The Hillsdale Theatre and Dance Department is holding its inaugural playwriting competition with a $1,000 cash prize for the best original one-act play inspired by a Frederick Douglass quote.
“This new competition is a wonderful opportunity for our students,” Dean of the Humanities Stephen Smith said. “They can try their own hand at art; contribute to the renewal of American playwriting; and perhaps even win great glory like Shakespeare, Eugene O’Neill, and others before them. The play’s the thing.”
The quote comes from a speech Douglass gave during his second visit to Hillsdale College: “There’s no such thing as new truth. Error might be old or new, but truth is as old as the universe.”
“I personally have perceived in recent years a real dearth of great new American drama,” Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department Chris Matsos said. “I thought, Hillsdale is known for having the best students that are so broadly read. We thought, if our students were challenged to write the next great American play, what would they come up with?”
Student author fights post-election blocklist
By Catherine Maxwell Assistant Editor
After Donald Trump won the presidential election, sophomore and self-published author Jayden Jelso posted an Instagram reel celebrating the results. Two days later, he was fighting harassment and doxxing threats targeting Trump-supporters on the app.
“I had people basically saying, ‘I hope you kill youself,’ hoping my family and friends burn in hell, just pure hatred,” Jelso said. “It got wildly out of hand, but we still didn’t want to post the names of the people who were doing this. This type of stuff happens online, especially after an emotionally-charged election, and we didn’t want those people to get in trouble.”
A book recommendation account posted a submission box to her Instagram story — a kind of post that disappears after 24 hours — that read, “Snitch on Trump bookstagrammers here so I can make a list for y’all.” Over the next two days, the user posted dozens of screenshots of accounts she suspected of voting for Trump, creating a blocklist — a list of people to unfollow and block to diminish their reach.
“Bookstagram” is a community of readers and writers on Instagram. Jelso is a more prominent member with more than 25,000 followers. He released his first book, a young adult dystopian novel called “Talon,” in February 2023 and plans to publish the sequel, “Magistrate,” in March or April 2025.
Screenshots of bookstagram accounts included Trump followers, posts supporting Trump, and accounts protesting the blocklist. The user included commentary such as “No woman is safe” and “The
fear of the price of eggs doesn’t compare to the fear of going to jail for having a miscarriage.”
As the list circulated, Jelso and other creators warned writers about the list and posted the blocklisted accounts so fellow authors could support them. Jelso said conservative accounts gained hundreds of followers..
But the situation escalated with a Google Doc that listed accounts and whether they voted for Kamala Harris or Trump.
And on the second day of the list, creators threatened to dox conservative accounts.
Across the United States, many Kamala Harris supporters advocate ending relationships with Trump voters.
“There is a push, a societal norm, that if somebody is your family, that they are entitled to your time,” Yale University Clinical Fellow Amanda Joy Calhoun said on Joy Reid’s MSNBC show “The ReidOut.”
“And I think the answer is absolutely not. So if you are going to a situation where you have family members, where you have close friends who you know have voted in ways that are against you, against your livelihood, it’s completely fine to not be around those people and to tell them why.”
Users on X (formerly Twitter) posted about cutting off family members who voted for Trump, and accounts across multiple platforms told Trump supporters to unfollow them.
“If you voted for Trump, all of your favorite romance, fantasy, and dystopian book characters would hate you,” one Instagram account posted.
After the doxxing threats, Jelso decided to post the original user’s name.
College Republicans’ efforts boost voter registration in county
By Tayte Christensen and Megna Li Assistant Editors
More than 500 students registered to vote in Michigan this fall, said College Republicans president Hinson Peed. They were among 24,980 people to vote in Hillsdale County on Nov. 5.
Between the primary election on Aug. 6 and last week’s general election, voter registrations in the county grew by 1,059 people, according to county records certified Nov. 13.
Peed said the College Republicans registered 324 students before Election Day, while others registered with the county clerk the day of.
“I honestly did not talk with anyone that day who claimed they had not voted,” Peed said. “That isn’t to say that every student on campus definitely voted, but I hadn’t encountered one yet that didn’t either vote absentee or didn’t vote in Michigan.”
Hillsdale City Clerk Katy Price said the increase in voters was unprecedented, and most of the increase came from college students.
Women Commissioners raise
According to Price, 150 voters both registered and voted on Election Day.
“The increase is encouraging,” Hillsdale mayor Adam Stockford said. “Especially when it’s obvious the increase is a result of the young in Hillsdale taking inventory of the political process.”
Stockford said while he is excited about this year’s turnout, he hopes young voters continue to vote in midterms and smaller local elections.
“My oldest son is 18 this year and this was his first election. I stood in line with so many at the Hillsdale library with so many first-time voters,” Stockford said. “I believe it’s the second step in what appears to be a generational transition in politics, and I think we’ll see much more of it in this county. Now I hope the primaries will show similar results in the future. That’s where the real decisions are cast in a single-party county like Hillsdale.”
County Clerk-elect Abe Dane said while the College Republican efforts helped increase numbers, county voting registration always fluctuates.
more than $80,000 for student scholarships
By Tayte Christensen Assistant Editor
The fifth annual Charger Derby raised more than $80,000 Nov. 9.
More than 200 people attended the event, which featured 12 rounds of simulated horse races, a cash bar, and a silent auction in the Searle Center. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Women Commissioner Scholarship fund, according to board member and event co-chair Sue Zbozen-McAlpine ’86.
“We are grateful for the support we received from the community, our alumni, current parents, and the college,” Zbozen-McAlpine said.
“Thanks to their generosity, our scholarship fund continues to grow, and we look forward to supporting students
in the future.”
This year, more than 40 students have received scholarships from the Women Commissioners, totaling more than $268,000 according to the group.
Attendees paid $25 to own a horse in a race and gave them names such as “ATO Steve,” “Lara Trump’s Kettlebells,” and “Peanut the Squirrel.”
At the end of each race, both the owner of the winning horse and three randomly-selected bidders on the horse won a prize.
The silent auction featured items such as Hillsdale College apparel, handmade quilts, vacation packages, designer purses, and paintings.
The most expensive entry in the auction — a two-night stay at the John A. Halter Shooting Center, complete with pistol
and shotgun shooting lessons for up to 12 guests — sold for $6,600, according to the Women Commissioners’ website.
Junior Lulu Celecia, a recipient of a Women Commissioners scholarship, said one of her favorite parts of the evening was seeing the items for sale in the silent auction.
“I think it’s super cool to see how many local businesses donate stuff,” Celecia said. “It’s such a small town, but there’s still a lot of people willing to help out.”
Senior Harrison Layman is a recipient of a Women Commissioners scholarship and was one of many students volunteering at the event.
“Interacting with all the people who make the Women Commissioner scholarship happen, who make it a reality and who are actually able to
fund it, is a wonderful thing,” he said.
Sophomore Christine Stanton said her Women Commissioners scholarship gives her some of the assistance she needs to attend Hillsdale.
“I am extremely grateful for the generosity of the Women Commissioners,” she said. “It makes my time at Hillsdale even more meaningful to know there are people willing to give so much just to allow some of us students to have this education.”
Celecia said the lively atmosphere of the event, including many attendees in fancy outfits, made for an enjoyable experience.
“I think what’s really the coolest is we have the most fun getting money,” Celecia said. “Show me another scholarship that has this much fun.”
Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Donors placed bets on simulated horse races at the Charger Derby. Olivia Pero | Collegian
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New registration policy aides transfer students
By Christian Papillon Collegian Reporter
Transfer students will now register according their total completed semesters as degree-seeking students rather than completed or in-progress Hillsdale credits.
The former policy requiring students to register by Hillsdale credits was introduced in 2019, but the college had been considering the change in the last year, according to Registrar Douglas McArthur.
“We’ve recognized for the last couple of years that things weren’t going quite as well as we would have liked as far as registration is concerned,” McArthur said.
McArthur said under the old policy some students were taking an overly heavy course load to gain priority registration when their schedules did not allow for it.
“A chemistry major is really limited on the number of credits and courses they can take in a semester because their courses take up a lot of time,” McArthur said. “There are other programs where doing a lot of extra coursework like one-credits is built into the program.”
According to McArthur, the number of transfers at the college has grown in the last few decades from about a dozen to more than 100. The new poli-
cy will put transfer students on even ground with those who entered as true freshmen.
“The start term really does match better than credits for where students actually are programmatically,” McArthur said. “It’s beyond the capacity of our office and the department to manage around the particular needs and problems of transfer students. This was the way that we thought was the most just and the simplest way to treat them in relation to the rest of the student body.”
Junior and transfer student Andrew VanDevere said he is happy with the policy change.
“I completely love it,” VanDevere said. “It’s not as though I think the old policy was bad; it just left transfers out. I’m so excited to register with the class I’m actually graduating with.”
VanDevere said other transfers were also happy with the new policy.
“All the transfers celebrated really hard after the policy change,” VanDevere said. “There were texts flying through our group chat, and we had a card going around for Mr. McArthur.”
Sophomore transfer student Caesar Gombojav said he also likes the new policy.
“I think it is a positive change because if you’ve done the college time, you should be able to register accordingly,” Gombojav said.
Alumnus named associate publisher at Liberties Journal of Culture and Politics
By Skye Graham Collegian Reporter
Christopher McCaffery
’16 recently accepted a position as associate publisher of Liberties Journal of Culture and Politics.
“The mission is to create the most thoughtful, considerate, and best writing that is possible to read,” McCaffery said.
Liberties is a publication of the Liberties Journal Foundation and publishes a variety of essays on topics including literary criticism, cultural criticism, politics, and international studies. The journal was launched in 2020 and publishes quarterly, according to its website.
McCaffery majored in English and minored in journalism at Hillsdale. Following graduation, McCaffery worked at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
“The rhetorical act is an essential part of a healthy society,” McCaffery said.
McCaffery said his Hillsdale education was instrumental in his career trajectory.
“The love of reading, the study of humanities, and the
liberal arts tradition is extremely close to the thesis of what we do at Liberties,” McCaffery said. “My studies at Hillsdale not only gave me the grounding and critical thinking skills to engage in this work, but it also cultured me and prepared me to fit in with my colleagues.
Everything I’ve done since is a product of my Hills dale education.”
McCaffery attributes many of his skills to the work he did for campus publications. He was assistant opinions editor and columnist for The Hillsdale Collegian.
“I ran the Hillsdale Forum for most of my time at Hillsdale,” McCaffery said.
“That gave me a massive love for long form essays and for thoughtful consideration.”
Director of the Dow Journalism Program John J. Miller taught McCaffery in the program while he was at Hillsdale and advised him in The Collegian.
Miller said McCaffery is a great writer, and he is happy to see his success.
“It’s great to see him flourishing in the world of small magazines, which are often the engine of big ideas,” Miller said.
“I worked for The Collegian all four years, which was itself transformative,” McCaffery said. “Everything from news reporting, having a column, and copy-editing was all essential.”
McCaffery said he also wrote for other student publications that gave him writing experience outside of straight journalism.
Veterans Day ceremony honors slain deputy
By Alessia Sandala Assistant Editor
William Butler Jr. was posthumously inducted into the Hillsdale County Veterans Hall of Valor at the group’s 23rd annual awards ceremony Nov. 11 in McNamara Rehearsal Hall.
“Butler was a pillar of support for his family, his friends, and his community,” said Vice President of the Hall of Valor and Associate Dean of Men Jeffrey “Chief” Rogers. “He lived his life for others, always ready to lend a helping hand, whether it was a kind word, a warm smile, or a selfless act.”
“Registered voters vary all the time because people are constantly moving in and out,” Dane said. “Of course, for the big election, there’s always more interest and more people getting registered.”
Freshman Sarah Chappelle was a first-time voter this year and said because her home state of Texas did not need her vote as much, she voted in Michigan.
“Texas isn’t typically a swing state, and Michigan is,” Chappelle said. “I didn’t really know the steps at all because I just turned 18, and I didn’t know how I was supposed to register, how I was supposed to go vote.”
Chappelle said the College Republicans, who provided
Butler, who served in the Michigan Army National Guard before joining the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department, was killed on June 27 while assisting another officer in a traffic stop.
“Butler went from defending his country to protecting his community, right here in Hillsdale County as a sheriff’s deputy,” Rogers said.
The ceremony also featured a song dedicated to veterans by U.S. Marine Corps veteran and junior Greg Whalen, the presentation of the Admiral Peter Beckwith Memorial Scholarship to two high school seniors, and a speech
papers to sign and pamphlets to read, were helpful.
“They had that table about a month ago out just like, ‘register to vote,’ and they just had everything ready: ‘you should sign here, here and here,’” Chappelle said. “They were like, ‘OK, put this in the mail and you’re fine,’ and it was really convenient.”
Sophomore Hershey Athysivam, also a Texas native, said voting in Michigan was not only more convenient, but she thought her vote would have more impact.
“Michigan being a swing state, I wanted my vote to matter more,” Athysivam said. “I did not want to figure out the mail-in ballot process and I was also way too late for that — mailing a ballot back to my home state would have taken too long.”
by Fred Radke, leader of the Harry James Orchestra.
Greg and Diane Paul were awarded the Hall of Valor’s Service Organization of the Year award for bringing Wreaths Across America to Hillsdale County.
Wreaths Across America is a nonprofit organization that seeks to honor veterans by placing wreaths on the graves of servicemembers across the country at Christmas time each year.
“This great tradition will expand to include two additional cemeteries in Hillsdale County, encompassing 1600 graves of men and women who served this great nation in the armed forces,” Hall of Valor Treasurer and Marine veteran Rob Rardin said.
On Dec. 14, volunteers for the program will lay wreaths on the graves of veterans in the Oak Grove and Lakeview cemeteries in Hillsdale.
Radke, who served as the guest speaker, told the story of a man who stood up in a class he was teaching on the history of Big Bands during World War II.
“I said, ‘I’d like you to think back to where you were and what you were doing when you heard this famous Harry James Tune,’” Radke said. “So
Athysivam said she appreciated the College Republicans’ initiative of encouraging students to vote.
“I wanted to support their efforts by voting in Michigan, and they were super helpful,” Athysivam said. “It was super simple for me to just go, and if I had any questions, the college was really helpful at answering them.”
Junior Lucy Treene was one of many students who voted on Election Day. She said she forgot to apply for a mail-in ballot in her home state of Virginia, but, on Election Day, she went with two other students to register and vote in Hillsdale County.
“I didn’t really realize that you could register day-of until Hinson Peed stopped me, and he was like, ‘it’ll take 45 minutes.’ And I said, ‘sure, let’s do it.’”
I played the song and a gentleman stood up in the class. He said, ‘I was 18 years old during World War II, and I was a waist gunner on a B-17 and we were coming back from our 18th mission.’”
The man went on to describe how he was the only one from his plane to survive after they bailed out of the B-17. He was sheltered in the basement of a member of the French Resistance, according to Radke.
“So he said, ‘Believe me, whenever I think of this or hear this, I know where I was and what I was doing,’” Radke said. “Well, that shows you how important and how powerful music is in certain things. There’s things we always remember. We always remember smells and we always remember music.”
President of the Hall of Valor and Air Force veteran John Williams said the ceremony is a vital part of the community and is a way to bring awareness to the sacrifices the nation’s veterans have made.
“This has become a special way for us to celebrate Veterans Day and to honor those who have served our country and continue to serve in our community,” Williams said.
Treene said she registered and voted in less than 45 minutes.
“I’m very glad I voted in Michigan. It’s important to see the students coming out, especially in this swing state in such a close election.”
Peed said the College Republicans were pleased with the results of their get-outthe-vote efforts.
“The goal was to make sure students voted, and I think we definitely accomplished that,” Peed said. “We’re very thankful to all the students who volunteered to help out. It was definitely a team effort. A lot of work went into it, and a lot of work that wasn’t necessarily asked of people, but volunteered.”
newsletter. These qualities will serve him as he tries to help Liberties grow.”
Associate Professor of English Dwight Lindley also had McCaffery in class.
“He was a classic Hillsdale intellectual,” Lindley said. “He had lots of ideas and loved to sit around talking about them. He was the kind of student who always connected reading for the class to other books he was going through outside class.” Lindley said he is glad to contribute to his students’ lives.
“I feel quite proud and grateful that God has given me a role to play in their life trajectories, however small,” Lindley said.
Lindley said McCaffery was a talented student, and his talents will carry over well into this new job.
In 2021, McCaffery published his own edition of George Eliot’s novel “Middlemarch: A Study in Provincial Life.”
“He has a strong entrepreneurial streak,” Miller said.
“He also founded and runs the Washington Review of Books, which is an interesting and worthwhile Substack
“I was like, ‘OK, I lose followers. Cool. So what if I’m standing for what I believe in? It’s worth it,’” he said. “But once it became an issue of genuine safety, that’s when many of us knew we needed to try to get this account taken down.”
