APRIL 27 2018

VOL. 18, NO. 11

APRIL 27, 2018

Pick your poison Editor-In-Chief

Copy Editor

Opinions Editor

Layout Editor

Arts & Culture Editor

Staff Writer

Bad Habits Editor

Web Editor

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis between now and May 4, 2018. Find the applications with the job descriptions, stipend, and more at facebook.com/thegrape.oberlin/

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THE GRAPE

FRONT AND BACK COVERS BY BRIAN JAMES

The Limitations of Title IX In Practice

BY ELLA CAUSER PRODUCTION EDITOR

CWs: sexual assault, abuse, rape.

It’s consent month at Oberlin College. There are signs in the bathrooms detailing the four requirements for consent.

There are contests. There are free Frisbees. But there’s also a post in my Facebook feed from an Oberlin resident who was allegedly assaulted by an Oberlin student last fall: “In other news, Oberlin College and Oberlin Police Department are letting my rapist walk free. In their eyes fucking someone while they’re passed out drunk in their own bed is considered okay.” The post has been shared 1,500 times.

Reporting on this or any case which has not and will not pass through a court of law carries a whole host of legal repercussions. I use the term “alleged” in this article not because I do not believe the experience of the the survivor, but because the case was never brought to court by the Oberlin Police and was completed via an informal hearing by the Title IX office, therefore never convicting the responding party. I use the word “survivor” out of respect for the party harmed by sexualized violence. Not all individuals who have been harmed by sexualized violence identify as survivors, however, as I was un-

able to speak to said individual to determine their preference, I decided to use this term in the article because it is the most popular and accepted terminology at present. It is also important to note that the only information used to write about this specific case is from social media, administrators, and students.

In a legal system where a fundamen-

IX procedures can provide the advantages stated above, this case proved that it gets tricky when the survivor isn’t an Oberlin student, staff, or faculty member.

I wanted to understand the policy for reporting sexual assault through Oberlin as a nonstudent, so I met with Rebecca

person of contact during the process. The hearing coordinator, broadly, is the person who moves the hearing towards resolution and/or oversees the hearing panel. In most cases, the hearing coordinator is Assistant Dean of Students, Thom Julian.

Title IX is a federal civil right

and is trying to be sensitive as much as we can to the needs of that person (the survivor of sexual assault)...we would try to connect them to the resources that are available to them (in the Oberlin community.)”

When a community member reports harm to the Title IX office, the community member is only able to serve as a witness for the case.

The college serves as the reporting party and the perpetrator the responding party. In cases where there is little evidence,

WHEN A COLLEGE-AGED SURVIVOR

IS DENIED INFORMATION tal principle is a presumption of innocence, where a defen-

law, limited in scope to educational institutions

AS A RESULT OF NATIONAL POLICY, which receive federal fundi n g , and is legally defined that the position of the reporting party extends only to students, staff, and faculty. Community members aren’t able to serve as the reporting party in Title IX procedures, but when the college is aware of potential harm perpetrated by one of their students, they are legally obligated to file as the reporting party. “In the case [of the college filing as the reporting party],” Rebecca Mosely of Title IX said, “the college is 100% advocating for the safety of the college community

HEARTS CRY FOR CHANGE. dant is considered innocent until proven guilty, the Oberlin Title IX Office is generally a more effective source of justice than the courts, as it strives to focus on both sides’ claims with an ear to what the reporting party needs in order to feel validated by the process. In state or federal courts, the reporting party is usually at the disadvantage of having to defend all claims with physical evidence or witnesses, and in most cases of sexualized violence, there may not be either. While the College’s Title

Mosely, Oberlin’s Title IX coordinator in the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Mosely outlined the general Title IX process for responding to sexual assault. She explained that the procedure is reminiscent of restorative justice procedures, with a focus on equity between the reporting and responding parties and involvement from both sides to reach mediation and, if desired and with enough evidence, a formal hearing. In all cases, a hearing coordinator is appointed to serve as the

the two parties may decide to file an informal hearing. Deciding whether a formal or informal case will be completed is at the discretion of the reporting and responding parties only, meaning the witness (survivor of sexual assault) has no say. In the case that the parties decide to complete an informal hearing, witnesses are never contacted. The informal hearing is confidential and only the reporting and responding parties have access to the outcome. The community member does not have autonomy in the proceedings or outcome of the case.

When asked why the reporting rights policy doesn’t extend to Oberlin residents, even when

reporting against an Oberlin student, Mosely of Title IX states that as an institution, “you’re responsible for your college and what happens within your college.” If the Oberlin Title IX policy were to be amended, it wouldn’t be able to encompass the degree of specificity required to protect collegeaged Oberlin residents, and instead would extend to a caseload magnitude which the Title IX office would not be able to handle with its current staff. “The college cannot become the source of res-

olution for the entire community,” says

tional policy, hearts cry for change.

The survivor continues to fight for justice, and has created a gofundme. The fundraiser is accompanied with the following: “I wasn’t able to be a witness to my own assault.

Two other people have come to me regarding their assault from the same person. I want justice, from

“I WASN’T ABLE TO BE A WITNESS TO

MY OWN ASSAULT.” Mosely, but when a college-aged victim is denied information as a result of na-

the rapist and the college, so I’m looking to raise money for legal counseling.

Any donations can help me achieve this.

Thank you.”

Oberlin College students have contacted the alleged abuser’s place of work about the assault only to receive a cease and desist (stop harassment letter) in response.

Contact Production Editor Ella Causer at ecauser@oberlin.edu

Stevens Strategy: Ready or not, here they come

BY SAM SCHUMAN STAFF WRITER

, IAN FEATHER STAFF WRITER PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE STEVENS STRATEGY WEBSITE

Obies should start getting used to hearing the name “Stevens Strategy” thrown around. The consulting firm, which, according to its website, specializes in managing “strategic change in colleges,” was hired by Oberlin last month to assist President Ambar and her administration in digging Oberlin out of its very deep financial hole. But many faculty members and some students have since raised concerns over the decision, constituting Ambar’s first pushback from the Oberlin College community since arriving last August.

Stevens Strategy will serve as advisor to the College’s Academic and Administrative Program Review (AAPR)’s steering committee. Comprised of 30 individuals representing faculty, staff, students and members of the Board of Trustees, the AAPR is tasked with conducting an analytical review of the College’s academic and administrative programs in order

to identify potential sources of financial savings.

Chris Canavan OC ‘84, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said last month that the firm’s role would be in advising the steering committee and gathering information. “The consultant is a resource, a service, doing a lot of the heavy lifting, some of the advising at different parts, but not really determining the agenda,” he said. “If that happens, then we haven’t succeeded.”

However, Stevens Strategy’s history at other colleges, as well as materials published on its website and the background of its founder, have led some to believe Stevens Strategy may be coming into Oberlin with a predetermined agenda, one that could represent a threat to the foundational mission of Oberlin as a liberal arts college.

Shortly before the first Stevens Strategy presentation to the General Faculty

Council, Marc Blecher, Chair of the Politics Department, and Matthew Senior, Chair of the French and Italian Department, sent a letter to faculty and President Ambar, which outlined their concerns about the consulting firm.

After contacting faculty at previous Stevens Strategy client institutions, including Cedar Crest College and Mount Union College, Blecher and Senior said they had been told that previous Stevens-administered AAPR’s had resulted in a secretive decision making process that resulted in the elimination of entire academic departments and the firing of tenured faculty.

One faculty member at Cedar Crest told them the process was akin to “asking people to dig their own graves and look into the hole before being pushed in.”

Self-published blogs featured on the Stevens Strategy website range from

“Predicting Student Retention and GPA from Student Personality” to “A Modest Proposal for An Alternative to the Classic Four-Year Degree,” which proposes replacing the four year bachelor degree with a three-year technical degree geared towards “a specific type of employment.”

Interestingly, the two schools who reportedly had negative experiences with Stevens Strategy, Cedar Crest College and Mount Union College, are not listed on the website amongst the schools who have provided testimonials pertaining to their experiences with the company.

However, the schools that are listed are primarily ones that focus on pre-professional training rather than a broad liberal arts education.

Politics professor Charmaine Chua acknowledges that in “any type of largescale process like [the AAPR], it’s important to be open to the possibility that a consulting company might be equipped to conduct large-N data analyses that we might not have the time or perspective to as faculty.” However, she emphasized the danger of such a consulting company coming in with a predetermined template that “conforms to a certain type of school, a certain conception of professionalized education, defined by students’ majors rather than by an all-rounded liberal arts education, and therefore a certain type of ideal.” Chua stressed that she tried to give Stevens Strategy a fair chance, but after attending their information session, one that faculty had to fight for for it even to hap-

pen, she felt that the company did not seem to have the tools to grasp a unique liberal arts model like Oberlin’s, and was not prepared for the role.

An additional detail worth noting is that the company’s founder and president John Stevens has another venture, Chronos University, which will be “the first residential institution to provide an individualized and completely technology-based instructional program to traditional undergraduate students.”

Stevens’ Chronos University vision is reminiscent of how large corporations have replaced human workers with automation in order to cut costs. This begs the question of whether Stevens, along with his company, appreciates the multi-faceted role that college and university faculty members traditionally play for students, or instead if he views these individuals as simply being overpriced pieces of learning equipment that can be replaced with computers.

Considering all of these details, many are likely to wonder why exactly President Ambar chose to work with the company. In fact, this seems to be the first instance where the new President is receiving direct, public pushback from certain members of the Oberlin College community.

Ambar has a history with the firm, as she was the president of Cedar Crest College when Stevens Strategy conducted a similar program review at the Allen-

town, PA women’s college. However, it would seem short-sighted if her decision to work with the company once more was based solely on her familiarity with it.

Regardless of her reasoning, members of faculty now seem to be less focused on getting rid of Stevens Strategy and instead are trying to take proactive steps to ensure that what happened at Cedar

ment” for students, staff and faculty.

Ambar also said the Steering Committee and Stevens Strategy would be “laying the data bare,” releasing raw data from the AAPR to the College community. “I want to do it [the AAPR] in as thoughtful a way as we can do it,” she said.

