than previous meteors have. Additionally, neighbors suffered varying amounts of damage. This is due to the fact that infrasound waves can move in an unusual manner, impacting some surfaces more strongly than others.

A collision of a meteor of this size with Earth is rare; it is expected to occur approximately once a century. Every day, smaller entities of a diameter of 30 or so inches impact the Earth and are burned when they come into contact with the atmosphere.

This translates to 80 tons of celestial matter falling to Earth every day. Nevertheless, none of it bears any danger.

At present, there is no funding for scientific research to investigate threats from falling celestial objects. Such a project would be able to alert people of danger from meteors like the one that hit Russia. Scientist Clark R. Chapman of the South West Research Institute claims that space research programs would be able to prevent such a hazard if they were aware of it a few years ahead of time.

The Russian government is currently undergoing research at four sites to understand the meteor that struck on Friday. One of the sites is Lake Chebarkul, where a twenty-foot hole in the layer of ice was discovered. It is likely that the hole resulted from a piece of the meteor, which broke off in the celestial sphere above Russia.

- Lena Josephs, Guest Reporter

between the VSA and identity-based organizations. According to VSA President Jason Rubin ’13, the VSA originally planned on inviting a speaker on racism and to campus following last semester’s notorious fund application issue involving MEChA, and then discovered All College Day planners were considering a similar topic.

Another key reason for hosting Wise as part of the All College Day programming rather than as a separate lecture arose out of arguments of visibility and participation. Rubin noted that this year’s All College Day featured changes like the addition of a keynote speaker to rally attention. Pittman noted, “I believe that connecting such a powerful speaker to a larger and institutionalized program such as All College Day—and with VSA—was able to yield positive outcomes.”

All College Day planners hoped that Wise’s popularity would inspire increased attendance for the rest of All College Day. “The lecture was intentionally centered as a catalyst for the discussions on Tuesday afternoon,” Pittman explained. “Ideally, those discussions will continue in ways that seek resolution of the problems that exist.”

Wise’s Monday workshop engaged students, particularly student leaders, with issues of racism and white privilege. Pittman noted, “We were very excited about the afternoon discussion with student leaders, many of who were involved in tense conversations around VSA allocations and issues of race and privilege. Some of the most vocal and central players in those discussions participated in the dialogue with Tim Wise.” Among the organizations included in this dialogue were the VSA Executive Board, Council of Black Seniors, Feminist Alliance, Act Out!, Vassar Prison Initiative, MEChA, Asian Students Alliance, Vassar Young Democratic Socialists, Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics, and Multiracial-Biracial Student Association.

Aside from granting students a more personal opportunity to interrogate Wise’s theories and their applications, the workshop

allowed student leaders to articulate their personal struggles with racism and white privilege at Vassar and throughout America. Wise used the space to talk about his commitment to anti-racism, and why all people should work to destroy white supremacy. The final push of the workshop dealt with means of combating these issues at Vassar.

One of the initial discussion topics dealt with the recent talks of a social consciousness requirement. Students voiced opinions that requiring freshman or underclassmen to take a social consciousness course would bring these issues to the forefront. Wise challenged students to look at the concept in another light.

He said, “The place to start rather than [saying] ‘We are going to create this thing; we’re going to create this requirement,’ I think the administration hears that, and a lot of students hear that, and alums hear that, and faculty hear that, [and say] ‘Oh my god we have all this other stuff we have to do and now we have to do that?’ They view it as secondary or tertiary.”

Instead, Wise told students to use their mission statement as a place to begin building discussions of social consciousness and more programming. “[Point to it and say] we are actually just trying to further the purpose that the school said they were about,” Wise noted. “We want you to be who you say you are.”

At the lecture, Wise tackled issues of racism and white privilege in the larger American community, and also within the frame of personal experience. Wise brought the impacts of racism to a physical level and discussed the physical dangers experienced by people of color. Wise cited infamous incidents of race-based violence, such as Trayvon Martin’s death, as threats to people of color.

The lecturer noted overprivilege and oppression are part of a double-sided coin: one cannot exist without the other. Wise echoed a statement on his website, “Acknowledging unfairness then calls decent people forth to correct those injustices. And since most persons are at their core, decent folks, the need to ignore evidence of injustice is powerful: To do otherwise would force whites to either

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

push for change (which they would perceive as against their interests) or live consciously as hypocrites who speak of freedom and opportunity but perpetuate a system of inequality” (timwise.org, The Oprah Effect: Black Success, White Denial and the Reality of Racism, 7.28.08).

He implored students to see the universal, though varied, often insidious and negative impacts of racism. While Wise clearly stated that racism negatively impacts people of color directly and presently, he asserts that white privilege also hurts our entire community through white supremacy. He argued that white allies need to recognize that sacrificing their current biased-enfranchisement will produce an American culture more in line with its stated goals.

Wise closed his lecture by re-emphasizing the value of programming around racism. After being questioned on how to attract a similar sized audience, Wise advised faculty in the audience to go to and encourage their students to attend identity-based organizations’ events.

He assured students that quality of conversation, rather than quantity of attendees, is important. Wise argued, “Whether or not people show up in numbers like this at those events, those events need to happen regardless…

Making sure that people who are the targets of oppression...making sure that they have the space to speak their truth to speak that reality into the universe into the presence of whoever comes, has a positive effect of the mental and emotional state of the people who get to tell that truth.”

Following the lecture, Pittman praised the speech as illuminating information for many students. “His lecture brought an honesty and pointed perspective that challenges readily accepted norms, particularly those around race, whiteness and privilege… His lecture also seemed to hit home with many students who have been confronted with questions and conceptions of race and privilege,” Pittman noted.

Rubin added, “It was incredible to see so many people there…I hope it spurs more conversations on a lot of what was brought up.”

February 21, 2013

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CIA grad’s Earth to Table nourishes, educates community Chris Gonzalez feAtures eDitor

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courtesy of Joe Baldwin

hether you find yourself ordering pizza at 3 a.m. or putting together a homecooked meal with a group of friends, food plays a major role in our daily lives. For this very reason, some people may push themselves to stick to healthier, more organic food options by purchasing from vendors, like Earth to Table, at Vassar’s Winter Farmers’ Market.

Although Earth to Table was established four years ago, Joe Baldwin’s company is still relatively new to the Vassar community, having joined the Arlington Farmer’s last summer.

Founder and 1974 Culinary Institute of America grad Chef Baldwin wrote in an emailed statement, “Earth to Table [brings] fresh food [every week], we only use food we grow. You have to show everyone the importance of it and to show how easy it is to use.”

Baldwin said, “The business came about to help the world establish the Slow Food Movement. I do work alone, I grow my own food and cook everything. I saw the need to do this from working on the Brigg’s Farm with the Disabled and from working at Arlington High School for 5 years, teaching the kids how to eat healthy at the J&R Gourmet Deli.” While Baldwin handles his own business, he helped his son Russell—the ‘R’ in ‘J&R’—in opening up Rusty’s Farm Fresh Eatery in Red Hook, New York. In 2011, the father and son worked in tandem to plant The Red Hook Community Garden.

The garden provides food for Rusty’s as well as other wellness diners and soup kitchens throughout Poughkeepsie and the county.

Additionally, aided in the startup of The Bard Farm Project and the running of the farmers’ market at Marist for the last three years.

Local Foods Intern for College Committee on Sustainability Tamsin Chen ‘15 discovered Earth to Table and helped establish a rapport

between the company and the College.

“I first learned about Earth to Table...when scoping out vendors’ interest in participating in an indoor market. What initially caught my eye were the beautiful leafy greens, but what kept me at the table was chef Joe Baldwin’s infectious enthusiasm about Earth to Table’s philosophy. Earth to Table teaches market-goers how to bridge the gap between raw, fresh produce and the final delicious product on your plate through cooking demonstrations and Joe’s casual conversation with passers-by,” Chen wrote in an emailed statement.

Chen explained that incorporating Earth to Table into the college community was in line with the Committee’s goal of promoting local food, an initiative embraced by the Vassar community as a whole. She said, “[We] thought it’d be valuable to bring the market indoors so that it could stay running during the winter-to-spring months. Moreover, we hoped the indoor farmers’ market would help the Vassar and Poughkeepsie communities reduce food miles (our foods are all sourced from within a 40-mile radius of Vassar!), support more sustainable agricultural practices, support local businesses, foster closer community ties, and have access to fresh, tasty and healthy seasonal foods.”

Yael Schwartz ‘15, a frequent customer of the vendor, expressed a similar passion for Earth to Table’s mission and philosophy.

In an emailed statement she said, “Earth to Table and Slow Food encourage the importance of the locality of our food, the impact that the production and distribution of food has on the environment, and the health impact that the nutritional composition of the foods we eat.”

Schwartz continued, ”I too am influenced by these beliefs. While I was already on this path, Joe continues to introduce me to new foods, such as nettle tea, which has a numerous medi-

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Joe Baldwin started Earth to Table; the Company brings healthy, organic food options via Vassar’s Winter Farmers’ Market to very receptive audiences. cal benefits, including acting as an anti-inflammatory, to reduce asthma, and anemia.”.

At the moment, Baldwin is a big advocator of Stevia, a natural alternative to sugar. He hopes to educate people on the benefits of incorporating it into their diet.“Stevia grows locally. It has no enemies, deer do not go near it or any other animal. It’s better than Agave or any other sweetener because it does not raise the glycemic index at all. It’s the only one that doesn’t.

Stevia started 5 years ago when I worked at New Horizon with the disabled, and now that I have pushed it for 5 years, it is finally taking off,” he explained. Of course, while Baldwin hopes to reach out to as many people as possible through Earth to Table, he wants to focus

on college students for the time being.

He concluded, “It’s important to every man, woman and child on this earth. It fits into any age or school, but because of the mandates in K-12, bringing this type of information to the students is very difficult. With the mandates of Universities, Earth to Table ideas fit better and students are more receptive. They can use this information for the rest of their lives.”

Baldwin will be holding open cooking demonstrations at the Earth to Table booth for the last two Thursdays in February. The cooking sessions will focus on seeds, like pumpkin, in his cooking. This will be a nod to Vandana Shiva, the environmental activist visiting Vassar in early March.

Project Unbreakable brings issues of sexual assault to fore Marie Solis

feAtures eDitor

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s college students—passionate about social issues, curious about the world and critical about the society in which we live—we all aspire to one day effect change.

While many of us see our impact on the world as a kind of far-off work in progress, on February 12 Project Unbreakable’s founder Grace Brown reminded students that one person can make a difference.

Grace Brown founded Project Unbreakable in October 2011 with the mission of giving a voice to survivors of sexual assault. To this end, Brown takes photographs of these survivors holding a poster with a quote from their attackers.

Though the project is only two years old, it is something Brown has been working towards since she was a high school student.

“Though I wasn’t affected by sexual assault, I made it my mission at age 16 to end sexual violence. I would sit at my lunch table and share a statistic every day with my peers,” Brown re-

counted, “It worked for a little but, I noticed my peers would take it in and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I had no idea,’ but a few minutes later we would be back to talking about trivial things. One day my best friend turned to me and said, ‘You should give up; you’re never going to change sexual assault.’”

Though initially Brown was met with some discouragement, she remained steadfast in her goal.

Shifting her approach, Brown decided to marry her love of photography with her goals to help women and started a series, photographing 50 women who changed her life.

While this new development represented a turning point in her project, the major catalyst for Project Unbreakable occurred when Brown moved to New York City.

“I soon realized how common catcalls were in the city. One day, after one of these things had happened I went into one of my classes and told my friends. A guy said, ‘You must have misunderstood him.” I wanted to do a project about women holding posters with catcalls that

courtesy of Project Unbreakable

Twenty-year-old Grace Brown, who is pictured above, recently pioneered Project Unbreakable to create forums within which issues of sexual assualt can be navigated in safe, supportive settings.

had been yelled at them to show him that this was something that was happening,” she said.

Brown began working on this new photography project, posting every photo she took on the internet and receiving hundreds of responses which surprised Brown with their positivity.

“I walked on eggshells when doing this project—I expected getting a ton of backlash, hatred,” she said.

Instead, people responded thanking Brown or asking her to participate. Brown soon realized she had happened on something unexpected.

“I wanted to create a project that created awareness for sexual assault but I also stumbled upon a new way of healing for sexual assault survivors,” she said.

Soon, Brown’s project evolved into what Project Unbreakable is today, though her project is constantly changing based on the response of those she photographs and others who reach out to her.

In addition to her own photographs of sexual assault survivors, she now accepts anyone to post their own photos on her blog. Other new facets of the project include allowing survivors to write words on their poster from someone other than their attackers and giving survivors the opportunity to show their faces in the photographs.

“I didn’t realize it at the time, but showing a face puts a face behind a statistic. The statistic becomes real when here’s a person behind the poster,” said Brown. Identifying oneself can also be a source for empowerment for the survivor.

For Bailey O’Malley ’15, seeing Brown’s photographs was especially revealing.

“It was really eye opening to hear Grace Brown talk about Project Unbreakable, because while we’ve all heard horrible statistics about sexual assault, seeing the stories or faces behind the numbers definitely gives them a bigger impact,” she said.

While Sonia Jacinto ’13 noted it is often assumed Vassar students have a complete awareness surrounding issues of sexual assault, she realized this consciousness is not something that should be taken for granted.

“Programs, projects, and movements such

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

as CARES SpeakOuts and BreakTheSilence are vital spaces, in my opinion, for people such as myself that need to find a haven where their stories will be heard without more attempts to silence. While these are well known in the circles I find myself in, I am often hit with the realization, whenever I’m outside of those circles, that not everyone is aware of their existence or that not everyone realizes the necessity for their existence,” she wrote in an emailed statement.

Jacinto went on to express appreciation for Brown’s visit to Vassar.

She said, “Grace waited incredibly patiently as I sat for an hour in the Jade Parlor just staring at the white poster board trying to decide what to write. It was in that time that I realized how absurd, to put it lightly, it was that I had options in choosing what I could write.”

She went on to say, “I ended up sharing three different experiences because I couldn’t choose just one. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this project as well as for the on and off campus recognition of personal violation that does exist.”

Not only was Jacinto thankful for the opportunity to participate in Project Unbreakable, but also for the inspiration she provided for her on a number of levels.

“Spending half of the day with Grace was something completely unexpected but highly valued. I shared with her my experiences as a survivor, as a photographer, as a blogger, as an activist, as a nontraditional student, etc., and she shared hers with me. As someone working on a few different photography and zine projects of her own, it was motivating for me to see that activism and consciousness-raising through art and DIY methods could make such an impact,” said Jacinto.

She continued, “Her visit and our conversations provided reassurance that there are people who are paying attention and wanting to take their own passions and apply them to real world issues and activism.”

O’Malley echoed her sentiments, concluding, “The fact that Grace is roughly my age was a great reminder that I can make a difference now –I don’t have to wait around an opportunity, or look for another project to take me on—I can take the initiative.”

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February 21, 2013

Transfer students navigate social, bureaucratic challenges

Cassasdy Bergevin/The Miscellany News

Emma Cowen ’15 is a recent transfer student from McGill University in Canada. Tranfer students face unique challenges integrating into the communnity, which are actively addressed by adminstrative offices.

Marie Solis

feAtures eDitor with additional reporting by

Chris Gonzalez feAtures eDitor

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mong the most crucial choices we will make in our youth, college decisions are ones which we hope we never have to go back on. While many of us knew right away Vassar was the right school, for some students it took first attending a college wrong for them to realize it.

Though representing only a small part of Vassar’s population—typically only a few students each semester—transfer students get a second chance at finding the school perfect for them.

Sofie Cardinal ’15’s decision to transfer to Vassar had to do primarily with location. Freshman year she attended Barnard for a semester only to realize the city atmosphere wasn’t for her.

“When I was choosing Barnard, the school itself was more of a draw than the city and because of strong the community seemed the city would be a bonus, not deficit to my experience.

Unfortunately, it didn’t feel that way as a student there, because of the location, the social

life is completely scattered, with no real center around campus,” she said.

Though she admitted the city life could be exciting, it ultimately was not conducive to her having the college experience she expected.

“The on campus social activities are limited and going out in the city, although fun for the time being, felt isolating. I felt as if I was living in New York and taking classes with no real connection to the Barnard community,” said Cardinal.

Another transfer student, Emma Cowan ’15 was motivated to transfer for similar reasons.

“I decided to transfer from McGill in Montreal, because it was too large and my classes [as well as] the campus environment felt very impersonal and bureaucratic. Many of my classes had more than 300 students, and it was impossible to get to know professors. In addition, the campus was spread throughout the city, and in general it felt more like living in a city as an adult than being in college,” wrote Cowan in an emailed statement.

For Cardinal, applying to transfer to Vassar was a logical next step, as she had always had Vassar in mind and came to realize it could be the answer to the problems she faced at Barnard.

She said, “Transferring to Vassar was an easy decision for a few reasons, firstly that it was one of few schools that accepted spring transfers… and secondly, I had applied to Barnard early decision with Vassar as a second choice if that didn’t work out. I knew from my initial college process that I really liked Vassar and it fixed all of my issues with Barnard.”

While Vassar’s centralized campus and smaller population made transferring here a fairly simple choice, the logistics of the transition can be tedious.

Assistant Dean of Studies Pauline Saavedra said the transfer process becomes even further complicated when it comes to spring semester transfer students, like Cardinal and Cowan.

“For spring they don’t know they’re admitted until nearly Christmas. They have to make their decision between that period and early January.

This year I got the paperwork January 7 and I didn’t know who was actually coming—there were about 30 people admitted—until January 15,” said Saavedra.

Part of the issue, Saavedra said, is not having a clear sense of what the Admissions’ “target” is for the spring.

By this, Saavedra explained, she means: “Basically, with an admissions office, usually when they’re looking to admit people for the spring it has to do with how many freshmen actually came in the fall. If you have ten people who say, ‘Yes, I’m coming to your party,’ and only eight show up but you have already paid for ten people, you try to invite more guests to fill the gap.”

However, this often unpredictable factor can cause stress among all parties.

This semester, classes began on Jan. 23 leaving only a small window of time for transfer students to register for classes.

Carly Barbera ’15, a transfer from Tulane University, wrote in an emailed statement, “I was surprised that, as a transfer registering two days before class started, there were no accommodations that allowed me to get into classes that weren’t already full.”

Though the time crunch does not allow for many solutions to this problem, Saavedra said she often takes matters into her own hands to push for transfer students to get into the classes they want.

“I did do a lot of outreach to individual pro-

fessors whose classes were closed and asked them if there was any way this student can get a chance,” she said, stressing that professors openness can be extremely helpful for transfer students trying to figure out their schedules.

While such academic concerns can prove stressful, they can be just the tip of the iceberg for transfer students who might also have preoccupations about making friends and integrating themselves into a new college community, especially at the beginning of a spring semester.

“For fall transfer students there’s freshman orientation that they can piggy back on where they can come and be on campus and get a sense of what it is to be at Vassar…When you’re the only one who’s starting fresh and everyone else is coming back to their space, set up and ready to go, it can be difficult,” said Saavedra.