He asked his followers to report her account for bullying and harassment. After his post, the user direct messaged him and said she was doing her best to control the situation and did not appreciate him posting her account name, according to screenshots Jelso gave The Collegian.
Jelso asked her to delete the screenshots and apologize to the bookstagram community for enabling hate messages and potential doxxing.
The user told Jelso and posted on her story that she disapproved of the threats and would take down screenshots if the accounts asked.
But the next day, she posted a screenshot of Jelso’s account and captioned it, “This account has given me reason to feel unsafe in my home. Do with that what you will.”
The user, according to her Instagram bio, is a 35-year-old woman living in Los Angeles.
Jelso told his followers not to respond to the list with hate.
“We wanted to handle this with calmness and kindness,” he said. “We didn’t want to sink to their level.”
The user eventually released a statement on Threads (Meta’s version of X) apologizing for how the situation escalated but standing by her decision to post the screenshots.
“The purpose of the list was solely for quietly unfollowing or blocking, not for inciting harassment,” she said in the statement. “While I cannot take responsibility for others’ actions, I acknowledge the role I may have played in this and will strive to do better. I still believe individuals have a right to know if they are supporting someone who voted against their human rights, and that belief stands firm.”
The day after releasing her statement, she posted screenshots of two more accounts who supported Trump.
Jelso said when he has post-
“Chris was always an ideas guy, but he was also a people person, thriving in groups and interpersonal engagements,” Lindley said. “I think this editing job makes great use of his talents because it requires him to be thoughtful about both ideas and relationships. I think he’ll do great work.”
ed political content in the past — such as his post-election reel — he lost 20–30 followers. After the blocklist, he lost 500 followers. He also received hateful DMs and, along with other authors, was the target of a smear campaign.
Freshman Ava Carlson, an artist and writer on bookstagram, said she discusses politics on her account.
“While my account wasn’t created for politics, I handle topics in my stories and artwork that are inherently political, so sometimes making it clear where I stand on issues is important,” she said. She said even though she kept her Election Day remarks nonpartisan, she still lost followers.
“You can never please everyone,” she said. “In the end, the people behind these blocklists make up a vocal minority. I have a very politically diverse follower base, and most of them are not hostile to discourse at all.”
Carlson said sometimes a hateful DM turns into edifying discussion.
“I won’t change my beliefs because someone left negative comments or hate, but I’ll never hate that person back for having an opinion,” she said. “There’s a measure of peace you get from that.”
Jelso said he decided to make his account private and take a break from Instagram after dealing with the blocklist and the hate.
“The support has vastly outweighed the hate,” he said. “So many people keep telling me, ‘You got this. Don’t back down. Thank you for leading this.’ And that makes me feel really good, but even still, you don’t realize how hard it hits you until after it’s over.”
Jelso said he did not take the hate personally because he knew it was about Trump.
“I had to keep telling myself these people would never say this in person,” he said. “They’re just angry people, and I still stand by what I said online. The best we can do is just be kind and pray for them, and if they view that as hate, that’s not on us. We can be content with how we presented ourselves even if they don’t see it that way.”
HCR from A1
Christopher McCaffery ’16 studied English at Hillsdale. Courtesy | LinkedIn
Veterans from the college and community gather for a photo in McNamara Rehearsal Hall. Alessia Sandala | Collegian
Mock trial teams compete in Boston, Madison
By Zachary Chen Assistant Editor
It was a busy weekend for all three Hillsdale Mock Trial teams.
Returner team Platypus Deniability closed their fall invitational season with a 6-2 ballot and a second-place finish behind Yale at the Harvard Boston Tea Party, while returner team Kangaroo Court placed fifth at the University of Wisconsin Badger the Witness invitational with a score of 8-4. New member team Koalafied ImNEWnity also competed at Badger the Witness, finishing the weekend with a score of 6.5-5.5.
Platypus Deniability swept its first three rounds against the University of Texas, Tufts University, and Princeton University before dropping two ballots against Yale, who won the Harvard Invitational, according to sophomore and Platypus Deniability co-captain Ty Tomasoski.
Tomasoski said the team hit excellent competition, which is
what they had been hoping to get out of their last tournament of the fall season.
“Our round against Princeton especially, I thought was extremely good,” Tomasoski said. “The witnesses were great.”
Sophomore Ella Lovins said the team had a fantastic weekend.
“We brought our A-game the whole weekend, and it paid off,” Lovins said. “Our witnesses had easily their best performances of the year.”
Senior and Platypus Deniability co-captain Njomeza Pema won an individual award with a perfect 20-rank score, according to Tomasoski.
“Njomeza put on some of her best performances in spite of having a high fever throughout the weekend,” Tomasoski said.
Lovins said Pema gave tight and eloquent objection responses.
“Last year, she was a fantastic competitor,” Lovins said. “This year, she somehow beat everything she did last year.”
Kangaroo Court lost the
Machines can’t replicate human creativity, director of
Canterbury Institute says
By Luke Waters Collegian Reporter
While machines have rapidly advanced in simulating human behavior and performing complex tasks, they lack the depth of moral and existential awareness that defines human existence, said Dominic Burbidge in a Nov. 8 lecture in Lane Hall.
“Ironically, our very fear of AI control highlights what sets us apart from it,” Burbidge said. “Ultimately, this question boils down to whether we think there is something irreplaceably human in how we act and think that will persist in its uniqueness despite all manner of technological innovations.”
Burbidge is the director of the Canterbury Institute at the University of Oxford. The Oxford study abroad program hosted Burbidge’s speech, titled “Moral Reasoning Versus Machine Learning.”
Burbidge said machines lack the human awareness of death and complex values. Machines follow programmed paths, often moving toward a definitive end or caught in perpetual loops. In contrast, human lives are dynamic and navigate multiple, sometimes conflicting aspirations shaped by a sense of morality, beauty, and responsibility.
“The good life is not about maximizing a single variable and then terminating, but about pursuing enduring goals despite the unknown,” Burbidge said.
According to Burbidge, humans, unlike machines, engage in acts of moral and aesthetic creation.
“When computers execute their programming, they’re either in a loop or traveling towards the end,” Burbidge said.
“They will terminate if that part finishes.”
Burbidge said humans pursue postponed goods, values or goals over time, often with in-
complete understanding or the knowledge that they may not be immediately achievable.
“We develop hierarchies of goods that specialize in keeping sight of goods we cannot currently always pursue,” Burbidge said.
According to Burbidge, while a machine’s primary function is to complete tasks efficiently, humans are capable of recognizing and valuing goals beyond the immediate, grounded in our awareness of mortality.
Machines and humans, from each other’s perspectives, might appear peculiar, Burbidge said. From a machine’s view, human life — with its death-aware, complex motivations — may seem illogical and unpredictable.
“From a human perspective, machines live strangely too, never enjoying the moment and always moving on to the next task,” Burbidge said.
Junior Mark Ayers said his main takeaway was the difference between human goals and ultimate ends.
“Our goal ultimately is — depending on who you ask — to reach heaven, to spend eternity with Christ. But our immediate goal can be any number of different things,” Ayers said. “As living, breathing humans, we have an endpoint beyond our immediate purpose, whereas machines lack this distinction.”
Professor of History and Director of the Oxford Program Kenneth Calvert said Burbidge’s lectures are particularly valuable as they address not only AI’s ethical implications but also how society tends to anthropomorphize technology.
“Dr. Burbidge looks at the ethics of this and makes sure that we don’t abrogate our position as human beings,” Calvert said. “How much are we willing to surrender to machines?”
Donald said. “All four speeches were just joys to listen to. Especially at the end of a three hour long trial, hearing a summation of the evidence being presented in a very persuasive, winsome — and in both John’s and Nathan’s cases — entertaining way is definitely a joy.
Koalafied ImNEWnity also competed at the Badger the Witness Invitational, according to junior and team co-captain Valerie Check. The team swept Carleton College’s B Team and Macalester University’s A Team with scores of 3-0 before losing 0.5-2.5 against the University of Illinois’s A Team and 0-3 to the University of Indiana’s A Team.
first round 0.5-2.5 against Case Western Reserve University’s A Team before defeating Carleton College’s B Team 2-1. Kangaroo Court then swept the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 3-0 before a 2.5-0.5 victory against the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
“We put in a good amount of time before our first tournament to write the material, memorize the material, and then we’ve been repping the material consistently between the first tournament and the second tournament,” McDonald said. “So our performance definitely went way up. Our objection responses were really good.”
Kangaroo Court co-captain and junior Patrick McDonald said his team’s performance this weekend marked significant improvement from the team’s first tournament of the season two weeks ago. McDonald said he especially enjoyed the team’s closing arguments from junior Nathan Emslie and sophomore Jon Hovance.
“They were fantastic,” Mc-
The weekend also saw two new members win their first individual awards as well. Sophomore Gabriel Higbie won a 27-rank Witness Award, while freshman Aaliyah Dobson won a 26-rank Attorney Award, according to Check.
“They put in so much work,” Check said. “They repped their stuff the night before, in the weeks before — they put in so many hours. We’re so proud of them.”
According to Check, the team as a whole showed very clear improvement from their first tournament together.
“You could see how hard they were working in their performance, in their memorization,” Check said. “So we were really excited to get them a second tournament under their belt and prepare for this coming weekend. We had to cancel practice the day after the tournament because we got back at 2 a.m., and they still texted us asking, ‘Hey, can we do practice anyway?’ Which is a testament to how hard they’re working.”
Students to premiere documentary on man who saved Hillsdale
By Luke Miller Collegian Reporter
The students in this semester’s documentary filmmaking class will premiere “The Pharmacist Who Saved Hillsdale College,” in Plaster Auditorium at 7 p.m. Nov. 19.
The screening will include individual short projects created by the class in addition to the half-hour documentary.
“The Pharmacist Who Saved Hillsdale College” tells the story of Spike Hennessy, a 1928 Hillsdale graduate who used the money he made from his pharmacy business to save the college from bankruptcy.
“It’s the whole story about this guy who no one has ever heard of who stepped forward and saved the college in its time of need,” said Adjunct Instructor of Documentary Journalism Buddy Moorehouse. “It’s a story that no students know, no faculty know. No one has ever heard the name Spike Hennessy before, but certainly if it hadn’t been for him, the college would have folded.”
The story chronicles Hillsdale’s financial struggles of the mid-twentieth century and how Hennessy paid $20,000 per month out of his own pocket until the school recovered. According to dollartimes.com, that is equivalent to almost $230,000 per month in today’s terms.
“Anybody who has any connection at all with Hillsdale College will love hearing this story,” Moorehouse said. “It will give them a new appreciation for what people like Spike Hennessy have done to preserve this school that we all love.”
The film features interviews with College President Larry Arnn, the son of former Hillsdale President Donald Phillips, and several people who knew Hennessy while he was alive.
As instructor of the documentary filmmaking class, Moorehouse said while he decided which story the film would cover, his students have done everything else that goes into production, including research, script-writing, editing, and interviews.
Senior Makenna Banbury, one of the scriptwriters for the documentary, said she has high hopes the story will be entertaining and informative.
“We hope to tell a meaningful story about a man who helped save the college from bankruptcy,” Banbury said.
“Come learn how the generosity of a pharmacist saved Hillsdale College from closing its doors.”
The purpose of the film is to highlight a man who helped preserve Hillsdale, Moorehouse said.
Daily Caller editor calls election a victory for the country
By Ellie Fromm Assistant Editor
Former President Donald Trump’s reelection this year is one of the greatest comebacks in political history, editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller Geoffrey Ingersoll said in a speech hosted by the Dow Journalism Program Nov. 7.
“What happened is that Donald Trump won a plurality of voting demographics — demographics unseen in modern politics,” Ingersoll said.
Ingersoll’s speech, “Making Sense of the 2024 Election: An After-Action Report,” addressed the shift in American politics, most notably in the recent presidential election.
“In case you haven’t been keeping score, this realignment looks like conservatives controlling Congress, the Senate, the White House, and the
Supreme Court of the United States,” Ingersoll said. “So, how did we get here? Well, a big part of it is loss of trust, and I tend to agree that this plurality that Trump got is a stunning rebuke of liberal excesses and liberal politics.”
Ingersoll said national political bases, as well as everyday Americans, have shifted politically.
“Crime, immigration, economics, foreign policy, education, all working class stuff, are all stuff that the liberals ditched because they thought they were going to be able to get a bunch of immigrants,” Ingersoll said. “Whatever they thought their new, cool, core cohort was, they were totally wrong, and Trump realigned politics.”
Clark Judge, a Hillsdale resident and former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan, said he enjoyed In -
Speakers talk space
By Christian Papillon Collegian Reporter
The private sector is more effective than the federal government in enacting positive economic change, speakers at this week’s Center for Constructive Alternatives seminars said.
The college hosted its second CCA of the academic year Nov. 10-13, covering “Economic Issues and Controversies.”
Nicolas Cachanosky of the University of Texas at El Paso spoke Sunday afternoon about auditing the Federal Reserve.
“Since 2011, we’ve had at least 12 ‘audit the Fed’ proposals submitted to Congress,” Cachanosky said.
Cachanosky cited three options that can be interconnected for how to deal with the Fed, ranging from a closer look at money management, to an audit of monetary policy, to ending the Fed.
“When you read about ‘audit the Fed,’ you have to think of which of the three meanings a person is talking about,” Cach-
anosky said. “It might be different in the endgame.”
Cachanosky also discussed the problems of completely eliminating the Fed, as there is no concrete alternative.
“If you think of the gold standard as a reference, if you shut down the central bank, your base money, which is gold, is still in place,” Cachanosky said.
“That is not the world we live in. We live in a world of fiat money. If you eliminate the central bank in a fiat money regime, you can not fall back onto gold.”
Jeffrey B. Snyder of Atlas Financial spoke Monday evening on “The American Dollar and the Eurodollar.”
Eurodollars, U.S. dollars not stored within U.S. borders, allow banks to transfer ledgers internationally without worrying about currency conversions, according to Snyder.
“If you wanted to participate in global commerce, it was no more difficult than connecting to the network,” Snyder said.
Snyder said the Eurodollar initially caused the United States
gersoll’s speech and thought it was timely.
“Michigan turning red was not particularly surprising for me,” Judge said. “I felt that what you heard this evening about the whole realignment of American politics was coming up for a while.”
Ingersoll said he voted for former President Barack Obama in 2008 for the same reasons he voted for Trump.
“Obama ran on restricting immigration, trade skepticism, and ending the war. He was aggressive,” Ingersoll said. “That’s why he got my vote, and I truly deeply confused my conservative cohorts when I tell them I voted for Obama for the same reason I voted for Trump.”
Senior Sarah Katherine Sisk said she found the speech fascinating, especially Ingersoll’s voting history.
“I thought it was interest-
to experience great prosperity, but economic growth slowed in 2008 due to the Eurodollar’s inability to keep up with the rest of the economy.
“Right around 2008, growth trends shifted,” Snyder said.
“The entire global economy, which was performing one way one day, was suddenly doing something entirely different.”
Snyder said the government told people have been told the Fed has printed trillions of dollars even though bank ledgers say otherwise.
“The Federal Reserve may have created trillions in bank reserves, but bank reserves are not money in this Eurodollar system,” Snyder said. “Essentially, the Eurodollar breakdown of 2008 has spiraled out of control into all of these various problems all over the world because it is a global reserve currency.”
Joel C. Sercel, founder of the Trans Astranautica Corporation, gave a speech Tuesday afternoon on space mining.
Sercel said the cost of launching cargo into low Earth
ing that he talked about being one of the only news executives in Washington, D.C., that probably has a mixed voting history,” Sisk said. “He was sort of able to explain through his own personal experiences and everything, these causes of the realignment.”
On Monday, Ingersoll announced his resignation as editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller. On Dec. 4, he will become the director of the National Journalism Center, which trains aspiring journalists.
Ingersoll said the outcome of this election was a victory for the entire United States. “I think this is the first election, at least in my lifetime, that the winner was not just a man, it was us,” Ingersoll said. “It was normal people. It was Americans. The real winner, after all of this, was you guys.”
orbit decreased after Elon Musk started SpaceX. He said the reduced cost of launching spacecraft increases the possibility of mining asteroids for precious materials.
“There’s enough material in the asteroids to build worlds with a thousand times the carrying capacity of the Earth,” Sercel said.
The CCA concluded with a faculty roundtable Wednesday afternoon. Associate Professor of Politics Mark Kremer spoke of a balance in the space industry between being completely private sector and being under government control, partly ushered in by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
“It seems that the benefit from using Musk is that he’s gotten costs down and he’s opened up these new possibilities,” Kremer said. “Because it is space-related, I’d imagine it would be highly regulated. It’s just too much of a national concern to leave it to a private company alone.”
