The Miscellany News, Volume CXLVII, Issue 15 (Feb. 20, 2014)

The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVII | Issue 15

February 20, 2014

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Gender neutral bathroom initiative advances Social media blurs rights W to privacy Bethany Terry and Andrés Orr

stAff desiGner And Guest rePorter

Marie Solis

Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

hen Vassar went co-ed in 1969, house floors and wings were divided by gender. By the 1990s, all the houses, except for Strong, went co-ed. The term “gender neutral bathrooms” is a more recent description, one that has come into use in the last 15 years.

Today, college community members are working to expand gender neutral bathrooms to every building in campus. In anticipation, a coalition of students, faculty and staff have planned a push in the coming months to increase campus awareness around them.

VP for Student Life Danny Dones said that opposition to gender neutral bathrooms stems mainly from misunderstandings about specifics of the plan and its implementation.

“Resistance thus far has come mostly from confusion as to what

the goal of this initiative is,” he wrote in an emailed statement.

Dones, emphasizing the initiative’s real mission, continued, “The goal is to provide all members of our community with a choice so that they can fulfill the basic need of access to a public restroom that they feel safe using. The goal is not to eliminate gendered bathrooms, acknowledging that some members of our community are not comfortable with gender neutral bathrooms for various reasons.”

To increase awareness and make their intentions clear, a forum was held the past Wednesday Feb. 19 in Rocky 300 as part All College Day. The forum was hosted by the Office Campus Life and Diversity staff of the LGBTQ Center and Dones.

One of the students involved with the movement for increased access to gender neutral bathrooms, WilSee FORUM on page 6

The sign above is the one currently in place to identify existing gender neutral bathrooms on campus. However, the new signage will not include these binary icons.

LGBTQ Janet Mock imparts her story athletes O speak out Anna Iovine

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Chris Brown sPorts editor

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Poets bring love of spoken word to Vassar Essie Asan

Guest rePorter

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athering in a packed and claustrophobic stairwell in Sanders Classroom Auditorium has become procedure for many popular campus events, which usually include outlandish comedic performances or hyped plays.

The spoken word poetry of Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye also gathered a crowd so large that attendees could hardly fit in the Sanders stairwell, waiting to hear words of poetry rather than what is usually performed at the venue. But Kay and Kaye both boast hugely successful careers, a possible explanation for the large number of poetry performance attendees.

Kaye and Kay stopped at Vassar as part of their tour, named Project V.O.I.C.E. (Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression), on Feb. 15. Commenting on the size of the crowd, the poet herself joked, “Thank you for coming here on a Saturday night to listen to poetry, of all things.”

Kay’s love of poetry began in New York’s Bowery Poetry Club when she was only 14 years old. From there, spoken word poetry grew from beSee SPOKEN WORD on page 15

Inside this issue

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“America’s Next Top Model.”

Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life and Diversity Edward Pittman helped to organize All College Day. Of the talk, he said, “The Janet Mock lecture evolved from a long list of speakers suggested by student members and others within CLRG. We knew that we wanted someone who could draw a large audience and Mock certainly did that.”

“We began our planning in October and learned of Janet Mock’s work as a writer and social justice advocate within trans communities as well as her organizing See JANET MOCK on page 4

cross the nation, millions of high school seniors experience unshakable panic over the college applications process every year. Completing the Common App, soliciting recommendations, writing supplementary essays—all of these things must come together in perfect harmony within just a few months. However, college preparation often starts the moment students enter the ninth grade. They bulk up on AP classes, find extracurriculars with which to pad their résumé and do community service, all the time keeping their eye on the prize: the school of their choice.

But what if it was all put in jeopardy with one careless Facebook post?

Last year, Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee sought to establish legislature that would protect students and employees from having their social media checked by their higher-ups (The Brown Daily Herald, 12.2.2013). With the increasingly universal use of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, there seems to be increasing anxiety about who can access it and how they will use the information they find there.

Prospective Vassar students though, said Dean of Admissions David Borus, need not worry.

With about 8,000 applications submitted each year, the Vassar Office of Admissions doesn’t have the time. “Nor do we really feel that that’s appropriate. As far as I’m concerned, a student’s Facebook account is their personal property, so to speak. It really isn’t there as a part of their college application process and I really don’t think it’s See SOCIAL MEDIA on page 6

Alumnus in the running for oneFEATURES way ticket to Mars

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Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

assar College is recognized as being a progressive institution, openly discussing topics seen as taboo by other areas of the nation. On Wednesday, Feb. 12, one such discussion took place in conjunction with Vassar athletic teams and the LGBTQ community. In a talk entitled “LGBTQ Athlete: An Oxymoron or Invisible Minority?” many Vassar Students listened to a panel of five athletes who identify as being part of the LGBTQ community discuss stigmas that come with being an athlete on Vassar’s campus and a member of a marginalized identity-based group.

The idea for the panel came about through a few members of the men’s soccer team, mainly through junior Justin Mitchell and sophomore Benjamin Glasner. Glasner explained the concept behind the creation of the panel. “What had happened was Justin was talking to a bunch of the players on the team, and everyone on the team felt like we should be more involved on campus and not just be constrained to our athletic circles,” Glasner said. “From there, it turned into what did we really want to do, and it transformed into us contacting Judy [Jarvis], who was really excited about working with us.

After talking with Judy and amongst ourselves, the panel idea started to form. It was just the notion of getting athletics a little bit more involved about issues on campus.”

Judy Jarvis ’07, currently serves as the Director for the Campus Life LGBTQ Center and Women’s Center. Jarvis agreed that this panel was an important way to bring issues rarely spoken about to the surface.

“Members of the men’s soccer team reached out to me because they felt See LGBTQ on page 18

n Monday, Feb. 17, Vassar’s annual All College Day kicked off in the Villard Room with a keynote address by trans woman activist and author Janet Mock.

“The Campus Life Resource Group (CLRG), which is comprised of students and administrators, brainstormed a number of possible keynote speakers, and we ended up thinking Janet Mock was a fantastic fit with our themes of ‘(Un)silencing Voices,’” said Director of Campus Life LGBTQ and Women’s Centers Judy Jarvis.

Jarvis continued, “As a trans

woman of color, writer and activist, Janet’s career has been about giving voice to stories and identities that are often silenced, ignored, trivialized or made two-dimensional. The perspective she will share will no doubt be valuable for the Vassar community to learn from.”

Mock became well-known after a 2011 Marie Claire magazine article in which she came out as trans.

In 2012 she created “#GirlsLikeUs,” a hashtag other trans women could use on social media. She is also aligned with fellow trans women of color Laverne Cox of “Orange is the New Black” and Isis King of

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senior editor

Poets Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye came to Vassar on Saturday, Feb. 15 as a part of their tour, Project V.O.I.C.E..

Students were able to meet and interact with the poets after watching a performance of their spoken word poetry.

Students’ Bill of Rights points to VSA OPINIONS shortcomings

15 ARTS

Faculty artist’s exhibit showcases Vassar staff through portraiture

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The Miscellany News

February 20, 2014

Editor-in-Chief Chris Gonzalez

Senior Editors

Meaghan Hughes Marie Solis

Contributing Editors Ruth Bolster Jessica Tarantine

Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

News Features Opinions Humor & Satire Sports Photography Design Social Media Copy

Noble Ingram Eloy Bleifuss Prados Joshua Sherman Lily Doyle Christopher Brown Tina Caso Spencer Davis Palak Patel Maddy Vogel Ashley Pecorelli

Photo of the Week Elevated temperatures will soon banish sights like these from campus, so let’s remember the frigid times as water leaks through the roof of Chicago.

Crossword Editor Assistant News Assistant Opinions Assistant Arts Assistant Sports Assistant Photo

Jack Mullan Anna Iovine Natasha Bertrand Samantha Kohl Luka Laden Jacob Heydorn Gorski Jiajing Sun Assistant Social Media Victoria Bachurska Reporters Julia Cunningham Emma Daniels Isabella DeLeo Emily Hoffman Maggie Jeffers Shannon Liao Jonathan Safir Columnists Delaney Fischer Zach Rippe Max Rook Lily Sloss Eli J. Vargas I Photography Alec Feretti Samantha Pianello Design Elizabeth Dean Bethany Terry Online Rachel Dorn Copy Hadley Atwood Daniel Foley Sophie Kosmacher Christian Lewis Macall McQueen Marya Pasciuto Camilla Pfeiffer Emma Roellke Rebecca Weir

We at The Miscellany News are currently in search of new reporters for our News and Features sections.

Please contact section editors Noble Ingram (noingram@vassar.edu) and Eloy Bleifuss Prados (elbleifussprados@ vassar.edu) for further information!

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.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

February 20, 2014

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Students draft Bill of Rights to address silenced voices Noble Ingram neWs editor

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Hancock went on, expressing his hopes that the process through which the Students’ Bill of Rights is being drafted can also be productive for students on campus. He said, “Even if this document is not formally acknowledged by the College, the conversations that students will have about what it means to be a Vassar student and how we think we should interact with each other are very important to me. It seems like students experience quite a bit of disrespect from many different directions and I’m hoping that we can work on making our community feel more like a community.”

Vaddi expressed hope for the initiative in the future, thinking forward to the Administration’s possible response to the initiative. “I hope very ideally that the Administration will accept the Bill of Rights with open arms and minds and accept the faults in the system,” he

said. “I also hope that the Administration, using the [Bill of Rights] as a backbone, does start [affording] the students the respect, time and resources they deserve. But student proposals of this sort, in the past, have not had a very positive reception and have been dusted under the carpet without much explanation.”

Pierce echoed this optimism, reaffirming her commitment to the project and her desire to see the initiative follow-through with the goals it set out to achieve.

She continued, speaking to the student body, “I ask all students with any interest to either attend the next meeting [Saturday at 2 p.m., UpC], follow the Facebook event, or please email me their thoughts and ideas. We want as many different perspectives as we can get.

Don’t hesitate to contact me, really. Every contribution is incredibly valuable.”

courtesy of Vassar College

n Saturday, Feb. 15, several students gathered in UpC for the second installment of four planned meetings for the proposed Students’ Bill of Rights. These meetings were organized with the goal of producing a document that could be approved by both the Vassar Student Association (VSA) and the Administration, explicitly outlining the expectations and desires of the student body. This initiative originally came from the Student Life Committee of the VSA but has since become a separate project outside of the VSA Council context.

One of the voices behind the Students’ Bill of Rights initiative was President of Cushing and member of VSA Council Ruby Pierce ’16. Pierce spoke to how her own involvement with the Students’ Bill of Rights began, noting her role as a member of VSA Council. “In being new to the VSA this year, I noticed and experienced a great deal of confusion regarding the abilities and freedoms of students and the VSA. I was frustrated by the fuzzy definition of shared governance, and how it was up to individual interpretation,” she said.

She continued, “The system we work in now is easily abused. I see this as an opportunity to amend that.”

The actual Bill of Rights is a document that has been collectively written over the past two meetings. The bill is a Google document that is open to all for reading but can only be edited by Pierce and a few others. It features nine areas of concern with sub-sections that detail the rights with greater specificity. These areas of concern include such aspects of student life as: Safety and Security, Speech and Expression, Respect and Voice.

In describing the reasoning behind the Students’ Bill of Rights, Pierce expressed concerns relating to the students’ ability to negotiate and communicate effectively with the administration. She explained, “One of the largest concerns has been that [the students’] voices have been unheard or ignored, even in the organized

form of student government. The College and the president have the power of absolute veto over any decision deemed a ‘substantial change,’ according to the handbook, and that could mean anything.”

She went on, referring to the apparent disconnect between students and the functions of the Administration. “Second, a huge concern is a lack of transparency by the college. Students are not told what decisions are being discussed, by whom, why, and what decisions end up being made and for what reasons. Cushing, at least, has expressed that they feel entirely in the dark about issues that directly affect their daily lives,” she said.

Adit Vaddi ’16, another student at the meeting on Saturday, echoed the concerns expressed by Pierce about student’s participation in the college’s decisions. “My biggest concerns about students’ voices and rights are that student voices are not being heard, with many important issues going unresolved,” he said.

He continued, “As students here, we have certain rights in regard to our safety, education, campus resources (such as Baldwin/Metcalf) and privacy among others and as it currently stands, there exists little or no basis for us to define the extent to which we are getting these rights, hence the Students’ Bill of Rights should act as a backbone to facilitate this,” Vaddi said.

Pierce also noted that most of Vassar’s peer institutions have Students’ Bills of Rights and that Vassar’s lack of one is actually rare. “Given the unending conflicts we have had on this campus, surrounding voice and communication, it is absolutely vital that Vassar writes and solidifies one,” she said.

Casey Hancock ’15 was also present at the meeting. Hancock is a member of VSA Council and spoke to the concerns students have expressed with regards to the interactions between the students and administration. “As it stands, many students feel that their voices are very quickly dismissed, especially when it comes to interactions with broader college structures,” he said.

This past Saturday, students met for the second time to discuss the creation of a Students’ Bill of Rights.

The aim of the document is to open communication between the student body and the administration.

Dialogue equips community with tools to combat racism Shelia Hu

Guest rePorter

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or the 14th year, Vassar is hosting All College Day. The theme this year is (Un)silencing Voices and many lectures and discussions lead by guest speakers, professors and administrators took place Feb. 17 through 19. According to the Campus Life and Diversity website, “The purpose of All College Day is to bring members of the Vassar community together for interaction and reflection on how we see the campus.” It also read that, “[The day] is for multiple discussions and engaging events which seek to highlight our challenges as well as our strengths.”

An afternoon of discussions was facilitated on Tuesday, including topics of how to cultivate resilience in oneself, cyber culture, classism and social identity.

The second day ended with a closing di-

alogue of “Finding the Language: Let’s Talk about Race and Racism” facilitated by students in the “Pedagogies of Difference Education” seminar. According to the Campus Life and Diversity website, “The purpose of the dialogue was to provide participants with the appropriate language and information needed to understand racism, and to unpack what racial justice means on Vassar Campus.”

The discussion took place in the CCMPR, and each table was assigned two facilitators from the education class to discuss the four levels of racism, two on the micro level and two on the macro level. The two micro levels were internalized racism, which are beliefs of oppression and privilege in oneself, and interpersonal racism, which is racism between individuals and bringing private beliefs into interactions with others. The two macro levels were institutional and structural racism, the

Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

On Tuesday, the Vassar community gathered in the College Center MPR for the conclusion of the All College Day’s discussions on identity and diversity. This year’s theme is (Un)silencing voices.

first being inequitable treatment and impacts within an institution and the second being a bias across institutions in society where there are systematic privileges and disadvantages appointed to particular groups of people.

The participants were asked to read a case study on a Vassar incident and then discuss what about the study fit into the four different levels of racism. The case study focused on a group of white male students who hosted a Mug night called “Free Weezy” in 2010 in response to Lil Wayne’s incarceration, using stereotypes of Black culture and misspelled words in the posters and on the Facebook event page, including “purple drank.” The event was attended by white students and students of color.

According to the case study distributed at the event, “One self-identifying Black student sided with the hosts of the Mug night, claiming that ‘as a student with family who still keeps a vat of oil at all times for fried chicken, enjoys themselves a kool-aid everyone and again and have more baby mamas than wives, I was not offended by the free Weezy mug night.’” This take on the events was criticized by others who argued that this perspective reinforced stereotypes and conformed to oppressive ideals.

Participants identified the four levels of racism within the case study in their small groups, and later, discussion was opened up to the whole room. A question was asked about how to categorize somebody holding a racist belief but not acting upon it. A participant answered that by not acting upon it, you are still supporting racism, saying it was like riding an escalator. If one doesn’t do anything, one will keep going up and going along with the dominant stereotype.

After general discussion, there were five breakout sessions that people could attend and talk more specifically about certain issues, including educational outreach programs, micro-aggressions in the classroom, dialogues about social spaces on campus, problematizing allyship, and what happened to Black history month.

Associate Dean of the College for Campus

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Life and Diversity Ed Pittman talked about the purpose of All College Day and this year’s theme. He said, “Each year of All College Day has a specific theme. This year it is ‘(Un)silencing Voices.’ It is our hope that the theme resonates in one way or another to everyone on campus. With several events spread across the three days, we ask that the campus choose those events they can access and take part.

With the opening lecture, we see that time as a connecting event and want to draw the largest amount of people.”

With this year’s theme, Pittman explained the importance of giving everyone a chance to share their voice and story. He said, “Some of the greatest change within our community has come when student voices reflect their narrative experiences within the college and offer paths for transformation. We also hope that students, and others, reach across communities and boundaries to build relationships that promote community.”

Pittman then explained the origin of All College Day, saying, “The first All College Day occurred in February 2001, ten months after an April 2000 racial incident involving the use of the ‘N’ word by a student comedy group. Students at that time were particularly articulate about Vassar doing an event that would sustain across time and that would not be solely reactionary to a crisis event. All College Day was born out of that spirit and we are proud to be in the 14th year.”

Pittman continued, “Along with All College Day, which is held during the third week in February, the Campus Life Resource Group also plans several dialogues during the year, most notably the Conversation Dinners and dialogues that campus community members bring to us.”

Pittman acknowledged that the work All College Day sets out to do is an ongoing process that is not finished yet. “It was never the intention to have All College Day be seen as a single day of work to address concerns that we know require more sustained dialogues and institutional work,” he concluded.

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Outside the Bubble The Bill That (Almost) Legalized Anti-Gay Discrimination Kansas’ House of Representatives approved a bill last week that would allow businesses and individuals to deny services from restaurant service to medical care to same-sex couples. The bill, which passed in the House 72-49 on Feb. 12, protected this discrimination on the basis of supporting religious freedom.

It took less than a week for the bill to be considered dead, but the fact that it was able to pass in one of the state’s legislative chambers is indicative of the challenges same-sex couples and civil liberties advocates face in the state. Gay rights activist Sarah Meade lamented that, “Even if the Supreme Court were to declare that the Kansas anti-discrimination bans are unconstitutional, residents of Kansas could still go right ahead and discriminate as they do today” (RT, “Furor over Kansas bill allowing denial of essential services to same-sex couples,” 2.18.14).

State Senator Jeff King, head of the Judiciary Committee, refused to comment on whether such an anti-discrimination bill should exist. Senator King stated Tuesday that the Senate would not be debating the bill, citing the language of the bill as the reason, saying that it needs to “have razor-sharp focus to protect religious liberties without discriminating against any group whatsoever” (TIME, “Kansas Bill Allowing Businesses to Snub Gay Couples is ‘Dead’,” 2.18.14).

The bill, HB2453, was put forth in the House as a protection of religious liberties. Some representatives now say that they didn’t understand the extent that the bill endangered the rights of same-sex couples. Rep. Scott Schwab (R-Olathe) admitted to regretting his vote, believing that his “intentions were pure, even if [his] actions were not.” Rep. Stephanie Clayton (R-Overland Park), however, said simply “I read the bill, so I voted no” (Kansas City Star, “Some Kansas GOP lawmakers would rather religious freedom bill just ‘go away,” 2.17.14).

Common Core Standards

—Justine Woods, Guest Reporter

Foundation awards VC creative arts grant Elizabeth Dean stAff desiGner

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he College announced on Feb. 7 that it has received a grant of $750,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon foundation to work on projects from 2014 to 2017. The grant is titled “The Creative Arts Across Disciplines” and builds on a similar project that Vassar completed in the 2010/11 academic year, “Visiting Artists at Vassar,” which was also backed by the Mellon foundation. A steering committee was formed at the end of January to direct the application of the grant. The steering committee includes representatives from each creative arts department, as well as members of other departments.

The faculty members include Professor of English and Media Studies Heesok Chang, Professor of Studio Art Peter Charlap, Professor of Drama Gabrielle Cody, Professor of Music Christine Howlett, Professor of Dance Miriam Mahdaviani, Professor of Film Mia Mask, and Professor of Physics Cindy Schwarz. Leading the committee are Professor of Anthropology Thomas Porcello and Dean of Faculty Jonathon Chennette.

Porcello spoke to the composition of the steering committee, saying in an emailed statement, “There is a representative of each creative art department on the steering committee, and we anticipate that those departments will be both originators and partners with other departments in submitting proposals to the steering committee.”

As to the more concrete goals of the grant, Porcello said, “There are several goals for the grant... enabl[ing] programming that... encourages collaboration between arts departments as well as between the arts and other disciplines...The activities funded by the grant ideally will underscore that core artistic concepts and practices are widely applicable across the totality of a liberal arts education and ethos.”

VSA VP for Academics, Shruti Manian ’14, the current student representative to the committee, spoke to the possibility of the grant from the students’ perspective, saying, “I think the grant is very exciting because it really exemplifies Vassar’s commitment to a

multi-dimensional education. Students will be able to approach traditional academic disciplines and assignments with some exciting creative flair.”

Manian continued, “Creative thinking often fosters greater engagement with the community around you. I think the student body will also benefit from the new and unique ways of learning that are bound to come about as a result of this grant.”

Either Manian or another student from the VSA Academics Committee will contribute to the steering committee’s discussions throughout its deliberations. According to Chennette, “The student representative will serve as a liaison with the academics committee and other students to provide input and ideas as the grant develops.”

As dictated by the Mellon grant, each year of the project will have a specific theme around which to center its programming and goals. According to Porcello, Vassar has stipulated the theme of “The Senses” to the Mellon foundation, proposing that each year of the grant’s projects will focus on a different sense. Porcello said of the theme, “[The committee] talked at length about whether this would remain the thematic focus or whether there might be other compelling ideas that could emerge from steering committee discussion. Of particular value about the senses as the theme is that the concept is both essential to understanding human experience and has a conceptual breadth that is of potential interest and relevance to all academic fields of study.”

While no programming plans have been established thus far, both Porcello and Manian spoke to the upcoming processes for potential events. First, according to Porcello, the steering committee will issue “calls for proposals” to the various academic departments, hoping to get ideas about possible programming including artist residencies and new courses. These proposals will set the plans for next year’s programming.

In the meantime, he said, “We do hope that we will find one or two faculty members who will be able to work on a pilot project with a small group of students this summer in a

‘Multi-Arts Collective,’ modeled closely on the long-standing Ford and URSI Programs.”

