Volume CXLVI, Issue 16

The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVI | Issue 16

February 28, 2013

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Plagiarism GILLIBRAND TO GIVE 149th Basketball occupies COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS concludes gray area A rising star in national politics, Gillibrand will be the top season first US senator to speak on graduation hill Chris Gonzalez FeatuRes editoR

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Amreen Bhasin

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David Rosenkranz and Bethan Johnson

editoR-iN-CHieF aNd News editoR

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n Sunday May 26, New York State Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will deliver the 149th Commencement Address. She will be the first senator to give the keynote speech at Vassar, joining the ranks of such affluent commencement speakers as Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee and Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg.

“I am excited to hear her speak,” wrote Class of 2013 President Vincent Marchetta in an emailed statement. “I do believe that her work... [resonates] with Vassar values, and as a firm supporter of the LGBTQ community she is in that regard especially appropriate for our campus this year.”

Gillibrand began her political career as a student intern in the Albany office of Republican Senator Alfonse D’Amato. In 1991, she earned a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles; and took a short break from politics to work as a law clerk in the US Court of Appeals’ Second Circuit, and as an attorney with Davis, Polk & Wardwell.

See SENATOR on page 3

courtesy of the New York Senate

n the surface, plagiarism is the act of stealing another individual’s ideas and claiming them as as your own without properly crediting them. Sometimes this results from a miniscule mistake, such as forgetting to use quotation marks, to larger, more extreme cases in which complete texts are recycled. Still, no matter how small the error, the College feels strongly about bringing these cases to the light, and issuing the proper consequences.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Zosia Krusberg understands the stress that would push a student to cheat; however, she feels that this extends beyond the classroom.

In an emailed statement she wrote, “We find ourselves in a culture that makes tremendous allowances for financial, political, and ethical dishonesty, often to further individual success over the wellbeing of our communities. Within that context, it is unsurprising that dishonesty also permeates the realm of higher education. Our students feel tremendous pressure to get high GPAs, to get accepted to the best graduate schools, and to See PLAGIARISM on page 8

Gillibrand has quickly leapt into the national spotlight after two successful terms in the House of Representatives, and a record-breaking senatorial campaign.

RepoRteR

he Vassar College Women’s Basketball team has enjoyed incredible success over the past few years, and this one was no different. They finished this year’s season with an impressive 21-5 record and went 13-3 in Liberty League play for the 2012-2013 season. The Brewers also won the regular season Liberty League title this year, an honor that has eluded them for some time despite winning the Liberty League Championship for the past two years. They began this year’s tournament with a bye for the first round and hosted the tournament semifinals against William Smith. The Brewer women were given the number one seed in the tournament before their historic season ended with a disappointing 69-58 loss to No. Four seeded William Smith.

This season was historic in many ways for the Brewers. While they were not able to cap off the season with an NCAA berth and Liberty League Championship, they still had the best regular season record in program history as well as the best in the conference.

The women’s basketball team See WOMEN’S B-BALL on page 18

NSO’s NonCon brings VRDT to grace historic Bardavon nerd culture to College The thirteenth annual convention broke attendance records Eloy Bleifuss Prados and Anna Iovine

Inside this issue

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FEATURES

Did you know that Scrabble was invented in Poughkeepsie?

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courtesy of Rachel Garbade

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RepoRteR aNd Guest RepoRteR

ttendance at the thirteenth annual No Such Convention (NonCon) last weekend more than doubled from estimations for last year’s convention. Hosted by Vassar’s No Such Organization (NSO), a science fiction, fantasy, video game interest club, the three-day celebration of pop culture fandoms drew an estimated 500 attendees, compared to last year’s 200 in attendance.

Other areas of NonCon also witnessed expansion this year. There were over 40 hours of programming with invited speakers, artists and comedians presenting and performing on topics relating to Fandoms.

Guests and NSO members taught workshops on a diverse set of skills ranging from speculative writing on the internet and henna to belly dancing and chainmail linking. Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in video game tournaments, costume contests and Live Action Role Playing, or LARPing. These tournaments included Street Fighter versus Tekken, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Super Smash Brothers Brawl,

Halo 4 and Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom 3. Additionally, games included Pokemon Jeopardy and Fandom Deathmatch. NSO screened the films, The Gamers and Adolescence of Utena, and the Saturday morning cartoons, X-Men: Evolution.

The convention also saw a high number of table vendors in the College Center. Wrote NSO’s Cultural Attaché Zach Bodnar ’15 in an emailed statement, “All told, we had about 40 tables worth of vendors selling all sorts of geeky things; enough tables to fill both the college atrium and much of the second floor!”

According to the organizers, NSO began publicizing with a strong Web presence this year, but word-ofmouth buzz has been credited for the swelling turnout. Attendees arrived from local high schools, colleges nearby like Marist and Dutchess Community, and out of state schools like Mount Holyoke and Western Connecticut State University.

Registration for three-day passes cost $15, but college and high school students, who were the vast majority of attendants, gained free passes See NONCON on page 4

This year’s VRDT Bardavon Gala will feature guest director Brian Reeder, who has been a part of three prestigious dance companies, including the New York City Ballet, the William Forsytheís Ballet Frankfurt, and the Sacramento Ballet.

Jack Owen aRts editoR

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ntering its 31st anniversary, the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre’s (VRDT) annual Bardavon Gala will feature, as in years past, a mix of performances of works by Vassar’s highly regarded faculty, renowned guest choreographers, and students. There are two performances, one on Saturday March 2nd at 8 PM and one on Sunday March 3rd at 3 PM. In recent years, VRDT has not only performed pieces by well-

OPINIONS

Staff Editorial: campus introspection must continue post-WBC

known guest choreographers, such as Edwaard Liang, Larry Keigwin, Donald McKayle, and Miriam Mahdaviani, but has actually begun to work with these choreographers directly. Choreographers work with students on one of their original pieces, and the piece is then showcased at the Bardavon Gala.

Students will perform original pieces by Assistant Director of VRDT and Senior Lecturer in Drama Katherine Wildberger, Resident Choreographer and Chair of Dance Stephen Rooks, Faculty Choreog-

16 ARTS

rapher and Adjunct Instructor in Dance Abby Saxon, and Professor of Dance and Director of VRDT John Meehan. The company will reprise Guest Choreographer Zvi Gotheiner’s piece “Chairs” and premier a new piece by Guest Choreographer Brian Reeder, titled “Nurse.” Nine student-choreographed pieces will be performed as well.

But what sets this year’s gala apart from past years is that one of the guest choreographers, Brian Reeder, has taken on a larger role, and is See VRDT on page 14

An Art History professor with an unusual background

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The Miscellany News

February 28, 2013

Editor-in-Chief

David Rosenkranz

Contributing Editors Hannah Blume Rachael Borné Adam Buchsbaum Aashim Usgaonkar

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

miscellanynews.com Blogs Multimedia Breaking News

Miscellany Media presents

Podcasts

This week, we will launch our online podcast program for anyone with an opinion in the Vassar community. Have a thought? Make a recording and share it with us and our readers. Contact the Editor at misc@vassar.edu for more information.

First up: ‘News and Booze’ Available now on miscellanynews.com

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 28, 2013

NEWS

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Bunyi confirmed as new city administrator Leighton Suen News editoR

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courtesy of The Poughkeepsie Journal

ast Tuesday, Feb. 19, Democrat Camilo Bunyi, 62, was confirmed as the new city administrator of the City of Poughkeepsie.

Mayor John Tkazyik, a Republican, voted to confirm his appointment after the Common Council vote resulted in a tie (4-4).

“Mr. Bunyi has served our City with distinction,” wrote Tkazyik in an emailed statement. “He will be a great asset to the City, his knowledge and experience will serve the City well. He is very driven and dedicated to the taxpayers and is willing to work with them in solving any issues that arise. He is also wonderful at management and administrative tasks and will be the perfect fit for this position.”

Bunyi was understandably pleased with the result of the close vote. “Anytime that you go for confirmation before the Council or any board, there is always the unknown, the unpredictable angle that board members will come from,” said Bunyi. “I don’t question the rationale behind every board member’s decision and their vote, but I am very glad that the Mayor decided to break the tie and vote in favor of me.”

Bunyi has served as the City of Poughkeepsie’s finance commissioner since 2008; he plans to apply his past experience to his new position. “From the Finance Department, you can see all the different departments in terms of spending, its resources, its needs and assets,” noted Bunyi. “That equips you with a knowledge and background to be able to address the overall needs of the city…

When the opening arose, I had a pretty good idea of what I felt the city needed to be able to stabilize its financial resources.”

Prior to the vote, numerous city residents expressed their support of Bunyi at a council meeting in City Hall. However, the decision to confirm Bunyi’s appointment was not without contention. According to the Poughkeepsie Journal, constituents of a member of Common Council “questioned Bunyi’s performance as finance commissioner based on the recent downgrade in the city’s credit rating from A2 to Baa2 by Moody’s Investors Service” (“Bunyi gets city administrator job despite dissent,” 2.21.13).

In response to these criticisms, Bunyi points to the heavy debt load of the city as a factor in the credit rating. “The Moody’s is basically based on several things that Moody

Camilo Bunyi, pictured above, was confirmed as city administrator on Feb. 19. As he takes office, he faces criticism from members of the CSEA, a labor union for municipal workers and civil servants. determined,” explained Bunyi. “Number one, we still have a very heavy debt load–50 million dollars, which is bigger than the general operating budget of the city. That is something that really I inherited and the Mayor inherited.” Bunyi has mentioned the fact that the City administration reduced the debt from $82 million in 2008 to its current amount (The Poughkeepsie Journal). “They [Moody’s] still consider that to be a very heavy debt load, and we are continuing to work on that,” said Bunyi.

Additionally, Bunyi mentions that the city is experiencing a challenging tax base. “The only thing that will fix it is the rebound of the housing market, which is starting to come…

We have projects and developments coming up in the next few years that will solidify the tax base.”

Bunyi explains, “The city has what they call a structurally imbalanced financial situation, and what that means primarily is that the government as a whole [does budgeting] in such a way that first we address the expenditures, and the services that we want to deliver, and then we come up with the revenues. Unfortunately, then, the expenditures are continually more than the revenues.”

He continued, “For 2013, we decided to

come up with a maximum revenue [amount] that we can generate, and then, basically determine what services we can provide based on the revenue… It’s not the government way, but it’s the right way.”

Other critics include members of the Civil Service Employees Assocation (CSEA), which has accused Bunyi of having a hostile attitude toward the union. Bunyi counters that his first responsibility is to the taxpayers. “My position on addressing the health industry and retirement costs and overall labor costs is considered by some members of the labor organizations as being hostile…

The current labor groups that we have [do] not contribute as much to health insurance as the regular private industry… The retirement of a municipal worker is guaranteed. It is not a 401(k). We have to make adjustments.”

He continued, “As a city resident, I am committed to protecting the city’s taxes and the taxpayers of the city. Being the financial commissioner, I am able to see the amount of commitment that the taxpayers commit to the city to make it run. I am able to look at the whole operation of the city– look in terms of how we can be more responsible… [Taxpayers] put money into the city as an investor to make the city run.”

Gillibrand a popular choice among seniors SENATOR continued from page 1

During her time at the law firm, Gillibrand was reintroduced to politics by her connection to the Women’s Leadership Forum, a program operated by the Democratic National Committee. It was at a Women’s Leadership Forum event which featured then-First Lady Hillary Clinton that Gillibrand had her political epiphany. “She was trying to encourage us to become more active in politics,” Gillibrand told Vogue magazine in 2010, “and she said, ‘If you leave all the decision-making to others, you might not like what they do, and you will have no one but yourself to blame.’”

(Vogue, “In Hillary’s Footsteps Kirsten Gillibrand,” 10.19.2010) Gillibrand took up Clinton’s call to arms by serving as Special Counsel to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Andrew Cuomo during the final year of the Clinton administration. The future-senator then joined forces with her political idol in 1999 when she worked in Clinton’s campaign for one of New York’s US Senate seats.

In 2005, Gillibrand fully committed herself to politics by challenging Republican incumbent John Sweeney for New York’s 20th congressional district. She ran on a moderate platform to win, the 20th having elected a non-Republican only for four years since 1913.

After defeating Sweeney with 53% of the vote, Gillibrand had a successful first term and was reelected in 2008 by a 62% majority.

Just two years later, when President Obama appointed Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, then-Governor Paterson tapped Gillibrand to succeed her mentor as a senator from New

York. At 42, she was the youngest member of the 111th Congress.

Gillibrand’s most recent electoral accomplishment came just last fall when she successfully defended her senate seat, winning 60 out of 62 New York counties and 72% of the vote. This was the largest statewide margin of victory in New York’s history.

Since joining Congress, Senator Gillibrand has shifted toward a liberal platform. She was instrumental in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which banned openly gay individuals from serving in the military, and she also advocated for the James Zadroga Bill, which gave compensation and health care insurance to 9/11 first responders.

According to her website, Gillibrand’s top priorities for the 113th Congress include ending sexual violence in the military, and strengthening the rights and protections of victims of sexual assault. (http://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/about/biography, “A Voice for the People of New York.”)

Endorsed by The New York Times and ranked among “150 Women Who Shake The World” by Newsweek/The Daily Beast, Gillibrand maintains a strong relationship with the media for her political platform and her office’s transparency. In 2006, she began publishing her daily schedule and personal tax returns, which The Times called “a quite touch of revolution.” (The New York Times, “Congress and the Benefits of Sunshine,” 12.14.06) “I am delighted that Senator Gillibrand accepted our invitation to give the Commencement speech this year. Congress is dealing

with an incredibly important set of issues that will affect our country’s future, and Senator Gillibrand is playing an important role in these deliberations. I am very excited that she will be sharing her thoughts and perspectives with us this spring,” wrote Vassar President Catharine Bond Hill in an emailed statement.

Acting-President Jonathan Chenette echoed Hill’s sentiments, writing in an emailed statement that “[Gillibrand] is an important new voice in the Senate with a rising profile nationally...She has a lot to say as a public servant who is making a difference in the world.”

According to Assistant to the President and Professor Mathematics John Feroe, Gillibrand was invited to speak by the President’s office in consultation with representatives from the Class of 2013.

“One thing that Senior Class Council decided was important after reviewing the results of our class survey at the beginning of the year was that...the Commencement speaker be a woman,” wrote Marchetta, noting that a majority of this year’s speakers happen to be men, and Vassar’s history as a women’s college necessitates a strong female presence on graduation hill.

“I think that her approach to politics, her flexibility, the ways in which she truly seeks to represent diverse constituencies, her ability to successfully reach across the aisle, among other things, serve as a good model for this years graduates of how to successfully negotiate, have difficult but productive conversations, and navigate the often divided ‘real world,’” concluded Marchetta.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

News Briefs West Point in the line of fire for major budget cuts

The nation’s premier military academy faces a $92 million budget reduction on March 1, when a federal sequestration bill forcing spending reductions takes effect. In total, the sequestration bill will drop spending on a variety of programs by $85 billion. The bill was passed in 2011 to force an agreement between the executive branch and Congress on some method of slashing the deficit (Poughkeepsie Journal, “Army plans $92 million in cuts at West Point,” 2.19.13).

At West Point, the spending cut may postpone construction of a massive new barracks that would have housed 650 students, the Times Herald-Record reports (“West Points Cuts Would be $92M: Employees may go on furlough,” 2.21.13). According to an industry notice published on the Federal Business Opportunities database, the barracks has been deemed “critical to the United States Military Academy (USMA) to eliminate overcrowding” (FedBizOpps.gov,“USMA New Cadet Barracks, Industry Day,” 5.30.12). While the academy has not released a statement on exactly how the funding cut would be dealt with, the effects of sequestration on the Department of Defense as a whole are wide-ranging. Members of the House Appropriations Committee indicated that the cuts would require major layoffs of Army temporary workers, as well as a hiring freeze. Of Army permanent employees, 251,000 would be forced to take temporary unpaid furloughs.

The sequestration bill was set to take effect on Dec. 31, but agreement on one of the issues it addressed–tax cuts–by Congress and the White House pushed its deadline back.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Press Secretary James Rahm called on both parties to cooperate to avoid cuts to the academy. Rahm stated that senator was “hopeful that Democrats and Republicans can come together to develop a responsible way to cut spending and reduce our deficit that does not come at the expense of our cadets and local economy” (Times Herald-Record).

—Ben Hoffman, Guest Reporter

Horsemeat scandal calls Europe’s food regulations into question

A meat fraud scandal erupted on Feb. 7 when Britain’s Food Standards Agency discovered horse meat in frozen lasagna products labeled as 100 percent beef. According to industry research, more than 90 percent of European households occasionally buy these frozen dishes. Since then, there have been more discoveries of horse meat in products around Europe. There is no telling how long horse meat has been contaminating these dishes or how much of the horse meat has made its way into meat products being sold around the world. (The Washington Post, “Horsemeat scandal dents Europe’s culinary self-image,” 02.26.13) French authorities tracked the falsely labeled product and found a small company, called Spanghero, in Castelnaudry in Southwest France. The company bought horse meat in Romania and sold it as beef. These traders eventually sold their meat to Comigel, a large-scale processing firm. (The New York Times, “Ikea Recalls Meatballs After Detection of Horse Meat,” 02.15.13) Ikea recently joined the list of brands affected by the horse meat scandal and withdrew its Swedish meatballs from its markets. The United States is not affected. Anders Lennartsson, a spokesman for Ikea Food Services, said, “We take seriously the test result from the Czech Republic authorities, indicating presence of horse meat in one batch of our meatballs.” (The New York Times) After the mad cow disease crisis in the 1990s, there was a lot of regulation and control over the identity and origin of European animals being sold for consumption, but processed meats are rarely checked to see what species it came from. The European Union is undergoing meetings to talk about a solution to this problem.

Some solutions include an increase in DNA testing, extended food labeling requirements and simplifying the supply chain. All plausible solutions will require a serious increase in the cost of food production. (The Huffington Post, “Horsemeat Scandal Raises Concerns Over Europe’s Food Quality Control,” 02.10.13) —Emily Hoffman, Guest Reporter

NEWS

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February 28, 2013

VSA Council endorses twice-tabled divestment resolution Noble Ingram Reporter

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n Sunday, Feb. 24, the Vassar Student Assocation (VSA) passed a resolution, proposed by the Vassar College Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign in conjunction with the Vassar Greens, that supports divesting from fossil fuels. The vote was 23-1 to pass the resolution, with Vice President for Finance Alex Koren ’13 as the only dissenting vote. The resolution had undergone significant revisions after having been proposed to the VSA twice before and tabled both times.

The new resolution emphasized the symbolic nature of divestment, acknowledging that the “Council recognizes that Divestment would not have major economic impacts on the fossil fuel industries” while also describing divestment as an issue of “overriding social concern” and establishing divestment “over a reasonable time frame [that] would allow the College to avoid financial risk and loss.”

Among the Vassar Greens, the VSA’s decision has been met with optimism. Vassar Greens member Wanda Noonan ’16 emphasized the implications of this decision. “This means we have the student body’s support behind us… We’re presenting this as something Vassar students want. It’s something the whole community can get behind.”

This was echoed by Koren, who emphasized the powerful support for divestment that constituents expressed to many VSA Council members felt from their constituencies. “I know people who personally didn’t necessarily support divestment on council but they voted

for it because they had such positive feedback from their constituencies… In order to accurately represent what the student body wanted, they were going to vote yes.”

Professor of Economics Paul Ruud shared his own opinions about divestment at the VSA Council meeting Sunday. Ruud spoke in favor of divestment and called for a plan offered by the environmental action group 350.org, which describes itself on its website as “building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis.”

In reflection, Ruud stated, “What I said was, I am here to endorse the idea of divesting from 200 top carbon-reserves companies. This is a proposal that ‘350.org’ made and it’s on a site called ‘gofossilfree.org’.” Ruud continued by clarifying the details of the campaign. “The idea is very specific. It says what the 200 firms are, and it says within five years. It doesn’t say do it tomorrow.”

Divestment won’t ultimately have much of an economic impact on fossil fuel industries, but proponents believe that it will send a clear message. Vassar Greens member Erin Boss ’16 argues, “It’s not necessarily going to make an economic impact but that’s not the point. The point is to open up some conversation and to make our policy-makers aware that we are not in support of the continued extraction of non-renewable resources that are causing climate change.”

Noonan agreed with this argument, adding, “We’re seeing this as a social justice issue not just an environmental issue... Divestment is one step towards justice... The point is to send

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political ripples through the country.”

While many proponents of divestment see the VSA’s decision to pass the resolution as a victory, the process is far from over. The VSA’s decision is now factored into discussion with the Campus Investor Responsibility Committee (CIRC) who will make a recommendation to representatives of the trustees. As Koren explains, “The trustees are the ones with the actual power to divest… They have a committee called TIRC-Trustee Investor Responsibility Committee. They’ll take whatever recommendation CIRC gives them…and then they’ll come to a conclusion and decide whether they want to make a recommendation to the board to divest, whether they want to recommend the board not divest, or if they just want to not make it an issue at all.”

Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign Co-Coordinator Gabe Dunsmith ’15 expressed his hopes for the meeting with the trustees. “I hope the trustees are receptive. Realistically, I don’t expect them to jump on board immediately but I hope that they start looking into it so we can start the divestment process in May in their next meeting.”

Ruud emphasized the seriousness with which he expects the Board of Trustees to hear the Vassar Greens’ proposal. “I think the Trustees are interested in what the students have to say and they will listen to it carefully.”

Ruud did note, however, that the opinions about the campaign are by no means unanimous. “There is some controversy here. There can be a variety of views as to what the costs of divestment are.”