Mock trial team Kangaroo Court poses for a photo at the University of Wisconsin.
Courtesy | Chloe Noller
Opinions
The Collegian Weekly
The opinion of the Collegian editorial staff
What happened to ‘agree to disagree’?
Editor-in-Chief | Jillian Parks
Managing Editor | Isaac Green
Senior Editor | Michaela Estruth
Outreach Director | Olivia Pero
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News Editor | Moira Gleason
Opinions Editor | Caroline Kurt
City News Editor | Thomas McKenna
Sports Editor | Jacob Beckwith
Culture Editor | Colman Rowan
Features Editor | Kamden Mulder
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Circulation Manager | Lauren Bixler
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Illustrator | Maggie O’Connor
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The editors welcome Letters to the Editor but reserve the right to edit submissions for clarity, length, and style. Letters should
450 words or less and include your name and number. Send submissions to the Opinions Editor at ckurt@hillsdale.edu before Saturday at 3 p.m.
Dear Collegian,
Acquire the habit of Rizz
My first mistake was requesting “The Sound of Music” for movie night at the monastery.
No, really — for those of you who don’t know already, I was in a monastery over fall break after I accidentally missed Swing Club. I’m thankful for my monastic stint, but I’ve since realized that I’d actually probably been called to the married estate all along.
I’ll admit, I was pretty sold on the monastery a few weeks ago, but everything changed with that film: it was then that I knew I had to return to Swing Club, painful as it may be.
You see, one thing I realized during my time of prayerful-and-tearful-discernment is that none of the men at Hillsdale actually, truly possess what the Philosopher (may he live forever) would call the Habit of Rizz. So I have returned to educate you all.
You see it every week: men coming to Swing Club and almost asking girls to dance, then just standing around and being too shy to make conversation. I would know — I, too, was once a frequent participant in the (mostly male) discussions about Calvinism that populate the fringes of Swing.
Men of Hillsdale, you need to know. That’s not Rizz.
I don’t care if you can literally sweep a lady off of her feet by doing aerials at Swing, and I’m not impressed if you know all eight points of Calvinism. Neither are the girls, by the way. You need to develop the Habit of Rizz by performing Rizzful actions, at a Rizzful time, in a Rizzful way, preferably with a Rizzful person. It’s what Aristotle would do.
But how does one instill in oneself the virtue of Rizz?
The first step is the hardest. If you want to show a lady that you like her, you need to make friends with her … friends. It’s fool-proof and won’t ever land you in trouble. Just make a point of talking to everyone except her if you wind up standing in the same group as her, and it’ll work like a dream.
After all, there’s no better way to hint to someone that you like them than totally ignoring them.
The second step in developing Rizz is to admire her beauty by definitely not
Some students expressed surprise and disapproval after learning a number of their professors voted for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, based on a recent article published in The Collegian. These snap judgements are directly opposed to Hillsdale’s liberal arts education.
You can disagree with someone and still respect him or her, especially when he or she is your professor. Educated people engage in dialogue — they don’t write off others as unintelligent without asking questions.
Many Hillsdale students came from high schools or educational institutions where they had to lay low for fear of losing the respect of their peers
because of their beliefs. Now that you are in the majority, the correct impulse isn’t to turn around and become the bully.
If you disagree with someone, go have a conversation with that person. You would probably appreciate it if he or she did the same for you — and you might learn something.
This criticism is not one-sided, of course. For the faculty, staff, and students who complained about the red Collegian masthead as a slanted political statement: it was a fun design choice and would have been blue if Harris were elected.
It is good that Hillsdale welcomes more than one political view. It is even better that stu-
dents don’t necessarily know what political candidates the faculty support. Professors are here to teach, and we are here to learn. Contemporary political views don’t always enter into that work, nor should they.
According to the college’s mission statement, Hillsdale pursues the primary object of developing the minds and improving the hearts of its students by training them in the liberal arts.
“The college also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law,”
the statement reads. American politics enter into liberal education at Hillsdale because the political thought of our country’s founding follows from the greater intellectual inheritance of the Western Tradition, not because the school exists to shore up the foundations of the political order or lobby for the Right. Hillsdale ought to embrace the fact that its faculty and students don’t agree on everything. We are a stronger school when we hire and accept thoughtful people who practice free speech, listen to and challenge each other, and respect each other’s ideas. The country does not need another echo-chamber school, even if it’s a conservative one.
Don’t lose your freshman wonder
By Adriana Azarian Collegian Reporter
staring weirdly at her during your shared 8 a.m. section of Intro to Psychology. Women totally dig inadvertent eye contact from across the room in the middle of insanely boring lectures — it gives them a bit of diversion to spice up the morning. Has she noticed your piercing brown eyes lately? Probably not enough. She should be left wondering, “Do I have something on my shirt? In my teeth? Does he see a ghost behind me?”
The third thing you need to practice habitually to develop Rizz is getting meals in the dining hall with the object of your affections, but only if no one else is around to see. If you got steps one and two right, this will be a cakewalk. Just ask her if you can sit with her at breakfast one day, then gradually become a regular at the Olds table. Can anyone say “swoon?”
This next step requires a little skill, but it will pair nicely with your developing habit of Rizz. You need to be able to play “Don’t Stop Believing” anytime, anywhere, on any piano. That’s right, gents — if you want to really and truly have Rizz, you’d better be practicing in the Howard Music Hall basement every spare moment you’ve got. Nothing’s more romantic for a gal than seeing her regular breakfast-mate and just-really-good-friend-in-the-Lord getting up from a Saga omelet to bang out a classic Journey tune in front of half of campus. The last step — well, I really don’t have time to include it, unfortunately. You see, I have a really-good-friendin-the-Lord named Hannah Grace whom I’ve been getting breakfast with lately, and I’ve got to… er, test my last tip before I lend it all to you. Go in peace. Read Aristotle.
Joseph Oldsboy is a freshman. He hopes to graduate with a double-major in Ar-RIZZ-totelian Philosophy and Piano Performance as well as a double-ex in Mac and Olds.
I recently overheard a freshman marveling about the student body’s collective pursuit of virtue “even at the Niedfeldt homecoming party” — where playing “Low” by Flo Rida was the extent of vice. I had to chuckle to myself. It was the most freshman conversation I’d heard yet.
It’s only natural for upperclassmen to be amused by freshman naivete, forgetting we were in their shoes not long ago. It’s tempting after two, three, or four years of liberal arts education to think we know so much more than they do. But freshmen often retain what we tend to forget: the need for wonder.
Looking back, I was once like this enthusiastic freshman. Aristotle used to excite me. I often had long discussions on moral philosophy and St. Augustine’s “Confessions” with friends in high school. But, after attending a college dedicated to teaching these very same topics, I grew — to my chagrin — jaded. Reading the same books over and over again, constantly hearing about pursuing virtue for its own sake, and rejoicing in challenges is… challenging. And I’ve talked with enough upperclassmen friends to know I’m not the only one struggling.
It’s true, Hillsdale students eat, sleep, and breathe the Great Books. Many do care about pursuing truth and virtue, even with the same degree of enthusiasm as this particular freshman. But for others, it’s become so repetitive that it’s lost its meaning. The good, true, and beautiful feel more like a cliche than the purpose of our existence.
One could argue it’s just the maturation process: that the older one gets, the less passionate one becomes. Maybe. Here’s another perspective. About a month ago, I attended an Intercollegiate Studies Institute conference where college sophomores, juniors, and seniors from around the country discussed philosophy, theology, and politics with more enthusiasm than I’d ever witnessed before. Many came
from schools where they intentionally have to seek out the same books and teachings Hillsdale students often take for granted. It’s not about age. It’s about actively cultivating wonder and loving the truth.
Students should continually seek the true, good, and beautiful. Yet we can ponder these transcendentals every day of the rest of our lives and still know little more than when we started. God willing, we’ll spend the rest of eternity contemplating them and still won’t get to the bottom of it. It’s much greater than human minds can comprehend.
St. Thomas Aquinas devoted his work to seeking theological and philosophical truth. After a mystical experience, he said “all that I have written appears to be as so much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.”
After the vision, he stopped writing his “Summa Theologica.”
Like St. Thomas, it’s time to rediscover our littleness, to wonder at what we don’t know and revel in the tiny bit that we do know. Getting older isn’t a sufficient reason to be apathetic. It’s good to have lively conversations about what we learned in class and seek knowledge outside of class. It’s good to wholeheartedly love the mysteries of God. And it’s even good to marvel at the virtue of Niedfeldt partygoers.
While we’re still in Hillsdale’s mission-driven environ-
ment, let’s not waste the opportunity to pursue the good, true, and beautiful. To the enthusiastic freshman: Thank you for putting me in my place. You were right. Pursuing virtue is pretty amazing. And to have just half your enthusiasm for the true, good, and beautiful? That’s more valuable than any college degree.
Adriana Azarian is a junior studying politics.
Illustrated by Maggie O’Connor, a sophomore studying art.
Seniors, expand your social horizons
By Beth Crawford Senior Reporter
There is no better reminder that we’re seniors than receiving a barrage of emails about senior events from class officers or Braden Van Dyke reminding us that we are only six months from graduation and becoming a member of Hillsdale’s esteemed alumni network.
And with everything going on, it’s really easy to get social burnout as a senior. Every weekend there’s a house party, some kind of formal event, or a senior gathering. Add onto that the general stress of maintaining extracurriculars, facing graduation, finding a job, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
But you don’t have to be. Social burnout your senior year isn’t inevitable — and you should try to avoid this at all costs.
Take it from a four-and-ahalf year senior — it’s important to contextualize senior year. Everyone will tell you that it’s the last year in which you’ll have this kind of freedom, be this geographically close to your friends, and enjoy your youth before the reality of adulthood comes crashing in after graduation. There is truth to all of the above. But if you’re a Type A individual with a scrupulous streak a mile wide — as are most Hillsdale students — this doesn’t jolt you out of an already well-established apathy towards your present collegiate circumstances. Instead, it just adds to the overwhelming sense that if you don’t exhaust all of your social opportunities, you’ll never have friends again.
Most of my friends from college have graduated this past spring. But through the wonders of modern technol -
ogy, I’ve been able to keep up with them. We call each other frequently, text each other daily, and make plans to see each other in person. Maintaining friendships after graduation is possible.
If you view college as the peak of your social existence, then there’s no way to avoid social burnout. Social burnout occurs when you lose sight of what’s most important and lack the ability to prioritize the things that matter the most.
But if you contextualize your experience, then you can breathe. Invest in the friends that matter the most to you. Prioritize the social events you want to go to and let go of all the rest. If the relationship drama is never-ending, take a break. Have a weekend to yourself. Go party hopping alone on Manning. It’s good to expand your social network and push yourself out of your comfort zone.
It’s also good to have friendships with people of different ages. They bring perspective to your life. Get to know your professors and their families. They’ll be sources of wisdom — and who knows, you might even invite them to your wedding.
The most important thing to remember is that, cliche as it is, graduation is just the beginning. Good friendships don’t end after graduation — and if they do, then they were never worth keeping anyway. Good friendships will mature and grow with you. So take a deep breath. It’s only senior year.
Beth Crawford is a senior studying politics.
This piece was edited by Zack Chen.
Thank RINOs for a Republican Congress Try JOMO: The joy of missing out
By Thomas McKenna City News Editor
There’s no more popular pastime of today’s Republicans than railing against their party’s “establishment.” But as the GOP is set to claim both chambers of Congress, the rabble rousers owe their scapegoat a thank-you note.
Senate Republicans will gain a 53-seat majority and House Republicans should hold narrow control of their chamber, and what a relief for the party after a midterm disappointment two years ago.
That’s when Republicans failed to flip winnable seats with candidates like Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Herschel Walker in Georgia. They had little-to-no political experience and didn’t appeal to swing voters. But former President Donald Trump endorsed them both. Despite running two years into a presidency that featured a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and the highest inflation in 40 years, Walker and Oz still lost.
Since that debacle, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson worked to recruit candidates with broader appeal. That strategy — and the two leaders’ support for foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel — drew fire from Trump’s allies on the Hill. Matt Gaetz called Johnson a “Republican in Name Only.” Even Trump once declared McConnell a “Super RINO.”
But the so-called RINOs deserve credit for delivering last week’s victories by shepherding qualified candidates through their primaries and boxing out the rest.
Before Oz or Walker had snatched defeat from victory’s jaws — also a Republican pastime — McConnell was already en route to West Virginia. He made the trip to “meet a portly English bulldog,” as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, and recruit the dog’s owner, Gov. Jim Justice, to run for Senate. Justice agreed, and Republicans flipped the seat without much trouble.
A key architect of the Senate scheme was Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who led the National Republican Senatorial Committee through this cycle and helped turn his state’s second Senate seat red. Daines recruited former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy over Trump-loyalist Rep. Matt Rosendale, a member of the House GOP chaos caucus who helped oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. Rosendale lost to Democratic Senator John Tester in 2018 by 3.5 percentage points and was considering another run.
But Daines’ endorsement of Sheehy — and Johnson’s savvy
Don’t
By Lewis Thune Collegian Reporter
Statistics is simply applied math. Polling is simply applied statistics. Most of the time, political polls are pretty reliable, since it’s simply math. But there are always exceptions.
President-elect Donald Trump has always been skeptical of polls, a symptom of his 2016 charge of “fake news” against American media — and rightfully so. This year, Trump outperformed polling for a third national election in a row, a feat no candidate from either party has accomplished in 52 years. This hat trick shows convincingly that the polling firms can’t poll Trump, and his sweeping victory will appropriately be the top story of
By Charlotte O’Beirne Collegian Freelancer
decision not to endorse Rosendale, a colleague in his own chamber — ensured the GOP nomination went to the better candidate. Sheehy flipped the Senate seat last week with a 7-point victory over Tester.
With support from McConnell and early endorsements from Trump, Republicans won Senate races in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. That’s four W’s for the outgoing majority leader.
“As I said to some criticism, candidate quality is absolutely essential,” McConnell said in a press conference Wednesday morning. “It was a hell of a good day.”
Johnson, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Congressional Leadership Fund took a similar line, and it paid off.
Take a GOP primary in Colorado, where Democrats in June funded a Republican candidate they wanted to face. A Democratic PAC and candidate Adam Frisch dropped $400,000 in ads highlighting Republican contender Ron Hanks, who attended the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. Colorado Democrats thought Hanks would be easier to beat in November than the GOP primary’s frontrunner, Jeff Hurd, whom they attacked with another $100,000 in ads.
But the Congressional Leadership Fund — a super-PAC aligned with Johnson and House GOP Leadership — struck back with $400,000 attacking Hanks on guns. Hurd won the primary, and cruised to a November win. If Hanks had won the primary, Republicans might be down one Congressional seat.
The GOP majority in the House will be razor-thin. Without House Republican leadership pushing out MAGA-style populists for candidates with broader appeal, the GOP would have lost its majority.
Have Republicans learned their lesson? Here comes the impossible.
In the Senate, Republicans chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to lead their majority. Daines, architect of the Senate GOP’s winning strategy, had been pushing his colleagues to back Thune, according to Fox News, and he got his man.
Congressional Republicans have a better chance of keeping their majorities if they shed the infighting and keep their winning strategy. But that would require the GOP to do what does not come to it naturally: Take a win and learn from it.
Thomas McKenna is a junior studying political economy.
Autumn should be the season of pumpkin spice lattes, football, and falling leaves. But this year, politics has replaced football as our primary November concern — but it shouldn’t. Election season gives us the opportunity to become better educated on our political processes, but obsessively following the news cycle can come at the expense of our peace.
Ditch some of the political debates and doomscrolling, as I’ve done since coming to Hillsdale from D.C. Instead enjoy all the holiday season has to offer.
Growing up in this environment is definitely stimulating. At 14, I started reading the print Wall Street Journal every day in order to understand and contribute to the
Opting out of the political news cycle black hole saves you from information overload and frees up space for doing what is within your power to help the people in front of you.
I was raised in Washington, D.C., a political minefield. It’s home to some of the most powerful people on Earth, as well as some of the craziest. Living in the capital is a bizarre experience because to some extent the fate of the Western world is decided in my home town, sometimes by people who attended my church, coached my basketball games, and whose kids I babysat.
adult discussions around me. I listened to political podcasts, and researched hot topics. I wasn’t the only one: COVID, BLM, and the accompanying unrest sparked early political awareness in all my peers. There was an expectation that you have an opinion on Trump, abortion, women in combat, and so on — and that you be ready to defend all of your thoughts.
