Emerging Artists to Perform at 16 Current and Former Football

Jaimie Yue Arts & Culture Editor

Over the next week, experimental, electronic, and rap genres will collide in WOBIE Fest 2020, a live music festival celebrating underrepresented and up-and-coming artists.

The concerts will kick off tonight at The ’Sco with performances from HOOK and BKTHERULA. White Fence and L’Rain will perform this Saturday, with Nots and DANA closing the festival next Saturday.

College third-year Bridget Conway and College fourth-years Amari Newman and Ben Stevens worked to organize these events. The three are leaders in Oberlin Hip Hop Collective, Student Union Program Committee, and F+ABB: FQTPOC Breaking Boundaries, and they decided to combine forces to host one blowout festival.

While this is Oberlin’s first-ever WOBIE Fest, the festival is actually a revival of live music shows that WOBC hosted throughout the ’80s.

The idea for WOBIE Fest was a collaborative process between Stevens, Conway, and Newman, but a primary catalyst for this effort came from a class called, “Workshop in Music and Media Technologies” that Newman took with Associate Professor of Computer Music and Digital Arts Tom Lopez. They spent the semester digitizing and archiving tapes from DJs of decades past, all the way to the station’s first shows in 1950. The tapes revealed that WOBC used to be active in hosting live shows, and Newman, along with Conway and Stevens, decided to bring that tradition back.

After coming up with the initial idea in May 2019, they began booking artists in September. Conway booked L’Rain, an electronic and experimental artist and a personal favorite of Conway’s; Stevens booked White Fence, Nots, and DANA; and Newman booked HOOK and BKTHERULA.

For Conway, WOBIE Fest 2020 is a way to further F+ABB’s mission of featuring and supporting femme artists, especially women of color. By performing at Oberlin, artists gain new exposure and are more likely to get paid for their work than they would be at other venues, according to Conway.

“My goal with getting F+ABB involved in WOBIE Fest, was, again, to represent a broader community on campus and to bring a more diverse musical spectrum to the show,” Conway said.

While the idea for WOBIE Fest is taken from decades past, the artists featured in the festival reflect what Conway believes is a shift toward greater diversity in the music scene. The experimental genre, for example, tends to be dominated by white men.

“I think that L’Rain was a particular booking in that their music is very experimental,” Conway said. “[Front artist] Taja Cheek ... has this background in noise music and [dance and electronic music] is doing this really powerful, really emotional new music that I think a lot of the time is represented at Oberlin, but mostly with artists in the Con and in the TIMARA department.”

Stevens noted how F+ABB’s mission intersects neatly with WOBC’s, which is to provide a platform for students who may not feel heard.

“Giving [underrepresented artists] a voice is what WOBC exists for because we have a driven and independently-minded student body,” Stevens said. “The Review and The Grape and other print organizations offer [a specific type of outlet], but this offers a new type of media… [where] we can [broadcast] that same sort of message and give that a voice.”

Similarly, Newman sees WOBIE Fest as an opportunity to introduce new people to WOBC and encourage others to pitch their own shows.

“We definitely had a lot of applications this past semester and had to turn down a few shows,” Newman explained. “But a lot of the time we turn away shows because it’s just the same thing that we’ve gotten. It’s like, ‘This is the same application we’ve seen 10 other times. We’re not trying to have the same 10 shows.’ And we feel like that probably has to do with the fact that the people applying all come from similar backgrounds, so we’re trying to get people that come from different backgrounds to give us something that we’ve never had on WOBC before.”

Stevens emphasized WOBC’s ability to act “as a springboard for creating programming that represents them beyond just radio.” For example, F+ABB showcases diverse artists in a performance space, not just public radio.

“F+ABB is trying to make sure that artists — like femme artists — who break boundaries are represented on the school’s campus in terms of programming, and we [WOBC] want to make sure it’s represented on the radio, and this way [through WOBIE Fest] we can kind of make sure that both of those things are happening,” Stevens said.

Stevens added that he was nervous, but excited for WOBIE Fest to finally happen after months of planning.

“I’m going to get to see so many artists that I really like and I feel very lucky to have been given the privilege of being put in the position to have this happen,” Stevens said. “And so, hopefully, other people get a lot of drive and feel empowered to feel that ... they can have some more programming in the future and make sure that WOBC is not only a great radio station but is also a relevant cultural force on campus.”

Good Talk Season Five Features President Ambar

Oberlin’s bi-weekly live comedy show Good Talk launched its fifth season on Tuesday night with a live Q&A featuring witty answers from President Carmen Twillie Ambar.