Cardinal said she expected her transition to be a little bumpy for exactly that reason.

“I knew coming in in the middle of the year would make it a bit more forced to meet people when there isn’t a whole group of new kids coming in together. There were only four spring transfers last year and so it felt a bit like we were just thrown into the deep end,” said Cardinal.

Aware of these concerns, the Deans have tried different things to make the transition an easier one. Freshman transfer students are placed in existing student fellow groups and other transfers are placed a Transfer, Visiting, Exchange (TVE) fellow group. These transfer students are all housed on the third floor of Cushing.

While there are benefits to transfer students being housed together, there are certain limitations.

“I know I and many other transfers feel as if Cushing is a fairly isolated dorm, both physically and socially…to more fully integrate with the entire campus it would have been great to live on the quad, or in Main (where I now live),” wrote Cowan.

Saavedra said she wants students like Cowan to know that she is open to any recommendations to make the transition easier.

She said, “Something I want to put out there is that I’m completely open to suggestions. Every once in a while I sit down with Admissions, Res Life and we try and figure out how to improve the transfer student process. If students have ideas, we want to hear them.”

Expansion compromise an alternative to entirely new jail COMPROMISE continued from page 1

courtesy of Richard Perkins

tive, considering the steep number of inmates that might be eligible for alternatives to incarceration, and who would be better served if relocated to a mental health program.

Investing in an entirely new facility would thus be an over zealous reaction to an issue better addressed through channeling money into the existing jail and related programs.

Perkins has sought out a number of different perspectives, finding the issue more nuanced than some might assume.

Perkins explained, “I have talked to the undersheriff, the administrators and staff at the jail, I’ve been on tours of the jail, I’ve talked to the Defense Attorney, the public defender, the probation department, and one of the things that came out of that is learning that many folks at the jail are repeat offenders.”

He added that part of the problem has to do with the decrease in programs available formerly incarcerated persons. “I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we have closed a lot of our mental institutions and that we aren’t giving people the right care.”

The crux of the jail expansion debate lies in the fact that the local criminal justice system currently sends nearly half of the population arrested in Dutchess County to other counties, creating incredible delays in court proceedings, exorbitant transportation costs and difficulty maintaining continuity in program offerings within the jail.

If Dutchess County did go ahead with a plan to erect an entirely new jail facility, said County Executive Marcus Molinaro, a courtroom would be included on the jail grounds in order to expedite the legal process.

“There are a lot of things that cause delays in courts. If we have onsite court facilities, we can do court proceedings more quickly,” he explained, adding, “It would also put a judge, who

In response to a proposal to create a new jail in Dutchess County, Legislator Richard Perkins proposed a mere expansion of the current jail. A blueprint for such an expansion is pictured above. has never seen the facility before, in the position to know where they are sending people.”

However, the proposal for a new jail would relocate the facility at least three miles from its current spot in the City of Poughkeepsie. Legislator Perkins expressed his apprehensions about the move from such a central location: “The jail accesses the City of Poughkeepsie courts every day and the county courts every day. All the agencies that come to the jail to serve inmates are located in the City of Poughkeepsie just blocks away from North Hamilton Street.”

Perkins also argues that increasing efficiencies in the current jail facility would save con-

siderably on costs, as a new jail is estimated to cost between 100 and 200 million dollars. Perkins looks to a renovation plan released in 2003

by Cerniglia and Swartz at VITETTA, an architectural and engineering advising company.

He advocates for a renovation of the current jail that would include multiple programming, visitation and recreation areas located adjacent to cell blocks and dormitories.

Escort of inmates from the living areas to program areas would then require fewer guards and less security measures. These spaces would make space for educational and re-entry programs within the jail walls, placing special em-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

phasis on the pre-release area and services for individuals preparing to re-enter their communities.

Legislator Joel Tyner, representing Rhinebeck and Clinton, agreed that making a solid commitment to more educational programs for those incarcerated and the communities affected by incarcerated individuals is key.

He explained the need for more job counseling services, and believes we must look to successful programs like Brooklyn’s Fraternities for Dads Behind Bars as an example.

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” he explained last week in a discussion about the jail expansion before the County Legislature Board Meeting.

Although Molinaro stressed the importance of educational programming in the proposed “campus” jail facility; opponents like Tyner are looking for a more concrete promise to implement such programs.

Molinaro explained the deficit of social services within the City of Poughkeepsie as a largely financial one, caused by the high cost of housing-out.

“We used to give about 2 million dollars annually to not-for-profits to provide assistance, at the same time we were spending only 2-3 million dollars in housing out. Today we give $700,000 to those same programs and spend 8 million to house-out,” he said.

Although increasing capacity for more inmates within Dutchess County through a completely new jail facility would save that 8 million dollars annually, Perkins worries such a decision is rushed and ignores a more economical option of renovation.

He shared, “It’s the legislature’s job to deliberate and decide. The majority of people who I present this plan see it as very reasonable and responsible, and that’s what I think we have to be. Reasonable and responsible.”

February 21, 2013

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New Writer in Residence Harmon follows rich legacy Hae Seo Kim

Guest rePorter

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courrtesy of University of Akron Press

his February marks the 34th anniversary of the Writer-in-Residence program at Vassar College, this year honoring Joshus Harmon, a former professor of English here at Vassar.

The program started in 1979, when the Department of English lecture committee obtained a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to initiate the program with the double residency of American Indian novelist Leslie Marmon Silko and award-winning poet Phillip Levine. Since then, a remarkable array of fiction writers and poets from all over United States as well as England, Ireland, and Australia have visited Vassar through this program.

Writers-in-Residence give public lectures, guide senior English majors who are writing theses, and visit a range of classes.

According to Assistant Professor Hua Hsu of the English department, “The Writer in Residence is an unusual honorific, in that it is an honorific with considerable strings attached.

You’re supposed to come and share all your writerly secrets with us. You counsel our students, read and edit their work.” Many of the former Writers in Residence have earned literary honors—Pulitzer prizes, National Book Awards and MacAuthur Fellowships—often after a Vassar residency. On Feb. 12, Harmon gave a reading from his book, Le Spleen de Poughkeepsie, in Sanders auditorium.

Harmon has published dozens of poems, short stories and essays in publications like The Believer, Bomb, the New England Review and the Normal School. He is also the author of five books, including the novel Quinnehtukquta finalist for the Cabell First Novelist Award – and the poety collection Scape, which was a finalist for the National Poetry Series. In 2011, he published Le Spleen de Poughkeepsie, winner of the 2010 Akron Poetry Prize. This year, Dzanc Books will publish two new collections, History of Cold Seasons, a collection of short fiction, and The Annotated Mix-Tape, a collection of essays about music, collecting and the 1980s.

Harmon currently lives in Western Massachusetts and teaches at Clark University.He has also taught at Vassar until last year. Faculty and students alike expressed excitement for Harmon’s return.

According to Professor Hsu, “When Josh

The English Department’s Writer in Residence Program has attracted renowned scholars. Adding to the list is Josh Harmon, whose book Le Spleen De Poughkeepsie is an anthology of poetry. was nominated to be Writer-in-Residence, we had a harder time deciding on a time to hold our meetings than we did deciding on his candidacy.”

His former students also remembered him as an enthusiastic professor. Kiran Kawolics’15, who took Short Forms with Harmon as her Freshman Writing Seminar, recalled,“Short Forms was the class that I looked most forward to that semester...In addition to being really great at facilitating class discussions, Josh offered extremely constructive feedback on papers and encouraged people to push their writing and analytical skills to their full potential. He achieved this while still being a very approachable and understanding professor.”

Hsu supported these abounding comments, stating, “Josh was a brilliant and inspiring teacher whose classes were regularly overenrolled. I always love having his former students in my classes, because I know they will be careful, disciplined readers with weird taste.”

Adding onto his praise of Harmon, in his laudatory introduction to Harmon’s reading last Tuesday, Hsu remarked, “Being asked to introduce Josh is a unique thrill for me…I still

miss the conversations Josh and I shared while he was here—about reading, writing, the Red Sox, record collecting, anything, really. Nobody has been more of an influence on how I teach writing, and this place really hasn’t been the same without him. It’s truly awesome to welcome him back.”

Hsu was excited to have Harmon back not only on a personal level, but on a professional one.

“I know of few writers as versatile as Josh, as careful and serious about language, the possibilities of a word or a sentence…He is serious without being pretentious, ironic but rarely cynical,” he said.

Harmon’s selected readings from Le Spleen de Poughkeepsie were followed up with his musings about life in the Poughkeepsie city. He confessed that he decided to write a poem about Poughkeepsie,“the Queen City of the Hudson” as he ironically calls it, because he thought, “If I don’t unburden myself about Poughkeepsie, I might never write again.” He went on to confess, “[I] plundered not only the details of my life in Poughkeepsie, but also yours,” drawing out smiles from the many students and other

professors who attended the reading.

Drawing upon Patti Smith’s comment that “New York has closed itself off to the young and the struggling, but there are still other cities like Detroit and Poughkeepsie that they can go to,” Harmon ended his musing on Poughkeepsie with a sarcastically light note: “You guys don’t even have to go anywhere!”

Harmon then pulled open his Mac and went onto play music videos from the eighties: Def Leppard and the Flock of Seagulls. Harmon claimed that the main singer’s postmodern dilemma is “the inability of a representation to satisfy his longing…wishing only for the intimate presence of the real, but realizing that a photograph is only a pseudo-presence and that desirability is enhanced by distance.” In this era (even more so than the eighties) of superfluous photographs and images that collapse time and distance, what is the meaning of writing? What is the postmodern dilemma of our generation?

Are we doomed to be pretentious without being serious, and cynical without understanding irony? Harmon ended the lecture with a provoking thought that “writing is all about looking in the mirror…how to reflect ourselves to ourselves…writing is a luxury, because nobody really needs to read and write, but it is a desire for self-display and disclosure that propel us to write.”

Kawolics, who also attended the reading, said, “The reading event was so authentically Josh, which was why I enjoyed it so much.

He always talked to our class about life in the 1980s, and he would sometimes show us clips from the music videos he grew up with, much like the ones he played during his reading. I actually got a little emotional at the reading because the event reminded me so much of my Short Forms class, just with more people there and Josh wearing a suit. I thought that his personality, energy, and talent really came through at the reading.”

Kawolics added that she is thrilled to have Harmon back.

“Joshua is a brilliant writer in addition to brining a great energy to this campus. He’s a completely inspiring person and I think that anyone at Vassar who is interested in writing or literature should read his work,” she said.

As the poet John Yau remarked about Harmon, “the flaneur of Poughkeepsie” is back for another saunter in town.”

For the keen eye, potential for great sandwiches at ACDC Mary Talbot

(from salad bar) or lettuce (from grill station) + curried egg salad (egg salad from salad bar mixed with a shake of curry powder from stir fry station and a little salt.)

Guest Columnist

W

The Classic Tuna Melt

courtesy of SkinnyTaste.com

hen I first arrived at Vassar, the meal plan felt restrictive and boring. Cooking and putting together meals is my creative outlet, and I felt boxed in by the Deece, where all the food seemed already prepared. I would lie awake at night imagining all the things I could cook if I were at home and had access to my own kitchen and pantry.

Eventually, I looked around and realized that our beloved ACDC actually does have a lot of raw materials to work with! I began to channel my frustrations into thinking outside the box, and once I stopped thinking in stations and starting thinking about foods I liked to eat and make at home, I realized how many of those options are possible within our dear old meal plan.

My column will focus on working within the Deece to create simple, relatively healthy recipes. I’m not big on waiting in a lot of lines and will primarily be suggesting things that can be made any day of the week, without relying on items that may or may not be provided.

If you aren’t having a happy and fulfilling Deece experience, my main advice is to be brave and intentional: Do not be afraid to walk back and forth grabbing weird things from different stations in the pursuit of a Deece masterpiece. If you act like what you’re doing is normal, so will everyone else!

If you don’t see something you want, ask for it—the staff is friendly and accommodating.

Finally, try to avoid the far too common dinner rush panic (grabbing a strange combination of foods that you don’t really want because you got overwhelmed).

If your schedule allows it, going to the Deece

Guest Columnist Mary Talbot is confident in her conviction that delectable sandwiches can be furnished using hidden gems in ACDC’s ingredient offerings. The humble tuna melt is one such option. at off hours can really help with this. Be creative, use ingredients from multiple stations, take advantage of the “special” things they put out (sometimes they have pesto mayo…!), and don’t be discouraged if your first attempts at trying to mix up your food choices aren’t as delicious as you’d hoped.

Sometimes it’s all about the process, and if you’re persistent and optimistic about your food situation, you’ll be well on your way to making the most of your primary food option for the next several years!

I’m starting with the basics—sandwiches.

These are just a few of the many ways you can take it beyond the teensy deli section at the end of the salad bar.

I know many of you will have already thought of the humble tuna melt, but if I can inspire even one person to panini-press their way to melty-crispy-savory Nirvana for the very first time, it’ll be worth mentioning it here. In my opinion, cheese on both sides (bread-cheese-tuna-cheese-bread) yields the best tuna to cheese ratio. I definitely recommend toasting any sandwich bread you use, even if you’re going to use the panini press. toasted wheat bread + a thin layer of tuna salad (from the salad bar) + cheese of your choice (I prefer the slices of cheddar cheese, but they don’t always have this…you can also use grated cheddar or sliced provolone or swiss!)

PB&H&B

Did my strategy work? Did the mysterious name catch your eye and draw you in? This sandwich also makes a great (and filling) breakfast on the go! toasted wheat bread + peanut butter + honey (next to the tea and coffee at the drink station) + banana slices (you probably won’t use a whole banana…save half for later, or share the potassium lovin’ with a friend.)

Bagel and Lox (Minus the Lox!)

Four Deecewiches You May Not Have Thought Of: Extra Fresh Curried Egg Salad

A great way to pep up boring egg salad while adding some extra veggies to your lunch! For a lower calorie mayonnaise free version, just use a sliced hardboiled egg and sprinkle with some salt! toasted wheat bread + cucumbers + mixed greens

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Also known as Sometimes-the-Toppings-are-theBest-Part, this sandwich is a vegetarian, Deece-friendly version of the classic NYC breakfast. Veganize by switching the cream cheese for hummus! toasted bagel of choice + cream cheese + sliced tomatoes (from the grill station) + sliced onions (also grill) + liberally applied salt and pepper.

FEATURES

Page 8

February 21, 2013

Vassar Venturers promote entrepreneurship through alums Bethany Terry Guest rePorter

C

courtesy of Vassar Venturers

elebrating the first anniversary of their founding, the Vassar Venturers, an organization whose goal is to bring in mentors to inspire Vassa’rs budding entrepreneurs, are going strong after hosting CEO and co-Founder of Wiki-PR Michael French this past week on campus. The event, held Feb. 13th, featured a lecture by French, who discussed everything from how businesses can work on open-source platforms to the state of venture capital in the company’s hometown of San Francisco.

Wiki-PR, as French described, “Gets notable people, ideas and businesses on Wikipedia and manages their pages.” The company creates pages for both well-known and lesser-known people if they don’t have one, manage and updates new information about the person and translates it, if needed, into other languages for greater access around the world.

The lecture was followed by an opportunity to interview for a position within Wiki-PR. Of the approximately thirty students who attended the lecture, about fifteen interviewed with French. He said, “[We wanted to] recruit the brightest minds to work for us...That’s why we came to Vassar.”

This lecture offered students an opportunity to learn how a startup works while gaining valuable skills for future endeavors.

The club was founded last February by Charlotte Yang ’13. Yang said,“There wasn’t really an entity for entrepreneurship for students.” She went to Venture for America to try to gain experience, only to discover that most opportunities were made available exclusively to seniors.

She said, “I decided to create a space that helps students like me who want someplace for their startup plan.”

The group holds weekly meetings to help students brainstorm, refine and pursue their own ideas. However, Yang states the majority of their work is bringing Alumnae/i and mentors.

Vassar Venturers—a new club responsible for promoting entrepreneurial spirits in current students— harnesses the College’s alumnae/i (pictured above) to offer their expertise in running a new business.

“We invite them to campus to give a lecture, give a speech, or discuss with students what they want to do with their projects,” said Yang.

The Venturers continue to help foster this relationship between the mentors and the students through the maintenance of a directory of advisors who have knowledge and expertise in areas such as finance, marketing, patents, and technology.

The Vassar Venturers are currently seeking preliminary organization status with the VSA. This new status will help make smooth the logistics behind hosting weekly meetings, making inconveniences such as paperwork associated with each room reservation for meetings and other tedious tasks easier.

In order to maintain this preliminary organization status they must hold meetings that

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are open to the student body, supply meeting and event information to VSA VP of Activities Doug Greer ’14, and follow the VSA bylaws.

The Vassar Venturers currently have seven members on their Operating Team and reach a large population of both alumnae/i and students with a monthly newsletter sent to over three hundred recipients.

Vassar Venturers VP of Marketing, Ann Nguyen ’15, agreed that the VSA preliminary org status would benefit the Venturers.

She said, “Being a preliminary organization would give us an official backing that we wouldn’t have without recognition from the VSA.” Recognition from the VSA will help the group financially, as a change to preliminary organization status would allow funding up to

$200 per semester. Presently the Vassar Venturers have been relying on donations from friends and alums, as well as seeking individual funding from the Career Development Office.

Nguyen seems optimistic that this move will help them financially in other ways, stating, “Hopefully the school will show less resistance to our fundraising.”

Yang elaborated, “If an alum donates money to us, from the school’s administrative perspective, there should be follow-up and record keeping; which will have to go through school’s administrative forces. But considering their commitment to the [sesquicentinnial] campaign, what we were doing was low priority.”

The new ease with which they can raise funds will allow the Venturers to promote and finance their initiatives.

Currently they are working on projects such as the maintenance of a library available to Venturer members and the creation of a curriculum the Vassar College Venture Co-operative.

However, their biggest running project is the creation of a TEDx event, scheduled to happen in the fall.

“Our team’s idea is that through the TEDx opportunity, we can bring inspiring people from everywhere and all fields to campus and offer an intellectual feast. Vassar gets amazing speakers from time to time, but over ten speakers donating their time to come speak on the same day will be an unparalleled experience,” said Yang.

She said that the Venturers hope to bring the spirit of TED talks to Vassar and center the talks around a theme about which students are passionate. Yang concluded, “TED is all about getting inspired...We have been considering themes such as the value of higher education and vision in action. We believe that whatever our theme will be for the coming year, it will inspire students from all disciplines as we plan to bring speakers to address the topic from different perspectives—the essence of an eclectic liberal arts education.”

WBC arrival not guaranteed WBC continued from page 1

the group’s negative focus.”

Hine added that, though this is her second time dealing with the threat of WBC, her opinions about giving the organization any publicity haven’t changed much since high school.

She said,“I didn’t like that [WBC was] seeking attention, and I felt like a counter protest was [giving] them what they wanted. I still feel that way now.”

While this is the first time that WBC has scheduled to picket on Vassar’s campus, the organization has protested at other college institutions, like Harvard, multiple times in the past. They have planned and carried out several in the Cambridge area, specifically at Harvard Law School, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, the Harvard Hillel and Harvard Square.

