The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
April 26, 2018
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CL | Issue 20
Junot Díaz delivers Peer therapy takes form of theratea 2018 Krieger Lecture Abby Knuckles GUEST REPORTER
Pazit Schrecker GUEST REPORTER
n 2008, author Junot Díaz won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel, “The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” In 2012, he received a MacArthur Fellowship, colloquially referred to as “the genius grant.” On April 18 of 2018, Díaz came to speak at Vassar. The lecture was not scheduled to begin until 8 p.m., but by 7:30 p.m. more than half the seats in the Villard Room were filled with excited members of the Vassar and greater Hudson Valley communities. Dean of the College Christopher Roellke spoke first, briefly detailing the history of the lecture series and thanking the benefactors who helped bring Díaz to campus. Díaz’s talk was the latest installment in the annual Krieger Lecture series. Each year, parents Betty and Lewis Krieger sponsor the lecture in honor of their son Alex Krieger ’95, who was killed in a car accident during his first year at Vassar. Past speakers include Tom Wolfe, Oliver Sacks, Michael Chabon, Gail Collins, Mo Rocca and, most recently, Zadie Smith. When Roellke introduced Díaz, the audience erupted into loud and
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or a long time now, I’ve had a borderline obsession with high-quality tea. If you ask me, there are few pleasures in this world as fine as making and drinking the perfect cup of tea. So last summer, when my future roommate Samantha Steeves ’21 told me that she drinks green tea from a Keurig, I assured her that I would demonstrate the ways of delicious loose-leaf tea. Anyone who has come into our room can see from the carefully labeled canisters on her dresser that I’ve thoroughly succeeded in that endeavor. In my humble opinion, taking the time to stop and smell the tea leaves—both metaphorically and See THERATEA on page 10
Jessica Moss/The Miscellany News
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instantaneous applause. After the applause and shouts of excitement had died down, the author opened his talk by describing the time he spent as a student in college working to bring artists and speakers to campus. Díaz then began to read a piece of his that had been published in The New Yorker in 2011. The story, entitled “The Money,” gave a window into his early life in the United States and his mother’s decision to send money home, similar to that made by many other immigrant families. He read, “My father was always losing his forklift jobs, so it wasn’t like [my mother] ever had a steady flow. But my grandparents were alone in Santo Domingo, and those remittances, beyond material support, were a way, I suspect, for Mami to negotiate the absence, the distance, caused by our diaspora. She chipped dollars off the cash Papi gave her for our daily expenses, forced our already broke family to live even broker” (The New Yorker, “The Money,” 07.13.2011). He went on to detail the theft of this money while his family was on a road trip. He described discovering who stole the money, See LECTURE on page 4
Here’s a relic from the writer’s first ever theratea! The warm ambiance of the tea is filtered through the chocolate biscotti perched on top of the mugs. The conversations and stories that accompanied the tea remain a mystery.
India’s rape crisis turns political Sasha Gopalakrishnan ARTS EDITOR
CW: This article discusses abduction, sexual assault and murder. n January 2018, eight Hindu men— including four police officers and one minor—abducted, raped and murdered Asifa Bano, an eight-year old Muslim girl from the Kathua district of Kashmir, India. They drugged
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her and locked her in a Hindu shrine, repeatedly gang-raped her for several days and then left her dead body in the forest after bludgeoning her to death with a stone and strangling her with her own scarf. Belonging to a nomadic Muslim community in a state—and indeed a country—that is predominantly Hindu, Asifa was unlucky enough to be a religious minority during a time
when Hindu nationalism is sharply on the rise in India. After all, the men who raped and murdered her did so in an effort to drive her family out of the region, defiant of the fact that this Muslim family would take their sheep and goat out to graze on Hindu-dominated land (Los Angeles Times, “Why India’s rape crisis is getting worse unSee RAPE CRISIS on page 6
Students, Houses Light the Night Baseball splits matches in non-conference play Izzy Braham
ASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR
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Kelly Pushie REPORTER
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Courtesy of Noah Pliss
s May rolls around and stressed Vassar students hustle from one class to the next, bounce from office hours to endless group project meetings and of course prepare for those upcoming essays and tests, fun and relaxing weekend events become ever-more important to students’ sanity. On Saturday, April 21, Light the Night, the annual bonfire and music event put on by Raymond and Strong Houses, brought a lively energy to Joss Beach. This year, the event featured student bands including The Roundabout Ramblers, The Morning Moon, Mayla 40, Lumber Party and Midway. There was also a performance by the Barefoot Monkeys, a Polaroid booth, Rita’s Italian ice and bonfires with s’mores. Raymond President Noah Pliss ’20 commented in an email statement, “The event is really centered around the idea of campfires and how they bring people together. People come to sit around campfires with the intention not only to roast marshmallows, but also to enjoy warmth with others.” The event was crafted as a cheerful bonding activity to bring the campus together before the school year ends. The hosts further highlighted the creative and community-building asSee LIGHT THE NIGHT on page 7
Light the Night, a joint bonding event on Joss Beach by Raymond and Strong Houses, featured multiple bonfires and s’mores, performances by student bands and the Barefoot Monkeys, Rita’s Italian Ice and a photo booth.
Inside this issue
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Prof illuminates history, brings light to FEATURES mystery
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Trump mental health speculation OPINIONS not helpful for nation
he Vassar baseball team took on two opponents in back-to-back double headers this past weekend. The Brewers hit the road to compete with Moravian College on Saturday, April 21, and then headed back to Prentiss Field to match up against Lehman College at home. The Brewers lost two close games on Saturday, both decided by a single run. For VC, juniors led the scoring in the first game: Jake Doyle was 2 for 3 with a homer from Matt Schwartz. The second game proved to be livelier on the offensive end, but the Brewers were unable to hold off Moravian and fell in their second game. The following day, VC took on Lehman College for another double header. From the first two innings, the Brewers had a stronghold on the game: Vassar scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and came back strong after Lehman put up two runs in the top of the second, answering with three runs in the bottom of the second. The Brewers exploded for four more runs over the course of the game, compared to the Lightning Bug’s two, securing the 9-4 victory
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for the Brewers in their first matchup of the day. While the team’s offense in the second game of the day was equally explosive, the Brewers had an incredible defensive game, only allowing Lehman to drive in one run the whole game and finishing out the weekend with a 9-1 victory. After their four-game weekend, the Brewers are now just over .500 for the season, sitting at a convincing record of 14-13. The Brewers have had a stellar season so far, picking up three wins each against St. Lawrence University and Skidmore College and picking up one win each against University of Rochester and Clarkson University. The Brewers were able to pull out two conclusive wins on Sunday after a tough day of games on Saturday. Senior captain Bobby Kinne, who is amongst the top players in the Liberty League, commented on the challenges each weekend can bring. “The biggest difference between the two days was our execution. On Saturday we made a few uncharacteristic mistakes that cost us in two tight games,” Kinne explained. “But on Sunday, we were much more prepared and executed on a higher level. The guys have been so See MASCULINITY on page 19
Tennis player gets reflective in personal retrospective