November 14, 2014

The Oberlin Review

NOVEMBER 14, 2014 VOLUME 143, NUMBER 8

Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week Food Trucks’ Future Uncertain The Oberlin City Planning Commission met to discuss a proposal for mobile food trucks to operate in the downtown business district and on public property. After reviewing fees, application processes and various requirements, the Commission decided to postpone the discussion until its 4:30 meeting on Nov. 19 in conference room 2 at Oberlin City Hall.

Garrett to Run in 2016 2014 congressional hopeful Janet Garrett recently announced plans to run again in 2016. Noting Jim Jordan as “the one who got [her] in this race,” Garrett, a write-in candidate, has said that the second time around she will be armed with more campaigning experience. This time, her bid for Congress will include a ground team in each county and a support network that was not in place during her 2014 campaign.

KUUMBA Week Wraps Up KUUMBA Week, a week celebrating the creativity that exists within the Africana community, is coming to a close. The week featured a number of art workshops, panel discussions, plays, film screenings and performances.

Today’s event, ABUSUA’s “Black Lives Matter: Artistic Reflections,” will showcase artwork by black students in Lord Lounge at 8 p.m. The Oberlin Student Theater Association’s What We Look Like will also take place this weekend at 7 p.m. in Wilder Main. The week’s closing event, an open mic night in Lord Lounge, will take place tomorrow at 10 p.m.

Pipeline to Transport Gas through Oberlin Sarah Conner Spectra Energy has moved forward with its plan to build a 250mile gas pipeline through Oberlin. Spectra, an S&P 500 company, plans on investing up to $1.5 billion into the NEXUS pipeline, which would span from upper Ohio to Ontario and deliver up to 2 billion cubic feet of gas to the Midwest and Canada every day.

Earlier this month, the City Council submitted its Community Bill of Rights informing Spectra that they consider the pipeline illegal. Spectra’s responses — which, according to several community members, have been largely inconsistent — have led to some confusion surrounding the verification of the company’s installation plans. “[In] the meeting I went to with Spectra officials, every single person I talked to told me something different,” said AntiFrack member and College junior Olivia Ashmoore. “I have a really hard time sorting out what’s true and how that corresponds with what’s happening and what land owners are expecting.”

The City Council has not been corresponding with Spectra in accordance with the Oberlin Community Bill of Rights, which

Proposed NEXUS New Construction (Greenfield Pipeline) Existing Pipelines Oberlin

The proposed NEXUS pipeline will run through northeast Ohio and into Michigan. According to certain Oberlin community members and city officials, Spectra Energy, the company behind the pipeline, has provided conflicting information on the details of the project.

Hazel Galloway

requires the city to not aid the company in any way. The council has no immediate future plans in dealing with the corporation.

“We are waiting to see what

happens next,” City Manager Eric Norenberg said. “It’s expected to be a long process. I don’t think any of us want to burn too much energy until we know what direc-

tion things might take.”

According to Spectra, the project will create a significant See Spectra, page 4

District Moves Forward with School Construction Oliver Bok Staff Writer The Oberlin City School District is taking the next step in its plan to build a new elementary school in place of the current Oberlin High School football stadium.

The school board and district administrators are currently assessing how much the construction project will cost. If the school board decides to go ahead with the project, in January the district will finalize the terms of a bond meant to fund the new school. In May 2015, residents will vote on whether or not to approve issuing the bond. If the bond passes this spring, a year-long planning process would begin immediately following the vote.

Construction would then start in May 2016 and last 12 to 18 months, according to Superintendent John Schroth.

“We’re hoping by the 2017–2018 school year we’ll be in this new building,” he said.

After the elementary school is finished, the district also has plans to build a new high school and middle school on the site of the current high school, thus placing all of the district’s schools on one campus.

While the project is still in its preliminary stages and many details have yet to be finalized, Schroth estimated that the elementary school would cost roughly $16 million and the high school and middle school would cost $30 million, so the overall price tag would be “somewhere in the neighborhood of $46 million.”

However, according to Schroth, the timeline for the new middle school and high school is entirely dependent on when the state of Ohio provides funding.

“It really depends on when they come through with the money. It could be five years; it could be seven years; it could be ten years. We would be positioned to move ahead as soon as that money becomes available,” Schroth said.

The reasons behind the construction plans are both educational and financial, Schroth said. He also said he believes that Oberlin’s current school facilities are not well suited to contemporary methods of educating.

“These buildings were designed for the way we were teaching kids in the ’40s and ’50s, not the way we’re teaching kids today,” Schroth said. “We don’t have dirty spaces. We don’t have places where kids can work on physical

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projects — modeling, painting, that kind of thing. It’s really designed for traditional, seatsin-a-row education,” he said.

The plans for the new elementary school include several atriums and many places for students to work in small groups, in contrast to the district’s current facilities which for the most part only contain traditionally sized classrooms.

The district also wants the new elementary school to be carbon neutral. The new school will have solar panels on the roof and will be designed to take advantage of as much natural lighting and heat as possible. The woods directly behind the school will be thinned and turned into a park with a bike path and an outdoor classroom.

Aside from educational and environmental concerns, the district’s current facilities are also increasingly expensive to maintain, said Schroth. According to a study done by the Ohio School Facilities Commission, it would be more expensive to renovate the city’s existing schools than build new ones.

“When these buildings were built in the See OCBC, page 4

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The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

OIEP Celebrates 2 Decades of Cole Scholars Jackie McDermott

Oberlin College will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Oberlin Initiative in Electoral Politics this weekend with two days of guest speakers, panels and the return of Cole Scholars alumni.

The OIEP was founded in 1994 by Richard and Dorothy Cole, both OC ’56. The self-defining nonpartisan initiative aims to “encourage Oberlin graduates to run for and serve in public office.”

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, OC ’92, the mayor of Baltimore, will present the keynote address “A Life in Politics” this Friday at the start of the 20th Anniversary Celebration.

After graduating from Oberlin, RawlingsBlake became the youngest person ever elected to the Baltimore city council and later became secretary of the Democratic National Committee and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. As mayor, Rawlings-Blake has worked to grow Baltimore’s population and eliminate the city’s structural deficit.

Professor of Politics Paul Dawson remembered Rawlings-Blake’s enthusiasm for public service in her Oberlin days.

“She always wanted to serve; we didn’t have to teach her how to serve,” said Dawson.

On Saturday, the OIEP reunion will host State Senator Gayle Manning of Ohio’s 13 district, which encompasses Huron and Lorain counties.

Later, author and professor Gary Jacobson, who specializes in the study of congressional elections, will speak about the 2014 congressional races.

Also on Saturday, two panels of Cole Scholars will present “From Oberlin to Politics” and “Campaign Finance.” These alumni now work in diverse areas of public service, including nonprofit work, press for the federal government, judicial work with the Ohio Supreme Court and policy analysis and research. Around 50 of the Cole Scholars program’s 200 alumni will be returning to Oberlin for the celebration.

The 20th Anniversary Celebration weekend will conclude with the 2014 Cole Scholars pre-

senting their insights from the campaign trail.

Michael Parkin, associate co-director of the OIEP and assistant professor of Politics, hopes students and alumni will benefit from the insights of the speakers. “[I am] looking forward to the questions that are asked of these speakers,” said Parkin.

Parkin and OIEP co-director Associate Professor of Politics Eve Sandberg worked with President Krislov and his staff to book the event’s speakers. The welcoming committee that helped plan and promote the event was chaired by Poy Winichakul, OC ’11 and founder of the political nonprofit LaunchProgress, and Matthew Kaplan, who has worked as a visiting Politics professor at Oberlin and as the Appropriations Associate of the U.S. House.

The Cole family began the OIEP two decades ago because of a growing dissatisfaction with the world of electoral politics; they believed Oberlin students could do better. “[The Cole family’s] motivation was to have Obies get into politics because they were a little frustrated [with the status quo]. … They thought that Oberlin students had a quality of being thoughtful, caring and hardworking,” said Parkin.

Today, the Cole family endows the Politics department to provide grants for alumni to take workshops to develop their campaign skills and for teachers to attend conferences related to Politics courses. The OIEP also maintains an online alumni network that connects friends of the OIEP with job and volunteer opportunities.

While voter outreach and creating original workshops are part of the OIEP’s stated mission, the initiative puts more focus on assisting politically active alumni, bringing speakers to campus and funding Cole Scholars’ internships.