Additional protests have included Harvard’s 2003 commencement ceremony.

According to the Dec. 6, 2010 issue of The Crimson, Harvard came up with the plan not to take WBC seriously as an organization by naming their counter-protest “Surprise Absurdity Protest.” The event received attention from the Cambridge community, with over 200 counter-protesters defending the Hillel, a center for the university’s Jewish community.

The signs held during this event were made to reflect the “absurd” counter-protests, with nonsensical phrases written on them.

Though students used humor as a stance against the religious organization, safety precautions were still taken according to President of the The Harvard Crimson Bobby Samuels. In an emailed statement Samuels commented, “In terms of how Harvard has dealt with the WBC, Harvard and Cambridge in general have provided a good number police officers when WBC has protested to keep the peace. Additionally, for the WBC’s protest of the funeral of longtime Harvard Reverend Peter Gomes, they were not allowed to protest on Harvard property.” Samuels added that, in regards to how their newspaper covered the events, the focus remained on the counter protests, and not the group itself.

While the protests at Harvard have typical-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ly seen some kind of turnout from WBC, this is not always the case. In Dec. 2011, Syracuse University expected the organization to make an appearance during the Syracuse vs. Florida basketball game.

Unlike Vassar, WBC targeted the university because, as their website states, “Syracuse resembles all of other the universities in doomed USA: full of proud, fornicating, brutish sinners, bowing down to college sports.” Additionally, WBC were against Bernie Fine, the men’s basketball teams’ former associate head coach due to allegations of sexual abuse.

According to the Dec. 5 issue of The Daily Orange, In preparation for the arrival of WBC, Syracuse and members of the communit walked around Carrier Dome, the sports arena, to wait for the religious group with a counter-demonstration. While the protest drew in students and members and of the community, ultimately, WBC never showed.

Currently, whether or not WBC will make an appearance on Feb. 28. is uncertain. Possibly, there might only be a handful of demonstrators, as was the case for Hine. She said, “There were about 1,000 of us out on the lawn, which made their group of four seem pretty pathetic. It was kind of anticlimactic in that sense. The school would not allow them on the grounds, so they stood across the street.”

Still, Hine believes that no matter what happens on that day, the experience will be an important one for the community of Vassar.

She remembered, “The counter protest bonded and unified our school in a beautiful way. We may have been accepting before, but this event solidified our school as a “safe space,” where one was free to love whoever they wanted regardless of gender. That’s one thing that’s so great about the WBC; they reveal how exceedingly hateful homophobia really is.

They paint it as so utterly absurd and offensive that anyone who is even remotely homophobic would certainly not claim to be on Westboro’s side. In that sense, I think their presence can be a good thing, even at places like my high school and Vassar.”

February 21, 2013

OPINIONS

Page 9

THE MISCELLANY NEWS STAFF EDITORIAL

Response to WBC good, but with room for improvement; counter-protest should incorporate marginalized voices As members of the Vassar community have undoubtedly heard by now, the Westboro Baptist Church will picket Vassar next week for its open support of the LGBTQ community. After news of the protest broke last week, the College has responded in a terrific way—with solidarity, magnanimity, and thoughtfulness.

We at The Miscellany News applaud the efforts of the student body, faculty, administration and alumnae/i thus far, but we also see opportunities for the anti-Westboro movement to become even more inclusive, effective and supportive.

First, we cannot continue to appropriate the WBC-coined term “Ivy League Whorehouse.” We understand that the natural initial reaction to the term has been to adopt it satirically. To some small extent, doing so diffuses its hurtfulness, and of WBC’s attack as a whole.

But we cannot give power to their vitriol, and identifying ourselves as members of an “Ivy League Whorehouse” for any period of time is ultimately counter-productive. We must acknowledge the gendered and malicious history of the word “whore,” and we cannot use it so offhandedly, even in jest.

We cannot willingly apply the term to our institution, or assume that everyone around us is tolerant of it. We, the Vassar commu-

nity, are not an “Ivy League Whorehouse,” and we should counter the WBC with positive, honest labels.

Second, we could improve our response by reaching out to other groups targeted by the Westboro Baptist Church. Although their primary reason for gathering at Vassar is their feeling toward the LGBTQ community, we must not overlook the fact that they are similarly hateful toward Jewish, Muslim and Catholic people, as well as many others.

The more comprehensive our approach to making targeted groups feel safe, the better.

We must focus on the intersectionality of our campus. Historically, gay white males have had the most visibility in the LGBTQ community. Although they too are recipients of the WBC’s hatred, and deserve to have their voices heard and rights protected, we must also be sure thatall members of our LGBTQ community—people of all races, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations—feel safe and represented.

Additionally, amid this atmosphere of heightened emotions and our continuing public drive to fight intolerance, we must keep in mind the wide range of experiences and identities held by members of our community.

The Westboro Baptist Church’s displays of bigotry and queerphobia may spur many

members of our community to speak out, share their stories and visibly counter-protest. But the WBC may also bring up traumas for others. Just as we must take care to hear and respect the voices of all who want to speak, we must also respect the choices and privacy of those who feel triggered or threatened at this time. We must also remember and make use of the ready availability of student groups like CARES, The Listening Center (TLC) and Queer Coalition of Vassar College (QCVC).

The job that the Vassar community has done in raising funds for the Trevor Project has been remarkable. However, it is important to realize that there are many other LGBTQ organizations, especially local ones, that need help.

We are not questioning the effectiveness of the Trevor Project, but it is a large, recognizable, national organization, and one that would continue to excel at its goal of providing suicide prevention and support for LGBTQ youth, whether it received a donation from Vassar or not. Do Something VC has recently set up a website which encourages students to donate to two LGBTQ charities: The Ali Forney Center,which focuses on homelessness among New York LGBTQ youth, and the Hudson Valley Chapter of the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Net-

work. Similarly, there are countless other programs more in need of aid, particularly smaller, regional organizations like the Audre Lorde Project, a New York City-based group that specializes in promoting justice for LGBTQ people of color. Smaller groups would benefit far more from a concerted charity effort.

Lastly, as we draw nearer to the WBC’s appearance on Thursday the 28th, we must remember the remarkable LGBTQ advocacy our community has accomplished, both in the last few weeks and throughout Vassar’s history. Though the day of WBC’s protest will be an exciting opportunity to have our voices heard face-to-face with the opposition, we must maintain our dignity. We at The Miscellany News implore students who plan to counter-protest to treat the day with the seriousness it deserves, and to please not pre-game the event. Out of respect for our current students, alumni/ae and all who have contributed to the legacy of Vassar as an inclusive, respectful and progressive institution, be respectful of your peers and their efforts on the day of the protest.

So far, our reaction to the WBC protest has been good. Let’s make it great.

—The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of at least 2/3 of the Editorial Board.

Social media helps VC beat Afghanistan troop pull-out WBC, keep up momentum poses new set of difficulties Josh Sherman

O

AssistAnt oPinions eDitor

ne week from today, the Westboro Baptist Church has planned to descend upon Vassar in an action of hatred against our amazing campus. But it doesn’t matter. We’ve already won.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m in favor of all the efforts of each and every organization planning various counter-protests, activities, and collaborations during the days ahead. But when you look at the scoreboard, Vassar has already swept the WBC off its feet, and we did it through an immense, impressive, and wonderful initiative through the many social media outlets we utilize. Everyone who got involved—in whatever way no matter how big or small—has helped contribute to this success. Whatever happens on February 28 will surely be just as amazing as the past week and a half of achievement have been, but it’s important to note how much we have achieved through our efforts in social media and collaboration, proving the WBC has lost the battle merely by saying they wanted to come to Vassar.

It started with the flier in question being posted on Facebook. Let’s face it, we all had a good laugh over what the WBC were calling us out as. We laughed even harder when students, in last-minute Photoshops, would paste the flier—plus a few colorful changes—onto their cover pages. Once the fun had run its course though, the anticipation and excitement of doing something against a hate group like the Westboro Baptist Church gathered quickly.

Facebook events were created; alumni started coming out of the woodwork in grand support; Cory Epstein ‘13 posted his “Do Something” call to action, and the ball continued to roll as literally thousands jumped onto the bandwagon.

An alumnus, Josh De Leeuw ‘08, posted a small fundraiser on Crowdrise to raise “$100 per minute that the WBC is planning to protest for,” not knowing just how much it was going to raise.

And we’re only talking about Sunday night here—a far cry from the days to come.

Social media helped facilitate the many achievements over these past few days, and the response that has come from off campus, our alumni, and the many media outlets talking about is a representation of just how much a little social media initiative can do. In 24 hours

we had already broken the fundraising goal on De Leeuw’s Crowdrise, and it was speeding ahead to raise tens of thousands of dollars. The power of Twitter was apparent as well. While we weren’t exactly trending, you can look back at the dozens of tweets supporting our efforts—including one by a certain alum with 250,000 followers—and see how much we’ve accomplished in such a short time. Social media was the foundation to all of this. We have done a lot of commendable work already, and not just through fundraising. I’m talking about the countless messages and meetings online through Facebook, Twitter, and other social media realms that helped people get the word out to parents and friends, helped the facilitators keep in touch on such short notice, and fueled the engine of initiative. It’s impressive what a small campus can do, and everyone should realize how this couldn’t have been done without the power of social media, or the determination of our students.

Now while the battle may be over, it doesn’t mean we have to stop. That’s where the coming days and years ahead will have to play a part like none other. We’ve raised over $80,000 for the Trevor Project on the eve of the arrival of the Westboro Baptist Church, but what are we going to do on the day of—and the days, months, and years beyond that? This is an opportunity—a challenge even—for Vassar to go above and beyond each and every February 28 to make a stand against those who question the values of social justice, the values of acceptance, and the values of kindness. What are we doing to make sure this grand achievement of fundraising, camaraderie, and friendship is not going to be lost in the years to come? March 1 shouldn’t be a day of celebration, but a day of self-respect for our achievements, and the acknowledgment that it’s time to start preparing for our next February 28, so we can outdo ourselves year after year.

We’ve already shown the WBC that this day they’ve chosen has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with us. Let’s take it a step further, and make sure they know that every day of every year is not about them, and all about us. Let’s do it with social media; let’s do it with outreach; let’s do it better than we did in 2013.

—Josh Sherman ‘16 is Assistant Opinions Editor for The Miscellany News.

Stacey Nieves

Guest Columnist

The announcement was a long time coming.

Finally, in his February 12 State of the Union address, President Obama declared his decision: the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be reduced by 34,000—slightly, and probably deliberately, more than half of the current 66,000—over the next year. Additionally, the NATO mandate in Afghanistan should be concluded by the end of 2014.

So, any self-respecting liberal should be popping a long-saved bottle of champagne, right?

I’m not so sure.

Yes, this conflict has been long (12-year), messy (more than 2,000 American service members dead), costly (up to $90 billion has been spent on aid and reconstruction), and I’m glad to see it coming to a close. But so is the Taliban, which has been attacking U.S. troops on their way out, knowing that they’ll be weakest as they shut down their surveillance systems to leave.

In fact, the Taliban is poised to profit pretty heavily from our coming withdrawal. Because our lethal, costly, decade-long campaign hasn’t actually gotten rid of the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, along with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, have been staging peace talks and urging the Taliban to come to the table. Zardari has already released dozens of Taliban prisoners, no strings attached, to curry favor with the group. And it looks like Karzai’s ready to make some steep concessions, among them allowing the Taliban to become a political party.

Before leaving his post, General John Allen, former commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, had some advice for the Taliban: “If the Taliban wants to play [a role] in the future of Afghanistan, they’re going to have to give up the kind of violence toward the Afghan population, and the connection that they’ve had with al-Qaeda.”

What lovely, meaningless words. Why should the Taliban change their repressive menu if Karzai is willing to let them join the political process as they are? In fact, the Taliban hasn’t even shown any inclination to join the Karzai-Cameron-Zardari round table. Perhaps they’re simply waiting for the U.S. to leave

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

so they can take control of the country on their own terms.

A cartoon recently published in the New York Times depicts an American soldier, arm in a sling, creeping away from Afghanistan, leaving small footprints behind him as he goes.

He glances nervously beside him, at a trail of gigantic footprints leading towards the country.

You and I can probably agree on the notion that the United States has left some deep footprints in Afghan territory. From here in America, it always seemed to me that U.S. efforts in Afghanistan were completely futile or even harmful, like the bull in the china shop, if the bull had insisted that smashing everything was what was best for the store and, of course, its own security interests.

But the effects of this war haven’t just been negative; our footprint isn’t all bad. U.S. aid money has granted unprecedented health care access to Afghans, helped to educate young Afghan girls, and provided a base on which to build a functioning economy. Which is why my supreme concern isn’t the Pentagon’s angling to keep as many troops in Afghanistan post2014 as possible (the actual number should be no more than 9,000), but the prospect of US troop withdrawal meaning a U.S. aid withdrawal as well.

The Obama administration’s current policy is one of support for an international agreement made last year to slowly wean the Afghan economy off of aid, giving them time to adapt to the changes.

But budgetary decisions aren’t made by the president, so his opinion isn’t worth much.

And it’s not hard to imagine Congress chopping away at the $2.5 billion annual aid to Afghanistan when we’ve got our own economic issues to deal with here at home.

I sincerely hope our legislators won’t do that. Depriving Afghanistan of our economic aid, which exceeds its tax revenues, might mean the reversal of hard-won social and economic progress. I want to be out of this tangled mess as much as anyone, but there’s no sense in abandoning a country we’ve already invested far too much in to simply let fall into economic chaos.

—Stacey Nieves ‘15 is an English major.

OPINIONS

Page 10

February 21, 2013

Fossil fuel divestment leads to lose-lose scenario for VC Aashim Usgaonkar & Alexander Koren Contributing Editor & VSA VP for Finance

A

t its most recent meeting, VSA Council voted to table a resolution endorsing the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign, Vassar’s iteration of a movement to divest institutional endowments from fossil fuel companies. We would like to support the VSA Council’s decision to postpone a vote so the document can undergo further review, while simultaneously taking the opportunity to discuss why divestment is an ineffective tool to combat climate change.

The largest issue that we take with this movement is that it is purely symbolic; its relation to the change it would like to effect—which, we assume, is the promotion of activities specifically salubrious to our ailing environment—is so tenuous that it is not worth the risk it will pose to the College’s finances. Here our peers who support the movement meet us midway: They themselves acknowledge that the economic impact of divestment is nonexistent and in no way will blight the financial health of the companies they so despise.

But for the sake of readers, let us emphasize why this is the case. When Vassar or any institution divests, say, from ExxonMobil, it is selling its equity share in that company off to another investor. Each time one body divests, another one invests, such that we are playing a zero-sum game.

Those acquainted with introductory economics will argue that, should there be a sell-off, the price of the stock will start to fall. They are right, but there’s the rub: Companies like ExxonMobil (XOM) do not make money from selling stocks, and their financial health is not tied in a one-to-

one relation with the price of their stock. The change of shares from one XOM investor to another—especially on a scale as small as collegiate endowments—would barely be detectable for a company whose market capitalization is $400 bn, or 470 times Vassar’s entire endowment.

Is the symbolism worth it? We believe that Vassar’s endowment must not be subject to a capricious quest for symbolism, and neither should it be used to make political statements. Divestiture from fossil fuel stocks is both theoretically and logistically problematic when considering the role of institutional endowments and the principles guiding their management in service of these roles. Vassar has largely emulated Yale’s exemplary endowment model pioneered by David Swensen; using Swensen’s principles on the purpose and management of endowments—outlined in his landmark book Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investments—gives us a framework within which to evaluate the proposal for divestiture.

A strong Vassar endowment allows us to maintain independence from unpredictable shocks resulting from government policy, donor requests or market volatility; next, it allows us to maintain what Swensen calls a “margin of excellence” over peer schools that face similar if not identical operating revenues and costs.

Fiduciaries of the College must weigh the value of this symbolism against the benefits of stable endowment returns in promoting these purposes. We are of the opinion that pure symbolism is worth far less than the maintenance of fiscal independence and margins of excellence for the Col-

lege, as we would be giving up stable returns for what can be described as dangerous gimmickry.

Vassar’s endowment is diversified across asset classes, wherein we hire money managers to “increase the probability of success,” to quote Swensen. A divestiture would imply the removal of close to 80 percent our absolute return and mutual fund holdings, as we cannot force our policies onto third-party managers. Given that active security selection and asset allocation play such important roles in the service of an endowment’s purposes, foregoing third-party specialists in this arena will not only forgo their returns but also the professional relationships that were not easy to initially establish.

Proponents of this movement might often be caught citing “studies” that try to estimate the effects of fossil fuel divestiture; however, these published studies are not conducted keeping the Vassar endowment in mind. They often make the assumption that divestment can be turned on as a switch; the transaction costs we mentioned above, in this case, can have the impact of hurting programs including financial aid and remuneration for our renowned faculty.

Should our finances be adversely affected by divestment, it will result in an amendment to our average rates at which we draw and spend from our endowment. If we agree with Swensen, a lowered portfolio market value will either result in a higher draw rate in order to maintain stable, expected budgetary support, which disadvantages tomorrow’s scholars, or an unchanged draw rate, which disadvantages today’s. This lose-lose scenario will pose major concerns among the

College’s fiduciaries, but again, for no ostensible reason but to make a statement.

The VSA has no control over the College’s endowment—a responsibility falls to the Board of Trustees, which is informed by a variety of sources, including the Trustee Investor Responsibility Committee and the Campus Investor Responsibility Committee, which is populated by a mix of student, administrator, faculty and alumnae/i representation. Both are tasked with reviewing “issues of ‘overriding social concern’ that might cause the college to take into account that concern in the management of the college’s investments.” Consequently, even if the VSA Council were to unanimously vote in support divestment, we would still be many conversations, meetings and votes away from divestment. This does not diminish the importance of the student voice or mean the VSA should rush through any piece of legislation it can. It means just the opposite.

The VSA has a strong history of supporting green movements on campus. Divestment, however, is an incredibly complicated topic, and the VSA must approach it with due caution. If a proposal seems rushed and poorly informed, then it is unlikely to be taken seriously by trustees. Thus, if the VSA wishes to see divestment come to pass, it should settle for nothing less than the best proposal possible, no matter how many weeks, months or years it takes. ­—Aashim Usgaonkar ’13 is contributing editor at The Miscellany News. Alexander Koren ’13 is the current vice president for finance at the Vassar Student Association, who voted in favor of tabling the resolution last Sunday.

Do Something VC fails to On Feb. 28, WBC likely to represent LGBTQ spectrum conduct lethargic protest Aja Brady-Saalfeld Design Editor

V

assar is not nearly as queer friendly as it would lead people to believe. Everything I have ever experienced in the queer community has led me to the conclusion that in order to be heard in this space, one must be white, cisgender and preferably a gay man, and the activities on campus in response to the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest have done nothing to change my mind.

When I first heard that the infamous hate group was coming to Vassar, I was excited. I had high hopes that this would be a wonderful opportunity for normally silenced members of the LGBTQ community to have their voices heard.