In comparison, Hillsdale is a refreshing change of pace. Hillsdale students have strong opinions and defend them but also possess a level of respect that prevents politics from taking over every conversation. I
have friends here whose political opinions are a closed book to me. That’s awesome. At home during fall break, I read my first newspaper in two months. As I shook my head over the state of our country, I realized that I have become accustomed to the calm of not constantly knowing what’s going on. News and political information is ubiquitous — and deafening. Whether it’s politician parodies or attack ads, the election aftermath is seemingly inescapable. Embrace the joy of missing out. While it seems scary to be out of the loop, it can actually be wonderful and, more importantly, peaceful. Not to get all hippie, but humans weren’t made to constantly know what’s happening on a national level. Sure, we are political beings, but that doesn’t have to mean our peace is tied to the actions of politicians we don’t know. Focus more on local government. Get involved in the political drama of your library, because it’s there. Vote on sidewalk policies and stroller regulation instead of fuming about foreign affairs. Serve in the community, make friends, help at church, and live a normal human life regardless of who’s in the White House.
Mother Teresa once said, “it is easy to love humanity, but it is hard to love the person in front of you,” and this is just as applicable to politics. It’s easy to want to change the nation, but our neighborhoods need our attention first. That seems more manageable anyway — so silence those news notifications and step outside.
Democrats lost trust, not just the election
By Luke Miller Collegian Reporter
The Democratic Party and left-wing media told Americans not to believe their lying eyes, but they didn’t listen. The 2024 election will be remembered as a rejection of Democratic campaign rhetoric that tried to mislead the American people.
Two major events this election shone a glaring light on the hypocrisy and lies of the Democratic campaign apparatus.
The June 27 presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump was the first event to open the eyes of the public to major deceptions of the Democratic Party.
For three and a half years, the Democrats told the American public the gaffes and physical impediments they saw from Biden were not a sign of mental decline. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre labeled these claims “cheap fakes” and “disinformation.”
The media fell in line and parroted those talking points all the way up to the June 27 debate.
this election. But outside the presidential race, there was wisdom to be gained in the polls: Terrible candidates are terrible, and losing candidates lose. If common sense didn’t make this apparent, the polls most certainly did. GOP voters selected two distinctly terrible candidates this election, and both managed to suffer humiliating defeats in states Trump carried with relative ease. Fresh off the heels of an embarrassing loss in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, Kari Lake ran for the U.S. Senate and doubled down on her abiding unpopularity with a considerable portion of the state’s GOP base. In the final two weeks before the election, only three polls showed her leading Democrat Ruben
Gallego — and all three were from AtlasIntel, which heavily favors GOP candidates. Unsurprisingly, Lake lost.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson of North Carolina was enveloped in a scandal concerning an alleged array of online comments from nearly a decade ago. He trailed in every single poll. Even that characterization is too generous: Robinson’s best poll, again from AtlasIntel, had him down a staggering 11 points to Democrat Josh Stein. True to the polls, Robinson underperformed GOP candidates considerably. To punctuate his nearly million-vote loss, thousands of Republicans broke for his opponent.
But the Democratic Party ran bad candidates of their own. They fumbled two high-
“This version of Biden is the best Biden ever, in fact, I think he’s better than he’s ever been,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said in March 2024.
The first debate completely shattered that depiction of the president. Americans witnessed one of the worst debate performances in recent memory. Biden’s mental faculties were undeniably compromised, and the American people realized the truth.
This event opened an inquiry into other lies that the Democratic apparatus could be spreading. After all, if they could lie about something so important for so long, they were probably lying about other things too.
While the media claimed the economy was thriving, the cost of living shot up 20%. Harris said the border was secure while the U.S. Border Patrol statistics say that, between April 2020 and April 2021, catch-and-release encounters at the border increased 900%. Biden said he was working for the American people, and yet a 2024 Gallup poll found that over half of Americans believe they are worse off now than four years ago, the highest rate since the Great Recession in 2009.
ly winnable elections in red states, and it cost them the Senate.
The Democratic Party’s unwillingness to tolerate maverick behavior meant Jon Tester, a long-time Democrat senator from the red state of Montana, spent the last six years leaning fully to the left. His job approval rating among conservatives in 2018 was down 20 points, still good enough for him to pick up a portion of the conservative vote and win. Noting his leftward turn, that same figure was down 49 points in April of this year. He could not add enough conservatives to win the state, but Montana’s Democratic Party was unwilling to retire him in favor of a maverick. From June up to Election Day, only one poll showed Tester ahead, and he
According to a different Gallup poll, the months following the first presidential debate have marked record lows in American trust for mass media institutions, most of which heavily donate to left-wing organizations, 69% of Americans say they have either “no trust at all” or “not very much confidence” in mass media organizations.
Even after Biden dropped out of the race and was replaced on the ticket by his Vice President Kamala Harris, trust in the administration had been irredeemably damaged.
After the June presidential debate, an assassination attempt on Donald Trump failed July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Not only did Trump’s defiant response inspire his supporters to fight for his campaign, it undercut the Democratic rhetorical attacks.
For years on end, Democrats in politics and the media have called Trump “Hitler,” a “fascist,” and “the end of democracy.” The American people have made the connection between this extreme rhetoric and the attempted violence.
After the assassination attempt, Democrats called en
lost to Republican Tim Sheehy by seven points.
Compounding their loss in Montana, the Democrats squandered a golden opportunity in Texas. After nearly unseating GOP senator Ted Cruz in 2018, the Texas Democratic party ran former NFL player Colin Allred to challenge him in 2024. They chose Allred for his appeal in the state’s major cities, which led them to bleed the Latino support that brought Beto O’Rourke to the brink of success in 2018 — Latino support that primary candidate Roland Gutierrez already had, particularly in border counties. From his nomination through November, Allred trailed Cruz in all but a single poll. While he won the cities, he lost 14 of 18 border counties as Latinos broke
masse for Trump to tone down his rhetoric, blamed him for raising political tensions, and then immediately reverted to their own violent rhetoric. The public then began to view Trump as a man with a serious target on his back. Our ability to vote him into office was being threatened by gunmen, the media, questionable election rules, and political prosecutions. For a political party who champions the values of democracy, it became difficult for people to trust that the Democrats believed what they claimed to stand for. On Nov. 5, over 75 million Americans firmly rejected the Democratic Party, demonstrating their belief that Donald Trump is not the Hitler the Left claimed him to be. Americans hate being told not to believe their lying eyes. The 2024 election will be remembered as a rejection of how the Democratic Party and its institutions tried to deceive us.
Miller is a sophomore studying political economy.
55% for the GOP. In a shocking seven-point swing from 2018, Allred lost by nine points. So what does it all mean? With significant shifts in both parties this election cycle, polling wasn’t effective in showing what people wanted, but it revealed precisely what they didn’t. That’s the reason the recurring “Is the country headed in the right direction?” poll was so often cited. Where polls showed candidates underperforming, they were startlingly accurate: Terrible candidates polled terribly. Polling didn’t find the winners this election cycle, but it pointed out the losers remarkably well.
is a junior studying politics.
Luke
Lewis Thune
Charlotte O’Beirne is a freshman studying the liberal arts.
Illustrated by Maggie O’Connor, a sophomore studying art.
City News
Hillsdale County honors veterans with rifle salute, band
By Tayte Christensen Assistant Editor
The sound of taps rang out as Hillsdale American Legion
Post 53 held a rifle salute at a Veterans Day ceremony in front of the Hillsdale County Courthouse Nov. 11.
“We not only honor the Armistice, but the men and women who have served and continue to serve in the greatest military the world has ever known,” Gary Easterling, the director of the Department of Michigan American Legion, said in his keynote address. “Our message to American veterans past and present is
simple: we will never forget.”
At the event, hosted by the Hillsdale County Veterans Affairs Office, Easterling told the stories of two veterans, one from World War II and one from the Vietnam War, who both died in 2024. He said they are eyewitnesses to historic events that the country loses each year.
“One responsibility that all Americans should carry is the remembrance of those who have made our freedom possible,” he said.
Easterling said it is important for every American to express gratitude to veterans, including the friends, family,
Checker Records
and neighbors in their life.
“It is up to us to ensure that every veteran believes that his or her service to this country is respected by their
your service to our country.’”
During the ceremony, the Hillsdale High School marching band performed the national anthem and the Hills -
“Our message to American veterans past and present is simple: we will never forget.”
fellow Americans,” Easterling said. “There are many tangible ways that we can acknowledge their sacrifice, but the easiest is to simply say, ‘Thank you for
dale High School choir sang “America the Beautiful.”
Following the performances, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution
U.S. 12 Heritage Trail Chapter placed wreaths around the city veterans monument.
“Veterans Day is all about honoring those who have served, and we can remember our family members as we do that,” said Ann Schmidt, regent of the DAR chapter.
Schmidt, whose father served in the Navy, said every member of the chapter has a relative who served in the Revolutionary War.
“We are patriotic because of that person, and we pass on our patriotism and our service to our country because of those people,” Schmidt said.
Hillsdale County Commis-
named one of ‘Michigan’s
By Caroline Kurt Opinions Editor
When John Spiteri and his wife, Robin, opened Checker Records in 1987, it could never have won a food award: They sold records and CDs, not coffee and sweets. But the Hillsdale landmark earned a shoutout from Michigan news outlet MLive last month as one of “Michigan’s Best Local Eats.”
“When the music industry started taking a turn for the worse, we decided we had to
do something to stay alive,” John Spiteri said. “Our kids were both involved in travel sports, and we spent a lot of time on the road. We would go to coffee shops just for something to kill time.”
Spiteri said they were inspired by Borders, a former bookstore-coffee-shop hybrid chain, and decided in 2003 to bring in espresso machines and baristas to complement the shop’s rows of CDs and vinyl records.
“If they could deal with books, we could try it with
music,” Spiteri said. What was once a small records store on Bacon Street, made possible by a loan from Spiteri’s parents, is now a bustling music and coffee shop open seven days a week.
The Spiteri’s son Derek, who worked as a Checker Records employee in high school, now runs Handmade, a Hillsdale sandwich shop.
“I just wanted to be involved in something that I could make a living at and that I would enjoy,” Spiteri said.
Checker Records sells
everything from guitars to recycled canvas tote bags to shaken espresso drinks to flavored drip coffee, commonly catered to Hillsdale College events. According to Spiteri, they source their coffee from a local Michigan roaster. They also offer a wide array of baked goods, coffee beans, and other drinks.
“We get more business from the coffee side,” Spiteri said. “It’s picked the music part up, because more people come through the door and see what we have.”
sioner Mark Wiley, an Army veteran, served as master of ceremonies for the event and said he is thankful for the recognition this event gives to veterans.
“Yesterday I was at my grandson’s hockey game. I was sitting there, wearing this veteran hat, and he took his glove off and he reached out and he said, ‘Thank you for your service’ — and he’s an 8-year-old,” Wiley said. “That’s the thing we don’t want other generations to forget, and that’s part of the reason we have these services.”
Best Local Eats’
According to Spiteri, Checker Records currently sells more vinyl than CDs.
“Vinyl has made a huge turn around,” Spiteri said. “They don’t print as many CDs as they used to, and it’s hard to get your hands on them if you don’t order them when they first come out.”
Spiteri said his small-butregular staff contributes to the Checker Records experience.
“We try to have the same staff so that they know the customer and the customer knows them,” Spiteri said. “It doesn’t matter who makes your drink. Everybody tries to do the same.”
Senior Alydia Ullman has frequented Checker Records throughout her time at Hillsdale.
“My go-to order is a large black coffee, usually house blend or Turkish blend,” Ullman said. “I think Checker Records has the best plain drip coffee and the best blended drinks.”
In a town with several local coffee shops, its casual atmosphere and fast service makes Checker Records stand out, Ullman said.
“When you go in, you’re going in with people who are locals and regulars,” Ullman said. “It has this very lived-in, familial environment.”
Junior Alexandra Laird said Checker Records seems to draw more people who live in the Hillsdale area, compared to other coffee shops that seem to draw more Hillsdale College students.
“It has the spice of life in it,” Laird said. “Checker Records is the perfect place to go in,
grab a coffee, and check out the music while you’re waiting.”
Ullman described Checker Records as a place in which she formed some of her favorite traditions as a Hillsdale student.
“Gillian and I would always go before a big exam,” Ullman said of her friend Gillian Ruch ’24. “Anytime that something big was going to happen, we were going to go to Checker Records really early in the morning.”
Ullman said she and Ruch went for each other’s birthdays and before each break. Before Ruch graduated, the two decided to buy matching Checker Records sweatshirts to commemorate their love of the coffee shop. They took a picture that day with Spiteri, as well as Paul Trainor ’23, who worked as a Checker Records barista.
“Checker Records has a place in all of those big moments of Hillsdale,” Ullman said.
Though Ullman said she doesn’t know the Spiteris personally, she has benefited from their generosity.
“One of my favorite memories is I ordered just a plain coffee and before I got it, I realized I didn’t have my wallet,” Ullman said. “I was like, ‘Oh no, I’ll just put my cup back.’” But Spiteri objected.
“He said, ‘No, no one leaves here without their coffee,’ and gave me coffee on the house,” Ullman said. She returned to pay later that day.
Senior Alydia Ullman, Paul Trainor ’23, Gillian Ruch ’24, and owner John Spiteri.
Courtesy | Alydia Ullman
Rows of crosses honor fallen soldiers from Hillsdale County. Tayte Christensen | Collegian
The American Legion held a Veterans Day ceremony Tuesday. Tayte Christensen | Collegian
Songs and sticky notes: Ramshackle hosts open mic nights
By Anna Broussard Assistant Editor
Ramshackle Brewing Company, located in downtown Jonesville, hosts an open mic night every Wednesday at 6 p.m. — and locals and musicians are encouraged to leave their mark on the walls of the brewery.
“We opened up Wednesday to break up the week a little bit for folks, and have a traditional open mic night,” said owner and operator Zack Bigelow. “You can play if you want to, go for a half hour. We’re really relaxed about it.”
Beginning in 2020 after COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted, Bigelow wanted to bring live music back to the community.
“My wife and I decided to start what we called originally ‘Final Friday,’” he said. “The final Friday of every month we had live music in here, because there was no live music in the area.”
Following the Final Fridays, Bigelow said Wednesday’s open mic night started as a way for locals to participate. When musicians were paid to play, they signed their signatures on the wall of the brewery.
“If we pay you, then you sign the wall,” he said. Bigelow said the brewery’s exterior design was done at random — with frames, paintings, and decor scattered across the brewery. Murals by eight local artists, signatures of musicians and comedians, and sticky notes
Senior Center to host purse bingo Saturday
By Elizabeth Putlock Collegian Reporter
Perennial Park Senior Center will host its second annual Designer Purse Bingo Nov. 16 at 5 p.m.
“Last year was my first purse bingo I’d been to, and it was a great time,” said Kenette Spratt. “Hanging out with my family and the people at the Senior Center, the way they put it on and displayed all the purses and everything, made it fun.”
Local companies and businesses donate designer purses or money to cover the cost of a purse, according to
which includes a large purse, a small purse, and a wallet.
Tickets for raffle baskets, donated by local organizations, including Hillsdale Jewelers and Fether Studios, will be available for purchase at the event, according to Broesamle.
“I didn’t win anything,” Spratt said. “But my mom was with me, she’s 90 this year, and she ended up winning a purse. So that made the experience all worth it.”
Dinner will be provided and is included in the $45 ticket price. Tickets can be purchased by calling 517437-2422 or in person at 320
“My husband is the purse model. I’m going to have him accessorize this year.”
Grace Broesamle, marketing and communications coordinator for the Senior Center.
Sponsors include LifeWays, Hillsdale Hospital, and Braman Roofing.
“My husband was the purse model,” previous attendee Marie-Louise LaRue said.
“He’s the purse model again, and I’m going to have him accessorize this year.”
Broesamle said some of the designer purses this year will include Michael Kors, Kate Spade, and Coach and will come in various shapes and sizes. They will hold a raffle for a mystery purse
from those in the community cover the walls.
“And if anybody wants to paint a brick down the hallway, we have bricks available to be painted by anyone,” Bigelow said. “We got the paint and people can go for it, and make their mark.”
Local and brewery regular Clay Binkowski said Ramshackle has brought the community together in the greater Jonesville area since he first started going in 2019, especially at open mic night.
“I have been going since they opened the doors,” Binkowski said. “I was very excited to have a brewery open up within walking distance of my house. With open mic night on Wednesday they created the space specifically to attract first-timers. It’s small, and the Wednesday crowd is very supportive and loves to be entertained.”
Live music and tap beer are just two of the many things the brewery provides to the local community, according to Bigelow.
“Everything we sell is locally based,” Bigelow said. “The place we buy from is called Carneco Foods, nuts are from Cascarelli’s Pizza in Homer, anything else is the Jonesville local bakery, the honey is from a honeycomb that’s by Hillsdale College, and then any different local ingredients are from Cola Farms just down the road from us.”
The brewery, according to Bigelow, is filled with all things recycled. The bar is an old sushi bar, the tables are refurbished barn wood, and the paint is recycled from the Salvation Army — all intended to enlist the services of local businesses in town.