Since 1994, 200 Cole Scholars have served in eight-week summer internships all across the country with campaigns that range from presidential to local, as well as with major consulting firms. Cole Scholars have worked for such political heavyweights as Bill and Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Barack Obama, and in such

Rihanna Rey, OC ’12, marches in support of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan at a campaign event. The Cole Scholars program provides an avenue for current Oberlin students to work on political campaigns.

Courtesy of Michael Parkin

prestigious places as the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the White House.

More recently, four 2014 Cole Scholars worked in highly publicized senatorial races for Al Franken, Michelle Nunn, Kay Hagan and Alison Lundergan Grimes.

In the spring semester, Parkin teaches a class that prepares Cole Scholars for their internships with literature on campaigns and elections. He then teaches a seminar the fall after their internships where students reflect on what they have learned and write capstone papers.

Parkin said the 2014 group had particularly high-profile assignments.

“This year has been really fascinating,” said Parkin. “A lot of them worked on very prominent Senate campaigns.”

College junior and Politics major Ziya Smallens said the real world experience of working for

Alison Lundergan Grimes’ Kentucky campaign helped him clarify his career aspirations, which is part of the goal of the OEIP program.

Smallens’s Cole Scholars internship turned into a full-time paid position when he was hired as a field organizer. This experience showed Smallens that he wants to work on communications in politics.

“I still very much like communications, and the rush of a race is awesome,” said Smallens.

Dawson said Cole Scholars benefit from realworld experience. “[Cole Scholars apply their political skills in a] more realistic, less academic, real-world setting,” said Dawson.

Throwing college students into an entirely new political environment can present some challenges. Smallens, a New Yorker, said he did not blend in at his Kentucky position.

Parkin, however, said he believes that immersion in a new environment is beneficial for students. “[The Cole Scholars internship is often] the first time any of them are living on their own in a foreign city and working full-time in a high-pressure office setting,” said Parkin. “They do remarkably well and thrive.”

Dawson cautions that Cole Scholars must remember that they have to build up a portfolio of service following their Cole Scholars internships before they can become successful public servants. “[After the internship, students have] made important contacts, seen important things, but they might get the wrong message; they might conclude that [what’s important is] how to run, not how to serve,” said Dawson.

Parkin noted that another obstacle in the Cole Scholars model is that the majority of the participants are Politics and Economics majors.

He hopes to market the program to students in majors outside Politics.

“We’ve had people with Biology majors,” said Parkin, “and they’ve enjoyed it just as much as Politics majors.”

Curbside Recycling Pickup to Return on Tuesday Laura Paddock Residential curbside recycling is set to resume in Oberlin on Tuesday, Nov. 18 after a nearly eight-month hiatus.

Last February’s garage fire destroyed the city’s recycling trucks, temporarily halting the service.

In preparation for the resumption of the Tuesday through Friday residential collection, the city began distributing 64-gallon toter carts on Nov. 11, one with a black lid for refuse and one with a blue lid for recycling.

The new recycling system will include two brand new Autocar E3 Chassis collection trucks complete with automated side load collection systems, making recycling collection more sustainable and efficient for employees and residents alike. According to Autocar, the new hydraulic hybrid garbage truck consumes 30 to 50 percent less fuel than a conventional garbage truck.

An Oberlin garbage collector stops to deliver a new recycling bin. The city’s curbside collection will resume this Tuesday, marking the end of an eight-month hiatus which began when the collection trucks were destroyed by fire.

Courtesy of Lori Sprosty

Another important change to the city of Oberlin’s recycling efforts is the single-stream recycling program, which eliminates the need for sorting recyclables before collection. According to Jeff Baumann, the city’s public

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works director, the new system will only require residents to separate commercial cardboard from the rest of their recyclables.

“I think that many residents will find it more convenient to recycle,”

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said Baumann about the newly implemented single-stream recycling program.

The city of Oberlin has provided residential curbside source-separate recycling to its residents since 1994.

Residents were expected to separate their recyclables before pickup by a 2009 Crane Carrier truck, charged with collection from 525 households per day. After the fire in mid-February, recycling rates plummeted by over half.

In the absence of curbside recycling pickup, Oberlin College’s Resource Conservation Team has been collecting all the College recyclables from academic buildings, dorms and other College facilities and delivering that waste to a recycling facility two miles away.

“We were doing the runs because the city wasn’t doing any,” said College sophomore and member of the RCT Andrea Allen. “We still wanted Oberlin

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students to recycle.”

Though only residential recycling will resume next week, the city is working on resuming commercial recycling as well.

“Once the residential sector is set up and operational, we’ll be focusing on expanding recycling collection services in the commercial sector,” said Eric Norenberg, city manager and member of the Oberlin Community Improvement Corporation Board, in an email to the Review.

Commercial recycling is slated to start up during the month of December.

“It’s our goal to set this up and … work out bugs in January, and when everyone returns in February, it should be running smoothly,” said Baumann in an email to the Review.

Baumann added that the city hopes to make recycling mandatory for all residents by July of 2015.

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Off the Cuff: Eric Stover, law professor and faculty director of the Berkeley Human Rights Center University of California, Berkeley Adjunct Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Humans Rights Center Eric Stover presented the talk “The Long Game: Forced Disappearances, Land Mines and Child Soldiers” this Thursday.

Stover has used forensic anthropology and other methods to investigate human rights issues around the world. He is the author of six books and helped to launch the Nobel Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Land Mines.

Stover sat down with the Review to discuss empirical approaches to human rights and postwar recovery.

When did you first become interested in exploring human rights issues?

I happened to be traveling in Argentina in March of 1976, when the military coup took place, and I was in a town in northern Argentina, and I was arrested. I was taken to a prison and jailed with other men — I [was] 22, 23 at the time — and they were Argentines, and some of them had been beaten up and tortured. I spent one night in jail, but because I had an American passport I was released and exported to Bolivia. I looked suspicious, I guess.

I was so affected by the fact that I survived, and these other guys — we had all taken care of each other — probably just disappeared. So that set the course of my life.

You use empirical research methods to explore these issues. Why do you think it’s important to take that sort of approach?

History often dictates need. What had happened was, after the Nuremberg trials and the post-World War II trials in Asia and Europe, international criminal justice went into the deep freeze of the Cold War. It wasn’t until the 1980s and the thawing of the Cold War that many local organizations or victims organizations across the Philippines or Arab countries or Latin America started demanding justice and accountability for the abuses that had taken place. The first trials took place in Argentina in 1985, and at that point, as in any criminal investigation, the prosecutor is

Thursday, Nov. 6 5 a.m. An officer on patrol in the area of Barrows Hall located a broken globe that was knocked off a light pole. A work order was placed for cleanup and repair.

8:35 a.m. A Wilder Hall staff member reported the theft of a black cardigan from their office.

The sweater is valued between $50 and $75.

8:35 a.m. A custodial staff member reported finding empty condom wrappers in a practice room at the Conservatory. The room was secured, and a work order was filed for cleaning.

Friday, Nov. 7 9 a.m. A student worker re-

looking for testimonial, documentary and physical evidence. What happened in Argentina was there were trials that had started there, and there were families that were looking for their disappeared loved ones. They needed to have the graves exhumed because there were unmarked graves. So I took a forensic team down and we began the process. … This was really the beginning of applying scientific methods to these investigations.

It [has] extended beyond that. If you look at the problem of landmines — mines that are left behind and don’t self-destruct — one of the ways to document their effects is to do studies focusing on the social and medical and economic consequences. In Cambodia, certain parts of the country had a public health system that wasn’t able to respond to this problem, because a child of 12 years old may step on a landmine and survive but would probably have to have three or four prosthetics throughout his or her life, which is expensive. It took empirical methods to go in and look at hospital logs and see how many people were injured by mines, what capacity the hospitals had to deal with it, and, in that way, making the case that these landmines needed to be banned. And in a way, that helped lead the way for the formation of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

It also involves going out and doing population-based surveys. I believe, and my colleagues believe, that it’s important to ask the people themselves. Ask them what they would like to see — whether it’s a truth commission, or either way. It’s data that you collect that you can honestly say reflects the community themselves, not the political leaders that run those communities.

So are you using this information to make cases to those political leaders or to make cases to the general public?