My hopes did not stay high for long.

Every person who approached me, or the groups in which I participate, was a white, gay male. This, coupled with suggestions that “Champions Wear Burgundy and Gay” become one of our slogans, attempts to reclaim ‘Ivy League Whorehouse’ by all kinds of Vassar students—including the many men to whom the term whore has never been applied—disturbs and disgusts me. “Champions Wear Burgundy and Gay” is just another catchy phrase that excludes the majority of the queer community, many of whom are already lacking adequate representation in the media and in the microcosm that is the Vassar community. Gay men also have a long history of trying to take back terms that have applied to other marginalized LGBTQ people, including slurs used against cis and transwomen alike, and it is completely unacceptable for them to stand on a platform against the Westboro Baptist Church that embraces reclaiming yet another word that never actually belonged to them.

So many of the ideas proposed, from the merchandise to the language used to describe the protest itself, are so centered on gay men that I find it impossible to believe that anyone who does not fit into the queer ideal postulated and perpetuated by the most privileged of the queer community will gain anymore visibility from this event. When people refer to this as a problem for the gay community it erases and minimizes the experiences of other queer people.

While I understand the desire to show a cohesive front to the Westboro Baptist Church and the media that will be covering the protest, I am firmly opposed to this mentality. In

a diverse queer community, which comprises many different queer identities as well as many different ethnic backgrounds and gender identities, trying to promote a united front is all but impossible without excluding people, and the people most likely to be excluded are exactly the people who need to gain visibility from this protest. A unified presentation like this only serves to erase the problems that continue to plague the queer community. The simple fact is that we are not all in this together. We cannot be, not when so many different needs affect queer people in various situations. We cannot project a united front when our own communities remain so fractured by internalized oppression a lack of intersectionality. This entire situation has convinced me that white gay men have had their heyday as the golden boys of the LGBTQ community for far long enough.

This needs to change, starting here and now.

Gay men are disproportionately represented in the media, and while that may not be the fault of any individual at Vassar, by continuing to push forward the visibility of gay men and occasionally women over the rest of the queer community, we contribute to the larger problems of intersectionality that affect the entirety of queerness.

I, as a bisexual woman of color, am used to being either underrepresented in the media or represented in disturbing, fetishized ways, but this should not be the case on a campus that supposedly prides itself on being inclusive.

However, despite the attempts to portray Vassar as an inclusive, queer-friendly place, almost everyone who does not identify as a gay man lacks adequate representation.

My biggest fear about the outcome of the Westboro Baptist counter-protest is that the queer community will, once again, be boiled down to issues revolving around white, class privileged, gay men and straight people appropriating queer issues by kissing for a cause while the underrepresented and ignored return to obscurity. If the counter-protest is going to be effective in any way other than promoting visibility for gay men, the greater issues of the queer community must be addressed. Without actively striving for inclusivity, marginalized groups will continue to be inaccurately and underrepresented both at Vassar and in the rest of the world.

—Aja Brady-Saalfeld ‘15 is Design Editor of The Miscellany News. She is a German major.

April Levins

Guest Columnist

A

ccording to their website, the Westboro Baptist Church has picketed the “mean streets of doomed america [sic]” for 1,130 weeks and have cumulatively lost exactly 0 nanoseconds of sleep over your opinions and “feeeeellllliiiiiings [sic].” Of the WBC’s 49,883 protests, I have witnessed maybe twenty or thirty of them. I live in Kansas, in a suburb of Kansas City about an hour east of the Westboro headquarters, in what feels like the Church’s prime stomping grounds. The day before they make the trip to West Point and Vassar, they are scheduled to be in downtown Kansas City, picketing a Maroon 5 concert. About once a month, they manage to pack themselves up into vans and trundle out to my hometown in order to remind us that we are all a bunch of Jews, fag-lovers, and otherwise damned souls.

Since their decision to come to Vassar, people have given me strange looks whenever I try to describe the WBC experience. It is a difficult thing to pinpoint, but I think what it comes down to is this: they are, as a general rule, remarkably underwhelming.

The protests you see on the news, the sermons full of misdirected fire and brimstone, the melodramatically-titled website full of typos and capital letters—that is the version of the Westboro Baptist Church they want you to see. They want you get angry, to fight back. This is so they can sue you in order to pay for plane tickets so they can follow Lady Gaga while she is on tour. It sounds flippant, but I’ve seen it happen. WBC relies on its overwrought public image and melodramatic taunts to work people up into a frenzy before they even arrive. The picketers feed off crowds, anger, and counter-demonstrations. But without the prospect of a lawsuit, they tend to just stand around. I have seen them put down their signs when their arms get tired, eat snacks and chat amongst themselves.

To me, at least, their pickets always seem kind of hollow. Lethargic, even. Perhaps I have just grown used to them, but every time I see one of them carrying a “God Hates Fags” sign, I roll my eyes. It’s overkill and, at this point, it’s simply unoriginal. Sometimes I genuinely cannot tell whether or not they actually believe in their absurd interpretation of the Bible, or if they are just a group of lawyers working a long con. In light of the two recent

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

public defections from the church (Megan and Grace Phelps-Roper, the granddaughters of founder Fred Phelps, Jr.), I have started to feel genuinely sorry for their members. For the most part, the church consists of those who have grown up surrounded by hate and judgment, and it comes as no surprise that many of them never leave.

“The WBC feeds off crowds, anger and counter-demonstrations. But without the prespect of a lawsuit, they tend to just stand around.”

April Levins ’13 Neither Vassar nor its students are going to change any of their minds­; raising $80,000 for the Trevor Project, while an incredible act of goodwill and charity, is from their perspective just another part of the fag agenda.

Literally any way that we could possibly respond—holding a counter-protest, deliberately ignoring them, covering ourselves in glitter and making out in their general direction—will be lumped in with the fag agenda.

That doesn’t mean that our response doesn’t matter, though; it only means that it doesn’t matter to them. It still matters to us. There is no right answer, no correct way of handling them.

Various groups of students have their own ideas about what should or should not be done on February 28, and none of them are more or less correct than any of the others (as long as nobody gets sued). There can be no swift, cohesive institutional response because Vassar is an institution made up of individuals who disagree with each other about everything just about all the time. Our response is going to be fragmented, scattered, self-contradicting, and probably a little hypocritical. I would expect nothing less.

—April Levins ‘13 is an English major.

February 21, 2013

OPINIONS

Male contraception makes promising steps Angela Della Croce

T

Guest Columnist

he Pill, vaginal rings, diaphragms, IUDs, birth control shots, female condoms, the Patch, implants, Plan B, and female sterilization. Aside from being various forms of birth control, these products have one central trait in common: they’re all for women. Since the push for pregnancy prevention and sexual health that took place in the 20th century, innovations for new forms of birth control have arisen yet are vastly centered on women’s responsibility for its utilization. And they are certainly using it. Birth control pills alone supply reversible contraception for approximately 11 million women.

But what about birth control options for men? According to Planned Parenthood, men can choose from only five non-medicinal options: a male condom, outercourse, vasectomy, abstinence, and withdrawal. These current options are not only limited but each poses unattractive drawbacks: withdrawal lacks in high effectiveness; male condoms can decrease penile sensation; vasectomies seem like a scary procedure, which includes an equally scary procedure to reverse; outercourse usually just leads to intercourse, and abstinence is just plain unrealistic. Fortunately, the need for more male birth control options has not been ignored. Researchers have recently experimented with hormonal and non-hormonal options for men. Though they would not protect against sexually-transmitted diseases, male birth control could be an attractive alternative. It would balance the contraception responsibility, increase the effectiveness of pregnancy prevention since half of all pregnancies in the United States are still unexpected, and alleviate women’s concerns over female birth control’s potentially hazardous side effects, like increased risks of blood clots, heart attack, strokes, breast cancer, cervical cancer, benign liver tumors, and interference with other medications.

The quest for a viable, safe, and effective male birth control has been characterized by continuous trial-and-error, experimentation, and creative innovation. Researchers first focused on developing some sort of hormonal

sperm blocker, since most female birth control options consist of manipulating certain hormones. This resulted in too many complications and excessive effort on the part of men.

Men would have to take testosterone supplements along with frequent injections of progestogen. Side effects were also undesirable.

The male Pill was thus shown to be a dud, and researchers have scrapped the conventional hormone-centric birth control and put resources towards non-hormonal ones. Some recent endeavors to master sperm control include plugs that form sperm blockades, sperm-zapping ultrasounds, sterilizing heat treatments, and a radio-controlled implant to prevent sperm flow with a click of a button. These undertakings are at elementary trial stages at best and many have yet to be adequately tested for effectiveness and safety. Nevertheless, the motivation is there. Research and resources are being accumulated for such experimentation and some recent pursuits have shown that we are getting closer to a marketable breakthrough.

Last year, two non-hormonal birth control options gained considerable traction. A compound known as JQ1 has been found to penetrate the cells of testes and shut off sperm development. Preliminary tests show promise, and the best part is that it’s entirely reversible.

Within two months of discontinued use, testicular functions return to normal with no obvious adverse side effects. Of course, the study has not been conducted on humans yet, but the results on mice were overwhelmingly positive. Similarly, scientists have been testing on a contraceptive agent known as gamendazole.

This also has successfully interrupted sperm maturation with full recovery after discontinued use. Gamendazole is actually quite close to becoming a realistic option for men. It’s been tested on rodents, rabbits, and primates.

Researchers are currently in the process of getting approval for human trials, and if everything goes smoothly, we could be seeing this product, probably in pill form, on the market within 5 to 15 years.

Attracting even more widespread attention is RISUG, or Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance. It was developed 30 years

ago by an Indian scientist, Sujoy Guha, and has shown to be safe, simple, highly effective, and completely reversible thus far. RISUG, commonly known as VasalGel, is a gel injection in the vas deferens that instantly sterilizes men for 10 to 15 years. The procedure is short and needs to occur only once. If desired, an injection of a compound that dissolves the gel can be administered in order to recover full fertility. Though still technically considered in its clinical testing phase, numerous human trials have been conducted with incredible success.

And by incredible I mean 100% success in the prevention of sperm flow. RISUG undoubtedly holds much promise and advocates are pushing FDA approval to be on the U.S. market by 2015. The main obstacle for its emergence into the market? Pharmaceutical companies. (Surprised? I wasn’t either.) Apparently, some medical endeavors run the risk of being too good.

Given its impeccable and long-term effectiveness after just one injection, pharmaceutical companies are concerned it will not accrue a significant profit margin and are hesitant to fund it or even give it attention. However, with the coverage it’s already received and the hopeful approval of the FDA, I highly doubt RISUG will be left unfunded.

Though male birth control has yet to be on the market, it is clear that its reality is well within our grasp. With more clinical trials and cooperation with the American medical industry, we can open the gates to further control our sexual well-being and personal choices, especially for men, who currently have very few avenues to own their sexual activity.

More methods of birth control implies fewer unplanned pregnancies, more individualized sexual control, and (hopefully) more informed and calculated personal decisions made. This trend of more forms of birth control is a positive one, yet it is still contentious. I’m sure its presence in the market will be met with enthusiasm, skepticism, and disgust. It will certainly be interesting to see how the politics of male birth control unfold along religious, gender, and party lines.

—Angela Della Croce ‘15 is an Economics major.

Elitism besets U.S. Supreme Court bench Juan Thompson Columnist

W

hen Sonia Sotomayor testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during her confirmation hearings in 2009 she had this to say about the idea of allowing cameras into the Supreme Court: “I have had positive experiences with cameras. When I have been asked to join experiments of using cameras in the courtroom, I have participated. I have volunteered.”

But when asked this month about cameras inside the Court, Justice Sotomayor morphed into a condescending elitist when she mused, “I don’t think most viewers take the time to actually delve into either the briefs or the legal arguments to appreciate what the court is doing. Very few of them understand what the process is, which is to play devil’s advocate.”

Of course I will not assert that most Americans are constitutional scholars, but I also won’t go as far as Sotomayor and impose a quasi-intellectual poll tax on the citizenry, as the New York Times aptly labeled her comments.

The Court is a part of our civil society and as such we, the people, deserve to hear and see what is occurring inside its august walls.

There is no persuasive argument against filming the Court’s proceedings. Opponents of the idea are quick to suggest that cameras would turn the court into a partisan spectacle with Justices behaving like members of our properly despised Congress. Justice Elena Kagan, who also supported the presence of cameras during her confirmation hearings in 2010, recently reversed herself and said the possibility of Justices playing to the cameras gave her pause. Apparently Kagan, one of those brilliant Harvard minds, was unaware of how some of her colleagues—Antonin Scalia—already put on poorly disguised comedy acts for the audio recorders. In fact, the Court is an extension of our hyper-partisan environment, with Samuel

Alito, Clarence Thomas and Scalia acting more like Fox News contributors than respected oracles of the law. More tellingly, however, is how Sotomayor’s words indicate a larger problem with the country’s highest court: most of its members are completely detached from modern society and the problems we face.

All nine current Supreme Court Justices attended either Yale or Harvard Law School.

When a vacancy occurred in 2010, Barack Obama, himself a graduate of Harvard, had a rich pool of non-Ivy League candidates to choose from; but he chose Kagan who also served as the dean of Harvard Law from 20032009. I fail to believe that Harvard and Yale, with all their supposed greatness, are the only schools capable of producing qualified Supreme Court Justices. Furthermore, when we confine our country’s most esteemed judiciary positions to two schools, we set up a scheme of elites looking out for other elites. And, with the exception of two, most of the Justices are from the two coasts, leading to a lack of diversity in schooling and geography; this may in part explain why the court during the last thirty years has become a guardian of the status quo.

The Court’s conservative majority is attached to the doctrine of originalism, which is a mode of interpretation that seeks to decipher what the framers intended when they wrote the Constitution. The notion that we should decide how laws are applicable to modern society using the mindset of white men from the 18th century is patently absurd and yet it does not prevent such lunacy from being the majority view on today’s Court. Then there are the liberal Justices who are far from the radical left wing activists we are told they are. Kagan—who joined the conservative bloc when she voted against the mandated state Medicaid expansion of the Affordable Care Act—is a

perfect example of this. Because of her, in part, right wing governors are now able to reject the provision of healthcare reform that would have expanded coverage to millions of low-income people. These liberals are actually adherents of the more moderate doctrinalism. The doctrine approach does favor change; it is a gradual change that focuses on problems in a piecemeal fashion, instead of a systemic tackling of society’s injustices.

Last week legal scholar and philosopher Ronald Dworkin died. Dworkin was known in legal circles for his advocacy of applying moral judgments to constitutional interpretation. Indeed, the Dworkin method could also be described as developmentalism, which is an interpretative scheme that seeks to interrogate the historiography of law and how it impacts an evolving and maturing society. This particular form of constitutional analysis jettisons any idea that the Constitution is substantively inert. Crucially, for those of us concerned with progress, developmentalism weaves modern, cultural and political issues into its form of interpretation.

In order for constitutional self-governance to work best we must recognize that any interpretative strategy must be based in the modern world where contemporary and significant problems exist. We should ask ourselves: Is the purpose of the Constitution to promote a better and more moral society or is its goal to maintain a social order obsessed with archaic principles, which are incompatible with sociocultural evolution? These vital questions will only be tackled when the Supreme Court’s bench is populated by people from outside the elitist institutions that have a played a vital role in protecting the status quo.

—Juan Thompson ‘13 is a Political Science major.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 11

Word

on the street

If you were to write a column for The Misc, what would it be about?

“All the different flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.”

—Karam Anthony’15

“Sweater trends at Vassar.”

—Julianne Johnson ‘16

“I think it’d be cool to write about people’s masturbation lives.”

—Lucy Bicks ’13

“Simply: dogs.”

—Ahmed Sanda ‘15

“Epic movies.”

-Michaela Janowski ‘15

“I would investigate if there’s actually any difference between all the coffees in the retreat.”

—Jacob Gorski ‘15

Jean-Luc Bouchard, Humor & Satire Editor Katie de Heras, Photo Editor

OPINIONS

Page 12

February 21, 2013

Space rocks, sequestration offer chance for reflection Lane Kisonak

Opinions Editor

I

n about one week, a massive object is set to strike Washington, D.C., the effects of its impact rippling across the country. This object, whose official designation is Pub.L. 112-25 § 302, has been circling around above our heads for well over a year, but we have done nothing to stop it from hitting us.

No, I’m not talking about the asteroid that passed us by last week—or the meteorite that improbably exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia the same day—but the drily named “sequester” mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011, the bill that staved off the debt ceiling crisis of that summer. Many legislators and economists agree that if the sequester—comprising $1.2 trillion in budget cuts over the next eight years— took effect, it would seriously hinder economic growth and render government agencies more anemic than they already are. Is there anything we can do to avert the impending fiscal disaster? If we just let it come, then what does that mean for the country?

With just a week or so to go until the deadline, many lawmakers, especially Republicans, believe the sequester is inevitable due to the “vast distance” between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of revenue. While Senate Democrats have proposed a replacement to the sequester that would include $55 billion in new revenues, Republicans are holding firm in their opposition after their loss in the fiscal cliff deal at the end of last year; therefore this alternative is unlikely to pass. According to The Hill, the $85 billion in cuts that would extend from March 1 to September 30 are a fait accompli, and it is the remaining hundreds of trillions that will likely be subject to negotiation between President Obama and Congress.

In the meantime, though, the sequester would consign many federal workers to layoffs and endanger the health of countless projects contributing to the public good.

Despite the furor in Washington, The Hill re-

“Mssng Somethng?”

ports that the fiscal cliff deal made it less likely that “mass panic” would erupt in the country, and so, for analysts of finance and politics the sequester has not “been at the front of people’s minds.” This is, of course, not to say “Mission Accomplished” in averting fiscal disaster; the economy contracted last quarter due in large part to reductions in government spending.

What will happen when the sequester hits?

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), growth might slow to a 1.4 percent annual rate (far from sufficient to keep up with the demands of an increasing population), and the economy could hemorrhage up to 750,000 jobs.

That’s the big picture. But because $1.2 trillion in cuts over eight years might seem a bit abstract, it might be wise to zoom in a bit and see how this could affect the operations of a single agency.

Take NASA, for example, and that asteroid that veered within shouting distance of Spaceship Earth. The asteroid, called 2012 DA14 because it was discovered just last year, measures 50 meters from end to end, far from the biggest hunk of rock that’s speeding through the solar system. At its closest approach on February 15, according to NASA, DA14 came within just 17,150 miles of Earth. As The Guardian wrote last week, this is the closest any asteroid has gotten in the two decades that the sky has been covered by systematic survey.

There are other near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) whose orbits overlap with Earth’s, including 99942 Apophis, which is several times larger than DA14 and is expected to get nearly as close to Earth in 2029. Tracking these asteroids is the business of dozens of agencies around the world, including NASA and others with which it is connected. DA14, for example, was discovered by the La Sagra Sky Survey in Mallorca, Spain from a distance of 2.7 million miles. La Sagra reported the findings to NASA’s Minor Planet Center, which is tied to the International Astronomical Union (of “Pluto is not a planet”

fame). All of these agencies work together to keep tabs on the possibly 500,000 NEAs that might pose a threat to Earth.