Koren expressed skepticism about the future of the Vassar College Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign. He discussed previous movements for divestment. “In the past looking at other issues of divestment, for example, we had Sudan and South Africa; those were very much more clear cut. With Sudan, we can clearly see genocide going on, and it wasn’t even hard to divest because there weren’t that many companies there to divest from, whereas with this divestment campaign, it’s sort of a little more nebulous.”

Koren continued, “We were late to the game on Sudan and barely even got there. We had trouble getting on board with something so simple and straightforward. I just think getting on board with divestment is going to be very difficult.”

Koren also emphasized the pervading skepticism amidst the Board of Trustees. “If the trustees get any whiff or idea that this could harm the endowment in any way especially given we’re in a financial recovery, we’re doing the huge science project, and financial aid is costing us so much money, they’re going to be very hesitant.”

The prevailing opinion about divestment among the Vassar community remains unclear-even to divestment advocates. Ruud was unsure, stating, “I really don’t know. I’m waiting to see.”

Despite the uncertainty of the Divestment Campaign’s future, Dunsmith expressed excitement and optimism about Vassar’s potential to divest from fossil fuel industries. “This is Vassar’s chance to lead the way.”

NSO brings tournaments, panels to Hudson Valley NONCON continued from page 1 at registration. Sales of passes to non-students came in at around $2,000, a big uptick from last year.

NSO began planning NonCon officially in mid-November after its annual production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show wrapped, but started booking vendors as early as September.

“Our big events are Rocky Horror and then this convention, which is in mid-November when we officially started planning this,” said Chronicler and Keeper of Logs, otherwise known as secretary, Cat Morgan ’15.

Morgan also noted that the planning of this year’s convention began earlier than in previous years. Her responsibilities when putting together NonCon included setting up vendors and guests, arranging their hotels, and gathering supplies.

She insisted that all members of NSO were involved: “It’s a big collaborative project. I’ll have a couple jobs, someone else will have a couple jobs, someone will run the video games, someone will get speakers together. We’re really collaborative.”

According to Bodnar, this was key to this NonCon’s success. Bodnar explained, “It is worth noting that it was the smoothest convention in recent history and that the group effort that went into making the convention as well as advanced planning is what made it so smooth.”

“It’s really going well,” said Michelle Lessard ‘13, a member of NSO who hosted several events during NonCon, including a cosplay—short for costume play—contest and a panel called Irrelevant Mythology. “We’ve got a lot more vendors, it’s really exciting,” Lessard noted.

One of the main speakers of the three-day event was Thomm Quackenbush, the author of the Night’s Dream series-including We Shadows, Danse Macabre, and Artificial Gods-novels that one reviewer claims blend realism with fantasy.

Quackenbush was born in Beacon, and gave three lectures: “The Legal and Moral Aspects of Fantasy Universes,” “Mythology of the Hudson Valley” and “Writing Speculative Fiction in the Internet Age.” Among NonCon’s most coveted guests were sex educator “Sex Nerd” Sandra Daugherty and comedian Dave Ross. Daugherty and Ross cohost the “Sex Nerd Sandra” podcast on iTunes and Nerdist.com where each week they

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

delve into different aspects of human sexuality.

During NonCon, Ross and Daugherty recorded two podcasts for their show: “Hot, Smart Sex” on Friday and “Dorm Room Deeds” on Saturday. During Dorm Room Deeds the speakers brought on two guests representing Giggles Adult Store in Poughkeepsie. Throughout the podcast those in the audience—around twenty people mostly from outside the Vassar community—were invited up to speak about their sexual lives. Audience members brave enough to recount an experience received free toys from Giggles. Throughout NonCon, Daugherty also hosted a number of workshops, where topics spanned from roleplaying to busting oral sex myths.

Another one of NonCon’s panels on Saturday was “Tea and Absinthe,” featuring speakers Daniel Myers and Pacita Prasarn. Myers and Prasarn, self-described “Purveyors of the retro-decadent lifestyle,” run a company also called Tea and Absinthe, in which they sell a variety of both products as well as accessories.

Throughout the three days of NonCon Myers and Prasarn were vending in the College Center, and, according to their website, they plan to travel across the United States to similar events to sell their wares. In their panel they shared their expertise on their main products, explaining the history of tea and demonstrating the correct way to drink absinthe.

Carl Custer, who is known professionally as Uncle Yo and was one of three invited comedians, gave a presentation Sunday on the history on the Dr. Who series. The character of Dr. Who, like his British compatriot James Bond, has been played by different actors over the half century that the series has been on the air.

One attendee of Custer’s presentation was Kathleen Holsopple, from F. D. Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park. Holsopple, in a red bow tie and tweed jacket, was dressed up as the current Doctor Who. It was Holsopple’s third year at NonCon and she said that her favorite part was a public reading of My Immortal, a piece of Harry Potter Fanfiction written in 2006 that has been celebrated as being awful.

Holsopple says that while being fun, conventions carry a serious underlying message.

“I think it brings everyone together,” explained Holsopple, “and lets everyone know there are people as crazy into the things as you are.”

February 28, 2013

FEATURES

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Often forgotten, Vassar Farm a host of opportunities Mary Talbot

Guest RepoRteR

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Jonah Bleckner/The Miscellany News

ne of the first things a visitor of the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve sees as they walk down the drive and into the gravel lot is the cheery, hand painted sign of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project (PFP). And as they move throughout the farm, they may come across a rugby match or a couple of Vassar students hanging out with friends in a space that many members of the College community are striving to maintain.

Although the farm is made up of almost 530 acres and is utilized by both Vassar students and Poughkeepsie residents, there are still many people on campus who don’t know much about it, or even how to get there.

Fortunately for interested students, the Farm is only a short ten minute walk away and there are a wide variety of opportunities to get involved there.

PFP is a community organization that leases part of the Farm’s land from the college. Before 1957, the Farm was actually used to supply fresh produce and meat to Vassar, but now the majority of food production is coordinated by them.

According to their website, farmproject.org, the mission of the PFP is to work “toward a just and sustainable food system in the Mid-Hudson Valley by operating a member-supported farm, providing education about food and farming, and improving access to healthy locally-grown food.”

Megahn McDermott ’13, the Cofounder and Community Outreach Coordinator of Vassar’s Slow Food club, explained why the Vassar dining services no longer get any food from the Farm.

She said, “A lot of faculty members and students buy CSA shares, but PFP doesn’t have the output in order to do an institutional purchase that would need to be done by Vassar,” She continued, “It’s not the Poughkeepsie Farm Project’s interest. The only way they are involved with us is that they have interns

The Vassar Ecological Preserve and Pouhgkeepsie Farm Project, pictured above, offer opportunities for students and Poughkeepsie residents to engage with farming education and the environement. through the field office, as well as work study, but there’s no actual food coming from the PFP to Vassar.”

However, though the All Campus Dining Center does not serve up heaping platefuls of PFP veggies, this does not mean that there are not many ways students can be involved with the Farm: There are a limited number of community garden plots available on the land, which can be rented for personal food production by students, faculty or community members. For those interested in more direct involvement with the PFP, there are a variety of internship opportunities available as well.

David Orkin ’13, a leader of the Vassar Experimental Garden, worked as the PFP’s education intern last summer.

In an emailed statement he wrote, “While working at the PFP I had a couple of different

roles—facilitating farm visits and cooking lessons for kids as young as 5, high schoolers, and adults, working in an educational seed-saving garden, and helping the farm staff with community education and outreach programs in Poughkeepsie. The supportive work environment at the PFP allowed me to get creative with my work and infuse a lot of what I’m passionate about into the operations of the organization.”

He also explained, “The position was organized through the Community Fellowship, which is run through the office of Field Work…

In general, the PFP offers work-study and field work operations on the actual farming side of things and in the education department.”

The Vassar Farm is home to more than just the PFP, however. Around 80 percent of the Farm’s 527 acres is protected land that makes up the Vassar Ecological Preserve. Kerri Van-

Camp, manager of the Preserve and Field Station, described the role of the Preserve in an emailed statement.

VanCamp said, “This land was preserved as a natural area in order to provide students and researchers a living laboratory where they can learn about their environment. Students often visit the preserve during a class to learn about biology, earth science, or environmental studies. Some students choose to make the VFEP a focal point of their studies by conducting independent research. In a program called Exploring Science at the Vassar Farm, classes from local elementary schools are taught about natural history by Vassar students. Students also help with stewardship, outreach, and research through work-study positions, fieldwork, and by volunteering.”

VanCamp also mentioned the Farm’s seven miles of trails, which are open to both Vassar students and Poughkeepsie Residents. These trails are used by many students, including Vassar’s Cross Country Team, for running, walking, or biking.

Katie Ewen ’15, Co-President of the Vassar Outing Club, expressed her enthusiasm for this resource in an emailed statement. She said, “Personally, the trails are definitely my favorite aspect of the Farm/Preserve. There are numerous paths to choose from, and these go through woods, over streams, across meadows, and over hills. They are beautiful in every season and a great, easy escape from everyday life on the main campus. I maintained the trails for a semester during my Freshman year, and even though I no longer work at the Farm, it’s still in my opinion one of the best parts about Vassar.

I would really encourage anyone to take advantage of the Farm and Ecological Preserve!”

How to Get There: The Vassar Farm is located just across Hooker Avenue at the Southern end of Campus. Head over to Skinner’s parking lot, and keeping walking on Raymond away from Vassar. Soon after passing Shipping and Receiving you’ll hit the intersection of Raymond and Hooker and see the farm’s sign.

Spring Break study trip nuances students’ views on Cuba

courtesy of Kelsey Morales

The International Studies Cuba study trip melds classroom learning with a unique spring break visit to the country, an experience that challenges students’ assumptions about Cuban history and culture.

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hile seniors might use this time to work on their theses, the rest of us mostly use the generous two weeks to catch up on sleep, lament the very unspring-like weather and enjoy a break from academia.

However, for students participating in the International Studies department Cuba study trip, spring break will mean not that much sleep, but certainly nicer weather as well as the opportunity to experience the concepts they have been studying up close. Every year, students apply for registration into a course with a focus on a specific location. For seven-weeks, they study intensively about the country’s history and culture which culminates in a trip to their destination and a research paper whose topic they choose and explore on site.

Guillermo Valdez ’15, one of 34 students

who will be embarking on the trip this year, said,“Cuba is just one of those countries that I always had an interest in, especially considering the history it has with the United States.”

Though the International Studies department has offered study trips such as this one since 1989, the destination has been Cuba for two consecutive years.

Associate Professor of History and Director of Latin American and Latino/a Studies Leslie Offutt said the decision is in part due to continued student interest.

“It’s unusual for the study trip to focus on the same location in successive years; one thing that I think makes our proposal for this year’s course attractive to the steering committee was that we could speak with some confidence of student interest (there was a lot of “buzz” from last year’s students) and we knew we could bring the trip in relatively close to the budget,”

said Offutt in an emailed statement.

In the past, students have traveled to Russia, China, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, India, Brazil, the Lesser Antilles, Kenya and Chile, just to name a few. Cuba though, has proved to be a great fit both for students and finances.

Regulating travel costs have become a greater obstacle in recent years. She said, “The course/study trip operates within certain financial constraints--they are expected to cost no more than $3,200 per student, and as air fare in particular has climbed over the past several years, it’s become very expensive to bring in a trip within that limit. That’s one reason that Latin American courses/study trips have been more frequent.”

Despite the fact that these students will be heading to the same place, the current course has a different focus. Offut said, “This year’s course differs from last in that we have a lessened focus on environmental concerns and a greater focus on the expressive arts. The emphasis this year is more on the creation of a revolutionary consciousness and identity—the course is titled ‘Cubanidad’—and less on political and economic transitions, although the latter obviously impact the nature of that sense of national ‘self.’”

Jay Reist ’15 said this focus on arts is what he is looking forward to the most. “Meeting Cuban artists and performers will definitely be the highlight of the trip for me. I’m excited to meet the people and really make a personal connection to what we’ve been reading about,” he said While Reist is anticipating a more aesthetic experience, Valdez is seeking to challenge his preconceived notions of Cuba.

“Being a leftist Vassar student, I guess I’ve had a somewhat romanticized vision of what Cuban socialism looks like. Now I have a more realistic perspective of the success and limitations of Cuban socialism…realistic in the sense that although the revolution has achieved some success, not all of its goals were met.” he said.

Offutt said this understanding of the Cuba’s nuances is something she hopes students take away from the trip.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“I wanted very much to have them see Cuba from the inside out, and to understand the degree to which it is so much different than what we see filtered through a South Florida lens.

If you can break down that barrier, and if you have time to be in Cuba with some knowledge under your belt, you can understand that it’s much more than black and white,” she said.

Lauren Stamm ’14, a student who went on the Cuba trip last year, said one thing that surprised her was Cuba’s relationship with the United States. “I was really surprised about all of the propaganda against the American embargo. Cubans really want the blockade to end and see it as the source of a lot of their domestic problems. Yet, Cuba has thrived in ways that access to American capital would prohibit. For example, the environment: because of the lack of production and industry, the environment hasn’t deteriorated the way it has in the US, or other more industrialized countries,“ she said.

Alexis Canney ‘14 too, said she found the pervasion of propaganda remarkable. She said, “The very first thing I was struck by was the lack of advertisements, and, in their places, propaganda, everywhere, constantly promoting Che and Castro and many more of Cuba’s heroes. I was also surprised and kind of enchanted by the fact that the old 50s cars (many that still looked new) really did exist,” she said.

Last year’s travelers suggested students keep a journal to write down all of these details. “My advice would be to keep a journal. Cuba is a really different place and there was a lot to process. Being able to write it down helped me understand Cuba and my experience there much more,” said Stamm.

For Offut, seeing her students make connections which enriches her experience.

Offutt concluded, “The joy for me is the experiences in the field, watching our students coming alive as they translate what they’ve learned in the classroom to what they’re finding on the streets and in the various conferencias and meetings with specialists, and in what I’m able then to bring back to the Vassar classroom.”

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February 28, 2013

Vassar weighs in on Poughkeepsie’s misery ranking Bethany Terry staFF desiGNeR

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this is not the case for all of Poughkeepsie’s residents and even with a younger child, she doesn’t feel any particular danger in the city.

Likewise, Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa stated, “It is hard for me to think of Poughkeepsie as miserable since I am a part of so many wonderful things here. Vassar is an incredible place to work. The Arlington school district has been a very nurturing place for our four kids. My wife and I have lived in several cities (Boston, Miami, NYC) and we are just as happy if not happier here. On the plus side at least we are considered a city.”

Though we may be considered “miserable” many members of the Vassar community feel Poughkeepsie is improving.

Inoa said, “Downtown is improved. Arling-

ton is improved. Hopefully the waterfront continues to develop because I think it will bring the community together and will be a source of pride.”

On a similar note, Stanecu said he enjoys going to the Galleria, the local parks, the Chance, and the Loft. Boycott pointed out that while there are some nice restaurants and cafes around Arlington, there are many opportunities in the surrounding Hudson Valley, such as hiking and camping. To some, Poughkeepsie may be a miserable place to live. However, for many Vassar students and staff, Poughkeepsie offers a great place to live with many opportunities. For these optimists, they will not let the bad press from Forbes and Neighborhood Scout cloud their experience living here.

courtesy of Rob Yasinac

ith the midterm season here, many students are looking forward to getting away from the papers, exams and projects, and leaving Poughkeepsie for spring break. While this desire to leave the city is due to stress and the simple need for a vacation, perhaps there is more to it. With a recent ranking by Forbes naming Poughkeepsie the 18th most miserable place to live in the United States, one has to wonder whether students are hoping for a change of pace or a change in scenery.

In ranking cities on what makes them miserable, Forbes took into account many different factors: net migration, numbers of house foreclosures, traffic, unemployment, weather, taxes, impoverishment rates, average commute length, crime rates, and strength of economy.

According to Forbes, “Poughkeepsie residents must endure crummy weather and long commutes to work. Their average commute of 31.9 minutes is the sixth highest in the U.S. Property tax rates are also onerous.”

This rating adds to Poughkeepsie’s bad reputation after also being named the 82nd most dangerous city to live in the country. Neighborhood Scout, a website that provides public-accessible data on the quality of neighborhoods and cities in the country, states, “The chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Poughkeepsie is 1 in 23.” In relation to New York State, the company also states that Poughkeepsie has a higher crime rate than 95% of the cities in NY. Despite these statistics, the Forbes description is a contrast to the pride many of Vassar students have for their community. Teddy Stanescu ‘16, a Poughkeepsie resident for over a decade, disagrees with this statement about his city.

“I think some parts of Poughkeepsie can be bad enough to be considered ‘miserable,’ but [it] is too diverse for that to really say anything

about it,” he said. As for the violence, he stated that he was exposed to it, but his school combated as best as they could. “Violence never came to such an extreme where it was beyond their power to react or be resilient” said Stanecu. “I do think Poughkeepsie is a safe place to live, violence is usually not out in the open, on the streets, and I think you have to look for it.”

He said that unless given a reason, he will probably continue to live in the Poughkeepsie area after graduation.

Although from a completely different part of the world, Timothy Boycott’16 of Swaziland, a country in Southern Africa commented, “Poughkeepsie is a city in a 1st world country.

I am from the countryside in Africa. They are very different. Worlds apart you could say. I feel that Poughkeepsie is unsafe in certain areas, but that is the case with any city in the world. I do know, however, that according to the statistics Poughkeepsie is particularly unsafe. That does have an impact on me. It is not something I knew before I arrived at Vassar, and to be honest it is something that I wish I had known. I still feel, however, that Poughkeepsie and surrounds is not all doom and gloom.”

While many students argued against the “most miserable” title, Assistant Professor of Education Colette Cann’s first reaction to the article was one of disgust. She believes that Forbes failed to acknowledge the entire picture, In an emailed statement, she said, “When anything about loss of jobs is mentioned, white people are pictured; but for crime or poverty, we see Black people”.

She went on to say, “The not-so-subtle message sent is that we should have sympathy for White folks because they are really wanting to work hard …Black folks, though, are somehow to blame because they are framed as poor, basketball playing criminals who clearly are causing the mass exodus.”

While she feels that people of color are often blamed for the problems in the city, Cann feels

In a recent report by Forbes Magazine, Poughkeepsie was ranked the 18th most miserable city in the U.S. Assistant Professor of Education Colette Cann criticizes the study for shamelessly ignoring issues of race.

Tournament to celebrate popular game’s local roots Carmen Reinicke Guest RepoRteR

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hough imitations such as Words with Friends have recently garnered popularity, many of us maintain the original is always better than the copy and pledge our allegience to Scrabble—the word game which can bring out the best in some and the worst in others.

While most of us are familiar with the board game, as Vassar students we are more closely connected to it than we think. The game’s creator, Alfred Butts, who invented Scrabble in 1938, was born in Poughkeepsie.

He called the game “criss-crosswords,” and ranked the letters according to the frequency of which they were used in The New York Times and assigned them values accordingly, with ‘Q’ and ‘Z’ being the letters with the highest worths of 10 points, and vowels and consonants L, N, R, S and T being worth only one point. The rights to manufacture the game were eventually purchased and the name was changed to Scrabble, a word whose meaning is “to scratch or dig frantically.”

To honor the late Alfred Butts, Poughkeepsie will host a Scrabble Tournament this March 15-17 at Locust Grove. Scrabble Tournaments are all run with specific rules and guidelines set up by the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA).

While most participants will be local, there is also draw from many parts of the country and the world because of the event’s status as an official NASPA tournament. Cornelia Guest, a North American Scrabble Association Director who has organized the tournament commented, “I’m expecting 50-70 players. I have players right now entered from Canada, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maryland, and I’m expecting more entries in the coming weeks.”

She went on to express hope for the events growth in the coming years as well.

“I hope to make this an annual event. It was held in 2008, so this is the second one. Usually attendance builds each year,” she said.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

There will be two different tournaments at Poughkeepsie’s event, meant to cater to both amateur and seasoned Scrabble players. One is the Newcomers tournament, which is for players who are new to competition or who have NASPA ratings under 1,000. The second tournament is the NASPA-rated Main Event, which only paying members can participate in. Qualified players will be placed in one of four divisions, the divisions being advanced, intermediate, beginner and one separate division for those who wish to play with the international lexicon. In the last division, the book used to determine acceptable words is the Collins Scrabble Words Dictionary 2012. Collins allows for more words, and accepts different types of words, such as two-letter words, words with only vowels, comparatives,superlatives and gerunds.

Each player has a total of 25 minutes to play, with points being deducted for each minute they go over that time limit. To keep track, there is an official chess timer used. Each player records their points after every turn.

At the end of the match, the player with the higher number of points wins and the difference between the two scores—known as the spread—is noted. If two players have accumulated the same number of points, the one with the higher spread will be awarded the higher place prize.

Though Scrabble relies on the luck-of-thedraw to a certain extent, there are some popular strategies.

Guest advised, “One I recommend is saving your blank for a ‘bingo’ (50-point bonus for using all 7 tiles on your rack) or similarly high score. I also suggest overlap plays for good scores, particularly if you can play a high-point tile two ways on a premium square. Remember, too, that the tiles you leave on your rack are important, as they are the foundation for your next play. Try for a ‘balanced rack,’ with a nice complement of vowels and consonants— you won’t score well with AAEIIOU on your rack!”

February 28, 2013

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CCS, Greens to bring ecofeminist Shiva to campus

courtesy of Palabra de Mujer

Vassar will host ecofeminist and environmental activist Dr. Shiva for her lecture, “Making Peace with the Earth: Shifting to Feminist Economics, Politics and Culture” on March 6 at 5 p.m. in the Villard Room.