“I love doing the fun things that are happening on campus that students want me to do,” President Ambar said. “I had a chance to do Good Talk before, to be on WOBC a lot for various interviews, so it’s just another way for me to connect with students and to know what’s going on on campus. In this instance, [it’s] to see our really cool sense of humor.” Besides featuring President Ambar, the show

featured an exciting change in format. Good Talk producer and college second-year Juli Freedman explained that last season the show had a talk-show format, but now they’ve transitioned to sketch comedy skits. One of Monday night’s segments was called “HAZING.” In this hilarious, PSA-style sketch, show director College third-year Mary Brody chugged ketchup, squeezing it directly into her mouth.

While the “hazing” sketch may not be directly related to the Oberlin experience, several other Good Talk segments were campus-specific. After the show, College fourth-year Caitlin Kelley mentioned that she enjoyed the way that Good Talk satirized the everyday life of Obies. Good Talk, Kelly said, is one of the numerous unique events that make a student’s time at Oberlin so memorable.

“I [may be] tired on a Monday night, but I feel like I have to go to every event to just make sure I get the whole Oberlin experience, and Good Talk is definitely part of that,” Kelly said.

So what I’m trying to do, as I identify now, [is ask], “Is there a public out there that would be interested in those particular cartoons?” Those Having Reservations cartoons are much more oriented toward the Native experience in colonial America: How do we deal with that sense that, our languages, our cultures, our territories are under constant assault? A [lot of ] Native scholars and community members recognize what’s going on there, and a lot of my friends and allies in academia also recognize what’s going on there. So I’m really careful about that particular series, but I think that it could be [that] the time is right for that to become public as well.

Dr. Bernard C. Perley is an associate professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where he teaches anthropology classes such as American Indian Societies and Cultures and Applications in Anthropology: Native American Oral Traditions. In addition to being a professor, Perley is a cartoonist who often incorporates the experience of Native Americans in his work. On Tuesday afternoon, he gave a talk titled “Having Reservations: Humor and the Arts of Healing,” in which he spoke about the role of comics in resolving trauma through humor. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Nina Auslander What, in your opinion, are the connections between humor, cartoons, and healing?

For me, [humor] is a way of relieving some of the anguish and some of the stress. We don’t do it consciously; it just happens. ... I recognize the value of that healing aspect of humor in our everyday conversations. Now, we’re living in a [world of ] heightened anxiety. ... I think it’s important that we have these outlets where we can relieve some of that kind of tension and anxiety. I recognize that humor, whether it’s standup comedians or late-night show hosts … [is used] to try to relieve some of that pressure.

And if I can do the same thing with my comics when it’s related to Native American experience in North America, then I feel like what I’ve done is created a community that recognizes [that] we do need some relief and healing from the anxieties that we’re all dealing with. How did you realize that your comics had the power to heal?

Well, I think that for me, the comics were part of dealing with my own stress. I would go back and think about things and [then] just draw a real quick image, and I can laugh ... and say, “Well, yeah, that was kind of a ridiculous moment.” So I kept doing these [drawings], and once I started showing people that, they would laugh as well. That’s when I knew that what I was capturing was helpful to others as well. It wasn’t just helpful to me, but others recognize that there was a common ground for them to experience. But at the same time as we were talking about the cartoons, we were able to recalibrate our relationships so that those anxieties or those tense moments wouldn’t be replicated. Are your cartoons related to your activism, or do you view those as two separate fields that you inhabit?

One series of cartoons is actually being published in the Anthropology News magazine. And so that’s an act of engagement with the anthropology community. The personal series, Having Reservations, is distributed to people who I feel understand the humor and can use it in their classes because they know what I’m trying to accomplish. How do people react to your cartoons? Do you think those reactions change if the viewer is Indigenous or if they’re white?

Definitely, there are different reactions. I think that when I draw the cartoons as a particular message that I’m trying to convey, the images are decoded from our own experiences. When we see a particular image, we bring our experience to understanding [the image]. So two different experiences may see the image in very different ways.

The idea that there’s an inside joke is probably true. [The comic] could be read in multiple ways, but I do subtly put these images in there, and people with particular kinds of experiences will pick up on those more subtle references. How did you develop your artistic style as a comic?

The cartoons were always a part of my artistic output because for me as a painter, as a sculptor, as a draftsman, one of the things I do is very quick sketches. And these gesture drawings are really important in establishing the richness of [the] image I’m trying to produce. When I go to museums, I love to look at initial sketches of these paintings because you could see quick gestures [of ] the life of the painting, and if the drawing seems static [or] seems stale, the painting seems the same way. And so the lively paintings are the ones that have these really rich, gestural drawings. I think the cartoons [I draw] are really quick. And then I have to stop and I have to really imagine how they’re going to go. So in some ways, cartooning has always been a part of my work — the actual finished product is the more labor-intensive [part]. What do you hope that the audience takes away from your talk?