Manian described the faculty as excited about this prospect. Porcello echoed her observation, saying, “There is a tremendous amount of excitement both within the steering committee and among faculty who have already approached us with expressions of interest for projects they would like to explore, artists they are interested in approaching, and courses they might seek to develop.”

According to Porcello, the College’s ability to receive the grant was based on their success with 2010-11 grant, “Visiting Artists at Vassar.” Porcello said, “That grant was explicitly conceived as a pilot project that, at the time, we said if it was successful, the college would consider approaching the Mellon Foundation for a larger grant to do a more sustained and richer follow-up...”

Porcello went on, saying, “[The Visiting Artists and Vassar] projects did an excellent job of illustrating the potential that creative art can bring to areas of study—in these two cases, women’s rights, conflict and war, and nationalism—more often associated with non-arts disciplines.”

After the completion of those projects, Porcello said that the steering committee engaged in an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses and decided that they were in a position to go back to the Mellon Foundation with a larger, refined request. That proposal was sent to the foundation in the fall of 2013, and we received notification of its success in December.

Porcello urged student involvement, saying, “I strongly encourage students to engage as fully as possible in the events, courses and other kinds of programming that will result from Mellon’s generosity and the faculty’s initiative. As soon as proposals are evaluated and approved by the steering committee, we will make sure that information about events, courses, and other opportunities for students are widely disseminated.”

Porcello stated that further information regarding the final theme and other aspects of the forthcoming project will be solidified in the next few weeks.

Activist illuminates trans* issues, identity JANET MOCK continued from page 1

around race and gender,” Pittman went on, “Those involvements resonated with the aims that CLRG has for creating more spaces for discourse across these communities.”

Mock’s lecture was the start of All College Day, a series of discussions relating to campus climate brought to Vassar by the Campus Life Resource Group. This year’s theme was “(Un)silencing Voices.”

Pittman said of the annual event, “All College Day seeks to create more spaces for voice and open dialogue. Janet Mock’s lecture did that excellently. Her pre-lecture reception was well attended as well, allowing many students to connect with her message.”

“I’ve been really excited for the lecture since I found out it was happening,” said Maggie Jeffers ’16, “I haven’t read her memoir yet, but I found out about her online—I saw her in a picture next to Laverne Cox and looked her up from there.”

“The lecture lived up to my expectations, exceeded them actually,” Jeffers continued, “I found her talk really enlightening about past trans activists but also about what’s going on currently... She must’ve faced so much as a trans woman of color but I get the impression that that’s only made her a stronger person. I think that’s especially important for people like her to see, and an important message for All College Day here.”

Drury McAlarney ’16 said, “To be honest, I was not familiar with Mock’s work before I attended the lecture. I knew about the Piers Morgan interview, but that’s about it.”

“I didn’t really know what to expect from it,” McAlarney went on, explaining, “I didn’t know if it was going to be a workshop on how to be an ally, or Mock talking about the oppressions she faced.”

Mock’s lecture began with a presentation focusing on early trans women of color ac-

tivists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson.

She explained that neither of them was ever asked to make a keynote address. She then read a passage from her memoir about when she was living in Hawaii as a young trans girl.

After Mock ended the lecture she answered questions, including how to be a good trans* ally, how she remains positive and how she felt after the Piers Morgan interview. Mock then held a book signing for her memoir.

“I’m so grateful that she talked about trans women activists in the 70s,” said McAlarney. “I didn’t know how ignorant I actually was about trans history, especially as someone who wants to be versed in the history of

LGBTQ liberation in the United States.”

“I think Janet Mock and other trans women of color in the mainstream media really have an ability to change people’s perceptions about trans people—and women of color in general, too,” Jeffers echoed.

McAlarney concluded, “Her talk opened everyone up for further discussion about these issues. I think at Vassar people assume we don’t need to, or we have everything figured out, and that just isn’t true at all. I think it was a great lecture in itself but also a great start to All College day and hopefully further discussion.”

courtesy of Barnard

On Feb. 24, State Senator Greg Ball (R,C,I) will host a Common Core forum at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, giving students, teachers and parents a chance to air grievances about the education standards that were imposed on them in the 2012-2013 school year.

The forum will be hosted by Senator Ball, who is sponsoring a bill that would put a 3-year moratorium on the standards until they can be improved (Hudson Valley Reporter, “Ball Slates Third Common Core Forum at Poughkeepsie’s Our Lady of Lourdes High School,” 2.17.14).

The Common Core State Standards is a stateled initiative led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. It establishes a standard for students in grades K-12, outlining what skills students are expected to master by the end of each grade. Its adoption by the New York State Education Department in 2012 sparked outrage amongst educators, parents and students. Many opponents to the Common Core believe the curriculum causes students to no longer care about learning (Greenwich Time, “Explaining Common Core,” 10.5.13).

The previous forum, held at Copper Beech Middle School in Shrub Oak on February 11, gave students a platform to discuss their own experiences with the new standards. Eighth-grader Anuk DeSilva stated, “I definitely think Common Core is starting to take away our identities and conflicting with our ideas... Before, we used to have a lot of discussions, now we get packets and different worksheets without knowing our options.” Students complained that they feel more pressure than they have in the past and that teachers have to teach faster than usual, forced to cram in what is required of them to teach without the freedom to customize their classes (The Journal News, “Students speak out on Common Core impact at forum,” 2.16.14).

When New York Education Commissioner John King held similar forums in Poughkeepsie in October 2013, they were canceled because of the behavior of attendees during the event but eventually reinstated. King’s resignation has been called for by many New Yorkers, including assemblyman Ray Walter (R,C,I-Amherst) (Buffalo News, “Assemblyman calls for King resignation over Common Core,” 1.29.14).

February 20, 2014

Trans activist Janet Mock visited Vassar on Monday as the opener to All College Day. She released her memoir, “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, & So Much More,” on Feb. 4.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

February 20, 2014

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Bucket list motivates seniors to reflect on last four years Julia Cunningham rePorter

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Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

eniors, have you ever eaten a slice of Retreatzza? Gone sledding on sunset hill? Gotten a meal with a professor or done sake bombs at Tokyo Express?

President of the Class of 2014 Connor Martini began a new tradition this year for the 150th class to graduate: the Senior Bucket List.

The Bucket List is a collection of 150 tasks for seniors to complete during their last months at Vassar. In his email to the senior class, Martini wrote, “Each week I will send out ten or so items from the Bucket List, which was compiled by Senior Class Council. The list is made up of traditions, events and just fun stuff to do on campus.”

Other items on the list include teaching a student seminar, having dinner with your old fellow group, attending an ALANA Center event, getting a piercing and to finish off the week—come in like a wrecking ball. Martini said in an emailed statement, “[The List] has been a collaborative effort among members of senior class council, with a few things added by seniors at large.”

The List isn’t something to be taken too seriously. Martini wrote, “I know of many seniors who have been reading the list and using it as a way to reflect upon their Vassar experience, which is really the point of the whole thing.”

While the List is a way to reflect, it is also a way for seniors to make the most of their last days in college.

Claire Grosel ’14 wrote in an emailed statement, “There isn’t much more time for ‘oh, we’ll do that next weekend;’ we’re just going to start doing things right when we say we’re going to do them.”

As the end of the semester looms larger and larger, some seniors say they are giving the idea of the Bucket List some consideration.

“I’m not necessarily planning on completing the formal senior class bucket list (150 items is

Grabbing a pizza from the Retreat is one of many activities listed on the Class of 2014 Bucket List.

The List allows seniors to reflect on their experiences at Vassar and perhaps make new ones. a lot of ground to cover),” Grosel wrote. “But I do think it is fun to look over many things that are quintessentially ‘Vassar’ and pick and choose the ones I want to do, if I haven’t already. I plan to do these and other things that are on just an informal list I have with some close friends, by just doing things.”

Grosel has been using the List to experience new things. “Some ones I’ve especially liked so far are get a meal with a professor and find the earth circle—especially since I finally got a chance to go to open hours at the observatory last week with some friends. We saw Jupiter and it was really awesome. I was also glad to finally get to do karaoke on Saturday night at the Dutch/Billy Bob’s.”

But not all the seniors are as hyped about the

idea of the all-encompassing Bucket List. Evan Einstein ’14 wrote in an emailed statement, “I think senior bucket lists are quite personal to each respective senior. Some seniors may not want to ‘get a piercing’ in Poughkeepsie during their time at Vassar. And that’s okay.”

Einstein does appreciate the idea of the Bucket List helping seniors make the most of their time left at Vassar. “Well, some of the tasks have asked seniors to go to places that they haven’t been to yet in the neighborhood or on campus. I agree with all of these types of tasks,” he wrote. “I think it is important that every student has some sort of exploratory understanding of where they’ve been developing for the past four years.”

Einstein added, “I’m working on my own

bucket list. I definitely would like to spend more time in our beautiful library. Also, I’d like to make sure I try all the restaurants in the surrounding area. I just went to the Mill House Brewery and it was awesome.”

The Bucket List isn’t just about commemorating Vassar. There are also prizes to be won.

As Martini’s email to the seniors read, “Each week I will bold one item on the list. Snap a picture of you doing that activity and tweet it at the newly-made 2014 twitter (VCClassof2014), and one person will be chosen to receive a prize!” Last week’s bolded item was to go sledding.

Seniors said they are also more than willing to compete for the extra perk of prizes. “[Deciding to fulfill the Bucket List] ended up being more of a coincidence than a decision to fully do it,” Grosel wrote. “My housemates and I had been meaning to go sledding since the big snow last week. We took some cute pictures and with a potential to win merch, senior week tickets, or VCash, I thought why not tweet it to the class2014 handle?”

She added, “I like to try to support the great work of the senior class council because they do a great job, and its fun!”

When asked to share his own plans about completing the list, Martini wrote, “You know I haven’t thought about it, but probably! I won’t submit anything for a prize, but I’ve used making the list and sharing it as a way to reflect on the completeness of my own unique Vassar experience.”

For the senior class, as much as the Bucket List represents the celebration of their past four years, it also marks the passage to the post-grad years..

Wrote Grosel, “In that way it is somewhat bittersweet because that is definitely something I will miss next year, but in the mean time, why not take advantage of all the phenomenal opportunities here! Vassar is what you make of it, and I plan to enjoy what it has to offer.”

Religious students encounter difficulties voicing beliefs Erik Halberg

Guest rePorter

“R

Spencer Davis/The Miscellany News

eligious” is not among the qualities that most people will first think of when talking about Vassar. The college has been independent of ties to any specific religion since its inception.

Despite being such a secular campus, Vassar does its best to offer support to students who are religious. At the forefront of this effort is the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (RSL) which promotes an open and accepting environment for students of all faiths to exercise and grow in their spirituality.

There are about a dozen officially recognized groups under the RSL’s guidance—they range from the Vassar Intervarsity Fellowship to the Pagan Circle to the Islamic Society—but these groups do not necessarily contain all students of faith on campus. Nor do they represent the enormous diversity of faiths that can be found among students, despite the range of groups the RSL is currently helping sponsor.

There are many faiths and spiritualities that may only have one or two members here at Vassar. These students have no real religious community with which to practice their faith, and while this would seem to isolate them from others of their faith, can be a blessing for some.

Anthony Choquette ’17, who is a Religion major, said, “Religion is a very personal and individual thing for me. Therefore, not having a group of fellow students who share my particular faith doesn’t really bother me.”

Anthony is an agnostic theist, meaning he believes in a god but not in any particular religious ideology. Although only a freshman, he has noticed that religious students, despite being passionate about their faith, have a very small presence on campus.

“The people here who are religious are very open and comfortable with their faith. The problem is that religion is underrepresented among students, and that bothers me,” said Anthony.

He talked about how in one of his classes a particular student is very passionate about their faith—which he found very beautiful— yet he noted many of their classmates looking

askance at the other student.

In situations such as this, the role of religion in the classroom—traditionally a secular environment—is called into question. Anthony remarked, “Vassar is extremely tolerant towards so many things, like race, gender and LGBTQ , but we are not so open to religion and religious expression.”

For many students, expressing their religious beliefs—particularly in, say, a science class—can be a cause for ridicule or disdain from their peers.

Professor Johnathan Kahn of the religion department noted this trend. “For students who aren’t Christian or Jewish bringing up religion in the classroom can be really tough, and even for those who are it can still be rough. Which is a real shame,” he said over the phone.

Aaron Hill ’16, who is a member of the Unitarian Universalist community, also feels pressure from other students about his spirituality.

He said, “It’s difficult to find a space where we can feel free of ridicule for our beliefs.”

Balancing spirituality with all the rigors academia can be another challenge Hill shared. “I find time each week to carve out a niche where I can focus on my personal faith,” he added.

Kahn, meanwhile, went on to talk about misconceptions people may have about religion classes. “The study of religion is not necessarily the education of religion,” emphasizing that studying religion at Vassar is more than merely learning how different religions operate. Students are meant to learn how they interact with and as part of our daily lives.

Professor Kahn stated that he felt religion and spirituality—which are not necessarily the same thing—can and should be a part of student’s lives.

He said, “Learning is not only about studying a body of facts, it’s about finding one’s place in the world. And religion should be a viable way of working towards that.”

Together, he and Reverend Sam Speers, the Director of the RSL, have been traveling to different campuses across the nation and running workshops.

These, according to Kahn, focus primarily on redefining the role of the secular in the

Vassar offers a wide variety of resources for students to explore religious expression on campus. For many students, religion is a difficult discussion to initiate due to the secular nature of the College. classroom. Traditionally, a secular classroom has meant one that is totally without religion.

Professor Kahn and Reverend Speers believe that being secular does not necessarily have to totally preclude religion.

“What does this mean? ‘Religion,’” Said Professor Kahn, “Can be one of any number of potential discourses that should be able to find expression.”

As mentioned before, comments stemming from a religious motivation can often be ignored or not respected within in the classroom, as many feel that they violate the sacred secularity of academia.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

But Kahn and Speers see religion as a viable way of looking at the world.

Both Kahn and Anthony noted a bit of a trend at Vassar where many students feel that being a secular campus and classroom means not merely that religion remains largely outside of the public sphere, but that it is an actively anti-religious environment.

Anthony remarked, “In religion classes, there is this innate cynicism or skepticism towards religion.” Both agreed that there is a dichotomy and a tension between the religious and the secular here at Vassar, and added they hoped it could be resolved through discourse.

Page 6

FEATURES

February 20, 2014

Coalition Alumnus among finalists to travel to Mars aims for A accessibility Eloy Bleifuss Prados feAtures editor

courtesy of Max Fagin

FORUM continued from page 1 low Carter ’15, said gendered bathrooms can be threatening spaces for those who are trans, genderqueer, non-binary or gender nonconforming.

Questions or harassment about why one is using a particular bathroom can be incredibly hurtful and stressful, according to Carter.

She wrote in an emailed statement, “I think that it is extremely important that we provide safe, accessible bathrooms in every building.”

Director of the Women’s and LGBTQ centers Judy Jarvis echoed Carter, saying that gender-specific bathrooms are frequently trying spaces for individuals in the trans* community.

Furthermore, Jarvis sees the expansion of gender neutral bathrooms are aligned with the college’s mission.

As Jarvis wrote in an emailed statement, “Studies and anecdotal evidence support that for trans and genderqueer and gender nonconforming people, single-gender bathrooms are the top site of harassment, questioning and policing. This causes great stress and can even lead to medical problems. We can do better than that at Vassar.”

Currently, the coalition is working to increase access to gender neutral bathrooms through two phases. The first phase, which they hope to complete by the end of this spring, is to improve signage and increase awareness.

The coalition is identifying gender-specific single-occupancy bathrooms in academic buildings without any gender neutral bathrooms. Jarvis mentioned that the these bathrooms would be updated to non-binary signage.

Phase two focuses on creating at least one accessible gender neutral bathroom in every building on campus. Starting in the Fall of 2014, this phase will entail consulting with employees who oversee and use the facilities in which the gender neutral bathrooms will be created, and making sure that the college’s commitment to creating gender neutral bathrooms in every building is acted upon.

For the college, both phases ultimately tie into important policies. Jarvis explained, writing, “We have a non-discrimination policy that includes ‘gender identity,’ and increasing the number and accessibility of gender neutral bathrooms on campus is one important way that we can live up to that non-discrimination policy.”

Across the country, over 150 colleges have gender neutral bathrooms. This data, however, mostly refers to colleges that have single-stall gender neutral bathrooms, as opposed to the full bathrooms installed in houses (“Ways that U.S. Colleges and Universities Meet the Day-to-Day Needs of Transgender Students,” 2013).

Jarvis believes that this initiative is a way for Vassar to become a model for other institutions’ policies. “In the same way we were leading the way with gender neutral dorm bathrooms, we also have an opportunity to lead the way on providing at least one gender neutral bathroom in all administrative and academic buildings,” wrote Jarvis.

She continued, “We currently have 13 administrative and academic buildings with NO gender neutral bathrooms at all, and this is crucial to correct if we as an institution are committed to providing safety for our transgender, genderqueer and gender non-conforming students and employees.”

The coalition’s work is ultimately an effort to make all students feel comfortable and to adapt how the Vassar community responds to its students emerging needs.

As Carter wrote, “Vassar needs to make the safety of trans students a priority, and center the voices and experiences of trans students in any discussion about their needs.”

Jarvis, meanwhile, is optimistic about the initiatives future in the coming months and even semesters.

She wrote, “Working on a campus-wide facility effort is a major undertaking, but I think we have some good momentum to provide education and create clear and well thought-out plans to meet our goals of improving signage, increasing awareness and education, and providing at least one gender neutral bathroom in all administrative and academic buildings.”

liberal arts education, the College says, can take you far. One alumnus hopes his Vassar degree will launch him 250 million miles away from Earth.

Max Fagin ’10 is a first-round finalist for the Mars One Program, a private company working on sending the first humans crew to mars by 2025.

He is one of 1,058 members of the Phase Two Shortlist, chosen out of a pool of over 200,000 applicants from around the world. Over the course of the next year, the Mars One Program will interview and test Fagin to determine if he is qualified to passing into the next round and perhaps even joining one of the four-person shuttle crews.

When Fagin was 12 years old, he read “The Case for Mars” by Robert Zubrin. The book, which argues for the human exploration and settlement of the Red Planet, instilled in Fagin a lifelong passion for space travel.

But Mars is not just the final goal for the mission. Mars is the final destination for the astronauts’ lives. If the Mars One Program in fact succeeds in sending humans to Mars, it would be to establish a permanent colony.

There is no return plan, and the astronauts who go would be leaving Earth forever.

The benefits of a Mars mission, in Fagin’s eyes, would outweigh the necessary sacrifices.

He explained his decision to apply for the Mars One Program, claiming that the survival of the human race in the future will depend on the innovations made in the present.

“Earth is a great place to live, but it is also just one planet,” wrote Fagin in an emailed statement. “Humans must spread to other planets, or we will eventually go extinct. Maybe not anytime soon, but eventually. The dinosaurs taught us that the universe is a potentially lethal place for life that is stuck on only one planet, and I am very much opposed to humanity going the way of the dinosaurs.”

Max Fagin ’10 hopes to be selected by a private company sending human crews to Mars in 2025. The goal of the mission is to set up a colony on Mars and there are no plans for a return trip back to Earth.

Fagin, who is currently pursuing his masters in aerospace engineering at Purdue University, admitted that his academic background, with its liberal arts education, is not typical for an aspiring astronaut. The most competitive applicants may be more technically trained than he is.

“Plenty of other applicants are excellent pilots. Plenty of them are excellent engineers,” he wrote. Any mission and colonization of Mars, however, Fagin claims, will require a jack of all trades.

“But my skills and knowledge base isn’t just a narrow tower of a single subject, it’s a broad multidisciplinary pyramid of many types of engineering and science, capped with aerospace engineering, and all of it supported by the solid foundation of physics that I got at

Vassar,” he wrote.

From his time here, Fagin remembers well the parties the Astronomy department threw.

“The dome parties at the observatory are some of my happiest memories of my time at Vassar,” he wrote. Fagin was a double astronomy and physics major, and he also earned his Bachelor of Engineering in the dual-degree program at the Thrayer School at Dartmouth.

Professor of Astronomy Debra Elmegreen was Fagin’s major adviser. She recalled Fagin as a bright student. “From his freshman year onward, he was legendary for asking probing questions in class (in mine as well as in physics classes),” wrote Elmegreen in an emailed statement.

She continued, “He was always ambiSee MARS on page 8

Students’ web presence subject to scrutiny SOCIAL MEDIA continued from page 1

appropriate for us to use it as such,” said Borus.

In fact, the only time when admissions officers will engage with students’ social media sites is if applicants explicitly direct them there.

Most often, Borus said, this will come in the form of a YouTube video which students typically include as part of Vassar’s “Your Space” section on their application, or simply as a creative addendum. “I think most of our peer institutions face a virtually identical situation as we do: They’re all swamped with applications and need to give each one a thorough reading.

We don’t have time to be out there fishing in social media,” he said. Though, he added, for schools with a smaller applicant pool, seeking out students on social media might seem like a more viable option.

“There are schools, I think, that have a lower application load and are less selective who may do this to a greater extent. I’ve seen surveys that would indicate that some schools do utilize social media to get a broader view of the candidate.”

Josh Schwartz, an incoming Vassar freshman, said that though he is conscientious about what he posts online, applying for college wasn’t the impetus for his decision.

“I’d never thought about it from an admissions perspective, more from an understanding that people can see what I post and say online and, therefore, I want to try and present myself in my best light. Furthermore, I’m friends with various adults on Facebook, and I always make sure there’s nothing I would be uncomfortable with them seeing,” said Schwartz in an emailed statement.

Jesse Peters ’14 said at his high school, this technique was presented in the way of what he called the “classic grandparent example.”

“Perhaps rather than stressing ‘cleaning up’ or deactivating social media accounts, my high school college advisors encouraged us to ensure that we were projecting an image of ourselves that we would be comfortable with college admissions officers seeing,” said Peters in an emailed statement. He continued, “I think they might have even used the classic grand-

parent example: ‘If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see it, you should probably rethink it.’”

Peters just received letters of acceptance to Duke and UCLA law schools, and is currently waiting to hear back from the other 12 he applied to. Though he said he was conscious of the possibility of admissions officers perusing his social media platforms, it was something he took with a grain of salt.