It remains to be seen to what extent these comments from Ambar will actually manifest in the coming months. And

STEVENS STRATEGY MAY BE COMING INTO OBERLIN WITH A PREDETERMINED AGENDA, ONE THAT COULD REPRESENT A THREAT TO THE FOUNDATIONAL MISSION OF OBERLIN AS A LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE. Crest and Mount Union does not happen on this campus. Blecher and Senior’s letter asked for written guarantees from Ambar that would ensure transparency, job security for tenured and tenure track faculty, and an assurance that the review process will include administrative units as well as academic departments.

Last month, President Ambar told the Grape that the AAPR would be an open process with many opportunities for input. She said she planned to have a clear timeline for the program that included open meetings and “moments of engage-

even if the AAPR process turns out to be a transparent one, it is unlikely that that will be enough to quell the concerns of faculty. Senior told the Oberlin Review that when Stevens Strategy’s Senior Advisor and Consultant Brendan Leonard visited Oberlin recently, he called Oberlin’s interdisciplinary model a “mess”--a statement that may alarm some, given that one of the tasks included in the AAPR is evaluating Oberlin’s “mission centeredness.”

For students who are concerned with what they have heard thus far regard-

ing Stevens Strategy, Professor Chua believes that one potential course of action could be for Student Senate to host a public forum open to faculty, staff, and students, wherein these larger bodies can share a space together and start sharing ideas with one another. While she commends the recent efforts of those on faculty like Blecher and Senior, Chua pointed out that there are certain aspects of how the College functions that faculty may only have partial insight into.

Therefore, she hopes that something like an open forum between the different stakeholders can serve as a vehicle for “building solidarities together between faculty, workers, and students,” something that she would like to see happen more.

Ultimately, though it’s far too early to predict what the outcome of Stevens Strategy’s work with Oberlin will be, it’s clear that their role within the AAPR process will be subject to intense scrutiny every step of the way. Very few would challenge the notion that budget cuts and structural changes of some kind will have to be made in the near future in order to make Oberlin more financially sustainable. Where and how these cuts are made, however, will likely prove to be a more contentious matter, as heavy distrust and skepticism of Stevens Strategy’s role has manifested before the AAPR process has even officially begun.

Contact Staff Writers Sam Schuman and Ian Feather at sschuman@oberlin.edu and ifeather@oberlin.edu at nbeck@oberlin.edu

Male Student Expelled for Sexual Assault Sues College for Gender Discrimination

BY LEAH TREIDLER STAFF WRITER

N, MA H O IN MC DITOR V E D N BY RES E DRAW FEATU

, BY KEERTHI SRIDHARAN VAIDEHI COPY EDITOR

CWs: sexual assault, abuse, rape Filed on June 23, 2017, the case John Doe v. Oberlin, has brought up questions of what terms like rape culture and consent - ‘buzzwords,’ to some - might mean in different contexts.

During the 2015-16 school year, ‘John Doe,’ a sophomore at Oberlin at the time, was accused of sexual assault. The charges were brought to the Title IX office by a woman identified in the document as ‘Jane Roe.’ The College found Doe guilty on all counts, which resulted in his expulsion from the school in 2016.

Doe’s argument in John Doe v. Oberlin centers around the idea that a) the original ruling itself was incorrect, and that b) said the ruling was influenced by ‘gen-

der discrimination’ on the part of the Title IX Office and the College as a whole.

The document discusses the events of the night in question in graphic detail, going over the accounts of both parties and multiple witnesses. Ultimately, Doe claims that as he had ‘no way of knowing’ that Roe was too incapacitated to give consent, the College should not have found him responsible for all charges. As defined by Oberlin’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and inclusion, consent is informed, freely and actively given, mutually understandable, and specific to a given situation. In response to Doe’s requests of certain sexual acts, Jane Roe allegedly responded with answers that ranged from explicitly stating her intoxication to diversionary tactics of asking

him if he had protection, or in one case, asking if he could get her a drink of water. Regardless, just because someone isn’t incapacitated doesn’t mean that they are fully capable of consent; elements such as coercion, manipulation, and even societal conditioning can play into whether or not someone verbally consents to an act. Absolving oneself of guilt perpetu-

ates dangerous stereotypes about whose ‘responsibility’ it is to give or get consent. Oberlin College’s policies recognize these subtleties, as criticized by John Doe and his lawyers in an excessively italicized and bolded paragraph in the legal complaint:

[Oberlin College’s] website says, “. . . If someone feels assaulted, she or he has been, regardless of the ‘objective facts’ surrounding the incident.” What actually happened isn’t important, the Counseling Center proclaims to students and faculty alike; what matters is how an accusing student feels.

‘Mr. Doe’ of the court case claims that the College’s ruling and his subsequent expulsion were motivated by ‘gender discrimination’: he believes that he was only found guilty because he is male and his accuser is female. In support of this claim, the evidence he brings forth includes the Title IX policies that were revised in 2014, in an overhaul spearheaded by Meredith Raimondo. Says the file, “Ms. Raimondo has made clear that the 2014 Policy overhaul, and its implementation by her in her role as Oberlin’s Title IX Coordinator, were motivated by a gendered view of sexual misconduct as an offense committed primarily by men against women...she stated, as to her implementation of the 2014 Policy and its ethos, “I come to this work as a feminist committed to survivor-centered processes.” In her view, survivors are chiefly women, and the complainant-centered process she has established and implemented at Oberlin was gender-motivated.”

Raimondo’s statement of self-identification as a feminist, then, is seen by Mr. Doe’s counsel as indicative of her “gendered view” of sexual misconduct as being perpetrated by men against women.

Feminism, though, is an equity-based ideology; it is motivated not by a desire to take away from the rights of men but to dismantle the already existing oppressive structures that systemically place

dence for this alleged gender bias on the part of the Title IX office, the complaint brings up a statistic that, in any other situation, would be alarming: in 100% of the sexual discrimination and harassment cases brought through the Title IX office, the accused person or persons were found responsible on at least one charge. In fact, in 70% of the cases, the responding party was found responsible

“HISTORICALLY, APPROACHES TO HOLDING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE HAVEN’T BEEN PARTICULARLY VICTIM-CENTERED...WHEN IT STARTS TO BE MORE EQUITABLE, THAT CAN FEEL LIKE DISCRIMINATION.” women at a disadvantage. Alex Leslie, senior director of educational services at Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and speaker at the It’s More Than Asking for Consent event held last Tuesday, responded to this sentiment: “It’s a bit of a canard [to say] that an equitable process discriminates against men.” So yes, to shut down a classic 2014 Men’s Rights Activist argument — admittedly about policies implemented around that time — feminist =/= man-hater. As more evi-

for all charges. Mr. Doe argues that this statistic is representative of bias on the part of the Title IX office towards students who come forward with allegations. In response to this, Leslie looks to what conversations about consent have looked like in the past: “Historically, approaches to holding people accountable for sexual violence haven’t been particularly victim-centered...when it starts to be more equitable, that can feel like discrimination.”

Within situations where consent is concerned, prioritizing the voice of the party or parties who come forward can be instrumental in reversing the societal patterns of dismissal that so many victims of sexual assault, regardless of gender, have had to put up with. Ms. Roe’s choice to go through the trial means that she felt a strong enough conviction to subject not just Doe, but herself to the arduous process of reporting. Oberlin’s policy of believing student survivors is based not on a liberal, anti-men ideology, but on historical patterns and statistics. In the United States, 2-8% of sexual assault reports are false. Picking apart every case without regard for the survivor’s pain would create gross and unnecessary trauma.

Still, Mr. Doe manages to flip the victim-perpetrator narrative on its head, demanding Oberlin pay “compensatory damages as appropriate” in the order of $1 million in addition to $2 million for “punitive damages.” He cites “significant emotional and physical stress” as his reasoning for this, despite the fact that Ms. Roe was never compensated for the trauma.

Contact Staff Writer Leah Treidler and copy editor Keerthi Sridhharan at ltreidler@ oberlin.edu and ksridhar@oberlin.edu

Local Political Awareness as an Oberlin Summer Resident

BY MARTIN RABOT CONTRIBUTOR While Oberlin, Lorain County, and Ohio might not seem like the biggest ticket campaigns in the 2018 midterm elections, Oberlin College Junior Saul Kester sees it differently. An organizer for the Oberlin chapter of Indivisible, Kester emphasized that as the midterm elections draw near, students need to keep riding this wave of activism in reaction to the Trump election, no matter how small the campaign. I sat down with Kester to chat about the importance of staying politically active in Oberlin, especially for folks staying over the summer.

Indivisible is a nationwide group whose “mission is to cultivate and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies.” Formed in response to the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, the organization was founded around a guide compiled by former congressional staffers who know the ins and outs of achieving policy change. Initially focused on members of congress, Indi-

visible’s popular appeal has led to interest in state and local policy changes as well.

As a swing state, much is up for grabs in Ohio’s 2018 midterm election. While in the 2016 Presidential election, Ohio swung dramatically Right, in 2012, Obama won by 3 percentage points.

Sherrod Brown, our current senator, is currently the only Democrat holding statewide elected office but a likely opponent, Jim Renacci, recently received an endorsement from Trump via Twitter. “While he doesn’t always see exactly eye to eye with the types of progressive ideals we see at Oberlin, Brown has done a lot to support a bunch of progressive causes,” Kester said. “Plus, the two Republican candidates vying to replace him are so fucking extreme.” If Democrats are to have any hope of taking over the Senate, Brown needs to keep his seat.

The primaries will take place on May 8th and will set the tone for the Democratic ticket headed into the midterms.

In addition to the gubernatorial race, judicial seats, as well as both state and

national congressional seats are up for grabs in this round.