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ith a number of courses focused on sustainability pertaining to food issues as well as an entire semester-long learning-living community devoted to fostering a deeper understanding of food and farming, Vassar has recently proven itself as a hub of discourse about how our food choices affect the world community and environment. It is only fitting, then, that a number of sustainability and social justice-related student groups have united to bring internationally recognized environmental and feminist activist Doctor Vandana Shiva to the Vassar campus. The College Committee on Sustainability, Multidisciplinary Living and Learning Community on Food and Agriculture, Feminist Alliance, Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics, South Asian Students Alliance, Slow Food, and a handful of other organizations have united to host Shiva on March 6. The day’s events for her visit include a tour of the Poughkeepsie Farm, a workshop on com-

munity action, a roundtable discussion with students from the Culinary Institute of America, an open conversation over refreshments, and finally a lecture at 5 p.m. in the Villard Room, entitled “Making Peace with the Earth: Shifting to Feminist Economics, Politics, and Culture.”

Born in 1952 in Uttarakhand, India, Shiva’s passion for ecological sustainability began in the 1970s, when she joined a group of Himalayan women as part of the non-violent Chipko movement, which sought to protect soon-to-befelled trees. Linking the earth, women, ecology, and the provisioning of food, water, and energy for the poor, the Chipko movement largely influenced the development of Shiva’s ecofeminist philosophy. Her ideology combines women’s rights, environmental rights, and the rights of developing countries, all of which led Shiva to organize the movement “Diverse Women for Diversity,” which seeks to strengthen women’s grassroots movements and provide women with a common international platform, in part

through the India-based National Alliance of Women’s Food Rights.Shiva also founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology (RFSTE) to provide direction and support for environmental activism focusing on the privatization of natural resources, as well as understanding soil and insect biodiversity. From the RFSTE sprang Navdanya—an organization committed to preserving biodiversity through its own seed-saving bank and its creation of awareness on the hazards of genetic engineering. So far, Navdanya has successfully conserved over 5,000 crop varieties and has served as a powerful advocate on behalf of small-scale, non-violent farming practices.

One of her most prominent focuses is seed-saving. In Scott London’s blog he quoted her stating, “Every farmer must go to the seed industry every year to buy their seed and pay an 80 percent royalty to a corporation.” She continued to say, “That kind of dependency basically leads to increased poverty and increased ecological destruction.”

In honor of these efforts, Shiva has received nearly 20 distinguished awards from the international community, including the 1993 Right to Livelihood Award ,also known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize. She currently chairs the Commission on the Future of Food in Tuscany, Italy and serves as a member of the Scientific Committee advising Spanish President Zapatero.

Playing a key role in helping Vassar’s student organizations bring Vandana Shiva to campus, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and MLLC Director Candice Lowe-Swift wanted to host Shiva.

Swift said, “Our hope [in bringing Dr. Shiva to Vassar was to] provide students with models for how different fields of knowledge are interdependent, and how linking academic and applied work can be useful for tackling some of the most important issues facing our society and the world today.”

Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies Director Pinar Batur also eagerly awaits Shiva’s visit, and has included Dr. Shiva’s writings in her syllabi since Fall 2001, when Shiva first visited Vassar. Batur said, “I can pick up one of her books—and sometimes the same

book that I have read before—and find a fresh insight that will inspire me. Not asking questions, not seeking an alternative paradigm for the future, and not engaging in activism now will allow the violence of exploitative systems to survive. Shiva symbolizes this true activist spirit and conviction.”

International Studies major and Local Foods Intern for the College Committee on Sustainability (CCS) Tamsin Chen ’15 has also worked enthusiastically to ensure the success of Shiva’s visit to Vassar. Chen has helped to research quotes for the banners advertising Shiva’s visit, plan film screenings and cooking demonstrations to generate campus hype about the sustainable food movement, and invite organizations from the broader Poughkeepsie community to join Vassar in welcoming Shiva.

She added, “She speaks for the people and parts of the planet whose voices are too often, and systematically, kept unheard.”

Chen derives inspiration from Shiva’s work in her position as the Local Food Intern of CCS and hopes to incorporate aspects of Shiva’s advocacy into the committee’s actions.

She said, “As the local foods intern, I would like to investigate further the processed foods that we currently consume on our campus. It is important to me to know the backstories of what we eat, and whether we are inadvertently supporting agricultural and manufacturing practices that are oppressive to women, the environment, and developing countries. We are a far cry from oppression-free consumption in our tangled food system, but it is still an ideal I believe is worth striving for.”

In London’s article, Shiva affirmed her devotion to these ideals.

She said, “When I find too many puzzles about the way explanations are given about why there is inequality — why people who work the hardest in the world end up being the poorest — I can’t just sit back and not try to understand why the gaps between people are increasing, or why there are so many homeless and hungry people in the world. To me, all these issues — of justice, of ecology, of a scientific inquiry into nature through physics — come from the same source. In a sense, I haven’t really moved; I’ve travelled the same road.”

‘Frankenbread’ a twist on your tradition al foccacia Aja Brady-Saalfeld desiGN editoR

hen my friends and I set off our dorm’s fire alarm last Founder’s Day and had to explain to the fire department that we were baking in a completely literal way, I never expected that the raw dough I carted across campus would develop into a bizarre obsession with trying to make the perfect rosemary focaccia.

Baking bread has always made something thrum deep in my hindbrain. To think that humans have been making bread for millennia, and here I am, doing it thousands of years later in effectively the same ways, reminds me of how small and human I am. I want to prove that I can create, with nothing more than some flour, spices, yeast and my own too-human hands, the perfect focaccia. But I know that it will take time. Even this most recent attempt to crack the elusive secret of making the best textured Italian flatbread I can create has slipped between my flour coated fingers once again.

Thus, my quest to make the perfect focaccia has gone through many iterations of doughy goodness, each one slightly different from the last. While the flatbread recipe my friends and I are currently working on perfecting, which I have chosen to dub ‘Frankenbread,’ is still recognizable as a focaccia at heart, the olive oil soaked, kosher salt encrusted monstrosity it has become is certainly not recognizable as the first, admittedly rather mediocre, focaccia we pulled out of the oven.

We have put so much into this bread, from basil to brie and from olive oil to oregano, all in quest of the best taste, the perfect texture.

And, now, it is so close to perfection I can very nearly taste it. But, what does perfection taste like? Will I know, or will I keep striving for per-

Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

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fection as fruitlessly as Tantalus strived for his fruit?

What I do know is that the keys to good, if not quite yet perfect, focaccia are olive oil, salt and patience. Focaccia is a Mediterranean bread; there is virtually no way to have too much olive oil, while salt is essential in bread making for enhancing flavor. Never use table when you can use kosher salt. The larger grain size and uniquely flat shape of kosher salt makes for much better bread than ordinary table salt, so I find it useful to keep some in my cupboard at all times. Sea salt can be a good substitute in a pinch. Also, since I use no bread machines or mixers when I make bread, all of the kneading is done by hand, which, depending on the type of bread, can take anywhere from five minutes to nearly half an hour.

Bad or timid kneading can make or break a bread recipe. I have found the best way to handle it is to never be afraid of the dough.

If things don’t appear to be going well, hit it, throw it on the counter, smash it with your (clean, floured) forearm. It can handle it for the most part. There has never been a point where I felt that being rough with the dough was too much, but there have been plenty of instances where I felt that more vigorous kneading would have been beneficial. For this recipe, err on the side of too much. Ultimately, this particular example of ‘Frankenbread’ was the best it ever has been. The texture was phenomenal and the flavor was well-balanced with olive oil and appropriate saltiness. But I still search for perfection. While adding basil and oregano to the rosemary already present in the recipe was good, the readdition of brie might just be what tips it over to edge from ‘really fantastic’ bread to ‘the absolutely perfect’ rosemary focaccia I so yearn to bake.

The Recipe

Ingredients 5 cups unbleached flour 1 1/3 cups warm water 1 1/4 oz packet yeast 1 1/2 cups olive oil plus 2 tbsps reserved 1 tbsps kosher salt 2 tbsps dried rosemary 2 tbsps dried oregeno 2 tbsps dried basil

Directions 1. Combine yeast and warm water in a large bowl.

2. Let stand until creamy, or about five minutes

5. Dough should sticky but firm to the touch.

6. Place in an oiled boil and let rise, covered, at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, or around 1 1/2 hours.

7. Remove dough and roll out onto a greased cookie sheet.

8. Let rise, covered, until doubled in bulk, or around 1 1/2 hours.

9. Press uniform indentations onto top of bread.

3. Add 3 cups flour, 1/2 cup oil, salt and herbs.

10. Drizzle remaining oil over bread and dust with salt and herbs to taste.

4. Knead the remaining flour and oil into the dough. Knead for ten minutes.

11. Bake in a 500°F oven until it sounds hollow when tapped, or around 20-25 minutes.

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February 28, 2013

VC Students Vassar sophomore Sophia Rosetti called to value recalls her experiences in Cambodia integrity Sophia Rosetti

Guest ColumNist

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received a grant last October to travel to Cambodia with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I left Vassar for one month.

Along the outskirts of Phnom Penh, removed from the Cambodian capital’s coarse air and congested traffic of bustling rickshaws and motorbikes, exists a rather unremarkable looking government complex.

The genocide orchestrated by the Khmer Rouge, starting in 1975, accounts for the loss of more human lives than the atrocities in Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia and Somalia put together.

Yet it is deemed, much like the systematic extermination of the Armenians during the early twentieth century, to be a ‘forgotten’ genocide, having left the public mind within merely decades of its occurrence.

In this government complex, thirty-three years later, an attempt for justice is finally in process in the form of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

The ECCC, more commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge tribunal, has been established to prosecute the most serious crimes committed during Democratic Kampuchea.

It exists as a hybrid court, incorporating jurisdiction and officials from the UN International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Cambodian Supreme Court equivalent.

The hybrid model was chosen for the tribunal because it provides full national involvement in the trials, while ensuring international standards are met.

These trials are not removed from the place where the crimes occurred, unlike tribunals for Rwanda or the former Yugoslavia.

Incidentally, this proves satisfactory for the perpetrators; there is no death penalty in Cambodia.

The current organization of the ECCC is comprised of four cases: Case 001, 002, 003, and 004.

The first case tried by the ECCC concerned Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch, former Chairman of Phnom Penh’s security prison S-21, preserved as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum today.

Duch oversaw the deaths of approximately fifteen thousand people; an act accompanied with his famous phrase “I just left it up to Karma.”

He converted to Christianity in the wake of his investigation and trial. Duch began serving his prison term in the ECCC detention center in 2012, where he currently awaits his transfer to a local prison, where he will serve his sentence of life imprisonment. The second case is now prosecuting Nuon Chea, former Chairman of the Democratic Kampuchea National Assembly and Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, Khieu Samphan, former Head of State of Democratic Kampuchea, and Ieng Sary, former Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea.

Former Minister of Social Affairs Ieng Thirith was indicted, but later deemed unfit to stand trial due to her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

In the morning of my visit at the tribunal, a former railroad hand was testifying that the Khmer Rouge denied victims food during the mass evacuation of 1975. His testimony was interrupted by Nuon Cheng’s representative, who formally requested that Cheng be able to take a leave of absence for the day due to his back and leg ailments.

This was followed by a similar plea by Sary’s lawyer to “excuse” him as his “sleep has been deprived within the last few days.”

Both requests were allowed.

Additionally, Cases 003 and 004 are critical to the lasting effectiveness of the tribunal, as both are organized to try high-ranking perpetrators: military leaders and political, provincial leaders, respectively.

The reality of these prospective initiatives is still in question, due to insufficient funding.

courtesy of Sophia Rosetti

have successful careers, and they are willing to make ethical sacrifices to get there. In our hearts we know that a dishonest society is not a healthy one, so we bear a significant burden as teachers if we want our students to enter the post-college world with a sense of personal responsibility.”

Given the gravitas of the situation, when a student commits an act of plagiarism, he or she not only must face the consequences decided on by the academic panel, Dean of Studies Joanne Long explained, “When you enter an academic, or any other, community, you’re really a person in relationship with other people on the basis of trust. When we write papers or write articles or publish them, we’re entering into a conversation with other people. And in order for that conversation to be productive all members who enter have to do so in good faith.”

Co-Chair of the English Department Susan Zlotnick has spotted plagiarism in essays and papers only a few times over the years. She wrote in an emailed statement, “Plagiarism cases go to the Academic Panel, which is chaired by the Dean of Studies, with panel members ordinarily consisting of three faculty and three students. If I discover plagiarism, and I can document it, I send it along to the Dean of Studies.”

The Dean of Studies decides if a panel should be held. There, accused student and his or her professor are interviewed after the material in question has been thoroughly reviewed. The student, then, will either plead guilty or not guilty.

Judicial Board member Deep Anand ‘15, wrote in an emailed statement, “The most severe case I’ve seen involved a paper that was plagiarized to the point where more than 60% of the material was lifted straight from a single book, word for word. The least offensive involved either lacking to cite sources/include quotation marks or cheating on a single question of a test.”

Zlotnick, who has sat on the panel in the past, stated “If a student is found guilty, the panel makes recommendations to the faculty member bringing the charges, and the panel always asks the faculty member for input when it comes to sanctioning a student. Sanctions on students found guilty can vary, from the plagiarized document being invalidated (and thus receiving no credit) to the panel recommending that the faculty fail the student in the course.” Moreover, if the the student is found guilty, a note will be made on their record, which medical schools, law schools and other graduate programs will have access to. The most severe consequence, as well as the rarest, would be expulsion from the College, though occasionally students may be suspended for the remainder of the current semester, or the following semester.

And while there were twenty-seven cases heard last year, and fourteen thus far this year, Long explained that not every student is found responsible. “Some cases I think need to be heard even if the panel then decides there is not enough evidence to find the student guilty or they believe the student’s version of events,” she said The panel takes into consideration first time offenders, as well as what academic year the student may currently be in. Zlotnick added, “[I]ntentionality is something the panel adjudicates. Sometimes students, particularly early in their Vassar careers, may not properly attribute the materials they’ve used because they are still getting accustomed to citation practices within the academy.”

Krusberg explained that enforcing a policy on plagiarism is about creating a group of young adults who are ready to enter the real world.

She said, “Our objective is not to control our students by imposing arbitrary or dogmatic rules and punishment...it is important that the underlying motivation for our policies is transparent.

Our fundamental objective is the education of the world’s future generation of artists, scientists, and professionals...”

Long advised students to be conscious about which ideas belong to them and which belong to others, all the while upholding honesty. She said, “I think the main term here is integrity. People can be distracted by thinking that the academic panel is merely about rules or about someone getting away with something, but it’s really about integrity. And that’s a much larger educational goal.”

I

Him Huy, pictured above, is a prison guard at The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, Cambodia. During her trip funded by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Sophia Rosetti ‘15 visited this historic site.

Every Cambodian is either a surviving victim or perpetrator or the kin of a surviving victim or perpetrator.

The official stance of the current Cambodian government is under the impression that every Cambodian involved in the atrocities of the 1970s, besides those who have been tried or are currently being tried by the ECCC, are declared victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Exacerbated by conspicuous corruption, the social and economic aftermath of the genocide is arresting.

In the villages, rape victims live among their aggressors and past KR members are often better off economically than their former subjects.

A connoisseur of exploitation himself, the government’s point man for the tribunal, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, operates under a variety of formal titles that grant him the lion’s share of bureaucratic power.

In a meeting with the Museum delegation, the Deputy Prime Minister spoke for himself and the twenty suits that surrounded him.

“We cannot receive, nor enjoy tourism,” he said, a controversial statement, given that the Cambodian government has preserved today’s memorials S-21 and the Killing Fields to benefit from what some describe as ‘genocide tourism.’

This does not preclude the existence of another manifestation of major expatriate attraction: sex tourism.

A oreign director of a Cambodian NGO, of which there exist in the country approximately three thousand, said, “[Many of the children of Phnom Penh] grow up on the street, leave school, and by fifteen, sixteen, they are trafficked.” Indulgence in both ‘tourist’ and ‘activities’ can be achieved simultaneously during one’s visit; touring the Killing Fields by day and browsing the Svay Pak district by night.

Upon entering the detainment facility, I am greeted by overgrown shrubbery and four arbitrarily placed potted plants. The cultivation of flowers, a detainment officer explains, is an important therapeutic exercise for the prisoners.

The center hallway is illuminated with natural light that enters through the open courtyard in the back hall; shadows of outside leaves dance on the concrete floor beneath my feet.

I walk, peering into each room, as a second prison officer speaks easily about the day-today workings of the facility. I stop at a room with a television, radio, and three chairs, upon one of which rests a stack of newspapers.

“The chief,” she explained, “is very, very flexible. They ask—and they go. We can’t go by a fixed schedule. It won’t work.”

The image of Duch, Chea, and Samphan enters my mind; three perpetrators growing old together, watching Jeopardy and reminiscing about the good ‘ole days when they

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

captained one of the most wicked and murderous regimes in history, together spearheading the genocide of nearly two million people.

Across the hall are two rooms adjacent to one another—not so different from a Joss two-room double—although, separated by a blue curtain and open to the hallway through metal bars.

I kneel down to catch a glimpse of the room behind the curtain. A colorful tapestry hangs from the far wall and a small potted plant sits on a bedside stool. Suddenly, two feet in blue socks fall from the bed, hitting the floor, unmoving. Startled, feeling embarrassed and invasive, I jump up and join the rest of the delegation only to soon realize I was merely a few feet away from Duch himself.

Duch may have since pronounced his conversion to Christianity, but a different religion exists in the centerfold of post-conflict rehabilitation and development. Today in Cambodia, Buddhism plays a key role in the identity of a country grappling with a catastrophic past.

For the victimized and wounded, reuniting with Buddhist values is a coping mechanism and healing device; for past Khmer war criminals and perpetrators, it is a matter of utilitarian convenience, shrewdly and deliberately mobilized to absorb and tuck away the pain forever; never to be discussed nor remembered.

The tribunal, for many Cambodians, has catalyzed an opening—though gradual—of safe dialogue to exist regarding the parameters of the atrocity among the Cambodian population for the first time since the killing fields.

Past Khmer Rouge members who serve in the current government administration are eager to benefit politically from their careful presentation on the international stage; however, petrified of the prosecution that will come with the territory of Cases 003 and 004.

These dignitaries are optimistic that the international community will not come up with the funding for the final cases, therefore placing the culpability over the heads of the United States, Britain, Japan, and other global contributors, rather than their own.

The commanding issue does not regard disparities between Western and Eastern-style justice; rather, the question that should be posed is whether or not this tribunal has been mechanized by the current Cambodian government to function as a mere extension of the old standing Cambodian oral tradition: the longer one speaks, the more power he will obtain and greater veneration he will receive.

The tribunal may have cracked a window, but the real door to equitable justice and healing seems to be mired by the current Cambodian government’s own interest in and transcription of the country’s historical narrative.

February 28, 2013

OPINIONS

Page 9

THE MISCELLANY NEWS STAFF EDITORIAL

After WBC protest, Vassar must continue to look inward Since the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) announced its intention to protest at Vassar College, students have responded with efforts to strengthen solidarity and support and celebrate diversity on and off campus.

During this short amount of time, we have organized, fundraised and united to collectively strengthen our own community in the face of hatred and discrimination. However, while raising over $88,000 is an accomplishment worthy of some self-congratulation, we should not allow the passing of the protest to halt our discussions of privilege and power, nor our commitment to the mission of inclusion and acceptance of all people.

The protesters represent an incredibly radical example of intolerance, and it is easy to feel like a perfectly accepting campus when juxtaposed with their views. Our challenge is thus to see ourselves and our own community with a critical eye and continue working towards a more equitable living and learning environment. Because, after all, this is about us, not them, and will continue to be about all of us far beyond the day of the WBC’s protest.

The energy amounted in response to the protesters arrival must be directed towards addressing one of the most common, yet subtle forms of intolerance on campus—microaggressions. These behaviors, ways of speaking and ideologies perpetuate sexist, classist, racist and other oppressive attitudes allow intolerance and inequity to persist in our lives. While at Vassar we may engage criti-

cally with theory behind issues of race, class, gender, and the intersections of all three, but it becomes more difficult when faced with these problems outside of an academic environment. How to tell a peer they have said something sexist, how to address the use of a racial slur, how to tell an authority figure they are being discriminatory, how to discuss these topics out loud and in social settings: these are all important actions that require incredible courage.

When confronted with these real-life scenarios, it often feels impossible to speak up. If Vassar were a truly open and inclusive environment, students would not be afraid to call out their peers in instances of discrimination or unequal treatment. We at The Miscellany News hope the collective power we have generated through our response to the WBC protesters might continue to fuel such mindful conversations.

There a number of clear examples in which Vassar has had to confront issues of racism and sexism inside its own community. Earlier this semester there were a number of hate speech incidents in the way of graffiti which were explicitly racist and sexist in their content.

Last year, the VSA and MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) experienced conflicts surrounding questions of racism when members of MEChA felt they were unfairly denied funding after a prolonged meeting with council.

This semester there have been a number of conversations about policing, profiling and tensions between students, the Poughkeepsie community and campus security. These incidents are telling of the obstacles Vassar still has to overcome, and the importance of change on both the individual and structural levels.

Furthermore, we at The Miscellany News greatly appreciate the collaborative efforts among different campus organizations that address issues of identity, such as the LGBTQ Community Gathering Dinner last night, which included community-building activities led by Spectrum, ALANA leaders, and the Assistant Director for Campus Life/LGBTQ and Gender Resources. We feel that collaborations such as this open up a dialogue surrounding the intersectionality of race, class, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and encourage a sense of inclusion and community across campus. These events highlight the role of intersectionality in structures of power and privilege, and we believe even more support for similar functions would be beneficial to our community, and would lead to a greater consciousness of these intersections.