“I ultimately decided that I had–perhaps unknowingly—always kept my advisors’ advice in mind throughout my time at Vassar, so I did not need to make significant edits or obsessively screen every picture I was tagged in on Facebook. For example, even if there are images of me with alcohol, I think that they do not cast me in any sort of bad light. In fact, they might even demonstrate a certain amount of responsibility or maturity, and I think that is something we all should strive for when managing our social media,” said Peters.

Borus said despite the fact that Vassar doesn’t participate in looking at students’ Facebook or Twitter accounts, Peters and Schwartz’s approaches are smart ones.

“A lot of counselors and advisers will tell students to clean up anything they don’t want a college to see. I don’t think that’s bad advice: It’s good advice in general. Facebook has become almost public property these days and I don’t think it makes sense to have things there you don’t want other people to see,” he said.

Though Schwartz agreed that social media certainly blurs the lines between public and private information, he doesn’t think a student’s Facebook is necessarily fair game.

“A school should get a clear enough picture of a student from their essays, transcript, etc.

What people do in their private lives shouldn’t matter. At the same time, I still think it’s important for students to be conscious of what they’re sharing on social media sites. People need to understand that almost anyone can see what they’re posting,” he said.

Borus stated that the availability of information online is something that students should be concerned with, especially when they start

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

applying for jobs. Not only are employers dealing with a smaller number of applicants, but they are faced with different factors they must consider.

“I think it’s pretty common now for potential employers to look up Facebook accounts and try to find out more about the candidate that wouldn’t be contained in the average résumé and cover letter that don’t tell you much.

They’re talking about bringing someone into their company or workplace. There are no expectations of privacy whereas I think students can reasonably have an expectation of privacy,” said Borus.

Peters echoed Borus’ sentiments, stating that there is a clear distinction in the aim of an admissions office and that of a company; however, he believes businesses shouldn’t be bothered with their employees social media presence.

“The college years are not intended to develop just the intellect, but the entire person.

Given that, I would say that admissions officers should (and probably do) take this into consideration when making their decisions. Employers, on the other hand, are largely concerned with a bottom line—whether that be profit or getting the job done; on the whole, there is less concern for extracurricular activities,” said Peters.

Social media in the hands of universities and employers doesn’t always have to be wielded as a weapon.

Vassar uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogs to reach out to prospective students and make the College accessible to those who can’t physically visit.

For Schwartz, even other Vassar students’ uncensored use of social media helped him decide to apply early decision to the College.

He said, “I’m friends with a few people who are freshmen at Vassar right now, and a substantial part of my decision was seeing how much fun those people were having via their pictures on Facebook, Tweets and Instagrams.

Social media can definitely be a really good tool in the college process, as long as you know how to use it well.”

February 20, 2014

FEATURES

Page 7

Reese’s rendition of ‘Let It Go’ overnight Youtube sensation Eloy Bleifuss Prados feAtures editor

O

courtesy of Malinda Reese

ne Vassar student has struck Internet gold. A video Malinda Reese ’16 posted on her YouTube channel garnered over a million views in less than a week.

In it, Reese sings “Let it Go,” a song from the 2013 animated-musical Disney film “Frozen.” Except in her version, she switched out the original lyrics and replaced what the words looked like after put through several rounds of Google Translate.

Reese used the online application to translate individual lines from English through several different languages and then back into English.

As she explains in the video’s introduction, the idea of using Google Translate came from some high school friends of hers.

What Reese typically does is she translates a line first to something more or less related to English before gradually moving on to other languages more estranged on the linguistic tree.

In this manner, a word or phrase in English is bounced across several languages, from English to German, German to Spanish, Spanish to Chinese or Japanese, and finally back into English.

Reese had played around with Google Translate before. She described how every year during the holidays her family reads a Google-translated version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” She remarked, “I just thought it was funny. It’s kind of like a parlor game.”

On pure whim one day, Reese took some lines from “Frozen” and put it through the system. “Let it Go” became “Give Up,” “Not a footprint to be seen” became “no visible legs,” and “A Kingdom of isolation” was converted to “discrimination law.”

Reese sensed she was onto something.

“I knew if I didn’t record this right now and share it with people I was going to regret it,” she said.

The following morning, carrying with her a video camera and a voice microphone, she walked over to Skinner Hall to record. After some warm ups, it took Reese six takes before

she was satisfied. The entire process of capturing and editing the video only took less than three hours, but Reese waited an entire day before sharing it online.

According to Reese, her parents were the first to see it. They were the ones who suggested adding subtitles at the bottom so that viewers can follow the stilted translation.

Reese described how afterwards she shared the video with some fellow student singers.

She said, “I sent it to a couple of friends first to be, like, is this worth posting?”

Although she described herself as having been a longtime devotee of Vloggers and YouTube musicians, Reese had created only a few videos herself.

“I knew it was going to get more views than any other idea I had posted because, well, the idea certainly wasn’t original, but it was unique and it was weird,” said Reese. “So I was like maybe 1,000 views. Maybe. Max.” Six hours after posting, the video had roughly 30,000 views. Blogs and news sources quickly picked up the video. The day after it hit the Internet, the Huffington Post, Smosh and Perez Hilton all posted about it. On the third day, the video had been re-shared by BuzzFeed and the YouTube homepage, along with numerous TV and radio websites from across the globe.

What impressed Reese about the response she received was its transnational dimensions.

“The coolest thing has been to receive messages from people all over the world. Not just positive messages but insightful and observant,” described Reese. “It was just cool to have that kind of connection through laughter and music. It was just fun. Those are two things that bring people together.”

Reese is taking the video’s success one day at a time. “I’m just kind of enjoying it while it lasts because having a video that gets that much attention isn’t something at all that happens every day,” she said. “I don’t think it will ever happen to me again so its just really, really fun to enjoy it while it is happening.”

She claimed her priorities haven’t changed.

“I’m really keeping things in perspective,” she said. “My life here at Vassar comes first. And I feel like my academics and my friends and my

Melinda Reese ’16 created a Youtube sensation with her re-translated lyrics to “Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen.” The video was picked up by news sites such as Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post. extracurricular, everything, all that stuff is really the most important and I have really tried to choose to focus on that.”

Reese is, however, planning on releasing more Google Translate videos in the coming weeks. Last Tuesday Feb. 18, she released a Google Translate version of “Part of the World” from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

Starting a YouTube series had been an ambition of Reese for awhile.

“There are a lot of Youtube musicians and vloggers that I love and I had always thought about doing it, but trying to get started on YouTube is so hard and it takes so long,” she said.

“To have my first weird video to blow up in front of me it was a matter of luck and timing.”

“Frozen” is the movie musical of the moment, and people singing top songs are always among the most watched YouTube videos. But among the vast reaches of the Internet, and the hundreds-of-thousands of “Frozen” covers already existing, why did this one video become

so popular so fast?

Reese has a theory. She recalled how what first sparked her was watching a multilingual version of “Let it Go” Disney released, which featured the hit song being song in 25 different languages.

Listening to the part in Spanish, Reese had a thought. “I remember thinking, ‘If you directly translated that it would be incorrect,’” she said.

Reese believes her videos speaks to the difficulties and contrariness of language.

“One of the reasons that it has appealed to people all around the world is that it shows that language is hard,” she explained. “There are some things in some languages that are expressed differently.”

So while the video commenters blame Google Translate for ruining their favorite song, Reese sees it differently She said, “It wasn’t demeaning of Google Translator, it’s pointing out how language can be awkward and funny.”

Two baking favorites become one in cookie dough cupcake Hannah Harp

Guest Columnist

I

understand the appeal of classic flavors. The smell of vanilla inspires home, the gentle glide of biting into a freshly frosted cupcake with a perfect swirl on top. Nothing beats a perfect chocolate cupcake, perhaps with a fudge frosting, melting in your mouth as you savor the rich flavors. The classic, memory-inducing, bring-me-back-to-my-childhood cupcakes are exactly what we need some days. Other days, however, call for a little more adventure.

If you haven’t found a cupcake that means anything to you, perhaps the classic flavors aren’t for you. I invite you to step away from the handful of flavors you know and explore new cupcake horizons. I want my cupcakes to surprise me and entice me to try something new.

Whether it’s simply a new frosting on a familiar cupcake or changing the ingredients a little bit, trying to make them different has always been my approach.

I was running out of new ideas when I found a beacon of hope, an unexplored direction: the combination of cookie and cupcake. Two of my favorite things are cookie dough and cupcakes, and one stuffed inside the other was an offer too good to resist.

My preferred cupcake is a chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake, stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough, and topped with cookie dough frosting and mini chocolate chips.

First step is cookie dough. Make it early and find a recipe without rising agents—eggs, baking soda and the sort. Basically, the recipe should be butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, milk and a lot of chocolate chips.

Put it in the freezer to chill. Roll the cookie dough into about twenty-four balls to make your life easier. If it’s chilled, the cookie dough won’t bake into cookies. Then, whenever you’re ready, it’s time to assemble and bake the cupcakes!

The first step is to find all the things you

don’t usually use while on campus: cupcake pans, beautiful linings to bake the cupcakes in, an oven, a mixer, some bowls, measuring cups and of course, ingredients. Start with the ingredients of a basic vanilla cupcake: butter, flour and sugar.

If you’re feeling ambitious, experiment with the amount of vanilla extract in the batter to make it taste more like cookie dough. Scoop the batter into your liners, only about two-thirds full, so they have room for the cookie dough and to rise.

Take out the cookie dough balls and put one into each cupcake. Bake for about fifteen minutes, but keep your eye on them so they don’t burn. Give the cupcakes sufficient time to cool before you frost them. Add a little more vanilla to your frosting to give it a stronger cookie dough flavor.

Of course, we don’t all have time to make these extravagant cupcakes from scratch. If you can get your hands on a box of vanilla cupcake mix, a roll of cookie dough and some vanilla frosting, you can make an excellent cupcake without spending too much of your precious time.

Just remember to chill the cookie dough before you drop it into the cupcakes and bake, otherwise you’ll get cookies surrounded by cupcake goo.

Stuffing cupcakes makes them more than the classic cupcake. Who doesn’t like a little chewy surprise when you bite into a cupcake?

Next time it’s someone special’s birthday, think about whether they want a cupcake to transport them to their childhood or something they have never tried before.. Show everyone what you know now about cupcakes.

Don’t avoid cupcakes simply because they are moist(Who actually likes that word?). Look at me, talking about cupcakes like they’re people . Cupcakes aren’t boring: they aren’t meant to be. Give them a chance. Maybe you’ll find a new way to enjoy cupcakes too.

Ingredients

The Recipe

Cookie dough:

2 sticks softened butter 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 4 tablespoons milk 1 tablespoon vanilla 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup mini chocolate chips Cupcake batter:

3 sticks softened butter 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed 4 large eggs 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup milk 3 tsp. vanilla extract

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Begin with the dough. Combine the butter and sugars in a bowl and beat for about 2 mins. on medium-high speed. Slowly add milk and vanilla. Beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Mold the dough into balls or tubes.

Freeze on a parchment-lined baking sheet overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). For the cupcake batter, beat butter and brown sugar in bowl on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat eggs in one at a time. Blend flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk. Mix in the vanilla.

Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake liners. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

Bake at 350 for 16-18 mins. Use frosting of your choice.

FEATURES

Page 8

February 20, 2014

Psychiatrist finds roots of happiness lie in meditation Shannon Liao rePorter

N

courtesy of Persuing Happiness

ext Monday, Feb. 24, leading cognitive scientist Judson Brewer takes the floor at Vassar to discuss the mood lifting, focus boosting quality of mindfulness when used with Buddhist practices.

Thin and wearing glasses, Brewer, in a TEDxTalk he gave last year, outlined the ways which humans overthink or get caught up in cravings that distract them and keep them from reaching flow, a psychology term invented by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, for a relaxed and focused mental state of complete immersion (TEDxTalks, “You’re Already Awesome. Just Get out of Your Own Way,” 5.11.13).

In the talk, he gives the example of an Olympics runner who tripped on the ninth out of 10 hurdles in 2008 as getting in her own way by overthinking. Smokers fall into the same trap by getting caught up in their cravings or resisting their cravings.

Brewer, an addiction psychiatrist at Yale, taught smokers to quit by “being with their cravings.”

“They could let those things come up, do their dance, and go away. They quit smoking,” said Brewer, who first tried meditation in medical school. He has also done mindfulness training with cocaine addicts and alcoholics in funded research projects.

“When you have a craving, see if you can note it so you can ride it out, so if it’s burning, clenching, tightness—really keep it embodied,” Brewer said in an interview with a podcast.

After spending all of grad school experimenting with mice, Brewer decided to tackle the brain instead.

During his psychiatry residency, he told the podcast Buddhist Geeks in an interview, “One thing that I noticed was that people with addictions were speaking the same language as the Buddha, craving, clinging, wanting.” The connection between Buddhist practices and relieving addictions and in general, overthinking,

Cognitive scientist Judson Brewer will bring his insights on the use of mindfulness to improve one’s mood. His research is based on the effects of focused meditation on brain activity while concentrating. was growing more apparent to Brewer during this time.

Religion professor E. H. Rick Jarow said that getting Brewer to Vassar was “[A] stroke of serendipity.” “[The lecture will be] hosted by the Carolyn Grant Committee, a group of Vassar faculty committed to promoting embodied experience and contemplative engagement at Vassar,” wrote Gabe Dunsmith ’15 in an emailed statement. The Carolyn Grant ’36 Endowment Fund is dedicated to giving faculty members the chance to express and explore pedagogical methods.

Religion professor E. H. Rick Jarow said in an emailed statement, “He is at the forefront of an amazing interfacing between neuroscience and Buddhist meditative practices. The ‘mind maps’

Fagin undeterred by one-way ticket to Mars MARS continued from page 6 tious and eager, and it was clear that he was destined for great things. He never knew this, but I privately thought of him as ‘Maxwell Smart’ from the old TV show (for his smartness, not for the bumbling ways of the TV character!).”

Fagin also shared how Vassar allowed him to explore other interests of his outside of astronomy. “I also remember the Shiva theater very well,” wrote Fagin. “My main mode of recreation at Vassar was student theater, and I can’t even remember the number of shows I performed in at the Shiva. ‘Rear Window’, ‘War of the Worlds’, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, and a bunch of other shows and reviews.”

This Friday, Feb. 21, four years after Fagin performed on stage, the Shiva Theater will premiere a musical about the Mars One Program. Written and directed by Hanna Tobias ’16 and Belle Shea ’16, the show named “2023” follows the story of four program applicants.

According to Shea, what spurred them to create the musical was the question of what would it mean to leave the earth behind forever.

“That’s what we really got into. The idea of one way and what does that mean for the rest of your life,” said Shea. “A question that we ask a lot in our show and that is kind of obvious is, ‘What would you miss most about earth?’”

In the case of Fagin, he imagines he would miss most is the fresh air and nature.

He said “I really enjoy being outdoors, and I think it is going to be at least somewhat stifling to not be able to go outdoors without a completely enclosing pressure suit.”

But if he succeeded in going to Mars, Fagin would be missing more than the chance of an outdoor hike.

As he put it, “Every human being who has ever lived I will be leaving behind except for the three people who will be with me.”

According to Fagin, however, his family stands fully behind his desires to go.

“My family has had my entire life to come to terms with this,” he said. “They have been very supportive of me because they know it is my ambition and they know it is my love and they know I have been planning to do this for so long.”

Astronauts on Mars will still be able to see and talk to loved one back on Earth via satellite feeds.

“I wouldn’t be leaving anyone behind in the sense that there would be people I would never see again,” he said. “After all, we can communicate with Mars just as well as we can communicate across the country.”

Every extra ounce of mass brought aboard a space shuttle means more fuel and less available space. The astronauts would take with them only critical equipment. Fagin said that, if he were to go, he would bring a couple lightweight items of sentimental value, including his Rubiks Cube and the book that sparked his dreams of inter-planetary travel, Zubrin’s “The Case for Mars.”

Fagin is keeping his advancement to the program’s shortlist in perspective. “I still have not moved beyond the phase where I consider it anything beyond a remote possibility,” he said.

There is no guarantee that the Mars One Program will be launching any shuttles into space, much less establishing an off-planet colony. Whether or not he makes the next round or if the Mars One Program fizzles, Fagin will continue working towards becoming an astronaut. The field today faces limited options for space travel—the last manned space shuttle NASA sent was in 2011.

Fagin is still not discouraged. He said, “I have a lot I still want to learn before I will be able to really do what I want to do, which is work on the task of getting human beings to mars. Mars One is not the only way to actively work on making humanity interplanetary.”

provided by Buddhist traditions are congruent with contemporary research into perception, attention and the development of healthy qualities of mind.”

Christine Lin ’17, a student in introductory computer science, was intrigued by the upcoming lecture.

“A lot of people are into meditation, so I’m curious to see how certain Buddhist practices tie in with neuroscience,” said Lin, “The mind is such a puzzle, so I’m curious to know more.

[And the subject] is hard because there’s no definitive answer to all of the questions we have to address.”

Brewer recently published a paper with other scientists on the relationship between subjective experience and brain activity during a period of focused attention. People accustomed

to meditating, he suggested, can better control their brain activity through their own conscious will, emphasizing the potential of mindfulness.

“So what we were having people do was just meditate with their eyes open and let this graph of their brain activity that they can look at be in the background,” Brewer said in the interview.

When people used to meditating reported their minds wandering, their brain scans responded accordingly. “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” Brewer said in the TEDxTalk.

As Brewer wrote in an article for the Huffington Post, cognitive science can learn from Buddhist practices (Huffington Post, “How Rewarding Is Love? Some Clues From Neuroscience,” 2.19.13).

He wrote, “As practiced traditionally in Buddhist communities for centuries...Individuals were given the following instructions: ‘Please think of a time when you genuinely wished someone well. Using this feeling as a focus, silently wish all beings well, by repeating a few short phrases of your choosing over and over.’”

By repeating a kind of prayer of selfless love, meditators can activate the reward parts of the brain, achieving satisfaction and a better mood overall. Brewer believes that romantic love activates the parts of the brain that motivate and exhilarate, increasing productivity as well.

To those who may question whether his findings and experiments are traditional Buddhism or cultural appropriation, Brewer gave the following response: “I would say, ‘So what?’

I’m not calling it traditional Buddhism. I’m just calling it feedback. If you’re driving off the road, do you want to know that or not? Who cares what you call it? Are you about to go into a ditch or not?”

Lin said she’s interested in attending Brewer’s lecture because she has observed a need for mindfulness in her daily life. “The lecture would be helpful for a lot of students because a lot of us go through the day without being mindful or paying attention to what’s happening in our surroundings,” she said.

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OPINIONS

February 20, 2014

Page 9

New Facebook Bill of Rights indicative of larger concerns gender choices O a step forward THE MISCELLANY NEWS STAFF EDITORIAL

n Saturday, Feb. 15, Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council members, Cushing House President Ruby Pierce ’16 and Raymond House President Ramy Abbady ’16 held a second meeting with members of the student body to discuss the creation of a students’ bill of rights. The goal of this meeting was to not only consider the creation of such a document by the VSA, but also to receive input from students on what changes they would like to see.

We at The Miscellany News believe that the issues pertaining to the creation of a students’ bill of rights are tied to the need of significant VSA restructuring, rather than the formation of an additional document. Indeed, some of the claims made in the promotional material about the creation of the students’ bill of rights—such as the claim that students’ voices are not being heard—is indicative of a failure of the VSA’s current structure and the system of representation itself.

Although we commend those who have taken the initiative to work on the students’ bill of rights, we feel that this document better serves as an example of what needs to be addressed in restructuring, rather than a document that stands on its own.

We feel the initiatives that have served as an impetus for a students’ bill of rights stem from dissatisfaction over the VSA’s ability not only to effectively represent the student body, but also a failure in its accountability to what students request of the VSA and address when working with administrators and faculty. Should the VSA seriously consider restructuring in the near future, a structure that creates a council more representative of the student body would breed much healthier governing. Further, it should incorporate the values and interests that a students’ bill of rights tries to accomplish.

A more representative VSA would

also project an image of a more unified student body which might prompt faculty and administration to get a better sense of what issues students feel strongly about and how to tackle them.

Over the years , the VSA has made a number of attempts to address its internal structure. The most recent endeavor came with the chartering of the VSA Review Committee (VSARC) at the final meeting of the 2012/13 school year. The committee was intended to compose two chairs: the VP of Operations, and an atlarge chair. It was designed to bring in students who were both members of the VSA Council and at-large, who would then investigate possible structures of the VSA that students would like to see, as well as consider the possibility of conducting an external audit with the help of a third party.

Ultimately, this committee was absorbed back into the VSA Operations and Student Life Standing Committees; little information has since been provided about the status of VSARC or the options available for an external audit. While at times it may seem as though students do not care about the inner workings of the VSA, the lack of new information and updates on important events within the VSA does nothing to incentivize student’s attention.

It is worth noting that the VSA Meeting on Feb. 16 did show strong interest among members of VSA Council to consider the possibility of restructuring. The interest came after an amendment was presented by three council—two of whom were Abbady and Pierce—discussing the creation of two additional positions on the VSA Executive Board to address additional programming and student life needs. We at The Miscellany News are glad to see such interest in the Council but do express concern that it comes

now, when the VSARC charter called for a report and discussion on this matter back in December, before winter break.

We feel, however, that the best thing for the VSA to do is to continue pushing for more discussions and investigations over the structures that students would like to see in the VSA, so as to create a more effective governing body. Input from students outside of the VSA should be a cornerstone of this investigation and restructuring. It is also important to note that that underrepresented students may be the most difficult to gather input from.

Such students may not be comfortable going to meeting like the students’ bill of rights drafting.

It is essential that the VSA approach the topic of restructuring with great focus in the coming weeks, and set out a timeline to consider possible structural changes in a timely fashion and with greater accountability, so as not to repeat the failure of VSARC. If significant structural changes take place to address the aforementioned issues, it would accomplish many of the same goals a student’s bill of rights tries to address.

Indeed, while the students’ bill of rights only creates a list of entitlements, a restructuring of the VSA would allow those rights and desire to be realized.

In this way, we would move from an assertion that students have a right to be heard to a VSA structure that best facilitates students actually being heard on campus.