That anthropology is a world of possibility. That we can collectively not just understand our world, but really make a difference in the world, and my work on language and social justice is trying to move toward a greater sense of awareness. Student Models Speak Up Continued from page 10 Tribute Honors Morrison Bernard C. Perley. Photo courtesy of Bernard C. Perley Continued from page 10

continuous voice throughout the entire event. These voices were recordings of people reading Morrison’s work or testifying to the effect that Morrison had on their lives.

Coleman explained that this stream of voices emulates the auditory environments of blessings at Black churches, conversations at jazz clubs while the musicians are playing, and other traditional Black venues, to situate the memorial in the Black “milieu.”

“Morrison always talked about speaking to ‘[her] milieu’ and the rich, full interior lives of Black people,” he said.

It’s clear that a huge amount of work and planning went into this gesture, but Coleman said that he specifically left gaps of time “up to the creator,” so that people could reflect silently or choose to speak at the spur of the moment.

“Half of what happened I had no idea was going to happen,” he said.

In one of these unexpected moments, Pastor Phyllis Yarber Hogan from the Oberlin House of the Lord Fellowship spoke, although she hadn’t planned to do so. When she got up Tuesday morning, she said she felt that she had to.

Hogan spoke about her deeply personal experience with Morrison’s work, specifically Song of Solomon. “It was like she wrote [the book] for me,” Hogan said. “I carry Pilate [one of the main characters] with me every day.”

Hogan was one of many who spoke about how Morrison was able to articulate her lived experience in a way that no one else could.

“Toni Morrison made me uncomfortable, ... but she helped me realize that I wasn’t the only one thinking these thoughts,” said Nina Pulley, OC ’18, in a recorded tribute. “Her presence in this world allowed me to imagine Black life in a different way.”

Throughout the gesture, it was evident that Morrison, writing in the Black literary tradition of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Baldwin, meant so much to people because of her incredible ability to articulate difficult truth.

“Just like any person, she spoke the truth, and the truth will live on,” Pulley said. people get confused.”

It’s clear that studio classes need to hire more models of color and a diversity of body types. Professors must push white students to accurately draw or paint the figure in front of them regardless of the model’s race, but Khan explained that a white professor she worked with had racial biases of her own. Khan recalled that this white professor attempted to depict her in an exoticized manner.

“[One professor] asked me to actively perform diversity in the classroom,” Khan said. “She said to bring things from my culture. She asked me if I was a dancer and ... [if I] could pose in dance form, to which I said no. ... I assume that she wanted me to do some exotic pose.”

It’s unacceptable for art professors to remain ignorant to the power dynamics between white artists and female models of color. Levin spoke to this issue from a historical context.

“There is such a history of, for example, artists going to colonial spaces and using indigenous women in their art and completely not giving them any credit,” she said.

Khan said her experience modeling has been “interesting” rather than simply uncomfortable. She attributes these positive feelings to her work with former Oberlin professor Jean Kondo Weigl, who was Khan’s first boss and also a woman of color. Still, Khan feels that everyone should recognize the model’s humanity.

“The only generalization that I can make is that people do dehumanize the model,” Khan said. “I think that sometimes it’s in an effort to show respect. ... But at other times, it also feels dehumanizing, ... especially when you’re lying there and you have nothing to do but look directly at the students, and they’re looking at your body and not really at you.”

Whether it’s a famous painting at Allen Memorial Art Museum or a student’s figure drawing at Oberlin College’s Art Walk, the models behind the artwork deserve recognition for their hard work and vulnerability.

Lauren O’Hear

Theater Degrees Lead Students to a Wide Variety of Careers

Casey Troost Staff Writer

It is easy to argue that certain humanities degrees are marketable. English, History, Politics, and several other “scholarly” fields cultivate strong writing and research skills. But for creative majors, like Theater, doubts over financial security sometimes hover on the horizon. However, Assistant Director of Career Development Center Josh Koller, OC ’18, who runs the Arts and Creative Professions Career Community, attests to Oberlin Theater majors’ versatility in the job market.

“We have Theater majors working in the business and marketing world, writing, developing websites, doing data science, and entering law school,” said Koller. “You have so many skills that you’ve developed in that major. You’ve learned how to cohesively work in a team, budget time, put together production, envision an end product and work toward it, and speak publicly in a comfortable manner. Employers in basically every sector are interested in all of these things. For me, your options are primarily defined by what’s important to you.”