While Indivisible will not, at the time this paper will have gone to press, be officially active this summer, Kester welcomes any students who want to represent the organization this summer. “If you look at the history of social revolutions, you will see that students play incredibly paramount roles,” Kester asserted. “It can’t be emphasized enough that students will have a huge impact on this 2018 election.” “However,” Kester said, “ with this type of smaller scale organization, two people at a time going to canvass for a few hours in Cleveland or Elyria does not need to be through ‘official’ channels.” Kester recommends getting in contact with Lorain County Rising, a local Indivisible chapter, to get plugged into campaigns of special importance. “They will definitely be here and will have cars, so beyond forming a community outside of the college and town, getting in contact with those people will make it easier to be getting to important districts and areas.”

DR FEA AWN T U BY D RE S E E VIN DIT OR MCM A

HO

N,

According to Kester, there are a few other issues and elections on the May 8th ballot that voters should pay special attention to. Ballot Initiative 1 is regarding party gerrymandering in the state of Ohio. If one is opposed to gerrymandering, they should vote YES to Ballot Initiative 1 on May 8th, a vote for the state legislature to adopt stricter standards regarding redistricting. This vote links up well with another thought that Kester expressed to me, that “not everything we want to accomplish will be accomplished this year.” Nonetheless, stricter standards for redistricting will set a more even playing field for the elections of the

future. To pivot to elections themselves, Kester mentioned Ken Harbaugh’s campaign for Ohio’s 7th Congressional district. He is an electable candidate, a progressive who appeals to certain interests that are embedded in many Ohioans’ politics. Working in and around Avon on this campaign would be a very worthwhile service, according to Kester.

Above all, Kester expressed a desire for communities of students staying over the summer, no matter how small, to hold themselves accountable. Oberlin is a politically progressive campus, but to carry that over from campus to either home, or the town of Oberlin dur-

ing the summer, is overlooked. “People always talk about how boring Oberlin summer is, and how much time they have when they’re not working,” a sentiment that I myself have expressed many times. “Staying active and accountable during such an important election season is a way to remedy that, and have a truly meaningful experience.” Establishing a network of students who have stayed tuned in will be very helpful for those coming back, or just arriving, in the Fall. “Getting involved is just doing that bit more to make sure student are turning out,” Kester summed up. “Going out and having political conversations is

bringing us closer to participating in a livable community. We have to be active if we want to see this change. The marginal things are very important in Ohio because the election is always so close.

This is a bellwether for 2020, so this is a truly important election.” On May 8th, get out to your local polling stations and use your voice.

Keep an eye out for information from Indivisible on upcoming referendums and visit Indivisible’s room on Wilder Night on May 3rd for more information.

Contact Contributing Writer Martin Rabot at mrabot@oberlin.edu

How a Prank Raised Serious Questions about Oberlin’s Future

BY MALAYA NORDYKE CONTRIBUTOR On a gloomy Sunday morning earlier this month, panic struck the Oberlin College campus when WOBC’s beloved radio show, Live From Studio B, announced that it would hold its last session that day, Sunday April 1st. This “last session” was later revealed to be an April Fools prank, however the prank was all too credible. With the College in obvious financial crisis, students were quick to believe that student organizations like Studio B might be on the chopping block, especially seeing as the announcement followed another recent announcement that Dascomb dining hall would be also closing due to budget cuts. This prank, however, raised more serious questions from the student body regarding what other Oberlin programs may be at risk of getting cut.

Fact is, Oberlin has a multi-million dollar deficit and needs to cut spending as much as it can. The school has proposed 10% cuts in each academic department. However, what these cuts will look like remains largely unclear to the faculty and student body.

Each department has been asked to justify their budgets more than they have ever been required in the past, and administration is freezing salaries for a second year running. But according to Student Finance Committee member and College Senior Josh Koller, we don’t have a lot to worry about in regards to student organizations like Studio B. “Student organizations are not at risk in the same way [as academics and facilities],” Koller said, “They

are not part of the review of the operating budget costs.” However, as the announcement of the closing of Dascomb made clear, unfortunately the sector of the school that employs a huge number of community members is what was

student tuition alone does not cover the cost of employing as many workers as it currently does -- especially considering the College’s decreasing retention and enrollment rates. Cutting staff may be a direct and immediate measure to cut

cussed behind closed doors. Some workers at Stevie hope that the school will be able to relocate the workers at Dascomb to other dining locations, but workers at Dascomb seem less optimistic. One Dascomb attendant noted: “As far as I

know… I (will) probably start looking for other jobs.”

An attendant at Stevie pointed out the declining number of students attending dining halls this year. In years past, Stevie would get a minimum of 600 “swipes in” per meal. Now, they are maxing out at 300-400. She worries that as the cost of meal plans rise, “fewer students will use dining halls, and the more jobs will be lost.” However, the school’s new “300 meal swipes-per-semester” could possibly be an attempt to impede this trend.

But asking students to sign up for bigger meal plans while cutting available dining demonstrates the dire position the school is in, one in which students are inevitably going to have to take on bigger financial burdens while sacrificing a whole lot more. But shrinking amenities could negatively affect our already decreasing enrollment rate, leaving the college in a constant state of insufficient funding.

Koller thinks that “the best thing we can do is tackle the issues as a community.” Keeping the dialogue open between the college, students, and especially with PHOTO TAKEN BY HANNNAH BERK, community employees could be our optiPRODUCTION EDITOR mal strategy.

deemed as disposable in the budget.

According to Koller, Oberlin has an “enormous amount of employees in terms of employee-student ratio,” with the number of employees reaching well beyond 1,000. This means that the income that the College receives from

costs, but what about people’s jobs?

I sat down with several CDS workers who all wish to remain anonymous, and each of them expressed that they have essentially been “left in the dark.” They know Dascomb is closing, but the logistics of the closure have only been dis-

Contact Contributing Writer Malaya Nordyke at mnordyke@oberlin.edu

The Ever-Evolving Studio B

BY NELL BECK CONTRIBUTING WRITER “Lazy Sundays” don’t exist for Live from Studio B, Oberlin’s live-performance radio show. While the rest of campus is sleepy and slow, perusing the omelet bar at Stevie or lining up for a bagel at the Local, a small corner of the third floor of Wilder Hall is alive and buzzing.

“We don’t have Sunday brunch because we have to be in the studio by noon,” Becca Winer, the executive producer of Studio B, tells me. “So before the first session of the semester, we had a big brunch at my house.

I made a bunch of waffles for the new staff and we were just hanging out. There was a really beautiful moment when we were all full of waffles and the sun was really bright and we all went to my bedroom and laid on the bed and just giggled for a long time.”

“Wait,” says Sara Calderon, one of two audio producers, “that totally did happen, and I really didn’t know any of you that well, either. And I didn’t think anything of it!”

“I think that’s a metaphor,” Cena Loffredo, the other audio producer, adds.

“We all didn’t know each other that well but we all decided to jump right into, uh, the… bed.”

“I love that metaphor, honestly,” Sara says. Composed of six staff members soon to be five, with the Winer’s impending graduation - Studio B is intimate, in more ways than one. Every Sunday at 2pm, local and touring artists gather in the tiny studio at the top of Wilder to give a live, hourlong performance. It’s a small room that they work in, with just enough space for an occasional chair-jump (you can see Emma Lee Toyoda’s performance on the Studio B website or on YouTube). The walls are masked by sound-absorbent, ceiling-high shelves of records, and various camp lights are strung about and repositioned

according to who is performing. The control room, where the audio producers mix and the executive producer talks to the performers, is visible through a thick window. At the end of the hour, ears are buzzing and the performers - who could be anyone from locals and Oberlin students to big-name acts like Frankie Cosmos and Girlpool - have a very professional recording up on Bandcamp and video on YouTube, all at no cost to the artist.

“You wouldn’t be able to get this service for free, I think, at this level, anywhere else,” says Winer. “And we’re so here for it.”

Studio B was founded in 2013 by Charles Glanders, a TIMARA major who graduated in 2014. Inspired by radio sessions such as KEXP and AudioTree, Glanders spent the summer before his senior year planning how to use the space of Studio B, which he tells me was “largely unused, with the exception of a couple of one-off recording sessions and a radio drama show… I figured it could be beneficial to the college and community to try and do a weekly broadcast of live acts.

This snowballed into the recording and video project it is today.”

Now, Glanders is a live sound engineer going on the road with bands, but also works as a house engineer at venues in Chicago. Looking back on the progress made by Studio B, he says that it “has turned into something much greater than I could ever have imagined. Becca Winer has done amazing things with the show in her programming and her staffing… [they] have fulfilled and gone so far above and beyond the goals that I set out to reach when I first started the program.”

In a show of how much Studio B has changed since its inception, this is the first

time that there are no men on the staff.

“It’s really cool for me,” Fiona Brennan, one of two video producers, says about it.

STUDIO B USED TO BE, LIKE, GRUNGY LOGO, VERY DARK, WITH VERY PUNK ADVERTISING, AND NOW WE LOOK LIKE WE MIGHT BE A CHILDREN’S TV SHOW. “I’ve been on staff for a bit and it’s often women video producers and male audio producers, and I feel like there was this divide that was very much like, ‘women do the video, men do the audio’... I definitely felt like it was something I couldn’t do, so it’s really cool to have non-dudes behind the scenes of audio production. That’s, like, not a thing, that non-dudes are behind cameras and in the booth, so I thought that was really cool, and it’s a much more accessible space for me now.”

The music industry, specifically the behind-the-scenes aspect of it, is far too often strictly dominated by cis male people. According to a study done by

The University of Southern California's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, nonmales are drastically marginalized in music production. It found that 98% of 651 producers were male, and only two out of the remaining 2% were females from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.

The fact that Studio B has made strides away from that narrative is exciting. And it’s affecting, and impressing, many of the artists who come to Studio B as well.

“There was a really beautiful moment when Sara and I were with Margaret McCarthy, who performed under the name Mid-Atlantic Rift,” Loffredo says, “and she was just so happy that this staff was working with her, and was talking a lot about how she’s so excited to see people like us… being in these fields of video, audio, production, all of that. There’s just the excitement that this is the future, and she was just talking about what great vibes it was for her and how comfortable she felt, and that’s just the best thing that we can hear from an artist when they’re working with us.”

But despite certain gains, the staff of Studio B recognizes that there is still a long way to go in terms of making Studio B open and available to all.