As a result, we at The Miscellany News feel that a serious commitment of the VSA to restructuring must be stated to ensure a more effective student government for both the present and future students of Vassar College.

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

Restructuring Exec best choice for campus Ramy Abbady

Guest Columnist

I

n my experience on the VSA Council this year, I have come to find that we do things horribly inefficiently. Coming into everything new, I was forced to learn a lot in the beginning of the year; this, of course, isn’t necessarily a bad thing and is something that comes with most jobs. However, the difference was that some of our procedures in the VSA make no logical sense.

But I digress. I think it’s time to finally make a change. I ran for Raymond House President on a platform of striving to increase underrepresented voices in our student government and to find ways to restructure the VSA. I wanted to make things easier for not only myself to understand, but also for the students at large. It’s no secret that our student body has generally apathetic to negative feelings toward the VSA, and I think that it’s time we changed that.

One night, Cushing House President, Ruby Pierce ’16 and I sat down and tried to come up with what an ideal new structure of the VSA should look like. We ended up writing out substantial changes that we knew would not be able to happen now or any time very soon, but the point was that we thought things needed changing. A semester’s worth of frustration came out that night in the Retreat.

One of the things that stuck out the most to me this year was the extreme load on the VP for Student Life. The Miscellany News itself has commented on this earlier in the year (“College Must Maintain Constructive Dialogues After Incidents,” 12.5.13). I fully believe that this position should be split into two individual positions. There are currently two distinct areas that fall under the purview of the VP for Student Life. One half of the position’s duties deal with the Campus Life and Diversity Centers—the LGBTQ Center, Women’s

Center, ALANA Center, Religious and Spiritual Life and the Office of International Services.

The second half deals with the various offices on campus that directly affect student life— for example, SAVP, AEO, Metcalf, Baldwin, ResLife, Campus Dining and many others.

Each year, whoever is elected to VP for Student Life has to choose where to focus their energy—and very often, it isn’t possible to give both of these areas the attention they each deserve. If this position were split, and one person was able to devote all of their time and energy to working with the Campus Life centers, these communities that are regularly silenced in our student government (and in general) might actually have their voices heard. Additionally, with one person able to focus on offices on campus that directly impact students’ lives, there would likely be better accountability when concerns arise about these specific offices.

As an anecdote, a few weeks ago, the VSA sent a letter to high-level administrators, including President Catharine “Cappy” Hill, Dean of the College Chris Roellke, Acting Dean of the College Eve Dunbar and several others, requesting that Metcalf hire a post-doctoral fellow for the 2014/15 school year to help relieve the strain on counseling services. Interestingly enough, this did not come out of Student Life. The letter was written by someone else on VSA Council who had the time and motivation to do it. This is because the Student Life Committee this year has focused a tremendous amount of effort on getting more gender-neutral bathrooms on campus. When having to deal with many different administrators to get that work done in a timely manner, it was hard to work on other projects as well.

Another position on VSA Executive Board that is spread particularly thin is the VP for Activities. In addition to working with all stu-

dent organizations and preliminary organizations, that VP is also responsible for planning Meet Me in Poughkeepsie and working with the Campus Activities Office to approve campus events put on by orgs and pre-orgs alike.

There is another clear divide here, like with the VP for Student Life, except this time between organizations themselves and the programming that goes on campus-wide. Having an individual that focuses solely on orgs would help significantly. This year, the Activities Committee has been working extensively on getting closets and other spaces for orgs that need them, but they have been bogged down by various issues with programming. If a sole person were able to focus on programming, we would be able to streamline both VSA-run functions and organization-backed functions, and wouldn’t have to have positions like the VP for Operations handle things like Tasty Tuesday and the Saturday Shuttle. This person would also be able to work with the senior class and other groups on very large campus events associated with our traditions, such as Serenading and the all-campus Halloween party.

I think there are clear benefits to splitting both of these positions in some manner. This would help the VSA become significantly more efficient at the executive level, as well as (and more importantly) help silenced voices be heard. With more people on the VSA council, we would have more perspectives, more time to listen and more opportunities to be helpful to students’ needs. Plus, let’s be honest, the VSA clearly needs to change in some way. Why not try something new? Why do we have to be so stuck in our old ways? To quote my dear friend, Ruby Pierce ’16, “Sh*t gets antiquated.”

—Ramy Abbady ’16 is a physics major. He is President of Raymond House.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Lily Elbaum Columnist

T

his week, Facebook unveiled a new feature: Users on the English site can now select a custom gender. Male and female are there, but there is now a “custom” choice, which produces a drop-down list that offers options like trans* male or female, bi-gender and pangender. In addition, users may now choose which gender pronoun they would like Facebook to use: he, she or they—English does not have a singular gender-neutral pronoun, so “they” is often used as a substitute.

Facebook consulted five major transgender and gay rights organizations in choosing which options to offer for users. There are, officially, 58 different options. The options will eventually roll out in other languages, too. An issue will be finding appropriate terms in those languages Facebook wants to offer. English now has many terms, which allow people to express a wide range of gender options, but many languages are not as flexible or as politically correct.

Since the beginning, Facebook has tried to stay up-to-date with its main clientele—young people.

LGBTQ rights are a popular issue among Facebook’s key demographic, and this move shows the company’s desire to reflect the opinions and feelings of its users. The wider gender options imply Facebook’s support of LGBTQ rights and its willingness to tackle hot-button issues.

The company has tended to be more liberal and left-leaning, which reflects its beginnings on a college campus not unlike Vassar. One can only hope that this might encourage other companies and social networks to follow its lead.

In the United States, LGBTQ rights have become one of those issues used even in presidential campaigns. Currently, 17 states have legalized gay marriage, and that number will almost certainly rise in the next few years. Gender and sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace has gained significant attention, and companies are adjusting their policies to accommodate.

Perhaps one day these policies won’t need to be enforced, but for now, they help to prevent workplace discrimination.

Possibly one of the most visible elements of LGBTQ activism and progress is from entertainment, which helps present nationally some aspect of LGBTQ acceptance. Recently, television shows have started to feature more well-rounded lesbian and gay characters. The Netflix series “Orange is the New Black” has been praised for portraying realistic LGBTQ characters. Disney also showed a same-sex couple on one of its television shows for the first time, and in the movie “Frozen” there is a minor character who is gay (supposedly).

Whether or not these examples truly represent the LGBTQ community, they are at least markers of progress.

At Vassar, sometimes it’s possible for people to forget that the outside world is less tolerant than our community, but bias incidents like those last semester bring that reality home. I have little doubt that there will be members of the Vassar community who take advantage of Facebook’s new gender options, and hopefully many of those people feel that these options allow them to more accurately express who they are. However, as pointed out by The Guardian, the options still lean heavily on the gender binary and the two default options are still male and female with these options hidden under “custom.” However, this is the first roll-out, and undoubtedly, the layout will change in the coming months. If anything, Facebook is known for constantly changing things up.

Whether or not Facebook has made the best decision it could have over this, at least it‘s demonstrating a willingness to adapt to the reality of society. I think Facebook should be commended for trying and at least giving another option besides male and female. That’s more than what most websites can say. Whether you agree or disagree with it all, try to remember that nobody is perfect, and something is better than nothing. Change is slow, but every step matters in reaching the ultimate goal of a more tolerant society.

—Lily Elbaum ’16 is an international studies major.

OPINIONS

Page 10

Letter to the Editor Two weeks ago, the Miscellany News published an article in its Features section that profiled the Toastmasters Club (Miscellany News, “Toastmasters club sharpens public speaking prowess,” 02.05.13). I was struck by a particular passage in that article, which cited Victoria Qiu ‘14, a member of the Toastmasters: “There remains no club that is solely dedicated for the improvement of public speaking…You could take the Debate Club as having a similar goal however the atmosphere is completely different. Toastmasters provides a very supportive and non-judgmental venue…Most [debate] people talk so fast, you can’t hear them. You would not expect people to talk like that in the real world. But I think Toastmasters is definitely real.”

As President of the Vassar Debate Society, I’d like to clear up a few misconceptions here. First, the Debate Society certainly promotes public speaking. The style of debate that we teach and compete in at Vassar, American Parliamentary Debate, prioritizes presentation, quality of argumentation and quick-thinking.

That is, American Parliamentary Debate encourages its competitors to speak in a manner that the average person would understand, and frowns upon fast speaking (On a side note, and because I coach a form of high school debate that requires students to speak quickly: many top policy-makers, journalists, and businesspeople have participated in a form of debate where competitors speak at over 300 words per minute).

Second, though we compete in tournaments with judges, our practices (Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 p..m. in Rocky 307) are non-competitive and open to all Vassar students. People who debate come away with great public speaking skills, along with the ability to craft nuanced, well-structured arguments.

—Zack Struver ’15

Letter to the Editor In “Vassar ignores values behind ASA boycott,” Dann and Massad argued that Israel’s academic institutions are complicit in the oppression of Palestinians. But if we accept that reasoning, the ASA would also have to feel an “ethical responsibility” to boycott Palestinian academic institutions. This is particularly true for Gaza’s Islamic University, which—according to the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism—is closely associated with Hamas, a group that is designated by the Department of State as a terrorist organization. Hamas reportedly “used the Islamic university laboratories for research and development for Qassam rockets,” weapons which have been fired into Israel since it withdrew from the territory in 2005. Moreover, Hamas leaders like the late Sheikh Dr. Nizar Rayyan—who was active in the Iz A-Din Al Qassam Brigades, served on the Islamic University’s board of trustees and was a lecturer in Islamic Sharia studies—have demonstrated that the terror group takes its genocidal anti-Semitic Charter seriously. As Rayyan told Jeffrey Goldberg, Israel “is an offense against God” and the Jews “are a cursed people.” Indeed, Rayyan was so fanatical that in 2001, he sent his teenaged son Ibrahim on a suicide attack.

Regrettably, the glorification of such terror attacks is common on Palestinian campuses. As Matthew Levitt noted, Hamas propaganda is freely available on Palestinian campuses and some student groups help with “terrorist recruitment, indoctrination and radicalization of students.” At Birzeit University near Ramallah, Hamas candidates for student elections in 2003 reenacted suicide attacks by blowing up models of Israeli buses; recently, an “art” exhibit at the same university celebrated rocket attacks on Israeli villages. In 2011, Ahlam al-Tamimi, a graduate of Birzeit and proud collaborator in the 2001 Sbarro suicide bombing in Jerusalem, was released in exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. In celebration, the Islamic bloc at the Birzeit sponsored a well-attended event featuring an address by Tamimi.

Since Dann and Massad quote boycott advocate Judith Butler, it should be noted that Butler indeed helps to shed light on the “values” of the boycott movement. While Butler wants Israeli universities shunned, she had no problem lecturing at Birzeit and mentions the university in the acknowledgments for her “Critique of Zionism” as one of the places where she “learned from students and faculty.” Perhaps this helps to explain Butler’s view that Islamist terror organizations should be seen “as social movements that are progressive” and “are part of a global Left.” But self-imposed blinders do not justify a movement that demonizes one nation and its academic institutions while ignoring the fact that Palestinian universities are incubators for anti-Semitism and terrorism.

—Melissa E. Green ‘78

February 20, 2014

Sloths may help world cure breast cancer Delaney Fischer

B

Columnist

etween 1981 and 2006, approximately 50 percent of all medicines introduced were from natural products. Fungi in particular have been developed to help advance “natural” drugs and have been known for helping create some of the most important medicines known today in medicine, including Lactam antibiotics, griseofulvin, cyclosporine, fusidic acid, lovastatin and penicillin. However, where we are getting our fungi now for research may surprise you: sloths (PLoS, “Sloth hair as a novel soure of fungi with potent anti-parasitic, anti-cancer and anti-bacterial bioactivity,” 01.15.14).

You know what they are. They are those slow-moving animals we see photos of hanging off of trees. They are medium-sized mammals that live in Central and South America and feed off leaves and small plants. Their diet provides little energy, which is why they are so slow moving. Sloths are furry creatures, and their coat consists of two definite layers: an inner layer of soft hair close to the skin, and an outer layer of coarse hairs. What matters here is the outer layer, which is often home to other organisms such as bugs, fungi and bacteria. As I bet you could’ve deduced, they are rather dirty animals. So why exactly should we care about the sloth? Well, the sloth might just help be a great help with curing breast cancer.

Yes, filthy sloth fur may be what we have been searching for all these years. In a recent study published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), 74 samples of fungi were collected from sloths’ outer hair layers in Panama. From the samples, Phylogenetic analyses revealed a diverse group of Ascomycota belonging to 28 distinct operational taxonomic

units (OTUs). The samples were then tested from in vitro activity, and the results might surprise you: Researchers found that the fungi examined were active against Malaria, Changas Disease and a human breast cancer cell (line MCF-7) (Geekosystem, “Sloths could be carrying cancer treatment around on their backs,” 01.28.14).

Popular Science elaborated on the findings, saying that sloth’s fur was in fact a “potential goldmine for drug discovery.” This is because the chemicals found in the sloth fur attack bacteria differently than manmade drugs. However, we still aren’t sure how the chemicals are embedded in the fur and what combinations of organisms in the fur are ideal for having active fungi (Philly. com, “Study finds sloth fur may cure breast cancer, treat various diseases,” 01.23.14). It has been suggested that there are over five million fungal species in existence, but less than 100,000 have actually been discovered and documented, which leaves a lot of work and research to be done in this field of fungal fact-finding.

However, the study did point out that the fungi isolated in the study were taxonomically consistent with groups of fungi known to occur in soil and in plants as pathogens, saprotrophs or endophytes commonly found in Panama. Sloths may encounter such fungi incidentally from the air or by direct contact when they descend from trees in order to excrete waste. This act may also be important in the chemical process, as they dig a hole in the soil that they subsequently then cover with leaf litter (PLoS, “Sloth hair as a novel source of fungi with potent anti-parasitic, anti-cancer and anti-bacterial bioactivity,” 1.15.14).

So are sloths the answer for curing cancer

and other deadly diseases? They might just be, but researchers believe it will take five to 10 years to develop any sort of drug that can be made available for practical use, and that is only if research can continue. Several organizations, such as OneGreenPlanet and The New England Anti-Vivisection Society, have called to end the exploitation of sloths in research. OneGreenPlanet’s Aisling Maria Cronin states that she is not okay with the testing, even if it could be hugely beneficial for the medical field, stating, “While nobody is disputing the fact that the rising incidence of breast cancer is a critical issue that must be addressed, is harvesting the fur of peaceful sloths really the best solution?” (OneGreenPlanet, “Oh come on! Sloth fur is apparently the latest ‘wonder cure’ for breast cancer,” 01.27.14).

At this time, it should be noted that no sloths appeared to have been harmed in the current study reported. The group did receive approval from Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and collection permits were obtained from Panama’s Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (ANAM). No animals appeared to have been injured or hurt in any manner, for only a single sample of hair was collected.

At the moment, it appears research will carry on, and the researchers of the study state that “our work suggests that fruitful exploration of the sloth microbiota is warranted for potential applications in drug discovery.”

With more fungal discovery and documentation, I hope that soon a cure for one or multiple life-taking diseases will be found.

—Delaney Fischer ’15 is a neuroscience major.

Vassar BDS sentiments not shared by all Katherine Howard Guest Columnist

I

n response to President Hill and Dean Chenette’s decision to denounce the stance of the ASA and the broader BDS movement on behalf of the College, I want to make my own case for academic freedom.

I’ll preface my statement, however, by addressing a few things. First, the contributions of several Vassar alumnae/i in the past week or so. If I were to go through and fact-check every statement, this would be a long letter indeed, so I’ll keep my own remarks brief.

It’s important to note I’m not Palestinian or Israeli, but I’ll say what I think is fair and accurate based on my experience as a scholar living and working in the region.

Israel is considered a settler-colonialist state in part because settlements exist and continue to spread across Palestinian lands without their consent and in violation of international law; Israel is considered an apartheid state, not only because of the “security wall,” but because of an entire system of infrastructure and resource allocation throughout the West Bank to which only Israeli settlers have access to, including settler-only roads; Israel has demonstrated a history of racist policies, including denying entry to citizens of some races and nationalities and making it nearly impossible for Palestinians and Israelis to intermarry. Finally, important histories of Jewish persecution and dispossession do not legitimize the continued persecution and dispossession of other peoples by other means, especially because of the lasting power and relevance of those Jewish histories.

I take it that the broader argument expressed by Ms. Rappaport and Ms. Josephs though—that living together is an impossibility for Palestinians and Israelis or that it is simply undesirable—wills a conclusion that is by no means assured. Any two-state solution is widely understood to be dead in the water. There are practical, topological issues that stand in the way and questions that remain unanswered: What will the map look like? What percent of historic Palestine would Palestinians receive today and how much will Israel receive? How will Jerusalem be divided? What will the status of Arab-Is-

raelis be? These questions are also deeply philosophical. They ask: What is Israel? Can it be the site of the Jewish homeland without being an exclusively Jewish state? What is our ethical duty to the Other? What will the right of return look like? Can two nations occupy the same territory? Is it possible to maintain one’s identity amidst plurality? Are our democratic commitments strong enough to protect minorities? Will we see the outcome of the Arab-Israeli conflict rehearse the death throes of the nation-state, or is something else possible?

Palestinians and Israelis are already living a de facto one-state solution with varying levels of citizenship and corresponding rights. The late Edward Said held this view, and so do many others today. As we look forward, whether this state will convene political rights and equality for some or for all continues to be up for grabs—the demands of international law and human rights on this, however, are clear.

Regardless of the outcome of continuing conversations, as a Vassar alumna, I am disturbed and disappointed that two members of the Vassar administration would unilaterally denounce the academic boycott of Israeli universities, the stance of the ASA, or the broader BDS movement on behalf of the entire Vassar College community, which includes myself and others who are in support of the boycott. I am further disturbed by the notion that this denunciation is made in the name of academic freedom. I too want to defend the goal of academic freedom, but let’s first talk about what exactly we’re championing here.

My decision to support the academic boycott and the broader BDS movement is not an attack on academic freedom, but the expression of a commitment to it. I stand behind those students, researchers, faculties and institutions that do not have adequate access to educational resources (including consistent electricity and water), travel and residency visas, or opportunities for intellectual exchange with the rest of the world as a direct result of the Israeli occupation.

This includes students and faculty from other countries who wish to study in Palestine or collaborate with Palestinian scholars and

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

are denied entry into Israel to do so. As long as the Vassar administration wants to uphold abstract protections for the abstract ideal of “academic freedom,” that ideal will always be unattainable. Indeed, true academic freedom will always be lacking where entire populations of people are denied the basic conditions for the possibility to secure that freedom. As an institution that enjoys the privilege of many freedoms as only a small liberal arts college could, we must be willing to take up our concomitant responsibility to struggle for the extension of academic freedom with others who lack it. Without this perpetual struggle, academic freedom is meaningless and hollow. Because of the unique nature and importance of intellectual exchange, academic freedom is one of the few phenomena that diminishes in the whole world where it is denied in part of it—and let’s be clear: what we’re talking about with the academic boycott is not the denial of Israeli academic freedom.

Surely, participation in this struggle must be particularly pressing where communities are barred by laws of violence, discrimination, dispossession and imprisonment. These laws can only be overturned by the State of Israel itself (as the inaction of international bodies has made clear) and the academic boycott of Israeli universities represents one non-violent way of exerting pressure on the state to do so. The boycott challenges those members of the Israeli community, as well as members of our own community, to reassert their commitment to an idea that we all hold dear by treating it first and foremost as the fruit of tangible reality and not as an abstract ideal.

In support of this goal for academic freedom, and in the spirit of keeping dialogue about the academic boycott and the BDS movement unrestricted, I call on President Hill and Dean Chenette to retract the College’s denunciation of the ASA and to reevaluate through broader discussion the “academic freedom” that we, as a community, choose to defend.

—Katherine Howard ’12 was a philosophy major. She is a philosophy Ph.D student at Emory University.

February 20, 2014

OPINIONS

Money a dangerous influence on politics Democracy Matters

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Guest Columnists

n 2012, private individuals contributed more than one billion dollars to political campaigns. That would finance a Vassar education for over 67,000 Vassar students. When you think about the impact that this amount of money can have, it makes complete sense that it can have a huge influence on public policy when given to candidates. When you consider that all of this money is coming from the hands of a mere handful of very wealthy and influential individuals, it is clear that it can dangerously affect and inhibit the democratic process in the United States.

In its ideal form, democracy is a system of government that allows all citizens to have an equal voice in who represents them and what those representatives do. But when some citizens can contribute exorbitantly more than others, their voices often end up mattering much more than those of individual voters.

Politicians become beholden to the interests of the few, leaving behind the many. For this reason, it is no wonder that disillusionment with our government is growing. When people do not believe their vote will matter, they will hardly want to show up to the polls on Election Day. The severity of our campaign finance system is inherently linked to economic inequality. The gap between the rich and the poor is greater today than ever before. And this gap only stands to widen, as the top one percent of the population has disproportionate influence over our elected officials. This is not the democracy in which we should be living.

Those with money do not matter more than those without, and money certainly should not equal speech.

The really intense effects of money in politics reach into all aspects of life. One particularly upsetting example is that certain couches were found to be made with flame retardant material that included carcinogenic materials. In this case, the corporations responsible for their production were able

to use their money and consequent political influence to bypass federal health and safety regulations surrounding their manufacturing.

One study discovered as much as 84 percent of couches in California contain such carcinogens (CBS News, “Harmful flame retardants found in 84 percent of Calif. couches“ 11.28.13).

Those with an interest in the conservation of the environment should realize that money and politics also play a huge role in environmental policy. Companies get away with irresponsible and destructive actions because politicians are dependent on their money to get elected. For example, if a corporation that is involved in fracking donates a large sum to a political candidate, once elected, that politician will be compelled to support pro-fracking legislation they may have otherwise been against.

It is necessary to fight for a system that allows all citizens to have an equal voice, a system that allows for the interests of all people to be heard, a system that is fair and that makes any sort of sense in the context of formal equality.

We represent the Vassar chapter of Democracy Matters, which was founded as a national organization for college students to join in this fight. Our goal is simple—to get money out of politics and people back in. Our chapter has found ways to get involved and make a difference, starting right here in our home state.