Oberlin Theater graduates are talented, highly versatile, and valuable employees, according to Ben Ferber, OC ’11, who majored in Computer Science and Theater.

“The type of theater people that Oberlin puts out have a lot of skills and cross the disciplines,” Ferber said. “That’s not everyone. Oberlin puts out people who are just actors, and that’s great! But overall, Oberlin puts out generative artists and professionals who have a lot of things to bring to the table.”

Jenna Bergstraesser, OC ’14, who now designs costumes, parades, and events for The Walt Disney Company, explained that theater employers are often impressed by Oberlin students’ direct experience with their craft.

“The creative experience you will have at Oberlin is incredible and unparalleled,” Bergstraesser said. “For a lot of the schools my fellow designers come from, they’re set up to only let students be in one or two shows since it’s so competitive. But we have so much student theater ... Graduating, I had 10 shows that I had costume designed under my belt from undergrad, and that’s virtually unheard of.”

Still, no matter how skilled a candidate may be, the lower demand for creatives poses a challenge. Ferber confirms that the struggle to find long-term employment as a theater professional is ongoing.

“Theater is a field in which it is very difficult to get a job, because there are just not many jobs,” Ferber said. “During the financial crisis, which happened while I was in college, and of which we are still feeling the effects today ... a lot of paid jobs went away. Many lower-income people, who didn’t have a lot of family wealth or the ability to make fairly tiny amounts of money, simply didn’t have access to a professional opportunity in theater until much farther up the chain.”

However, for many hard-working theater majors, it is possible to create a viable career in theater, according to Bergstraesser. “You have to be very self-driven, and if you are, you can make it work,” Bergstraesser said. “I did all the research on internships on my own, built an independent study that involved creating a portfolio, and got [Costume Designer and Associate Professor of Theater] Chris Flaherty to be my advisor. ... You can definitely do it, but you have to be prepared to figure some things out on your own.”

While graduates like Bergstraesser forge their path in the theater sector, other Theater majors may also choose to work in a variety of non-drama-related jobs. Koller stressed that it’s entirely feasible for a Theater graduate to become a lawyer or a doctor.

Koller described that all of these qualities are part of “transferable skill sets,” which include communication skills, time management, leadership, and intercultural fluency.

But a transferable skill set is not exclusive to an Oberlin Theater degree. Koller points out that it’s a highlight of a liberal arts education.

“There’s a hard skill set that you can walk away with from computer science that will be different from theater, but so many of those transferable skills overlap,” said Koller. “That’s the buy-in for Oberlin. There’s this liberal arts education that you know you’re going to get, regardless of Theater, Computer Science, Biology, or Africana Studies.”

While the stereotype that Theater majors struggle to find work after graduation stems from a small kernel of truth, the breadth of skills that Obies pick up during their liberal arts education proves that there is still value to pursuing careers in theater.

Wades Spark Conversation About LGBTQ+ Issues in Athletic Community

concept of toxic masculinity and [the desire] to prove one’s manhood [in the Black community].”

The struggle for tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities within the Black community has been well-documented. Part of the issue, Dagnino argues, is the way we typically frame queerness in our conversations and activism surrounding the topic.

“When we talk about what it means to be queer and advocating for trans rights, gay rights, we talk about it for the average able-bodied white male or white female,” Dagnino said. “We often forget to talk about the communities where there are people of color and don’t talk about Brown bodies, or Black bodies, or Asian bodies. … There’s always been a disconnect between the LGBTQ community and Black people because there’s never been people [visibly] advocating for those rights, and we often neglect to talk about that. What Dwyane Wade is doing is really good because he’s really shedding a light on what queer can mean to people of color.”

While Dwyane and Zaya Wade have both received an enormous amount of support from a broad range of communities, they have also received significant backlash. A notable example was a video posted by Boosie BadAzz, in which the rapper admonishes Dwyane Wade for “allowing” Zaya to identify as a woman, misgenders Zaya, and confuses sexuality and gender identity, among making several other problematic statements.

“I definitely have heard of a lot of videos from people, like rappers or just people in general,” said Dagnino. “It just really shows how much our country still needs to grow in being accepting in terms of trans rights. We still have a long way to go to get that normalized and for everyone to understand what that means.” Presberg also understands the potential danger that comes with openly discussing the gender identity of a Continued from page 16 12-year-old in such a public manner.