“It’s challenging because Studio B is unavoidably really inaccessible,” Winer says. “It’s a room in Wilder that’s always locked and only six people on campus have access to the key, and we can only have so many people in the studio at a time.”

It’s unsurprising that many students might view Studio B as off-limits and exclusive. It’s small, and it’s also very professional. The staff provides high-quality work, which can be very intimidating, especially for those who might just be starting out in music

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Photo by Becca Winer or performance. Broadcasting your own work, live on radio and video, is undoubtedly scary for those who are not used to doing it, or have never done it before. But Studio B was created, as Glanders says, as “a place where both the community and the college could come together to appreciate live music…

I wanted to create a platform that bands, engineers and videographers could use to hone their skills and build a portfolio.”

Studio B was created for those who are starting out, who are excited about music and production and want to broadcast their work further.

“I think a lot of times, people think of Studio B, and they hear the name Frankie Cosmos, and they’re like, ‘I have to be as good and as famous as her,’” says Leah Treidler, another video producer, “and that’s just not true. It’s really about the local artists that we really want to boost, it’s not about these touring bands that come in. It’s amazing that they come and that we can offer them this service but really, this is for Oberlin students and community members, for people who really need that boost.”

“It is scary,” Winer says. “But we really try to make it a fun environment for every artist that comes in… Studio B used to be, like, grungy logo, very dark, with very punk advertising, and now we look like we might be a children’s TV show. We just want to be super friendly and accessible and make everyone feel welcome.”

Mobey Irizarry, a third-year CAST and TIMARA major who has performed on

Studio B three times, twice as their solo act, Xango/suave, and once in a band called Pink Whiskey Playhouse, calls Studio B “super invaluable.”

“Every time [I’ve played] I’ve felt more and more at home in the space. Becca Winer and the various crews she has worked with have always been incredibly fun to work with and feed off of… It’s an incredible resource and privilege to have professional-quality videos of your music online for free… The videos have been really useful to get more people to listen to my music, and as supporting material when booking shows for tours in places where people do not know me or my music.”

But despite the great service offered, Studio B has still struggled with racial diversity. If you ever find yourself scrolling through the Studio B website, adorned with thumbnail images of each session, you might find yourself looking at a lot of white men. Winer, though, has done a lot of work to try to change that over the past few years, and, to a good extent, she has.

Diversity among the performers at Studio B has drastically improved - the majority of performers who have performed on Studio B this spring have been people of color - but Studio B is still working to do more.

Loffredo points out that “we’re thinking about that all the time, about who we bring to Studio B and why we bring them to Studio B, and how we can keep making it better. It’s really cool to see how different it is now from when it

started, but it’s also really clear how much more work needs to be done.”

While Studio B is certainly making strides toward a more diverse cast of performers and musicians, that same diversity is lacking within the staff itself.

It is vastly important, of course, for Studio B to promote and support the work of people of color, especially considering the fact that an overwhelming amount of their guests have been white; it is just as important, though, that they are taking a hard look at themselves as well.

“Since Studio B was started 5 years ago, there has been very slow and very little progress made in diversifying the production staff itself. We're not proud of this but can't ignore it,” the staff said in a statement by email. “We hope that opening up the space to a more diverse range of artists and performers in our community is the first step to increase POC involvement behind the scenes in Studio B - in our Workgroup ExCo, at our events, and especially in the producer’s booth, and are working hard to promote inclusivity to a much higher degree in order to make that happen in the future.”

Far too often, we see public organizations, whether it be in the world of radio, music, journalism, etc., promote diversity on the surface, without actually doing the same within their own workforce and leadership. If Studio B really wants to make a change, they should be cognisant of their own behindthe-scenes shortcomings as well.

Perhaps this will improve through

Studio B’s increased effort to reach the wider Oberlin community, rather than just those already involved with WOBC. Originally another WOBC workgroup, they turned it into an ExCo in the spring semester of 2017. Even though students still have to apply and then be accepted, it does lead to much more visibility for those who have never been involved with radio programs at Oberlin.

“Something that’s cool about doing an ExCo and not just a workgroup is that we’re opening up to the whole campus,” Brennan says.

With just over a month left in this semester, Studio B is in a moment of transition and change. Recently, the station has expanded to include nonmusician artists, with performances by the cast of Angels in America and the Oberlin College Stand Up Collective. They have also started a new Studio B series called “WOBC Remote,” in which artists perform in different spaces across campus - it recently debuted with a performance

by Mid-Atlantic Rift in the Science Center Greenhouse.

“Sometimes people don’t realize they can come to us with ideas, and should come to us with ideas, to break the mold of Studio B. We’d never done a Remote session before… which was totally Margaret’s idea,” Loffredo says.

And, come May, Winer will graduate and Jane Rissover-Plotke, currently a first-year, will take over as the new executive producer of Studio B. Before meeting Rissover-Plotke, Winer didn’t know how she was going to leave Studio B. “There were definitely times when I was worried… like, ‘Can we find anyone crazy enough to do this crazy thing? But then we always find someone crazy enough to do this thing! Look at us, we’re all crazy! And finding Jane was just like, ‘Ah, yes -’” “You’re crazy too!” Loffredo says.

Rissover-Plotke is eager and ready for her new title as well. “I talk about Studio B with my friends all the time,” she say. “I’m really excited to have new voices be heard, because that’s one of the most important things, knowing that what you care about, what you’re passionate about, matters, and that other people are curious about what you’re interested in. It’s just really cool to be a part of a group.”

“I think it’s time for a fresh new face of Studio B,” Winer says. “This is the best staff I’ve ever worked with and they’re all continuing on… the future of Studio B is bright as day.”

Contact Contributing Writer Nell Beck at nbeck@oberlin.edu

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Experimental Film Takes A Field Trip Site-Specific Installations on Mudd Ramp

BY ABBY LEE CONTRIBUTING WRITER If you entered or exited Mudd on Thursday, April 12th, chances are you probably heard the sounds of synthesizers, whirring machines, and recorded voicemails. If you set foot on the library’s main ramp, you might have caught sight of a large piece of fabric in the foliaged and unused area at the base of the building, with dreamy projections lighting up its surface. If you saw this and didn’t investigate any further, allow me to shed some light on the event.

This pop-up art piece, along with another work hidden underneath the ramp and one in Mudd’s fourth-floor shooting studio, were part of an installation series created by students in Professor Rian Brown’s Experiments in Moving Image and Sound II class. Throughout the first two weeks of April, Brown’s students set up site-specific experimental film installations in a series called Field Trips I-IV. The installations occupied various locations around campus, such as Hall Auditorium and the basements of Noah and Hales.

Thursday’s installations under the Mudd ramp, by fourth-year Cinema Studies major Josh Blankfield and fifthyear TIMARA major Margaret McCarthy, brought forth an exciting opportunity for the Oberlin community to engage with experimental film, whether they

Blankfield's piece

intended to or not. Blankfield’s piece, a three-channel video installation, projected distorted footage of sunlight onto white fabric arranged like a three sided cube. Spectators could fully immerse themselves within the cube, while listening to a loop of ambient music and sentimental voicemails, like this one from someone’s mother: “Mumsie here, missing you, thinking about you. We’ve got these beautiful yellow and red tulips…

It’s finally starting to be spring, I think we’ve had the last cold day. Can’t wait to see you, we love you. Bye, my darling.

Be good.” Blankfield says of his intention with the installation, “I wanted to make something that felt nostalgic and intimate that would be nestled in a very open and public space.”

For her piece, McCarthy constructed water beds and positioned them directly under the ramp. Viewers were meant to lie down on the beds to look at a projection directly above them, showing fuzzy, unspecific moving imagery, reminiscent of aquatic organisms. The film was coupled with a looped soundtrack meant to reflect the sounds of water using only electronic tones. “The idea of my project was to make an immersive watery space. I wanted the audience feel like they were underwater, but in a surreal

way. I was also thinking about the idea of humanmade versions of natural spaces, and the boundary between synthetic and natural,” McCarthy says.

The piece offered a full body sensory experience; the plastic beds filled with cold water recreated the sensation of jumping into a freezing pool.

One of the main goals of public and interactive installation is to destroy our ostensible concepts of time and space. It’s certainly not every day that one comes across an interactive installation on the way into the library.

This event broke the boundaries of space that students and members of this community are accustomed to viewing art in. The art scene at Oberlin exists in somewhat of a vacuum, with student work mostly housed in the various art buildings on the eastern side of campus. Art Walk, the typical end of semester event that invites the community to view what studio art students are doing, has been cancelled this semester, with many rumors circulating around the reason why. A few groups and collectives on campus put on events that showcase non-class associated work, but those events can feel inaccessible for some students.

These installations, where no one needed an invitation to participate, created an accessible space that encouraged self-reflection through active engagement with the pieces. Even the artists were delightfully surprised by the level of interaction that occured. McCarthy says, “It was especially exciting when community members and other students came who were drawn in by the sounds and lights of both Josh's and my pieces.

It was nice to see people who probably hadn't expected to encounter these installations engaging and interacting

McCarthy's piece with them.”

In a way, the site specificity creates a different kind of space vacuum: one where the concrete walls of our main library become the place for light and sound to provoke personal introspection.

Additionally, these public installations offered the people who visited an unplanned communal experience.

Together, they witnessed Blankfield and McCarthy’s art as individuals, and as a whole, creating a unique community of spectatorship. Then, after two and a half hours, the whole thing disappears and Mudd returns to its status as just a library.

The class will exhibit four more sitespecific installations from May 1-10, so if you missed this one, keep an out eye for those coming up next month.

Contact Contributing Writer Abby Lee at alee@oberlin.edu

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In Praise of Chopping Mall

BY JOEY SHAPIRO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Sensual guitar fingerpicking echoes through an abandoned shopping mall furniture store as the camera slowly pans right to reveal two high school students aggressively making out on a couch. The boy, shirtless, pantsless, and charmless, removes his lips from the girl’s to look her deeply in the eyes and say those four words every teenage girl dreams of hearing: “You smell like pepperoni.”