To the political leaders themselves, to the United Nations, really to anyone who will listen. To human rights activists who make radical claims, who say that we’re going to have trials, and that victims will experience catharsis, and that this will be a panacea for the problems

ported the theft of their purse and wallet from Dascomb Hall kitchen.

The purse has a flower pattern and contained their multicolored wallet with a debit card, ID card and approximately $60 cash.

3:10 p.m. A student reported the theft of a laptop from the third floor lecture hall in the King Building. The laptop, a gray Mac, was left unattended for approximately two minutes.

Saturday, Nov. 8 8:30 a.m. A custodial staff member reported an odor of propane in Williams Field House. Members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded. The problem was discovered in a furnace, which was shut down for repair.

9:06 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Union Street apartments. Smoke from

no matter where you are. Look at post-9/11, or any plane in this country, when people are waiting for the bodies to be identified. Or take South Korea and the ferry that sunk there. So that’s fairly universal. The need to be able to actually have the remains and [give] them a proper burial is very important. But how societies rebuild themselves will be very much determined by the cultures that they come from. Also, what was the regime before the war? In former Yugoslavia it was a communist regime, or a soft communist regime, and there were factors there that are still influencing the country, and it’ll repair itself in a different way than, say, Rwanda, where you didn’t have those influences, or, say, in Guatemala. So you have to take in all of these factors. Nothing simple.

Eric Stover, who spoke about human rights issues on Thursday

of the past, and that’s absolutely not true. We know that. There’s a kind of tendency to want quick solutions to problems. But that doesn’t happen in post-war societies. For societies to reconstruct and come back to normalcy, it takes quite a bit of work. Our message is that you need to have an ecological approach — you need to work with schools; you might need to have trials [and] truth commissions, you might need to use traditional justice mechanisms; you need to engage all sectors of society.

It’s the long game, because violence as we’ve seen in Bosnia and Rwanda can tear societies apart so terribly and takes so long to rebuild.

You’ve worked all around the world, in Rwanda, Yemen, South America — do you feel there’s any similarities between human rights violations around the world? Or are there universal factors?

I think there are unique factors, but they’re also very culturally determined as well. For example, in the area of people who go missing or the families who are looking for loved ones that have gone missing, that’s fairly universal

burned butter activated the alarm, which was then reset.

Sunday, Nov. 9 12:23 a.m. Officers were requested to assist an intoxicated individual on the northeast side of Wilder Hall. The individual was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

10:56 a.m. Officers were requested to assist with an ill staff member at Heisman Club Field House. An ambulance was requested and transported the employee to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

6:16 p.m. Desk monitors at Wilder Hall reported a broken window on the east side in the main space. A broken bottle neck was observed on the windowsill and glass was on the outer porch area. A maintenance technician responded to board up the window.

How has the nature of human rights violations changed since you’ve started working on these issues?

Generally I think that the human rights movement in the ’70s had a very narrow approach — focused on individual prisoners, stopping torture and ending the death penalty. I think what’s interesting here in the United States is the extent to which we’ve gone through the war on terror, and the establishment of Guantanamo, and the fact that it was unquestionable that we deliberately used torture on suspects that the government picked up in the war on terror, and that this country hasn’t had a discussion about what that meant and whether there are those who need to be held accountable. That is a big gap in American history. We need to have that discussion. And it’s something that, as time passes, we’re all forgetting about, but we have not in our own history dealt with what has happened and what is happening in Guantanamo. Hopefully sometime we’ll get the report that the Senate has been working on for many years released. I personally hope that we follow the evidence, and that if there are those responsible they should be brought to justice, just like we’ve worked on in other countries around the world.

Interview by Elizabeth Dobbins, News editor Photo courtesy of Eric Stover

Monday, Nov. 10

Wednesday, Nov. 12

8:24 a.m. A custodial staff member reported two chairs and a small end table missing from the first floor lounge of Bailey House. The wooden chairs have leather seats and tan and blue patterned seat backs. The table is small and used to play chess.

7:57 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to assist two students stuck in an elevator in Fairchild Hall. The students were assisted out of the elevator. No one was injured.

The elevator has been placed out of service until repairs are made.

10 a.m. A Wilder Hall staff member reported the theft of the “Welcome Parents” banner that was hung by the entry of the main lounge. The banner is 3 feet by 20 feet and is made of red vinyl with yellow writing.

1 p.m. A resident of South Hall reported that on two different occasions an unknown individual has entered the student’s room on the second floor. The Oberlin Police Department was notified and a check of South Hall was completed, but the individual was not located.

5:21 p.m. A facilities staff member reported vandalism in the women’s restroom of the King Building.

The two sinks had been pulled away from the wall, causing the water lines to leak. It is unknown when the damage occurred or who is responsible.

Tuesday, Nov. 11 5:56 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a water flow alarm in the Service Building stock room. No cause could be found for the alarm, which was then silenced and reset.

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The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Spectra to Invest Over $1 Billion in Pipeline Continued from page 1

number of local jobs during the construction phase and will produce tax revenue for state and local governments. The company plans to hold a job fair in 2017. Previously, it was thought that Spectra would contract labor out to unionized workers.

“We are currently working with Ohio State University to conduct an economic impact study to determine the approximate impact the project will have on the region regarding jobs and economic output,” Spectra spokesperson Arthur Diestel said in an email to the Review.

The spokesperson also noted that Spectra’s main goal is to “positively impact” the communities where they operate and where their employees reside.

Some, however, are skeptical of the company’s positive attitude.

“When a pipeline is being dug, the jobs are temporary,” Ashmoore said. “There are not any long-term jobs being created by

this construction. The only long-term jobs would be at the compressor stations, and even those are not that many. … That being said, it might provide employment for a few months.”

Spectra has also said that communities surrounding the pipeline will have access to the gas.

“The NEXUS Project will increase access to reliable, clean-burning and cost-effective supplies of natural gas to serve local distribution companies, industrial users and natural gas-fired power generators in the Ohio, Michigan, Chicago and Ontario markets,” Diestel said.

This information, however, appears to be in direct conflict with what the company had previously told members of the Oberlin community.

According to Norenberg, Council and community members were told several weeks ago that all of the pipeline’s gas would travel to Canada. Norenberg was not able to confirm that Oberlin would have access

to the gas or whether or not the city would choose to use it.

“One of the things about natural gas is that once it’s in the pipeline you can’t tell where it came from. So, we have had some conversations over the past couple of years knowing some of our residents have concerns about fracking and its safety. There isn’t a way to buy or not buy gas based on its source.”

Norenberg’s concerns have been echoed by a large number of College students and community members. Negative effects of hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as “fracking,” include numerous environmental, safety and health concerns. One of the most troubling concerns is the large quantity of carcinogenic radon that exists within the Marcellus Shale, a profitable natural gas reserve underneath eastern Ohio that is currently being fracked.

These concerns, in addition to the the city’s projected climate positivity, may prevent the City Council from allowing residents

to use the gas.

“We have a climate action plan that’s been approved by our City Council that contemplates that over the next few years we are going to reduce our carbon footprint and keep being more energy efficient and get to the point where we are climate positive [and therefore won’t be using gas] by 2050,” said Norenberg. “From the standpoint of where our gas is from, it doesn’t matter.”

In an attempt to disassociate itself from fracking and all related hazards, Spectra continues to maintain that NEXUS is solely a shipper of natural gas. If the gas meets certain quality standards and its contractual requirements, the federal government requires that NEXUS transport the gas.

“Fracking is a technique used in the production of natural gas; NEXUS will solely be a shipper of natural gas,” Diestel said. “If natural gas meets quality specifications and the shipper is meeting other contractual requirements, NEXUS will be required by the federal government to transport the natural gas.”

OCBC Requests Local Labor in New School Construction Continued from page 1 ’50s and ’60s, the school district had at its top about 1,600 kids,” Schroth said. “So we’ve lost 600 kids or so since that time. But we haven’t changed our buildings at all. So not only do we have four buildings that are over 60 years old — in some cases almost 100 years old — we also have currently about 250 square feet per student, which is a lot of space.

The average in Lorain County is 150 square feet per student. We’re living in a really big house, a big old house with lots of bedrooms, and we don’t need half of them currently. With these old buildings it’s becoming more and more expensive to pay for repairs.”

As a result, the district had already run out of budgeted maintenance funds for the year before Oberlin voters approved an increase in property taxes earlier this month to provide the district with an additional $1 million in maintenance funds.