New York is on the verge of taking steps to restore democratic principles to the political system. Governor Cuomo, with the endorsement of the Moreland Commission (thanks to everyone who signed our petition last semester!) has put a public financing system into the proposed state budget. In addition to closing loopholes of election disclosure laws, the system would put into place an option for those who want to run for office without the money of big corporations. It is a matching system in which the government would match funds raised at a 6-to-1 ration. This

would allow candidates to rely on the money of average citizens to run their campaigns, as opposed to those in the top one percent.

Public financing empowers citizens to have a voice in their democracy.

Public financing systems already exist in the United States, and they have proven to be successful. Arizona, Maine and Connecticut have already implemented such systems, and the positive public reaction they garnered proves that public financing is a nonpartisan way to combat campaign finance corruption.

Governor Cuomo’s inclusion of public financing in his budget proposal was an important step in the right direction, but the fight is far from over. It is imperative that we as citizens pressure him and our state legislators to continue to support fair elections.

Calling the offices of Governor Cuomo or State Senator Gipson (who represents Vassar’s district) is a great way to let them know you expect them to support this system that has your best interests as a citizen in mind.

Democracy Matters will be tabling in the Retreat before breaking with petitions of support for fair elections to send to our politicians.

Keep an eye out for the Vassar Chapter of Democracy Matters’ Facebook page for updates on the fight. Most importantly, make your voice heard. Our democracy depends on it. Governor Cuomo’s office can be reached at 518-474-8390. Representative Gipson can be reached at 518-455-2303. Call, and say something along the lines of “Hi, my name is…I’m a student at Vassar College and I’m calling to ask the Governor/Representative to continue to support fair elections.” Or just tweet at Governor Cuomo (NYGovCuomo) or Representative Gipson (@TerryGipsonNY) using the hashtag “fairelex.” This issue is real, and serious, legitimate, amazing change is possible. We’d love for you to be a part of it.

—The Vassar chapter of Democracy Matters holds meetings every Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Josselyn Parlor.

VJU agrees to be Open Hillel organization Vassar Jewish Union Guest Columnists

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embers of the Vassar Jewish Union (VJU) community voted on Tuesday, Feb. 18 to declare the organization to be an Open Hillel. The VJU is a Hillel-affiliated student organization that provides a pluralistic space for Jewish life at Vassar; as such, the VJU has access to many of the resources Hillel—as a national Jewish student organization—has to offer, but does not receive funding from Hillel International.

The emerging Open Hillel movement, as well as ongoing conversations on the Israel-Palestine conflict on campus, has prompted the VJU to reflect on the values and guidelines of Hillel International. Open Hillel is a national movement to open the parameters of acceptable discourse on the subject of Israel/Palestine within Jewish groups under the umbrella of Hillel International.

As the Open Hillel website states: “We believe deeply in the ideal, expressed in Hillel International’s mission statement, of a vibrant, pluralistic Jewish community on campus, in which all people, regardless of their religious observance, past Jewish experience, or personal beliefs, are welcome. In many ways, Hillel has been remarkably successful at fostering such a pluralistic and inclusive community, bringing together students from different backgrounds to learn from and support one another, as well as to openly debate and discuss their differing views. We believe that this pluralism should be extended to the subject of Israel, and that no Jewish group should be excluded from the community for its political views.”

The goal of this movement is to foster open and inclusive discourse. The movement is in accordance with VJU’s values as a pluralistic and inclusive organization. We will continue to organize and co-sponsor events that reflect a variety of viewpoints and welcome Vassar community members to work with us toward these goals.

To make our position more clear, we have released a statement to the effect that the Vassar Jewish Union is an Open Hillel.

The mission statement of the Vassar Jewish Union calls on us to commit to strengthening our pluralistic Jewish community. We recognize that identification with Israel is not necessarily an integral part of every individual’s Jewish identity. We commit to providing a spiritual and cultural home for Jewish expression in any form.

The Standards of Partnership at Hillel International currently prohibit partnering with, housing, or hosting organizations, groups, or speakers who: Deny the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure and recognized borders; delegitimize, demonize, or apply a double standard to Israel; support boycott of, divestment from, or sanctions against the State of Israel; exhibit a pattern of disruptive behavior towards campus events or guest speakers or foster an atmosphere of incivility.

We believe that this policy censors and delegitimizes the diverse range of personal and political opinions held by Jewish students. As a result, organizations such as JStreet and Jewish Voice for Peace have been excluded from campus Hillel organizations, and individual speakers have been barred from addressing students at Hillel chapters around the country. Hillel International advocates identification with Israel as a core element of Jewish life, and a gateway to Jewish identification for students.

We believe that Hillel International’s goal to “inspire every Jewish college student to develop a meaningful and enduring relationship to Israel” does not represent the diverse opinions of young American Jews. We believe that fostering a pluralistic community and supporting all Jewish life on campus cannot be achieved with Hillel International’s Israel Guidelines in place.

According to our own constitution, the VJU is a non-partisan organization and will

not advocate any particular political opinions. In the interest of educating and serving the VJU community, however, the VJU will support individual members’ expressions of their own political views, and will seek to represent this diversity with its programming. In that regard, we welcome open discourse concerning Israel, Palestine and any other relevant and critical issues, and will not exclude on the basis of political opinion.

As an Open Hillel, the Vassar Jewish Union will not endorse any particular political view. The Vassar Jewish Union will not exclude organizations, groups, speakers, individuals or events on the basis of political opinion. Rather, we seek to represent the diverse views held by our members and to provide a space for meaningful and respectful debate and discussion.

This position is in accordance with our desire to enrich our political, spiritual and cultural lives at Vassar through free and open discourse. In that regard, the article published in last week’s Miscellany News written by VJU President Naomi Dann was written in her capacity as an individual, and not as a representative of the opinion of the Vassar Jewish Union (“Vassar Ignores Values Behind ASA Boycott” 02.13.14).

Members of the VJU community are hopeful that this action will make the community a more welcoming space. Samantha Basch, VJU Vice President, states, “People often make assumptions that Jews share a common stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The decision to become an Open Hillel helps to foster an environment where a variety of opinions can be expressed and valued. It is a public declaration that Jews hold a wide range of political opinions.”

—The Vassar Jewish Union seeks to serve all Jewish members of the Vassar community regardless of their backgrounds or form of Jewish expression. It operates out of The Bayit, a house located on Collegeview Avenue.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 11

Word

on the street

What project do you wish the VSA would take on?

“Selfabolishment.”

—Dave Rosenkrantz ’14

“Isn’t the only thing they do is pay for the Villard Room parties?”

—Ethan Engel ’14

“Establish a fund to help buy textbooks.”

—Wade Crouch ’16

“More outlets in the Retreat.”

—James Haxton ’16

“Being more prostudent than proadministration.”

—Bailey Miller ’17

“Better food at the deece.”

—Chelsea Carter ’16

Lily Doyle, Humor & Satire Editor Spencer Davis, Photo Editor

OPINIONS

Page 12

February 20, 2014

Student viewpoint on BDS doesn’t consider all sides Jim Raker

Guest Columnist

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s a Vassar alumnus, class of 1978, I have been interested in the American Studies Association’s (ASA) attempt to boycott Israeli academic institutions and Vassar’s response to it. I am not alone; Members of my class have written to the President and Dean of Faculty to thank them for publicly denouncing the boycott and have expressed their views against the boycott and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in The Miscellany News. I am writing to express my dismay over Naomi Dann’s and Nicole Massad’s pro-academic boycott opinion article, as I was struck both by the article’s dogmatic tone and by its distortion of facts (“Vassar Ignores Values Behind ASA Boycott,” 02.13.14).

Dann and Massad call the boycott against Israeli academic institutions a form of non-violent resistance. Putting aside, for the moment, the fallacy on which this “resistance” is based (that Israel is some sort of pariah nation that deserves isolation), the ASA academic boycott represents a gross double standard.

Is it not absurd to think of Vassar and other American colleges and universities being boycotted over our nation’s invasion of Iraq or its actions during the Vietnam War? Universities must remain free of undue pressure and allow for an open exchange of thoughts and ideas both on campuses and elsewhere.

A boycott only stifles academic discourse and negatively affects the lives of individual professors and students. Dann’s and Massad’s contention that Vassar’s denunciation of the ASA boycott has impinged on their academic freedom is melodramatic and clearly wrong.

Vassar, long a pillar of intellectual freedom, would not silence independent thought. Evidence of this very fact is that Dann and Mas-

sad were freely able to publish their piece condemning Vassar’s position in The Miscellany News.

But perhaps of greater importance is identifying the true “values” of the academic boycott that Dann and Massad claim Vassar is ignoring. For this, one must examine how the boycott of Israeli academic institutions originated. Dann and Massad state that the “Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel” is a member of the BDS National Committee and “was launched in 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals to challenge Israel’s apartheid system and colonial oppression of the Palestinian people.” While the terms “apartheid” and “colonial oppression” to describe Israel are wrong and inflammatory, the writers are correct that the academic boycott is part of the BDS movement.

Let there be no doubt as to the real aims and values of the BDS movement with which Dann and Massad align themselves. As Roger Cohen, a journalist who is often highly critical of Israel, recently wrote in The New York Times, the BDS movement’s ultimate goal is “the end of Israel as a Jewish State.” Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the BDS movement, proclaimed, “The two-state solution for the Palestinian–Israel conflict is really dead.” Ahmed Moor, another BDS leader, said “…nothing resembling the ‘two-state solution’ will ever come into being. Ending the occupation doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t mean upending the Jewish state itself.” Still another BDS leader, As‘ad Abu Khalil, said, “Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with existence of the State of Israel.”

These quotes say it all.

The BDS desire for a one-state solution that would destroy the only Jewish state in

the world is not one shared by the majority of the Israeli and Palestinian populations. To the contrary, most Israelis and Palestinians favor the two-state solution which U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to help negotiate (although, as of this writing, the PLO does not want to have to publicly acknowledge that Israel is a Jewish homeland). In fact, not only does Palestinian President Abbas favor the two-state solution, but he has publicly opposed the BDS movement.

Dann and Massad are also wrong in portraying Israeli academic institutions as oppressing Palestinians and other Arabs. While Israel continues to make progress toward full educational equality for Arabs, it is worth noting that already 20 percent of the students at Haifa University are Arabs, as is 10 percent of its faculty, and the percentages have been increasing. Mais Ali-Saleh, MD, a Muslim Arab woman, was celebrated as the valedictorian of last year’s medical school class at The Technion, Israel’s equivalent to MIT. She has suggested that rather than boycott Israeli institutions, Western universities should strengthen ties with Palestinian ones.

Indeed, BDS co-founder Barghouti is a graduate student at Tel Aviv University (an irony lost on BDS followers). The intellectual freedom enjoyed at Israeli universities should be compared to the values that are being promoted at schools like the Islamic University in Gaza, where all the Hamas leadership has studied and where the Qassam rockets were developed; over 6000 of such rockets were fired at Israel since 2001, killing many Israeli civilians. Sheik Rayyan, a board member of and senior lecturer at Islamic University, taught suicide bombing as a course there and recruited his own 14-year-old son, who participated in a suicide attack in 2001 to murder

Jews.

I find it disingenuous that Dann and Massad write, “Rather than vilify the [academic] boycott as anti-Semitic, it is important to recognize that there is support for the boycott among Israeli academics and citizens, as well as [among] American Jews.” They do not speak for me, and I doubt, though Dann is President of the Vassar Jewish Union, that she speaks for all Jews at Vassar.

It is certainly one thing to criticize specific actions that Israel’s government takes. It is quite another to join in a boycott that paints Israel as a gross human rights violator and worthy of being shunned when it is the only Middle East nation that provides full equality for women, gays and other minorities, allows the free practice of all religions, has a free and robust press and does not imprison dissidents for their political views. As Israeli artist, playwright and professor, Dahn Hiuni, has said, “To those who would distinguish between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, I retort there is no difference: To be anti-Israel is to be anti-Jewish. Israel is the Jewish state.”

The BDS movement, of which the academic boycott is a part, is immoral. Its founders may be coy about their antisemitism, but they are open about their calls for the destruction of Israel. In vilifying Israel, BDS finds itself front and center on every neo-Nazi, Holocaust-denying and overtly anti-Semitic website.

Fortunately, Vassar, along with 247 other colleges and universities, denounced the ASA boycott of Israel. I welcome this exchange of ideas and thank Vassar and The Miscellany News for allowing the debate to go forward.

—Jim Raker ’78 was a biology pre-med major. He practices internal medicine in Brunswick, Maine.

The Miscellany Crossword “Blank and White” 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 75 *Shiner 76 The “A” in MoMA

Answers to last week’s puzzle

by Jack Mullan, Crossword Editor

77 Ebony...and a hint to the color represented by the filled squares next to the starred answers DOWN 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 ___ 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 57 Aunt or uncle’s leader?

58 Spielberg classic 60 Zap with a stun gun 62 Radio tuner 63 Civil rights pioneer Parks

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

64 Holder in the Obama cabinet 65 Frisbee 68 ___ constrictor 69 Far-away commitment:Abbr.

71 Burgle

February 20, 2014

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 13

Breaking News

From the desk of Lily Doyle, Humor & Satire Editor

Mug closure false alarm causes sadness, mass confusion; pretty much how you normally feel leaving the Mug on Friday nights

My student seminars are Reporter (and entire campus) much better than yours would like Elsa to calm down Chris Gonzalez

Y

Editor-in-Chief

ou know that one kid in class who somehow has more to say than the professor (Hint: If you don’t, it’s probably you)? Every spring, we’re given the opportunity to voluntarily attend a class with these kind of people who, bursting with the wealth of knowledge that comes with having lived for roughly 20 years, want to teach us, their peers. That’s right, the annual student seminars are upon us (well, the application process has started anyway), and my mind has been oozing with class topics I would teach if I didn’t fear public speaking. Unfortunately, I’m always afraid that I lack the ability to speak above a whisper, and people usually feel uncomfortable when I use a bullhorn to have a conversation with my friend sitting less than two feet in front of me at the Deece, so I just don’t bother speaking in class (Hear that, professors? My silence in class is for your benefit. You’re welcome... please don’t fail me). So without further ado, I leave you with a list of the only classes I’m qualified to teach if I were actually qualified to teach.

The Hunger Games: Midnight Munchies Edition

It’s late at night, you have a huge ten-page paper you should be working on, but the hunger angrily boils deep within your soul. Everything on campus is closed, leaving you to fend for yourself in this cold, cruel world. All you want in your life is some cheesy-bread goodness. You think, hey, I’ll order Domino’s, but they closed about an hour ago, and the only option left is Acrop. Dun. Dun. DUN. Have no fear! In this class, we’ll discuss how to hunt and gather food. We’ll start with learning how to make basic tools such as bow and arrows, harpoons and your standard scramasax. You’ll be feasting on a plump womp-womp in no time.

Hit That Refresh Button: The Art of Procrastination, or Being an Aspiring Writer

I personally think that everyone secretly wants to be a writer. Silly? Well, I also believe that everyone around me at any given moment is my competition. For what? Life. And if I want to be able to call myself a “writer” (not to be

confused with the other definition of “writer,” which means unemployed,) I’m going to have to give it my all. But sometimes, you get stuck on a thought, so you decide to go on Twitter to tweet about your frustrations before heading over to Facebook to click on every photo of your high school crush. And, of course, there is always laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, bacon to be fried and reading to not do. But I’m not here to dissuade you from this procrastinatory lifestyle; for four weeks, we’ll spend time putting off our obligations in a safe space, and then one day, I’ll write about it and make money from it. Win/win.

Napping Without Shame: Learning How to Drool in Public

I love naps. The problem is people think that napping is a private activity, something that should be kept behind closed doors and never spoken about in social settings (or maybe that’s sex). I’m all for taking nap time outside of the bedroom (still sex?). Other than snuggling up with a pile of clean laundry, which I’d mentioned before last semester when things were less bleak than they are now, I’ve also dozed off in the middle of the library, both in a couch and on the floor. Some people might be embarrassed about snoring or drooling or any other general awkwardness that occurs when one is unconscious, but not I. I’ve started caring less and less about what people think or say, so every time I drool all over myself, I consider it a subtle “screw the haters” moment. WARNING: I am not responsible for any loss or stolen personal items, nor am I responsible for your well-being when you choose to nap openly.

Nap wherever you want, but be safe, kids.

Giving a Voice to the Voiceless: A History of the Jewish Press

Hey, maybe I do know something! Would you look at that. I managed to stuff a semester’s worth of research into roughly 3 days to write this paper for a seminar last semester.

This counts as possibly (definitely) the greatest achievement of my short life, and let me tell you, you will hear about it until the end of time. This seminar is essentially a graduation requirement.* I’ll see you there. *It isn’t.

Sophie Dewil

Guest Columnist

I

don’t know if you’ve looked outside recently, but the recent animated Disney movie “Frozen” is your life. In fact, I’m fairly certain that if I were to ever actually make it out of my room, I would find Elsa standing in the middle of the res quad making an ice castle. Aesthetically, that’s not a particularly good place to build an ice castle, since it blocks me from looking across the quad into the windows of strangers, but flat ground is limited here at Vassar, so she can’t really afford to be picky. As such, here are six undeniable reasons that you should accept that your life has become an animated classic.

This should help control that urge to want to punch everyone who posts “Do You Want to Build A Snowman” on Facebook.

6. Hans. You know how it’s really great to be a

happy and sunny person? Well, sometimes it’s even better to be filled with loathing so pure and strong that not even Kismat on Tasty Tuesdays can cure it. You probably fell into the Hans trap just as I did and are now questioning your judgment of people in general. Was that guy I danced with at the Valentines Day dance actually not only interested in my personality? Does my professor roam the campus at night offering shots of tequila to freshmen despite all the plaid sweaters she wears? Do my friends just want me for my crown and throne? Logical doubts.

5. The trolls. I don’t know if any of you have ever been disappointed by your family not being trolls that can become rocks at will, but ever since I saw “Frozen,” I have been experiencing that feeling all too often. However, I feel like if I by some miracle managed to bring a man home, my mother would react with the same pushy desperation to marry us off. That song is just so perfect and real. “I’m not saying you can change him, cuz people don’t really change.” I mean, really?? That’s a lesson I should have learned years ago, so I am really glad that the new generation of tots is learning it young. Repeat after me children: You cannot make him straight, no matter how hot he is.

4. Elsa. She is like the Disney version of Elphaba that nobody knew they needed until they saw her. She is just so misunderstood, and I just want to wrap her up in a ball and take her home

with me and give her all of the love she needs. I have a giant white blanket with her name written all over it. It literally does. It’s a “Frozen” blanket. Of course, after I was done burrito-ing her in a blanket, I would take her out so she could dance her troubles away. I don’t think she’s had fun since she was a kid, and what better way to show her a whole new world of fun than through a college party? Crushing masses of people, creepy advances by creepier people and loud repetitive music - who could ask for anything more? But don’t you just get the sense that she would be a great dancer? She’d just let it go.

3. The relationship between Kristoff and Sven.

It is probably the most accurate representation of my relationship with my dog I have ever seen. If I were to tell you that I didn’t talk to her, I would be lying. She has her own voice and her own personality, just like everyone else in my life. Seeing that relationship depicted on the big screen almost makes it feel normal. Almost. I’m still seeking help.

2. Anna. She is my new spirit animal. Before this it was Chandler Bing from “Friends” (I recognize that neither of these spirit animals are in actuality animals, but I refuse to call someone my “soul sister,” so here we are). Sorry, Chandler, you’ve been replaced by the spunky, freakishly strong, and beautifully awkward Anna. I look exactly like Anna when I wake up in the morning (flawless), and I think my roommates are convinced I’m secretly a lake monster (flawless) that goes to sunset lake each night to sleep and replenish my powers (flawless). Ladies, tell ‘em.

1. The music. Oooooh, the music. Speaking as a choir geek and secret sex columnist, the choral parts at the beginning were orgasmic. Now every time I walk into a room, I want to sing “Love is an Open Door” (even though it’s tinged with sadness because Hans). And, of course, “Let it Go.” It’s my inspirational song (even though I try to sing it and end up just screaming along because nobody normal can sing like Idina Menzel). Last night, I left a disappointing party and ran home singing it. And let me tell you, I did let it go. I was truly one with the wind and sky. The cold never bothered me anyways, thanks to my beer jacket.

100 Nights until graduation a marker of incredible personal growth (#subtlebrag)

by Lily Doyle, Humor & Satire Editor

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his Saturday was “100 Nights until graduation”, and here I sit, two days later, with nothing but chafed nipples by which to remember it (I will not be elaborating on this).

I suppose I will also remember it by the millions of selfies on Facebook and, of course, my literal memory. Technically, Saturday actually marked 98 nights until graduation, but apparently the moon didn’t feel the need to align with socially appropriate drinking days.

I have a lot of feelings about 100 Nights, especially because it seems like this seminal event which should be a big wake-up call, one that reminds me to do things like pay the utmost attention in all my classes (I mean an uncomfortable amount of attention. Like the engaging in an hour and fifteen minute long staring contest with your professor type of attention). It should remind me that there are only 100 nights left before I have to find a job, before I venture out into the “real world” (read: my job at a summer camp) with nothing

but a degree from Vassar on my back. That’s it.

Just the degree. I won’t be able to afford a shirt.

Luckily for me, my friends have been very successful in procuring employment, which has led me to believe that working at the aforementioned summer camp is totally fine for a post-grad job, and I can just live in their basement when I find out that apartments won’t just let you trade them your original spoken-word poetry in exchange for rent and utilities.

100 Nights, while it didn’t in any way remind me about any of these practical things, did show me how much I have grown since freshman year. For example, I have lost my VCard a total of zero times this semester. This is a remarkable change from the days when I would leave the back window of Cushing open because at some point during the day I would lose my VCard and inevitably be locked out; however, if I left the back window open, I could clamber on through that way, which

doubled as a forearm workout and practice in how not to flash people while falling headfirst through a window.

I am also now considerably better at rejecting unwanted advances. My sophomore year, I once told a man that I couldn’t dance with him because I was getting my head X-Rayed in the morning. At the wise old age of 21, I have learned not to make any bizarre medical excuses. Instead, should I want to avoid a dance partner, I just dive to the ground and pretend to swim away. This usually makes them leave and involves a lot less thinking. I’ve always been more of a “do-er.”