She’s taken aback, getting up from the couch and crossing her arms in protest—a reasonable reaction to being compared to a deli meat mid-hookup. “Well, if that’s the way you feel.” He bounces back with shocking grace by reassuring her, “Hey, wait a minute… I like pepperoni.” They have sex.

This exchange from the 1986 robotsmassacring-horny-teenagers film Chopping Mall is not an anomaly. In fact, it’s a pretty typical scene in a movie made up of shockingly inane dialogue, stilted acting, and special effects that consist solely of robots shooting bright red laser beams and exploding heads. But that could be said about most low-budget ‘80s horror movies, and it would be a crime to lump Chopping Mall in with every other cheap slasher and direct-to-video exploitation film that the VHS boom produced. No, Chopping Mall is something else entirely: a movie with simple ambitions and not a hint of pretension, a low-budget miracle

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that’s there for a good time, not a long time. Chopping Mall is for me what Star Wars was to my parents’ generation: a movie deeply rooted in cinematic clichés that somehow did everything right in such

THE IDEA THAT THIS BRAND OF CAMPINESS AND FRIVOLITY SEEN IN CHOPPING MALL IS AN INFERIOR CINEMATIC MODE TO RESTRAINT AND SOPHISTICATION IS ONE OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE—AND WILDLY ELITIST—IDEAS IN MODERN FILM CRITICISM. a way as to change the game.

Unfortunately, not everybody thinks Chopping Mall changed the game. It may shock some readers to find that a small handful of critics (read: every film critic in the Western world) dismissed the film upon release as a run-of-the-mill B-movie

THE GRAPE

with few if any redeeming qualities. It is admittedly derivative; while it technically doesn’t qualify as a slasher—the killers are mall security robots gone rogue rather than human serial killers—it follows the structure of the typical ‘80s slasher beat-for-beat, never quite diverting from familiar horror formulas. As is par for the course in low-budget horror, the characters too are paper-thin and their only two modes are fuck or die, which doesn’t leave much room for narrative complexity.

That being said, why do good movies have to be artful? Lincoln is artistically accomplished but I still fell asleep in the theater three—count ‘em, three—times while watching it, as did most of America.

Chopping Mall is made with love, not art; there is a palpable glee in every frame as it transcends all bounds of good taste and coalesces into some kind of cannibalistic super-B-movie, stealing bits from countless sci-fi and horror films that came before it and forcing them all together like mismatched puzzle pieces. Director Jim Wynorski—who you may know from such real, not-made-up erotic horror films as The Bare Wench Project, Paraknockers Activity, and The Hills Have Thighs—is nothing if not transparent about his intentions to make a fun movie rather than a groundbreaking one, but the film is hardly cynical or lazily made;

there’s more passion and joy embedded into Chopping Mall than in every bullshit Steven Spielberg prestige film combined.

It’s a crass love letter to ‘50s B-movies like I Was a Teenage Werewolf and The Blob, appropriating their camp sensibility while amping up the sex and violence to the standards of mid-‘80s horror.

The idea that this brand of campiness and frivolity seen in Chopping Mall is an inferior cinematic mode to restraint and sophistication is one of the most destructive—and wildly elitist—ideas in modern film criticism. So many of the so-called cinematic greats are drenched in camp: King Kong has the production values of a middle-schooler’s claymation YouTube video and Sunset Boulevard is one degree of separation away from Mommy Dearest, Gloria Swanson practically redefining the word “diva.”

Camp and greatness are not mutually exclusive and guilty pleasures are a myth: if you enjoyed a movie then why should you have to apologize for it? If you love Showgirls or Halle Berry’s Catwoman— and, if you’re human, you do—then shout it from a rooftop! God knows I would rather watch security robots shoot sexcrazed teenagers with laser beams than sit through a “real” movie like Lincoln again.

Contact Contributing Writer Joey Shapiro at jshapiro@oberlin.edu

Behind the Angels: Director Matthew Wright and the Accompanying Installation

BY CHARLIE RINEHART-JONES CONTRIBUTING WRITER The Oberlin Theater Department tackled one of its biggest productions in its history by deciding to put on Tony Kushner’s acclaimed “Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” Angels in America. After seeing the production for myself, I was curious about the director behind it and how the production came to be. Not every college theater department would be willing to tackle a seven-hour long production about the AIDS epidemic, and Theater Department Professor Matthew Wright has been waiting for the right time to put on the production. When I asked him about the process of getting the production approved, he said, “there were a lot of coincidences that sort of took place all at once.” He knew that a production was going to be put on at the National Theatre in London, and later found out that the show was coming to Broadway in March.

“The play means a lot to me for a lot of different reasons,” he said. “It meant a lot to me when I saw it as an audience member when it first opened in New York, and then I played Prior Walter in both parts in 1997 and that was a very important experience

in my life as an actor. And so I loved the play and I always thought that Oberlin would be the perfect place to do it.”

Wright went on to tell me that during the production selection process last Fall, he had been hoping to pitch the idea.

He felt confident that the school would have enough eager participants to put on the production, which was a necessity because Wright had always known that he wanted to double cast the production. He wanted as many students to be involved as possible. Wright proposed the production to his colleagues, and for a while the future of the idea was unclear, as schoolwork for both students and faculty began to take over people’s time. Suddenly, Wright was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and everything was put on hold while Wright took a leave of absence to take care of surgery and chemotherapy. During Wright’s absence, the Theater department made its final decisions on what main stage productions it was going to put on, all while grappling with potential restrictions on space due to the construction going on nearby Hall and many of the other

important Theater spaces. Despite all of the potential challenges, the department approved Angels in America as two of the three main stage productions for the Spring semester. The cast began preparing during Winter Term.

Before meeting with Wright, I had been particularly curious about how the installation outside of the theater came to be. The installation (pictured here), consists of two banners, one with the words “silence=death,” the other “AIDS is not over.” Silence=Death was the iconic terminology used on posters for ACT UP that caught national attention, while “AIDS is not over” aims to remind viewers of the production that the AIDS epidemic is ongoing; it still ravages communities domestically and around the world. In between the banners is a three-sided structure coated in pictures of victims of the AIDS epidemic.

The installation serves as a reminder that the subject matter of the production isn’t simply a relic of the past, but a testament to the ongoing relevance and direness of AIDS. Wright explained to me

that the installation was created by the play’s dramaturges, Ryan Linskey and Alex Kohn, and that they were given the responsibility of researching the history and meaning of scenes and references in the play to share with the cast. Wright explained that he had delegated the task of creating a lobby display to the dramaturges, who then came up with the piece themselves. “I wanted something that had visual impact and was arresting in some way,” he said. They played around with a lot of ideas, but eventually came to the idea of banners. When he walked into Hall the day before opening night and saw the installation that the dramaturges had come up with, Wright thought “that’s it.”

Wright said that he truly felt like the whole team made a “gift for the community,” and concluded our talk by saying that he felt incredibly pleased because “everyone came and did their best work."

Contact Contributing Writer Charlie Rinehart-Jones at crinehar@oberlin.edu

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As you are, AS I AM Oberlin’s APID Literary Magazine Makes A Return!

BY JOSE BARRERA CONTRIBUTING WRITER So what is AS I AM? AS I AM is an AsianPacific Islander Diasporic publication which is making a comeback this year.

I had the privilege of interviewing some students involved in its resurrection on what the publication is about, and their mission as it moves forward. Jenn Lin (she/her/hers), Lyala Khan (she/her/ hers), and Elise Hardebeck (she/her/hers) are part of AS I AM’s revival team. They shared a few words with me regarding the publication coming back to life, as well as about issues of representation on campus and in the world.

“It is the Asian Pacific Islander Diaspora literary magazine,” Hardebeck says. “We provide a platform for APID identifying students to share their art and creative content. Most of what we know about the history of AS I AM is from speculation and archival data, so we can only really speak for the evolution of the current iteration.”

Lin says, “We are trying to decentralise East Asian voices and experiences more than in the past. This was part of our move to change from Asian-American centric to the diaspora. The word Asian-American can be perceived as ambiguous. We’ve noticed in past issues from the 90s to the early 2000s kind of a reflection in these discussion about Asianess in America.

Our understandings of these concepts continue to evolve.”

It’s important to have characters in popular media represent their audience; it is important that we see ourselves as well as portray ourselves. Providing a platform for different identities is important as our world continues to reach people in different, exciting ways. It takes a lot of work. In our Oberlin community, we find the publication AS I AM, an initiative to publish the voices and arts of Asian and Asian-American students on campus and thus draw attention to their presence on campus and in the U.S. “Our publication exists to provide a space where Asian Pacific Islander Diasporic artists will not be overshadowed by white artists,” Hardebeck begins. “In a society where our narratives are often overwritten by others, I think our work is particularly important because we're bringing out voices who want to and do take back ownership of their experiences.” Khan adds, “Our

existence is political and definitely relates to identity struggles but the work that we accept and publish isn't necessarily about identity. The magazine is about showcasing art made by APID artists.”

AS I AM was on hiatus between 201316, but the team is back and in the process of shaping their mission statement. “The mission of AS I AM is constantly evolving with the changing needs and wants of the community,” says Lin. And that’s not a bad thing. “We try to structure our magazine to evolve along with the community and to cater primarily to the needs of the community,” Kahn says. “We aim to foster solidarity within the community and also share our narratives with the larger Oberlin community.” I asked how they believe AS I AM fits into the Oberlin community, and Hardebeck replied, “We’re still growing and finding our place here. We are still relatively unknown within the APID community and working to establish ourselves.”

AS I AM recieves submissions from students, and “is for students who identify as APID,” says Khan, “but we are very aware of the fact that we do to represent the whole community.” Hardebeck discusses the kinds of submissions they recieve: “This semester we received a lot of visual art - we usually get prose, poetry, visual art and some film music. We don’t usually reject any pieces but we do have a vetting system and sensitivity readers.” Once reviewed, the covers and overall layout of the magazine are designed, followed by the mission statement and letter from the staff. Once everything is laid out and ordered, the final print is sent out, with usually around 150 copies distributed.