According to Angela Dotson, the treasurer for the district, the five-year forecast for the district’s finances is positive. Income tax receipts are higher than expected, and the district recently saved 15 percent in family health insurance premiums by requiring that employees whose spouses have health insurance use the district’s health insurance as their secondary source of insurance instead of primary.

While the five-year forecast was for the district’s general fund, which is not connected to the funds for the new construction project, Dotson said that the district’s financial health will make it easier to raise money for the new school.

“Should we pass a bond levy in May, the district will have to be rated through a standard type rating system,” she said. “The district is not currently rated. The way we spend our money will impact that rating, which will impact how the bonds are rated and our ability to sell them.”

Aside from the bond, the new school construction will also receive funding from the Ohio

School Facilities Commission, which Schroth expects will cover 20 percent of the cost of building the high school and middle school. The district was set to receive that funding earlier this year but ultimately lost out to other Ohio school districts that are also planning construction projects amid the recovering economy and low interest rates.

The planning stages of the new project are being closely watched by one group of Oberlin residents: the Oberlin Community Benefits Coalition, a group of residents and community organizations devoted to promoting the use of a diverse and local workforce in local construction projects through Community Benefits Agreements.

“We are going to be looking for a certain percentage of the workforce to be local. … We’re going to ask for a certain percentage of people being employed locally for the Oberlin school district and another higher percentage for Lorain County,” said Arlene Dunn, a co-chair of OCBC. “We’re also going to be asking for some minority business owners and female business owners. We’re looking to try to require local purchasing of materials. We’re looking to be local. We want to impact the local community in a positive way instead of just letting the contracts out to Toledo contractors or Cleveland contractors,” she said.

Dunn and Ruth Palmer, also an OCBC co-chair, said that they had had discussions about a potential CBA with school district officials and would continue to discuss the matter with them as the school project goes forward.

They also said that their support for the ballot question in May would depend on how serious the school district is about using local labor.

“If we have people who are hired from Oberlin, who live here, when they get their salary they are going to spend their salary in Oberlin. … And this is important because this makes money go around in our community. It is economically sound to have this kind of an agreement. It’s fiscally responsible to keep the money in

town,” Palmer said.

When asked about using local labor in the construction process, Schroth said that while he was in favor of a CBA, it might not end up being possible due to state legislation and the fact that the district is at least partially relying on state funding for the project.

“I try to use local contractors whenever we can,” he said. “One hurdle for this is that it’s really not — when you get right down to it — it’s not our project. It’s a state project. So the Ohio School Facilities Commission essentially takes control over this once the planning part starts up. And they

do not like CBAs. In fact there is legislation against having CBAs in place. Once we get through May we’ll start working with the state, figuring out how we can get around that, how we can use as much local labor as possible on this contract while still working within the state guidelines.”

Feature Photo: SFP Speaks Out

This Wednesday, under a cold gray sky, 40 students huddled outside the Cox Administration Building to speak against the conviction of Palestinian-American activist Rasmea Odeh at an event hosted by Students for a Free Palestine. Odeh was convicted on Monday in a Detroit federal court for immigration fraud after failing to disclose her 1969 Israeli military court conviction during her U.S. naturalization process.

In 1969, Odeh was arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison for her alleged 1969 involvement in a fatal terrorist bombing that year. She was released in a prisoner exchange program 10 years after sentencing and immigrated to the United States in 1995. She went on to become the associate director for the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network.

In a printed statement distrib-

uted at the action, SFP members claimed that Monday’s conviction was a political act.

“The court did NOT allow Rasmea to speak of her persecution and torture at the hands of the Israeli Defense Fund,” read the printed statement. “The Court did NOT allow for Rasmea to explain her history of PTSD from her experiences in Israeli prisons.

Instead the court continued the U.S. state project to criminalize, prosecute, and deport Palestinian immigrants and leaders. Rasmea resisting racism, misogyny and Islamophobia in the U.S. threatened this white-supremacist state and the court sought to silence it.”

The action was held as part of the national #FreeRasmeaNow week. Individual students, community members and student groups, including the Sexual Information Center and the Edmonia Lewis Center, read statements

and spoke about Odeh’s conviction and intersecting issues. Attendees were encouraged to write letters of support to Odeh and sign a petition to U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade to drop the conviction.

“The purpose of this was to draw attention to the case of Rasmea Odeh, but not only Rasmea Odeh, and tie it into bigger systems that are all intersecting on this trial, such as the corrupt immigration system in the U.S., repression of Palestine solidarity work, state-sanctioned sexualized violence, U.S. imperialism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab sentiment, etc. The list goes on,” said SFP member and College senior Victoria Velasco. “And we also wanted to show public support for Rasmea.”

Text by Elizabeth Dobbins, News editor Photo by Rick Yu

November 14, 2014

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Letters to the Editors

General Faculty Committees Need Students To the Editors:

One of the most significant ways in which Oberlin students can have an impact on College governance and policy is through General Faculty committees. These committees focus on specific topics and consist of faculty, administration and student members. The purpose of these committees is to assist and collaborate in the internal governance of the College and to formulate and propose policy.

Most committees have a number of seats reserved for students.

Unfortunately, a large number of these seats remain unfilled due to lack of applicants and interest from students. The following committees have openings for students: Academic Calendar Admissions and Financial Aid Advising Assessment Athletics Community-Based Learning Educational Plans and Policies Conservatory Educational Policy Educational Technology Environmental Sustainability Equity and Diversity Finney Lectureship Forum Board Library Student Assemblies Student Honor Student Life Winter Term If you are interested in joining any of these committees or want more information, please contact the Student Senate committee appointment coordinators at oc.committees@gmail.com.

–Ben Libbey Student Senator

Graduating Senior Reflects on Sidewalk Etiquette To the Editors: As I prepare to graduate this December, I think back on the many experiences I have had here at Oberlin College. Some have been middling; others have been pretty nice. I could not be happier, how-

ever, that I will never have one particular experience again, and that is playing real-life Frogger as I attempt to avoid being hit by people’s loogies.

Often, as I walk along the sidewalk, minding my own business, the person in front of me hucks a giant gob of spit out of their mouth. If I am not quick, it will land on me. My reflexes have quickened after four years here, but every miss is narrow.

I know I’m not alone. I know there are other students on this campus who live in fear of being indirectly spat upon. Even if the loogie lands wide of the sidewalk, I frequently find myself unable to look away as the saliva hits the ground, and after intense examination of the gob I am reduced to a state of emotional confusion. I have lived this life for four years. My hope is that in writing this letter to the editors, I may make a positive change for Oberlin students of the future.

My experiences of horror and self-doubt on the sidewalks of Oberlin are not limited to salivary discharge. I live in fear of that awful experience, which seems to happen at least daily, of attempting to move to one side to let someone pass and having them inevitably drift in the same direction. The result is a dance of shame. In my time here I have learned to be a good sport about this situation, and I try to laugh with the person about it. However, there are always those, out of intense shyness or perhaps pride, who refuse to acknowledge my friendly laughter. In these situations I am left dancing around the sidewalk, laughing at nothing in particular, while inside I am hurt and bewildered.

Relative walking speed is also an issue on our sidewalks. I have often had the experience of being trapped behind a pack of people all walking at a leisurely pace. In this situation, I feel that there are a few options.

One might scream and push the people out of the way. One might instead passive-aggressively make a comment mentioning Galapagos tortoises or other slow-moving animals in the hope that they will take the hint and walk faster. Or one might accept one’s fate and walk behind these leisure seekers until a window opens up, and one is able to dart past them. However, this leads to a Catch-22-like quandary, because whenever someone walks

swiftly by me, I become offended.

Clearly, when someone walks quickly by you, they are making a statement that you are walking too slowly. This is rude and unacceptable. Therefore, if you speed past the pack of leisurely walkers, you are being rude and also unacceptable. The choice is yours; walk behind the amblers until you are late for class and your academic career is ruined, or be rude and unacceptable. You might think that adjusting your speed to other people’s on the sidewalk is the answer. You are wrong. If you do this, you will end up walking next to them, but not with them. This is creepy and will lead to an increase in your heart rate and blood pressure. I must stress to you that this is not an option.