Similarly, I have learned that it is wise to hold in any weirdly developed crushes—like, say there is a guy who eats his pizza with a knife and a fork. Some people may find this grounds for murder, but this writer might find that oddly adorable and will therefore fall in love with said man over the course of one slice of Bacio’s.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

I have learned by now that the correct thing you do when you fall in love with someone based on a weird quirk and not based on actual reasons (for example, personality) is to suppress those feelings and not to shout out your affections at them as you sprint away in the opposite direction.

My personal growth has even extended as far as my classes. For example, I recently learned that if you do the reading, you don’t have to go to class wearing clothes the same color as the paint on the wall in the hopes the teacher will assume you are a wandering chameleon and therefore can’t answer questions.

I think it’s safe to say that I have reached maturity. I eat at least one vegetable per week, only half of my pants have holes in the crotch and I often use words such as “problematic.”

Thanks, 100 Nights, for the time of reflection and also for a great chance to make faces at people I don’t like behind their backs. Maturity, thine name is Lily.

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February 20, 2014

‘2023’ takes comedic approach to leaving Earth for Mars Samantha Kohl

AssistAnt Arts editor

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Pavel Shchyhelskil /The Miscellany News

ost students devote attention and time to a class assignment only until a project’s due date. But Hannah Tobias ’16 and Belle Shea ’16 continued to develop their Drama 102 final project far beyond the scope of the course. After the 2013 spring semester ended, the girls continued working on their assignment over the summer. Their project eventually evolved into what is now the musical “2023.” The show, a Future Waitstaff of America (FWA) produced musical, is about what it takes to live on Mars.

After being in the works for almost a year, “2023” will premiere this weekend.

The original assignment called for Tobias and Shea to create a 15-minute theatrical production, which could be about anything the students wanted. “We were just tossing around ideas at our first meeting and one of our other group members, Jake Namaroff [’16], casually asked, ‘Have you guys heard of Mars-One?’ and we said, ‘Um no…?’ He explained, Google gave us more info, and then we just ran with it,” said Tobias in an emailed statement.

Tobias and Shea’s miniature theater piece ended up being much more than their course’s final examination. The two creators of “2023” enjoyed their work for class so much that they decided to expand upon their creation. Tobias explained in an emailed statement, “Over the summer we took the basic premise of the original project and really all we did was flesh out our original work. Now ‘2023’ is nearly an hour and a half, with seven songs, the same five characters and a heck of a lot more dialogue.”

The plot of the show follows the final four people who have made it through the application process to go to space and to spend the rest of their lives on Mars. But as Tobias and Shea continued their work on “2023,” the show’s plot expanded to touch upon themes deeper than the possibility of living in space.

Shea described, “I’d have to say it’s an exploration—of the idea of exploration, of what it means to explore, balanced with what is get-

Students Hannah Tobias and Belle Shea’s play, “2023”, began as a 15-minute classroom assignment but developed into a full-scale musical, complete with storyline, dialogue, music and choreography. ting left behind.”

“2023” is not the only original work of student-created theater. The show is one of three original musicals that will be preformed this semester; apart from “2023”, the list includes “Hub Crawl,” which was performed last weekend, and “Sludge Jump,” which will go up in April by FWA. For the co-creators of “2023,” the writing process has been a rewarding, smooth and even enjoyable endeavor. Tobias said in an emailed statement, “Belle is the perfect writing partner; writing with her is consistently rewarding and incredibly balanced. We think this partnership is going to continue and I’m so excited for our next project, which will hopefully be on Vassar’s theater radar sometime in the coming

years.”

Although the show’s subject matter errs on the serious side—with characters leaving their family, friends, life and planet for another—“2023” was written as a comedy. “Some of the lines in the show are so funny. There is one character who is very eccentric and very nerdy so basically he has all of these ridiculous lines so at our cast parties we have him say them over and over and over again so that the rest of cast doesn’t laugh onstage—they have to stay in character,” Emily Omrod, ’16, the show’s stage manager, production manager, and self-proclaimed ‘spirit manager’ said.

Omrod continued, “The show is such a combination between funny and smart. The show is about the interview process of people being

chosen to go to Mars and live there, and it is an actual thing. A Vassar student is actually in the final interview process. They’ve really hit the nail on how to be funny and how to be serious at the same time.”

After reading the script Tobias and Shea spent time developing over the summer, Omrod claims to have immediately fallen in love with “2023”. She said, “When they went up for FWA I was just like, ‘I would love the opportunity, obviously pick whomever you want but if you need a stage manager, I’m here! If you need a production manager, I will learn how to run a light-board. Hannah and Belle texted me: You’re in. I was so excited.”

The same script the show’s stage manager fell in love with had similar effects upon cast members. “My favorite part of 2023 is me—who else? Obviously by that I mean my character.

Dare, short for Derek, is so deliciously weird I barely even need to put any effort in to get people laughing. Often Hannah will say to me outside of rehearsal, ‘Be careful, you’re turning into Dare.’ The thing is that Dare is as much a rebel and a rock-star as he is a weird little dork, so this has ceased to deter me from staying in character long after rehearsal ends,” said Josh Bruce ’16, a cast-member of “2023.”

He continued, “I think the other cast members would agree that at least a little bit of each of our characters has either seeped into who we are or was already there.”

Cast and crew members alike fell in love with the music Tobias and Shea wrote for “2023” as well as the storyline. “The music is so perfect. Every song serves a definite purpose; there’s never a moment where I feel like I’m singing simply because I’m in a musical. I am consistently blown away by the talent of my fellow performers, because the music is very intricate and was not easy to learn,” said Bruce.

“The payoff though...the chords and riffs still give me shivers.”

“2023” will be performed Friday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 22 at 2 and 8 p.m. in the Shiva Theater.

‘Yoncé’ gives stage to VC students’ Beyoncé obsession Samantha Kohl

AssistAnt Arts editor

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eyoncé is perpetually in the spotlight.

One cannot surf Tumblr without combing through an abundance of Beyoncé Super Bowl GIFs. “Drunk in Love” remixes seem to be released on the Internet daily—remixes by Diplo, The Weekend, T.I. and Kanye West were all released within the week, flooding Facebook newsfeeds and racking up enthusiastic comments on SoundCloud. It is impossible to escape chatter of Beyoncé’s self-titled visual album, which assumed massive popularity al-

though the album was dropped sans advertisement. That’s just how Bey does it. Beyoncé’s popularity rockets at an exponential rate, and Vassar is paying homage in its own way, for the second year now, through a Beyoncé Musical.

Beyoncé enthusiasts from all corners of Vassar’s campus will unite in their shared love of Beyoncé, either as audience members or performers of favorite Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child hits.

The Beyoncé musical, “Yoncé,” will be presented as a cabaret-style tribute to Sasha Fierce herself, with comedic vignettes not having to

courtesy of Reeve Johnson

The image above was featured on the posters for last year’s Beyoncé musical. This Friday in the Aula, “Yonce” will reprise the cabaret-style musical with new skits and music from her newest album.

do with the glitz and glam Beyoncé sings about, but of daily life on Vassar’s campus, which take place between performances of Beyoncé’s songs.

The show’s organizers agree that a Beyoncé musical is a fun occasion to honor the reigning queen of pop and also a crucial event to be held at Vassar. Joe Metcalf ’17, the stage manager, provided a clear, succinct explanation of the necessity of the show. He said, “Because Beyoncé. Because her new album is awesome and we needed to celebrate it… Because Beyoncé is queen. Also, it was produced last year, and we wanted to continue the tradition.”

For those who would like to take an active role as part of the ever-popular Beyoncé fandom, the show offers an open atmosphere as well as an enthusiastic one. Reeve Johnson ’14, who will be co-directing the show along with Grace Gregory ’17, said, “Beyoncé is the perfect artist for an all-inclusive musical for multiple reasons: People love her music so they’ll come audition and see the show; she has many powerful songs that show off a variety of vocal talents; and her performance style inspires the performances you see in the musical.”

The musical’s repertoire will include both hits from her most recent album as well as classic Beyoncé singles, with songs being performed both solo and as a group. “You can’t have a Beyoncé musical without choreography,” Johnson said, and the show will include large choreographed dance numbers.

Last year, the Beyoncé Musical was a lowkey commitment for those involved. This year, however, the show’s organizers instilled a more collaborative and systematic approach to putting up the show. “Last year, we had three to four rehearsals for each cast member, a dress rehearsal with the entire cast, and then the final performance,” Johnson said. “This year, we tried meeting as a group more often to see how much people wanted to get involved so that they could oversee the entire song selection process, discuss what the musical would be about, and write the scenes.”

The show gave participants the chance to

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

exhibit their love for Beyoncé to a larger audience than, say, singing “Bootylicious” in the shower to their unexpecting hallmates. “I auditioned for the Beyoncé musical last semester not knowing what to expect. When I got in and started the rehearsal process, I found that an incredibly talented group of students was assembled to put on a show of Beyoncé’s work,” said Hector Fortun ’17, who will be singing “XO” in the musical.

He continued, “I was excited to start and was happy to see that it was a great way to give us all a way to perform. We practically got to choose how much we wanted to be involved, which gave me an opportunity to choose to sing my first solo ever at Vassar.”

Doug Greer ’14 acts in the comedic scenes between musical numbers. Greer attributed his enthusiasm for the show not only to Beyoncé but also to those organizing the show, particularly Johnson. “He had such an incredible time doing it last year but I couldn’t be a part of it [then]. So when he mentioned he wanted to do it again, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved,” Greer said in an emailed statement.

“It’s such a low stress, fun way to get involved in performing. The performers have a lot of say in what songs they sing, dances they’re in and what scenes they are a part of. It’s a super collaborative process and Reeve is so wonderful to work with.”

The show’s organizers are as passionate about their musical as Beyoncé is about her love of Jay-Z and Blue Ivy. Metcalf said, “Audience members should expect an exciting, electric, high-energy, fun-filled, friendly and all around fierce experience of the greatness of Beyoncé.”

In an emailed statement, Johnson said, “Audience members should expect spectacular, ***Flawless performances from people they may have not seen perform before! This will hopefully become an annual tradition, so people do not want to miss the Second Annual Beyoncé Musical.”

“Yoncé” will take place at 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21 in the Aula.

February 20, 2014

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‘Faces of Vassar’ portraits turn spotlight to staff members Matthew McCardwell Guest rePorter

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courtesy of Vassar College

wenty-two portraits of Vassar staff members will greet the walls of the Palmer Gallery and the Vassar Community on Thursday, Feb. 20. The exhibition, “Faces of Vassar: An Appreciation,” showcases a yearlong body of work by painter and Vassar staff member Bruce Bundock. Each piece depicts a staff member of Vassar College, their positions ranging from electrician to custodian to locksmith—the backbones of the college.

After showing a series of landscapes at the Palmer Gallery in 2002, Bundock decided to paint a different subject matter. “I decided that I wanted to switch off from landscape for a while and work with the figure. I thought about what sort of subject it should be. Then it dawned on me that I had the answer right under my nose, and it happened to be the people that I worked with every day,” said Bundock.

Bundock has been a member of the staff at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center for 20 years as the museum preparator. His job entails the integration of various artistic, carpentry, engineering and design skills, which ultimately are synthesized to hang, arrange and care for the art collection. Through his involvement on the Vassar campus, Bundock has met many staff members.

“I do not work directly with them, but they are the people who come into the art center, [who] work on projects and [who] I see everyday; the custodians, the electricians or an extra set of hands for certain projects. They are the people that are there, so over the years you get to know them,” said Bundock. “So I thought, why don’t I showcase them, because like me, they work behind the scenes more or less. People sometimes wonder how this comes together; well, the people on the periphery are the ones that make it come together.”

The exhibition of 11x14 portraits was created over the course of a year and the paintings are done entirely in acrylic paint. These profiles are hung with individual spotlights that cast halos of light on each image, emphasizing each subject’s personality.

The project began with the artist asking each

figure to be painted, and once they agreed, he photographed them while on campus. “I would have preferred working from life, but it would have been a lot of hours, and since I have the day job, I couldn’t spend it,” said Bundock. “So I had to work from photographic reference, but I took it myself. Since I knew these people, I had a sense of their personality in my mind from our daily interaction. Sometimes I eat lunch with these people.

So that helped and I think I got a little of that in the show.”

Holding a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and Silvermine College of Art, Bundock has an artistic background in a variety of fields, including professional framing. “When I got out of Maryland Institute, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to graduate school right away,” said Bundock. “I wanted to concentrate on developing my skills as an artist, which I have over the years in leaps and bounds. So I decided to wait on going after a masters...” he said. He continued, “I have been here since 1994 and I love my day job. It is the perfect marriage between my background as a painter and the work that I do here.”

To the artist, this exhibition is a means of highlighting a group of staff members that are not regularly a focus on campus. He explained, “These people, in a way, are on the sidebands of people’s attention and this is a way of drawing a tighter focus on these people by way of introduction...

People might see them, but they don’t know what their connection is and this is a way of connecting them.”

Of these is Keith Light, HVCAR Mechanic at Buildings and Grounds. “I think I’ve been told by management that, ‘You get your paycheck every two weeks and that’s enough.’ It’s nice to get a little recognition. I think this show kind of does that,” said Light.

He continued to say that he thinks the project establishes a greater sense of community within Vassar and elucidates the breadth of work offices like Building and Grounds do. ”People especially, in Buildings and Grounds, aren’t recognized enough for the work they do. It’s largely physical labor, but there are also a lot of mental aspects— we trouble shoot projects and coming up with

Bruce Bundock’s portraits—which include a self-portrait as featured above—depict and honor Vassar staff members, whose hard work and dedication to the school may or may not go unnoticed. solutions,” he said. To this end, accompanying the portraits is a plaque describing each figure’s position on campus. Said Bundock, “All of us here are involved in this idea of stewardship. Why we work here: we take care of things, we take care of the art, we take care of the physical buildings, we maintain the college over the course of the years, the decades and so forth. This exhibition highlights these individuals at this particular time doing this particular work.”

Light expressed his hopes for the exhibit:

Kay and Kaye achieve early poetic success SPOKEN WORD continued from page 1

ing more than a passion into an actual career path for Kay. In 2006, she was featured in HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam,” and she became the youngest poet to compete in the National Poetry Slam.

Success was anything but short-lived for Kay. She continued her journey as a full-time spoken word poet, giving performances all around the world in high schools, colleges and conferences. Her TED Talk, featured on YouTube and the TED website, which she began with her poem “If I Should Have a Daughter,” has more than seven million views.

But Kay considers herself an educator as well as a poet and holds a masters degree in the art of teaching.

Phil Kaye also became interested in poetry as a high school student and first discovered spoken word poetry when he was 17 years old.

Now, he is a full-time, touring spoken word poet and a published author. As the coordinator of Space in Prisons for the Arts and Creative Expression (SPACE) at Brown University, he gave weekly poetry workshops to prisoners and has received multiple awards and national recognitions for his poetry, including the National College Poetry Slam award for “Pushing the Art Forward,” which he received twice.

Kaye dabbles in just about everything. He said, “I write a lot of creative non-fiction. I wrote for a magazine for a while. I just finished a TEDxTalk.”

Now, Kay and Kaye are currently working on a collaborative project, titled Project V.O.I.C.E.. “Project V.O.I.C.E. is an organization that utilizes spoken word poetry for the purposes of education, entertainment and inspiration,” said Kay, and she added that they give workshops as well as performances to give people a chance to try spoken word poetry themselves.

“It started when we were sophomores in college, kind of as an accident,” said Kay. Kaye’s old high school invited him for a performance, and he asked Sarah Kay to join him.

Kay asked Kaye to collaborate with her on a future project, which would later turn into Project V.O.I.C.E.. “The need and the desire grew organically. We never said, let’s make a living out of teaching spoken word poetry,” said Kaye.

One of Kay and Kaye’s stops on their Project V.O.I.C.E. tour was Vassar College. Kay said, “We were invited by Wordsmiths. Also, my brother goes to Vassar College, and I wanted to visit him and see the environment he lives in.”

Sarah Kay’s brother, Philip Kay ’14, was in the audience, dressed in a suit, as Sarah Kay said, not for the show but because he was headed to 100 Nights in the Villard Room afterwards.

He even invited the whole audience to a party in his Town House, with an announcement he made after the performance ended.

Kay performed two poems she wrote for her brother and continuously made jokes about him. She opened her set by saying, “[My brother] gave me a list of things I’m not supposed to say when I’m on stage. I’m not to say that he’s single, I’m not to say he’s dashing, I’m not to say he’s an excellent dancer. All of those things are true.”

The poets went on to address the confusion that the resemblance of their last names might have created in the audience. Kay jokingly added, “We also look similar to each other, depending on if you’re wearing your glasses and/ or if you’re racist.”

She went on saying that people ask them if they are siblings, if they are married, if they are dating, have dated, or will ever date and many other dating-related questions. “All of which is a resounding no,” said Kay. Kaye reiterated by shouting, “No!” Their story, however, is one of many coincidences. Sarah Kay grew up in New York City and Phil Kaye grew up in California, and they had not met until college. During the orientation week of their freshman year, they met each other at an open-mic night, and realized their astounding resemblances: they had similar last

names, Kay(e); the names of their siblings are Sarah for Kaye and Phil for Kay; they shared the same fifth grade summer camp counselor; and they both shared the ethnic background of being Japanese and Jewish, which was restated in their poem.

Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye’s resemblances are not what make them successful; it is their ability to perform in harmony and complement each other, which comes from years of performing together and being best friends.

And while the poets enjoy working and performing poetry as a team, the two did not refrain from presenting their own pieces of poetry solo.

The poets performed many well-known works of original poetry that have reached massive amounts of popularity due to the poets’ TEDxTalks. For instance, Kaye performed one of his strongest and most highly-acclaimed poems, “Repetition.”

“My mother taught me this trick. If you repeat something over and over again it loses its meaning.” He then recounted the separation of his parents and said, “I imagined it as an accident, that when I left they whispered to each other ‘I love you’ so many times over that they forgot what it meant.”

The poets not only gave powerful performances but made the audience feel that their work was accessible. After the show, Kaye and Kay did not hesitate to meet, talk to and joke around with their fans as they signed books and sold merchandise.

Brianna Lear ’17, who was one of the many students to attend the performance, appreciated the poets’ willingness to meet Vassar students and mingle with the crowd.

She said, “Even though Phil Kaye and Sarah Kaye are very famous spoken word poets, they were still down to earth and humble. I felt like they could relate to the audience as much as we related to them. The fact that they are best friends who have been performing together for a long time was apparent from their performance.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“Maybe [it] will give the Vassar community a better sense of who we are. I’m thinking that it would at least make the faculty, staff and students aware of who it is that keeps them warm and their buildings lit and keeps the college doors open.

Students can see who it is that takes care of the spaces that we enjoy on campus and who works to facilitate their education.”

The exhibition opens Thursday, Feb. 20 with an artist’s reception from 5 to 7 p.m. It will be on display until March 13.

Hudson Valley

Arts

The Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art

Through March 9 1701 Main St. Peekskill, N.Y. “Based On, If Any.” Filmed performance pieces by Jordan Rathus.

Hours: Fri. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat.Sun. 12 p.m.- 6 p.m.

Albert Shahinian Fine Art

Through the year.

22 E. Market St. Rhinebeck, N.Y. Gallery features quality contemporary regional, 20th century and Hudson River art.

Hours: Thurs.-Sat., 12 p.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

The College of New Rochelle’s Castle Gallery Through March 30 29 Castle Pl., New Rochelle, N.Y. Exhibit with work drawn from the tradition of “memento mori,” the artistic and symbolic reminder of one’s humanity.

Hours: Mon.–Fri., 11:00 a.m.-5 p.m.

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February 20, 2014

Corruption Coming of age a recent trope in fiction takes center stage in ‘Cards’ Emma Daniels Columnist

Aristotle and Dante Benjamin A. Sáenz Simon & Schuster

Lily Sloss Columnist

House of Cards Beau Willimon Media Rights Capital

I

served Kevin Spacey a juice last summer. Not a traditional orange or cranberry juice, but a hippy-dippy “cleansing” juice made from kale, pineapple and all manner of unpleasant things. Under his baseball cap and glasses, he smiled when I delivered it to his corner table. His acknowledgment was enough to make that day the best ever. My love for Kevin Spacey runs deep.

The first season of “House of Cards” served to illuminate Kevin Spacey’s majesty. Spacey plays Francis Underwood, a conniving congressman whose major dramatic yearning is for power. He pushes Pennsylvania representative Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) to a breaking point and forces a position as right hand man to the President (Michael Gill).

Claire Underwood, played to perfection by Robin Wright, complements her husband’s power as she navigates the non-profit sector to her own benefit.

There is something kitschy about this season.

During the first season, Frank Underwood breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly.

At one point, Frank says to the camera, “You can either be the doormat or a matador. Guess which one I am,” and holds up a picture of a partially colored-in bull. I laughed aloud.

This is not to say the show is wholly flawed.

Each episode leaves viewers in a state of eager anticipation. The first episode, “Chapter 14,” begins in a state of panic. Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara), her boyfriend Lucas (Sebastian Arcelus) and her colleague Janine (Constance Zimmer) try to uncover the water bill scandal and Peter Russo’s suicide while Frank grooms his replacement as whip, Congresswoman Jackie Sharp (Molly Parker). Jackie’s eagerness to enter a leadership position drives her to make cruel decisions, which primarily means giving up her mentor’s illegitimate daughter for success. Claire, meanwhile, is dealing with allegations by a former employee, Gillian Cole, that Cole was discriminated against for being pregnant. After a series of events, which includes Claire cutting off Cole’s healthcare, it is clear that manipulation is the name of the game.

Beyond a plot that includes anything to ramp up tension, secrets and ultimatums, “House of Cards” employs cinematographically significant moments to an excess. Rachel, a former prostitute, is shown in her apartment in almost complete darkness. Her features are hardly discernible. Lucas, a character with deep internal conflict, is constantly encompassed by lines, whether criss-crossing overhead or disguising his figure. At one moment, Frank moves a presidential bust, which is then replaced by another character’s head. Hilarious, but do these cinematic moments enhance the show?