I ask the three what it means to them to be an APID publication in terms of accessibility, diversity, and authenticity.

Khan begins by saying that, “Being an APID publication, we struggle with representation often...our staff and submissions are largely East Asiancentric and we struggle with maintaining diversity without tokenizing marginalized populations. We can't force people to submit.” Lin follows, saying, “We are trying not to police peoples experiences, and I feel like we try to reject the idea of authenticity because we can’t often know

what it means. I think that’s why we try to accept all work sent to us because you can be an APID artist and not make art centered in identity… often, [APID] artists can be tokenized and misrepresented in media; we are trying to change these dominant narratives by bringing voices from within the community.”

Hardebeck continues, saying, “Something we’re discussing now within our staff is whether or not to include the Pacific Islander in our label as an APID publication. The history of Pacific

IN A SOCIETY WHERE OUR NARRATIVES ARE OFTEN OVERWRITTEN

BY OTHERS, I THINK OUR WORK IS PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT BECAUSE WE'RE BRINGING OUT VOICES WHO WANT TO AND DO TAKE BACK OWNERSHIP OF THEIR EXPERIENCES.

Islanders in the U.S. and Asian-American communities is complex and often undermines PI communities, yet at the same time there are so few spaces for PI students on this campus that taking that label out would be even more limiting.

We also must recognize our position of power as a relatively more numerous and represented group as Asians, so this omission is not a decision for us to define; to come to a conclusion amongst ourselves would be hypocritical and damaging, nor would consulting only one or two members of the PI community

be responsible. I guess for us there is no assured state of perfectly representing all of the APID community, as Lyala said, but rather than try to force it onto people and paint ourselves as a united front, we’d like to be mindful about the diversity and relations that occur within the larger APID community and take up only the space that is appropriate for us. That may or may not mean dropping the PI.” I was curious about how AS I AM fit into the discourse regarding the lack of representation of diverse cultures in media and the public eye. Organizations such as Wong Fu Productions have recently gained spotlight attention for offering platforms for different perspectives and bringing attention the issue of representation. I ask Khan, Lin, and Hardebeck how they see AS I AM functioning as a platform, and how that platform can benefit from community support: What first steps can other multi-culturally based organizations and communities take to begin that process of establishing a platform? What can people from outside communities, especially white people, do to support those communities in a transformative, meaningful and intentional way?

Hardebeck begins by saying “A lot of people on the outside who don’t identify with this community will probably see our publication and Wong Fu as niche things.

That’s probably the hardest part of our struggle. We think that people see us as niche because of the impression that our magazine is entirely about identity.” Khan affirms that submissions should not be restricted by topics of identity. “This art could be anything, and a presence in the magazine is not supposed to force people to conform to or be limited by an identity.”

Speaking to the publication’s reception on campus, and AS I AM’s plans for the future, Lin says “So far, we have been lucky to get support from many organizations on campus. We are in the process of getting chartered and I think people are excited to see where the magazine goes.”

“Coming this summer, I’ll be working on a website and an archival project to make the magazine more accessible to students and alumni. We’re hoping to bring a speaker in sometime next year, and we’re hoping to expand our

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workshops and membership. Hopefully by distributing our publication to all parts of the Oberlin community, we can inform our peers about our experiences without certain distortions that would skew representation,” says Hardebeck.

The three allowed me to see a couple of submissions from students, and, believe me, they are powerful. There is a unique vitality in images, words, and expressions that come from personal experience. AS I AM may not be the ultimate solution to solving issues of representation, but it is certainly an inspiration for those voices that get lost within their diaspora to share their art with the larger world. I am not suggesting that artists owe it to the masses to share their stories, but I do believe in the power of public narratives. Art can be many things; there’s no criterion for what is “proper” art. Art comes from what

doesn’t tear the heart apart; it comes from a place of wanting to rebuild, of wanting to grow. I am not of the Asian Pacific Islander diaspora, but I am of the Latinx diaspora, and we share that which many other diasporas share - the constant struggle of figuring out what identity and inclusivity means for all of us. I believe the promotion of artistic platforms, such as AS I AM, is one way of beginning to figure that out.

Lin adds, “Keep an eye out for our next edition which will be released sometime in May! You can also reach us with questions and comments via asiamoberlin@gmail. com.”

Contact Contributing Writer Jose Barrera at jbarrera@oberlin.edu

Photo from Oberlin at Grafton website

Oberlin Drama at Grafton Blends Art and Rehabilitation in Prison

BY NELL BECK CONTRIBUTING WRITER A prison might be one of the last places you would expect to see a performance of a Shakespeare play, but Grafton Reintegration Center is home to many of them, thanks to the Oberlin Drama at Grafton (ODAG) program, founded in 2012 by Dr. Phyllis Gorfain, a professor emerita of English at Oberlin. Led by Gorfain, and with the help of a few Oberlin College students, the residents at Grafton create and perform theater productions, mostly those by Shakespeare, but including other playwrights as well.

Grafton Reintegration Center is a minimum-security, all-male prison approximately thirty minutes outside of Oberlin. The residents are those who are within five years of a parole hearing or scheduled release, meaning that they are at Grafton for a variety of crimes, ranging from unarmed burglary to homicide; some even started out on death row but, most likely through good behavior, have reached the reintegration center. For the residents planning for futures after Grafton, or simply looking for a momentary escape from prison life, ODAG provides them with an incomparable chance to explore themselves, their pasts, and the lives of others through theater.

“Shakespeare enables people to engage in very probing self-examination,” Gorfain says. “The reason Shakespeare works very well… is that his characters are engaged in very passionate, extreme situations, and that accords with a lot of the life experiences [of the men at Grafton]... No matter what

mistakes [Shakespeare’s characters] make, particularly in the tragedies, we are engaged with them deeply… we recognize our shared humanity.”

Many of the themes found in Shakespeare’s works resonate with the residents. Gorfain told me that the prominence of domestic violence in Othello relates to the abuse that many of the residents who have participated in ODAG have experienced themselves, saying that “almost all of the people in the group had been abused themselves, often by stepfathers, very occasionally by a mother.”

The men who participate in ODAG which is entirely voluntary on their part - are allowed to choose which characters they wish to play, but the directors do emphasize that they should try a part that they might not personally feel that they can relate to or want to avoid playing.

Often, these end up being the female roles.

It can be very difficult to convince the men at Grafton to take on the part of one of the women in the play, but, when they do, it often ends up being very rewarding and revealing for them. Once, a resident played Desdemona in a performance of Othello - and it changed his entire perspective on women and the way in which he had treated them.

“He said, ‘Desdemona has become my moral compass,’” Gorfain says. “In playing her, he came to see himself through Desdemona’s eyes, and he reviewed everything he had said and done with

women through Desdemona’s eyes, and [said] that he would never again speak about or treat women in the way he had before.”

In addition to Shakespeare, ODAG has performed works written by playwrights such as August Wilson and Samuel Beckett. In 2016, Oberlin student Lillian White ‘16 wrote and directed an original piece based on the stories of the men at Grafton titled And Yet We’ll Speak. Now, ODAG is working on another original piece centered around the residents’ stories, written and directed by Naomi Roswell ‘18, titled What Really Matters.

“For this show, we began without a script, a plot, or even characters, and instead invested in each other's stories,” Roswell says. “We not only built and rehearsed a play, but we all had a chance to consider ‘what really matters’ when it comes to relationships with family and friends.”

Roswell says that “getting to know the men at Grafton is a little bit like running up a down escalator. We have established a lot of mutual respect and trust, but at the end of the day, I get to leave the prison, and I get to contain the pieces of their lives they share with me inside my own frame and even after more than a year of working together there is so much we don’t know about each other.”

Yet, with conversation-building questions such as “What’s something you’re an expert at?” and “What’s your best coincidence story?” the men provided

Roswell with some very personal accounts: “I have learned about some of the defining moments in [their] lives, ranging from having to decide to take a mother off of life support to meeting a half-brother for the first time and sparking reconnection with [that] side of the family.”

After months of work, the show opened on April 23 for the general population of Grafton and was followed by three other performances. Due to security concerns, those who come from outside of the prison must be invited, either by Gorfain, the student directors, or others working with ODAG. As ODAG, and similar programs such as Oberlin Music at Grafton (OMAG), show, art is a powerful form of rehabilitation, one that allows those who have gone through extremely trying times to reexamine and change their lives. Deja Alexander ‘18, who has been is working with ODAG since the spring of 2016 and is an assistant director majoring in theater and psychology, says that “theater is a mirror held to the world.

These men have grown and changed so much as they have been able to freely explore world concepts and situations through theater in ODAG. Prison should be a place to really rehabilitate… the presence of theater and ODAG makes it a more positive and transformative space.”

Contact Contributing Writer Nell Beck at nbeck@oberlin.edu

APRIL 28, 2018

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What I Wish I Was Told as a Freshmen

BY HANNAH KELLY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Lone wolves can have fun.

I used to not go to events alone because I was worried the world would judge me as a social pariah. But honestly? Fuck the world.

Live your life. Don’t have a date to the ‘Sco? Friend bailed on you last minute before the concert? Go with me, myself, and I. You’ll regret it if you don’t.

Quick N Delicious is quick and delicious.

It breaks my heart that I had never even thought of going to this restaurant (located just outside of downtown, next to the CVS) until this semester. A treasure hidden in plain sight. I have so little time left with you, but I promise we’ll make the most of it.

You may not get laid all the time (and that’s ok).

People made it sound like I would show up at college and a line of cute guys would form outside my door, trailing down the hall, winding round the corner, down that hall, and down the stairs. The only line like that is the sandwich line at DeCafe. The truth is, it may be extraordinarily difficult to find a person you want to have sex with at Oberlin.

You may not find a person you want to have sex with at Oberlin. You may not want to have sex. So don’t wait until senior year to buy yourself that vibrator or e i t Sex will come eventually -- in the meantime, enjoy yourself.

LOCK YO R BIKE

It WILL be that ONE time you leave your bike unlocked outside Dascomb for ten minutes that it gets stolen. Take it from the girl who had two bikes stolen. LOCK. YO R. BIKE.

Advice from a Graduating Senior Skunks look a lot like cats in the dark.

Make sure that the feral cat you are about to try to pet is not actually a skunk.

(For Psych majors): Learn SPSS.

Study it, pay attention to it, practice it, take it out to dinner, make love to it if you have to. Because your journey with SPSS has ONLY BEG N when you finish Research Methods II.

To everyone who will get rejected by the Creative Writing major: It doesn’t matter.

You can still write stuff.

People will hurt you and you will not underta d

Someone--a friend, a significant other, a hookup--will turn out to be so awful it’s mind-blowing. Don’t lose faith in humanity. There are good people. But there are also some really, really shitty people. You will not be able to make sense of their actions. You will not be able to change them. They won’t change for you.

Just pack up your bags and walk away.

ber i a e o re o t a t to do it o r i e

at o

But in all likelihood it will make you more confused.

E er o e i

i

o

ed

After all, what is a liberal arts degree but a diploma certifying you have had mul tiple existential crises?

Contact contributing writer Hannah Kelly at hkelly@oberlin.edu

17

THE GRAPE

My Pronouns are Not Polite

On Oberlin and the Transgender Existence

BY ELEANOR CUNNINGHAM CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Oberlin, as a whole, does well with transgender issues, particularly with pronouns and names. At the beginning of the term, much emphasis was put on normalising the sharing of one’s pronouns in introductions, and for those whose legal names are incorrect, it is not difficult to have them corrected in the school’s systems so as not to be deadnamed on a regular basis. I say ‘for the most part’ because there are a handful of matters which complicate the process.

The first is that to have one’s name corrected in the school’s various systems, one must contact individually each department in which some alteration must be made; and the second is that some of these areas are not accommodating. I understand why; I understand that, for example, one’s legal name must be present on one’s transcripts and grade reports, or that it must remain in the mail system so that legal or otherwise official documents can be properly delivered.

However, in my experience communicating with the mailroom, they are not only unaccommodating, but also, to a degree, disrespectful.

Before I had my name changed, when I contacted the mailroom requesting a correction, their response contained the following: ‘The information that I received from the Registrar’s office shows that your legal name is XXXXX and your chosen name is Eleanor,’ followed by a statement that my then-legal name could not be removed completely from the system. Again, I understand. Yet in this message there are three distinct issues: firstly, the unnecessary deadnaming of the person in question; secondly, that the aforementioned information was received from the Registrar, meaning that the office is capable of distributing one’s deadname, but not so one’s correct name; and thirdly, the

phrase chosen name.

Now, in the case of many trans people, this is the case: our correct names are chosen; however, referring to them as such conflates them with a nickname, and implies a lack of legitimacy compared to a legal name. This issue extends further, specifically regarding the multitude of signs plastered about the mailroom stating, ‘If you have a preferred name,’ your legal name cannot be removed. The problem here lies in the language--a problem present in every aspect of Oberlin where trans people are concerned. It is that of ‘preferred’

My name is correct. My name is not polite. My pronouns are correct. My pronouns are not polite.

versus ‘correct.’

The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘prefer’ as: ‘To favor (one person or thing) in preference or to another; to like better.’ At Oberlin, our names are favored; our pronouns are favored. Except, for trans people, these things are not favored. We do not like better to be correctly named than to be deadnamed; we do not like better to be referred to as ourselves than to be misgendered. These are not matters of preference; they are mandatory. By using such language as ‘preferred name’ or ‘preferred pronouns’ (and particularly the ‘cutesy’ acronym ‘PGPs’ for ‘preferred gender pronouns’), one implies a distinct sense of optionality. This not only invalidates the transgender existence, implying that to be transgender is optional, but also condones acts of violence against transgender people-particularly transgender people of colour, who face far higher rates of violence, thus for whom correct naming and gendering can be a matter of life and death--more so than for their white peers.

By making another’s name or pronouns a preference, one implies that to align one’s language with that preference is to perform a service to that person, or that it is merely a matter of politeness. This sort of language aligns one with those for whom trans names and pronouns are optional.

These can be either one who entirely disregards a transgender person’s correct identity, or the performative ally who respects a transgender person’s identity until they have reason not to, such as when out of said person’s presence, or for use as a lowball attack during some form of confrontation.

As I mentioned above, Oberlin does mostly well as a trans-inclusive space, through the aforementioned emphasis on learning and using others’ correct names and pronouns. For a while, this was successful, but over time this sort of allyship tapered off. That brings us to the present, where pronouns are rarely--if at all--part of introductions. Pronouns are only reintroduced in certain official settings, or when initiated by someone who is transgender.

Efforts of transgender-inclusivity have plateaued, and begun to pivot towards Oberlin being an increasingly transgender-exclusive space. One might then ask why. To use pronouns as one example, the reason is cis people.

The cis world is a remarkably easy one compared to the trans world, built upon myriad assumptions, the most notable of which is that of gender. The majority language spoken in Oberlin, English, is one of many which insist on designating gender in the use of pronouns. This designation takes the form of a binary ‘male’ and ‘female,’ with little room for those outside of it.

In the cis world, the binary distinction between a ‘male’ and ‘female’ gender is made based on one’s perception of another’s presentation--which itself relies on dominant social, physical, and patriarchal norms which enforce this binary. In the cis world, gender is paradoxically unimportant and of the greatest importance. In the cis world, one’s own gender exists at such a level of unquestionability that it is of little regard to the self, whilst the gender (and particularly the perceived gender) of others is ever present in cis language and the cis mind.

In the cis world, no distinction is made between gender and sex, and thus assumptions are made of people’s bodies, selves, and existence based on a cis perception--a perception based upon incorrect notions of a gender and sexual binary.

Oberlin holds a similar conflation, not between sex and gender, but rather the relationship between

APRIL 28, 2018

18

transgender people and cis women. Many of the activities, organisations, and spaces on campus which advertise themselves as existing for trans people consistently tack ‘women and’

to their beginnings, a grouping which makes sense given a shared oppression by cis men.

However, by consistently combining these two communities, Oberlin neglects the oppression that trans people face at the hands of cis women, and whilst presenting a generally inclusive space for trans women, forces the nonconsensual outing of trans men and nonbinary people.

Another issue that arises due to this association is the continuous co-option of transgender safe spaces by (mostly white) cis women, out of either a lack of forethought or by intentional invasion. Cis women who neglect or disregard the issue of pronouns, leaving it up to to trans people, while relying on transgender people to educate them on transgender issues and Baldwin Cottage. Image courtesy of Fine Art America

Comic by Grace McAllister

19

THE GRAPE

terminology.

To conclude, then, I will readily admit that Oberlin has expended commendable efforts towards transgender-inclusivity, efforts which would not have been made--let alone considered--at many other institutions, and for that I am grateful. Oberlin’s issues lie in where it falls short: in further normalising trans-inclusivity, in proper terminology, and in solely trans representation and spaces. These are issues for which Oberlin is not directly to blame, rather, they are issues that are so ingrained into the cis world and the cis mind so as to be nearly invisible to those outside of the transgender existence. There is much work to be done, much of it daunting and without a clear plan of action, but for now, let’s agree to start with this: My name is correct. My name is not polite. My pronouns are correct. My pronouns are not polite.

Contact contributing writer Eleanor Cunningham at ecunning@oberlin.edu

Stevie to Start Granting Cultural Diversity Credits Through Global Exhibition Bar

BY JOSÉ MANUEL CONTRIBUTOR After 1 days of conversations we students finally have our answers, and the Bad Habits section has the latest exclusive scoop. The Global Exhibition Bar in Stevenson Dining Hall has begun granting Cultural Diversity credits for students who eat their culturally rich meals!

Stevenson dining hall is all-you-can-eat-withoutgetting-called-out-by-the-sus-yt-staff-who-act-like-wedidn’t-pay-our-7.50 and includes a legendary food court.

Among Stevie’s culinary options is the iconic Global Exhibition section which aims to diversify our palates.

Global Exhibitions’ 8-star chefs work together with Chef Gordon Ramsay and Socrates to make dishes from around the world, and work to do these dishes justice by restricting seasoning and by using top-shelf Wal-Mart products, making their own spin on Asian or Latinxinspired cuisine.

Reporter and contributing writer Jose Barrera had the privilege of trying these special dishes for himself. The Grape is pleased to release an exclusive interview that The Review would never be able to obtain.

According to Barrera, Global Exhibitions’ iconic, Mexican-inspired wraps featuring canned-corn, Wilder Bowl mushrooms, frozen tortillas that emphasize a dissatisfied flavor palate, and a secret liquid that matches the color of Langston Building’s water supply

Security Notebook

BY BRIAN JAMES CONTRIBUTOR April 18, 2018

2:34 p.m.: A student was apprehended trying to use an old Decafe receipt to make it look they had already paid for some snacks. They were asked to return the snacks, and as a punishment the student was forced to do the hokey pokey.

5:52 p.m.: A student reported rustling noises underneath their bed while trying to fall asleep. Upon inspection by a Safety and Security officer, it was concluded

are “refreshing.” The recipe originates from an important Mexican city called “The Food Network,” specifically in the neighborhood “Wikihow” As if these treats weren’t enough alone, The Global Exhibition Bar has heard our comments and taken action.

Now, for the first time in two-thousand and eighteen years, Oberlin students, or “Obies,” will be allowed to apply for Cultural Diversity credits as they continue “smashing,” if you will, on some epic meals which represent different cultural identities. Many witnesses, such as Filipino-identifying Benjy Balatbat, can attest to the ease of mind knowing home is right around the corner in Global Exhibition.

Here’s what he has to say: Benjy: “I don’t think it makes sense for CD to be available...they don’t even salt their food and make me cry-” Unfortunately, Benjy was lost in communication after I got a new phone. Mexican-identifying Marissa Ramirez provided comment on the accessibility of CD in Global Exhibition.

“You didn’t ask me anything, you just told me you were gonna name drop me with no context,” she said.

I also asked Shaina Lin Chung for their opinion. They requested to not be quoted because their excitement was

that there was a monster underneath the student’s bed.