But only one percent of these NEAs have been found. NASA states that a direct hit of an object the size of DA14 would release 2.5 megatons of energy and cause “regional devastation.” NASA has initiated a variety of projects to study, find, and deflect asteroids, including solar propulsion systems, mining ability, and robotic and human exploration technologies.

But much of the progress being made right now in these areas could be stymied by the sequester. According to Nature, NASA stands to lose $417 million from its science budget, $346 million in space operations, $309 million in exploration funds, and $246 million in agency coordination funds.

“Only one percent of near Earth asteroids have been found. NASA states that a direct hit of an NEA would cause regional devastation.”

Lane Kisonak ’13 In an open letter written to Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), NASA wrote that several of its programs were in the sequester’s line of fire, including the world-renowned Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Alongside many other activities, JPL manages NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observation (NEOO) Program, a coordinated network of ground- and space-based telescopes devoted to detecting NEAs. If the sequester takes effect on March 1, then not only would JPL lose much of its funding as a whole, but we could likely expect projects like

the NEOO program to languish. As I previously mentioned, we have no idea of the position of 99 percent of near-Earth objects. Until Friday, these unknowns included the meteorite that appeared out of nowhere on dashboard cams all over Chelyabinsk. Though this object was much smaller than DA14, many are likely of comparable size, and their impact would unleash an amount of energy 100 times that of the larger of the two atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima.

The sequester is loved by no one, but those who argue for government spending cuts over tax cuts in general, as the Republican party does, say that short-term sacrifices are crucial to maintain the long-term fiscal health of the country. This kind of rhetoric is convincing, but when it hits agencies like NASA, stifling progress at JPL and potentially minimizing its connections with partners like La Sagra in Spain, we all risk feeling austerity’s negative side effects. Surely we’ll never detect all the asteroids in the solar system, but every data point, and every dollar, counts.

Last year, at the National Space Symposium, famed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson argued that NASA’s government should be doubled from its current level of $17 billion (only a small percentage of the global space economy).

Chances are, that’s a non-starter with Congress. But they can do a whole lot better than taking the axe indiscriminately to NASA’s programs, and this is true for all the government programs affected by the sequester. If there’s anything the last week of astronomical events should have alerted us to, it should be that the question of national “responsibility”, which is so often framed as a question of short-term fiscal sacrifice, is not at all that clear cut. There’s about 500,000 massive objects in space that beg to differ.

—Lane Kisonak ‘13 is a Political Science major. He is Opinions Editor of The Miscellany News.

The Miscellany Crossword

by Jack Mullan, Crossword Editor

ACROSS 1 Poughkeepsie on the Metro North, e.g.

4 Sacred song 9 Butcher’s scraps 14 Online giggle 15 Cowboy’s entertainment 16 Berry who played Catwoman 17 “Brokeback Mountain” director Lee 18 Bull on glue bottles 19 *Name for an old professor?

20 Draws nigh 22 Common field trip destination 24 From the U.S.: Abbr.

25 *Exciting developments?

28 Saul’s uncle and grandfather 29 Memo 30 Wrap up 32 Western mil. alliance 35 Solemnly swear

38 In unison 42 Track meet component 44 Center of a storm...or, phonetically, the one alphabet character missing in this puzzle—and a hint to the answers of the starred clues 45 On the same level 46 Senegal’s capital 47 Singer McEntire 49 Impulse 50 Candy that is dispensed 52 Indigenous Yucatán people 54 Xam ___, Laotian capital city 57 *Struggling to laugh since you woke up?

63 Old target for 32−across 64 “Wheel of Fortune” host Sajak 65 Welsh songwriter born Eric Martin

Answers to last week’s puzzle

66 *Commercial on a GPS? 68 Andean wool source 71 Slumber party attire 72 Summer refuge 73 Nickname for Louis Armstrong 74 Looooong time 75 County on the Thames 76 Watchdog org.?

77 Pair

39 Your and mine 40 Kvetch 41 He, to João 43 30% of dieci 48 “That hit the spot!”

51 Microwave 53 Japanese keyboard

and motorcycle maker 54 Surgeon’s assistant 55 Tallinn natives 56 “___ directed” 58 Raft material 59 Rand McNally publication

DOWN 1 Informal speak 2 Copier need 3 Pond buildup 4 Magic word 5 Vassar’s resident funk band 6 Naval V.I.P. 7 Radio host Gibbons 8 Dimwit 9 Unit in a physics textbook 10 *Description of a distant cube?

11 Olympic stadium centerpiece 12 Writer Horatio 13 Grills 21 *Sprinted past the Thanksgiving Day floats?

23 Sugar ending 26 Child support, briefly 27 Prying tool 31 Not from a Scot 32 “Game of Thrones” protagonist ___ Stark

33 Palindromic girl name 34 Shatner’s “___War” 36 N.O.R.E. hit “___ Mi CAnto” 37 Online health info site

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

60 Pulled a Lance Armstrong, so to speak 61 Pear type 62 Kind of question on a survey 67 Jazz saxophonist Gordon, familiarly

69 Org. for Isner and Nadal 70 1200, on a monument

February 21, 2013

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 13

OPINIONS

Breaking News From the desk of Jean-Luc Bouchard, Humor & Satire Editor Shakespearean scholars and 90s Nickelodeon fans unite to develop new cartoon, “Rocko’s Early Modern Life” Mr. Bouchard’s guide to Navigating the campus post superb class presentations office: believe in yourself <3 Jean-Luc Bouchard Humor & Satire Editor

H

ello my fellow Vassarions! Today’s guide has its origins in a request made by a loyal reader. I was pouring through your hundreds of fan letters these past few weeks, sitting in an oversized leather arm chair with my falcon Maximilian resting on my shoulder, when I came across this message from a poor, lost soul: Dear Mr. Bouchard, Please...please help me. I’ve accidently been caught in a teleportation machine with a cockroach. My DNA has been spliced. I’m…I’m BECOMING something…SOMETHING HORRIBLE. I don’t want to die a monster. What should I do?

Best, Rick Well Rick, I don’t know how to solve your problem, but it does remind me of something equally as painful as turning into a horrendous cockroach man: class presentations! So today’s guide to class presentations is dedicated to you, Rick—we’re all rooting for you! Keep that chin up. And read on, fellow Vassarions, to find out how to turn that Powerpoint sleeper into a hundred-point keeper!

1. Your voice is weird, so change it.

You may not have ever noticed how awful your own voice is, but it’s…well, it’s terrible. It sounds like a seagull who’s trying to learn to yodel and then gets hit by a truck carrying a shipment of bullhorns. As soon as you start your presentation about postmodern clowns or marine biology or whatever, no one is going to pay attention to what you have to say because how you’re saying it is so lolzy. OK, stop crying—you can fix it. Right now, your voice produces tears of laughter; it should elicit tears of FEAR and RESPECT. Next time you give a presentation, scream. Scream every word as loud as you can and as angrily as you can at the class. Cover them with spittle. Watch your grade majestically soar into the high A’s as your professor shields his or her face and cries “Please God, stop!” before throwing up.

2. Dress for success (for once in your life).

It’s a well-known fact that 30% of your grade is based on shoes alone (slightly less if you’re a comp sci major). If you give a presentation in a sweatshirt and Spongebob pajama pants, you can expect a sweatshirt and Spongebob pajama pants grade. Take the time to dress properly next time

you present to your class—put on a full tuxedo.

No exceptions. Top hat, cane, the works. A manservant if you can get one. Go “Downton Abbey” all over that Freshman Writing Seminar.

3. Embrace technology.

We’re all familiar with Powerpoint, but so few students take advantage of all the other incredible technological opportunities available to us via the information superhighway. Specifically, they are unaware that you can go into the dark side of the internet and pay an almost-fluent-in-English Bulgarian man named Aleksi to make your presentation for you. For only “thirteen and a half of your American dollars,” you can have a near-flawless presentation about particle physics entitled, “Space: It is dark and science habits it.

USA Presentation by Jimmy.” For an extra two dollars, he’ll remove the viruses before he sends it to your computer. Most of the viruses.

4. Get a hold of your audience.

The professor will base his or her grade off of the class’s reception to your presentation, so it’s essential to play the crowd like a fiddle. If possible, do some investigating into certain classmates’ private lives beforehand and blackmail them into clapping and cheering for you during class. Plant some stooges into the crowd with some easy questions, like: “Did you handsomeness get in the way of your research?” or “How many books did you have to take out of the library?” If possible, ask someone in class to suddenly grab his or her head halfway through your presentation and yell, “Oh my God! It suddenly makes sense now! It all finally makes sense! The clarity, OH THE GLORIOUS CLARITY.” (It also never hurts to bring a t-shirt cannon and piñata, just in case you run out of slides early.)

5. Choose a more interesting topic.

You know what kind of person sticks with a presentation topic that is relevant to the class they’re in? A nerd, my friends. A nerd. Sure, nerds may “technically” get good grades, but do you really want a good grade or DO YOU WANT TO CAPTURE THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS? Screw cookie-cutter topics like “Milton’s Poetry” and “Experiment Results” and “This Thing from the Syllabus”—go for the razzle-dazzle! Dance your way into the classroom wearing a purple suit, singing old German folk tunes and twirling a baton. Set off a bunch of fireworks that spell out the name of your presentation into the sky: “Fire Juggling and Orgasms: A Critical Study.”

Just make sure you cite your sources.

Chris Gonzalez

recyclables, compostables, trash, and Deece food).

Walk up to the counter where you will be asked for your box number. Ignore this question.

Begin listing your student ID number, social security, home address, ATM pin, FAFSA pin, and the time and date of where you were when you decided being ironic was the lifestyle choice for you. After finally reciting every digit combination that has ever crossed your mind, end with the four that make up your post office box number. And then shriek “YOU’RE WELCOME” to the weeping student worker.

While the mail clerk disappears into the back, possibly to reconsider all of his life choices, take the opportunity to sign the signature pad. You understand that both “sign” and “signature” leave much room for interpretation and as an aspiring artist you will take full advantage of this moment. Work quickly, but with precision. Aim for curviness over angularity, details and accuracy. Congratulations, you drew a penis. Laugh at your own joke.

You whip out your phone so you don’t completely look like a lost puppy waiting in the rain for a bowl of food. Try to hunch over so that the person in line behind you won’t be able to see the image of the cat you have as your wallpaper.

You can’t handle the adorableness of this cat yourself, so you step back to allow a clear shot of your phone background. Smile and wait for compliments about this adorable cat until you realize that no one cares. Pretend not to look hurt. Pretend harder.

Eventually, the mail clerk will reappear carrying only two packages and a smarmy grin on him face. You don’t like bad news, and in situations like these, whatever you don’t like doesn’t happen. Tell him you know the package is there, and you have the tracking numbers to prove it! Be forceful. You know best. Your package is important. Very important. Unlike the stupid packages that the other 2000 people on campus receive, yours is special. Explain that your father’s brother’s wife’s aunt’s uncle’s boyfriend’s half-stepbrother’s history professor at Oxford is sending you these boxes all the way from Egypt. There are puppies in the boxes—they’re running out of air. Say you really really really really really really need the boxes, please?

You leave the post office defeated. You check your email again, this time there’s a notification: “Package Available in Receiving.” You check the time.

It’s 4:31.

You sob openly.

Features Editor

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aking a visit to the post office is scary stuff for a number of reasons. I mean, there’s awkward human interaction, which lasts anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes, with a passive-aggressive student employee who automatically hates you because someone cared enough to mail you something, even if it is just a box of dirty laundry you never got around to cleaning.

And then there’s...well, that’s pretty much it. But fear not! Picking up your crap, much like learning organic chemistry and walking across Noyes Circle after the snow has somehow melted into ice (magic?), isn’t so bad once you’re given some helpful guidance from a post office pro.

First things first, you’ll need a package to pick up, and if no one loves you then getting one will require effort. Go to Amazon and order the 20 mandatory books you will need for that class you’ll end up dropping after you notice things like “participation” and “caring” make up about 35-percent of your grade. Also there’s a paper or something that’s due at the end of the semester and to put it eloquently: you ain’t about that life, dawg.

Once you’ve placed your online order, wait around for 20 email notifications to tell you that your mini library has finally arrived (if you never receive an email, never fear!...your mail is probably just lost forever). After three weeks of catatonically staring at your computer screen, hitting the refresh button on your inbox page and thinking about those precious participation points crumbling down like the Walls of Jericho, you’ll probably decide to check your other email address—the one you use for your My Little Pony fanfiction account—and stumble upon nearly two dozen confirmation emails.

Here is where you cry.

OK, crying time is over. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER. Time to get into the zone. Remember, timing is everything: Show up at 4:25pm (for the bold few, showing up at 4:29pm is pretty much the temporal equivalent of being a honeybadger).

Slap yourself a few times and build yourself up into a rage outside the Kiosk. Make sure you’re out of breath, or at least act like it. This gives the impression that you barrel rolled out of your TH, ran half way across campus and presumably fought off zombie ninjas on the quad in order to arrive at just-in-the-nick-of-closing-time (even if the truth is you strolled over from the Retreat after giving up on trying to differentiate between

For your approval: a Vassar student’s resumé

by Jill Levine, Columnist Dear Sir or Madam, I am a current senior at Vassar College and I think that a job in your company would be an important next step for me. I have work experience in both my community and college that would definitely make me an important asset to your company.j585tjg!158 sorry sorry I apologize, my hands are a little tired as this is the 93rd cover letter I’ve written today. They say it’s the economy. It’s totally the economy, right?

My resume is attached for your convenience.

Education

Vassar College’13, B.A. concentrations in Muggle Studies, correlate in Facebookology

General Honors (I was the one running around in a morph suit on Founder’s Day) “It’s So Moist in Here: The Anatomy of a Womp Womp” (Honors Thesis) “History Now: Exploring Social Media under the Pseudonym Julia Lathrop” (Side Project) University of Madrid: Study Abroad Fall 2012, took classes on cultural immersion and mostly sangria. It was a life changing experience and I chundered everywhere.

Employment

Peanut Butter Intern, the Peanut Butter Co, Summer 2012 • Ate an unbelievable amount of peanut butter...like seriously guys, also I never even ap-

plied for this internship they just saw me at Vassar and kidnapped me and my family did nothing to stop them.

Activities

Say Anything, Frequent Poster • You remember the one asking about which types of plastic we can recycle? This girl right here. Also the one about trampolines. And one time I trolled it, I think.

Official Photographer, My Friends/Fellow Group/Strangers • Omg, guys, cute. Can you take a picture of all of us? Thaaanks.

The Mug, DJ Side Salad

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

• Y’all know me, 5’3, ready to party, spin sick beats at the Mug on the regular with my Ipod nano, according to my Mspace my beats are zoned and gritty, melty and spacial (so, like a lot of Kanye and Madonna).

Computer Skills: MS Office, Excel is super boring, Maybe PowerPoint on a good day. I can edit red-eye out of pictures, and crop out that weird dude that’s always in our pictures for some reason.

Languages: English (native), Dolphin (fluent),

Spanish (when I go to Mole, Mole) References: Ask my mom; she’ll say nice things about me if I called her this week.

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February 21, 2013

Kozloff investigates Classic Hollywood, women directors Laci Dent rePorter

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Cassady Bergevin/The Miscellany News

t’s no wonder Professor of Film Sarah Kozloff is considered to be one of the best academics in the field. She’s written three critical go-to books in film studies, one, commissioned by the BFI Film Classics, entitled The Best Years of Our Lives, an analysis of the classic film, and scholarship on topics like the age of the Romantic Comedy and the beloved Hollywood Musical of the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. A cinephile early in life, Kozloff could give a synopsis of Citizen Kane at age 12. She was later set on a career in film after enrolling in two film classes during her freshman year of college at Dartmouth. After working for a few years in the industry on a number of films, Kozloff became more interested in the fascinating ideas behind films that now inspire her courses, students and scholarship.

“I think films have the best impact when they affect your emotions deeply, which is a little bit of a contradiction to standard film theory which talks a lot about alienation, distancing and estrangement.I’m challenging some of these critical essays and saying ‘No.’ The way films really change society is through empathy and getting people to put their feet in someone else’s shoes,” Kozloff explained. This past fall, Kozloff co-taught a course with Professor of Psychology Derek Greenwood on emotional engagement with film where she further challenged the notions of alienation. The course surveyed many genres, referencing the horror film Silence of the Lambs and the melodrama Million Dollar Baby, for instance, to study how different genres affect indiviuals differently.

“In terms of narrative and film techniques we spent a lot of time talking about close-ups and music and then from the psychology side we spent a lot of time talking about how different people react to individual films based on their personal experience and unique schema. We also talked about how different experiments

Professor of Film Sarah Kozloff has written three critical film studies books—one of which, as part of the BFI Film Classics series, was on The Best Years of Our Lives. She recently taught a seminar on women directors. would get at these questions,” she said. . It advanced the personal scholarship of Kozloff and Greenwood alike. Greenwood is now interested in the “co-viewing” experience of film and unpacking the mystery of why viewing experience changes based on with whom a film is viewed. Most people would agree that their viewing experience of a film is different with a romantic partner versus a parent or sibling, and it’s investigations like this that highlight film’s importance as a form of emotional engagement.

“I want films that help us move towards a more just society. There are certain films that I hate. I hate films that are really cynical and despairing and treat everything as a joke because there are crucial problems in the world. There

are a lot of films that have been instrumental in changing people’s minds on these problems.

I think the film Philadelphia was instrumental in helping America change their minds on homosexuality, and To Kill A Mockingbird worked the same way on different issues in the sixties,” Kozloff shared. Kozloff was able to tackle some of these social problems in the film seminar that she taught on women directors. In an industry dominated by white males, many powerful female directors are pushed under the radar and it’s a trend that’s stuck since the beginning of the silent era in Hollywood. Kozloff has found that many female directors are invested in grappling with social issues specific to both women and the world, reinforcing her belief that above all films are meant to be “felt.”

“There are hundreds of women directors making films on women’s lives. These films talk about subjects like rape, lesbianism, sexual harassment, employment discrimination and they are the films that I want to privilege and that I want to teach,” Kozloff explained. The class looked at some of the most influential female directors of the 21st century, such as Katherine Bigelow, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Julie Dash.

According to Kozloff, prominent female directors worked in the industry since the Silent era and many are unaware of the fact because women weren’t privileged and held to the same status as male directors like D.W. Griffith.

Women were forced out of the industry during the beginning of Hollywood’s Golden Age and only reappeared significantly aftersecond wave feminism. “There are plenty of encyclopedias on women directors but there is so little good literature about how these films are different and how audiences react to them and how they can change the world. Also, there isn’t literature that interrogates why so many women get a chance to make one film and then don’t get a chance to make the 20 and 30 that the male directors do. I think it’s because Hollywood believes that audiences won’t go to see films about women and that they’ll only go to see films with white straight male protagonists,” Kozloff shared, previewing a book she hopes to write on female directors in the near future.