They do not. The show is driven by a deep rooted trust that Frank will get away with the heinous behaviors he enacts and the conflicted desire for him to be caught, only to see how he will react. The show often feels to be at a point of climax, only for issues to be minimally resolved until the next big “to-do” erupts. The cast of characters are consistently too vicious to be relatable. As Claire coolly explains the ultimatum to her former employee, Jackie alludes to mass killings, and Frank forcefully shoves an informant in front of a subway, the audience experiences a familiar and pleasurable thrill. We are “in” on the game. We also, perhaps, know too much. Are we implicated?

The only character on the show that feels banal and repetitive, based on the four episodes I have seen thus far, is Lucas. He is too driven by morality and a desire for “justice” to succeed. He does not seem to exist in the same sociopathic function that the rest of the characters do. I imagine he will be gotten rid of shortly. My eagerness to see what happens next is tempered only by the increasing frivolity of the more stylistic elements exhibited. Hopefully in future episodes, less attention will be paid to text messages and asides, and more will be given to the development of the internal conflict of the audience.

Do we want Frank to succeed or fail?

Spoiler: We crave both.

I

n the recent past, young adult novels–John Green’s “The Fault in Our Stars,” Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” series, and earlier, J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series–have experienced a swell of popularity amongst those their primary readership would call “grown-ups.”

There’s no mathematical algorithm to figure out this appeal, but I think it’s something about these novels’ protagonists: young people negotiating their coming of age in our complicated present, their opportunities and their optimism. “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, published in 2013, is a recent addition to this canon.

A first-person narrative dictated by Aristotle, a fifteen-year-old boy living in El Paso, Texas, the outset of the book beautifully establishes the ambivalence and loneliness of youth. It begins: “One summer night I fell asleep, hoping the world would be different when I woke. In the morning, when I opened my eyes, the world was the same,” and sets the tone of the time period—summer 1987—by referencing the classic 1980s ballad “Alone” by Heart.

As the book progresses, Sáenz, a writer of both poetry and prose, continues to give the traditional framework of the bildungsroman a lyrical twist; the novel is filled with sparse sentences peppered with dialogue.

I would go so far as to say (sorry Potterheads!) that coming of age stories aimed at an adult audience are the most culturally salient. The book has won multiple awards, including the Lambda Literary Award and Stonewall Book Award for LGBT fiction, an Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award honor, the

Pura Belpré Author Award for Latino fiction, and the Michael L. Printz Award honor for Young Adult fiction.

The beauty of the book lies in both its form and its content, and how the two intersect. Sáenz’s writing dances on a line between poetry and prose, reflecting the narrative’s focus: liminality, specifically, the dance that an adolescent must partake in between childhood and adulthood.

The book begins in the summer, when Aristotle goes to the local pool and meets a boy who teaches him how to swim. It then spans over a year, detailing Aristotle’s intimate relationship with the boy, who also has an “odd” name: Dante.

In an interview with NPR, Sáenz commented on the naming of his protagonists: “I think when you’re 15, you kind of are a philosopher, you are a thinker…I wanted to give their names some weight” (“Discovering Sexuality Through Teen Lit,” 2.20.13).

Sáenz holds true to his words; the boys’ names accurately represent their positionality. In the novel, the two boys experience their coming of age, which includes philosophizing about what it means for them individually to be human. This progression is relatable to both young people experiencing the process of growing up and adults looking back on their adolescence.

The young men also discover and develop the mental and physical depths of their relationship with each other outside of heteronormative boundaries. The book is dedicated to “all the boys who’ve had to learn to play by different rules.” Dante—open, loving, vulnerable–knows that he likes boys, and Aristotle—quiet, stoic, guarded–needs time to discover his sexuality while maintaining a fierce love and appreciation for his friend. Dante teaches Aristotle how to swim, to appreciate literature and poetry, to make up games and to share his feelings. For these gifts, Aristotle is willing to risk his life for Dante’s. Aristotle lauds his friend: “And it seemed to me that Dante’s face was a map of the world. A world without any darkness./Wow, a world without

darkness. How beautiful was that?”

Another meaningful level of this narrative is that it is situated within the context of the boys’ families, their culture and their home.

Both boys are Mexican-American, and in the book, Sáenz gives a multifaceted depiction of two different Mexican-American families, challenging stereotypes and anti-Mexican rhetoric. In an NPR interview, he said, “I was really enraged by many things ... and I think hopefully we’re coming out of what was a horrible, racist time” (“Discovering Sexuality Through Teen Lit,” 2.20.13). In particular, Sáenz aptly challenges the stereotype that there is no such thing as a professional Mexican-American. He says, “We have a long history in this country, and we’re not all workers with our hands. There are a lot of professional Mexican-Americans, and it’s just not presented in literature,” he explains, “and I wanted very much to do that.”

Dante’s father is a college professor, and Aristotle’s mom, a high school teacher, comments poignantly on his position: “‘It’s a wonderful thing, what his father does…

When I went to the university, I never had one Mexican-American professor. Not one.’”

And Aristotle ponders: “There was a look on her face, almost anger.”

In the book, Aristotle and Dante’s parents do not exist within a vacuum, but within systems of oppression that scar them; for example, Aristotle’s father suffers from memories of serving in Vietnam, and his whole family lives under the shadow of his imprisoned older brother. Yet their families work hard to fight individual and societal battles and also maintain a constant stream of love for their sons. For me, that was the book’s most poignant element.

The book is a lovely representation of our current cultural moment, a layered depiction of the complexity of young people coming of age and coming to terms with their identities. Furthermore, it importantly establishes a strong sense of community and support for these individuals, and in turn, creates spaces of hope for readers of all ages.

‘Lego’ enjoyable despite commercialism Max Rook Columnist

The Lego Movie Phil Lord, Chris Miller Warner Bros. Pictures

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here’s something brazen about titling a movie “The Lego Movie.” No one involved in making this film thought it was necessary to hide the fact that this film is effectively a feature-length advertisement for Legos. It’s as if someone noticed how the “Toy Story” films play on audience nostalgia and decided to swap in Legos.

Luckily, whoever made that decision also learned from “Toy Story” that high-quality filmmaking is just as important as that nostalgia, and as a result “The Lego Movie” is one of the best animated films in recent memory.

Much of the credit for that success has to go to writer-director combo Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who recently managed to turn a similarly difficult concept into something special with their modern take on “21 Jump Street.”

“The Lego Movie” uses traditional CG-animation to create a pseudo-stop-motion style, combining the best of two worlds. While the film certainly follows the “Toy Story” formula, it adds a kinetic style and a brilliant thirdact twist to make something fresh and new.

One of the challenges of centering a film around the Lego brand is that it is a product with two distinct identities. On the one side, you have Legos as presented in stores: Each set is a meticulous recreation of some pop culture moment. You have your “Lord of the Rings” Legos, your “Harry Potter” Legos, even Lego versions of “The Simpsons.” Up until now, this is the side most media adaptations have focused on, particularly the very successful video game series which includes titles like Lego “Indiana Jones” and

Lego “Star Wars.” This film makes use of that aspect of Legos, peppering its scenes with recognizable characters. In fact, one of the best recurring jokes is the movie’s conception of Batman as a self-centered jerk who is obsessed with looking as cool as possible. But there’s also another side to Legos, one which is probably much more important to anyone with any nostalgia for these little bricks. It’s the side of Legos you see when you give a kid a plastic bin full of multi-colored blocks and watch them turn it into something utterly original. The genius of “The Lego Movie” lies in the way it manages to capture and celebrate that second aspect.

Lord and Miller fit the more abstract, creative side of these toys into the movie by building it right into the premise. The movie follows Emmett, a perfectly ordinary Lego man living in Bricksburg, a city run by the absurdly-named President Business. In Bricksburg, everyone follows the rules all the time, and Emmett fits right in to that world of conformity. That all changes, however, when he stumbles onto President Business’ secret plans to spread his conformity across all of existences, and Emmett joins up with a resistance movement. Admittedly, the main characters are all standard archetypes: we have an everyman hero, an evil super villain, a love interest, and an older mentor. Oh, and there’s also Batman. But what makes this story so effective is the way it celebrates the joys of creativity. There’s always some lesson to be learned shoehorned in animated movies targeted at kids, usually something along the lines of “be a good person!” Here, that lesson is about the importance of imagination, and it fits perfectly in both the story and with the concept of Lego itself.

It helps that the film has an excellent set of voice actors. Chris Pratt, best known as the doofy Andy from “Parks and Recreation,” plays Emmett, and gives him a charming naiveté. Will Ferrell voices President Business

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

in what at first seems like a repeat of his super villain character from 2010’s “Megamind,” but eventually morphs into something more complex. The rest of the cast is equally strong, with Morgan Freeman and Elizabeth Banks playing key roles. There’s even a clever nod to Lord and Miller’s “21 Jump Street” among some of the minor characters.

The film’s sense of humor is similarly playful and doesn’t get bogged down in treating references as jokes. Yes, there are quite a few laughs to be had on recognition alone, but they are balanced by more character-based humor. A good chunk of the movie’s laughs are purely visual as well. Characters bound across the screen with quite a lot of energy, and the film’s animators manage to make simple Lego faces surprisingly expressive.

So yes, this film is a giant commercial for Legos, and an extremely effective one. It certainly made me want to dig out my old bins of them next time I’m home.

Perhaps this particular level of commercialism goes too far for some viewers, but to dismiss the film for that reason is to ignore the fact that every animated film directed at children released today is an advertisement of some sort. Even Pixar, usually seen as a bastion of high-quality family films, is susceptible. When they decided to start releasing more sequels to their existing movies, they started with “Cars 2.” The “Cars” films have never been particularly well-received by critics or adult audiences, but the toys attached to those films are enormously successful. So yes, there is something troubling about how closely linked merchandising is to children’s entertainment, but “The Lego Movie” is no more to blame than any other animated movie.

If anything, this film’s advocacy of creativity is a healthy message for kids, and the filmmakers are savvy enough to pack that message into a story that will be entertaining for anyone who sees it.

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VCTV’s ‘Witness’ thrives on collaboration Jake Solomon Guest Writer

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Campus Canvas

What would your pen name be? courtesy of VCTV

f you are searching for the next TV series to get excited about, look no further than “The Witness,” created by the Vassar College Television (VCTV), which will premiere its first two episodes shortly after spring break.

Created by James Pedersen ’17, “The Witness” follows a group of students who are working on their college’s newspaper, highlighting all of the drama and romance that occurs along the way. As VCTV’s co-president Charley Button ’15 puts it, “It is a character-driven story of office politics, romance and hijinks that will resonate with viewers of all kinds, especially those who have worked on a deadline. Ambition and wit make life at ‘The Witness’ tense and fun as the staff works against the clock to tackle the issues of both yesterday and today.”

VCTV is led by its three co-presidents, Wendel Smith ’14, Nicole Glantz ’15 and Button, who act as the executive producers of VCTV and supervise the production branch.

VCTV is divided into branches that each oversee discrete jobs: the directors, writers guild, producers, editors and Crew. “The story we tell emerges from the hard work of a talented and committed team and a rigorous production schedule. On set, students from all areas of the organization work behind the camera while the actors deliver their lines,” Button said.

The students who put this show together are able to gain a new understanding and appreciation for filmmaking. VCTV allows students to learn about television and film production through hands-on experience as well as by holding workshops. Jamie Bellomy Maher ’17, a writer for the show, said, “I hadn’t done any work with making films before, and now I have a better understanding of the process. They make it so that everyone has the opportunity to do something that they haven’t done before.”

By integrating students of all different sets of skills and levels of experience in filmmaking, VCTV is able to teach people how the production process works. VCTV actress Liza Garrity ’17 was new to the filmmaking process before being involved with VCTV. She said, “It was fun to hear about the writing process from my roommate Jamie. It was also fun to work with students who were entirely experi-

Excuse me,

“The Witness” was completely written, produced, directed and performed by members of VCTV. The show explores what it takes to run a newspaper as well as what really happens in an office. enced in these things.”

Among the students who were able to take advantage of the opportunities presented by VCTV is Pedersen himself. He wrote in an emailed statement, “There are people at Vassar who have taken my tiny, goofy idea and turned it into an engaging, funny and wonderful piece of fiction. Because of the resonance the expansive VCTV staff has given to the show’s voices, we have the opportunity to truly entertain an online community.”

Although the end result will be incredibly anticipated as well as rewarding for VCTV participants, it takes a lot of hard work and determination for the show to be produced.

Pedersen explained, “Behind the scenes, it’s not terribly glamorous. There are a lot of meetings, a lot of discussion and planning.

You really get to know the people you are conspiring with. To me, the behind-the-scenes life is so much like the lives of our characters.

They spend a lot of time together in a room, working furiously towards a deadline. We are just people with a set of skills working against the clock, and so are our characters. That’s why it’s so rewarding: the story we tell speaks to us.”

VCTV brings together a wide variety of people and permits them to work collabora-

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

tively on projects like “The Witness.” This organization not only facilitates education about television production through the creation of a filmmaking community, but also seeks to entertain a large audience with the films that it creates. Button said, “‘The Witness’ is a unique collaboration of a large group of filmmakers with different specialties, joining together to create a large scale production.

VCTV aims to create professional, entertaining content for both the Vassar audience and the online community.”

With all of the effort that has been put into “The Witness,” it is sure to be a huge success when it is released to the public. So far the only glimpse into the world of “The Witness” has been through the trailer that VCTV released recently. The trailer has since built up significant anticipation for the series. Liza Garrity ’17 shared her enthusiasm for the hype surrounding the show, “It was really swell when everyone liked the trailer, especially because it was my first time acting on camera.”

The premiere date for “The Witness” has not been decided yet, but is set to premiere shortly after spring break ends. When the finishing touches are put on the first two episodes, it will be shown to the public for the first time in Rocky 200.

“H.T. Brownstone.”

—Henry Brown ’15

“Bill Smith.”

—Gabe Fisherman ’17

“John Lyons.”

—Derek Butterton ’15

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“Hugh Jass.”

—Ryan Huegel ’17 “Arkhaios” Kintsukuroi: a Japanese ceramic technique whereby damaged pottery is repaired with a golden lacquer. The process promotes the idea that beauty can emerge from destruction, and that a damaged object, once repaired, becomes more aesthetic for its flaws and incredibly unique. This sculpture, titled “Arkhaios,” involved the sculpting of the bust from clay, a drying of the clay, a total shattering of the bust, the firing of each individual piece in a kiln followed by a long process of piecing each piece back together.

The separate firing of the individual shards led to uneven expansion and shrinkage between the pieces, resulting in pieces that would otherwise have fit perfectly together to warp and deform in their own unique ways.

While the final repaired bust lost its original integrity and congruency, the new imperfections give the sculpture a wholly different character.

— Alistair Liu ’17

“Flora...like Madonna.”

—Flora Collins ’16

“Bright Eyes with an ‘r.’”

—Kevin Newhall ’17

Spencer Davis, Photo Editor Samantha Kohl, Assistant Arts Editor MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

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February 20, 2014

Brooks and Johnson to compete in summer leagues Jonathan Safir rePorter

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a day off.”

As for Johnson, Cucalón said, “[Johnson] does everything with his own dose of swag and fluidity. He embodies the mantra of Muhammad Ali: standing there in the batter’s box, with his hands gripping the bat softly, legs smoothly rocking a tad, calm look on his face, floating like a butterfly, and then the bat just flies the zone, extremely smooth and fluid, like the sting of a bee.”

Mrlik added, “[Johnson] is an incredible athlete with one of the sweetest swings in the league. His commitment and determination will carry him through whatever obstacles he has to face. He is a true team player and will do whatever it takes to win.”

As for the upcoming 2014 Vassar College men’s baseball season, Mrlik wrote, “Coming off a historic season, we have set the bar extremely high for ourselves. We believe our goal

of winning the Liberty League is attainable if everyone buys in and puts the team before any individual goal.”

Cucalón also said that, “As a team we are looking to progress even further than we did last season, and Nick and Brooks will have a huge impact on our success. Their decisions to play this summer show their dedication to baseball and their desire to improve. Baseball is a game of dedication and practice; it’s all about reps. Need extra reps to get better and improve.”

Johnson echoed his teammates: “Our collective goal is to win the league. Last year we took a huge step in the right direction, as we made the playoffs for the first time in program history,” he wrote. “We definitely have the skill and depth necessary to go all the way, it’s just about working hard and executing throughout the season.”

Alec Feretti/The Miscellany News

wo standout sophomores for the Vassar College men’s baseball team recently signed contracts to continue their season into the summer. Brooks English, a 2013 First-Team Liberty League selection will suit up for the Worcester Bravehearts, and Nick Johnson, a 2013 Liberty League Honorable Mention outfielder, will play for the Brockton Rox. The Futures Collegiate Baseball League consists of a rigorous nine-week schedule around the areas of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

English, who hit .268 last year, already knew about the Worcester Bravehearts before coming to Vassar. In an emailed statement, he wrote, “Living in New England, I’ve always known of this league to be one of the premiere collegiate summer baseball leagues in the country. When the opportunity arose, I could not pass it up. I know this will be a huge challenge. My expectations coming in are that I will be facing some of the best competition I have ever played against.”

He continued, “Pitchers consistently throwing above 90 mph will be a cool thing to compete against. I expect to get a lot better this summer, and help the Vassar Brewers next year when I am a junior to go as far as we can...But of course, we have some really high expectations for this year first.”

For this summer’s team, Brooks added that “I expect our team will be very competitive in this league. We play in a real nice stadium that seats 3,000 people with plenty of professional scouts in the stand at every game. It is a very attractive opportunity, so I imagine there will be plenty of really good ballplayers on our roster.”

He continued, “With that in mind, I still expect to compete for a starting job. Typically, the teams in the futures league are composed of lots of Division One players from big programs, so it will definitely be a challenge coming from a small Division Three school. Nonetheless, all I can do is show up and grind like I do here at Vassar.”

Johnson, who started in all 39 games in the outfield last season and batted .315, wrote that “I want to continue to get better as a baseball player. That’s my main goal with summer ball, and this league provides me with the opportunity to play with and against some amazing players who will challenge my ability day in and day out.”

He continued, “My expectations for this summer are to get better on the field, meet kids from around the country, and have a great time playing baseball. Whenever playing in a competitive league, especially one like this, the goal is always to take the title. While summer league is about getting reps and playing everyday, when it comes down to it, the expectations are to win.”

Both Brooks and Johnson will be living with host families over the summer, as the college does not cover any of the costs. For English, the team plays its home games only an hour west of his hometown and will be able to come home on off days. “This summer will be a big-time as I am super excited to be staying in the same state as two of my best friends in Trent Berg and Mickey Adams,” he wrote.

Johnson on the other hand, won’t be home until mid-August, at the conclusion of the team’s summer season. In regards to this situation, Johnson wrote, “This is a huge time commitment, as we essentially play every night for two months. I believe the overall experience will be a worthwhile one. Being away from home, I’ll miss being with two of my best friends, Connor Cucalón and Johnny Mrlik, on a daily basis.”

Both Cucalón and Mrlik both had nothing but praise for their two teammates. Cucalón said, “Brooks has a relentless work ethic, and his demeanor and effort on the field and everywhere else is contagious and second to none.

It forces me and all of our teammates to match those efforts.” Mrlik wrote that “Brooks does not waste an at-bat. Ridiculously patient at the plate, he wears opposing pitchers out. He is the first to practice and last to leave, fully committed to getting better and never wanting to take

Sophomores Brooks English and Nick Johnson of the men’s baseball team recently signed with the Worcestor Bravehearts and Brockton Rox respectively. The team’s season begins on March 11, 2014.

Panel bridges gap between athletics, students at large LGBTQ continued from page 1

like there needed to be more discussions about LGBTQ issues in athletics here at Vassar,” Jarvis wrote in an emailed statement. “In their experience, LGBTQ topics were taboo in the locker room and they wanted that to change.

They then got together a coalition of VC athletes from a few other teams, and the coalition worked with myself and LGBTQ Center intern Samhar Khalfani to craft an event that would meet all of our goals. Our central goals for the event were to: provide a forum for LGBTQ athletes at Vassar to talk about their experiences; educate non-LGBTQ athletes on some of the challenges their LGBTQ teammates might face; and open up dialogue about how we can make athletic teams at Vassar inclusive to people of all sexualities.”

The panel took place over the course of two

hours and featured a five-person panel as well as a small group discussion time, where panelists and audience members alike, many of whom were Vassar athletes, talked about the intersection of LGBTQ and athletic teams. Jarvis explained an important distinction between heteronormativity and homophobia within athletic groups. “To me the best things about the event were providing an opportunity for the five LGBTQ athletes on our panel to speak honestly about the joys and challenges of being an athlete at Vassar, and I think we also got people to think about the difference between homophobia and heteronormativity and heterosexism.

While few LGBTQ athletes shared that they had experienced outright homophobia, many talked about heteronormativity and heterosexism on their teams—such as some teammates assuming that everyone on the team was straight and

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

This past week, players for the men’s soccer team worked in conjunction with Judy Jarvis, Director of the LGBTQ and Women’s Centers, to put on a panel highlighting LGBTQ athletes on campus.

creating a culture that privileges straightness.”

The panel had a variety of athletes from many Vassar teams. Sophomore Mallory Tyler is a member of the women’s lacrosse team. After being approached by the facilitators to be a part of the event, Tyler was quick to volunteer.

Tyler explained, “I chose to participate in the panel because recently I have been hearing an unusual amount of problematic remarks from other athletes and I wanted to be a part of a forum where I could let other athletes know that they should call out this kind of behavior when they see it or hear it. I want every space on our campus to feel and be safe for LGBTQ+ individuals, not just the LGBTQ Center.”

Tyler was pleased with the turnout for the event. “I think the best thing that came out of the panel was seeing so many people attend and ask genuinely productive questions,” Tyler described. “It was great to see that so many athletes care, and even better to know that a dialogue has been started about these issues.”

Tyler continued, “I think this panel will make people realize that you can be queer and an athlete at the same time. It seems obvious, but to a lot of queer athletes, it can seem like a tricky thing to navigate. Hopefully, it’ll make athletics feel more inclusive for LGBTQ+ individuals, encourage people to be aware of the language they use (not assuming heterosexuality, for example), and help teams better take care of their teammates.”