11: 0 a.m.: An officer on routine patrol of King Building noticed students attempting to scale the building. The officer was impressed and asked the students to take a selfie with him when they returned down to safety.

April 19, 2018 3:35 p.m.: A student reported that the temperature had changed a full 30 degrees Fahrenheit in one day and that this must be a mistake.

too epic to contain in Arial font.

I managed to chase and sit down with Cholula Love about their opinions on the importance of this new Cultural Diversity credit. Here’s what they had to say: “Between Modern European History I and Modern European History II, I’ve taken so many courses [at Oberlin College]. I swear to God, I just need a grab-and-go option for my Cultural Diversity requirement. I spend so much time in the MRC that I’m, like, pressed that I don’t get a CD credit for that! I spend so much time getting my ass ate in Latinx Hall and I don’t get a CD credit for that!

Call this progress!”

Clearly, the opinions are set. These four clearly represent the entire, ethnic-student-body-opinion: cultural diversity is crucial, and receiving credit within our academic careers here will go a long way in making our campus feel closer as a community.

CD credit from Global Exhibition in Stevenson Dining Hall is currently out and charting at #1 in 54 continents. *Note: Cultural Diversity credit is only available to full time students committed to attending Oberlin for the next 300 years, and can only be achieved by students who do not identify as students of color. They are still required, however, to pay for the program despite not receiving bene ts from it.

April 20, 2018 10:13 a.m.: A student barged into Safety and Security Headquarters carrying a plate of cookies and screamed “I’m flying!

I’m flying! I need help!” An officer drove the student to Mercy Hospital where they fell into a deep and rejuvenating sleep.

1:25 p.m.: A student reported that Slow Train was serving a special holiday drink called “Green Dragon.” When an officer went to investigate, the staff were all zooted on the couch.

:20 p.m.: An officer noticed a light breeze flowing from Wilder Bowl with an odor consistent with the smell of marijuana.

Another officer was called to the scene where he experienced euphoric feelings, forgot what he was doing, and laid down to take a nap. :21 p.m.: An officer on routine patrol of Wilder Bowl saw another officer lying on the ground, woke him up, and they went to his apartment to blaze.

6:10 p.m.: A student reported the theft of a “large glass tube” from Wilder Bowl.

My Night at a North Campus Party

BY SOUTH CAMPUS NON-ATHLETIC REAL PERSON CONTRIBUTOR After pregaming with my closest friends, Gin and Tonic, I approached North Campus cautiously. My friends and I had heard that there was a “South Campus” party, except the gimmick was that this time it was on North Campus. Like anyone trying to use OberView ever, I was confused. But like any good drunk, I followed the crowd. We passed North Quad, where some shirtless frisbee players continued to do the one thing that they do best, make it clear to everyone around them that frisbee is their thing and they want you to know that. Once my cohort actually reached the Goldsmith apartments, the athlete complex of houses that make up the closest thing Oberlin has to greek life, chaos erupted.

My group of unathletic and apathetic friends, who could never understand why anyone would spend time and energy

doing something that doesn’t explicitly fall within their interests, were quick to judge the athletes we passed. It was like a whole different world, North Campus during partytime is like stepping onto a movie set at the University of Kentucky, except all of the actors didn’t rehearse their lines and the movie didn’t have much of a budget so the whole set-up didn’t actually work.

Distracted by some sort of bright light in the distance, I accidentally stumbled into a portal to another dimension. By walking into the wrong Goldsmith apartment, I had landed myself right in the middle of a new world.

Once I entered this party, I noticed rowdy athlete boys jumping around doing chest bumps shouting at the top of their lungs about macroeconomics homework and the one internship at Berkshire Hathaway that the entire Lacrosse team

is going for. I was engaged, curious how an entire segment of the Oberlin student body had decided to focus their collective intelligence to create one stronger and smarter Economics student.

Suddenly, I heard the smashing of a glass bottle behind me and I turned around to see a girl wearing a tiara holding a destroyed bottle of vodka in her hand. I seemed to be the only one who has even noticed, the athletes around me were seemingly desensitized by the loud noise of each of their own voices. I however made eye contact with the girl, and in the moment she made eye contact with me I realized that my athlete passing privilege had worn off and she knew instantly that I was not one of her kind. I worried that she would say something, alert the rest of the group that I was not one of them, unfamiliar with the art of the tailgate and undedicated to

The Signs As Random Oberlin Things

By Juan Contreras

the art of shotgunning PBR in between the lift and Intro to Biology. Instead, she looked at me dead in the eye, and sternly said “What the fuck are you looking at, its my birthday.” I knew she was right, it was her birthday, and I, merely a NARP in her athletic world, had no idea what that truly meant.

I had heard rumor that in athlete world, when it’s your birthday, its like the purge, you can do whatever you want and nobody can judge you. It was at that point when my friends began to call, apparently I had dropped off the Find My Friends app and was stuck in a Bermuda Triangle of Oberlin Campus. I ran out of the Goldsmith apartment and ran back to my group of friends. I told them that we needed to stay together and never come back to North Campus again.

Wait, Where Are You From Again?

“A Dip in Cracker Lake: POC and their Hook-Ups with yt People”

BY ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTOR After a night of purchasing way too many overpriced drinks, I was still somehow considerate enough of my bank account to order a Lyft Line. My friends’ ride arrived before mine, so I was left on the curb of Sunset Boulevard, looking too cute for my own good. Seconds after my friends took off, a white guy stumbled towards me. For a second I was about to have an actual break down because this boy was wearing boots, dickies (cuffed), a white shirt that had some text on it that I couldn’t make out (it probably was like “Nuts for Granola” or some other BS) and a jean jacket -- my first reaction was NOOO why is an Oberlin boy haunting MY winter break?! But alas, the guy, let’s call him Tim, was not from Oberlin -- he was just a typical white dude that “isn’t like other guys.” And unfortunately, a guilty pleasure. So, I struck up a conversation with him.

Turns out we were getting in the same exact Lyft and

ended up going to his house, because no way does this random guy get the honor of potentially meeting my mom and laying in my childhood bed. Anyways, as we walked into his apartment he told me how much he loves “film” (air-quotes because I said so, b*tch), and then promptly asked me if I had seen the trailer for Wes Anderson’s new movie.

His enthusiasm for Isle of Dogs was an obvious red flag but I gave him a pass. I mean what do I expect from a white guy in his 20s? Of course he loves Wes Anderson.

The only thing he might love more than Wes Anderson is talking about how much he loves Wes Anderson, no matter how culturally-appropriative the movie is... He was cute, okay?! Fucking around with ignorant white artboys is a fun pastime. Don’t judge me.

We were having a good time and then he hit me with The

Question. The one that is so innocent yet so alienating.

The question I get at any party or from any random dude on the street. You know the one, the one that I have gotten hundreds of times. “So… Where are you from?” I wanted to jump off the bed and run away. It might seem like a natural question for someone to ask, but I have heard it enough times to know what he really meant. I didn’t want to give in. I stubbornly said with a forced smile “I’m from here! LA.” He laughs and goes “Nooo but, like, where are you from?” He probably wanted me to say I was from “Megasaki,” the fictional city that Isle of Dogs is set in.

Moral of the story: It was a fun hookup and we both got something out of it. Tim learned that brown people can be from America and I… Well, I didn’t get much out of it but I did get a good laugh.

Jazz Boy Gets Results from Paternity Test, Turns Out He’s Part Bass

The End of the Senior Soirée Investigation Finds

BY GANGLYBOYLUVR7 CONTRIBUTOR

BY HANNAH KELLY CONTRIBUTOR

Johnny Jazzboy used to attribute his tall, lanky physique to good genes and excellent posture, but recently uncovered a shocking truth about his ancestry. According to DNA testing, Johnny and his whole family share a common ancestor, the upright bass.

“It’s shocking how human-like Johnny looks, considering that he is at least 25% bass”, Dr. Ronald Reynaud, genetics and human development specialist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center said.

Jazzboy offered his comments: “How does it feel to tell people that I’m part bass? It feels good, all along, I felt like I was missing a part of my identity.” Jazzboy expressed excitement about how this discovery would affect his playing.

“I already play myself on the daily, but this gives me a leg up over my competition. I was worried that my fellow ~cats~ would be jealous, but it’s only brought us closer. The Oberlin community has been very accepting of my background. I finally feel comfortable wearing shorts, even though you can clearly see that my left leg is actually just the endpin of a bass.”

Now, when asked “do ya like jazz?”, Jazzboy finds himself replying “bitch, I am jazz” with newfound confidence.

The College has cut many services and programs this semester, but the end of Senior Soirée is undoubtedly the most devastating. Senior Soirée was a formal celebration for graduating seniors that had previously been funded by former Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov. It is unclear exactly what took place at the Senior Soirée, or who misses it, but clearly people do. When asked about the end of the Senior Soirée, Senior Kermit Toadsco said, “It’s a bummer. I was really looking forward to the free booze.”

Senior Gray Birkenstocks said she was excited to dress up formally and drink champagne. When asked if she was referring to the Champagne Social,she said, “Wait those aren’t the same thing?”

But feelings towards the end of the Senior Soirée were best summed up by Senior Michelle Sanders who asked, “What’s a soirée?”*The College is currently raising money to try to bring back the Senior Soirée, and has raised $1,960 of their $6,000 goal. To donate to this year’s Senior Soirée, you can go to this link: https://www.youcaring.com/oberlinclassof2018-1157676 The class is only $4,000 away, so they can bring back the Senior Soirée, if just two hundred of you can get a cousin to donate $20. Or if forty of you can get a rich cousin to donate $100. Or if ten of you can get a really rich cousin to donate $400.

*If you too suspect that you may have ties to the chordophone family, please contact Student Health for discounted DNA testing. A support group will meet in Wilder 115 on Mondays at 5pm starting immediately. *

Contact contributing writer Hannah Kelly at hkelly@oberlin.edu

BY JUAN CONTRERAS BAD HABITS EDITOR ART BY JOSÉ MANUEL CONTRIBUTOR