These and countless other mishaps that plague our sidewalks could be avoided if we implemented some basic etiquette. If you feel that you must spit, just politely shout “LOOGIE” beforehand, giving people behind you the chance to get out of the way. If you find yourself in the let-me-move-to-the-sideoh-no-you-moved-to-the-side position, simply stand still in the middle of the sidewalk and scream “NO” until it’s over. And, if you are unsure about the appropriateness of your walking speed, why not make a general announcement to everyone else on the sidewalk that you’ve chosen a brisk pace, for instance, but that you’re open to suggestions.

Together, my friends, we can make the sidewalks of Oberlin safe.

–Anasuya Shekhar College senior

Alumna Reflects on Peace Corps Experiences To the Editors: I graduated from Oberlin on May 30, 2013 and sent in my application to Peace Corps within the next week. My interview with a recruiter happened within the month, and then I did not hear from Peace Corps until Nov. 7, five months later, when I received my formal invitation to serve as an English Education volunteer in the Republic of Georgia. This West Virginia-sized See Letters, page 6

SUBMISSIONS POLICY The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and column submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board.

All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in the following Friday’s Review. Letters may not exceed 600 words and columns may not exceed 800 words, except with the consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names, for all signers. All electronic submissions from multiple writers should be carbon-copied to all signers to confirm authorship.

The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for content, space, spelling, grammar and libel. Editors will work with columnists and contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. In no case will editors change the opinions expressed in any submission.

The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review. In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response.

The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to the author of a letter to the editors.

Opinions expressed in letters, columns, essays, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review.

Page 5

The Oberlin Review Publication of Record for Oberlin College — Established 1874 —

Editors-in-Chief Julia Herbst Rose Stoloff Managing Editor Julian Ring Opinions Editor Sam White

Net Neutrality Essential in Maintaining Worldwide Flow of Information, Ideas President Obama announced on Monday his support for protecting net neutrality — the principle that all internet traffic, from personal blogs to viral videos to CNN breaking news, should be treated equally by internet service providers. This welcome gesture did little, however, to convey the gravity of what’s at stake. Without net neutrality protections, internet service providers have the power — and the profit motive — to effectively redefine high-speed internet and its idea-sharing power as a privilege reserved for those already in positions of wealth and influence.

Net neutrality is one of very few issues that affects virtually every American personally, yet very few understand it; in the words of comedian John Oliver, it’s boring. In an attempt to remedy that back in June, the former Daily Show correspondent dedicated a 13-minute segment of his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to illustrate the concept in simple, humorous terms. He explained: “It’s why the internet is a weirdly level playing field and startups can supplant existing brands. That’s how Facebook supplanted MySpace, which supplanted Friendster, which supplanted actually having any friends.”

Facebook, for its part, is one of a group of large corporations including Google, Amazon and Netflix that are — as Oliver points out with incredulity — actually on the side of everyday netizens in the net neutrality debate. They, like smaller websites, will have to pay ISPs, what Obama has termed “tolls” on the information superhighway, in order to match their online competitors for download speeds. In a fast-paced and everintensifying online market, discrepancies will likely mean not merely inconvenience for consumers but unviability for outpaced websites.

Yet while ISPs are the clear winners in a net neutrality-free environment, none of these high-profile websites is the real loser. While Google’s and Amazon’s profit margins may suffer, their content and services will emerge largely unscathed. The same cannot be said for that of websites not backed by multi-billion dollar corporations. Without a doubt, those with the most to lose are web-reliant small businesses and non-profits as well as crowdfunded sites. They’re the owners and beneficiaries of sites like Wikipedia, like Black Girl Dangerous, like The Oberlin Review.

Without painting corporate websites with overly broad strokes, there’s a common thread among the losers: Many of the websites that would be most hurt by a laissez-faire internet are those that connect and amplify non-dominant voices. For instance, Wikipedia, the sixth mostused website in the world, serves its informational role entirely through donations, and through programs like Wikipedia Zero — a partnership with cellphone carriers across 34 countries to provide free mobile access to the site to an estimated 400 million people — it regularly demonstrates its commitment to connecting internationally marginalized voices. Its parent organization, the Wikimedia Foundation, has publicly defended net neutrality as a social justice issue, stating that “it is absolutely in the interests of the public to use the internet to provide free access to education, knowledge, medical information or other public services.”

Beyond the sharing of information, net neutrality is essential to the equitable sharing of ideas, especially by those whose perspectives the mainstream media tends to overlook. Black Girl Dangerous, for instance, amplifies the voices of queer and trans people of color in a specialized online setting curated by those same communities; other blogs of its ilk provide similar crowdfunded safe spaces for voices historically excluded from the world of traditional, corporate-backed journalism.

Journalism, furthermore, will be affected by changes to the Federal Communications Commission rules. The nature of these effects may be interpreted widely. In an editorial in The Daily Dot (“Net Neutrality is good for the internet, bad for internet journalism,” Sept. 10, 2014), Editor-in-Chief Nicholas White suggests that while net neutrality is benSee Editorial, page 6 Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, managing editor and Opinions editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

Opinions

Page 6

Nothing to Celebrate: Consent Posters Do More Harm Than Good Anne Buckwalter Contributing Writer During a recent visit to Student Health Services, I noticed something I did not like at all emblazoned on one of the stock posters in the exam room. While I’m sure that many of these posters could be considered problematic due to racism, male supremacy and other fatal flaws, the one I noticed was about consent. It read, “83 percent of college men respect their partner’s wishes about sexual activity.” I’m almost impressed that such triggering, heterosexist and poorly planned content could all be contained in one poster.

The poster was created by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network in a campaign to involve men in the prevention of sexual assault. The RAINN poster seems to suggest that 83 percent represents a sufficient number of dudes getting consent.

Wow, good job, college men! Eightythree percent of you bother to practice a basic skill? A skill that helps the sex you are having be legal and not violate essential human rights? You are doing so great. (End sarcasm.)

We should not be proud of 83 percent. Advertising that fairly high percentage promotes complacency.

It suggests that no more work needs to be done because 83 percent of col-

lege men are already doing the good work. The poster may intend to peer pressure the remaining 17 percent of college men into practicing consent, suggesting that since 83 percent of their friends are doing it, they should too. Yet such peer pressure is unlikely to override the other messages college men receive through peer pressure to act in the opposite way. Whose cajoling would you succumb to, that of a poster or that of your friends?

Another major issue with this poster is its potential to be triggering. In an exam room, there are many opportunities for survivors of sexual assault to be triggered. The premise of someone you don’t know well touching your body may be enough anywhere, let alone in the context of reproductive health exams. Survivors don’t need any more triggers, especially from something as replaceable as a poster. Celebrating the fact that 83 percent of college men practice consent silences discussion of the other 17 percent, allowing those men to exist unchallenged. That 17 percent is the quiet elephant in the room, taking up too much space but remaining unaddressed. Pretending as though sexual assault doesn’t happen is a historically employed method of silencing survivors, and this poster plays into that practice.

Finally, the language in this poster reinforces heterosexism with the use of the word “partner’s.” Cultural precedent suggests that when men and their one partner are discussed, people are talking about heterosexual individuals. The fact that I can draw this conclusion reveals the heterosexism employed in the use of language, and this poster is no different. What about sexual assault among gays, lesbians, polyamorous folks or any other combination aside from one man and one woman? This poster reaffirms the idea that two-partner sex is the only type of sex and that it occurs between a man and a woman. I believe in folks’ ability to be more sensitive in their use of language than this poster.

While the intention of promoting consent was valid, the execution of this poster leaves a lot to be desired.

It’s time to shift the conversation: We must talk about the 17 percent.

Including men in the conversation about preventing sexual assault won’t happen by encouraging complacency.

Peer pressure is not the way to convince college men to practice consent — education is. Consent may or may not be sexy, but it is always necessary.

When that 17 percent reaches zero percent, then we can make a poster to celebrate it. In the meantime, Student Health should not display posters that interfere with students’ health.

Letters to the Editors, Cont.

Continued from page 5 country straddles a position that excludes it from neatly fitting into either Eastern Europe or Central Asia, and it barely registered in my mind’s atlas. It has a population of about five million, tucked above Turkey and below Russia, bordering the Black Sea to the west and hovering above the Middle East. Indeed, I do not think that many Americans know about this post-Soviet nation. Outside of the Russian invasion in 2008, Georgia does not get much air time in America.