Senior diver John Nguyen expressed his happiness with a panel such as this being created, and hopes it sparks a new type of identity-based discussion. “I hope that this event will result in similar initiatives in the years to come,” Nguyen wrote in an emailed statement. “As of yet, there does not exist any community among queer athletes, and our visibility at Vassar remains quite low, and this must change if the special challenges which LGBTQ individuals face in athletics.”

Jarvis, who also was the moderator for the panel part of the discussion, expressed her feelings about the success of the panel. “I was

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

really heartened that over 50 people came to the event, many of whom had never attended an LGBTQ Center event since I’ve been here,” Jarvis explained. “I think it goes to show that many straight athletes at Vassar truly want to be strong allies to their LGBTQ teammates, and it’s just a matter of them becoming more aware of the challenges their LGBTQ teammates may experience. I think this panel was a great start, and I welcome any teams to reach out to me if they are interested in having further conversations with the LGBTQ Center or doing any team-specific trainings.”

Some of the audience members expressed a lot of surprise and delight about how eye opening the panel was regarding LGBTQ issues among athletes. Sophomore field hockey player Bianca Zarrella stated that she was really enlightened by listening to the panel.

“When Judy asked the question, ‘What is it like being on an athletic team and part of the LGBTQ community?’ I was surprised at how some of the panelists said that it could be hard to be on a team where you are initially assumed straight,” Zarrella explained.

However, she also wished the panel featured a more diverse group of panelists. “I think it would have been interesting if there was a member of a team like baseball or soccer where they talked about their stance on LGBTQ athletes,” Zarrella expressed. “I think it would have made for a more diverse panel, with a more realistic view of this issue.”

Sophomore Josh Pratt also was surprised by a lot of what was said at the panel. “It was new to me when they said that being at an athlete party was hard because they talked about how there is a large expectation that you are going to hook up with someone of the opposite sex at the party,” Pratt said. “I really never understood how complicated it could be to be an LGBTQ athlete in a predominantly straight section of Vassar’s population. I just thought they felt as included as everyone else on the team, but that is not always the case I guess. The panel really did open up my eyes to some bigger issues on campus.”

February 20, 2014

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Trials await Sam in hypermasculine NFL Clyff Young

Guest Columnist

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ertain names in the NFL seem particularly fitting: Pat Angerer, linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts; Takeo Spikes, linebacker for the San Diego Chargers; Ryan Mallett, backup quarterback for the New England Patriots. Michael Sam will add his name to this list when he is drafted into the NFL this coming May. There are traditionally three kinds of linebackers: Two of them are called the Mike and the Sam. Sam linebackers, or strong side linebackers, typically used in a defensive scheme called a 4-3, are versatile players that defend against the run and pass. The Mike linebacker is the focal point of any solid run defense whose characteristics are defined by Jobe Lewis of about.com as, “epitomiz[ing] the football player persona, because he’s big, strong and hard-nosed. He is a key vocal leader in most schemes, calling out formations and strengths.”

Although a defensive end in college, Michael Sam, the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year, embodies those qualities, the qualities of any great football player. Sam was one of the best college football players in the nation last season. He lead the Missouri Tigers to an SEC Title berth and a major bowl win. Why is the best defensive player in the best conference in college football currently projected as a third or fourthround draft pick whose stock is predicted to fall even further?

Michael Sam is gay. He came out last week, and when he gets drafted he will be the first openly gay player in the history of the NFL. Although Michael Sam is not the first gay player in the NFL, he is the first to come out, as Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders tweeted Sam’s revelation. This is unprecedented stuff. Reactions within the NFL have been mixed, though.

There has been a great show of public support for Sam from current and retired NFL

players and officials and his alma mater the University of Missouri via media outlets like Twitter.

There was also a Sports Illustrated article that underscored certain GM’s notion that Sam and his sexual orientation will be a distraction and lead to unwanted controversy for NFL franchises, and a recent ESPN poll that showed how many NFLers are uncomfortable with the idea of a gay teammate. Some say Sam’s size has hurt his draft position. Some say coming out was what has done it.

The NFL, although outwardly admiring them, doesn’t often respond well to mold-breakers internally. A good example would be the vociferously pro-gay marriage punter Chris Kluwe. After pinning several letters and a well-known article for the popular sports blog Deadspin, Kluwe found himself cut from the Minnesota Vikings and without any job offers. Kluwe has since attributed his lack of work to the stance he took on gay marriage and the label of “being a distraction” that is so popular amongst NFL management.

Players who speak out against the NFL or on hot political issues, players that deviate from the norm, are frowned upon.

It is impossible to compare Sam and his decision to any current or former NFL player, but Sam is not the first professional football player to be different, to bend the stereotype of the football player. Myron Rolle played safety and was an academic and football standout at the Florida State University. More notably, Rolle accepted a Rhodes Scholarship instead of playing his last year of collegiate football.

Rolle was widely considered a prototypical NFL safety and was projected to be a firstround draft pick. Pursuing his studies made the NFL question Rolle’s commitment to football, his love for the game. He ended up being drafted in the penultimate sixth round of the draft in 2010. He retired in 2012, having not played a single down in a regular season game. In a profile published by SB Nation,

Rolle said coaches and players treated him differently for being smart, for having dedicated himself to something besides football.

He goes as far as to speculate that he wasn’t given a fair shot in the league because of his “non-traditional” interests for a football player.

This is not to say being discriminated against for being gay is at all similar to being shunned by the NFL for being “too smart.”

But the NFL isn’t as pure a meritocracy as we’d like to believe. There are political structures in place within the league to keep those that deviate from the football-player norm from succeeding.

The NFL is not a progressive institution, and the unfortunate reality is that like Rolle, Sam will be treated differently. There is no reason to believe otherwise. The poisonous, homophobic, hyper-macho nature of NFL locker rooms has been on full display this year because of the Miami Dolphins bullying scandal. Fans will yell terrible things from the stands. Several players like Jonathan Vilma have already expressed concerns about having to do things like shower with a gay teammate. It will not be an easy transition into the NFL for Sam. There is a danger that Michael Sam will get his chance and not succeed, and that certain circles will think he couldn’t play football because he is gay. There is a greater danger that the NFL won’t give Sam the chance he has proved he deserves because the primitive, follow-the-leader, don’t-ask-questions mindset of the league would suffer if Michael Sam does well.

The kiss-of-death “distraction” label is being attached to Sam. He will bring unwanted controversy an unnamed NFL GM has said. The odds are stacked against Sam. His struggle will be Sisyphean, and progress and change will be incremental within a rigid institution like the NFL. But at least someone is trying to push the boulder up the hill. Hopefully more will join him.

Olympic hockey merits greater exposure Eli J. Vargas I Columnist

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few days ago when I was flipping through the channels on TV while looking for the Olympics, I found more channels devoted to talking about Derek Jeter retiring and Carmelo Anthony’s contract status for the Knicks than the actual Olympics. To me, this is absurd. The Winter Olympics take place every four years, yet sporting channels would much rather devote their air time to reruns of NBA and NCAA basketball games which were on prime time the night before, while reruns of the Olympics are normally not shown even though they often take place while we’re asleep. There is definitely something wrong with this picture, and it is something that permeates throughout Americans sports as a whole, not just the channels devoted to covering sports.

There is no respect for the Olympics, no pride for your fellow countrymen. The almighty dollar reigns supreme, and American sports pay homage to it by ignoring the Olympics. What has been a debate in the NHL over the right of NHL players to participate in the Olympics encompasses this current situation that we find ourselves in as sporting fans in the United States.

“Sporting channels would much rather devote their air time to reruns of NBA and NCAA basketball games...”

NHL owners have recently shown disdain for the current situation where NHL players leave to play in games that have no influence over the team winning a Stanley Cup. It is understandable for owners to be upset, because while some of the NHL’s best players are

leaving for the Olympics, the NHL is forced to go on hiatus for the duration of the Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament. With no scheduled games during this period, the NHL loses out on revenue, and as the businessmen that they are, NHL owners do not care for financial restrictions.

But for players in the NHL they are often lost in the fray of the NHL. They are just another player, who represents an organization and a city. But why should it be considered absurd for them to want to represent their country? By playing for their country’s national team a player may have a more rewarding experience in his time competing on the world stage. Players struggle and compete with their fellow countrymen, who share the same language and culture. This is something that may not be present in NHL locker rooms, where the only lure for players may be for money, instead of to represent their home and culture.

I am not saying that the NHL is inferior to the Olympic Hockey tournament, merely that participating in the NHL offers different opportunities that some players may find more attractive, while others may not. The Stanley Cup takes place every year, whereas the Olympics take place every four years, and as a result a gold medal is elusive for players with only so many chances to compete in their playing careers.

I understand that players are under contract to the team that is employing them, and these teams are paying those players millions upon millions of dollars to be out on the ice.

A player could suffer a devastating injury by participating in the Olympics that could eliminate any title aspirations that any team could have, or further exacerbate any current nagging injuries.

But for players who only have so much playing time left in them, this is a chance to promote their legacy further than that which is limited to North America by the NHL. If participating in the Olympics really is important to players, then during collective

bargaining agreements and contract negotiations, participation in the Olympics should be greatly stressed.

Players are not the only ones that benefit from increased exposure across the world, but the NHL as a whole. Just as the NBA experience an influx in revenue and marketability from the Dream Team participating in the 1992 Olympic games, so could the NHL experience the same opportunities presented to themselves. By allowing and encouraging their best players to compete in the Olympics, the NHL would essentially be showcasing their product on the ice. When viewers see the talent that is across the NHL, and can only be found in the NHL, they will clamor to see these familiar players.

“But for players who only have so much playing time left in them, this is a chance to promote their legacy further...”

Increased exposure from the Olympic games gives more publicity for the sport, which will bring in more revenue over the long run, which shouldn’t be the only motivation for allowing players to participate in the Olympics, but is one that may seem to make the most business sense for owners.

Although I would like to see more maneuverability for athletes in regards to participating in the Olympics, I am happy that at least hockey is still an Olympic event. NHL owners have made sacrifices on their part in order for players to participate, albeit sometimes begrudgingly, and this should be acknowledged, because unlike baseball, the NHL has stopped their season for the sake of the sport as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Hockey ignites rivalry Zach Rippe Columnist

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any people are familiar with the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and its dramatic road to the gold medal in Lake Placid (even if only from watching the 2004 film “Miracle”). In those days, players from the NHL could not compete in the Olympics, thus thrusting a team of young amateurs and college players against some of the most prolific and powerful hockey teams in the world.

In other words, it is the perfect setup for a Hollywood film. When the team matched up against the Soviet Union team in the semi-finals, everyone in the U.S. suddenly became a hockey fan, wanting to beat the hated Russians and making the situation much more than the Games. Americans wanted a victory against Communism and their rival on the world stage, proving that America was the better country.

The story went as it would have been written, as the Americans pulled off an incredible, dramatic victory and went on to win the gold medal by defeating Finland shortly after, putting the cap on what Sports Illustrated in 1999 called the “Top Sports Moment of the 20th Century.” Now, the rules have changed, allowing NHL players to participate in the Games beginning in 1998, and the U.S. and Russia have met three times since then.

There is no more Soviet Union, yet that doesn’t change the fact that this past Saturday’s matchup of U.S. vs. Russia was indeed a great game.

The United States men’s hockey team has not won a gold medal since 1980, yet they have captured the silver medal in both 2002 and 2010. Still, the U.S. remains in what has been unofficially called the “Big Seven.” Russia, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia and Sweden make up the rest of the group. While the change of ruling in 1998 that allowed the inclusion of NHL players in the Games would seem beneficial for the U.S., it seemed to merely bolster the majority of nations in the “Big Seven.” Although the majority of teams in the NHL are located in the U.S., over 50 percent of players are from Canada. Back in the 1950s, Canadians made up over 95% of the league, yet that percentage has slowly been shrinking as the U.S. now makes up almost 25% of the league for the first time. While watching Canada beat up on Austria last Friday night, I noticed how great this disparity in talent actually is. The U.S., for example, lost to the Soviets 17-2 back in 1969.

Yet, the U.S. looks pretty solid this year so far. Getting the chance to play against Russia, in Russia, in front of a Russian crowd that included none-other than Vladimir Putin, it seemed as if this game would have the set up to be pretty dramatic. The Americans took the lead early, yet Russia thundered back late in the game. Russia scored what they thought was the go-ahead goal near the end of the game, yet it was called off due to a “loose net,” a call that seemed to ignite and anger the Russian fans. The game ended in perhaps the most dramatic and drawn out way possible: a shootout. The U.S.’s T.J. Oshie got the game winner in the eighth round and the U.S. completed its dramatic win.

Yet all of the memories this game sparked, complete with Putin in audience, must have felt good for the American players, as well as some American fans. This was, however, merely a pool game.

The U.S. had already been expected to move on to the next round. Here there is no looming force of Communism that Americans felt united in defeating. There is no medal at stake yet, and the U.S. is certainly not an underdog of the mammoth proportions it once was. These U.S. guys are paid professionals now, skilled veterans. Still, Olympic hockey is fascinating in that it is one of the few professional sports played in the U.S. (and Canada) that gets the opportunity to be showcased in the Olympics. Along with basketball, Americans get to watch their best athletes compete. Yet unlike Olympic basketball, the Americans are not necessarily the heavy favorite, as hockey is by no means an American-dominated sport. The term “world championship” often gets thrown around in regards to the championship games and series within American professional sports. Here there is a chance to put things in perspective, observe, watch, root and enjoy some of the best hockey the world has to offer.

SPORTS

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February 20, 2014

Assistant Coach Lussier offers enthusiasm, knowledge Sam Hammer Guest rePorter

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grown as a person and a player, knowing that they advanced in some way, and that their sacrificed time resulted in some sort of significant gain. While this is an end of the season goal, it is an everyday focus.”

Lussier truly believes that coming to coach at Vassar was the right move for her. “The greatest experience for me is coming into an environment where I am pushed every day.

Not only am I challenged to become better at my profession every day through the mentoring of Coach Brown, but there is a growing culture in Vassar Athletics that feels to me as if other sports are rallying off of each other’s success. It’s enjoyable to come into work every day knowing that the other coaches you work with are unified in advancing the future of our college and our athletes as a whole, both on and

Jacob Gorski/The Miscellany News

his year, the Vassar College women’s basketball team has benefited from the arrival of first-year Assistant Coach Kaliegh Lussier. Prior to coaching at Vassar, Coach Lussier played for current Vassar Head Coach Candice Brown as a freshman at Manhattanville College. While playing at Manhattanville under Coach Brown, the two developed a friendship that would ultimately bring Coach Lussier to Vassar.

After completing her freshman year at Manhattanville, Coach Lussier transferred to State University of New York Cobleskill before once again transferring to Louisiana State University, where she gained valuable coaching experience working with the women’s basketball program while simultaneously obtaining her degree in Kinesiology. While at LSU, Lussier served as a student manager and assistant coach intern. This experience at a large Division I program like LSU proved to be quite valuable to Lussier. Even as an undergraduate, she was able to play a significant role for a large program, “I worked with the coaches in the office and on the court to learn what it meant to be a coach at that level,” she wrote. After graduating from LSU, Coach Brown invited her to visit Vassar after informing her of the opening for the assistant coach position.

Coach Lussier feels that coming to Vassar was definitely the right decision: “It has been privilege to come in and work with such a great program. The students at Vassar have such a self-motivated air about them, so coaching them to thrive in an environment outside of the classroom has been a joy to be a part of.”

Lussier has been a part of an incredibly successful year so far for the women’s basketball team. The team currently holds a record of 16 wins and four losses and they were at one point ranked in the Division III Top 25. The Brewers are 9-2 against Liberty League opponents and trail only league rival St. Lawrence who are 10-

1. Coach Lussier commends the work ethic of her players who have managed to be successful despite going through difficulties.

“Our season has been laced with adversity, mainly due to injuries that have lowered our numbers. Our team has shown a great deal of heart and cohesiveness. All of our players have stepped up to fill roles that they may not have been expecting, and I think that speaks volumes to our success thus far.”

Coach Lussier is proud of her players’ accomplishments, yet she and the team both have more goals to accomplish. “We have a lot of goals as a team, consisting of things such as reaching championships and winning league titles. For me as a coach, my goal for the end of the season is to have every one of my players feeling as if they ended the season having

Assistant Coach Kaliegh Lussier played for Head Coach Candice Brown at Manhattanville.

Coach Lussier played for Louisiana State University at the division one level for four years.

off the courts/fields.”

The players on the Vassar women’s basketball team have responded very positively to Coach Lussier’s presence. Captain Cydni Matsuoka wrote, “Coach Lussier has been a great addition to the team. She fits right in personality wise. She is also always willing to put in the extra time whenever any of us want to do an individual shooting workout. Coach Lussier has done a great job thus far giving helpful and constructive critiques in game and practice settings. She played for Coach Brown as a freshman in college, which enabled her to come into the program already familiar with the system in place.”

Co-captain Hannah Sentfleber echoed Matsuoka’s enthusiasm. She believes that Coach Lussier benefited greatly from her time at a large Division I program such as LSU. Her ability to bring her wealth of knowledge about the game of basketball to practices and games has helped the rest of the team tremendously.

Senftleber said, “She is a wealth of knowledge especially from coming from a big basketball program like LSU. Her high basketball IQ coincides well with her heightened intensity throughout practice as well as during a game.”

Players have also come to appreciate Coach Lussier’s enthusiasm. Senftleber remarked, “It is hard not to feed off her positive energy in some way and have it positively influence your own game.”

Coach Lussier has just begun her coaching career, and we here at Vassar are lucky that she chose to begin that journey with the Brewers.

Just as young players can learn things from those with more experience, so too can coaches. Coach Lussier has developed her coaching skills throughout the season and, according to Senftleber, is always looking to improve, “She is still young, but is able to use that to her advantage with her high energy. She is always willing to learn, and improve her coaching ability. She has been a great addition to the team for my senior year.”

Women’s basketball moves into post-season playoffs Tina Caso

sPorts editor Co-ed Squash

The co-ed squash team traveled to Northampton, Mass. to compete in the Collegiate Squash Association Championship (CSA), but ultimately fell to the University of South Carolina (USC) 7-2. Junior David Garfinkel earned the first win of the day against USC’s Rishabh Shah. To end the season, the team went 6-3 vs. Siena College at the CSA championships. Co-captain and senior Ricardo Espinosa finished 3-0 in the No. 1 spot, while senior co-captain Kiet Phun went 3-0 in the No. 2 spot. Senior Alan Darer also went 3-0 at the No. 5 spot. The team finished in third place at the tournament. The final season record was 5-14.

Men’s Basketball

Women’s Basketball

On Feb. 14, the women’s basketball team went 73-67 in an overtime meet vs. Liberty League opponent Skidmore College. Sophomore guard Caitlin Drakeley was crucial to the

31-5 in the conference. She lead the épée squad to a 201-129 record.

Men’s Cross Country

The Liberty League released its preseason poll last week. According to Tracy King, the team is ranked fifth in the Liberty League. The team currently holds five All-Liberty League team players. The women’s lacrosse season

Freshman Alfredo Mazzuca was named to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) All-Academic honoree list. Mazzuca has earned Liberty League Rookie of the Week four times, and finished in 35th place at the Atlantic Regional tournament, which qualified him for the title.

Men’s Lacrosse

On Feb. 13, the Liberty League released its preseason poll. The Vassar College men’s lacrosse team was ranked seventh in the poll, as announced by League Commissioner Tracy King. Last year, the Brewers ended the season with a 3-11 overall record. The team will jumpstart its season on March 1 in a match against Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY. Women’s Lacrosse

kicks off on March 12, and the team will travel to Denver, CO for a match vs. Regis University.

While away, the team will also play Colorado College on March 14, and Denison University on March 16 in Colorado Springs, CO. Men’s Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team traveled to Boston, MA on Feb. 18 for the Emerson College Trimatch. The team dropped a match vs. Endicott College 25-19, 25-16 and 25-18. The team also lost a match vs. host school Emerson College 26-24, 26-24, 22-25, 25-23. Senior co-captain Joe Pyne provided seven terminations along with sophomore co-captain Reno Kriz. In its most recent match vs. Hunter College on Tuesday.

The team won with scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 28-26. The team will next travel to Troy, NY to compete against Sage College on Friday at 7 p.m. for non-conference play.

Women’s Cross Country

Senior Aubree Piepmaier also earned the USTFCCA All-Academic honoree list after finishing in the top 35 at the Atlantic Regional tournament. Piepmaier is a double major in Religion and Political Science.

Men’s Fencing

On February 17, the Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) released its 2013-2014 All-Star teams. Senior co-captain Matt Steinschneider of Fairfield, CT was named to the list on second team accolades, finishing fifth in foil standings with an individual record of 70-25.

courtesy of Vassar College

The men’s basketball team finished 71-67 on Feb. 15 on against Skidmore College. On its senior day, the team went 73-70 vs. the Union College Dutchmen with help from sophomore guard/forward Johnny Mrlik. In the final home game of the season vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the team won 107-89—the first time in school history that men’s basketball team has beaten two Liberty League teams with over 100 points on the scoreboard. Mrlik had a season-high 30 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four blocks and one steal. Mrlik was named to the Liberty League Honor Roll on Feb. 17. Sophomore Erikson Wasyl started off strong with a layup, propelling the team forward. The largest lead in the game came from senior Alex Snyder and Mrlik, who had back-to-back layups.

The men next travel to Canton, NY to compete against St. Lawrence University at 8 p.m.

team, gaining five points and a three-pointer to end overtime. Drakeley also earned a spot on the Liberty League Honor Roll on Feb. 17. The next day, the Brewers hosted Union College for its senior day. The team went 67-63, helped by senior Cydni Matsuoka’s team-high 20 points.

On Feb. 18, the team had a strong second half vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and won 80-64. In the last minutes of the game, Matsuoka had a pair of free throws. She has scored 776 regular season points thus far—the most in the Vassar history books. The team therefore earned a post-season Liberty League tournament spot. The team will next travel to Canton, NY to play St. Lawrence University at 6 p.m.

Women’s Fencing

Freshman épée fencer Olivia Weiss of Pittsburgh was named to the first team after going

The women’s basketball team recently won a match vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on February 18 with a final score of 80-64. The win led the Brewers to earn a spot in the league’s post-season play.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE