The Miscellany News
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Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CLI | Issue 3
September 20, 2018
A capella concert delights
‘Vassar Missed’ unraveled
Holly Shulman
Tiana Headley GUEST REPORTER
GUEST COLUMNIST
Courtesy of Vassar College via Flickr
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n the evening of Sept. 12, Main Building’s Villard Room slowly filled with the humming excitement and contagious nervousness of firstyears on the verge of tackling a new college experience. On this particular night, this experience took the form of the annual a capella preview concert, where students could watch and sign up to audition for any or all of Vassar’s nine a capella groups and/or UJIMA: A Groove Society. Students discussed the prospect of becoming one of the select few chosen to spend the next four years harmonizing, performing and (in some cases) competing with a group. For many, this experience has been a longtime dream. Dana McCray ’22 belongs to this category: “I’m a singer, and I’ve wanted to do a capella for a long time,” he said before the event began. “I’ve seen the Night Owls, and the Devils performed at our Accepted Students Day and they’re incredible, and I know that there’s a whistling group, which sounds dope,” he continued. Unsure See A CAPELLA on page 7
Senior students and faculty in academic dress convened with first-years and other members of the Vassar community in the Vassar Chapel for Convocation on Sept. 6 to officially inaugurate the 2018–19 academic year.
Convocation heralds start of year Marc Chien
GUEST REPORTER
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n Wednesday, Sept. 6, at 3:30 p.m., the Vassar community gathered in the Chapel to usher in a new academic year. While students and faculty members filed in, Adjunct Artist in Music Gail Archer played Alexander Glasunow’s “Prelude and Fugue in D Minor, Op. 98” on the Chapel organ.
Each year, Convocation serves as one of the primary opportunities for students and alumnae/i to gather and prepare for the coming year. For seniors, Convocation represents a reminder of the world awaiting them after college. Interim Dean of the College Carlos Alamo-Pastrana began by welcoming Vassar students, describing Convocation as an important occasion that
marks many new beginnings for firstyears and seniors alike. He asserted that students have changed Vassar as much as Vassar has changed them, challenging graduates to transmit Vassar’s teachings and history to the wider world and giving a special welcome to the “transformative Class of 2019.” President of the College Elizabeth See CONVOCATION on page 4
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avigating the college social scene can be confusing and frustrating for students, regardless of class year. We often find it difficult to express our true feelings or are too afraid to say them. One student recognized this common experience and decided to form an outlet for members of the Vassar community to anonymously and unapologetically share what’s on their minds. From incoming first-years to departing seniors, countless students have turned to the Vassar Missed Facebook page to confess crushes, express social anxieties and vent about college life in general. The idea was to share missed connections anonymously via Google form, hoping to recover them with the help of social media. But submissions soon branched out to a variety of topics. The posts often generate sympathetic responses or constructive feedback from fellow students, creating a forum for exSee VASSAR MISSED on page 10
Artist re-types powerful literature Women’s soccer picks up third straight win Christian Flemm GUEST COLUMNIST
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Inside this issue
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Prison strikes highlight need for legislative NEWS change
encounters with radical progressive politics (the latter McCarthy’s forte when writing for The Partisan Review). A bestseller, McCarthy was lauded for her depiction with deft hand and for the fact that over the course of her narrative she had found some truth and solidarity. In a world where women are forced to play the See TYPEWRITER on page 6
Courtesy of Clara Pitt
long an assembly line in another life, a master of boredom exchanges compulsion for quietude, toward the realization of some obscure industrial plan. Elsewhere, monastic pursuits at the Abbey of Gethsemani occur. Set to a strict regimen of work and prayer, Tim Youd finds synonymy in the two: truth from ascetic devotion. Yet in this life, where he is an artist, little is different. It’s still truth and revelation through work—in banal, rote repetitions—a typewriter his book of hours, the model and location his only variables. Process, procedure and meditation are the crux of Youd’s series of “100 Novels,” in which over a period of 10 years, Youd has set out to re-type that many great works of English-language literature. Youd commented, “[I am to carry out the project in a] location charged with literary significance specific to the subject novel… on the same model typewriter [used by the author to compose the novel.]” A smile on his lips, he called the project an “exercise in devoted reading.” At Vassar, Youd spent the months of April and May retyping Mary McCarthy ’33’s “The Group.” This was exercise number 56. The novel, McCarthy’s fifth, is the
fictional account of the post-grad lives of eight Vassar women, and their frustrations with a world still very much intent on stifling a woman’s agency. McCarthy is a writer revered and reviled in New York literary circles for her acerbic, critical pen. “The Group” created quite the scandal upon its release due to its frank depiction of sex, sexism and characters’
Artist Tim Youd’s re-typed verson of the novel “The Group,” penned by Vassar alumna Mary McCarthy ’33, is currently on display in the Loeb. Youd aims to replicate 100 novels over the course of 10 years.
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VHP celebrations highlight FEATURES Haitian creations
Max Swan
GUEST REPORTER
“T
ight-knit, hard-working, supportive.” These words, offered by first-years Emma Tanner and Madio Wallner and sophomore Emma Trasatti, define the culture of the women’s soccer team. That ethos was evident on Saturday, Sept. 15, as the team took the pitch against the visiting SUNY Oneonta team. The Brewers came in looking to extend their two-game win streak and did just that, dispatching the Red Dragons with a score of 2-0. Vassar’s ability to keep the intensity high and possess calmly before moving the ball upfield proved key in the decisive victory. It was a true team effort. At 12 p.m., the referee blew their whistle and the game was underway in front of 241 fans. For the first 17 minutes of the game, Oneonta dominated. From the first whistle they started strong and out-possessed against the Brewers, winning corners and firing shots on goal. However, thanks to senior goalkeeper Camelia Manring’s three consecutive saves, Vassar was able to keep the game square at 0-0. After multiple Oneonta attacks, as the 18th minute struck, Vassar righted
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the ship. Wallner explained, “We took control of the ball, settled the pace down—settled into our own game.” The Brewers began to relax their frantic play and move the ball around, growing into the game. After a few passes, the ball reached first-year Gabi Tulk, who was able to maneuver through the Red Dragon defense and find Tanner. The first-year forward, already leading the team in goals, took Tulk’s pass and ripped a one-timer from just beyond the box over the keeper’s head and into the left corner. Vassar 1, Oneonta 0. Hungry for more, the Brewers fought on. Play resumed shortly following the goal, and after a few Oneonta passes, Vassar was able to intercept the ball. Building out of the back, the Brewers moved upfield. To Wallner, the midfield made the difference. “[The] midfielders were calm with the ball, which made connecting into the offense a lot easier,” said the first-year attacker. “As we weren’t necessarily sending long balls to run onto, we got a lot more crosses because we were able to control the middle.” Vassar continued to push up and, less than three minutes after their first goal, senior Sara Seper was able to connect See SOCCER on page 18
Sports and spirituality: Blazers fan SPORTS shares mentality