“I am a firm believer in recycling and reusing,” Bigelow said. “So starting in January, we’re opening back up on Tuesdays, and that’s going to be community night. One of the things we want to focus on is having different members of the community — different social clubs, groups, nonprofits — come in
and tell the general public what it is they do and learn how to support them.”
Bigelow said the brewery was started to be a place for locals to congregate and build relationships.
“One of the big things is that you would be known when you come in,” Bigelow said. “Don’t
With Ramshackle opening in 2019, Bigelow said the onset of COVID-19 the following year was tough, but it was important for them to keep fostering the community, even with the restrictions.
“We did porch deliveries for folks, everything we could to get going,” Bigelow said.
“The beer slingers know all the regulars by name, even the dogs.”
be surprised that there’s not a TV. It’s on purpose. We want you to talk. We want you to get to know your neighbors.”
According to Bigelow, the brewery’s most popular beer, “English Drizzle,” was named second in Michigan for English IPAs and can be found in 18 different locations around Hillsdale County, including Rough Draft and Olivia’s Chop House, located in Jonesville.
For Binkowski, the “English Drizzle” is a staple during the fall weather along with being in the brewery.
“As far as the community, you couldn’t ask for better,” Binkowski said. “The beer slingers know all the regulars by name, even the dogs. Many people come in for two beers and a vent and leave happy.”
Binkowski said his favorite memory at the brewery was during COVID-19, when everything was shut down. The owners of Ramshackle would open their garage door and keep selling beer, which helped bring the community together.
“He would be sitting in the open garage door, strumming a guitar and selling beers,” Binkowski said. “It was a bright spot in a dark time for the community and something that I think contributes to their success.”
The mission of the brewery has never changed, Bigelow said. Everything within the walls of Ramshackle has a story.
“One of our beers was inspired by Lauren, who painted one of the murals,” Bigelow said. “When she was painting those before we opened, she was extremely happy about talking about her upcoming wedding. And so the beer ‘Harvest for the Mrs.’ was
born, and it’s on tap every Oct. 1, honoring those two.”
Curated by Bigelow, “Harvest for the Mrs.” always runs out before November, he said.
Junior Emma Kate Mellors attended the Wednesday open mic night and ordered “Harvest for the Mrs.”
“It was really good, and the honey around the rim added so much flavor,” Mellors said.
According to Mellors, everyone in the brewery seemed to know each other well and both Bigelow and one of the bar staff asked for her name.
“Everyone was so nice and welcoming, they knew I wasn’t a regular and they were so intentional about making me feel important,” Mellors said. “I could see how special the brewery was to the people in the community.”
For Bigelow, the purpose of the brewery was to allow him to do work that he loved and bring back live music to the community.
“When I was 21, there was a music scene here in town, you could go see a band play or see live music, not just a DJ, but it stopped for a while,” Bigelow said. “I wanted to bring that back.”
Have you seen the Plant Pirate?
By Elizabeth Harvey Collegian Freelancer
W. Bacon St.
“It’s a great time, and the dinner is great,“ LaRue said. “It’s a good atmosphere. I had a lot of fun.”
About 130 guests attended the bingo night last year and Broesamle said the Senior Center hopes to sell all 150 tickets this year.
“I hope they have a good turnout this year, and that it’s something that they can continue to do because it was a fun event,” Spratt said. “And I think it‘s something that the community needs. It’s a good fundraiser for the Senior Center.”
It’s hard to miss Ted Landel at the Hillsdale Farmers Market. Rain or shine, Landel sells dozens of plants every Saturday morning from May to October, and locals have come to recognize the “Plant Pirate” by his signature hat.
“One Saturday, a little boy asked me if I was a real pirate,” Landel said. “I told him my ship’s out at the lake.”
Before finding his longterm home in Hillsdale, Landel lived in a variety of places across the country. After experiencing life in the city, he said he eventually found his love for small town culture and nature.
“I lived in Toledo for a year and worked at a greenhouse,” Landel said. “That’s probably
when I got interested in growing plants.”
After graduating from Church of Christ College, Landel moved to Los Angeles to live with his aunt and worked at a local bookstore to pay off college debt. He said he only worked for a year before moving back home to Waldron in search of work in a rural town to escape from the urban environment of LA.
“I’m not much for cities,” Landel said.
After returning to the countryside, he bought 10 acres of land in Lost Nation and moved into a railroad boxcar located in the park shortly after. Furnished with only a wood stove to cook his meals and no electricity, Landel lived in this boxcar for more than 10 years.
“There was a creek down the hill so I could get bath water and stuff,” Landel said. “My house
payment was $100 per month.”
Landel put down roots for his future gardening business in this boxcar.
“I put a little greenhouse on the back of the boxcar,” Landel said. “I would walk uptown and come to my friend’s auction and we would sell stuff.”
As his business grew, Landel decided to move to Hillsdale in 1995 and started his first job at the Knorr Family Dining Room at Hillsdale College.
“I was a waiter,” Landel said.
“On Sunday mornings, I would cook for the omelet bar.”
In 2017, Landel decided to leave SAGA to expand his business further by starting to advertise his business at the Hillsdale Farmers’ Market around town.
“I just started growing a lot of plants, and I needed some place to sell them, so I came up here,” he explained.
Landel said since then he has significantly grown his business and enjoyed becoming acquainted with the people of Hillsdale — especially young children enthralled by his ladder displays of plant mugs, his prize-winning greenery, and his hallmark pirate hat. He said children have even given him hand-drawn pictures of him at his stand — pirate cap and all.
“That’s the best part of the farmer’s market — all the little kids and the dogs,” he said.
“There’s so many cute dogs and beautiful children that stop by.”
Since moving to Hillsdale County, Landel said he has been proud to call Hillsdale home for nearly 30 years and has loved the many friendships he has cultivated through the community, including at Hillsdale Free
Methodist Church.
“I got a lot of friends from church,” Landel said.
Emile Dasch, owner of Bluebird Meadows Farm, said Landel’s enthusiasm and energy is especially infectious during his morning routine of setting up his stand for the day.
“He’s always at the market,” she said. “He especially likes to play classical music as he sets up and takes down his stand. When we pulled up here this morning, he was just blasting that classical music.”
Annette Williams, another vendor, said Landel brings friendliness and personality to the farmers market’s environment.
“He’s just a super nice guy,” Williams said. “I’ve been coming to the market for seven years, and he’s been here just about that long.”
Williams has been selling her home-grown mushrooms at her own stand since 2017, but she said she and her husband occasionally turn to Landel for gardening advice.
“Whenever my husband has a question about growing mushrooms, I’ll say, ‘Go west — the plant guy over there knows all about those things,’” Williams said.
To see his assortment of plants and to meet the Plant Pirate himself, stop by the Hillsdale County Winter Market, which runs every other Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. from November 2024 through May 2025, located inside Hillsdale Brewing Company.
“I really like it when people come back and tell me that their plants are growing,” Landel said. “I always wonder.”
The English Drizzle, Ramshackle’s only gluten-removed beer.
Anna Broussard | Collegian
Locals leave sticky notes on the brewery’s wall. Anna Broussard | Collegian
Ted Landel is known to some as the “Plant Pirate” by his hat.
Elizabeth Harvey | Collegian
Cross Country
Chargers compete in NCAA Regionals, men finish fifth
By Elaine Kutas Collegian Reporter
The men’s cross country team delivered its best perfor mance in five years at its final meet of the season, the NCAA Division II Midwest Region al, finishing in fifth, while the women’s team placed 15th.
Seniors Richie Johnston and Ross Kuhn led the men's team, both finishing with personal best times of 31:44 and 31:45, respectively, in the 10-kilometer race. Kuhn will return to Charger cross coun try for a fifth year next season, but this race marked John ston’s last time out.
Johnston said the team knew the race would be com petitive, but they were up for the challenge.
“We were confident going into regionals, especially after our performance at confer ence, and we had very high ex pectations for the team despite knowing it was going to be a competitive race,” Johnston said. “Each individual knew that they would need to run a lights-out race, as we did at conference.”
Junior Gabe Phillips placed in the top 50 competitors, fol-
lowed by sophomore Caleb the conference championship, and while that's the only race I didn't finish in my whole
career, it was the most mean
on a high note,” Johnston said.
al experience, she was nervous
been running.”
“It's weird to think that I will never race cross again, but honestly, it's nice to end
There are four ships of length 1 (●), three ships of length 2 (◀ ▶), two ships of length 3 (◀ ■ ▶), and one ship of length 4 (◀ ▶). Each ship is surrounded by empty water on all sides, including diagonally; no two ships touch or intersect. The numbers along the border indicate how many ship pieces appear in that row or column.
finish in the 6-kilometer race.
According to Kuzma, since it was her first collegiate region-
through cross country and have so many great memories from the eight seasons I’ve
While reflecting on Kuzma’s first and Loescher’s last cross country seasons at Hillsdale, both women were proud of the team they have been a
“I am just so grateful for my teammates and coach,” Kuzma said. “Running can be a mentally and physically demanding sport, so having such an amazing environment allowed me to thrive, and I look forward to practicing every day.”
Loescher also commented on her races this past season and how successful the team was overall with always being
“Looking back on the season, I’m proud of how consistent I’ve been every race, even when I haven’t felt the best,” Loescher said. “I think this goes for the team, too. I could count on everyone else to go out there and approach each
The men’s and women’s cross country teams will have a few weeks off before they turn their attention to indoor track season, which begins in December.
Cordero Lopez travels from Madrid, Spain to Hillsdale
By Grace Novak Collegian Freelancer
Instead of just adjusting to life at college like most other new students, freshman tennis athlete Alejandro Cordero Lopez also spent freshman orientation getting used to life in a new country with a different language.
After playing tennis most of his childhood, he said he realized it could be an excellent opportunity for him to study in America as a college student.
“When I was 14, I realized the adrenaline of competing. Then I really went into tennis,” Cordero Lopez said. “Three years ago, my family and I saw the option of going to the U.S. to study. Since then, I really focused all my tennis and studies towards coming here to a university.”
Cordero Lopez lived with his family in Madrid, Spain, before moving to Hillsdale this semester. He said that his dad has always loved the United States, and this encouraged him to decide to come to school here. He said his younger sister also wants to come to America in the future.
“It was really hard leaving her, to be honest,” Cordero Lopez said. “She is my little sister, so I have some responsibility towards her.”
Cordero Lopez said that he got involved in an organization that connected him with potential schools in the U.S. He looked at many different options all across the country but was ultimately drawn to the academics of Hillsdale.
“I feel very, very honored because not many people get accepted here,” Cordero Lopez said.
Although Cordero Lopez had visited the United States on a trip all around the country before moving here, move-in weekend was his first time visiting Hillsdale. “College didn't scare me as much as how I was go -
ing to adapt to another language, new friends, and a new country,” Cordero Lopez said. “It was more just coming to another country and another culture.”
Cordero Lopez plans to return to Spain after graduating, but he’s open to the future.
“Right now, what I want to do is go back to Spain,” said Cordero Lopez. “But you never know, there's a lot of factors that can change. Maybe I will get a good job, maybe I will find a girl here and stay.”
Cordero Lopez did say that sometimes language students come and try to talk to him in Spanish, but they are a little rusty. He said that while he knew English well before coming to America, the language adjustment was still prominent at first.
“I was in an English school when I was younger, so I have a very good foundation. But afterward, I went back to a Spanish school,” Cordero Lopez said. “To be honest, the first couple of weeks was very tough. Now it's become much, much better.”
Cordero Lopez said that he loves tennis and is enjoying the chance to play in college because, in Spain, universities do not offer sports programs. This was another huge factor for him when deciding to attend school in the United States.
“Here they give you a scholarship for playing tennis, and that's a very big temptation to come here,” Cordero Lopez said. “I've got a couple friends that have stayed in Spain who want to play tennis, but you can't really combine those two.”
This year’s tennis team has five international students, according to head men’s tennis coach Keith Turner. The players are able to bond through their similar experiences of attending school out of the country.
Cordero Lopez said he has been loving the tightknit team element of Hillsdale tennis.
“Here it's more a team sport, whereas in Europe it’s a very lonely sport. Whether you win or you lose, it's all on yourself,” Cordero Lopez said.
Tournament stats show a very solid start to his college tennis career. He has had several victories in matches and continues to place well. Additionally, Hillsdale College Athletics Department updates show that he has already recorded multiple exciting upsets including against a nationally ranked player from Wayne State University. Turner said he is excited to have Cordero Lopez on the team.
“Alex has a high upside. He knows how to train correctly,” Turner said. “He's the type of player that will only get better. I expect him to be one of my top guys going forward.”
Cordero Lopez said that he is ready and excited to spend his four years at Hillsdale College playing tennis.
“Alex is a joy to be around. He acts like a senior on the team. When we’re down, he helps to bring us up,” fellow freshman and teammate Ryan Papazov said. “He is the foundation of the team, and we build off him.”
“It's a different atmosphere this year,” Turner said. “A bunch of guys trying to become comfortable with their surroundings.”
Cordero Lopez serves during a match. COURTESY VINCENT HILL
Women secure top seed in G-MAC Playoffs
By Ellie Fromm Assistant Editor
Charger volleyball dominated its weekend of competition at home against the Tiffin University Dragons and Findlay University Oilers, winning 3-0 in both games. On Friday, they played the Dragons, winning 25-12, 2522, and 25-16. On Saturday, they beat the Oilers 25-17, 2517, and 25-23.
Hillsdale’s win over Findlay secured them the top playoff seed for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship tournament. Last week, Findlay was ranked second, behind Hillsdale, in the G-MAC North standings. With their win, Hillsdale has secured the top spot, while Findlay moves down to third.
“Hillsdale’s 12-1 record also means they have guaranteed that they can finish no worse than tied for the best conference record across the G-MAC as a whole, regardless of division, because all the other teams in the G-MAC are two or more losses behind with only two matches to go,” Director of Athletic Communications James Gensterblum said in an email.
The Chargers played well and communicated effectively throughout both matches, according to head coach Chris Gravel.
Seniors Mazie Brown, Lauren Passaglia, and Marilyn Popplewell led scoring for the Chargers over the weekend. Popplewell made 21 kills, Passaglia made 16 kills, and Brown made 15 kills. Brown was also
Club Roundnet
Roundnet hosts large tournament
By Zachary Chen Assistant Editor
The Hillsdale College Roundnet Club held its first invitational tournament with Michigan State University and Bowling Green State University last weekend.
The tournament included 32 players divided into 8-team advanced and expert divisions, according to junior and club vice-president Cameron Frye. Cash prizes were awarded to the top three teams in the expert division. The event drew players from Cincinnati as well as Michigan State and Bowling Green, according to sophomore and practice captain Nathan Furness.
While this is not the first collegiate tournament the Roundnet Club has participated in, it is the first that Hillsdale has hosted.
“I was a little scared of hosting and having these clubs come to Hillsdale, but I thought it went well,” Furness said.
Frye said that the event was an opportunity to continue ties with other collegiate roundnet teams.
“We participated with both MSU and Bowling Green at tournaments before this fall, and last spring, we were at Bowling Green for tournaments,” Frye said. “So it's nice to actually be
able to get them over here to Hillsdale and just keep forming that relationship with them.”
Though the Spikeball community is still small, it is very tight-knit and passionate, according to junior and club president Joe Duncan.
“I think the biggest accomplishment that this tournament shows is that we were able to make connections with other colleges and invite them to come to Hillsdale for a tournament,” Duncan said. “This is our third year of the club and just making those connections at other tournaments and then bringing people to Hillsdale — it's really cool for other students to see that Spikeball is a sport.”
Frye and a player from Michigan State took first place in the tournament after Frye stepped in for an injured MSU player. Duncan and the vice president of the Bowling Green club placed third.
Frye and Duncan said that the Hillsdale Roundnet Club will try to host more collegiate tournaments in the future.
“We're hoping to make this a yearly occurrence in the fall, with the goal that we could get on the collegiate tour series and host a a DII or DI tournament, officially sponsored by Spikeball,” Frye said.
recognized as G-MAC Volleyball Athlete of the Week.
Freshman Ellie Fles said the Chargers effectively were able to counter the opposing teams last weekend.
“We did a good job at focusing on our own runs, like when the other team would get a point, we would make sure that we got the next two,” Fles said. “We focus a lot on our runs of five, and I think we did that very well.”
Head coach Chris Gravel said the team is beginning to use their experience from earlier in the season, and that this experience helped them over the weekend and as they look to the end of their season.
“I think the confidence in themselves and each other has been growing all year, and we’re in the spot where we’re
playing pretty well,” Gravel said.
This weekend, on Nov. 15, the Chargers will travel to the Walsh University Cavaliers to play at 6 p.m. They then travel to the Malone University Pioneers for a game at 1 p.m. on Nov. 16.
Gravel said the Cavaliers also won both their games last weekend, and he believes this will give them momentum into their games against the Chargers.
“We have two hot teams meet each other Friday at Walsh,” Gravel said. “The last time we played there we lost. They had their entire football team there, and we lost in five sets. So we’re hoping to correct that a little bit, and get a little revenge from last year.”
Sports Feature
Legendary Hillsdale football coach dies
By Gemma Flores Collegian Reporter
Richard “Dick” Lowry, the only Hillsdale Charger football coach to win a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship, died Oct. 29 at age 89.
“I think his biggest strength was his commitment to the playing,” Nate Shreffler ‘93, head football coach and former player for Lowry, said. “He had a vision of what this program was supposed to look like: a hard-nosed football team that was very disciplined.”
Lowry was born on Oct. 16, 1935, in Columbus, Ohio. He excelled as a three-sport athlete at Berea High School in Ohio before becoming a football team captain as a student at Baldwin-Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
“He took pride in athletics,” said Jeff Lantis ’89, director of development for athletics. “I mean, he won everywhere he went.”
After graduating from Bald-
win-Wallace, Lowry jumped right into coaching, working his way from high school to college athletics. In 1980, he became head coach at Hillsdale College.
When Lowry took control of the program, the Chargers were coming off two of the worst seasons in Hillsdale history. In his first year on the job, Lowry led the team to their first-ever Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship.
“He built an incredibly strong program that could really stand toe to toe with the best in the division,” Director of Athletic Communications James Gensterblum said. “He really elevated Hillsdale College athletics in a lot of ways.”
Lowry was awarded the NAIA Football Coach of the Year in 1982, shortly after he took charge of the Hillsdale football program.
Lowry’s biggest achievement while at Hillsdale was winning an NAIA championship in 1985, the only national football championship in school history. After lagging behind for most of that game, the Chargers scored a touchdown with minutes left in the fourth quarter to tie up the score, and eventually went on to win.
Lowry embodied the “Virtus Tentamine Gaudet” spirit,
according to Lantis, who played on Lowry’s national championship team. Lantis remembers the commitment Lowry and his coaching staff had to their vision for Charger football and to shaping disciplined players.
Lantis described Lowry’s partnership with Dave Dye, who would take over Charger football after Lowry left in 1996, in molding a disciplined team.
“I think he started a tradition of winning. He and Dave Dye had workouts that were designed to weed out the weak and weary, so if you didn’t want to work hard, you quit,” Lantis said, “That helped them replace the quitters with guys who wanted to win, and guys who wanted to work hard.”
As a coach, Lowry was dedicated to encouraging his players to have a higher standard for themselves, according to Shreffler.
The most prominent facet of Lowry’s coaching style was his understanding of controllable factors. While the players could control how hard they played, they couldn’t control things like the weather and the referees.
“He was very consistent. His message to us was to always control the controllable factors and not worry about the ones that you can’t control. He was always very focused, and he kept it simple. The guys played really hard for him,” Shreffler said.
“I would say, more than anything, he was a leader,” Shreffler said, “He had this big laugh, too. You knew that he enjoyed football, he enjoyed the guys
that he coached with. I think the lessons that he learned from the game, he understood them completely.”
Off the field, Lowry was a family man, an avid tennis and racquetball player, and an active member of the Rotary Club, according to a Hillsdale College Athletics Department press release.
Lowry married his wife, Phyllis Reed Lowry, in 1957. They were married for 67 years at the time of his death. They had two children together, Marianne (Lowry) Colbert and Reed Lowry. Marianne attended Hillsdale and was an All-American tennis player.
“He taught racquetball classes too, and I don’t know that anyone ever beat him,” Shreffler said. “He was a pretty competitive guy.”
When Lantis returned to Hillsdale as director of career services in 1998, Lowry mentored him as he started his career as an administrator. Lowry encouraged Lantis to join the Rotary Club as a way to give back to the community.
“He had a great compassion for service as a Rotarian. Under him, our football team did some philanthropy work as a team,” Lantis said.
More than anything, Lowry was dedicated to advocating for his players.
“I’m forever indebted to him because he gave me a scholarship and changed my life,” Shreffler said. “I don’t know what else I’d be doing now if I didn’t come here.”
“He was a fabulous coach and a great human being,” Lantis added.
Charger chatter
Bethany Johnson, VolleyBall
What is an obscure or weird fact that you know?
Growing up, I was always told to put white fir sap on my cuts to make them heal faster, so I am actually going to research that this summer.
What is your favorite sweet?
Huckleberry pie or ice cream all the way.
Compiled by Malia Thibado
What is your favorite workout?
Probably snow workouts. Even though they are usually at six a.m., I love doing relays where we sprint up and then sled down the hill.
Are you a fan of Dachshunds?
I think they are cute but personally I prefer big shaggy dogs like my golden retriever, Shiloh.
Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department
From left to right: junior Josie TeSlaa, senior Lauren Passaglia, senior Amanda Hilliker, senior Maizie Brown, and senior Marilyn Popplewell. COURTESY | AUSTIN THOMASON
PHOTOS COURTESY | DOUG GOODNOUGH
Charger Sports
A10 November 14, 2024
Football upsets rival Tiffin in thrilling final home game
By Alex Deimel Senior Reporter
Charger football beat their Great Midwest Athletic Conference rival, the Tiffin University Dragons, in a 20-17 upset on Nov. 9 in the annual Senior Day game. A clutch touchdown thrown by sophomore quarterback Colin McKernan to junior wideout Connor Pratt lifted the Charger football team over Tiffin.
After Hillsdale was shutout in the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter, McKernan led the team down the field to the Tiffin 1-yard line before fumbling the ball, giving it to the Dragons with 3:44 left in the game. The Charger defense made a stand, forcing Tiffin to punt the ball with 2:44 left. McKernan was given excellent field position by sophomore wide receiver Shea Ruddy, who returned the Tiffin punt to the 29yard line. On third-and-1 at the Tiffin 9-yard line, McKernan slipped coming out of a play-action pass, making
it fourth-and-8 and putting the game on the line for the Chargers.
“It’s not much different going into that play than other plays,” McKernan said.“You’ve just got to trust your reads. Not much changes whether it’s first or fourth down. I just trusted my reads and found Connor in the endzone which was awesome.”
McKernan fit the ball right between two defenders for a 16-yard score to Pratt, giving Tiffin only 37 seconds to score. Instead, the Dragons were met with a pass breakup by senior defensive back Vince Francescone, effectively ending the game as the Chargers stormed the field.
The touchdown was Pratt’s only reception in the game, but his fourth touchdown of the season, and gave him second in team receiving touchdowns this season behind Ruddy.
“I think we all do a great job as a team with never letting doubt creep in during the game,” Pratt said. “Just
lining up on that play at the end I had full confidence in myself and the other guys
the air, completing 10 of his 16 pass attempts. For the first time this season, all Charger
lined up with me, then Colin delivered a strike to me and it all worked out.” McKernan finished with 122 passing yards through
touchdowns came through the air, as McKernan threw touchdowns to Ruddy as well as senior tight end Ty Williams.
Women open season on the road with mixed results
By Christian Papillon Collegian Reporter
After a tough 75-74 overtime loss against Purdue University Northwest Nov. 8, the Hillsdale women’s basketball team rebounded with a 7652 win against the University of Illinois-Springfield Nov. 9. Both games were played at PNW Fitness & Recreation Center in Hammond, Indiana.
Senior guard Lauren McDonald led the Chargers in points in both games, with 25 on Friday and 19 on Saturday.
“It was a team effort,” McDonald said. “Having my teammates being ready and being a threat as well allowed me to get open looks.”
The Chargers got out to an 8-0 lead before Purdue Northwest closed the gap to 13-12 at the end of the first quarter.
The Chargers led by 12 points with 5:14 left in the third quarter after a 3-pointer by sophomore Annalise Pietrzyk. Purdue again closed the gap to 46-43 at the end of the quarter.
With 30 seconds left in regulation, the Chargers trailed 62-57, but two free throws from senior Caitlin Splain and a 3-pointer from sophomore Savannah Smith with 15 seconds left forced the game into overtime.
The Chargers led by two with 10 seconds left, but a
costly turnover led to a Purdue 3-pointer, sealing the game.
“It was our first official game, so there were some nerves,” McDonald said. “As the game went on, and especially into the second game, we got a lot better with playing as a team. Defensively, it just got better as we went along.”
Head coach Brianna Brennan said the Friday loss motivated the team to push forward.
“Losing by one in overtime definitely lit a fire under us,” Brennan said. “We wanted it so badly and we worked hard. We definitely had some defensive lapses and we were up 12 in the third, so it was super hard to lose a lead like that.
Although we wanted to win, there was so much that we learned from it.”
Brennan said the team did a mental reset after that first game.
“When you play back-toback games you have to let go of the first game pretty quickly, no matter what happens,” Brennan said. “We did focus on turning the page and mentally being ready to go for UIS, and we did that, which was awesome.”
The Chargers led wire-towire in Saturday’s game after a layup from McDonald 17 seconds into the first quarter.
“I don’t think we played our best basketball Friday, but we were able to stay in it and just lost on an unlucky shot in the end,” Splain said. “We were able to bounce back and do what we didn’t do in the first game, which was great, especially with the short turnaround.”
Brennan said she saw encouraging signs for the team going forward, especially against the University of Illinois-Springfield.
“That second game, the way we shared the ball was really encouraging,” Brennan said. “We have a lot of depth. Because of that, on any given night, a different player could be our leading scorer. When we move the ball the way we did in that second game, it’s pretty high level and it’s just going to make it that much harder for teams to stop us.”
In his final home game in a Charger uniform, senior wide receiver Logan VanEnkevort finished with his third consecutive game with more than 100 rushing yards, earning a total of 102 on 25 attempts. That propelled him to fourth overall in the G-MAC, with only eight games played.
“I mean that was a storybook game,” VanEnkevort said. “Against a good Tiffin team that on paper should beat us. Stout offense and defense on their part, but we outlasted them, and it really doesn’t get better than that ending on Senior Day.”
Defensively, the Chargers held the conference-leading offense in Tiffin, who average 435 yards per game, to only 248 yards and 17 points, including a fourth-quarter shutout. The charge on defense was led by sophomore defensive lineman Drake Badger, who was awarded the G-MAC Defensive Player of the Week for his nine total tackles, including two sacks for a total loss of 15 yards.
Junior defensive lineman
Likens and Francescone were right behind Badger, each finishing with eight tackles, as well as two pass breakups for Francescone. The Chargers combined for eight tackles-for-loss, including three from Badger and one and a half from Likens.
The Chargers look to finish the regular season with a winning record, needing a win in a road matchup against the Ohio Dominican Panthers, who the Chargers defeated last year 35-17. With a win, the Chargers have an opportunity to be eligible for a bowl game. They face the Panthers Nov. 16 at 12 p.m.
“I’m hyper-confident right now,” VanEnkevort said.
“The entire team has been scheming it up right, and the offensive line has been blocking their tails off. I feel like this team has been on a roll, and I’m fully expecting to run the ball on ODU and that we will perform well.”
Chargers dominate SVSU
By Kirsten Lopez Collegian Freelancer
The men’s basketball team opened the season with back-to-back wins against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals, beating the Cardinals 81-69 at home on Nov. 8 and 92-70 away on Nov. 10.
In both games, the Chargers showcased their depth as a team, with nine players playing over 10 minutes.
In game one, at home, redshirt freshman guard Logan Beaston led the team in scoring with 18 points, shooting 6-10 from the three-point arc.
“I had a lot of fun getting
both wins,” Beaston said. “After a long redshirt year, it was great to just get back on the court and contribute.” Beaston credited his teammates and coaches for his success on the court.
“My job was the easy part to just stand there and shoot,” Beaston said. “The coaches gave us the advantage behind the scenes through game planning the x’s and o’s, and my teammates screening me and giving me open looks, so all the credit goes to them.”
Senior forward Joe Reuter notched a double-double for the Chargers in game one, picking up 10 rebounds and 13 points in their win
against SVSU.
Reuter praised the team as a whole for their ability to communicate well and trust each other on both sides of the ball.
“It’s always nice to win the first couple of games to ease the nerves,” he said. “It sets the tone for the rest of the season. Going forward, we want to keep the momentum riding. We gave up too many offensive rebounds in the second game, so we can’t be fully satisfied.”
In game two the Charger offense was spearheaded by redshirt sophomore CJ Yarian, who led the team in scoring and rebounds, putting up 19 points and 11 rebounds to secure a double-double and Hillsdale’s second win of the season.
“Whenever you play a team twice, it’s about who can make the better adjustments to be able to win,” he said. “We just had to stick to our game and preparation and we knew we could win.” The Chargers shot 50% from three-point range in game one and 55.6% in game two. The Charger defense limited the SVSU offense to under 43% shooting from the field and under 28% from beyond the arc in both games. The Chargers are set to play the Judson University Eagles at home on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m.
From left to right: head coach Nate Schreffler, junior Connor Pratt, receievers coach Ryan Stokes, redshirt freshman Collin Davis, and redshirt sophomore Joe Schmidt.
Courtesy | ELAINE KUTAS
Neal
Sophomore Shea Ruddy runs the ball against Tiffin. COURTESY | KENNETH GAUDET
Chargers from left to right: redshirt freshman Connor Pratt and sophomore Caleb Glaser. COURTESY | AUSTIN THOMASON
Women's Basketball
Men's Basketball
C L T U R E
Tower Players bring Sophocles’ tragedy ‘Ajax’ to life
By Colman Rowan Culture Editor
As anguished cries resound off-set, a capsule turns around and reveals the bloody and despairing Ajax, sitting among dismembered bodies of animals: This scene sets the predicament of Sophocles’ “Ajax.”
The Tower Players premiere 5th Century B.C. Greek tragedy “Ajax” by Sophocles this week with performances in Markel Auditorium at 7:30
The one-act play runs roughly 140 minutes and requires no ticket for admittance.
“Ajax is probably the greatest man in that army, greater than Achilles, not in strength, but in character,” said junior Aidan Christian, who plays Ajax. “That is what makes his downfall so tragic.”
The major set pieces consist of a large helmet that serves as Ajax’s tent, a telephone polesized spear, and a 20-foot-tall shield from which Athena
is smeared across the floor of the stage.
The play takes place during the Trojan War, following Achilles’ death. Prior to the action of the play, the Greeks held a contest for his armor.
Odysseus won and outsmarted the physically superior Ajax.
Enraged and thinking himself the more honorable and deserving, Ajax snuck off into the night to kill Odysseus and the leaders, but Athena enchanted him, and he mistakenly killed a herd of livestock.
Schizmatics
The play opens as Ajax broods over his shame and hatred by his allies, and Athena tells Odysseus what has
According to James Brandon, professor of theatre and director of the play, Ajax’s slaughter creates the tension of the play.
“I think the tension is: what do you do with a great person who’s fallen?
Then in the second half, it’s what do you do with the memory of that person?”
Apart from the question of fallen greatness and what to do with the memory of that, Sophocles challenges his ancestors in what defines greatness itself.
“Odysseus is a hero that lives by his wits and his persuasiveness — that’s a new kind of hero,” Brandon said. “In fact, he’s a hero that more accurately reflects the Athe-
nian audience that Sophocles is writing for.”
Brandon said he does not expect the audience to know the character Ajax as well as the original Greek audience would have, so before the show, he plays a recording of 12 professors reading ex cerpts about Ajax.
“The idea was just to establish Ajax as a hero,” Brandon said. “So if you’re there for the pre-show, even for five minutes or so, what you’re hearing is people talking about the positive at tributes of Ajax.”
Christian cap tures the sorrow and shame of Ajax in a physical way and for most of the play is covered in the blood of the animals he killed.
arc, you have to have a complete character arc where your actions have their negative consequences, and you need to change and learn,” Christian said. “The thing about Ajax is
also having to act in a certain way to get what she wants.”
Like Christian, Gainer said the role can be taxing at times but has really stretched her acting abilities in a positive way.
“That hour-long process of turmoil and bargaining that he has to do with himself and everybody else around him is really taxing on the psyche,” Christian said. “This becomes taxing on the body in a way I didn’t expect going into the play.”
Ajax becomes more vulnerable as the play progresses, both physically, as he wears less armor with each scene, and spiritually, as he works through his crisis of character.
Ultimately, he fails by giving into his sorrow during the play’s most climactic scene.
“In order to fulfill a tragic
doesn’t change, and he doesn’t learn.”
Christian said the death of Ajax and the redemption of his honor by Odysseus in the end is like a wave goodbye to the heroes of the “Iliad,” making way for the triumph of Athenian wisdom over brute power.
Junior Grace Gainer plays Tecmessa, the wife of Ajax and the mother of his son, who tries to convince him to overcome his shame and protect herself and his honor after his death.