It is often the case that women will go to see films created by and for men, and this practice is not reciprocated by men, who shy away from most films centered around the lives of women. However, Kozloff remains hopeful. “Society is changing everyday and I think that men will eventually go to see films about women. The men in my seminar last semester were very excited about all these new films directed by women that they’d never seen, so if they’re just exposed to the films who knows what can happen.”

Idlewild a non-hierarchical, all-female theatrical troupe Yuhan Shui

Guest rePorter

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Jiajing Sun/The Miscellany News

n a month, Idlewild will bring their new spring full-length show to meet the audience. The show will be put on in Shiva Theater on the weekend after spring break, which is March 28 and 29.

“Idlewild is a non-hieratical collaborative all-female theater ensemble, so we are all equal members,”president of Idlewild Sam Garcia ’13, explained. “I have the title of president, but it’s only for VSA purposes. It’s not for anything else. So I’m just the contact name on the sheet.”

During the process of the production, Idlewild also keeps their rule of non-hierarchy.

“First we read all the plays together. We talked about, as an ensemble, what kind of a play we want to do,” Garcia explained. “Once we chose the text, we read through, and each person readsfor the roles. We collaboratively cast, and we collaboratively decide all the technical positions as well.”

The play that Idlewild chose to put on for the spring semester is called The Dastardly Ficus. “It’s a play about two sisters who live in this big, old house, and they’re very strange people. They hold cat funerals and keep heads in boxes and do all sorts of weird stuff,” set designer Pilar Jefferson ‘15, said about the play.

“It’s an incredible comedy, a very physical comedy. We are really interested in that. We are also really interested in how open the textis to design,” Garcia said. “It’s a little kind of crazy and fun. Itís like these two women who are kind of playing. Itís like playing as though they were little girls. They have all these fun games they play with each other.” Jefferson also described it as a dark story, and that the scene design would be a surprise. “Because it’s not strictly the world we live in, there’s a lot of more room to make it playful,” she said.

Garcia, as the stage manager, also thought that the design would be important. “These two women have these games, these stories.

They are kind of playing in their own play worlds. Our hope isto take the audience into that play world. It’s great that, through the design, we can use our design elements to aid us in that discovery for the audience, to become

part of the characters own world,” Garcia said.

As an all-female theater group, Idlewild has been working on promoting women’s theater.

They also consider this for the spring show.

The playwright of The Dastardly Ficus, Emily Schwartz, is a young female playwright who hasn’t signed with any play companies. This show is also unpublished.

“It’s been performed twice before. It’s been performed in Chicago and Los Angeles. So weíre like the third group of people to do it,” Jefferson said. She also noted that there has been little exposure of the play before. “And we actually got the contact with the director and talked about her work, which is exciting,” Jefferson said.

Idlewild also had the opportunity to skype with Schwartz, they were informed that in her college experience, she was upset with a lack of interesting female roles. She also gave advice to the group. “She gave us some insight into what its like to be a playwright in the real world, and talked about how she’s been writing shows for the theater company she helped found for 10 years now,” she said.

Garcia thinks that supporting female theater is a tenant of Idlewild. “Part of our mission is to work with women writers, actors, directors on campus, because we felt like there wasn’t a place for women to be doing theatre, so it’s part of our mission statement to work with women outside,” she said.

Jefferson also thought it was very meaningful to put on this unpublished show. “We are kind of giving her exposure and also giving support to another woman who is working in the theatre world,” she said.

Idlewild members not only have to support other women outside Vassar, they also need to rely on each other to work, since this small ensemble currently has only seven members on campus to work on the show.

Jefferson said that the play they are working on is ideal because it only has three roles. “It’s nice to have only three actors in that way. People don’t have to double roles as both, like actor and designer at the same time.

Other people of the ensemble can be either designers or helping in some other ways,” she

Idlewild, an all-female non-hierarchical theaterical troupe, premises itself upon collaboration. Its upcoming show, an unpublished work called The Dastardly Ficus, will play at the Shiva Theater from March 28-29. said. Jefferson was quite happy about the organization of the process so far. “I am the set designer for the show, and Sam [Garcia] is stage managing. So none of us are acting, but we are also doing something very important and crucial to the theatre making process,” Jefferson said.

And Jefferson is eagerly anticipating her new theatrical opportunity. Just coming up off a job as stage manager for drama department show The Cripple of Inishman, she gets to dedicate herself to learning a specific new craft.

“Set design for this show is fun because this world can we whatever we want it to be. The sky’s the limit,” she said. “Or the budget really, but you get my point. Its also awesome to be a designer in a collaborative group because you always have someone to bounce ideas off of who is willing to help you improve and give you new perspective.”

Garcia thought it would be a great challenge but worth the effort. “I think part of the collab-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

orating process is being open and willing to listen to other people, try new things that might be outside your comfort zone and working as a whole unit to put on the show,” she said.

“So since we only have seven people right now to work with, all seven of us will have to be there doing everything to make the show go up,” she said.

Despite their small size, Garcia and other members in the ensemble have great confidence that they can make the show perfect.

“We are going to the Shiva Theatre. So for us, it’s a great challenge to try to do something that is usually done by a lot more people. A lot of the shows on campus have a bigger crew,” Garcia said.

“We are seven women, we are going to make this production, we are going to do extensive design, we are going to put on a great show. It’s a lot of hard work, but we lean on each other to make that process move forward,” she concluded.

February 21, 2013

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Indecent Exposure nurtures comediennes’ inner potential Steven Williams Arts Editor

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t’s a comedic staple to turn serious life events into stories that are much more cheerful.

This is no different for comics like Sal Seah ’13 of Vassar’s all-female sketch comedy and standup troupe Indecent Exposure. “Usually[when] something unfortunate happens, I see how I can turn it around,” she said. Seah, along with the other members of the group will have that opportunity on February 22, when they will host their annual Valentine’s Day show, which will feature stand-up exclusively. “It’s going to be a hearty show,” Seah proclaimed.

The group, which was formed in 2004, is relatively new to the Vassar comedy scene. “We are the youngest sketch comedy group on campus,” Seah said. It was formed to occupy voids on multiple fronts, both in terms of gender and

style. “We are the only sketch comedy group on campus who also does stand-up so we occupy that niche,” Seah said.

In its current state, the group is prospering in size, and draws members from all years. “This semester, our group is at its biggest, since my freshman year, which is really exciting,” Seah explained.

Many of the women in Indecent Exposure are also involved in other all-female groups such as Grace Ashford ‘14, a member of theater troupe Idlewild, and Sierra Garcia ‘15, who will be performing in the Vagina Monologues. They also have members involved in Vassar’s all-female a cappella group, Night Owls.

At the heart of the group are Seah and Cassidy Hollinger ‘13, who have been with Indecent Exposure since their freshman years.

Seah recalls the process of joining, an expe-

Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

Indecent Exposure, Vassar’s all-female sketch comedy group, is relatively new—it began in 2004, making it the youngest comedy troupe on campus. Their upcoming show on Feb. 22 will feature only stand-up.

rience many share in their attempt to join this sort of group.

“Like most kids who are in comedy groups right now, I tried out for all of them freshman year,” Seah said. “Indecent Exposure took me in and looking back that was the best thing that could have happened to me. These girls formed a very integral part of my college experience.”

Hollinger echoed the sentiment. “Our group is like a family, as cheesy as that sounds,” she wrote in a emailed statement.

Members of the group approach creating their stand-up routines differently, and with different styles. For Seah, she bases her set in reality but with plenty of room to veer away from it.

“I describe my stand-up style as very loosely auto-biographical,” Seah said. “I love people coming up to me and asking something like, ‘Are your parents really from Iceland?’ That’s my favorite part of it: the creative liberties that stand-up offers, as well as the opportunity to tell a story.”

Though for the upcoming show, she will be doing something she hasn’t in the past. “For my upcoming set, I’m going to do an entire narrative, with a beginning, middle and end. It’s something that I’ve never done before. Usually there’s a lot of segues and different topics, but this one is going to be a pretty cohesive piece,” she said For her comedic influences, Seah draws from a variety of comics, including Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle, and Margaret Cho, whom she is writing her thesis on. She particularly admires the depth of Pryor and Chappelle. “Their stuff just gets richer the more you think about it,” she said.

Hollinger begins with a similar impetus. ‘I refer to my stand-up style as ‘confessional comedy,’ she wrote. “I tend to base each set around some story from my weird life, and then build jokes into that.”

While there may be similarities in how they

Soderbergh flick a thrilling psychological trip ‘Side Effects’ bends genres—and your mind Side Effects Steven Sodorbergh Endgame Entertainment

Max Rook

Guest Columnist

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ide Effects is potentially the last theatrical release from director Steven Soderbergh.

This is the man who brought us Hollywood blockbusters like Ocean’s Eleven and Magic Mike, and also arthouse oddities like Sex, Lies, and Videotape and the five hour biopic Che. Soderbergh claims he will, at the least, take a sabbatical from filmmaking after his upcoming HBO project Behind the Candelabra, so Side Effects is the last opportunity to see one of his films in theaters in the forseeable future.

So how does a man like Soderbergh choose to end his eclectic career? With Side Effects, a bizarre blend of a psychological drama and a thriller. The film begins by displaying the aftermath of some horrific event, with blood staining an apartment floor, then flashes back to three months prior, to show how that event came about. It’s a conventional structure, and the film sticks to that structure in the opening act. Rooney Mara plays a young woman whose husband, played by Channing Tatum, is about to be released from prison for insider trading.

The narrative follows their attempts to return to a normal lifestyle, while Mara struggles with her own depression. That depression eventually leads her to a psychiatrist, played

by Jude Law, who attempts to help her.

For the first act of the movie, this all plays out as a traditional drama, albeit one with a deft hand for treating depression honestly.

Mara has difficulty finding the right antidepressant for herself, and the film is respectful of the difficulties depression can cause in a person’s life. Then, about 30 minutes in, the

story begins to change.

I won’t get into specifics here, because part of joy of the film is watching that story unfold.

It isn’t even so much that the twists are impossible to predict, as there are only so many ways this kind of story can play out, but the film does a remarkable job of avoiding the clichés of a thriller while becoming exactly that type of movie.

The story told in the film’s final moments is unrecognizable compared to the grounded drama of the first act, but it transitions between the two styles seamlessly.

One of the ways Soderbergh maintains that continuity over the course of the film is through a consistent visual style. Much of his recent work, particularly disaster flick Contagion and bare-bones action movie Haywire, has been marked by a clean, efficient style that is impressive without being flashy, and Side Effects continues that trend. Soderbergh packs information into every shot, because he is confident the audience will be able to keep up. Conversations frequently begin while the camera is still showing the establishing shot of the building, and once locations have been introduced Soderbergh moves between them without feeling the need to reestablish them.

As the film progresses and the plot begins to move in stranger directions, the visual style stays constant, helping to create a mood of discomfort.

Of course, Soderbergh is experienced enough to also know how to work well with his actors, and Side Effects does an excellent job of showcasing its cast, particularly Rooney Mara’s performance. Mara’s breakout role was as the lead in the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and while that was an impressive performance, it was also a deliberately bizarre character. Here, Mara plays a comparatively normal woman, and she excels in the role. In the early scenes, as she attempts to hide her depression from those around her,

Mara manages to show her character’s inner turmoil while also putting on a brave face for the rest of the world.

And as the plot progresses, Mara is given some of the largest challenges, and she is fully up to the task.

Soderbergh shoots the film adeptly to capture the cast’s performances. In particular, there are a number of close-up shots of characters as they learn new information, and in each instance the actors are able to simultaneously display shock at the news, and also quickly interpret what that information means for them. Jude Law gives a performance that at first seems restrained, but eventually gives way to a much more complex character. It takes a while for the film to allow him to do too much, but his subtle work in the first third of the movie help to ground his character’s later actions.

Channing Tatum continues his streak of being surprisingly good, perhaps to the point where I should stop being surprised, and Catherine Zeta-Jones appears in a secondary role that still manages to give her an interesting character to work with.

It is somewhat rare for movies today to be truly surprising, when every film has to release three or four trailers to generate excitement, but Side Effects manages to be innovative without resorting to a cheap twist ending.

Even if you have seen every trailer for this film, you will walk out of the theater having seen something different than what you expected.

The film accomplishes this by not simply relying on the beats of the plot to be shocking, but by conveying them to the audience in a novel way. It’s fitting that Soderbergh ends his own career full of surprising choices and detours with a thriller that confounds expectations constantly. Soderbergh’s voice will be missed in the coming years, but Side Effects is an impressive note to go out on.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

come up with content, their comedic techniques manifest diversity. “I’m not very good at writing one-liner jokes (but Sal is!),” she explained. “But I think that shows how our group fosters different styles of stand-up.” And although, writing stand-up is generally a very personal process, the members of Indecent Exposure utilize their group nature to fine-tune their individual material.

“With stand-up, we all write sets on our own, but we get together to workshop them,” Hollinger wrote. “It’s great to have that many people to listen to your set and give you input on how it can be improved.”

Although their upcoming show only showcases Indecent Exposure’s stand-up, it is only part of what they do; sketches are just as integral. Writing sketch material allows them to create comedy in more of a cooperative manner. “Sketch writing is a little more collaborative, in that often two or three of us will work on a sketch together, but the group workshop is basically the same as with stand-up,” Hollinger said.

And for this reason it’s important the group has chemistry. It is even a determining factor in their selection process of new members.

“When we’re looking to add new members, we really do take into account how that person would fit in with the group,” Hollinger wrote.

“We want every member to have her own flair, but we also need to have that ease and comfort in working together.”

Performing is very much engrained in the lives of the members of Indecent Exposure, acting asan outlet for their particular brands of creativity.

For a senior like Hollinger, comedy has become an integral part of her life, and she will build upon her experiences even after she leaves. “I can’t imagine not performing standup after graduation,” she said. “Wherever I end up, I know that I want to continue to write and perform.”

Hudson Valley

Arts

East Fishkill Community Library

Through Feb. 28 348 Route 376, Hopewell Junction, NY Feed those photographic urges and come to the East Fishkill Community Library to see wildlife photos by Stephanie LaRose and storm photos by Dave Lewison. Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-5 p.m Dutchess Community College

Through March 8 53 Pendell Road, Poughkeepsie Come check out paintings by artist Sadee Brathwaite in an exhibition entitled “Cosmic Daughters Sacred Grandmothers.” Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 10 a.m.9 p.m.; Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m Wells Fargo Advisors

Through April 22 6423 Montgomery St, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 Offering an exhibition entitled “Tranquility,” there will be art ranging from photographs and paintings to mixed media. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Barret Art Center

Through March 2 55 Noxon St., Poughkeepsie, NY This local gem is currenty displaying a group show, entitled “A Celebration of Color,” that features the work of 56 regional artists. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat., by appointment

ARTS

Page 16

February 21, 2013

The Brooklyn Museum: a dynamic alternative to the Met Zoe Dostal Columnist

W

hen visiting New York City, it’s easy to get caught up in Museum Mile—the Met, MoMa, Guggenheim, Whitney, Frick, so on and so forth. Other gems in Manhattan might catch the eye and tickle the fancy, especially if they are easily accessible from Grand Central. But the unsung hero of the New York art scene is hiding in Crown Heights: The Brooklyn Museum of Art. The breadth and depth of objects at the Brooklyn Museum is best compared to the Met. Boasting strong departments of both Western and non-Western holdings, it best known for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art and the Egyptian collection. But all five floors are laden with artistic and cultural wonders from across temporal and geographical boundaries, including Visible Storage and numerous temporary exhibits that amaze and inspire.

The Brooklyn Museum is fairly easy to access from the subway, and let’s be real—almost all of your NYC friends live in Brooklyn anyway. In all likelihood, they haven’t been to the Brooklyn Museum either, (mine certainly haven’t), so you can enjoy the outing together.

You’ll know when you are there because the neo-classical architecture is quite impressive with enormous ionic columns and a relatively new glass pavilion that ushers you into a truly lovely lobby.

Now if we are comparing this experience to the Met, the most immediate and noticeable difference is the significantly thinner crowd.

Unfortunately for the museum, a general lack of advertising, its location in Brooklyn and I’m sure a myriad of other factors have led to a dwindling number of visitors.

Fortunately for you, this means lots of breathing room wherever you go. There is

nothing worse than trying to contemplate a Monet while surrounded by screaming children, obnoxious tour guides, babbling tourists and apathetic teenagers. In Brooklyn, this is (mostly) avoidable, making the whole experience much more pleasant.

The first few times that I visited, I must admit that only one department caught my attention.

The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is absolutely extraordinary. Objects from the permanent collection and temporary exhibits are certainly interesting and well worth your time, but the real showstopper is “The Dinner Party” by Judy Chicago.

If you could only see one piece of art in your entire life, arguably this should be it. In many ways, words fail to express the sheer grandeur and components and emotional response that I have to this piece—yet I will try my best.

Chicago created this piece in the 1970s with the help of hundreds of volunteers. It has three major components: an entrance lined with banners, the Dinner Party itself, and Heritage Panels at the end that give more historical information. The Dinner Party is an enormous triangular setting for a banquet for some of the greatest female minds in human history.

Thirty-nine women from pre-history goddesses to Georgia O’Keeffe are chronologically represented. Each place setting includes a ceramic vagina plate and an embroidered table runner, showcasing the artisanal talents of female potters and embroiders throughout the ages. Below the tables is the Heritage Floor, with the names of 999 women inscribed on hand-made tiles.

If this all sounds like a bit much, then you’d be right. The experience is completely overwhelming, and I haven’t even begun to describe all of the layers and symbolism that is covered by the audio guide. But it is overwhelming in all

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of the right ways. This artwork punches you in the gut, and challenges mind, body and soul in a way that is rare. It is controversial, emotional, transporting, degrading, uplifting and inspirational—and those are just the first few adjectives that fly off the top of my head. If nothing else, it is a well-spent 30 minutes that will remain with you for the rest of your life—and that’s a promise.

“There is nothing worse than trying to contemplate a Monet while surrounded by screaming children.”

Zoe Dostal ’13 Presuming you have any energy after you leave the Sackler wing, visiting any other department would be a good bet. As I mentioned before, the Egyptian holdings are particularly strong. In fact, when referring to Egyptian collections, the Brooklyn Museum is always mentioned in the same breath as the Met, British Museum and Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy. The well-known “Bird Lady” is an exceptionally stunning piece, a rather odd statue amalgamation of a woman and bird from pre-dynastic Egypt, likely fabricated to invoke a goddess of fertility. A number of such prime pieces belong to the museum due to their extensive excavations in Egypt in the early 20th century and fortuitous donations from Egyptologists throughout the decades. If nothing else, the “Mummy

Chamber” sounds awesome.

During my most recent visit, I was whisked through the American and European Painting collections, and they are high on my priority list when I return. Yet I am always sidetracked by one or more of the temporary exhibits, which are constantly in flux.

The Brooklyn Museum is all about bringing in contemporary artists (especially locals) to both enliven their permanent collection and boost the artistic community. A recent example was “Playing House”, in which four female artists were asked to create site-specific installations in period rooms, an exhibit which I found to be unconventional and innovative. Currently on-tap is “Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui”, which features 12 of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist El Anatsui’s monumental metal and wood works.

Like the Met, the Brooklyn Museum’s admission is “suggested”, meaning that you are totally off the hook and can enjoy all of this for free.

That being said, they could probably really use the suggested $8 fee. I recall a story someone once told me when I asked about the history of the museum. They told me that at one point, it was recommended that the collections be acquired by the Met, but the Brooklyn Museum insisted on remaining autonomous as a center of history and culture for the borough of Brooklyn.

This story is reminiscent of Yale’s 1967 attempt to acquire Vassar, and our vital decision to hold our own. I feel that Vassar and the Brooklyn Museum are sisters of a sort, and we should therefore support each other’s independence. So if the treasures I’ve described aren’t enough to encourage you to drop by, I am calling on your moral obligations to visit the Brooklyn Museum on your next cultural voyage to the Big Apple.

Scholarship reveals stories of Newark’s queer populace ARCHIVE continued from page 1

expand on its goals. “The event made me more aware of the difficulties particular to documenting histories of queer sexuality and gender non-conformity. It made me wish that we’d been able to initiate some kind of oral history project in conjunction with the conference,” Perez wrotein an emailed statement.

By inviting Moore to speak at Vassar, Perez hopes to engage the campus in a discussion about the visibility of queer experiences in both a curricular and community level. As a scholar who has worked at Yale and NYU, a writer and editor at several news sources including The Feminist Wire and Huffington Post Gay Voices, and a community activist, Moore approaches his work in a varied way. Moore focuses on black Christian, feminist and queer thought and advocacy, with an emphasis on voices from Newark, N.J. For Perez, Moore’s work ought to influence Vassar’s own approach to fighting these issues. “It occurred to me that learning more about Darnell’s work in Newark could help us at Vassar begin to think about creating our own queer oral history project.

His work in Newark models a community-engaged scholarship that Vassar might also adapt to the benefit of both the college and Poughkeepsie,” he explained.

Perez is referencing the Queer Newark Oral History Project, of which Moore is a co-chair.

Seeing the lack of documentation of queer voices, Moore works with this program to collect voices from the Newark queer community.

“The idea is to ensure that there is an accessible space for these narratives to be collected. It is a response to the Newark Queer community’s desire for their voices to be heard—their lives captured,” he said in an interview with the Rutgers University Center for Race and Ethnicity.

According to its website, the project reaches out to and interviews a wide range of LGBTQ voices in Newark and archives them digitally and in a local archival facility. In addition, it collaborates with other political, educational and religious organizations, and mentors LGBT youth to help empower them to go on to higher education and career opportunities.

Moore is motivated by his own experienc-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

es, and how they relate to the larger institutions of oppression. He views his identity as multi-faceted, interacting with privilege and oppression in intersecting ways. “I am a black gay able-bodied masculine man from the city of Camden, New Jersey, which means that my experience in the world is impacted by structural oppressions like racism, heterosexism, and class elitism. But I am also aware of the ways that my maleness, masculine gender expression, and able-bodiedness provides me with certain privileges,” he explained in an emailed statement. Moore’s complex views on sexuality are also related to his connection to religion and theology. Before his involvement in activism, Moore trained to be a minister. However, fed up with the discrimination he encountered in this context, he found that his focus while preaching began to shift away from solely theology into social justice.

Moore is coming at an appropriate time, as he arrives the day before the Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest Vassar’s strong support of the LGBT community. The director of the LGBTQ center and the Women’s center on campus Judy Jarvis expressed her hope that Moore’s message and that of Do Something VC, the group organizing Vassar’s response to the Church, can be seen in conjunction.

“Do Something VC plans to incorporate education and teach-ins about faith and sexuality. I hope this is something that is included on the schedule. Anytime we’re talking about oppression and suppression, it fits into Westboro Baptist Church rhetoric,” she explained.

Moore applauded Vassar’s efforts to combat the Church. “I think that Vassar students have demonstrated how we can shift the focus off of hate groups and on platforms that really matter,” he said. Moore’s reception at Vassar will take place during Perez’s class time, though it is open to the entire campus. Perez reached out to Jarvis to coordinate and publicize the series on a campus-wide scale. Jarvis is incredibly enthusiastic about the potential for Moore’s visit to direct discourse on LGBTQ issues at Vassar.

“It’s a chance for LGBT and its allies to come together and learn about our joint history and our ancestors,” she said.

ARTS

February 21, 2013

Page 17

mbv delivers its trademark shoegaze bliss Harrison Kesner Guest Columnist

T

he best way of listening to an album is outside the confines of time and expectation, shutting out worldly influences that get in the way of experiencing the music in a pure state. This method will prove a difficult endeavor for even my bloody valentine’s (mbv) [sic] most ardent fans, as a proper full-length hasn’t surfaced from this seminal shoegaze band for over 22 years (however, it has been promised and has oh-so-painfully disappeared from release schedules several times in that period).

Needless to say, when it finally did appear online and become available for order, a 90s explosion began. mbv trended on Twitter, their website crashed and listening parties were held all over the globe with many live posts made declaring a state of disbelief that people were actually listening to the follow-up to Loveless, one of the defining albums of 1990’s indie art-rock.

I investigated this social explosion of euphoria and hysteria only after I had listened to the album in a 1.5 GB WAV file three times through; I had to get a handle on what was on the record, first and foremost, before I could let other perceptions distort even further what would almost surely be a lovely, cloudy haze of guitars, pulsing backbeats buried in the mix, and soft boy-girl vocals cooing airily above it all.

I ended up getting exactly this sort of sound, packaged with a bunch of incredible suprises as well. mbv begins with “she found now,” a song that instantly brings back the pink fog of that instantly recognizable 1991 album cover. It sounds like a direct sequel to “sometimes,” that lovely drone of a love song that you’ve probably heard in the film Lost in Translation.

Languid guitars and frontman Kevin Shields’s hypnagogic vocals immediately plants the listener back in my bloody valentine’s signature soundscape, comforting him with the knowledge that this isn’t going to be the jungle album catastrophe many people feared after reading Shields’s interviews circa 2007. “only tomorrow” follows with a biting guitar tone and Bilinda Butcher’s trademark ephemeral vocals. Wonderfully weird

Campus Canvas

pitch-climbing screeches of singing and guitar intertwine throughout the song. “who sees you” rounds out the first third of the album with Shields asking “Who do you choose?” serenading amidst grinding guitars about a love lost, or a love regained.

It’s ferocious and soothing at the same time, a quality that has made Kevin Shields’s production skills highly sought after and rarely matched by any other sound technician in the genre. “is this and yes” marks a stark turn; guitars are replaced entirely by siren-like keyboards and synths. Butcher matches the keys with a siren voice of her own, taking her time and making her soft breaths audible within the stolid drone of the music surrounding her.

“Guitars are replaced entirely by siren-like keyboards.”

HArrison Kesner ’15 Nothing else in my bloody valentine’s library can quite be compared to this; it’s a soft shift in focus to another path the band treads with ease. The next track, “if i am,” brings the guitars back to attention, but they reappear much more softly in the mix.

Wishwashy effects resonate with very interesting chord changes that pulse back in within themselves, continually catching the listener off guard. And are those woodblocks in the background?

My Bloody Valentine has always maintained an interesting take on percussion; the majority of Loveless was recorded with electronically programmed drums buried beneath the organic guitars, but their classic dance track “soon” brought the drums to the top of the mix with a powerful and intricate live beat.

Drum and bass make another remarkable appearance on “new you,” what is easily the most single-worthy listen on the album.

Tremendously catchy without being rote or repetitive, a boomerang bassline makes it impossible not to move your hips as Bilinda

sings, “Too close/When it’s really with me/ Something comes and pins me to the sky.”

Even their catchiest numbers, echoing the sentiments of “soon,” remain impossibly vague while retaining an ethereal charm.

The final third of the album is when concepts are flipped entirely on their heads and Shields’s true levels of experimentation these past two decades really reveal themselves. “in another way” glides in with strange bagpipe/horn/synth (?) effects that blaze forth out of time and out of control; eventually, these are replaced with Shields’ hypnotically affected guitars, which end up spiraling into a heartbeat-rhythm solo that lasts throughout the last couple minutes of the track.

Those new synth tricks that Shields has picked up support the quick drum n’ bass in the background.

And here’s where it gets really interesting, a moment where Shields might actually might be trying to make a point outside the premise of pure dimensional songcraft. “nothing is” is an instrumental with nothing but jungle-rhythm drums and feedback-swathed guitar replaying the same riff over and over.

Although the rhythm section gets more and more intense volume-wise throughout the track’s three minutes, a crescendo is never reached, simply fading out once the time is up. It is quite simple and profound; the last two minutes are especially uniform, but they transfer nicely into the last mind-bender of a track. “wonder 2” is drum n’ bass music on steroids, covered in flanger-like guitar and synths like peanut butter, bristled with lockstep bass and androgynous vocals, and finally topped off with the literal sounds of helicopter and jet engines.

It’s an aggressive and brilliant end to an album that starts with the comforts of the Loveless-era mbv we know and love and gradually shifts toward an atom-bomb finale that combines genres that shouldn’t work in a startling and beautiful way.

The album succeeds in being familiar and unfailingly experimental at the same time.

Let’s hope the EP slated for release this year is… actually slated for release this year; I look forward to seeing where this new hybrid sound takes them. It’s good to have the world at large gazing at its shoes again.

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

Excuse me, What are you reading today?

“Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.” —Chris Farrell‘16

“Omnivore’s Dilemma

by Michael Pollan.”

—Sarah King ‘116

“Ulysses by James Joyce.”

—Rob Leinheiser ‘16

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“Now Dig This: Los Angeles Black Arts Movement.”

—Cebe Loomis ‘13

“Another Roadside Attraction

by Tom Robbins.”

—Julianne Johnson ‘16

“The Art Forger”

—Margot Mayer ‘16

I

took this photo at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) when I was abroad last semester. I continue to revisit this photograph as a representation of the university because of the prominence of the political poster on the wall. UBA is a highly political university and “la Juntada” was the party in power while I was there. All available wall space was covered in brightly painted

posters such as these that encourage students to rise to action to demand social justice and more government funding. It was impossible to enter or leave the building without a handful of pamphlets about Che Guevara, reforming the sociology department, or a university-wide strike that was happening next week.

The university buildings themselves were

a little run down because the institution is funded by the government, but I enjoyed everything about my experience and grew to love and appreciate the buildings as well. Above all, I like to think that this photo demonstrates how I saw UBA—a place open to personal growth and continual inspiration.

—Emily Whicheloe ’14

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Steven Williams, Arts Editor Jack Owen, Arts Editor Jiajing Sun, Asst. Photo Editor

SPORTS

Page 18

February 21, 2013

Men’s basketball winds down after a season of injuries Christian La Du Guest rePorter

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courtesy of VC Athletics

assar men’s basketball season came to an end this past weekend—a year full of injuries and player growth and, despite a 7-18 finish, a year that bodes well for the future of the team. This season saw many younger players making significant contributions to the team’s overall performance.

Injuries were particularly devastating to Vassar’s crop of big men, which had been one of the team’s strengths going into the season. 6’8” center junior Lucas Wager missed 12 out of 16 conference games with his season-ending ankle injury; 6’5 power forward sophomore Luka Ladan suffered a season-ending concussion during intersession practices forcing him to miss all league competitions; starting forward sophomore Alex Snyder missed two games to a concussion; and forward junior John Donnelly missed several games due to leg injuries.

Additionally, senior captain, guard Jon Herzog missed 14 games with a torn labrum, and though he did return for the last four games of the season, was essentially playing one handed, while his co-captain junior Evan Carberry played limited all year with tendonitis.

Despite the shorthanded roster, the season still had many positives, such as the emergence of sophomore guard Curtis Smith, who went from playing 114 minutes all of the 2011-2012 season to leading the team in minutes this year with 673, and leading the team in 3pt% (48) and steals (31), while largely operating as the team’s primary ball handler. “Curt was definitely underutilized last season because it was hard for him to get minutes behind a senior point guard,” said fellow sophomore guard Andrew Adkins. “He made huge improvements in his game this past offseason and his confidence on the court increased as the year went on and it was special to watch.”

Freshman point guard Erickson Wasyl and freshman shooting guard Nick Johnson took advantage of the minutes made available to

them by injuries and made strong contributions, with Wasyl shooting 44% from three, and Johnson, at 6’4”, contributing helpful minutes by adjusting and playing as a big. Snyder shared, “Erickson proved time and time again that he can score, and he came up clutch in several games. Nick came into the season as a two and due to injuries had to start at the 4 and did a great job stretching the floor offensively.”

Alex Snyder built off ofhis All-Rookie freshman campaign to dominate the Liberty League on the glass, leading the league in offensive, defensive, and overall rebounds, while being a central hub of the Vassar offense. He lead the team in total rebounds, points, and assists, averaging 11.1 ppg, 10.4 rpg, and 2.4 apg. His offensive game was both clinical and opportunistic, using his sizeable frame and technical footwork to create good shots while also persistently attacking the glass and scoring off of offensive rebounds. Adkins praised his classmate, saying, “Having Al down low is a luxury for the team because you know what you’re going to get from him every night he steps on the court.“ After a year away from the team, junior John Donnelly returned, bringing back his relentless attack on offense. He led the team in ppg at 11.4, most of which occurred when he put the ball on the floor and challenged his defender off the dribble, often forcing his defender to commit a foul to stop him. He had the team’s season high in points, dropping 27 against RPI. Junior Sam Rappaport also had one of the most impressive shooting performances in Vassar history, going 7-7 from beyond the 3 against Sarah Lawrence.

“We have a lot of very good players on this team and anyone can go off on any given night.

Eight different guys led the team in scoring for at least one game, which says a lot about our balance, depth, and teamwork,” stated Herzog.

The strength of this team, however, was its defense, an aspect that is determined by effort and communication.

Adkins, one of the team’s most dogged defenders, noted, “[w]e were definitely one of

Curtis Smith ‘15 drives past defenders to the basket in a recent match against Skidmore College. He has led the Brewers in scoring in six games this season, which ended last weekend with a 7-18 record. the top defensive teams in the league this past season, which was far superior to our offense ...However, we took steps in the right direction because holding teams in the 50’s and low 60’s is right where you need to be to win games.”

Vassar’s teamwide effort forced its opponents to shoot only 42% from the floor, good for 3rd in the Liberty League, and it played intelligent defense, holding its opponents to 29% from three point range, a mark that was top in the league.

The team will miss its senior, Jon Herzog, as Snyder explained, “I am very sad to be losing Zog. Not only because I think he is a great guy, and always fun to be around, but because he bring a calmness and steadiness to the game.

In a season full of ups and downs Zog always seemed level headed. His composure and abili-

ty to always hit a big shot will be missed on the court. Off the court he will be missed as a great guy and a good friend.”

Snyder summarized, “I think the biggest positive we can take is even though we had a ton of injuries, and are a relatively young team, we were in every game, excluding a few. I know that I speak for the whole team when I say that there a few games we know we should have won and just let slip, we also showed great promise in the few games we did win. Winning takes a certain mindset that I feel our team is working towards. I just hope that everyone is able to come back healthy because I honestly believe that we are going to be very successful for the next couple years, and am just upset that we could not have sent out our lone senior on a better season.“

This week in VC Athletics: Brewers faced tough rivals Meaghan Hughes sPorts eDitor

Men’s Tennis

This weekend the men’s tennis team confronted two nationally ranked schools: number 12 North Carolina Wesleyan College and number 17 Case Western Reserve University.

On Saturday’s match against North Carolina, the Brewers fell 2-7. The only wins of the day came from freshman Daniel Cooper in singles and his doubles match with teammate senior Nick Jasso. The next day’s competition against Case Western proved more difficult, as the team finished with a 0-9 loss. This puts the team’s record at 3-4 as they prepare for their next match at Vassar, against Skidmore College on Saturday, February 23.

Women’s Squash

The women’s squash team faced some tough competition in the W. Howe Cup Team Championships this weekend. After falling 2-7 to William Smith on Friday, the team was blanked by Georgetown University 0-9. Despite the losses, several individuals had noteworthy sets. Seniors Libby Pei and Jill Levine won their first two sets against Georgetown, and both sophomore Alexandra Bowditch and senior Nancy Zhang won their matches against William Smith. This brings and end to the squash season, though Pei in the number one spot will compete in the CSA Division III Championships that have yet to be scheduled.

Men’s Volleyball

On Friday, February 15, the men’s volleyball team was victorious over Hunter College, blanking their opponents 3-0. The score was tied only twice in the entire match as Vassar dominated most of the sompetition. The first set was the most competitive, with two kills from senior Matt Elgin and a Hunter miscue helping the Brewers to finish out the set. Strong Vassar offense kept them ahead in the second and third sets. Senior Patrick

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Donohue’s kill in the final set gave the team the lead, and junior Joe Pyne’s ten kills led to a neat finish. The next match for the team will be against NYU on February 21.

Women’s Basketball

In the last decisive game of the regular season on Saturday, February 16, the women’s basketball team defeated Union College 74-58 to claim the regular season number one Liberty League seed. Junior guard Cydni Matsuoka was the top scorer of the game. Her 23 total points prevented Union from a comeback throughout the game. The score was tied early in the competition, but once the Brewers took the lead at the 15:33 mark of the first half, they stayed ahead for the rest of the game. Union did begin to close the gap several times, but efforts by sophomore forward Colleen O’Connell and Matsuoka helped Vassar to regain dominance. Both O’Connell and Matsuoka, as well as sophomore guard Nyah Berg and junior guard Hannah Senftleber, had scores in the double digits. This win put the Brewers in the number one seed, thus procuring home court advantage in the Liberty League semifinals.

Men’s Baketball

Saturday’s 93-60 loss to Union College marks the end of the men’s basketball season.

Early on in the game, freshman forward Nick Johnson’s three-pointer tied the score. Union’s subsequent 17-5 run brought them ahead and they never fell behind for the rest of the competition. However Vassar’s offense appeared to be making a comeback after halftime, making five three-pointers and going 10-12 in free throws. Sophomore guard Jon Safir and freshman guard Erickson Wasyl were perfect from the free throw line. Sophomor forward Alex Snyder led the team in total rebounds for the game and a team high eleven points per game.

The Brewers’ season ended with a 7-18 record overall and 3-13 record in the Liberty League.

February 21, 2013

SPORTS

Page 19

A basketball player’s guide to bulking up Luka Ladan Columnist

I

’ve been around the sport of basketball my whole life—playing it, watching it, showing little kids how to play. And as a sophomore in college, my unconditional love of the game has only blossomed and solidified in form.Basketball comes naturally to me, and it’s translated into a love for other sports as well. I can easily comprehend the trials and tribulations of the typical athlete, who seeks out opportunities to push the limits and improve, improve, improve – and such improvement arrives in various forms. It’s not just skill-oriented.

The game reeled me in around the turn of the century, back when I was still learning how to read, write, and tie my shoes; I was instantly drawn to the Los Angeles Lakers of the early 2000’s, which featured Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and the likes of Derek Fisher, Samaki Walker, and Mark Madsen.

The stars were exceedingly bright and the final product, supervised by the legendary Phil Jackson, simply jumped out at you.

As a child growing up in Boston, Massachusetts, I couldn’t comprehend how a man as massive as Shaq could combine so many attributes all at once—grace, athleticism, power, touch around the basket, and lightness of foot—and dominate some of the world’s best athletes with such remarkable ease. I was exposed to the highest level of athletic performance at an age ripe for idolizing, copying, and imitating those on television. (With regard to my allegiances, I was obviously rather conflicted and represented an outlier of sorts in the confines of sportscrazed Boston).

I understand when a basketball player—or any athlete, for that matter—decides to gain a bit of weight in order to improve and prevail over the competition. Sometimes, that extra ten pounds of muscle can prove to be the difference between converting a contested layup and failing to score altogether.

Assuming that the add-on is “good weight,” of course, and not just the byproduct of extra hours spent in the kitchen, bulking up your frame can make you tougher to defend and increase your on-court production at the same time. There have been countless examples of correlation between bulking up and improving as a basketball player; heck, even Michael Jordan–one of the most physically gifted athletes ever born–added muscle to his already chiseled frame so that he could absorb more contact and sustain his statistical output with age. Spending time in the weight room can pay great dividends.

Basketball may be one of those sports predicated upon finesse, ball skills, and ease of movement, but gaining five, ten, fifteen pounds of muscle has the potential to go a long way if the right steps are taken.

During my time associated with basketball, I have come across numerous athletes who don’t necessarily adhere to the proper protocol with regard to weight gain. They just want to lift, lift, lift. Bent rows. Incline bench press. A superset of bicep curls and tricep extensions to conclude the workout.

Lift, lift, lift. Simply going to the local gym will solve everything. After a while, that extra fifteen pounds will just come out of nowhere, and the job will be done. But, contrary to the belief of some, weight gain doesn’t just happen when you lift a lot of metal plates and spend a lot of your precious time toning in front of a dumbbell rack. It must be supplemented by caloric intake—specifically, there must be a steady flow of protein into your system after that tiring workout, so that your body can recover.

With regard to weight gain, the “I’ll just lift and lift and lift” mantra only works if it’s supported by a commitment to judicious post-workout eating and time well spent in the kitchen. Again, don’t use this as an excuse to cut back on workouts and eat that extra piece of cake instead. The combination of lifting weights and loading up on protein

ultimately leads to added bulk—these are the two major steps in the process, so skipping one of them won’t get you anywhere.

If you participate in an intense morning workout only to hold off on eating until the afternoon, then don’t expect to reach your desired weight and accomplish your goals.

Choosing to lift must be followed by the choice to replenish your system with some much-needed protein.

If you’re opposed to protein shakes— which is the case for some athletes, who still fear the ingredients in some of those mysterious protein tubs on the market–then go with peanut butter instead, or some grilled chicken and a CLIF Bar. There are many adequate sources of protein out there, so the supply of post-workout calories really shouldn’t be a major problem if you’re actually committed to bulking up.

Gaining “good weight” obviously implies lifting weights, doing pushups, and the like.

Refusing to step foot in a gym and getting stronger just don’t go hand in hand, and adding muscle will require hard work, dedication, and sacrifice—all of the overused clichés that you could possibly imagine. But, exercising must work in sync with eating.

The pounds indicated on those metal plates in the gym are to be complemented by calories on a plate, particularly sufficient doses of protein needed to replenish, refuel, and strengthen the human body. Weight gain is tied to the protein consumed after a workout, and that’s been proven over and over again.

Don’t make the mistake of skipping a step—either out of laziness or lack of knowledge—and turning exercising into an exclusive venture, unaccompanied by a post-workout meal. I’ve seen too many athletes fall into the trap of turning down meals when they are most needed and crucially important. If you want to put on some weight, make sure that you do your homework. Work out and eat to reach your target weight!

Ten years later, Jordan’s legacy thrives Zach Rippe Columnist

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ichael Jordan is the greatest basketball player in NBA history. This past Sunday, the game’s greatest hero turned the magical age of 50. To anyone who watched or read anything about the NBA over the past week, this is no surprise. Jordan was everywhere.

When I processed this month’s issue of Sports Illustrated last week, he took over the entire issue. Michael Jordan was, is, and always will be bigger than the game.

Now the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, it has been said that Michael can still produce in the league today. Sadly, there will be no official comeback, as he just recently picked up his AARP card. But aside from still being able to torch players with his deadly midrange jump shot, MJ proves to be one of the most respected basketball minds in the world.

His opinions about teams and players today are often publicized and debated, sparking separate debates on who is the best in the game. This weekend Jordan made headlines by calling out Lebron James, saying he was “predictable” and that he’d take an aging Kobe Bryant over him to start a team any day. There have been many comparisons of other NBA players to Michael Jordan, some dating back to over a decade ago, yet most fell flat. Even today with some pretty impressive stars, does anyone surpass the Jordan Legacy?

Back in the late 1990’s, former University of North Carolina star Jerry Stackhouse proclaimed himself the next Michael Jordan.

Hailing from University of North Carolina, the “prolific” scorer claimed that he would one day be better than MJ, citing his victory over Jordan in one on one at a University of North Carolina Tarheels camp. Jordan responded the next year with his 72-10 Chicago Bulls by scoring 48 points in three quarters and winning the game by 27 points. Stackhouse did share an alma mater with Michael,

yet his high-scoring years were short-lived and he never amounted to nearly the leader or the championship manufacturer that Jordan was over ten years ago.

A few years later, the Toronto Raptors drafted another talented UNC rookie. Vince Carter was known for his high-flying dramatic dunks and explosive scoring capabilities. He wasn’t “Air Jordan” but “Air Canada” and his feats were considered “half-man, half-amazing”. Carter had a few successful years in Toronto and was able to revitalize his career in New Jersey (where he became my favorite athlete of all time), yet he never possessed the drive and determination that propelled Jordan to years of success.

Being too young to witness or appreciate him in his prime, I speak about the legend that is Michael Jordan strictly from articles, Youtube clips, and the hilariously underrated masterpiece that is Space Jam. As a young child who neither knew nor cared about the sport of basketball, I knew exactly who Michael Jordan was. To me, he was basketball. He was the icon that defined not only the NBA, but the sport in its entirety. From commercials to the movies, he was everywhere. Even my German grandmother, who probably did not even know what basketball was, knew Michael Jordan. He was not just that all-star player whose name you may have heard. He was the name that defined an entire generation of basketball. Think Tiger Woods but bigger.

Jordan’s career was like a soap opera. First he struggled for success despite his almost unreal stats. Then he achieved his Holy Grail, an NBA championship. Then came the sheer domination of the Chicago Bulls, followed by the tragic death of his father. Jordan quit, yet returned much like Superman who rose from the grave after being killed

by Doomsday, and promptly won another three championships. He flat out dominated the NBA to the point where it was his league year after year.

Think of today’s game. There are three or

four superstars who compete for supremacy.

Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and now Kevin Durant and maybe Carmelo Anthony on a good day, there is debate on who the best scorer is, the best leader, the best team player etc. In Jordan’s day, there was no debate.

He was on his own tier. During those magical six years in the 1990s no one else stood a chance. That fact alone shows not only his domination, but a historical legacy that will forever live on.

Kobe Bryant and Lebron James have been getting comparisons to Michael Jordan for years now. But will they ever be considered better than the man who redefined basketball? Not a chance. When Michael Jordan called out LeBron and praised Kobe, there was debate from multiple sources. But let’s look at the facts based on the careers both have had. Obviously Bryant is older and much more accomplished. He has won five championships to James’ one, yet he has had many years to do so. Jordan, however, has won 6 and at the rate the Los Angeles Lakers are going this year, it looks as if Bryant might not catch him. Lebron has already won two more MVP awards than Kobe (three to one), yet Jordan won five. Jordan was also the Finals MVP for all six of the championships he won.

While Kobe may be the more established player now, Lebron is clearly the more dominant physical specimen. He still has six years until he has played as many seasons as Michael (15), yet it will be hard to amass five championships in that amount of time.

Again while Lebron and Kobe are big, neither are bigger than the game.

The simple fact that there is debate amongst them and other stars shows that they are not worthy. Jordan needed no debate. He was the greatest. He won six NBA championships in his last full six seasons on the Chicago Bulls. He went out on top and will continue to be on top. Jordan revolutionized the game and his legacy is one that will stand alone as the greatest of all time.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

PED use in NBA hints at corruption Eli J. Vargas I Columnist

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ecently, Hedo Turkoglu of the Orlando Magic has become one of the handful of players in the last five years to test positive for steroids in the NBA. Although this group is an extreme minority in the NBA, it may be a misleading amount, underlined by a possibly larger scale of performance enhancing drug (PEDs) use in the NBA. The funny thing is that Hedo Turkoglu is not even that good. He’s only averaging 2.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game on one of the worst teams in the NBA league. So while he is off serving his joke of a twenty game suspension, it is needless to say that he won’t be missed much by his team. His explanation was simply that his doctor in Turkey prescribed him some drugs while he was recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. And he is indeed sticking to this point.

But what I cannot get past is the fact that he is a professional athlete, who undergoes routine tests for PEDs, so why would he not ask his doctor what he was taking, knowing full well that he would be tested for drugs? How can he go confident into tests, knowing that he has recently taken drugs about which he has no clue?

Plus what kind of person takes drugs from doctors without at least googling what they are all about, at least to see the side effects and be cautious? You would think that a professional athlete, who must perform at such a high level day in and day out, would be extremely conscious of their diet and what goes into their body to maximize their health and performance.

I’m not buying this excuse whatsoever, especially after just finding out about how it was so easy for Lance Armstrong to lie to the world and get away with this drug use.

So this makes me wonder, if Hedo Turkoglu, a player who hasn’t been relevant in years is taking steroids, and is still less than stellar, then what other NBA players could be using steroids? The NBA has one of the softest drug testing policies in all of major sports. It is the laughing stock of the sports testing world, with multiple books written on how to get past the drug testing. This soft testing policy is mainly due to the NBA players’ union fighting any rules that might instill a stricter testing policy, presumably so that players can take PED’s and get away with it.

And it is genius, because when we don’t hear about many players being caught juicing, we just assume that the sport is clean and has some shred of credibility. Because really why would you think that NBA players would use steroids? This is what most fans think.

With the attribute of height not being controlled by anything but genetic makeup, it seems that there isn’t much that could be gained from taking steroids.

But the more you think about it, the more it makes sense for players to juice in the NBA. This game of “finesse” is actually quite physical, especially when trying to back down an opposing player on the low post.

So obviously strength would be a possible temptation.

Additionally, the ability to jump higher and maintain peak play and endurance also seem enticing. When it comes down to it, these players are just as competitive as any other sport. Just because we don’t see them smashing helmets in acts of brute force, doesn’t mean that they are not trying to gain a competitive edge.

I don’t know if the owners and commissioner know about this, but even if they did they might ignore it because basketball is raking in the dough as it’s experiencing some of its greatest popularity ratings in league history. So what is supposed to happen when the players are fighting a stricter testing policy, and the owners and commissioner are trying to put the most entertaining spectacle on the floor for the fans?

Does the integrity of the NBA even matter at all? It all comes down to money. Think about it; Hedo Turkoglu only received a twenty game suspension for testing positive. So what would twenty games mean to a player if it means that they would gain vast amounts of money over the long run?

With a lot of these fringe players on the bubble of being cut by their teams, or veterans trying to lengthen their careers, or players trying to make up for the sheer athletic ability that their competitors have, the temptations of steroids can be great. And as long as there is money and a livelihood on the line, players will always be tempted to cheat, even if it goes against their morals, because the benefits are just too great compared to the costs.

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February 21, 2013

Men’s volleyball welcomes new head coach, Robert Wolter Amreen Bhasin rePorter

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Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News

his past weekend the Vassar College men’s volleyball team competed in the second of two United Volleyball Conference Crossover weekends. The number 12 nationally ranked men’s team improved to 6-3 on the season with a four game winning streak. Last week, senior libero Christian La Du managed to become the school’s all time leader in digs with 1001 and Senior Matt Elgin ’13 was just named the UVC player of the week for his performance.

A major transition this season is that this is the team’s first year with both a new head and assistant coach.Coach Robert Wolter began his first season with the men’s volleyball team this year as the 11th coach in program history. He took over from Jonathan Penn who previously coached both the men’s and women’s teams, but who now coaches the women’s team exclusively.

Wolter first worked at Wisconsin-Parkside and the Division II South Dakota State University. He was the Junior Olympic Head Volleyball Coach in Milwaukee, has directed the Southwest Elite Volleyball Club and has held various high school coaching positions.

Most recently, Wolter spent the past three seasons at Carthage College. He was a part of a coaching staff that boasts two American Volleyball Coaches Association Second Team All-Americans and the national Freshman of the year. His team, this past season, finished third in the Molten Invitational National Championships for a second straight year.

Coming to Vassar was a big decision and change for Wolter, but the school seemed the perfect fit for him. “The academic reputation that Vassar has speaks for itself and for me to be associated with that is an honor. When I was here for my interview and saw the campus I was in awe.” But beyond the campus he’s been impressed by Vassar’s facilities. “There are not many volleyball programs at any level, men or women, that have their own designat-

ed volleyball gym. Needless to say I was again, impressed and I am very grateful for the opportunity I was given.” Wolter was also drawn to a team who plays in a difficult conference. “We compete in one of the strongest conferences in the country and building this program into a contender in such a challenging conference can bring instant recognition and respect...to our program.”

Wolter is proud to be working with assistant coach Cole Tallman “His experience as a former head coach will help everyone associated with our program push one another to be the very best they can be,” he notes. “[W]e share the same values that I have instilled within the program and I have no doubt that we will work well with each other.”

So far Wolter has been able to adjust well to Vassar’s competitive schedule and the new location. “[It’s] been great. It started out rough… living 1000 miles away from my wife and son.

They stayed back so my wife could finish her teaching position and sell our home…This past summer, we packed up all our belongings and moved the whole family to Poughkeepsie, NY. Now that we are all back under one roof, I’m much happier.”

This year’s team boasts a much larger roster than other years. It has been a welcome change to the team’s dynamic. Freshman Erik Halberg has been happy with the makeup of his team so far. “We have a really big roster and a lot of depth to our team…and that has been a major factor in everyone improving so rapidly.” As a freshman, the transition from high school to collegiate athletics can be huge. “The level of play is much higher,” he notes.

But Wolter has been helpful and encouraging to Halberg and his teammates. “Coach has been really accepting of our mistakes and hasn’t penalized us for not making the correct move or not reading the play. He’s always on the sideline encouraging us and spurring us on to move quicker and to improve our play,” Halberg added.

Robert Wolter joined Vassar’s men’s volleyball team this year as the 11th Head Coach in the program’s history. Prior to Vassar, Wolter has worked at South Dakota State University and Carthage College Returners seem satisfied with the team this year as well, despite all the changes they’ve faced. Konow has been particularly pleased with the dynamic Wolter has helped create on and off the court. “We’ve had the same core for a long time now and we play well together,” he commented. “[D]espite the fact that this is our largest team it also is probably the closest and most fun team we’ve had…this year our team feels like we can and should compete with every team in the country.”

Wolter has been improving on the already nationally competitive Brewers’ skills in order to help the team reach more success and hopefully reach their goal of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. “We’ve become a more aggressive and attack oriented team. Wolter puts a lot more emphasis on getting blocks and kills

Brewskis hit the slopes in style at annual Costume Race in Vermont last weekend

courtesy of Marya Pasciuto

Vassar College Ski Team poses in costume at their latest race in Magic Mountain, Vermont. The team is entirely student-run, and veteran skiers train newcomers, all without the help of a coach.

SKI TEAM continued from page 1

had skiing experience, she confessed her lack of competitive racing.

“I haven’t skied in 10 years,” explained Pasciuto. “I really wanted to be on ski team though so I joined and then brought my mom’s skis here to race.”

According to Pascuito, she has loved her time on the team so far. “I’ve always felt welcome on the team,” she remarked. “People who have never skied before are always welcome to join the team and race with us, which I think is really cool - the emphasis is on having a good time with the team more than it’s about winning all the races.”

The team also has a few traditions for incoming members, as explained by Pascuito. “All members of the ski team get a nickname from

the current seniors/captains that they keep for the entirety of their time as VC Brewskis. The nicknames are usually pretty funny and never explained. All of the freshmen who went to Sugarbush got their nicknames there, but this weekend there were some new additions who received theirs on Saturday night.”

It was this past weekend that the Brewskis attended the annual Costume Race held up at Magic Mountain in Vermont.

“It’s an incredibly fun race that alumni are also allowed to participate in,” stated Been.

“For the costume race we wear our costumes the second day and there are prizes for the best [costume]. Last year our theme was Monsters.”

The team made their way up the long road to Vermont early Friday morning on February

15. Using cars owned by students on the team, the Brewskis got up to the resort that evening and prepared for races the next morning.

“Racing on Saturday started at 9:30,” Pascuito explained. “We had two Slalom races for a total of four runs down the race trail. I’m going to guess that around 70 to 80 people raced from different schools, so it took a pretty long time to finish that day.”

After the big races on Saturday, the team rested up for the main event to be held on Sunday, as Pascuito described. “[That] morning, we were up and on the mountain early again, but we only had one race - this time Giant Slalom, which included a pretty scary jump.

There were two runs of GS: the first was in the morning at 9:30, and the second was the costume race which took place at around noon.”

With a team theme of “Magical Brewsteeze,” which describes the team’s Brewer pride, style and magic, costumes ranged from bananas to dinosaurs to giant teddy bears. “At the end of the costume race we packed up and headed back to Vassar,” noted Pascuito. “It felt pretty cool to end the season in a banana suit.”

Sophomore Sophie Wheelock described her experience at the costume race. “The costume race is hands down my favorite race of the season,” expressed Wheelock. “There’s nothing quite like ski racing down the mountain, wearing a onesie older than you, while the racer on the course next to you blasts Thrift Shop from the boom box balanced on their shoulders.

There’s a collective camaraderie as you wait on the top of the course at the start gate.”

Rather than fighting for the glory of a win, the VC Brewskis truly just want to have a fun time and ski while simultaneously forming lifelong friendships. “I got involved with the team because a kid from my hometown was a part of it and he said it was one of the best decisions he’d made at Vassar, and I would have to agree,” expressed Been. “I’ve met some amazing people and get to do something I love at the same time!”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

than our coaches in the past have and I think this should translate to continued success on the court.”

Wolter is ready and willing to help the Brewers achieve their lofty goals this season. “I want to thank Coach Penn for his efforts in building a nationally competitive program. He has provided a strong foundation and a talented team on which to build the future of the volleyball program at Vassar College. I look forward to continuing the evolution of the tradition, culture, and competitive success of Brewer volleyball…I am excited to be a part of the Vassar College family and community…I love this team! They work hard for each other. The last thing they want to do is to let their teammate down. The dynamics are great and we are one big family.”

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