We also support the creation of more safe spaces for students in the Vassar community, such as the center for students who come from backgrounds of lower socioeconomic statuses or students with disabilities proposed last fall.

In turn, students must hold themselves

accountable, and take it upon themselves to be as well informed on these issues as possible. We are lucky at Vassar to have a plethora of teach-ins, lectures, and other events in any given semester that deal with problems of intolerance and identity. Make a goal for yourself to attend several of these lectures a semester, take note when a professor tells you about an upcoming event, and most importantly, treat it as both an academic responsibility and a lifestyle choice.

In addition, with the mounting support of administrators, faculty and alumnae/alumni, we have an opportunity to create some real structural change in the wake of the WBC protesters. We must encourage more events like All College Days, more lecturers like Tim Wise, more solidarity between student groups, administrators and staff, and more actions to accompany our rhetoric of inclusion and equity.

Ultimately, we must deal with the entire spectrum of intolerance and not only address the most glaring examples of hate. Though Westboro Baptist Church may have been the catalyst which called us to action, we must continue our efforts to erase intolerance in ourselves, on our campus and outside of it, and never fool ourselves into thinking that our job is done.

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

With Medicaid expansion, Vassar must divest to take FL gov. shows pragmatism a stand against oppression Angela Della Croce Guest ColumNist

M

aybe politicians aren’t as impractical as they appear. On February 20, Rick Scott, the Republican Governor of Florida, made a move that surprised both sides of the aisle: he announced that he would support an expansion of Medicaid coverage for his state’s poor citizens. The great surprise in this decision stems from the fact that Scott was an avid critic of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare”. Scott opposed Obama’s healthcare provisions prior to his gubernatorial campaign and many believe it was his strong conservative leadership against Obamacare that resulted in his election in 2011. In fact, he even led Florida in the lawsuit against Obamacare’s implementation. Scott stated last summer that Obama’s healthcare laws would hinder Florida’s goals to promote economic growth, increase quality of education, and keep living costs low, saying opting out is the “right decision for our citizens.” I guess seven months can really change a person.

Scott will ask Florida’s legislature to expand the Medicaid program for the first three years, allowing one million Floridians, in addition to three million already, to obtain coverage. Why only the first three years? During this time, the federal government has agreed to pay for 100% of the expansion, meaning that eligible Floridians will be able to reap the benefits of Medicaid without any additional costs to the state. Scott says that as long as the federal government upholds its promise to fully finance the expansion, “I cannot in good conscience deny Floridians that needed access to health care.”

Though this is not a conventional move by a once anti-Obamacare crusader, Scott is not alone; he is just the latest of six other Republican governors—representing Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Ohio—who have also decided to jump on the Medicaid expansion bandwagon. Some were just as fervently opposed to Obamacare as he was, namely Jan Brewer of Arizona, who once stated that “Obamacare is an overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty.” Now it seems as though these governors have put aside their personal and political animosity towards the Affordable Care Act in favor of pragmatism.

Of course, Scott’s support—though significant—is no guarantee. The program would have to be approved by the GOP-controlled legislature, which is no friend to the law. Moreover, Scott has received backlash from his fellow conservatives. Stephen Hayes, a columnist for The Weekly Standard, called Scott “cowardly,” and Will Weatherford, Florida’s House Speaker, expressed disappointment, doubting that the expansion will improve healthcare in the state.

Despite the criticism, I applaud Governor Scott’s ability to place practicality and rationality over his beliefs, since I’m sure his actual view towards Obamacare has changed negligibly at best. But what he came to understand was the expansion’s undeniable benefits—at least in the first three years. As I stated before, the Medicaid expansion would be fully funded by the federal government during this period. It would be a grave mistake to prevent that money from reaching Florida, because otherwise, Floridian taxpayers would simply be paying to fund it in other states who welcomed it with open arms while receiving no benefits themselves. Plus, it would be of no extra financial burden to the state, so why not implement it for the first three years? Florida is the nation’s fourth most populous state, with 15% of its residents living below the poverty level. Supporting a program that will aid a million more citizens at no direct cost is socially just and economically viable.

Let’s also not forget about the 2012 election, where Florida, although extremely contested, helped deliver a victory for Obama. This implies that Rick Scott, who is up for reelection next year, governs a state that is not solid red. Even though being an incumbent is a huge advantage on its own, moving toward the center in controversial policies is a smart political move for Scott to appeal to a wider constituency—even if that means criticism from fellow conservatives. I highly doubt the Governor has had some sort of change in heart or that he even truly cares about covering four million residents instead of three.

His decision to support the expansion was in the name of economic responsibility and political gain. But then again, when is a politician’s decision not based on such motivations?

—Angela Della Croce ‘15 is an Economics major.

Gabe Dunsmith & Erin Boss

assistaNt opiNioN editoR & Guest ColumNist

F

ollowing the Vassar Student Association’s resolution to support divestment from fossil fuels, the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign could not be more excited about moving towards positive social change on Vassar’s campus and around the globe.

Divestment from fossil fuels promises to bring about a people-powered transition to a sustainable world. Though the atrocities of fossil fuel may seem far from our campus, Vassar’s endowment—like that of so many other institutions—is invested in corporate conglomerates like BP, Exxon, and Halliburton. In order to distance Vassar from oil rigs in the Gulf, mountaintop removal in West Virginia, and hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania, Vassar must assume the moral imperative to divest.

Divestment is, by nature, a symbolic gesture, a strong statement that Vassar stands against the abuses of the fossil fuel industry: air filled with toxic coal smoke, oil spills on our shores, and catastrophic climate change. Divesting would put Vassar’s money where its heart is and demonstrate a concrete commitment to a healthier planet. Today, oil, coal, and gas companies are among the largest and most powerful corporations on the planet, using their immense resources to mine and drill the earth to extinction. Without divestment, this monolithic fossil fuel apparatus will go on unchallenged and unchanged. Divestment tells the fossil fuel industry that extraction must end.

The point of divestment is not to send economic ripples, but political ripples across the spectrum of U.S. society. In acting with hundreds of colleges across the country, Vassar can shift the global political landscape in order to combat climate change and promote sustainable environments, societies, and economies.

While opponents of divestment may argue that Vassar’s endowment should not be used to make political statements, we must acknowledge that being invested in certain industries is a political statement in itself. The act of investing in fossil fuel companies is a passive statement of assent to the continuing extraction and use of nonrenewable carbon energy; divestment aims to be an active statement of dissent.

Divesting from fossil fuels fits beautifully

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

with Vassar’s progressive tradition. From our founding as a women’s college to our divestment from apartheid in the 1980s, Vassar has never been afraid to challenge the dominant political structures that too often oppress people and the earth. As we look today to fight oppression on and off campus, Vassar should consider divestment as merely one tool among many to combat global systems of inequality.

Perhaps most importantly, divestment is a fight for justice. It brings Vassar students one step closer to the communities that the fossil fuel industry decimates. Though many of us know the abuses of oil, coal, and gas companies firsthand, there are many of us who don’t—and so divestment becomes a means of solidarity with those most exploited. From Shell’s myriad oil spills in Nigeria to the decimation of Canadian First Nations’ land by tar sands extraction, the fossil fuel industry treats local communities and their land as mere vehicles for pollution. On the backs of human beings, the fossil fuel companies gain an ever-increasing profit.

After all, the brunt of the climate crisis will be felt in communities that are already silenced and oppressed. Those with the fewest resources will be hit hardest, exposing vast rifts between the wealthy and the poor. For those marginalized communities at home and abroad, divestment becomes a moral necessity.

It is one way of righting the wrongs of a system of wealth that is built on oppression.

Divestment on its own will not end the abuses of the fossil fuel industry, nor stop climate change in its tracks. However, it is a fundamental stepping-stone in the larger fight for justice that seeks to reshape the narrative of climate change around equity and integrate marginalized communities around the globe. The fight against fossil fuels is also one for the voices of the marginalized to be heard and obeyed.

Divesting from fossil fuels is only the spark of a larger social movement against climate change and towards a just, equitable, and sustainable planet. To help move the world into a fossil-free age, and to end the worldwide desecration caused by coal, oil, and gas multinationals, divestment is Vassar’s ethical duty.

—Gabe Dunsmith ‘15 and Erin Boss ‘16 are members of the Vassar Greens.

OPINIONS

Page 10

February 28, 2013

Vassar, West Point share common adversary in WBC Bethan Johnson News Editor

W

hile February 28 will stand as a significant day in the lives of many Vassar students because of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) protest and Vassar’s responsive programming, the same date will also prove to be a significant but more somber one for the neighboring West Point Military Academy. Hours before the WBC’s promised picket outside our gates, members of the church will gather at West Point to protest the funeral of General Norman Schwarzkopf, an alumnus who died at the age of 78. Just as these last few weeks have prompted students to reflect on the significance of tolerance and activism in the face of hate, I think we should also use our shared status as targets to consider our connections with West Point and all servicemen and servicewomen.

Picketing funerals, especially military ones, is one of the most notorious tactics the WBC uses to spread its message. Much like its reason for protesting against Vassar, the group’s website cites the military’s tolerance for homosexuality as its reason for picketing Gen. Schwarzkopf’s funeral. According to its website, “The truth is that all these soldiers are fighting for the right of fags to marry—the same sin for which the Lord destroyed the world with a great flood…Military funerals have become pagan orgies of idolatrous blasphemy…”

Although criticisms of our two institutions have similar sources, the words and aims differ in some significant ways. Based on previous events, the church will look to disrupt Vassar’s daily activities and attack our communities’ values. However, at funeral protests the church specifically rejoices in death and advocates for more bloodshed. The WBC’s anti-military protests include holding up signs that say ‘Thank

God for Dead Soldiers’ and ‘Thank God for IEDs’; protestors have also sung and yelled in the past in order to disrupt services or to be heard by mourners as they enter or leave.

The WBC seeks to shame those attending the funeral and dishonor the dead.

I know that not everyone at Vassar supports what the military and institutions like West Point stand for. There are probably many at West Point who do not share all of our convictions. However, I still believe that the hateful rhetoric of the WBC highlights our common goals. While Vassar students may disagree with the military as an institution or its policies on sexual identity and women’s issues, we should support the West Point community and those individuals who are also suffering at the hands of the WBC’s hatred. WBC’s message of hate and intolerance is universally unacceptable.

This support becomes even more critical because West Point cadets are banned from responding to the protest. The Academy’s regulations prohibit cadets from counter-protesting the funeral picket in any way, and this leaves the community without the feelings of institutional and campus-wide support that Do Something VC and other groups seek to provide our campus. There is a tragic irony in this scenario because these cadets, now unable to protests this hate speech, may be called to fight to defend the right to free speech that allows the WBC to vocalize their hateful message.

In response to the unacceptable messages of the WBC and the cadets’ inability to engage with the group, Vassar students have created the West Point Solidarity Committee. In order to show Vassar’s commitment to supporting the grieving family and the cadets, the committee has created banners to be displayed on both

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campuses that read ‘United We Stand Against Hatred.’ Moreover, the committee has drafted a letter to cadets stating, despite differing opinions on other issues, their support of the West Point community in the face of such hate, and their hopes for more work towards common goals. This letter will be read to the cadets as they all gather in the dining hall on Thursday, as well as to West Point’s commandants. Copies of this letter can be found and signed on Do Something VC’s website, the group’s Facebook page, or the online edition of this article.

I implore students who detest the messages of the WBC to read and sign the letter of solidarity. These letters will also show our support of all those cadets who are personally harmed by the WBC’s message.

While these signatures mark a valuable and tangible way of recognizing our connections with West Point, Vassar students should remember that our ties to West Point and the American military run deep and will continue to grow in the coming months. These relationships should not be ignored, but rather embraced for their potential to inspire growth and understanding from individuals at both institutions. Throughout its history, hundreds of Vassar students have family members who have served, or are currently serving, in the military; this semester Vassar also welcomed its first active combat veteran to campus. This number will grow next semester when Vassar enrolls 11 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans through the Veterans’ Posse Program that President Hill created. Vassar also has been building an academic and educational exchange with West Point through the Vassar-West Point Initiative.

Arguably Vassar’s most visible connection with West Point, the initiative brings cadets to our campus, and then allows Vassar students access to their daily life as well. The program

brings students and cadets together in order to bridge the divide between the military and civilian communities; both military and civilian educators believe that bridging this divide is critical to ensuring a thriving democracy.

Vassar’s mission statement encourages us to embrace diversity of perspective and experience; although we may never agree on some issues, developing our bond with West Point represents one form of achieving this aim.

Moreover, the Academy’s connection with Vassar will help them as they look to develop their institution’s acceptance of LGBTQ cadets. In the aftermath of the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ West Point is continuing to expand its LGBTQ support system. Knights Out, a group of West Point alumni and faculty that work to support LGBT-identified soldiers, and other groups are growing their presence on the campus. Collaboration between Vassar students and West Point cadets on issues of gender, sexuality, and race would strengthen both parties. While it may seem easy to identify the differences in our campuses, these links and the WBC’s attacks remind me just how much our institutions have in common.

A common phrase in our discussions about our responses to WBC is ‘it should be about us, not them.’ I support this statement and challenge students to consider the cadets, and General Schwarzkopf’s grieving family members, as part of this ‘us.’ We share a community and aspirations of a better world with these cadets, even though we might not always share the means of achieving these goals. As we face the attacks from the WBC, Vassar should insist on solidarity with the West Point cadets.

—Bethan Johnson ‘15 is a History and English double major. She is News Editor for The Miscellany News.

VC activism should spark national youth movement Mira Singer

Guest Columnist

B

y now anyone familiar with Vassar College knows about the protest scheduled by the Westboro Baptist Church. We are targeted because of our inclusive community and acceptance of LGTBQIA students. You have most likely heard of the enormous response, as students and alumni join to turn this into a moment of unity and pride in defense of love and inclusiveness. And to this I say: good for Vassar—especially the students—for responding so resoundingly and positively to such a hateful, distressing antagonism! I am proud of my community and its immediate outpouring of love, support, art and activism..

But it is not enough. This attack is not isolated, but emblematic of a larger social issue. Although WBC is a fringe hate group condemned by nearly all, their views are merely more extreme, offensively stated versions of beliefs shared by many, including politicians.

Vassar students have been able to use the WBC attacks to catalyze a great coming together, a positive movement many say they will carry on past this one protest. I say go for it, and then some. Some have commented about the media attention the WBC is likely to draw, and the ways in which we can harness this attention and communicate our message of inclusion and equality. I say go for it, and then some. The young people in this country have already shown their power with the immense impact our votes have had in recent elections. I say go for it, and then some. Let’s do more than vote; let’s set the agenda!

It’s about time our generation rose and stood up for itself and its beliefs. Why not take a cue from many of our parents and make hipsters the new hippies? Both movements have distinctive music and style, and are nonconformist subcultures that arose in similar demographic bands, albeit in different decades.

The outpouring of love and art I have seen on campus in response to the WBC attacks is reminiscent of nothing so much as the peace and love center of hippie-ism. All that hipsters still need in order to have the same immense cultural impact is social and political activism.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

So let’s take this energy and run with it, going beyond the hippies by reaching across subcultures, demographics and political parties to unite around this issue. Young people favor the freedom to love, and want to eliminate discrimination on that basis (70% of Americans under 30 favor gay marriage rights, according to the New York Times).

Gay rights is the civil rights issue of our generation. It is time to look outside our bubble and see how far we still have to go before we can truly reach “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness,” “liberty and justice for all,” and “created equal.” It’s not enough just to wait around for things to somehow fix themselves, or even until we are old enough to be counted among the ‘adult’ demographic in national polls. As hippies stood up to protest the Vietnam War, I call upon young people across America now to stand up and rally for the rights of all Americans to be who they are and love who they love. Let the energy generated at Vassar in response to the WBC be the catalyst for a unified, motivated youth social justice movement.

It is true what people say—this is bigger than the WBC, bigger than any individual one of us, bigger than Vassar, bigger than New York.

As the phoenix is reborn from fire, let us take the weapons of hate and transform them into tools of peace, the kind we can believe in. So to those at Vassar who are already working: keep spreading the word. To everyone else: join us!

What makes this incident different from all others? Why should this spark off a national movement when so many other atrocities have not? My answer is: why not? Energy is already being generated. People are already standing up to say: ‘enough’. So do so, peacefully and wisely and gloriously. And don’t let the energy wane. Let it grow and spread our joy and openness to others, asking them to hear the call and rise up in defense of all rights. Like the hippies, let us be the youth who changed the country with a simple message of love for all. We’re not so different from them. I mean, hey, we both love rainbows.

—Mira Singer ‘14 is an independent Storytelling major.

February 28, 2013

OPINIONS

S. Korea president begins with bold agenda Sara Lobo

Guest ColumNist

S

outh Korea’s first female president, Park Geun-hye, was sworn into office this past Monday. Conservative in philosophy and focused on defense, she inherits a slowing economy and tense relations with North Korea, though her political goals offer potential for success.

Geun-hye’s ascension to the presidency is notable, as the country’s Parliament and big businesses are predominantly male, and the gender income gap is incredibly wide. She is also the first child of a former president to take power. Her father, Park Chung-hee, was an authoritarian ruler from 1961 to 1979, and pioneered Korea’s modernization efforts. Until the 1960s, the country was incredibly poor following the Japanese colonization and Korean War, but this was quickly remedied during Park’s rule, known as the “miracle on the Han river.”

Today, his daughter is calling for a second miracle on the Han River, outlining plans for economic betterment and public security.

Park’s role in the political sphere dates back to her early twenties. Following her mother’s assassination by a pro-North Korean terrorist, she took her place as First Lady during her father’s rule until his own assassination five years later. These tragedies have helped fuel Geun-hye’s current political efforts as well as her public image. She speaks openly about the death of her parents, asserting that South Korea has become her family; its prosperity being her only source of happiness.

One of the most important tasks Park faces as President is maintaining safety and public security for South Korea. In her presidential address she urged Kim Jong-un, the newly installed leader of North Korea, to abandon his nuclear program. North Korea has also been militarily active as of late, firing ballistic missiles and pursuing military advancements, likely in efforts to help Kim Jong-un assert his dominance. On February 12, North Korea’s third underground nuclear test was conducted, resulting in a 5.1 magnitude earthquake and raising many international concerns, not to mention causing South Korea to raise its military alert status. Park details a policy of align-

ment with North Korea, believing that neither passive accommodation nor hard-liner foreign policy will bring about improvement; she opts instead for a middle-road approach.

Given her long experience in politics, Park has the potential to persuade Kim Jong-un to pick up negotiations with South Korea. The former president of South Korea, Lee Myungbak, did not make any headway in improving relations with the North, enforcing a hard-liner policy that led to a deterioration in dialogue.

Now, at a time when both North and South Korea have new heads of government, there is potential for serious improvement – if North Korea is willing. Perhaps Kim Jong-un will want to make changes to help revive his country’s economy, or curb the unbridled famine. As of yet, the relationship between the two countries is tense, and it is critical—in light of recent nuclear activity—that Park’s foreign policy efforts are more successful than her predecessor’s to restore relations between the two nations.

Another aspect of Park’s plan as president is to bring South Korea’s economy back to full power, while helping to curb some of the unsettling and unfair practices brought about by big business. South Korea is full of large businesses and conglomerates, but they are too powerful and economic growth has not been spreading fairly. Medium and small business face unfair competition, and even university graduates have trouble landing jobs within the confines of the country. Park wishes to provide incentives for smaller businesses to help reduce economic inequality.

Perhaps most relevant at a social level, Park aims to reform the welfare system and educational structure to bring about future economic growth while ensuring the happiness of the people. South Korea is an aging society with a declining birthrate, which renders its social security systems weak and fragile. She plans to fix the inadequate welfare system for the elderly. Additionally, she wants to lower the expenses for raising a child and for education— as expenses are currently so high that the they contribute to the nation’s falling birth rate.

People are having trouble finding jobs within the confines of the country, and the cost of education needs to be lowered so that this eco-

nomic growth can be sustained.

In a step to reform the education system, Park envisions a change towards a more merit-based system, giving incentives for upward job progress rather than only looking at academic credentials. Stressing the importance of science and technology, she advocates movement towards a creative, innovative economy with enough incentives to keep small businesses and large conglomerates satisfied. Continual improvement in science and technology is essential for South Korea, as the country lacks natural resources and the ability to be energy independent. However, the country has found its niche in the manufacturing sector, with Samsung and other large corporations excelling in the international market. For South Korea to continue wielding economic power, Park believes it is crucial to maintain focus in science and technology while giving more people access to postsecondary education.

Park has an ambitious vision for South Korea—aiming to ensure public safety while improving the economy through fairer business practices and educational reform. It will be interesting to see how she addresses foreign policy with North Korea, especially if the Kim Jong-un continues spurring nuclear development. I would like to be hopeful that her middle-road diplomatic stance will lead to improvement, particularly as the living standards in North Korea grow increasingly bleak. However, it is too early to tell how the two countries will interact. With respect to the economy, I applaud her efforts to curb the influence of large corporations, as smaller sectors of the economy should be given the opportunity to develop. Additionally, lowering the cost of education will help create a more productive society. A focus on education is, in my opinion, essential to the positive development of any nation. Park has boldly stated that her tenure as president of South Korea will be the second miracle on the Han River, and the world is keen to see how her implementations will affect foreign policy and the economy on a domestic and international level.