I have been in Georgia for over six months now, spending the first three months training in language, culture and education and the next three months teaching in a small village at the foot of a mountain in the middle of the country.

Peace Corps service is not easy or always comfortable. But my six months here are most accurately characterized by a constant sense of deep and abiding meaningfulness. It seems obvious: Being a volunteer in a developing country is seen as an inherently meaningful and noble venture. In reality, this view of being a volunteer does not play a large role in my everyday life, nor has it sustained me during the difficult or uncomfortable or scary times that I have had. Whence meaningfulness? I will tell you: I am often speaking another language. I am almost always outside of my comfort zone. And I am never bored. It may sound like a state of constant stress, and it certainly is stressful at times. But I learn so many things every

day, and I am constantly presented with challenges to negotiate and conquer. These daily realities shape my broader perspective about being a volunteer, not the other way around.

My smallest successes are my biggest victories, like buying my host mother perfume for her birthday at my favorite market in the village or passing a jovial three hours at my Georgian tutor’s house speaking Georgian.

And I am beginning to understand the meaningfulness of sharing simple daily life with people in another culture. The things that we all need to do are often the tasks and small and simple pleasures that make a normal Thursday meaningful: having a successful day at your job, having a good conversation, spending time with family and friends, eating a delicious meal or going for a walk on a sunny afternoon.

Living in a small Georgian village for the next two years will not always be great. I have already experienced medical issues that I would not in America, and I have had more days of eating pure carbohydrates in the last six months than in all 23 years of my life in America combined. But I get up every day and live in a culture that is entirely apart from my own, and I cannot imagine doing anything else with my life at this moment besides speaking Georgian, being outside my comfort zone and never, ever being bored.

–Hannah Combe, OC ’13

Editorial: Net Neutrality Facilitates Amplification of Marginalized Voices Continued from page 5 eficial to the internet at large, it’s detrimental to online journalism, namely because the internet in its present, neutral state lacks barriers to entry comparable to those of print journalism (the cost of a printing press) and of broadcast media (the cost of FCC licenses).

The Editorial Board, however, believes this accessibility is precisely what makes the internet unique. The possibilities that the internet age has

opened to journalism outlets, both new and old, are by now well-documented. The challenges the internet poses to existing media establishments — such as increased competition and decreased print circulation — are necessary challenges to which these establishments must swiftly adapt. The openness of the internet is a necessary avenue for the free speech of all parties, regardless of their economic resources. Ironically, the staunchest critics of net neutrality, such as prominent Republican Senator Ted Cruz, include

some of the most ardent supporters of extending First Amendment rights.

An end to net neutrality would ultimately contribute to the ongoing disenfranchisement of those who need the internet most. It would give ISPs, not consumers, control over which voices the internet amplifies and which it doesn’t. In the context of journalism, this isn’t the merit-based selectivity of which White speaks — it’s a slow transformation of the internet from a tool of empowerment to a tool of oppression.

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

U.S. Intervention in Iraq, Syria Ineffective Dylan Tencic During a strategic planning conference with foreign military leaders, President Obama had an encouraging change of perspective on operations in the Iraq and Syria. He acknowledged that the fight against ISIS expands beyond military action and stressed that we are combating an “ideological strain of extremism” more than a military foe. He also said that the United States’s military leadership was acting in compliance with this position. Unsurprisingly, recent developments on the ground tell a different story.

Instead of waging what Obama describes as “a campaign that includes all the dimensions of power,” we have ramped up airstrikes to their highest frequency in months, sold more arms to shady allies and sent more than 1,500 troops to the region. All this is in stark contrast to Obama’s promises of limited military involvement and no boots on the ground.

Yes, these soldiers are only there to train and command, but with so many troops so close to the action, U.S. casualties are almost inevitable.

The headlines primarily highlight the fight for Kobani in northern Syria and the advances of ISIS troops into Iraq’s Anbar province, which is situated near Baghdad. ISIS is gaining territory on both fronts, which raises the question of whether U.S. military actions have even been effective.

This campaign is being fought primarily using airstrikes, the success rates of which are notoriously difficult to assess.

What can be measured, however, is the $500 million the U.S. has spent on airstrikes over the past two months, according to figures released by the Pentagon.

Next, we have trained and advised “moderate” rebel groups. Given the U.S.’s well-documented history of subsidizing militant groups in the region, we must seriously question the means by which rebel groups are determined “moderate.” When the U.S. was targeting the Assad regime in Syria before ISIS became a household name, we were screening the group as a potential ally.

The enemy of our enemy should not necessarily be our friend. Consider the two rebel groups we are supporting the most: the Kurdish rebels, who are considered terrorists when they cross the border into Turkey, and the Free Syrian Army, of which various Syrian ethnic sects disapprove and which is now looking more and more like a U.S. mercenary army.

More discouraging news has surfaced regarding U.S. arms supplies, some of which have landed directly in the hands of ISIS. An ISIS militant posted a video on social media of himself rummaging through the contents of a U.S. parachute bundle full of hand grenades and mortar rounds.

It is no wonder that the U.S. has a 12 percent approval rating in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two countries in the region with which we have some of the friendliest relations. These approval ratings beat out approval ratings for ISIS in these countries by a mere 7 and 9 percentage points respectively, according to a poll by a leading commercial survey firm in the Middle East.

So, how has the Obama administration confronted problems like economic depravity, religious sectarianism and political exclusion? We cannot be sure. First and foremost, we must do more to support the international military coalition that has united against this terrorist threat. Our foreign policy leaders keep stressing the significance of these alliances, yet the U.S. is still calling all of the shots. When discussing our operations in the Middle East, the spotlight and the headlines must be on them, not on the U.S. The U.S. should be involved not by committing more airstrikes and more weaponry, but by working to assuage economic disparities and diminish ethno-sectarian conflict in an effort to develop an alternative narrative for those who feel the need to resort to violence and join militant groups.

This is going to be a long-term campaign, and there are no quick fixes in sight. If we continue the trend of increasing military involvement in the region, we will find ourselves entrenched in this conflict for years. The harsh reality is that the U.S. has done more to destabilize the region than to bring about peace; by fracturing tenuous ethno-sectarian relations, we have ultimately created space for ISIS to rise to insurgency in the first place.

The question is not whether or not ISIS and its actions are abhorrent — they unquestionably are. The question is whether or not U.S. intervention is the proper course of action in the Middle East. A look at the history reveals a clearly unsuccessful precedent. Saddam Hussein was a tyrant, but the puppet government and army that we put in his place deserted at the first sight of ISIS insurgency. Our foreign policies have not worked and will not work. We must try something new.

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Opinions

Page 7

Yik Yak Teaches Students GOP Policies an Attack on Millenials Value of Concise Writing Zachery Crowell Contributing Writer

CJ Blair Columnist As long as there has been language, there have always been two ways to say something: the long way and the short way. Whether for comedy, argument or presentation, there’s a delicate balance between saying too much and not saying enough. While it’s easy when writing a paper or telling a joke to overstay your welcome, the most effective deliveries are concise articulations of important points that are just long enough to make their case. Though not academic in its aims, Yik Yak has become a medium that inspires college students to think in this way.

Yik Yak, for those unfamiliar with it, is an anonymous social media app designed for college campuses that only lets users make posts with 200 characters or fewer.

It doesn’t have user profiles, pictures or advertisements. All you can do is write your own posts and upvote or downvote those made by others. It seems pretty elementary, but by browsing the highest-rated “yaks,” it becomes obvious that in order to get to the top, you can’t waste a single character. My personal favorite goes something like, “I want my lab partners to lower my coffin into the ground at my funeral, so they can let me down one last time.”

Though that may just seem like a funny little phrase, it’s actually pretty ingenious that it can be expressed so tersely. There are a million ways to vocalize a thought like this: “I hate my lab partners.” “I can’t depend on them.” “I’m the only one who ever does any work.” All of these convey the same message — but the yak has a setting, a build-up and a punchline in the word count it takes most signs to say things like, “It’s good to wash your hands.”

Yik Yak, when used this way, demonstrates an artistic and rhetorical concept that is essential to modern discourse: brevity. Compared to posts on other social media

sites that impose no limits on post size, especially in a culture that values being articulate very little outside of formal settings, the best of Yik Yak provides a reminder of how refreshing it is to read something short and to the point.