“I’m torn because I think my gut reaction was concern for Zaya, and also a question about how much Dwyane talked with her about going public, and her awareness of what that would mean for her,” said Presberg. “But at the same time, I think someone of his status being so public about it is meaningful, and his support seems really genuine and not super contrived.” As Clemons, Dagnino, and Presberg alluded to, there is so much more that needs to be done to get queerness accepted in every community on a wide level. The bravery of high-profile individuals, like Dwyane and Zaya Wade, can contribute to the acceptance of these identities in the future.

Former NBA player Dwyane Wade and daughter Zaya Wade. Photo courtesy of NY Daily News

Varsity Basketball Teams Raise LGBTQ+ Awareness

Last week, the Oberlin men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams partnered with the Multicultural Resource Center to host Love Always Wins, a Pride event. Team members wore rainbow shoelaces at their games against the Allegheny College Gators in Philips gym. Rainbow sunglasses were also sold at the venue for $1, with all proceeds going to the Trevor Project, a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention for youth in the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, the Athletics department recognized all faculty and staff members in attendance.

“It was great,” said College third-year and men’s basketball player Jordan Armstrong. “I think that both teams here really are proud of our identity as Oberlin students and the environment that we foster here for all students, being proud of all genders, sexualities, and ways of life. It felt really good for me and all of my teammates to be able to compete as proud athletes.”

These games came off the heels of an important statement made by former NBA superstar Dwyane Wade, who announced that his 12-year-old daughter, Zaya, came out as transgender. The impact of Wade’s statement is covered on page 16 of this issue (“The Wade Family’s Positive Influence”).

Both teams are approaching the end of their seasons and will play their final home games Saturday, Feb. 22. See the women’s and men’s teams compete at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.

Text by Jane Agler, Contributing Sports Editor Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

Football Coaching Transition Ofers Opportunity to Shift Culture

Continued from page 16

“There was rarely a meeting without a homophobic comment or something of that nature,” he said. “I feel like the coaches weren’t always on board with what the College is trying to do from a cultural standpoint.”

Winkelfoos said she had no knowledge of homophobic comments made by coaching staff.

“I am not and have not been made aware of homophobic comments made by members of our coaching staff,” Winkelfoos wrote in an email to the Review. “The expectation is that, as employees, our behavior and actions reflect the values of Oberlin College. Diversity broadens perspectives — enhances educational and social experiences. If there is a reluctance to understand and appreciate this, the opportunity to serve this institution and its students may not exist.”

College second-year Raul Segredo said he decided to quit the team because of the coaching staff, who he felt did not listen to his concerns both on and off the field. After he quit the team, his locker was defaced and he believes that a coach was involved in the incident.

“The few, rare, good [coaches] never stick around, and the rest are bullies who like to hear themselves speak,” he said. “Coaches would often say their door was always open to speak, but when I did reach out to try to explain my problems they would hardly ever hear me out. Mostly they just pretended to care and made empty promises I knew they wouldn’t keep. After I quit, someone defaced my locker as well. They wrote slur words and mocked me. I’m not sure exactly who did it, but I’ve spoken to a lot of people on the team and there is consensus that a coach was involved.”

Winkelfoos rejected the allegation that a coach was involved in defacing the locker, and Anderson did not directly respond.

While Segredo was disappointed with the coaching staff, he was grateful for his teammates during his time on the team.

“I loved all of my teammates and they pushed me to work hard in all aspects of my life; something I miss greatly,” he said. “I didn’t particularly like any of the coaches and I think part of the reason why is because there were new ones every year; it’s hard to get attached when you don’t know exactly who’s sticking around.”

Briggs is still optimistic about the program’s direction, citing leadership from his fellow teammates as crucial during this transition.

“I think that this team is going to be doing well starting next year,” Briggs said. “They have a lot of people this year who took the circumstances that they were in and made the best of it, especially in terms of leadership from the [younger students] all the way up to the coming fourth-years.”

All former athletes interviewed agreed that the dynamic between players did not contribute to their decision to leave the team, nor was it an easy decision for the players who left to quit the team.

“What I love about a football team is it doesn’t matter what color you are, who you pray to, or how you live your life,” said Segredo. “You’re all there because you share the love for the game.”

It is crucial that the College reinforces its mission of inclusivity not only to student-athletes, but also to football coaches and training staff with whom players spend countless hours. It is the responsibility of coaches and staff not only to support students on the playing field, but also to create a safe space that supports the needs of all players. This period of leadership transition is a chance to address the flaws in the program, and will shape the football experience of future athletes. The Review reached out to several former and current players on the team for this story in addition to the ones quoted above. Five current players did not respond for comment and three declined. Three former players also declined to comment.