“Tecmessa is a very internal role,” Gainer said. “She’s thinking a lot, and she’s playing her cards in a certain way. She’s genuinely emotional, but she’s
“This is definitely the most emotionally dynamic role I’ve ever played at Hillsdale,” she said. “It’s challenged me a lot to learn how to act on stage and then be able to quickly step out of that and just return to my normal everyday life, which can be hard sometimes.”
Sophomore Sophia Miller plays the leader of the Greek chorus. She said her role as leader is like being a
“I’m like the mediator between the divine and the story and also the audience and the cast,” she said. “It’s kind of a tripartite role, which was really hard to balance, but I’m happy where it ended up.” Brandon said despite its origins in antiquity, “Ajax” still speaks to modern audiences.
“I’ve been fascinated with ‘Ajax,’ and I feel there’s a lot to say about anger, anger management, and mental health,” Brandon said. “This isn’t a therapy play —I don’t have counselors sitting outside of the theater — but I do think it calls attention to things that are present, and that ‘Ajax’ is very recognizable. Even with the spears and armor and Greek gods floating about, I think it’s very recognizable.”
Crowd of over 400 gathers to hear music ranging from Bill Withers to Chappell Roan
By Anna Broussard
Assistant Editor
The Schizmatics, an all-senior band became winners of the lively all-campus event Battle of the Bands competition hosted by the men’s music fraternity called Theta Epsilon at Elks Lodge, defending their title from last year before an audience of around 400.
“I love Battle of the Bands because we get to see new bands come in and perform for the first time, and the energy is always great,” said senior Matt Byrne, bassist for the Schizmatics. “People turn out to have a good time, and that’s always fun to see, especially from the stage.”
Lead singer and guitarist of the Schizmatics, Gavin Listro, said the final song of the setlist won them the competition.
“We played, ‘Play That Funky Music, ‘Just the Two of Us, ‘Go Your Own Way,’
‘Moving Out,’” Listro said. “We ended with ‘End of Beginning,’ by Djo, which was a lot of fun, I feel like that kind of drove it home.”
Along with the Schizmatics, four other bands competed: Crisis Actors, Runaround, Diet of Worms, and Jay Jameson and the Car Bombs. A panel of judges, including Collin Barnes, associate professor of psychology, Joshua Patch, assistant professor of education, and Graham Delano, a graduate student and coach of the men’s soccer team, awarded second place to Runaround and third place to Diet of worms.
Stephen Berntson, president of Theta Epsilon, said the Battle of the Bands had previously been held at 55 Below, which is currently under renovations, and that the move to Elks Lodge significantly changed the acoustic experience.
“I can actually hear every
instrument,” Berntson said.
“When the first band was playing I was like, ‘I can hear everything, the content, the vocals and then you’re engulfed in the noise.’”
During Diet of Worms’ set, Berntson told Daniel Doyle, lead singer of Runaround, that his setlist was the best of the night with covers of songs such as, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and “Devil went down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band.
He fills his set with songs that throw my voice out. His whole set is songs that I’m ambitious about.”
According to Doyle, Runaround changed its setlist at the last minute because of the crowd’s energy.
“This set could only exist in Donald Trump’s America”
“This set could only exist in Donald Trump’s America,” Berntson said. “Danny Doyle fills his set with songs that I would only start my set with.
“I really enjoyed doing ‘Crazy Train’ and we were gonna play another song,” Doyle said. “But the other song was ill prepared, and I didn’t feel very good about it. We haven’t practiced ‘Crazy Train’ since welcome party, and then I just turned to everyone and said ‘we’re cutting the song, we’re gonna play ‘Crazy Train’ at the end.’”
Along with “Crazy Train” Runaround played Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”
Freshmen Lilian Kreamer and Emerson Goan said they were nearly punched in the face from all the jumping and dancing, especially during “Rolling in the Deep.”
“‘Rolling in the Deep’ brought the people together,” Goan said.
Kreamer said her favorite band was the Schizmatics, and she enjoyed seeing people congregate in an event off-campus.
“I love how it brings all parts of campus together,” Kreamer said. “And everyone is dancing but it is everyone that you would not expect to see.”
Byrne said that Hillsdale students’ love for live music brings so much energy to the event.
“Hillsdale has a unique music scene for how small it is, and people are general-
ly very positive about each other’s bands,” Bryne said. “There’s no beef, and everybody just loves to see each other play and have some friendly competition.” For Doyle, the best part of performing is bringing so much joy to his friends in the crowd.
“I know everyone, it’s not like a bunch of random people, and it works because at such a small school you know everyone that’s here,” Doyle said. “You can kind of just go crazy and not care, because it’s all people you’re friends with. Berntson agreed that Hillsdale’s music culture is uniquely oriented toward live music, making it more enjoyable to perform.
“We’re in an awesome little micro-niche at Hillsdale,” Berntson said. “Randomly, all of the Hillsdale students love live music, and we provide the most goated live music.”
Christian and Gainer as Ajax and Tecmessa.
Courtesy | Kyle Johns
Christian as Ajax in his tent.
Courtesy | Kyle Johns
Fred Radke takes Big Band to jazz war on campus
By Elizabeth Putlock Collegian Reporter
Fred Radke, world renown trumpeter and director of the Harry James Orchestra, is back on campus this week, warming up Hillsdale’s cold November nights with jazz music.
Radke’s next event is “4th Annual Battle of the Big Bands” on Friday Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. in McNamara Rehearsal Hall. At this event, judges will
decide whether his band or the Hillsdale College Big Band performs better.
“It’s always a pleasure to be back,” Radke said to a crowd gathered in Plaster Auditorium Friday for a welcome concert.
Hillsdale College welcomed Radke back Nov. 8 to begin his round of upcoming jazz events on campus.
At the end of this concert, Radke invited his audience to attend “Battle of the Jazz Combos” which occurred on Nov. 13. The Harry James Orchestra will close Radke’s campus performance tour on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Searle Center.
“It’s a magnificent event,” Director of Jazz Ensembles
Chris McCourry said to the audience at the welcome concert about the Harry James Orchestra. “They really roll out all the great drinks and food. It’s a great band. It’s a really great thing.”
Tickets for the Harry James Orchestra are now sold out. Those who are unregistered but want to attend the event can email special.events@
hillsdale.edu to be added to the waitlist. Doors to Searle will open at 7 p.m. to regis -
and gentle songs to lively and exciting ones.
“My favorite part was the
exciting, especially with the classic jazz instruments seen on stage.”
tered guests for hors d’oeuvres, and the band will begin playing at 8 p.m.
At the welcome concert, Radke, McCourry, and three other musicians performed seven pieces ranging from soft
way they played off of each other,” freshman Grace Brennan said. “It’s very exciting. I think a lot of times people think jazz is very calm and collected, but I think a lot of it is very spontaneous and
Brennan enjoyed Radke’s personal anecdotes to his pieces and engagement with his audience to his pieces.
“He was very good at storytelling, which is fun,” Brennan said. “The way he actually talk-
ed to the audience was cool.” Brennan said she plans on attending all the jazz events this week.
“I love seeing jazz performed live,” said Brennan. “Ever since I saw a tribute to Amy Winehouse and Billie Holiday in Atlanta I’ve been trying to see as much live jazz as I can, and because of that I’m going to try to make it to the rest of the jazz concerts this week.”
Freshman Thaddeus Reudelhuber said he heard about the welcome concert from friends and was excited to see what it was.
“The improvisation was amazing,” Reudelhuber said. “It illustrated his musical abilities so well, that he could keep rhythm and improvise in a beautiful way while still being mindful of the amount of time he had left.”
Reudelhuber said he encourages students to attend the jazz events this week.
“Go to the jazz events this week,” Reudelhuber said. “I think students will be pleasantly surprised.”
Visiting professor speaks about C.S. Lewis’ legacy
By Aurelia Mayer Collegian freelancer
Students should remember Lewis’ legacy, not only as a theologian and a writer, but also as an Oxford educator, according to Melinda Nielsen, a Hillsdale alumna and associate professor of classical literature at Baylor University. The lecture, “Education, Gift, and Freedom: C.S. Lewis’ Idea of the University,” was hosted Nov. 12 by the C.S Lewis Society.
“It’s too easy to forget, perhaps, that although he is best remembered as an author or theologian, Lewis spent the entirety of his adult life
as a teacher, and his writing, whether explicitly or not, arises in that context,” Neilson said.
According to Neilson, Lewis derives his thoughts on education both from his own experience as an oxford professor and as an avid reader of Plato, Erasmus, John Henry Newman, and George McDonald.
When one examines both Lewis’ writings and intellectual concepts, two things become apparent, according to Nielsen. “First, for Lewis, education, in its core, is a gift between persons, not a method, a curriculum or a community,” she said. “Teachers get what they have, but only contingently
Playwright from A1
For years, the department has offered a directing class that culminates in a one-act play festival. The department also offers classes in playwriting.
“There’s the Everett competition for speech, there’s the thematic art competition in the amazing art department,” Matsos said. “And I thought that maybe it’s time to have a biennial playwriting competition just to see what emerges, and to foster a new generation of playwrights.”
The plays should run about 30-45 minutes, and students should turn in their submissions to Administrative Coordinator for the Sage Center Amy Glass. Submissions should include a title page with the student’s contact information, and then separately, as another file, a synopsis and the play itself to ensure anonymous selection. Submissions are due the week after spring break.
A panel of judges, faculty judges from across campus, and possibly a guest judge, will choose the top three or four plays. Those will be given a staged reading production April 25 and 26.
Rooks Russell, a student in Matsos’ playwriting class, has already written his submission, and said he is grateful for the creative writing opportunity that aligns with something he enjoys doing.
“In a novel, it’s all explicit, but with a theater script, you’re basically giving them dialog in a general direction for the physical action, and then leaving it to them,” Russell said. “I’d say that probably the hardest part is trying to restrain yourself, so you’re not putting everything on the page.”
A faculty member will direct the staged readings, and playwrights will be given the opportunity to listen and then to workshop and adapt the plays for the final performances.
“If you’re a creative writer, the ability to put something out and have it tested, have it judged is worth it. Creating a piece and letting it fly, that alone is huge,” Russell said. “There’s a real chance that, I mean, if your play is good, it’ll get a stage reading, which is a big deal, to have your work read aloud in front of an audience. The incentives alone are fantastic, but also the fact that you will be creating a full and complete work.”
Matsos encourages creativity, and said, as long as the play is stageable, there is no shortage of plays they will consider.
“One sort of easy mistake that newer playwrights make is confusing a film script for the realities of a live person on the stage,” Matsos said. “So as long as it can be achieved according to the laws of physics, we can’t just cut to another realm. As long as it is a play, we’ll consider just about anything.”
According to Matsos, a great play asks important and lasting questions, while a bad play preaches or tells the audience what to think.
“I’m just tired of being told what to think and feel in a theater,” Matsos said. “There’s a reason that the greatest plays can just be adapted almost universally from one community to the next, that the questions you glean from them apply to just about everyone. And I think that’s what I would be looking for.”
because the gift was first given to them.”
Quoting Lewis, Nielsen said that “teaching a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it.”
Nielsen argued that at the end of education is a gift passed down to younger generations.
“Put the recipient in the state where he no longer needs our gift,” Nielsen said. “We feed children in order that they will soon be able to feed themselves. We teach them in order that they might not need our teachings.”
Nielsen explained to the audience how C.S Lewis distinguished education and learning.
“Schools, secondary high
school education as well as middle school should be centers of education, as opposed to universities or colleges that provide the opportunity for learning. Education is the act of giving, while learning is the active quest for the truth,” she said.
Students who attended the lecture found Nielsen’s comparison between education and learning to be helpful in their understanding of Lewis, according to senior Maya Toman.
“I thought Dr. Nielsen spoke very eloquently and clearly about Lewis’ opinions on education,” Toman said.
“I really appreciated the way
she talked about the distinction between education and learning, because I hadn’t really heard that specifically explained in that way before, and it was so clear.”
Laura Nehlsen, a graduate student attended the talk, and said the lecture elevated her understanding of the purpose of K-12 education.
“The two worlds are very different for those of us interested in K-12 education,” Nehlsen said. “I find his natural insight into the importance of shaping goodness and the ordering that she mentioned earlier, should be what we’re about.”
Alumnus hosts ‘Food and Art’ for the 1844 Society
By Caroline Kurt Opinions Editor
In 1995 graduate Nate Stewart’s high-ceilinged living room, students crowded around a large, dark canvas of a crucifixion scene:
“The Sign of Jonah” by a contemporary Russian artist. One pointed out an obscure face in the background. Another wondered about the symbolism of the torches in the composition. A third observed Biblical connections between the death of Christ and the account of Jonah.
Students at the house of a local alumnus gathered for art critique as part of an event sponsored by Hillsdale’s 1844 Society.
The night revolved around one primary question: What do you see when you look at a piece of art?
be able to continue the conversation outside of the classroom, outside of campus, in a more relaxed setting,” Di Cello said.
According to Di Cello, the event’s activity is usually left
make the house and make ourselves available for whoever needed it,” Stewart said. He came up with an idea involving his extensive art collection, which he displays throughout his house.
critique: Matthew Gaetano, associate professor of history, and Justin Jackson, chair and professor of English.
up to the faculty members who host it.
The event drew several dozen — faculty members, alumni, and students, few of whom were art majors. Kaeleigh Di Cello ’24, Hillsdale’s young alumni programs coordinator, said the 1844 Society held the event as part of its Continued Conversations series.
“The series is an opportunity for students to get together with either staff or faculty to
“We encourage them to do something near and dear to their heart that they can share with the students,” Di Cello said.
When Stewart moved from Washington, D.C., to Manning Street two years ago, he reached out to the 1844 Society.
“Our intent in coming here was always to somehow integrate with campus life and
“It seems to me that so much of the fine arts take place down the hill,” Stewart said. “How do we either bring the art up the hill or bring the students down the hill?” Stewart settled on a “what do you see” party, in which students, faculty, and staff could take a closer look at some of his collection. According to Stewart, the 1844 Society deliberately selected two professors outside of the art department to guide the
“They’re not approaching these paintings from a technical standpoint,” Stewart said. “They’re approaching it from a narrative standpoint.” Gaetano said he enjoyed the opportunity to discuss a work of art he was not familiar with, compared with classes in which the professor has extensive experience with a text beforehand.
“It is really great to have a free-wheeling conversation where we’re more or less on the same sort of level,” Gaetano said. “It’s a real joy to actually be part of that original thrill of discovery.” Jackson said he enjoyed the art critique, but had a different purpose as well.
“It was an excuse for me to make Matt hang out with me,” Jackson said.
Some of Stewart’s paintings and drawings are scheduled to come to campus next semester as “Story Beautiful: Selections from the Stewart Collection.” The exhibit will open in the Daughtrey Art Gallery Jan. 24 and run through March 23.
Fred Radke’s band at the welcome concert. Colman Rowan | Collegian
Fred Radke’s sings “’Tis Autumn.” Colman Rowan | Collegian
Melinda Nielsen. Aurelia Mayer | Collegian
Ella Carey and Haven Socha view the “Death of Abel.” Caroline Kurt | Collegian
F E A T U R E S
e saga of gluten-free student s
By Grace Novak COLLEGIAN FREELANCER
Getting daily pizza in the dining hall may seem like a basic right, but for Hillsdale’s gluten-free students, it’s a well-kept secret.
Sophomore Caesar Gombojav said the gluten-free options should be advertised more among the student body, so students can be aware of all of their options. One needs only to ask an employee by the pizza station and she will get to enjoy the comforts of gluten-free pizza.
“I do appreciate them having gluten-free pizza options,” Gombojav said. “But I don’t think students understand that’s an option. I only just found out.”
According to Hillsdale’s Metz Culinary Management team, around 10% of students eat daily from the gluten-free section of the dining hall, including non-gluten free students who prefer the shorter lines and food variety.
Executive Chef Adam Harvey said the food is actually not that di erent in the gluten-free zone. Usually, the main plates are the same as for the non-allergenic students. What the section does provide is cross-contamination prevention, as well as gluten-free breads, buns, and appliances.
“We try to keep it about the same, so you don’t feel like you’re missing out on what the normal meal is,” Harvey said.
e food team is aiming to improve health awareness with a system of QR codes designed to help students understand the exact nutritional value of what they are consuming, according to Harvey.
“You see the QR codes that are up on all the menu boards, so you can scan and get all of your nutritional information and get all the allergen information you need,” Harvey said.
For the gluten-free students, variety seems to be the
biggest factor at mealtimes.
e gluten-free zone of the dining hall has a system of pre-packaged plates that are allergen safe for students su ering from serious food allergies. Most gluten-free students, however, tend to make their own meals out of the options presented, said Todd Gerry, general manager of food services.