This trend toward brevity is one that has been received exceptionally well through history. Ernest Hemingway, with his simple sentences and casual dialogue, inspired 20th-century writers to abandon modernist excess. Miles Davis, with his delicate tone and sparse improvisation, spawned an entire new subset of jazz music in the 1950s.

These are two textbook examples of excess giving way to moderation. When impressive style becomes bloated and convoluted, it becomes evident that the most effective way to draw in an audience is to keep things simple and direct.

This is a concept that is endlessly applicable to everyday life, far beyond yaks about homework distractions and political quips.

Picking subtlety over extravagance is a mature and sometimes difficult choice to make when trying to make a resounding point. But with news media and entertainment tailored to shorter and shorter attention spans, brevity is one of the most powerful rhetorical devices a person can have at their disposal.

Whether it’s an essay for a class, a roadside advertisement or an intriguing story you’re itching to tell people, err on the side of saying too little rather than too much.

Excess leaves no room for imagination and intrigue. Brevity draws audience members in, and it lets them demonstrate their own creativity and find something that speaks to them personally in the content.

To paraphrase filmmaker Andrew Stanton: Give the audience two and two, then let them make four. They’ll love you for it. Accept and appreciate the challenge of limited space. There’s a word limit on this article partly for that very reason. I, for one, am grateful for it.

During the 2004 election, a gap in voting preferences emerged between those younger than 30 and those older than 65 for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War. This age gap in voting has since persisted, and last week was no exception. However, this trend is not about partisan allegiance, but instead about the theft of wealth and potential — including environmental resources, a healthy economy, public goods and fundamental liberties — from the young by the older generations in power. At the core of this electoral gap is the reality that essentially all the policies of the GOP reinforce this theft while hapless Democrats simply stand by, helpless or unwilling to prevent millennials from likely becoming the first generation in recent history to see a decline in living standards.

When taxes and government services are cut, as they have been since the so-called “shellacking” of 2010, it’s always in ways that predominantly injure the young, namely by eliminating resources for education and health care.

The Affordable Care Act, though flawed like all laws, benefited millennials above other generations, since millennials were among those least likely to be insured by either an employer or the government.

There is also the near obsession of the GOP with restricting reproductive rights in this country. This has gone so far that Lynn Paltrow, the executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, has counted 380 cases since 2005 where pregnant women were arrested on the mere suspicion that they might be planning on terminating their pregnancies. There are also the few states like Mississippi, where all but a handful of abortion clinics have been regulated out of existence. This purposeful and constitutionally dubious attempt to control women’s reproductive lives predominantly affects only those young enough to give birth in the first place.

This desire to control young people’s bodies goes far beyond the sexually active. Ultimately, our armed personnel will be the ones risking life and limb for any misguided war supported by bellicose lawmakers voted into office

predominantly by Americans too old to serve.

Yet these pro-order lawmakers don’t stop at just wars abroad. Under the pretext of battles against drugs, immigration and terrorism, they wage literal wars on the black and brown bodies who call this country home. How many more unarmed youth will be gunned down in the streets or locked in concrete cages before we declare victory over abstract nouns?

For a long time, I believed that any political divides along generational lines could be explained away by economic splits. In reality, it is the young who disproportionately deal with economic deprivation. Today, the United States ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

When taxes and government services are cut… it’s always in ways that predominantly injure the young.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– has one of the highest rates of childhood poverty in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, while youth unemployment perniciously affects nearly all countries, rich and poor. Again, both rich and poor millennials will be the ones to inherit the degradation of the environment and climate. Furthermore, the United States is squandering away the future of this country by burdening those born since 1980 with $1.2 trillion in student debt as of 2013 while leaving American youth ill-prepared for a highskilled global economy. This is a generational crisis, one that neither party will solve.

It is time for a new social contract, one that will share the prosperity of an ever more technological, globalized and environmentallystrained economy. Voting is not enough, especially as it becomes increasingly restricted and drowned out by monied interests. If things are to improve, millennials must organize at all levels, including at the ballot box, in the workplace, through cultural outlets and even in public streets. Moreover, we must demand new political parties, because it’s increasingly apparent that those in power do not care for the welfare of this generation.

Equality Movement Must Push Beyond Marriage Sophie Kemp Contributing Writer On Nov. 6, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ban on marriage equality in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. Now, before we all stand around singing along to “Same Love” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and flaunting FCKH8 apparel, it’s important to have a discussion about the direction in which the mainstream movement for marriage equality is going.

I think if you were to walk around Oberlin’s campus and ask people about their thoughts on marriage equality, the issue would have overwhelming — if not complete — support. Before the Sixth Circuit ruling, I was convinced that there was near-universal support for marriage equality. We live in a society that is progressively warming up to accepting queer identities. The Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell have been repealed, and in October, the Supreme Court turned away five appeals from states moving to prohibit marriage equality. In the context of such a conservative Supreme Court, which is notorious for ruling that corporations are people and actually striking down parts of the Voting Rights Act, these pro-LGBTQ decisions were very exciting.

However, I have a lot of problems with the marriage equality movement. I’m outraged at Ohio for upholding a ban on the freedom to marry, but I’m also outraged at the mainstream queer movement. The fact is that the mainstream movement — to paraphrase Black Girl Dangerous — is giving more privilege to people who already have all of the privilege in the world. We’re spending so much time making sure that economically privileged, white, cisgender men can get married (which they should indeed be able to) but focusing less energy on the trans people — and especially trans women of color — who face constant abuse and brutality. One relatively well-known example of this is CeCe McDonald, the black trans woman who

killed a Minnesota man in an act of self-defense and was sentenced to 41 months in a men’s prison. While McDonald has received support from people like actress Laverne Cox, the fact that trans people are not only being convicted of survival crimes but also being put in the wrong gender prison speaks to where we are in this country in regard to LGBTQ rights.

It’s not enough to wave rainbow flags and get tearyeyed in front of a court building when two people who previously couldn’t get married are now able to get married. The movement needs to focus less on making the experiences of queer people more palatable and focus more on the reality that youth are still thrown out on the street based on their gender and sexual identities. While it is truly fantastic that people with marginalized sexual identities are gaining visibility, it makes me upset that so much of this energy is being focused on marriage. Marriage isn’t something that is accessible to a vast group of people not only because it’s illegal, but because they still live in an environment in which coming out is dangerous and couples are frequently harassed simply for “walking while queer.”

In addition, I take issue with the normalization that surrounds the movement. Gay marriage is a very palatable idea to mainstream audiences. It creates an outlook of obliviousness toward sexuality — like the outlook of “colorblindness” with regard to race — and assumes that straight experiences are the same as queer ones. Marriage should always be an option, but it’s important to realize that marriage shouldn’t be where the conversation about LGBTQ rights ends. Centering this conversation around marriage does more for the benefit of mainstream audiences’ understanding of gay rights than for the people the laws actually affect.

So wave those flags away, and be mad at Ohio as you should. However, as students and activists, it is imperative that we focus our energy elsewhere.

The Oberlin Review invites its readers to weigh in on recent campus issues using the online poll on our homepage. This month’s graphic represents the 319 responses received between Sept. 22, 2014 and Nov. 14, 2014. From November onward, the Review will post a new poll question each month. You can respond to this month’s question at oberlinreview.org.

Taylor Field

Local Destinations Best bets for bike trips out of Oberlin

Lakeview Park 12 miles from Oberlin

BERLIN BY BIKE No sight is more ubiquitous on Oberlin’s streets than the bicycle. From comfortable cruisers to streamlined road bikes to the reliable hybrid, bicycles have become more than a simple means of transportation. They are simultaneously a beloved symbol of the town and of the potential to escape Oberlin and explore the surrounding area.

While the lake is a longer ride, it offers the attractions of swimming, a café and a rose garden during the warmer months.

Map adapted from the Lorain County Bicycle Transportation Map, prepared by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and available at noaca.com.

Photo courtesy of sitearm.wordpress.com

WINTER CYCLING

Hillcrest Orchards 8 miles from Oberlin This “fun farm” is well worth a visit during the fall for apple picking, hay rides, a pumpkin patch, baked goods and other nostalgic attractions.

Take the opportunity to tune up your bike before the winter months! The Bike Co-op (open Monday through Thursday 7–10 p.m. and Friday through Sunday 1–4 p.m.) offers advice and assistance with bike repair and maintenance.