—Sara Lobo ‘16 is a student at Vassar College.

Page 11

Word

on the street

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

“A small bear.”

—Sean Sellers ‘16

“An otter.”

—Anna Been ‘14

“A cheetah.”

—Anais Paccione ‘14

NYT writer mars paper, misinforms readers Lane Kisonak

opiNioNs editoR

A

s the editor of an opinions section for a newspaper, I find it endlessly interesting to study opinions sections in other newspapers.

Take The New York Times, for example. Its editorial direction is accepted as center-left, but commentators spanning the ideological spectrum spill ink each day. In quality, the Times’ opinions range from the insipid to the sublime, with the average being readable and informative.

Sometimes, though, a thread of historical contradiction makes itself known. I’m not talking about a conflict of ideas—that’s to be expected and encouraged—but a deeper and more hidden conflict between authors and their abilities; one that, when noticed, diminishes the credibility of at least one, and hurts those who read his or her columns. This is what happened to David Brooks last Monday.

Our story begins 11 months ago on March 31, 2012, when Rick Santorum was still an angry, sweater-vested thorn in Mitt Romney’s side during the Republican primaries. Talking about a Romney aide’s can-you-believe-he-said-that-outloud assertion that his candidate could reset his positions like an Etch-a-Sketch, comedy writer David Javerbaum penned a classic satirical takedown of Romney that shrewdly glued the former Massachusetts governor’s ever-shifting platform the to vagaries of quantum physics. Javerbaum outlined an internally coherent theory of Romney’s beliefs, policy shifts, and public appearances. “In much the same way that light is both a particle and a wave, Mitt Romney is both a moderate and a conservative”; “While some views are…less likely than others, no view can be thought of as absolutely impossible”; a gem Javerbaum calls the “principle uncertainty principle”; you get the idea. Javerbaum’s column captured the emerging mood of frustration with fact-shredding seen at

the GOP debates and did so in a way that subtly commented on politics, which often seems random but is in fact a product of calculation, within the framework of physics, which is often viewed as mechanical but is also deeply chaotic.

The observer effect in quantum mechanics states that, when one observes an object, one necessarily changes it. This is not only true of electrons, but also of elections and the policy debates that unfold in their wake—hence the duty that columnists should observe by fact-checking politicians and not merely accepting talking points as they are delivered. Or, for that matter, of not using their column space to deliberately paint a skewed picture of the truth. As the fight over the $1.2 trillion in sequestration cuts set to take place over the next decade comes to a head this week, David Brooks shows us what happens when observation turns into obfuscation.

“As the sequestration fight comes to a head David Brooks shows us what happens when observation turns into obfuscation.” lANE kiSoNAk ’13 Brooks, unlike Javerbaum, writes regularly for the Times and feeds off false equivalency, assigning blame in equal proportions to Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as President Obama, for D.C.’s political paralysis. Brooks often falls victim to the problem of looking for

evidence to support one’s point of view, which is a forgivable (and supremely human) lapse in opinion-journalistic responsibility. There’s probably no one (myself included) who doesn’t do it, whether in the Times, The Miscellany News, or at a dinner-table debate. Anything to stake a claim on “QED.” But on February 21, Brooks described the political dance around the sequester taking place in D.C.—in an attempt at extended metaphor that seems to strive for Javerbaum’s heights but plunges into the abyss of clumsiness—as a “DC Dubstep.” Brooks accused Democrats of doing the “Permanent Campaign Shimmy”: defining a problem, passing the buck on finding a solution, and casting blame; he then blamed Republicans for doing the “Suicide Stage Dive,” which involves glorifying unpopular policy stances as examples of responsibility. Together, Brooks writes, these not-at-all-dubstep-themed moves “are beautifully guaranteed to cause maximum damage to the country” by extending economic uncertainty and eroding confidence in government. Specifically, he criticized Obama for not offering a sequester alternative or proposing specific policy fixes, such as means-testing Medicare. Both of these charges were patently untrue, as Brooks noted in an addendum. The White House website has long listed Medicare means-testing—a way of ensuring that the wealthy do not draw on healthcare benefits they do not need—as a possible means of deficit reduction. Obama has made informal offers to Congress that contain higher taxes and cuts in spending, which are part and parcel of any fiscal negotiating process.

Brooks’s oversights came, he said, from “a mood of justified frustration.” Of course, we should all ask, even if Brooks’s frustrations were justified, how does he manage to pollute the pages of a respected newspaper with his foul See NEW YORK TIMES on next page

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“A sloth.”

—Victoria Villella ‘14

“A kangaroo.”

-Jason Myhre ‘14

“A baby seal pup.”

—Kevin Gish ‘16

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

OPINIONS

Page 12

February 28, 2013

Readers must Nation’s largest climate protest brings hold media attention to harmful Keystone pipeline accountable O Alli Crook

Guest Columnist

n Sunday, February 17, three cars departed from Vassar College at 5:00 a.m. en route to Washington D.C., where they met several other Vassar students among over 40,000 activists in front of the Washington Monument.

This was the “biggest climate rally by far, by far, by far in U.S. history,” according to activist Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, renowned author, and the keynote speaker at the march. At this march we asked President Obama to live up to his promise to move forward on climate change and reject the proposal for the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Keystone XL is a proposal for a pipeline that would stretch from Alberta, Canada down to the U.S., transporting crude oil extracted from Canadian tar sands across more than a thousand miles. Although there has been much dispute about the exact path of the pipeline, it would have to cut through some part of the Midwest and end up in the Gulf of Mexico. This path not only cuts through America’s heartland and a major aquifer, but also intrudes on the land of many Canadian indigenous tribes. Canadian energy company TransCanada, a self-described “leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure,” is responsible for this project.

It is the duty of our generation to be insistent that this pipeline not be allowed for several reasons. The first is the fact that this pipeline poses a large threat to everywhere it passes through. The technology is not perfect. Leaks are inevitable. These leaks threaten to ruin the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the largest in the United States. This aquifer is responsible for the drinking water of millions of people, and also supplies water for a large amount of U.S. agriculture. But more importantly, we simply

NEW YORK TIMES continued from page 11

mood and get away with a slap on the wrist, tasked with nothing more than a half-apology?

Thankfully, there are people who jump on columns like these and correct falsehoods before they can do much damage. Jonathan Chait, writing for New York magazine, published a blog post on February 22, updated at multiple intervals throughout the day, that now serves as a sort of Bayeux tapestry depicting only the latest of many wonk-waged battles against Brooks’ intellectual laziness and political hackery.

But we should not have to rely on columnists from rival publications to police each other in order to be supplied with reasoned opinions. “[Brooks is] trying to be fair-minded and reasonable,” Chait wrote charitably, but Brooks’ radical moderation “[led him] badly astray.” It not only led Brooks astray, but also anyone who read him and took him at his word. It’s easy to see how such misinformation can flow into the political system as wasted energy. “Dear Mr. President,” a letter-writer might begin, “Why won’t you act like the adult in the room you so often claim to be?” when that person might do better to write, “Dear Speaker Boehner, please bring a bill to the floor to repeal sequestration in full.” Something like that—anything that asks a politician to do something he or she is not already doing.

Brooks seems to care little about this, and I find that just a little offensive. As critical consumers of media, enjoined by our professors to be skeptical of our sources, we should all be offended by acts like these. We should remember that papers like the Times, especially their opinion writers, are far from absolutely reliable. We should read them closely and hold them accountable. As we’ve just seen, the observer effect is a profoundly powerful force.

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

“Blank and White”

cannot allow the fossil fuels that this pipeline would bring us to enter our atmosphere. The dirty emissions from this pipeline only further climate change and do nothing to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign energy.

This pipeline is thinking of the past; we cannot allow it because it does nothing to encourage an investment in clean renewable energies and technologies.

“It is the duty of our generation to insist that this pipeline not be allowed.”

Alli Crook ’14 The February 17 protest, which began as a rally at noon with speakers such as Bill McKibben, Van Jones, indigenous leaders, a U.S. senator, and even a wealthy former investor, ended with a march that spanned several blocks around the capital, ending in front of the White House. The initial rally, led by Rev. Lennox Yearwood, got everyone excited with motivational and powerful speeches; 40,000 fists went up in solidarity with everyone who has had a hand in this fight. The rally was an important way for us to come together from different backgrounds, fields of speciality, and generations in order to stand collectively as one, unified people. The Keystone XL Pipeline is not an attack on the environment, it is an attack on people. Once in front of the White House, we turned our white signs over, above our heads, to form a large, black pipeline. As we marched, we chanted to Obama, “We are

unstoppable. A better world is possible.”

After standing in the cold for four hours, we all piled back in our cars to return to Vassar by midnight, most of us having spent a full 12 hours in our car seats. This is not the first time Vassar has traveled to D.C. to take a stand specifically on the Keystone pipeline. In 2011, several Vassar students were arrested while protesting in front of the White House against the Pipeline. In November 2011, we also woke up at 5:00 a.m. to head to D.C.—although this act didn’t make us any better in pulling ourselves out of bed and into the cars this time around — only to return later that same afternoon. In 2011, we joined 10,000 others to form the first ever complete circle of protesters around the White House, followed by Obama’s initial rejection of the Keystone proposal several weeks later.

Despite the enormous amount of work and organizing that we put in so far, we still had to come back this President’s Day—with 30,000 more friends—to make our feelings clear. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Rejecting this pipeline is of paramount importance to our future. As Bill McKibben pointed out in a personal web video he recently made for a campaign of the Vassar Greens, future generations are going to question what we did when we heard that the Arctic was melting, what we did when we saw unprecedented heat waves, and what we did when devastating natural disasters became an annual event? We will tell them that we stood up for the people who have already been affected by climate change, and for the future generations who will be affected with greater severity each day that our consumption of fossil fuels continues. We went to D.C. as many times as it took for us to be heard, and we are confident that we will win this fight for climate and social justice.

—Alli Crook ‘14 is a Philosophy major.

The Miscellany Crossword

by Jack Mullan, Crossword Editor

ACROSS 1 Sometime around 6 Cry for help 9 *Very dark 12 Lend ___ (listen) 13 .5 15 Jon Huntsman’s state 17 Engagement agreement 19 Not esta or esa 20 Grand Theft ___ 21 Snaky swimmers 22 Back to front?

24 Headshake, e.g.

26 Three, in Torino 27 Nickname for TV’s serial killer 28 NNW’s opposite 29 Pioneering computer of 1951 34 Light bulb unit 35 Underwater menace 37 Scandanavian name meaning “brother” 38 NY Mets’ div.

41 *1997 blockbuster

starring Agents J and K 42 *Vegas card game/*”School of Rock” star 44 *Got waaaay too drunk 46 Sailing grp.

47 Get an ___ effort 49 Absorption process 51 Ottomans, shortened 52 Rejection of dogma 53 Cool, in old slang 56 Draw 57 “Well, I’ll be!”

59 One way to stand 61 Way to go: Abbr.

62 Scott in an 1857 Supreme Court case 66 Lady ___ (pop diva) 67 Qualified 70 A ___ (kind of reasoning) 72 FWA, MEChA, and others: Abbr.

73 Star Wars sage 74 Respite for camels

Answers to last week’s puzzle

75 *Shiner 76 The “A” in MoMA 77 Ebony...and a hint to the color represented by the filled squares next to the starred answers

DOWN

Dam 40 Online home/jewelry/ art shop 43 Word in the MGM logo 45 Palme ___ (Cannes award) 48 *Post−Thanksgiving

consumerist tradition 50 *Family pariah 53 *FDR’s first (successful) Supreme Court nominee 54 Finnish lake, to Swedes 55 Kind of back or bank

1 Common superhero garb 2 Common memo opener 3 Film unit 4 Fires 5 ___ Islands, near New Guinea 6 Sandcastle site 7 Cheerios grain 8 Canon type, briefly 9 Argentine strongman Perón 10 Pin holders 11 Goodbyes (for now) 14 *Classic Metallica power ballad 16 *Place in space 18 *Completely unlit 23 Where ambulances are headed 25 Far−out 27 “Donnie ___” (2001 cult film) 29 “This is right ___ alley” 30 Noted U.S. physicist Alfred 31 Soap opera creator Phillips 32 “Go!” to João 33 Actress Bening 34 Infamous Christian protest group 36 “Can’t take ___” 38 Snoop (around) 39 California’s San ___

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

57 Aunt or uncle’s leader?

58 Spielberg classic 60 Zap with a stun gun 62 Radio tuner 63 Civil rights pioneer Parks 64 Holder in the Obama

cabinet

65 Frisbee 68 ___ constrictor 69 Far−away commitment: Abbr.

71 Burgle

February 28, 2013

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 13

OPINIONS

Breaking News From the desk of Jean-Luc Bouchard, Humor & Satire Editor Davison sophomore surprised to receive fire inspection reprimand for antique gasoline and matches collection What to do and where to do L’amore vs. La Mug: a JYAer it: A guide from Mr Bouchard experiences romance in Italy Jean-Luc Bouchard

Humor & Satire Editor

“T

he world abounds in beauty if you simply take the time to see.” – Mahatma Gandhi (Or Benito Mussolini…or Springsteen.

Don’t remember; it’s one of those big guys.)

My friends, we are blessed to live on such a magnificent campus. Even those of us who actually worked hard to get here (i.e. don’t have the last name of Rockefeller/Sanders/Schwarzenegger) should feel pretty lucky. And yet, rare is the Vassar student who truly takes advantage of what this campus has to offer. Too often do I hear of an Italian major who spends every night flipping flash cards in her room, or the sophomore who considers a trip to the Deece a major outing. People, people—if you’re spending all your time in the same three buildings, day after day, you’re missing out! Well, never fear, true-believers, because your gracious Humor Editor has taken time out of his busy schedule of watching Downton Abbey and not shaving to compile a helpful guide to the most advantageous places on campus!

Places to get work done.

One of the first challenges college freshmen encounter is the quest for a productive study space. For some, it can take weeks to find that perfect couch in the Rose Parlor or just the right seat in UpC. For others, it can take until the final week in senior year, when they finally discover that, omg, we have a library. There’s no wonder that this task proves so difficult for so many— often, you want to hit that perfect mixture of not-too-busy a location so as to distract yourself from work/Facebook, but busy enough that people see you working and you can feel good about yourself for being on The Onion for four hours.

Here are some productive work spaces you may have overlooked in your endless search: 1. The Mug. That’s right, The Mug, during one of its dance nights, is actually a fantastic place to hone your skills as a scholar. You’ll be working in a high-stress, high-sweat environment, racing to complete your problem set in the brief flashes of the strobe light as the guy next to you touches your face and screams, “HEY I SAW YOU IN MY MARKET ONCE, WANNA DANCE.” After a few study sessions at Middle School Mug Night, in-class exams are going to be easier than spotting people losing the will to live while waiting in Deece lines.

2. The VSA office. No more luxurious place on campus to finish your reading than the Bill

Gates-esque mansion of the VSA office. Perched on top of Rainbow Mountain in the heart of the Golden Kingdom, the VSA office is like a museum fused with an amusement park fused with a late-Renaissance French palace, featuring the latest in comfort technology: massage robots, Cheetos cannons, marble jacuzzis, and one sometimes-working coffee machine.

3. Not the 24 hour room. Wayyyy too much sexual tension. And crying. And science majors (you know…those kids who are always crying).

Places to hide…things.

I don’t care what you’re hiding. Seriously, don’t tell me. I don’t wanna hear it. All I know is we all got things to hide and a need for places to hide them. Big or small, illegal or just plain weird, here’s where to hide your terrifying things: 1. Inside Roellke’s desk. Who would think to look for your cursed monkey’s claw/lewd classroom drawings/Nazi memorabilia in the Dean of the College’s office? Well, everyone now, but do it anyway.

2. The SoCos. Because it’s impossible to find something in a place where literally no one has ever gone.

Places to have intercourse.

When your bed is just too boring and the Joss Beach Sex Tree is just too full of bees and thorns, there is a selection of sensual spaces that the Vassar campus has to offer: 1. The security golf carts. Nothing spices up your probably really boring love life like a cramped, dangerous knocking-of-the-ole’-boots on top of the uncomfortable, Mountain Dewdrenched seats of a moving security golf cart car transport thing. Warning: The cart only has two settings—Parked, and KILL ALL STUDENTS ON THE PATH. 2. The Old Observatory. No place more romantic to perform the Horizontal Monster Mash than a building oriented towards the stars. Just be aware that you will have to deal with the surly ghost of late astronomer and Vassar professor Maria Mitchell, who will interrupt your love-making to complain about having a first name for a last name.

3. The VSA office. I just think it’d be funny.

Places to go more often.

1. The Lehman Loeb Art Center. Wednesday is Free Piece of Art Day. Right? I didn’t just steal that painting, right?

2. Jewett 329. I am so lonely.

3. Not Cushing.

Lily Doyle

Guest Editor

B

eing abroad in Italy comes with a lot of expectations—it’s supposedly the country of good food, beautiful art, and romance. The expectations for romance at Vassar are usually much lower. They decrease at an exponential rate, starting sometime after freshman orientation week, when everyone is still wide-eyed and the Deece is the best part of your day because you have never seen anyone get Gatorade in such an attractive manner and ohmygod what if he asks you on a date after the tour of Baldwin?! I think my expectations started to go downhill quickly after the first time I stepped foot in the Mug and thought I’d mistakenly entered an extra-dark Hollister store where instead of putting perfume on everything, the employees just worked out in the clothes until they were drenched with sweat.

Or maybe it was while I was still adjusting to the gender neutral bathrooms and there were no free sinks and I accidentally spit out my toothpaste on the really attractive upperclassman who lived on the hall. So, going to Italy for a semester, I hoped that romance would once again be an option in my life, and that I would see dramatic proposals in front of churches and roses delivered to doorsteps and maybe a duel over a woman or a sword fight between the Montagues and the Capulets. Anything along those lines. However, I am starting to understand that Italy, while a fantastic place that definitely delivers when it comes to food and art, has a different standard of romance than the United States, and that the Vassar romantic scene has some unexpected merits.

For example, the Italians have an odd idea of when is a good time to pick up a girl. By this, I mean that they believe that ANY TIME is a good time. Is she babysitting a small child? Throw a snowball at the little boy and see if that gets her attention! Is she crying in a stairwell? Just stand directly behind her and breathe heavily until she feels comforted. That girl running full speed on the treadmill? Now is probably a good time to strike up a conversation—offer to wipe the sweat off her brow. In fact, the University of Bologna website, when describing its workout facilities, states that, “at the gym, you can meet new friends and why not...your ‘sweety heart.’ If you can win someone’s attention while sweating, you have nothing to lose!” Seriously. Seriously. The university says that to students. This has brought to light the really positive qualities of Vassar romance—for example, that you will likely only get heavily breathed upon when you expect to be, like in the Villard Room or when you stand next

to the casting results for the semester’s plays.

Having a roommate also never encourages dramatic acts of romance, no matter where you live. For example, if John Cusack was to hold a boombox under your window, he’d probably disturb most of the Quad and it would definitely inspire some angry and passive aggressive SayAnything posts. Unless of course, you live in Cushing, in which case he will only disturb the polar bears who live over there with you in Siberia. However, there are even fewer opportunities for romance in the Italian dorm living style. For example, you could be in my living situation—the all-girls dorm, where in order to sneak a man in, you would have to either convince him to crossdress or invest in some Batman-level technology.

The alternative, however, is a dorm in which you live in an apartment with 4-10 people of both sexes. This is great and fun and very modern, congratulations Italy! Of course, having a dorm with people of both sexes who are STRANGERS who DON’T SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE runs some risks, like, for example, walking into the room for your very first dinner and being told by a man with an unfortunate grasp of the English language that you “dominate his dreams” and that he is going to go “watch some videos” after he finishes his pasta. Risky.

Along the same vein, the weekend scene does not particularly lend itself to any grand romantic gestures either. In Italy, weekend nights will often lead you to a bar that has nice snacks (priorities), and then out to a piazza to sit on the ground. If you are lucky, while you sit on the ground in February in a dress that was probably created for the heat of the Arabian desert, a nice man will come up to you and start tossing bread by your feet, while yelling “COME TO THE PRETTY GIRL, PIGEONS. COME TO THE PRETTY GIRL.” The pigeons will indeed come. Conversely, contrary to popular belief, the Vassar weekend is blossoming with the flower of young love. Or, there are a lot of people who want to forget that they just got a B on their language quiz because honestly who even needs to know the subjunctive anyways, and are therefore wandering into the THs of strangers and cruising for free alcohol, snacks or possibly an attractive human. Because, really, we all just want a nice someone to buy us Bacio’s and tell us that our comment in our class about French wine the other day was really deep, insightful, and brought to light a lot of the most important issues facing the world today. If getting a slice of free pizza and maybe a kiss after midnight isn’t true romance, I really don’t know what is.

Eight Haikus of Freshman Year

by Brenden Kiernan, Guest Columnist

I. “Roommates, Companions”

III. “Grey Poughkeepsie”

V. “Vassar Bubble”

VII. “Orientation”

Flutist with ferret, Point Guard who hates to shower I need a single.

Bleached-blonde from Cali Flip-flops through grey snow, suffers From swimsuit withdrawal.

Caged in Vassar’s gates, I wonder if a city Is past Bacios.

Wake up ten thirty, Meeting and greeting with drinks; Please last forever.

II. “The Gnawing Inside”

IV. “Parents’ Weekend”

VI. “Finals”

VIII. “Gender Neutral”

Four classes, hunger Blue-haired guy ate last pizza More class, tragedy

Condoms dental dams Literally everywhere.

They know about Squirm.

Exams, labs, papers.