“Students come in and they can go to ve di erent locations to create one meal,” Gerry said.
For students well into college, understanding the tips and tricks to being gluten-free at Hillsdale has become second nature.
Bailey Wright, a gluten-free freshman, said there are certain choices she makes in the dining hall to make the most of her options.
She said she and her gluten-free friends make sure to load up on salads full of toppings and protein, even putting hummus on their salads. She said they also substitute wheat-based noodles with mushrooms, olives, and veggies in order to enjoy pasta, and make fresh gluten-free wa es to use as hamburger buns.
Being gluten-free “definitely makes you go for those healthier options, such as making sure you have enough fruits and vegetables during your meal,” Wright said. “But I will say hitting all your macronutrients in your meals is a little harder.”
The dining services employees are focused on providing a positive experience for all students. On Tuesdays during lunch, Gerry meets with students in the dining hall to connect with them and hear their thoughts on Hillsdale dining.
“If the students weren’t here, we wouldn’t be here,” Harvey said.“ at’s our primary focus. We want to make sure the students are happy. We want to make sure that their needs are met.”
AJ’s is working to expand
its gluten-free grab-and-go section, according to Harvey. At the moment, it has gluten-free options in the kitchen, but he said downstairs in the dining hall remains the best choice for those with severe allergies.
For dining outside of the main cafeteria, gluten-free students waiting in line were quick to share some of their favorite places to get food. The city of Hillsdale has Handmade and Hillsdale Brewing Company, as well as plenty of co ee shops with options. For the Catholic students, Wright said that Convivium, a weekly Catholic event held at e Grotto, usually has great home-cooked options as well.
When it comes to baking and preparing food in the dorms, gluten-free students said they simply follow a different approach.
“I still love being in the kitchen with people, so it’s really about the experience of just spending time with people more than it is the food,” Wright said.
Sophomore Blaise Cerne said Jonathan Mumme, associate professor of theology, recently brought him homemade gluten-free sourdough bread to class upon his learning that Cerne was gluten-free.
“After so many years of watching others eat things in front of me that I couldn’t eat, having Dr. Mumme o er me that bread was such a graceful gesture,” Cerne said. “I really appreciated it; it made me feel so valued.”
Gluten-free or not, Hillsdale dining is focused on making mealtimes feel like home, according to Gerry.
“As a student, you leave your home. You leave your comfort zone. You come here and you’re hoping that you can get something that reminds you of home,” Gerry said. “It’s about bringing food to the students that remind them of home.”
QUICK HITS with Paul Hosm
By Micah Hart SENIOR REPORTER
In this Quick Hits, Chairman and Associate Professor of Physics Paul Hosmer talks gardening, Star Wars, and running track.
If you could have any super power, what would it be?
First choice, United States. Second choice, the former Soviet Union. ird choice, the second British Empire. Why did you decide to teach at Hillsdale?
I was willing to ip burgers at Saga, but a physics position happened to be open.
What is your biggest achievement in entering the Hillsdale County Fair contests?
ird place in the “Decorative Basket of Gourds” competition. I have won rst-place ribbons in other competitions, but they all mean nothing to me compared to that third-place ribbon. e “Decorative Basket of Gourds” competition is to the Hillsdale County Fair what the individual gymnastics all-around is to the Olympics. Next year I intend to compete in the 4 feet by 4 feet vegetable mural competition.
What is your favorite movie and why?
“Star Wars: Episode V – e Empire Strikes Back.” It is a reminder of the perfection of the world before Disney corrupted everything. I put it in my will that John Williams’s soundtrack to “Empire” should be played at my
funeral. In addition, in lieu of a co n, I am to be encased in carbonite, or, failing that, sewn into the belly of a giant stu ed tauntaun before interment.
What is your favorite Hillsdale memory from when you were a student?
Alexander Stromas, beloved professor of politics and tough Cold-War-era Lithuanian exile who would chain smoke during class, would pose a difficult question from the reading, then go from student to student for the answer. When each student nished attempting to answer, he would say something insulting like “Wrong! You know nothing!” or “Are you in kindergarten?” Every time he got to me, I would simply say “Sir, I have no idea,” and he would accept that answer and move on to insult the next student. A er about the h time of me answering “Sir, I have no idea,” he stopped and said, “Mr. Hosmer, you are the smartest student I have ever had.”
Did you do dirt track racing as a sport or activity in graduate school? How long did you do it?
I helped bankroll and worked pit crew for my brother’s race team for several years while I was a graduate student. Among other places, we raced at Butler Motor Speedway, the local three-eighth mile dirt track north of Quincy.
What is your favorite physics concept?
John Wheeler’s “One Electron Universe” idea: that all
the electrons and positrons we see in nature are the same one electron, going back and forth in time, bouncing off the beginning and the end of the universe. It is a beautifully elegant and imaginative idea, which is what we get to deal with all the time in physics.
What is your best class memory?
One time, when I finished giving my Physics 100 introductory lecture, the class started clapping spontaneously. I considered retiring right then so as to go out on top.
What is your favorite sport?
Track. I ran track in high school. Great memories. In my entire track career, not only did I never win a race, I had the great distinction of never nishing ahead of another person in any race in which I competed.
What advice would you give to your college self?
Consider the Saga meal plan a sunk cost. Take out another loan. Eat like royalty. Loan forgiveness could be in your future.
What is your funniest parenting moment?
One time while leaving Applebee’s, an elderly lady stopped us and said our 3-year-old son was so cute she just wanted to give us a dollar. We laughed. She got a dollar out of her purse and insisted we take it. We told her we have four other cute kids at home.
What is your go-to food for a road trip?
Chick- l-A. Living around here, you can only get it on a road trip. We plan our family vacations around Chick- l-A locations.
What is the best study spot on campus?
Einstein’s relativity shows us that depending on our frame of reference this question could just as well be stated as “WHEN is the best study spot on campus?”
Campus buys into Oura Ring fi tness, health tracker
By Elaine Kutas COLLEGIAN REPORTER
e Oura Ring is the latest technological advancement in tness and health tracking, which allows wearers insights into stress, sleep, and activity, and Hillsdale students are no strangers to the new health and wellness device.
Senior Maggie Carriker, a wearer of the Oura Ring, said the stress tracking feature was the biggest draw for her, compared to other wearable technology.
“I get migraines that are stress-related. If I can see how my stress is a ected daily and what is prompting the stress, that’s super helpful,” Carriker said. “It is very validating for some things that I feel, but don’t know what’s going on, and the app will break it down in words and give graphs on what’s happening.”
e Oura Ring measures the wearer’s heart rate, heart rate variability, motion, and body temperature to read daily stress accurately, according to its website. It also boasts that the longer the ring is worn, the more accurate the data becomes, from knowing baselines for stress to general levels of activity.
Senior Kendall McCormick, a member of the Hillsdale women’s basketball team, said the sleep data is most important to her.
“It tells how long you spend in each speci c cycle each night and then gives you an overall sleep score, which then plays into your ‘readiness’ score for the day,” McCormick said. “I can see how I am recovering, and it has
According to its website, Oura has sold more than 2.5 million rings worldwide since its launch in 2015. e company boasts that its technology is highly accurate in heart rate, heart rate variability, and temperature tracking to give the wearer the best possible data about themselves.
taught me ways to help my body heal so I can be better prepared for workouts and competitions to come.”
Because it can directly measure skin temperature, Oura can sense when the wearer’s body temperature drops before sleep and rises when they wake up. e website boasts that despite having a sleep tracking accuracy of 79% compared to clinical sleep studies of 83%, consistent use of the Oura Ring provides more nights of sleep and data from that than a clinical study.
Justin Fawley, director of operations for cross country and track and eld, said Oura has the best health-tracking information for himself and his wife.
“My wife and I both have one, and we can share data back and forth, which is really helpful,” Fawley said. “We use it a lot of times for division of labor, like if she didn’t sleep super well the past night, then
tonight, if our toddlers wake up or anything, it’ll be my responsibility.”
Unlike other tness trackers, Oura does not have a display screen. Instead, it sends data to the app to view a er workouts are completed. e ring itself is a wide band with sensors on the interior.
McCormick said the band was initially a bit thick for her preferences, but she got used to it quickly.
Carriker and Fawley both said that removing the ring for li ing weights is a step other health trackers do not require. is additional task, however, does not lessen their admiration for the technology.
Oura is also compatible with many other apps, including Cronometer, which tracks nutrition and dieting; Natural Cycles, a menstruation cycle tracker for women; and Headspace, which provides meditation and stress-relieving resources. In syndication with these apps, Oura’s data can
in uence what the other apps recommend for your lifestyle and give more accurate information.
“I liked that it’s compatible with so many apps that I might want in the future,” Carriker said.
Carriker said Oura was a wise purchase as someone who loves being in tune with their body.
“I swam and danced extensively growing up, so learning about my body and being really in tune with my body has always been super important to me,” Carriker said.
As a student-athlete, McCormick said wanted more insight into how her body was recovering a er workouts and the day-to-day strain of school. Oura was her solution.
“I have always been into tracking all of my tness and sleep on my Apple Watch but I wanted to get more insight on how my body was recovering a er workouts,” McCormick said. “ e Oura does a real-
ly good job of tracking sleep cycles and monitoring body temperature and heart rate so you can tell how well your body is recovering.”
Fawley suggests researching before purchasing an Oura, especially as a student.
“I’m pretty sensitive to wearables because they generate a lot of data,” Fawley said. “Communication is central to good training, but some things may not need to be communicated, and having too much data can be a little invasive.”
Fawley cautions students to know themselves and understand that some of their body’s data may not need to be known to be the most successful.
“I think a big thing about wearables, in general, is that if you can use them to help guide you where you are, then they’re a huge bene t, but if they provide additional stress to your life, then they’re not worth it,” Fawley said.
Paul Hosmer was a member of a pit crew while he was a physics graduate student. COURTESY | PAUL HOSMER
The Knorr Dining Hall gluten-free section. GRACE NOVAK | COLLEGIAN
A window into Washington: Journalist donates decades of correspondence to Hillsdale College library archives
John
Gizzi opens his Rolodexes to share thousands of conversations with prominent figures, politicians since the 1970s
By Eleanor Whitaker ASSISTANT EDITOR
Journalist John Gizzi –“the man who knows everyone in Washington,” according to Newsmax – donated 23 boxes of his personal papers to Hillsdale College. These letters, emails, and other correspondence make up an anthology of conversations between Gizzi and some of the world’s most prominent figures.
“My late mother always told me that you write thankyou notes to people, and she’d be very cross if I didn’t have notes to my aunts for their gifts,” Gizzi said. “This is all my correspondence with people.”
Gizzi, a Newsmax reporter and White House correspondent, donated thousands of documents to the Hillsdale College Archives and Special Collection two years ago. In addition to his own letters, Gizzi donated the papers of his late wife, Colleen House, who was the first woman to run for Michigan governor.
Gizzi said he donated the documents to Hillsdale College out of both respect for the college and to honor House, his wife.
“I’ve always admired Hillsdale,” Gizzi said. “My wife is from Michigan, and she was an important figure in Michigan politics. I thought it would be a way of honoring her more than me.”
These documents are a physical representation of Gizzi’s vast network of connections. Gizzi owns 60 vintage Rolodexes, which contain business cards from 45 years of contacts, 50 states, and 90 countries. During his 45-year career as a DC political journalist, including a stint at the conservative publication Hu-
man Events, Gizzi rubbed elbows with international leaders like the prime minister of Greece and presidents such as Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Once, Reagan gave Gizzi a signed postcard to send to his wife, which he still has to this day.
“The last time I saw President Reagan, which was June of 1992, he told me, ‘Keep up the good work there,’” Gizzi said.
Tim Carney, a reporter for the Washington Examiner who worked with Gizzi at Human Events, said Gizzi is not only well-connected, but he will talk to anyone, even if he is politically or socially unimportant.
said. “He is one of the nicest people. He will remember everything about you. He still sends Christmas cards to my family.”
Gizzi said the donated documents contain letters from famous politicians, such as Vice President Spiro Agnew, a Republican who resigned his position due to tax-fraud charges in 1973.
Other documents detail some of Gizzi’s favorite controversies.
“I had one representative from Oregon, Peter DeFazio, who said I had a story wrong,” Gizzi said. “He said that I said he was re-elected with 52% percent of the vote. He said he got 54% of the vote, and that
Gizzi has made a mark in politics through his impressive connections, but his wife House, who died two years ago, trailblazed new paths for women in politics during her career in the 1970s and ’80s.
At age 22, House became the youngest woman to serve in the Michigan legislature in 1974. Her victory as a Republican candidate in her historically-Democrat district made national news, earning her an invitation to then-Republican National Chairman George H.W. Bush’s telethon, which was canceled last minute after President Richard Nixon’s resignation.
She went on to marry future governor John Engler,
I’m 23, you know, right after Colleen.’”
After she lost the gubernatorial race, House moved to D.C. to work in the George H. W. Bush administration and then later at the International Republican Institute.
“I remember I was brought to tears just because of how amazing this woman was,” Hart said. “She was heavily involved in Michigan politics for a while, and was known by so many people. People would come and visit her, like from Congress, and people in Republican spheres. They knew her because she was such a trailblazer in Michigan.”
Through her D.C. connections, House met Gizzi in
“I’ve always admired Hillsdale. My wife is from Michigan, and she was an important figure in Michigan politics. I thought it would be a way of honoring her more than me.”
“One day, he said, ‘You can tell a lot about somebody by how they treat people from whom they don’t think they have anything to gain,’” Carney said. “I just remember that sticking in my mind, just thinking, ‘OK, how do I treat people? Do I only look for gain or do I try to help them out?”
Senior Micah Hart, who interned with Gizzi at Newsmax in the summer of 2022, said he admired both Gizzi’s professional skills and personal qualities.
“He is one of the most iconic journalists in D.C., not just because he’s a great reporter, but also because of who he is as a person,” Hart
if I didn’t correct my error, he would take legal action. I basically wrote a story afterwards with the headline: ‘Human Events to DeFazio: Get Lost.’”
Hart said the documents represent the legacy Gizzi is leaving in D.C. as a conservative political journalist.
“I think it’s important that we have these documents, because he stands for all the values that we stand for,” Hart said. “It’s always good to have work from good, sound journalists who actually care about integrity and care about getting the facts and getting things right. And his work, whether it be personal work or political work in journalism, everything he does is beautifully done.”
who she divorced years later, and run for Michigan governor herself in 1986. Although she lost in the primaries, she made history as the first female to run for the position, and was asked to run as the nominee for lieutenant governor.
“She was a seventh generation Michigander, and an important figure,” Gizzi said. “I still meet people from Michigan who remember her. Once, I was at Mackinac Island for their Republican conference, and I met then-representative Andrea LaFontaine from Macomb County. She said to me, ‘Hi John Gizzi, I’m the second youngest woman elected to the Michigan Legislature.
1987, who immediately fell in love.
“I wanted to marry her right away,” Gizzi said.
But House was initially less sure about her affections. Over the next 13 years, she rejected Gizzi’s proposals three times. It took a national tragedy, 9/11, for House to admit that she did not want to be alone. The political powerhouse couple married in 2002.
“Gizzi’s Law No. 1 says persistence overcomes resistance, so I persisted, and we were married, and had 20 beautiful years together,” Gizzi said.
Gizzi said House was always a take-charge person, but soon after she retired in the mid-2010s, he noticed she
was starting to slow down.
“I started to get calls and notes about bills not being paid, and I learned fast that she had dementia,” Gizzi said.
Through a “caregiver from heaven,” Gizzi ensured that House was comfortable for the rest of her life. On Christmas Eve 2022, the day House died, Gizzi said he was talking to her about potential charitable donations when she said her last words.
“I went over and talked to her, and her last words to me were, ‘Thanks for all the time you spend with me,’” Gizzi said.
Gizzi said he thought this was strange because he was often traveling for work. But a little while later, House fell asleep and never woke up. Hart said Gizzi’s love for House persisted until her final moments.
“They loved each other so much, and he cared for her so much,” Hart said. “He would always talk about her and always care for her. He had to be a little late to work because he was taking care of Colleen. That’s what he would do, because that was his wife and they were meant for each other.”
Now, Gizzi’s love lives in boxes of documents in the Hillsdale archives. Hart said that it is a huge deal that Hillsdale has these documents that represent the values of both Gizzi and House.
“Gizzi poured his life into his work, everything he did is written on these papers, and it’s a big deal and an honor for him, who has no real tie to the college, to give them to us,” Hart said. “He could have given them to his alma mater, but he gave them to us, and that just shows that he loves the work we’re doing here.”
President Ronald Reagan wrote John Gizzi’s late wife, Colleen House, a personal postcard.
Courtesy | John Gizzi
House (left), Gizzi (center), and Ronna Romney McDaniel (right) the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, pose for a photo.
