DePauw Opera pages 6 & 7 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015
Indiana’s Oldest College Newspaper
Danbury to DePauw: Kerman delivers 2015’s first Ubben Lecture
Author Piper Kerman answers questions during a student forum held at the Prindle Institute before her Ubben Lecture. A number of the students in attendance took a class that focused on Kerman’s book. SAM CARAVANA/THE DEPAUW BY NETTIE FINN news@thedepauw.com
Piper Kerman reported to the women’s correctional institute in Danbury, CT on Feb. 4, 2004. 11 years later she stood in front of a full Kresge Auditorium and opened up to DePauw and Greencastle community members about life behind bars. Now an accomplished speaker and author, Piper has appeared before the U.S. senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association, has been awarded the Justice Trailblazer Award and the Constitutional Commentary Award. What she is perhaps best known for, however, is her memoir “Orange is the New Black: My Year in Women's Prison” and the Netflix original series of the same name. Shortly after graduating from Smith Col-
a larger audience in Kresge, Kerman spoke with and answered questions of students who had taken Professor Suarez’s Winter Term course “Is Orange the New Black? Women and Incarceration” as well as Prindle Interns at Prindle. The questions ranged from Kerman’s advocacy work to her involvement in the show. She cautioned that “the show is really not a biopic,” and stated that season three will probably be a complete departure from her memoir, since she feels that Genji Kohan, the shows creator, has probably gleaned all she can from Kerman’s real-life experiences. “They talk to me a lot and I read the scripts,” she said. ‘There was a bank robbery story and they started asking me a lot about bank robbery and I said, ‘I haven’t done so much of that — but I know somehow who has.’” During her speech in Kresge, Kerman touched on her experiences in prison, speaking on everything from the friends she made behind bars to the necessity of staying busy. “Everybody in prison gets a nickname. One experimental hairstyle can stick with you the whole time,” she said of her friend Pom-Pom. When she first arrived, she was greeted
lege, Kerman found herself “drifting,” as she described it in her presentation in Kresge Wednesday night. She crossed paths with an older woman, whom she began a love affair with. This older woman was part of a drug ring and during their relationship Kerman found herself carrying a bag full of drug money from Chicago to Brussels. Ten years later, she was indicted, and six years after that she reported to Danbury to serve her 15 months. Piper Kerman (left) autographs a book for Sarah “I imagined myself to be Mitchell (center) and Brooke Hasler (right) at the posthaving a great adventure, lecture book signing. when in fact I was getting myself into a whole lot of trouble,” said Kerman. Piper | cont’d on page 3 Before her presentation to
VOL. 163, ISSUE 27
The School of Music launches a new site for 21st Century Musicians BY MARIA RUMMEL news@thedepauw.com
The new creative interface by the 21st Century Music initiative for music students and the community at large looks to become a base for flexible and entrepreneurial musicians. Last week, the music school launched the new site 21CM. org. The site advertises itself as “a place where collaboration, experimentation and excellence in serious music are discussed, applauded and emulated.“ It was created with the demands of the industry and 21st century musicians in mind. According to music student Lisa Salazar, “the purpose of the website is to connect musicians in a new way while making it easier to find musicians to collaborate with. I think the goal of the site is to be the ‘LinkedIn’ for the music world.” The website is a place for musicians at all stages in their portfolio or career. It includes a magazine portion that highlights people, organizations, projects and more for students to look to for inspiration. There is also a categorized guide section to point students to events relevant to their own creative process. The other main component of the new site is called The Hub. The Hub is a platform for students to develop their own portfolio as well as collaborate with other members of the site. With an innovative Hub WorkSpace, members can work on projects privately or create public projects to share online with other Hub members. The site is part of the music school’s 21st Century Musician Initiative. 21CM is working to create a program that cultivates musicians of the future and provides students with the right tools to thrive as artists in the 21st century. The initiative’s Graduate Intern Elleka Okerstrom said, "I started working for the School of Music this summer and at that time we were in the beginning phases of creating 21CM. org.. It has been really exciting to see this venture develop and come to fruition. I can't wait to see how it not only impacts the School of Music but also the music community at large." With the public launch of 21CM.org, the music school is working to reach far beyond the DePauw sphere. Dean McCoy said, “This is the music school's effort to reach out to the wider world. This site is more searchlight than spotlight — rather than brag about ourselves, we are trying to give real world examples of how our students and other 21st century musicians can make it in today's world.” While the site has only gone public for the beginning of the semester, students and faculty alike are excited to see what it can do for the industry as a whole.