No joy. I thought this was an Ivy League Whorehouse.

Drawn curtains, footsteps True love showers next to you The water runs cold.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ARTS

Page 14

VRDT to feature guest director VRDT continued from page 1

Miller to perform solo at Spring Concert Emma Daniels RepoRteR

B

ecca Miller ’14 has been playing the trumpet since fourth grade. “I picked it because it was in the family; my dad played it in high school and we always had a trumpet lying around the house,” she said.

As the years progressed, a requirement for an elementary school band program has become a full-blown passion. At Vassar, Miller is a Political Science major with a Music History minor, and is an avid participant in the campus music programs. She also takes lessons with Jim Osborn, Adjunct Artist in Music and the director of the Jazz and Wind Ensembles at Vassar.

“Becca Miller is a very busy Vassar musician,” Osborn commented.

Furthermore, Miller is notably one of few females who plays the trumpet. At Vassar, she is the only female trumpetist, and a talented one at that.

And on Saturday, March 2 at 8 p.m., Miller’s aptitude will be showcased; she will be performing a solo in the Vassar College Orchestra concert, conducted by Eduardo Navega. The Orchestra, an audition-only group, gives two concerts each semester, and typically performs great works from the symphonic literature. Recent concerts have included pieces by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Villa-Lobos and S. Barber, among others. Each concert has featured soloists, and this semester, Miller will play the first movement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E Flat.

“Becca is a quietly intense trumpet player who is becoming a strong soloist after years of performing as a solid trumpet section member. She has been a great student and I am looking forward to her performance with the orchestra and her senior recital next year!” said Osborn.

From Chevy Chase, Md., Miller became serious about the trumpet when she started taking lessons in sixth grade. And in high school, she played the trumpet yearly in all-county musical groups. She also attended the National High School Music Institute the summer before her senior year, a prestigious audition-only five-week music program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

At the Institute, she played in a brass quin-

Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News

serving as Guest Director of the company while Meehan is on sabbatical leave.

Reeder has been a part of three prestigious dance companies, including the New York City Ballet, the William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt, and the American Ballet Theatre. He began working as a choreographer in 2002, and his works have been performed in numerous prominent venues across the country, such as the American Ballet Theatre, the Washington Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Sacramento Ballet to name a few. He has choreographed at many regional dance schools, academies, and prestigious universities, such as Brown University, Emory University, and the Columbia Ballet Collaborative.

Wildberger spoke to Reeder’s impressive background. “Brian Reeder has certainly brought fresh and vital energy to our company,” wrote Wildberger in an emailed statement. “His piece ‘Nurse’ is innovative and provocative, and demonstrates the cutting edge choreography [he] has been a part of in his brilliant career.”

“Nurse” depicts a darker psychological circumstance, and deals with themes of domination and rebellion. The nurse represents control, and the patients, played by the ensemble, are drowned in prescriptions and fighting against that system of power.

Reeder feels that he often takes an unconventional approach in his work. “The goal for any creation of mine is to use the process of building steps and ideas in a way that does not take me down the road most often traveled,” Reeder explained in an emailed statement. “Meaning, I like to test and stretch myself out of my comfort zone and challenge the dancers to get out of their safety box as well.”

By choosing untraditional subjects, Reeder hopes to get the dancers off of their safety nets and put the audience on the edge of their seats as well. “I picked an odd subject to turn into a little dance drama,” he explained. “Think a mini Reader’s Digest version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” He asserts that people will likely have a strong reaction to the piece, and might even feel a little bit uneasy. “It is meant to creep you out or make you laugh uncomfortably a little. I tend to show my dark humor in my dance works,” he added.

Reeder’s eccentric approach to choreography has allowed students to explore a different side to their art-form. “Working with Brian has been really interesting,” said Matt Ortile ’14, a VRDT dancer since his freshman year. “In class, he is a great teacher. He is able to demonstrate what he wants us to perform, both in the studio and on stage.”

Specifically, Ortile feels that Reeder has helped the company to conceptualize themselves not just as dancers, but as actors too. “He is helpful in reminding us that our performance is not just about the dancing or the choreography, but also about the character work and the intent,” said Ortile. “In ‘Nurse’ there is definitely a huge acting or drama component, and Brian is very helpful in explaining what he expects from us not just as dancers, but as performers.”

Reeder also spoke to the caliber of VRDT, and noted the uniqueness of working with a college company rather than professional dancers. “The academia world is very different from the professional dance world I am more used to,” he explained. “These dancers, all thirty-three of them, are essentially students first and foremost, and we want to give them the experience of being in a professional company atmosphere and understand what would be expected of them. I have come to realize just how much more is going on in their daily existence at Vassar, but it is through their passion for dance that they stay committed to the mission of this student company and keep it going proud and strong.”

Reeder urges all of the Vassar community to make the trip over to the historic Bardavon and see what VRDT has in store. “I highly recommend that one and all come out to support your fellow college mates, see what makes them shine so bright and what makes this dance company one to be reckoned with.”

February 28, 2013

“Quietly intense” trumpet player Becca Miller ’14 will perform a solo at this weekend’s orchestra concert. Miller studies Music History and is one of the few women who plays trumpet at Vassar. tet, wind ensemble and brass ensemble, and took private lessons.

“It was a really great experience because its objective was to simulate the experience of being in a music conservatory in college. I grew a lot as a musician in those five weeks, but it also confirmed that I didn’t want to go to a music conservatory. In a way this led me to Vassar, where I am able to study a variety of things, including but not limited to music,” Miller commented.

During her senior year of high school, Miller further focused her musical pursuits. She participated in the Maryland Class Youth Orchestra, a competitive group that was made up of students from her high school—Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, and other students from the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

She said, “This is where I realized how much I loved playing in an orchestra, and led me to pursue playing in the Vassar College Orchestra beginning my freshman year. It also confirmed my love of classical music—and my preference for it over jazz—and influenced my

decision to study music history at Vassar.”

Besides pursuing music from an academic standpoint, Miller has dabbled in a variety of music-related activities at Vassar, including the orchestra, the jazz ensemble and various chamber groups. Her freshman year, she was in the Brass Trio; her sophomore year, she was in Three Trumpets and a Timphony; and this year she is in the Brass Quintet.

She also emphasized the connections between studying music history in a classroom and playing in an orchestra. She noted, “What I like about playing in an orchestra is that it connects you in an intimate way to the composer, the period a piece was written in, and the people you are playing with.”

On breaks and during the summer, she spreads this love of music to elementary and middle school students in her area by giving trumpet lessons. She works with four boys, two in fifth grade, one in seventh, and one in eighth.

“I’m passionate about music because it’s a way to express myself without words,” Miller concluded.

Tegan and Sara’s Heartthrob a bold shift Heartthrob Tegan and Sara Warner Brother’s Records

Max Rook

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Guest ColumNist

ny band that attempts to reinvent itself risks losing sight of what made it popular in the first place. The annals of rock history are littered with ill-considered albums by bands trying out a “new sound,” that were inevitably rejected by the fans. It is an unfortunate aspect of the music industry, where bands are encouraged to become complacent once they have reached a certain level of success. And if a band attempts to broaden its appeal, accusations of “selling out” will overshadow whatever changes the band makes to the actual music. All of these factors discourage experimentation from established bands, so it is surprising that indie folk duo Tegan and Sara have chosen to shift their sound drastically on their new album. Their seventh full-length release, Heartthrob is firmly within the category of electro-pop, a far cry from the sparse acoustic guitars and haunting harmonies of their early work.

On first impression, Heartthrob is entirely unlike Tegan and Sara’s typical sound, but on closer examination, the album takes certain cues from the band’s discography and expands upon them for a larger audience. Even when their songs only consisted of the two sisters’ voices and an acoustic guitar, they were always structured around catchy choruses, and this new album focuses on stacking as many hooks into each song as the songs can hold, in the same way most big pop songs do today. The band’s lyrics have always been

about bare emotions, and that honest style makes sense for this type of pop. Additionally, their recent albums have been using fuller instrumentation, particularly 2009’s Sainthood, which drew on some of the electronic influences that Heartthrob embraces entirely.

These elements of continuity provide a link to the band’s previous music, but as a whole Heartthrob is a major change for the band.

The album begins with standout track “Closer,” which is something of a mission statement for the album. With its big chorus and dance beat, the song would not feel out of place on a top 40 radio station. There is no preamble, no build-up. It starts with a catchy hook, following it up with another, and another, repeating that pattern. It isn’t a complex song, but it is a tightly built, satisfying piece of pop music. The lyrics are similarly direct, but they are in keeping with the song’s energetic bounce, and the sisters deliver the lines in their own distinct style, which helps to differentiate the song from its more mainstream pop counterparts.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album never quite reaches the heights of “Closer,” a fact that reveals one of the weaknesses of this particular sound: there isn’t very much variety here. Almost every song is between three and four minutes long, and they all adhere to the same basic structure. The lyrics in particular become repetitive, as the middle of the album contains songs like “I’m Not Your Hero,” “How Come You Don’t Want Me” and “I Couldn’t Be Your Friend.” As you might expect with titles like those, the album is full of standard variations on the romantic drama as pop song story. This is actually in keeping with many of Tegan and Sara’s earlier songs, which were equally focused on romance, but the repetition is more notable here, when so

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

many of the songs they pull from stylistically also rely on the same tropes.

Some of the album’s highlights come when it breaks from those tropes and becomes more of a synthesis of the band’s previous style with this new electronic aesthetic. Many of the songs feature a verse or two which make great use of harmonies between the sisters, but they move too quickly past these to the more standard choruses. Another highlight is “Now I’m All Messed Up,” a slower song which manages to show how the band’s new style offers more opportunities for the future.

It is the second-to-last song on the album, and after listening to seven songs that try to emulate the success of the first track, “Now I’m All Messed Up” is a refreshing change of pace. While it certainly relies on romantic tropes, in this case an ode to a departing lover, it does so effectively, as the slower tempo gives the lyrics space to breathe.

So as a reinvention, Heartthrob is mostly effective. It maintains enough of the band’s style to keep longtime fans happy, but it also introduces enough new elements to attract new fans. In fact, if you listen to a lot of Robyn or similar electro-pop, but would never think to listen to an indie folk duo, do yourself a favor and seek out “Closer.” The rest of the album never quite lives up to the promise of that track, but there are moments that indicate where the band could go in the future to expand on their new sound. The prospect of the band’s next album, when they have become more comfortable with this style, is genuinely exciting. It is fairly rare to be able to say that about a band’s eighth album. So while Heartthrob might drag a little in the middle, it fits nicely into Tegan and Sara’s legacy as a welcome departure from the norm.

February 28, 2013

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No Offense to continue comedic legacy in upcoming show Steven Williams aRts editoR

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ver thirty years old, No Offense carries a distinct comedic legacy on campus. The group, which featured the notable Justin Long among its ranks as well as alumni now involved in Chicago’s Second City, will be putting on a sketch filled show in Sanders Auditorium March 1st and 2nd at 9pm and 10pm respectively.

Although now featuring a well-stocked group, co-President Emily Breeze recounts the prospect of a small group at the beginning of this year. “Last year we lost six seniors, so we started the year off with five people which was scary,” she said.

But the group which counts three freshman, one sophomore, two juniors, and three seniors among its ranks, was able to rebuild through their yearly audition process. Breeze notes that they tried to create a group with strength in the years to come.

“When we do auditions we try to take as many young people as possible because we want longevity and we want it to be consistent from year to year,” she said.

But finding solid members is a difficult process because of the nature of sketch comedy.

“The hard thing is that we write and perform all of our own pieces so there are a lot of factors that come into the audition,” Breeze said. “Really good comedy can only happen if you have

Emily Lavieri-ScullThe Miscellany News

Comedy group No Offense faced a rough start to this year after six seniors graduated last year.

Regardless of a lack of seniority, the group is proud of its comradierie and will perform this weekend.

really great actors, but the difficult thing is to find someone who can write and act.”

However, the existing members of the group don’t expect those trying out to have a polished grasp of the process, particularly when it comes to actually creating sketches. “Very few people before coming to college have written a comedic script so we really sort of throw them into a fire pit,” Breeze explained. “We don’t expect any sort of finished project.”

Breeze explains that acting is of course an important aspect of its members repertoires, but in their writing abilities they are not as concerned with its comedic value as you might expect. “We look for someone who can act and perform and is comfortable on stage,” she elaborated. “We look for someone who can write well, but can mostly tell a story in their writing.”

In the audition process, those trying out have a mere twelve hours to write a sketch. But once in the group, members have significantly more time and the methods are different. They first meet in a group where they have an opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other, using what Emily called an “idea board.” Frank Hoffman ‘15 is appreciative of the variety and absurdity of ideas that the group brings forward.

“I wish people could see everything that gets thrown around at the meetings” he wrote in an emailed statement. But even more satisfying than the process for them is what the finished pieces evoke.

“Despite all the fun we have when ideas are being put on the table and developed, the greatest feeling I get is when I hear the laughs during a show and know that we collectively made the best decision on a sketch.” he wrote.

After meeting, they have time to write their sketches, though considerably more time than twelve hours. “People will go off on their own, write sketches together and then bring them to the group,” Breeze said.

After completing initial drafts of their sketches, they bring them back to the group to review and edit them. “We read it like a staged reading and then give suggestions,” she said. And according to Breeze, the group process of editing is crucial. “It’s really hard to edit your own sketch, it’s almost impossible,” she said. “You have to kill your own baby, basically. So, luckily we have a group that will do that for you.”

As far as her own sketches, Breeze notes that it is easiest to write about material that she is familiar with, even if it seems like it may seem abstract or foreign to audiences. “The best writing advice is write what you know,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it seems too cerebral to you because audiences will laugh at circumstantial things.”

And everyone in the group has their own distinct comedic styles and idiosyncasies. “Everyone on this team has a very unique and original view on comedy, yet for the shows we always manage to incorporate a piece of each member, whether it’s in the jokes themselves, the performances, the videos, or Brian Muir running across the stage in his underwear,” Hoffman wrote.

And this all adds up for a unique and fulfilling show. “The students here always get their money’s worth,” Hoffman noted. “Yes, I know the shows are free.”

Ultimately, Breeze and the rest of No Offense are proud of the camaraderie that the group emphasizes among all members, regardless of seniority.

“Possibly the best thing about No Offense is the legacy that we have and the community that’s built between classes,” she said.

Hoffman echoed his approval. “I can honestly say there’s nothing I look more forward to during the week than getting together with some of the funniest kids I’ve ever met and laughing at how weird we are for a few hours at a time.” he wrote.

House of the Spirits an ambitious take on Allende’s novel Emma Daniels RepoRteR

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and received the HOLA Award for outstanding achievement in playwriting. The English language version has only been put up two other times, in Washington, DC, and Denver, Colorado, but is the recipient of the 2011 American Theatre Critics Association Primus Prize on the basis of its production at Denver Center Theatre Company in 2010.

Through the literature manager at NTI, Erbacher got the contact information for Svich, after which she was subsequently e-mailed the script.

“I got my hands on the script and it was an amazing adaptation. Even though I didn’t know how I would ever address some of the stage directions, I decided to do it. It’s impossible but that’s what makes it exciting,” she said.

A key reason why she was willing to approach such a complex project was her past experiences with theater at Vassar. Erbacher has been extensively involved in theater here, and

Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News

n the process of working on the upcoming production of The House of the Spirits, director Tracey Erbacher ’13 compiled a list comprised of elements about the play she had no idea how to address.

“It’s a play that’s beautiful, but impossible,” she mused, “so as we worked on it someone had to be constantly referring to the list and checking things off. For example, at one point, a character floats above the stage, with words floating from her skin, and we had to figure out how to translate that to the stage.”

As their senior project, Drama majors Erbacher, Hannah Rubinek ’13, Case Stewart ’13, Julia McGill ’13, and Rex Huxford-Hernandez ’13 will be putting up Caridad Svich’s The House of the Spirits, adapted from a 1982 novel by highly acclaimed Chilean author Isabel Allende, in conjunction with a group of several other Drama major students. This production is sponsored in part by the E.J. Safirstein ’83 Memorial Fund.

The play will be performed tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday at 8:00 PM in the Martel Theater, and explores the brutal history of an unnamed South American country—assumed to be Chile, through four generations of extraordinary women.

The story is told through vague stage directions and mixed media, and although its genre is not easily categorized, its story fits most neatly into the realm of magical realism.

Although the play is distinctly South American, it has universal themes which are not restricted by national culture. Alba, played

by Stewart, is being tortured during a coup for her political affiliations, and realizes that she recognizes the voice of her torturer; he is tied to her past, and she goes shifting through the memories of her family to find out what brought her to that room.

“The play is about how the women in the family survive through connections with each other, through the magical house of the spirits,” Erbacher said. She emphasized, “It is not an easy play but it is a really important one. There is violence and torture and rape. We look at these hard things with openness—we let our

art deal with them without trying to hide it. But we want to emphasize that the play is like life: luminous in moments and terrible in others.”

Erbacher spearheaded the project when she was studying with Rubinek at the National Theater Institute (NTI) in Spring 2012. “I fell madly in love with the book when I read it as required reading in high school; I made my mom read it, I made my family and friends read it,” she said.

She found out there was a stage adaptation for the play, published in a rough form in a theater journal in San Diego, and was shocked and eager. Erbacher had no idea how such a complex text could be translated to theater, yet because she loved the book so much, wanted to look at the script and possibly tackle the project.

The adaptation was initially written in Spanish, commissioned by Repertorio Español in New York City, where it premiered in 2009

Drama majors Tracey Erbacher, Hannah Rubinek, Case Stewart, Julia McGill, and Rex Huxford-Hernandez collaborated on their senior project to produce Caridad Svitch’s House of Spirits.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

is president of Merely Players, a student-run Shakespeare theater group that puts up one or more of his plays every year.

Through Merely Players, Erbacher has directed three plays at Vassar already: The Taming of the Shrew, A Winter’s Tale, and Henry IV, Part 1.

Through these productions, she formed working relationships with many different talented individuals on campus, and knew that if she decided to tackle a project as ambitious as the House of the Spirits, they would be on board.

Rubinek has been in all three of her productions, and from the get-go, she wanted to be involved. She also recruited Yannick Godts ’13 as her set designer, and Eric McMorris ’14 as her lighting designer, both of whom had worked with her before.

“We have a common trust, that I trust them to do their job, they trust me to do mine. This gives everyone a lot of creative space,” Erbacher said.

Before beginning work on the stage, the group spent sixteen hours at the table, talking over how the play would work.

“We call the process of working on this play collaborative hierarchical,” Erbacher noted, “we try to keep the process open, while making sure that someone is responsible for every part of it, especially because the play is so complicated.”

She also emphasized the dedication and involvement of every member of the cast and crew. For example, she mentioned that Stewart worked extensively on language arrangement and spoken word performance. In addition, McGill did a ton of research and learned an entire accent for her role; and cast member Jon Walker ’15 arranged a song for the show overnight.

“What I’ve learned through my various experiences in theater is that you have to work until you can’t anymore and then work more. If I stopped and thought about how complicated this play was, I’d have a nervous breakdown,” Erbacher said, “and I am so grateful to be working on this show collaboratively with such wonderful people, throwing ourselves into a project we all love.”

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February 28, 2013

Yvonne Elet transitions between Computer Science, Art John Plotz

A

Guest RepoRteR

Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

s it turns out, Computer Science and Art History do have something in common: Professor Yvonne Elet has done them both. Before getting her PhD in Renaissance Art History, Professor Elet worked for IBM. There, she headed a 35 million dollar systems integration project, creating the first computer network across New York City.

As an undergraduate at Yale University, Elet majored in Computer Science with minors in Art History and French, meaning that her later academic diversity would not be such a suprising jump.

“My interests in Computer Science, technology, art history and language have always been there; they’ve just shifted emphasis over the years,” she explained.

The shift from computers to Renaissance art occurred during her time working at IBM. She was always more drawn to the appplication of art rather than theoretical computer science, which after many years began to steer her career down a different road.

“I learned a tremendous amount and enjoyed it, but I was missing something, so I moved to the IBM Gallery of Science and Art,” she said.

There, she began work for science and technology exhibitions. After a while, she became involved with art exhibitions as a Coordinating Curator, where she helped display works relating to subjects such as fractal and irregular geometry.

It was at this point that Elet discovered the path to her current career. “I loved it so I decided to get a masters in Art History for fun, while still working for IBM,” she said. This Masters degree then led to a PhD in Renaissance Art History.

Although she had planned to continue her work as a curator, earning fellowships at the Met and the Frick, she received a teaching offer while finishing her dissertation that began her work as a professor. Elet could not explain what drew her to this time period, except for

Prior to her career as an art historian, Yvonne Elet worked as a Computer Scientist at IBM when she decided to pursue a Master’s in Art History for fun. Today, she specializes in Renaissance Art. the fact that her whole life she felt a strong visceral reaction to it. When she was younger, she had a love for not only art from the early modern period but also for its music and poetry.

When she was doing hands-on art historical work, Elet realized that she had hit gold.

“Working on site in Rome, in villas and gardens, in the Vatican, on conservators’ scaffoldings, and in archives, gave me the most thrilling view of what it meant to be a Renaissance art historian,” she said.

Elet has since focused her scholarship on Raphael and his contribution to the Villa Madama, near Rome. She explained that Villa Madama was built for the distinguished Medici family as a papal welcoming center as well as a pleasure villa, and was often used to welcome foreign heads of state.

In the 1930’s, this function returned, as the

Italian foreign ministry acquired the villa and has been reprising its role as a place for foreign affairs ever since. For this reason, Elet found that open access to the Villa Madama has been very restricted.

“I was fortunate to get in to do an extensive photographic campaign,” she recalled. The stucco at this villa impressed her in particular, as well as the fact that there was no previous academia on it.

“I was astounded when I went back in the library and realized that nothing had been written about it,” she continued, explaining her initial surprise at the paucity of scholarship on the villa’s stuccowork when introduced to the villa.

Elet feels strongly that her work is unusual in that her specialization transcends multiple media. While many professors concentrate on

paintings, sculpture, or landscape, for example, Elet finds that this is not possible for her research.

“With Raphael it’s not practical [to only focus on one medium], because he was doing all of those things,” she elaborated.

Elet brings this approach to the classroom, where she encourages students to find links between art history and other subjects they might be interested in. She enjoys seeing students pursue topics that they are genuinely passionate about.

“One of the things that I particularly enjoy about teaching is letting students form their own paper topics that relate to their own interests. It’s one of the things that makes it particularly fun working with students studying in different disciplines,” she said.

Elet is a relatively new faculty member at Vassar, having begun teaching at the College in 2009. Still, she has found that one of the greatest advantages of working at a small liberal arts school is having the opportunity to know students on a personal level. And from this experience it is not only students who benefit but her as well.

“What astounds me is how much I learn from my classes….We spend time getting to know individual students and their interests, but this isn’t unique to me. That’s what you come to Vassar for.” She aims to promote the idea that research is living and breathing, rather than static.

Expanding on her interest in joining a variety of different disciplines together, Elet believes that research papers are a student’s chance to really think about art in a unique and critical manner.

She said, “I think of a research paper not as a tired assignment, but as a microcosm of what scholars and historians do—which is creative detective work. Everyone knows what it’s like to be curious; my goal is for my students to have the experience of digging into something they are interested in, and experiencing the thrill of new discoveries.”

Orchestra to combine Romantic, Classical genres at concert Margaret Yap

Guest RepoRteR

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he start of Spring marks not only a welcome change in weather, but also Vassar College Orchestra’s upcoming concert. Its second out of three concerts this semester will take place on Saturday, March 2nd. The event is free and open to the Vassar campus as well as anyone else who wants to attend. Those who are unable to be present in person will able to catch the concert being webcast live on Vassar’s Music Department website.

The orchestra will begin performing at 8pm in the Skinner Hall of Music Recital Hall. The concert will last for about an hour and a half, with an intermission at the halfway mark.

The performance will start with the prelude and mazurka (the latter is a folk dance) of Cop-

pélia, a Romantic ballet written by French composer Léo Delibes. The repertoire will then continue with Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A Minor, a piece written by Romantic French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.

Following the intermission the orchestra will perform Austrian composer Joseph Haydn’s Classical Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major and will finish with the Romantic music of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, or The Dance in the Village Inn), a musical narrative relating the second episode of Nikolaus Lenau’s poem Faust.

The concert will be performed by some sixty instrumentalists and will feature two soloists, Rebecca Miller ’14 playing in Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto and Alice Park ’16 in Introduction

courtesy of Michael Nelson

This year’s penultimate Orchestra Concert will take place this Saturday, March 2nd in Skinner Hall.

The performance will include pieces by French composers Léo Delibes and Camille Saint-Saëns.

and Rondo Capriccioso.

There is an annual competition to choose the soloists. Students audition in the fall and a few are chosen to perform with the orchestra in the spring.

First violinist Park admitted that the audition process was even more nerve-wracking than actually performing as a soloist. “I like the stage,” she said, “but I still can’t get over the stage fright.”

The challenges of playing in an orchestra don’t end there. “You can’t really listen to yourself,” said Park. “I’m used to playing by myself.

In the orchestra, it’s all the others you hear.

Sometimes I don’t know if I’m playing right or wrong.”

Park is one of the few freshmen soloing for the orchestra. Her dedication is strong, despite the fact that she is not going to declare her major in Music.

“I’ve played it [the violin] for so long that it’s become a really big part of my life,” she said. “I can’t imagine living without it.”

Eduardo Navega, who has been conducting the Vassar College Orchestra since 1999, takes pride in the fact that the majority of his orchestral students are interestingly, not music majors.

“They are players,” he said. “Not only that, but it also provides for a very diverse environment.” Navega believes that music is a universal and international language, written for the people who perform it. Because concerts go by so quickly, both Navega and Park acknowledged their preferences for rehearsal over actual performances.

For Navega, working with student players is more enjoyable than leading professional ones who, though more technically advanced than the students, already have their own concepts of interpretation that are difficult to put together.

“Even though it limits a repertoire, these little souls and their pure energy can shape the music,” he said.

He maintained that an orchestra’s goal should be to work as hard as it can as a unit to

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

transmit to its audience, as much as possible, the immense emotion music brings.

What separates a good orchestra from a fantastic one, he said, is the latter’s ability to understand this communication between an orchestra and its listeners.

“In that sense,” Navega said, “the fantastic orchestra might not even be a very top orchestra of fantastic musicians, but could well be a student orchestra that understands this. That is more important than technical skill.”

For first violinist and concertmaster Kevin Lee ’14, who is also not a music major, being able to come together as one, understand the music as an entity, and transmit the composer’s intended story to the audience are the most important things an orchestra can learn.

He explained that when he listens to music he is in the world that the story takes place, and that is something he wants to convey to the audience. Navega, he said, is very good at explaining this and sharing his interpretation of the music to the orchestra.

For many students, even though the biweekly rehearsals run for two and a half hours, orchestra is a balm for the stress of academic life.

“Orchestra rehearsal is a break for their mental health,” said Navega.

“It really makes you feel good, because that’s what music does.”

Both Park and Lee expressed their appreciation of the complexity and musical richness of the pieces they are going to be performing, while Navega claimed that deciding on a repertoire is the most difficult part of his job as a conductor of a student orchestra.

He works to select pieces that match the ability of the orchestra while still conveying the beautiful music his students and audiences alike can appreciate.

Navega stated that he is pleased with the orchestra’s preparation for the upcoming concert. “In the last few rehearsals I can feel that the pieces are really building up and the students are getting more and more into the repertoire,” he said.

“It’s going to be fantastic.”

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Comics, graphic novels underrated media Jean-Luc Bouchard

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n the past two decades, there has been a surge in popularity in American colleges and universities to use comics as texts in the classroom. One has only to browse the textbooks available in the bookstore to see that Vassar is among these schools—titles such as Watchmen, Fun Home, Maus, Persepolis and Epileptic are a few of the many graphic novels and comics being read and discussed for their literary and cultural value. And while I’m ecstatic to see graphic novels and comics begin to be recognized as the academic resource they are, I also hope that these literary forms can be equally as appreciated in mainstream culture for the value as a source of entertainment.

Despite the success of such comic-adaptations as AMC’s The Walking Dead and the endless outpouring of superhero summer blockbusters, comics and graphic novels (and manga, for that matter) remains a fairly niche sector of the publishing industry. This limited cult following is a hindrance for both comic artists and writers as well as the art and book-loving community at large.

For those of you unfamiliar with the comic genre, I’ll provide a brief run-down of the different forms a comic can take. Comic is an umbrella term encompassing all images, frequently with text, that are relay narrative or information either alone or juxtaposed against other such images—basically, a picture or series of pictures that tell a story.

Comic books are periodicals (think Superman or Archie comics); they are published stories told in comics, usually short in length and serialized.

Graphic novels, in contrast, are self-contained, longer-format stories told in comics, intended to be read as one complete text rather than a collection of different episodes.

Many comic book series, such as Watchmen, are published together in collected editions and sold in a manner similar to graphic novels after several issues have been published separately.

Some people treat these larger collected editions the same as graphic novels, others refuse to distinguish between the two formats. However you choose to label these genres, an easy fallback is to call shorter

Campus Canvas

periodicals “comic books” and larger, booklength comics “graphic novels.” Manga, Japanese comics, are serialized comics often sold in small, paperback book form, and are usually read from right to left in the Japanese tradition.

If you are completely new to the world of comics, I would suggest trying a little bit of everything, starting with graphic novels. I know many a die-hard literary fiction fanatic who, once having read their first graphic novel, became hooked. What can surprise many comic novices is the variety of genres that have been adapted into the graphic novel format. Just as with non-graphic books, comics are a platform for any story and genre that an author wishes to explore, be it mystery, coming-of-age or supernatural.

Fans of memoirs will be especially satisfied with the options at hand, since there has been an explosion of excellent graphic novel memoirs in the past few decades. There have also been a number of graphic novel adaptations of popular novels and classic works of literature produced recently, including Game of Thrones, Pride and Prejudice, The Odyssey and the works of William Shakespeare.

While manga and comic books often have a stigma attached to them as being aimed towards younger audiences or containing less mature, more simplistic themes and plots, there are a number of comic books (such as the original installments of Maus) which touch upon far more complicated subjects than superheroes and villains. However, I would also suggest actually taking the time to read a more “simplistic” comic book or manga at some point in your life.

Besides being fascinating snapshots of the influences pressing upon the popular culture from their respective time periods, comic books and manga can be both beautiful works of art to look at and extremely entertaining stories to read. Sometimes, it’s nice to read something that’s just plain fun. And, like graphic novels, comic books and manga cover a wide range of topics beyond superheroes (not that superhero comics can’t be excellent reads)—everything from romance to adventure to humor to historical fiction has been written in comic book form. And manga in particular is a comic format worth investigating if you have an interest in art; manga art

is a style influenced by centuries of Japanese artistic development as well as modern and postmodern approaches to figure drawing.

If you do decide to pick up a comic and give the genre a spin (and I hope you do), you may find yourself overwhelmed with the thousands of titles and authors to choose from. While I cannot accurately recommend a comic based on anyone else’s preferences but my own, I can give some suggestions as to some good first comics to read.

For graphic novels, I recommend Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. It’s a text used by at least three different courses at Vassar and for a very good reason—it’s a masterfully written and drawn memoir that weaves themes of family, gender and sexuality, and literature into a seamless exploration of the author’s complicated relationship with her father and her own sexual orientation, mental health and relationship with art.

For comic books, I recommend either the collected editions of Watchmen by Alan Moore or the original 1960s issues of Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Watchmen (considered by some to be a graphic novel) is a cerebral, postmodern take on the superhero genre which features a unique and gripping cast of troubled “heroes,” and Spider-Man is a great starter comic book for those who appreciate character-driven drama and creative story arcs propelled by richly-drawn art.

Lastly, for manga, I recommend Death Note

by Tsugumi Ohba and Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa. Death Note, which chronicles the life of Light, a brilliant Japanese teenager who gains the ability to kill someone just by writing their name, is an attention-grabbing mystery thriller that’ll keep you on the edge of your proverbial seat.

Fullmetal Alchemist is a slightly slower-paced saga following the travels and obstacles of two orphaned brothers in an alternative pre-industrial Europe where magical alchemy reigns supreme, and is recommended for readers who appreciate elaborate world building. Whatever you choose, embrace these new media as one more way of contemplating the human condition.

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

Excuse me, What TV show will you catch up on over break?

“The Walking Dead” —Frank Hoffman ‘15

“Game of Thrones” —Marie Pitre ‘15

“I’m going to Haiti so probably nothing.”

—Sida Fang ‘15

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“The Sopranos.”

—Sophia Wallach ‘15

I

made this piece as a homework assignment for my drawing class. My teacher told us to draw whatever we wanted, and have it exemplify our identity as an artist and how far we have come. No pressure, right? I used my favorite artist, Caravaggio, as inspiration. He is famous for his dramatic lighting, and I love the way he can re-imagine famous scenes and compositions by changing the way he depicts them. As an art history major I also like to vary my style continuously based on what inspires me in my courses. The deep shadows and stark contours of light change the way I see the body. Knees become shapes of brightness and shadow and arms and elbows disappear into the darkness. I like this approach because it forces you to really look at what is in front of you and not just draw what you expect a body to look like. My friend Justin was generous enough to agree to pose for me and I couldn’t have asked for a better model. I loved drawing this and would like to explore different poses and lighting, continuing with this style and model as a series.

—Moorea Hall-Aquitania ’15

“Twin Peaks” —Nate Muscato ‘14

“Spongebob”

—Albert Chung ‘16

Steven Williams, Arts Editor Jack Owen, Arts Editor Katie de Heras, Photo Editor MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

SPORTS

Page 18

February 28, 2013

Despite many senior departures, fencing team perseveres Kerrin Poole

Guest RepoRteR

T

Katie de Heras/The Miscellany News

he Vassar men’s and women’s fencing teams have experienced great highs as well as great lows this season, and numerous individual highlights reflect this. Each team had a record telling of their efforts, 11-15 for the men and 10-18 for the women as the Brewers fought on despite losing several key seniors from last year. This year’s team is full of new and up-and-coming fencers, whom this season’s seniors hope will carry the team back into a winning record as the men have experienced five of the last six seasons and as the women have six out of the last six seasons.

Coach Bruce Gillman could not help but praise their efforts this year. “The 2012-13 season has been okay, considering the class that we had graduate last year,” he commented.

“Team spirit has been great and our captains have done a great job helping to bring along the new fencers both in practice and in competition.”

Senior Caitlin Clevenger also felt the impact of the absence of last year’s seniors. “We have a lot of new fencers on the team who are getting their first shot at competition, which I hope means we’ll have a really strong base for the team in two years or so, but for this season we’ve really felt the loss of a few key seniors in every squad,” she noted. “So we haven’t been quite as able to put up good numbers against the teams where the score is usually pretty close, but we were able to beat last year: Tufts, BC, Brandeis.”

In the space left by former teammates, this year’s seniors took center stage, with impressive performances across the board. On the men’s team, senior Tavish Pegram leads the epee squad with a 23-14 record, while senior Alex Vastola leads foil with a record of 22-28 and junior John Arden dominates sabre with a record 31-21 wins. On the women’s team, senior Katie LeClair leads the foil squad with a 38-21 record, while senior Caitlin Clevenger heads

Caitlin Clevenger ’13 faces off against her opponent in a fencing match. Many seniors graduated the men’s and women’s fencing teams last year, forcing both the new seniors and the underclassmen to carry the torch. epee with a record of 38-20, and senior Tracy Bratt is the lead in sabre with a 22-35 record.

Under their leadership, the Brewers went to Brandeis University this past weekend for the 2013 New England (NEIFC) Championships.

Prior to the match, both the players and the coach were hopeful but cautiously pessimistic towards winning overall.

Clevenger broke down the structure of the event, explaining how truly difficult it is for a team to sweep the event. “One of the unique things about this tournament is that it has a structure we don’t see at any other time during the season,” she wrote in and emailed statement. “Each person on a squad (three people in a specific weapon) normally fences all three members of an opposing squad. At NEIFCs, each person is classified A, B or C, and only

fences the other As, Bs or Cs on the other teams (So I, as a squad leader, will be fencing in the A bracket and will only be fencing against other squad leaders).”

“We advance in the tournament individually based on how we perform in that initial competition,” she continued, “and our team ranking is essentially just a composite of our individual results. The difference, then, is that everybody needs to be fencing at the top of their game if the team is going to do well–at a normal meet, one person has the luxury of an ‘off-day’ because their teammates can pick up the slack– we can get a squad and team win even if one person goes 0- 3. At NEIFCs, if you perform poorly in a round, you’ll be knocked out of the tournament and that has a tangible effect on the team’s standing.”

In addition to this difficulty, injuries and illness kept seniors Jillian Josimovich and Tavish Pegram on the sidelines for part of the season.

In spite of this, VC was able to walk away from this weekend with one individual championship. LeClair, for the second year in a row, won the individual NEIFC Championship in Foil.

Clevenger placed third in individual epee, and led her squad composed of herself, sophomore Megan Lewis, junior Noelle Sawyer and freshman Rachel Messbauer to a third place squad finish. Messbauer also demonstrated her abilities as she made the individual semifinals and finished in seventh.

For the men, Arden did well, as expected, and finished fourth as an individual. His squad composed of himself, freshman Zach Wilson, junior Kenny Lee and junior Gio Zaccheo placed fifth. Wilson also pushed on to the semifinals and placed eighth. The foil squad composed of junior Matt Steinschneider, senior Alex Vastola and sophomore Tre Artis finished third as a squad, while Steinschneider placed 10th individually. The men’s three-weapon team also impressed with a fifth place finish.

Overall, the Brewers were valiant in their efforts.

Senior Tavish Pegram clarified the team’s goals for the rest of the season. “Ideally we would win the rest of our matches in the league (including beating arch-rival Sacred Heard; but they are very strong this year so that may be a bit out of reach),” he noted. “More importantly, we want to qualify as many people as possible for NCAAs from Regionals in two weeks.”

This season’s seniors have been crucial to the team’s successes, but with their graduation looming, the future of the team once again is in the hands of the underclassmen and incoming freshmen who have yet to arrive. Pegram provided clear goals for the years to come: “Our hopes for future seasons are pretty simple: to continue to strengthen our squads and compete for the league title and NCAA qualification.”

Women’s basketball culminates year in semifinal battle

Jacog Gorski/The Miscellany News

The women’s basketball team won the regular season Liberty League title this year. They soon vied with William Smith for the semifinals, but a 69-58 loss ultimately ended their historic, record-breaking season.

WOMEN’S B-BALL continued from page 1 has dramatically improved in the recent years.

Senior forward Natalie Allen is witness to the program’s growth. “My freshman year, we won 9 games the entire season,” Allen noted in an emailed statement. “My sophomore year we ended up with only eight players, but we worked harder than any team out there and won the first Liberty League Championship and went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. My junior year we repeated both of these feats.”

Sophomore forward Colleen O’Connell reflected on the success of the past year. “One of the goals we reached that I am most proud of is winning the Liberty League Regular Season title for the first time in school history,” she commented. “Individually, we are all different basketball players, with a variety of skill sets and levels of experience. To accomplish this goal, it

meant that we had to pool together our individual talents and play to our strengths to become a cohesive unit on the floor while facing many tough league opponents. In capturing the Regular Season Title, we definitely did this, and I could not be happier to have accomplished this goal with my teammates.”

Captain and junior guard Cydni Matsuoka, already a multi-record holder, managed to score her 1000th career point this year. During her freshman season in 2011 was named Liberty League rookie of the year, and All-D3Hoops.com named her national rookie of the year in 2011 and was named to the All-Championship Team both last year and the year before. Additionally, she received All East Second team honors from All-D3Hoops.com last season and an All America Honorable mention from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association last year. This year, she was also named Liberty League player of the

year along with receiving First Team honors.

Matsuoka led the league in field goal percentage, assists, free throw percentage, three-point field goal percentage and assist to turnover ratio.

She was second in scoring and was 11th in the nation in assists. She scored in double figures in 24 of 26 games and had eight games with 20 or more points. In every game but two she had three or more assists and had five or more assists over 15 times.

Sophomore forward Delaney Fischer commented on Matsuoka’s talent. “Cydni is an allaround player. She is obviously a scorer and led our team in PPG (points per game) this year but is also an excellent defender...[and] a playmaker for others to score with her swift passes.”

She will continue to dominate on the court, along with captain and O’Connell. O’Connell helped to bring the Brewers to their historic finish this year. She was named All East Rookie of the year by All-D3Hoops.com last year and to the All-League First team once again this year.

O’Connell led the Brewers in rebounding and was second in scoring. She scored in the double digits in 14 games with a season high of 26 points against Bard. She finished 11th in the league in scoring.

A strong presence for the Brewer women is their Head Coach Candice Brown, along with Assistant Coach Margaret White. Brown was once again named the Liberty League Coach of the year. This is the second time she has received this honor, after having received it in 2011.

This is also the second time the Brewers have won both the Coach of the Year and Player of the Year awards: this year with Matsuoka, and in 2011 with Brittany Parks ’12.

Brown led her team to the school’s best winning percentage ever with .840 overall and .812 in league play. Her team finished the season with eight straight league wins. Vassar also lead the Liberty League in scoring, scoring margin, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage, offensive rebounding and assists.

Allen is grateful for Brown’s effective leadership. “Playing for Coach Brown has definitely made me much tougher mentally, I don’t think

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

will ever have a tougher boss, so I feel like she has really prepared me for high pressure jobs in the real world.” She continued, emphasizing the importance of on the court knowledge. “The thing I don’t think people realize is how much you can learn through sports that you can’t learn in a classroom. Obviously, you learn how to be a member of a team, how to understand and fulfill your role, how to work under pressure etc. But you also learn how to win, and more importantly how to lose and how to bounce back from a loss.”

This year’s team had four freshmen and graduates two seniors. They outscored their opponents overall 1802-1529. In fact, the team leads their opponents in every category except for three-point field goals made per game, turnovers, assist/turnover ration, turnovers per game and blocks.

Fischer knows that her team deserves to go farther in future seasons. “I hope we are able to host the tournament again next season and a different outcome occurs,” she noted. “Our team works our ass off. From the first week we get to school [onward], we are all in the gym together playing pick up and conditioning. I know that next year, we will have even more desire to win league and advance to the NCAA tournament.”

O’Connell echoed Fischer’s sentiments, and spoke to the dedication of her teammates. “The players on our team are hard working and extremely motivated,” she remarked. “I know that together, we can definitely build off of our success this past season. In the offseason, we will put in a lot of work in the weight room and on the court to refine our skills and come back next year ready to defend our Regular Season Title.

One thing that I know we are capable of is establishing Vassar Women’s Basketball as a national competitor in Division III Basketball, and I believe that next season will be the time for us to do so.”

The team looks forward to next year after having experienced one of the best seasons in program history and continuing their Liberty League dominance with two of the League’s best players returning once more.

February 28, 2013

SPORTS

To eliminate wrestling disregards tradition Zach Rippe Columnist

I

n 1896, the Games of the I Olympiad were held in Athens, Greece. This illustrious event is now considered the first Olympic Games of the Modern era. These games featured nine events: Athletics, Cycling, Fencing, Gymnastics, Shooting, Swimming, Tennis, Weightlifting and Wrestling.

For those who haven’t heard, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recently voted for the removal of Wrestling from the 2020 Summer Olympics. Yes, you heard that correctly. The International Olympic Committee has removed one of the original nine events from the first modern Olympic Games. Heck, wrestling was instituted in the Ancient Olympic games of Greece in 708 BC. But hey, what good is tradition anyway? I mean, isn’t everyone just enamored by badminton?

Actually, things aren’t so simple for the IOC. They have been under constant pressure to reduce the number of events and even athletes due to growing costs of running the games.

Thus, the IOC has divided events into two separate categories: “core sports” and “non-core sports”. As of just recently, there were 26 core sports in the Summer Games. The IOC decided to eliminate one core sport after the release of a study based on review by the Olympic Programme Commission of the success of particular sports following this past summer’s London Olympics. This would effectively trim the number of “core sports” down to 25, and leave room for seven “non-core sports” to compete for a final spot in the games.

After its removal from the “core” list, wrestling will be added to the list of potential “noncore” events. Let’s take a close look at these “non-core” events, shall we? These sports in-

clude baseball/softball, squash, karate, sport climbing, wakeboarding, wushu and roller sports. Some of these sports are quite unique and sound exciting, yet many lack global popular appeal. Wushu, for example, is a form of Chinese martial arts that was included in the 2008 games in Beijing. While it made the games due mainly to its regional notoriety, it was not at all popular and required a separate bid for the 2020 games just to make the “non-core” list.

Why should wrestling, a sport with as rich an Olympic tradition as any, be forced to compete with the likes of wushu and roller sports (no offense) for a spot in the sacred Olympic games?

The argument for the inclusion of wrestling in the Olympics is more than just one of popular appeal. It has to do with the sanctity of the sport in Olympic context and the ancient tradition and legacy it deserves to uphold. Many of the core sports for the 2020 games are a lot newer than wrestling.

Take sailing and table tennis, for example.

Neither were in the original Olympic games in 1896 nor were they in Athens, Greece in the ’700s BC. What gives them the right to overtake wrestling?

The fact that badminton is a core sport at all leads one to question both the validity and objectivity of this International Programme Commission. Without any disrespect meant toward the badminton community, the most exciting thing about watching it in the Olympics is saying the names “birdie” and “shuttlecock” in reference to game activity.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy badminton immensely. But in the eyes of the Ancient Greeks who began this glorious tradition many centuries ago, is it really more Olympic worthy than the sport of wrestling?

Okay, fine, maybe badminton is pretty cool. I

admit that I would be somewhat disappointed if it were to be removed from future Olympic games. However, in an age dominated by professional sports, why should certain non professional team sports dominate over those that rarely have an opportunity to be showcased?

Baseball, for example, has its own World Baseball Classic every several years, which pits different countries around the world against one another as they battle for baseball supremacy.

Soccer, or “football” as the rest of the world knows it, has numerous events, including the World Cup. Many consider the World Cup to be the largest and most important soccer/football gathering in the world. I am no soccer aficionado, nor do I advocate the removal of it from Olympic competition, but I feel that if a sport can garner so much popularity and exposure without the Olympic stage, it is far less important to showcase this sport at the games than one of somewhat equal importance but with much less exposure to the global community at large.

Fortunately, this stunning decision on to remove wrestling from the 2020 Olympics has not been met without backlash. Numerous columns have been written, petitions have been signed, Twitter accounts have been created, etc. The world of Olympic Wrestling has not yet breathed its last breath.

The Greeks loved wrestling so much that they based much of their language off terms associated with it. Their heroes would wrestle monsters, and their athletes were the closest things they had to witnessing these storied feats. In a tradition as rich and storied as that of the Olympics, is it not slightly disrespectful to omit the events on which said tradition was founded? I mean, I guess badminton is probably a lot safer than wrestling.

LeBron may be talented, but his personality upstages his famed on-the-court prowess Luka Ladan

I

Columnist

admit it. I’m a passionate member of the LeBron James Haters Association (LJHA), a not-so-exclusive club that opens its doors to all of those who have some sort of grievance with LeBron James–the unauthentic man, the self-consumed global icon, the most talented basketball player in the world.

I just don’t like how he carries himself. LeBron comes across as fake, insensitive and emotionally unappealing. Yes, if you’re playing in the cutthroat NBA, then you obviously possess a requisite amount of self-confidence that may come across as arrogance. Michael Jordan was an absolute killer between the lines. He searched out petty bulletin board material to gain a competitive advantage, and often yelled at his teammates (and fought them in practice, if deemed necessary) to motivate them and himself.

The Michaels, Magics and Larrys of the world see sporting events in only one way: I want to beat you and the ends will justify the means, however ruthless and maniacal they may be.

So, LeBron’s supreme confidence in his basketball abilities helped him succeed–and it continues to help him in 2013. I just don’t like the ways in which it manifests himself. The “Chosen One” tattoo on his back? I still don’t like it. Riding a bicycle with a “King James” inscription to a home game? That nickname never ceases to rub me the wrong way. Flexing, dancing, mocking, taunting and showboating– all of which have been toned down considerably since LeBron’s days in Cleveland (I must admit), but irritate me when they do show themselves in Miami–point to a lack of respect for the game.

I grow irrationally hostile when LeBron does an ESPN interview or holds a press conference because I know that he’ll come off as both cocky and frustratingly inarticulate, an undesirable combination of “I’m much better than you” and mumbling, bumbling mannerisms. “Yeah, I just wanted to come out aggressive and do my thing early,” he’ll say. Aggressive this. Aggressive that. Granted, putting “aggressive” on repeat represents an affliction that has spread around

the entire basketball league, so I don’t expect LeBron to be some noble outlier of eloquent expression. I just hope that the face of the NBA can offer some even more valuable insight into his athletic performance than “coming out aggressive” each and every night.

The Michaels, Magics and Larrys were capable. Just listen to them talk about the game. I expect the same of LeBron James.

With that all being said, my problems with LeBron James definitely haven’t made me blind to his on-the-court wizardry during this season. He has been nothing short of transcendent and the credit must be attributed to his willingness to change and improve. The 2013 LeBron James shoots less three-pointers, posts up more and finally feels comfortable in his own skin– this last condition is by far the most important, even though LeBron’s altered shot chart has undoubtedly bumped up his offensive efficiency. He now unceasingly punishes his defenders with his superior physical tools, which enables him to convert an uncanny number of shot attempts at the rim. But, dominating the paint wouldn’t be possible if LeBron didn’t finally realize that nobody could guard him within fifteen feet.

LeBron shoots over 73 percent when he’s near the basket, according to NBA.com–an extraordinary percentage that leads the league by a considerable margin. No longer does he chuck ill-advised, contested jumpers from the perimeter, à la Rudy Gay and Josh Smith. LeBron finishes virtually everything around the basket, rebounds with the best of them and racks up more assists per game than most starting point guards.

There are absolutely no holes in his game, so LJHA members like me better hope that the Skip Bayless types (pundits who attempt to illuminate LeBron’s deficiencies) are right—the logic being that LeBron is mentally weak and doesn’t handle the pressures of big games very well, and so on and so on. We better hope that 2013 LeBron will revert back to passive, disinterested and uncomfortable LeBron, circa 2010-11, because this version is downright scary.

Unless the 2011 NBA Finals debacle happens all over again, the ceiling for this guy appears to be unfathomable. There’s absolutely nothing

else stopping him from winning four, five, six, seven, maybe eight NBA titles.

Kevin Durant has improved exponentially over time and continues a marvelous season of his own, but he will have to surprise us all in order to derail LeBron in his quest for more rings and further validation. A spacious gap remains, just as Durant separates himself from the next best player in the world. There’s nothing that LeBron can’t do on a basketball court, unless I’m missing something entirely.

Heck, he shoots a little bit over 41 percent from behind the arc on roughly three attempts per game, according to NBA.com. Kevin Durant shoots pretty much the same percentage, slightly above 42 percent on a similar number of attempts. That says it all. LeBron James and Kevin Durant are statistically comparable in a category that Durant should dominate. What can’t LeBron do out there? I’m left reaching for something–any tiny little thing–to criticize him.

For as much as LeBron’s demeanor bothers me, I fully understand that I should appreciate his excellence on the basketball court. “Once in a generation” can mean several different things, but the Miami Heat superstar is surely one example.

Write him in for 27/7/7 (points, rebounds, assists) every single night. Write him in for a couple of rim-rattling highlights and a rare show of elite court vision. Write him in for several “Well, if he’s going to make that, then there’s nothing you can do to stop him” moments.

Each and every night. The word LeBron is synonymous with a flashy sort of consistency, what you get when an embarrassment of physical riches intertwines with a commitment to using them on a nightly basis. Watching LeBron James play basketball is unlike anything else in the world—even Lionel Messi running with a soccer ball at his feet pales in comparison to a Dwyane Wade-to-LeBron James alley-oop in transition.

Please be right, Skip. Me and the rest of the LJHA don’t want to see four, five, six, seven, maybe eight NBA titles. I have nothing but respect for Lebron’s on-court production this season (and basically over his entire career), but respecting him and liking him are still two completely different things.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 19

MLB must expand its global reach Eli J. Vargas I Columnist

T

he moment when spring training rolls around is one of the best times of year for baseball fans, but it is always a hot topic of conversation whenever the World Baseball Classic–baseball’s version of the FIFA World Cup–occurs, which is once every four years.

The reason for this is, with baseball being such a large international sport, numerous players are leaving spring training to play for their countries, while others stay to get ready for the MLB season. But it shouldn’t be this way. Players should not be forced to decide between representing their home country and participating in spring training for the team for which they play.

The purpose of the World Baseball Classic is to promote the popularity of baseball around the globe, and many teams are not fielding the best teams possible. If the MLB is serious about the World Baseball Classic, then many changes need to be made–not just concerning the World Baseball Classic.

I understand that players could be hurt playing in the world baseball classic, but at some point some national pride should be shown instead of loyalty to money. Increased exposure to baseball would deepen the talent pool and choice of players available to play in the MLB, but would also create increased competition, which in turn would create global excitement.

The countries of players take precedence in the sport of soccer when the FIFA World Cup rolls around, with teams accepting the fact that the World Cup is extremely important to all of their players. This same attitude should take place in the MLB. In fact, when the World Cup rolls around, there should be some sort of accommodation from the World Baseball Classic and the MLB. To solve the problem of playing in the cold winter months, the tournament should be held someplace with warm weather. Countries should take place hosting the tournament as well to create fanfare and increase international exposure to the game. The MLB is making enormous amounts of revenue in America, so now the MLB should try to expand its influence.

What is worse is that the most important games played in the MLB belie their namesake. The MLB World Series? Come on. The only international team now is the Toronto Blue Jays. It should be called the North American Series, considering that there are only two countries represented, much less the world. If baseball truly wanted to promote being an international sport, then they would try to form a team in Mexico and some in the Caribbean, where baseball is an extremely popular sport. I understand that the MLB is resistant to change, and owners wouldn’t be willing to give up some of their revenue to make expansion teams in different countries, but if this happened, it would be immensely beneficial to the sport of baseball.

Along the lines of expanding to other countries, baseball should encourage international play to other professional clubs. The games may not be extremely competitive due to the disproportionate talent gap within the MLB, but ideally, once baseball has become more popular, countries would be able to build up revenue and retain their homegrown talent.

Experiencing baseball through the eyes of the MLB, we are always seeing international players make headlines. But imagine living in the countries of these international players and never being able to see your childhood hero play in person. This is the problem with baseball being dominated by the US. Almost any player that is able to make it in the big leagues leaves their country to follow their dreams of playing the MLB. Playing for different teams in different countries is normal for most sports, but if baseball is to truly thrive around the world, then teams in other countries should be better able to pay for their own countrymen.

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Page 20

February 28, 2013

Swimming, diving teams shatter records as season finishes Chris Brown

assistaNt spoRts editoR

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courtesy of Vassar College Athletics

fter a tough year of tournaments, Vassar College’s swimming and diving teams ended their season in style at the Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association (UNYSCSA) championships. Women’s swimming and diving maintained their ninth place standing in a field of 15 schools. Men’s swimming and diving finished in 10th place out of 15, and multiple individual players broke personal lifetime and school records for their respective events, making for an impressive finish for the two teams. The UNYSCSA championships were held over the span of four days at Ithaca College from February 20-24.

Junior Even Einstein commented on the tournament as a whole. “Ithaca ran the meet very smoothly,” stated Einstein. “[T]he team used each other for personal inspiration, and many of us went lifetime bests and broke records. UNYSCSA Championships always has an intense vibe, but our team energy cuts through the vibe and turns it into excitement and positivity.”

Strong performances from Vassar students graced each day of the tournament. On day one, sophomore Luc Amodio broke one of the oldest Vassar swimming records by swimming a 21.30 in the 50-yard race. Amodio also contributed to the new school record for the 200 relay, along with senior Mathue Duhaney, sophomore Matt Weiss and freshman Greg Cristina. On the women’s side, senior Shannon Sara broke the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:11.11.

Day two saw even more lifetime bests. The relay team of Amodio, Duhaney, Weiss and Cristina improved on their already record setting time, finishing with 1:26.44 at the 200 relay.

Amodio swam a lifetime best during the anchor leg of that race, with a time of 20.9. Freshman Milee Nelson swam a lifetime best during the backstroke leg of the 400 IM with a time of 1:02.29. Sara continued to amaze on the women’s side, breaking another school record in the 400 IM with a time of 4:40.69 in the prelims

and a seventh place finish in the finals. She had a lifetime best during the backstroke leg of the race, with a time of 1:08.21. Sara provided insight into her thoughts on her success. “For me, there is no better feeling in the world than having your whole team behind your lane at the start of a race, especially a long race like the 400 IM,” Sara wrote in an emailed statement.

“They were there at every turn cheering me on.

After I finished my preliminary swim, I had no idea what time I had gone, all I could see was my teammates going crazy. Nothing can ever compare to the feeling of having your whole team cheering for you.”

The third day for the men’s side was not the strongest. The team fell two places to 11th place overall for the tournament. The women kept the strong performances up, however, with four lifetime bests in the 100 backstroke coming from Nelson (1:02.44), sophomore Liz Balter (1:04.97), sophomore Juliana Struve (1:11.21) and freshman Anna Kuo (1:13.72). Sophomore diver Jane Cardona finished with a seventh pace finish and a score of 394.10 in the 1-meter board dive, bettering her performance during the prelims. Sophomore Kelly Wilkinson followed in eighth place.

The final day of the tournament was the most impressive on both sides. The men improved their standing, finishing in 10th place overall. Amodio finished in 15th place during the 200 breaststroke, getting a season best time of 2:14.15. Freshman Isaiah Hale achieved a lifetime best in the same event with a time of 2:17.97. For the 100 freestyle, Duhaney broke a school record with a time of 47.95, while juniors Evan Einstein (53.99) and Cristina (48.61) both achieved lifetime bests. In total, the men’s swimming team broke five Vasar records at the Ithaca tournament. The women maintained their ninth place position. Cardana scored an NCAA qualifying score in the 1-meter event with a 394.10. She will now go to the NCAA Regional Diving Selection Meet at Springfield College on March 1-2. Sara broke a Vassar record with her time of 2:27.81 in the 200-yard

Mathue Duhaney ’13 thrashes his way toward the finish line at the Upper New York State Colelgiate Swimming Association championships. The swimming and diving teams broke multiple records as the event closed the season. breaststroke, while Struve got a lifetime best of 2:36.04. Freshman Marie Schmidt attained two lifetime bests in the 1,650 yard freestyle (18:34.11) and the 200 backstroke (2:16.20). Sara also surpassed the previous 100-breaststroke time with a time of 1:08.64. This tournament marked the season’s end for the team.

Sara was proud of her team’s performance at the championships. “Watching Mathue swim the final leg of the 400-freestyle relay was a serious highlight of States,” Sara expressed.

“Mathue always gives it his all, and after he touched out Skidmore the entire team erupted. That’s what VCSD is all about. It was awesome.”

Duhaney, who will be leaving the Vassar swimming and diving team, exceeded his expectations for the tournament. “I went into the meet, with the same goals I’ve had for the past

four years,” described Duhaney. “I wanted to break the 18-year-old 50 free record. My teammate and I managed to break the previously set bar of 21.52 several times over the course of the meet. Each time I did that, I gave myself a figurative pat on the back, because this has been eluding me for years and here I was breaking this barrier over and over again in one meet.”

During her last year at Vassar, Sara was especially proud of her team’s overall performance during the season. “We had an amazing season this year! Despite our small size, we are a team in every sense of the word. We believe in each other, push each other to be better and support each other through good and bad swims/dives.

Our hard work and team spirit showed all season, but was especially strong at States. We killed it. I have never been more proud to be a part of Vassar swimming and diving.”

As winter shifts to spring, rowing anticipates future races

courtesy of Vassar College Athletics

As spring approaches, the rowing team must ready for a slew of races to come. Rowing spent its winter break at Vassar College practicing constantly during many a cold, early morning in preparation.

Meaghan Hughes spoRts editoR

W

hen students voluntarily wake up before the sun rises for a sport five days a week, something powerful is at work. Rowing is a varsity club sport, and it requires teammates to dedicate themselves to long practices and chilly mornings on the water, which brings the team together. After an entire winter of preparation, the rowing team is beginning to transition to their spring season, where the races get shorter and more intense.

The team has spent their winter vigorously preparing for the spring. “Winter practice is a lot more intense both physically and mentally,” Dorn commented. “On the water a lot of the focus is on rowing with good technique and staying in synchronization with the rest of the boat.

We don’t have any races in the winter so it’s really about building up strength and endurance

to make fast boats in the spring.”

The team meets Monday through Friday for two hours in the early morning. Though this may seem tough, as Dorn noted, “[i]t becomes easy to wake up at five in the morning when you know there are 20 other people just as crazy as you are.”

Practices vary throughout the week, ranging from cardio to work on the ergs (stationary rowing machines) and lifting. All these elements must come together in order for the team to be successful in races, and Walker knows how important this preparation is.

“Rowing takes whole lot of time to build up the cardio, strength and technique to become fast on the water, and the winter is where you build the base for faster boats in the spring.”

These skills and strength building were put to the test on February 15. At the Crash B’s, one of the first sets of major races of 2013, seven

members from the men’s and women’s teams participated in a series of races. Many rowers from around the world compete, including some hoping to make it to the Olympics. Team President and Men’s Captain senior Vincent Marchetta explained why the results of Crash B’s are tricky to interpret. “Given the number of people competing and the caliber of some of the competition...it’s difficult to define doing well at Crash B’s, but this year saw the largest number of Vassar rowers competing,” he continued. “Most beat or pulled close to their personal bests and it was great to see our team doing so well, especially those who had only a few months or just over a year of experience.”

Marchetta beat his personal record and Walker also beat her own personal best time and placed 87th among her category of 189 women.

“It was extremely exciting to see the strong performances put on by my team members as well,” she remarked. “All my teammates who went really pulled their hearts out and got either their fastest time of the season or extremely close to it.”

Races in the spring are quite different from those of the fall season. Spring races are 2000 meters, as compared to the 5000 meter races in the fall, and teams race simultaneously instead of the individual time trials that take place in the first half of the season. According to Walker, “This makes it a much better spectator sport as you can see who is winning during the final sprint. This also makes it more fun to race in because you have boats right along next to you as visual markers of how much harder you have to push to push past them.”

While the spring sprint races are more physically intense, Walker appreciates this and is proud of how hard her team works. “The spring races are an amazing adrenaline rush. Eight minutes or less and you are done,” she noted.

“But in those eight minutes you push yourself harder than you ever thought imaginable. I love to race, I know that you will get in what you take out and if we can beat another boat it is because we are working together.”

Dorn also noted that the side by side racing

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encourages greater competition. “The intensity is a lot higher and I think that’s what makes it more fun,” she remarked. “Pushing yourself to row even harder because you can see a boat right next to you, with the crowd cheering, and the coxswain yelling encouragement is an adrenaline rush you don’t get in the fall.”

Camaraderie is crucial to the events that push the team’s endurance. Walker understands what the sport requires from her teammates. “I have played various sports all my life but rowing was the first sport that showed me what true teamwork is all about,” she affirmed.

“The feeling that one gets when everyone is synched up while rowing is like none other.”

Marchetta agreed, and appreciates the transcendent nature of rowing. “Being out on the beautiful Hudson River at sunrise, working your hardest and knowing that your teammates are there with you pushing just as hard, and then seeing how the boat soars across the water in response to this unified effort, is an indescribable feeling,” he commented. “In all of my years on the team, the members of Vassar Rowing have been more than just teammates.”

Over spring break the team will travel to South Carolina to practice on the water several times a day, as well as to compete in more races. Many rowers eagerly anticipate the trip, including Dorn. “We’ve done a lot of fundraising to be able to go,” she remarked. “Last year’s trip was when I really felt like I learned how to row well and it’s a lot of fun to spend that much time together as a team.”

With a set of races behind them and many more ahead of them, the rowing team is ready to put their hard work from the winter into practice. The close-knit group hopes to do well, but Dorn knows that that outcome is only one facet of being on the team. “The best part of being on the rowing team is how closely knit of a community the rowing world is,” she concluded. “I joined rowing initially mostly so I would have someone to motivate me to work out, but the reason I stayed was because I was part of an incredibly diverse and motivated group of people. I never expected to feel so included.”