Photo courtesy of hillcrestfunfarm.com

Cold-weather tips

Reservoir 1.5 miles from Oberlin

1. Lowering the pressure in your tires will give you more control and traction on slippery sidewalks and roads. Be warned, however, that lowering the pressure below the minimum printed on the tire increases the likelihood of puncturing a tire when riding over rough terrain or bending the rim if you hit something.

2. Don’t bring your bike into warm buildings in the winter unless you plan to clean it off !

Snow, ice and salt that melt on to your frame and gears will cause rust far more quickly if the bike is brought inside, and riding a room-temperature bike in new snow causes ice to form on the brakes and gears more easily.

3. Early nightfall and bad weather can make bikes very difficult to see; such conditions are especially dangerous considering the many intersections that cyclists must navigate while riding across campus. To maximize visibility to cars and avoid running over pedestrians, mount front and rear lights on your bike or helmet.

4. Lubricate your chain, gear cassette and brake and derailleur assemblies regularly to keep them operating smoothly, deter rust and prevent excessive wear caused by rubbing metal.

5. Keep warm by layering your core and protecting your hands and face against the wind.

Mittens in place of gloves help preserve heat in your fingers, while snug hats prevent frigid air from streaming into hoods.

The reservoir is close enough to serve as a convenient and peaceful place to have a picnic or watch the sun set behind the trees.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.

–Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Kipton 4.5 miles from Oberlin Reach this tiny, quaint town by heading west on the bike path.

Bike Path

Review Photo Contest!

The Review celebrates the first snow of the year with an open invitation for submissions of winter photographs taken around Oberlin. Each week until the end of the semester, one winning photo will be selected and featured in the centerspread. Photos should be from this year and unaltered.

Send all photographs to thisweek@oberlinreview.org

One of the only options for a traffic-free ride, the bike path stretches 13.5 miles between Elyria and Kipton. Pick it up by riding down South Professor.

This Week Editor : Hazel Galloway

Photo courtesy of ohiobikeways.net

CALENDAR

Student Dance Showcase Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.

Warner Center Main Space

Oberlin Student Theater Showcase Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.

Cat in the Cream

The Jazz Heritage Orchestra in Concert Friday, Nov. 14 from 9:30–11 p.m.

Clonick Hall, Kohl Building

Strategic Plan Listening Session Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 12:30–1:30 p.m.

King Building 306

High-Fives with the Academic Ambassadors Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 8:30–9:30 p.m.

Azariah’s Café, Mudd library

This student-run performance will showcase a variety of dance styles and genres, from hip-hop to ballet to rapper sword dancing. Individual student choreographers and dance groups include KOREO, Rust Belt Rappers, Umoja Steppers, Movimiento, Ballet Oberlin, ViBE Jazz and ViBE Tap.

The relaxed atmosphere at the Cat in the Cream will provide the backdrop for three plays written, directed and performed by students. Two of the pieces are directed by their playwrights. Admission is free.

The Jazz Heritage Orchestra, a 17-piece nonprofit ensemble, performs and provides workshops throughout the United States and around the world. Supported by the Cleveland State University Black Studies Program, the JHO was created in an effort to make jazz music accessible to African-American communities.

The Strategic Plan Steering Committee’s drafting process will be opened up to the student body during a lunchtime listening session. Students will have an opportunity to voice their concerns and questions about the process to members of the committee, which includes students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni.

Academic ambassadors—juniors and seniors who have been selected to help guide new students through their first semester at Oberlin College—will meet with students in Mudd to answer questions about imminent registration, spring classes and Winter Term. Copious encouragement and plenty of high-fives will be provided.

Thanksgiving Potluck Feast and Multifaith Celebration Thursday, Nov. 20 from 6–8 p.m.

Root Room, Carnegie Building Students, faculty and community members are invited to share food and company at this Thanksgiving potluck. The Interfaith Student Council, Oberlin Area Cooperating Ministries and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life are coordinating sacred readings and a variety of dishes to be shared at the celebration.

“Historical Archetypes of Masculinity and Femininity: The Kotha and the Akhara” Friday, Nov. 21 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery (65 E. College St., Suite 5) Artist Joan Marie Kelly has lived in Singapore since 2005 and has exhibited her work around the world. In this Oberlin show, Kelly explores masculinity and femininity through two distinct Indian communities: sex workers and wrestlers. Kelly hopes to use the history of these two groups to shed light on social issues in modern-day India.

Calendar by Elizabeth Dobbins, News Editor

Local Destinations Best bets for bike trips out of Oberlin

Lakeview Park 12 miles from Oberlin

BERLIN BY BIKE No sight is more ubiquitous on Oberlin’s streets than the bicycle. From comfortable cruisers to streamlined road bikes to the reliable hybrid, bicycles have become more than a simple means of transportation. They are simultaneously a beloved symbol of the town and of the potential to escape Oberlin and explore the surrounding area.

While the lake is a longer ride, it offers the attractions of swimming, a café and a rose garden during the warmer months.

Map adapted from the Lorain County Bicycle Transportation Map, prepared by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and available at noaca.com.

Photo courtesy of sitearm.wordpress.com

WINTER CYCLING

Hillcrest Orchards 8 miles from Oberlin This “fun farm” is well worth a visit during the fall for apple picking, hay rides, a pumpkin patch, baked goods and other nostalgic attractions.

Take the opportunity to tune up your bike before the winter months! The Bike Co-op (open Monday through Thursday 7–10 p.m. and Friday through Sunday 1–4 p.m.) offers advice and assistance with bike repair and maintenance.

Photo courtesy of hillcrestfunfarm.com

Cold-weather tips

Reservoir 1.5 miles from Oberlin

1. Lowering the pressure in your tires will give you more control and traction on slippery sidewalks and roads. Be warned, however, that lowering the pressure below the minimum printed on the tire increases the likelihood of puncturing a tire when riding over rough terrain or bending the rim if you hit something.

2. Don’t bring your bike into warm buildings in the winter unless you plan to clean it off !

Snow, ice and salt that melt on to your frame and gears will cause rust far more quickly if the bike is brought inside, and riding a room-temperature bike in new snow causes ice to form on the brakes and gears more easily.

3. Early nightfall and bad weather can make bikes very difficult to see; such conditions are especially dangerous considering the many intersections that cyclists must navigate while riding across campus. To maximize visibility to cars and avoid running over pedestrians, mount front and rear lights on your bike or helmet.

4. Lubricate your chain, gear cassette and brake and derailleur assemblies regularly to keep them operating smoothly, deter rust and prevent excessive wear caused by rubbing metal.

5. Keep warm by layering your core and protecting your hands and face against the wind.

Mittens in place of gloves help preserve heat in your fingers, while snug hats prevent frigid air from streaming into hoods.

The reservoir is close enough to serve as a convenient and peaceful place to have a picnic or watch the sun set behind the trees.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.

–Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Kipton 4.5 miles from Oberlin Reach this tiny, quaint town by heading west on the bike path.

Bike Path

Review Photo Contest!

The Review celebrates the first snow of the year with an open invitation for submissions of winter photographs taken around Oberlin. Each week until the end of the semester, one winning photo will be selected and featured in the centerspread. Photos should be from this year and unaltered.

Send all photographs to thisweek@oberlinreview.org

One of the only options for a traffic-free ride, the bike path stretches 13.5 miles between Elyria and Kipton. Pick it up by riding down South Professor.

This Week Editor : Hazel Galloway

Photo courtesy of ohiobikeways.net

CALENDAR

Student Dance Showcase Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.

Warner Center Main Space

Oberlin Student Theater Showcase Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.

Cat in the Cream

The Jazz Heritage Orchestra in Concert Friday, Nov. 14 from 9:30–11 p.m.

Clonick Hall, Kohl Building

Strategic Plan Listening Session Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 12:30–1:30 p.m.

King Building 306

High-Fives with the Academic Ambassadors Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 8:30–9:30 p.m.

Azariah’s Café, Mudd library

This student-run performance will showcase a variety of dance styles and genres, from hip-hop to ballet to rapper sword dancing. Individual student choreographers and dance groups include KOREO, Rust Belt Rappers, Umoja Steppers, Movimiento, Ballet Oberlin, ViBE Jazz and ViBE Tap.

The relaxed atmosphere at the Cat in the Cream will provide the backdrop for three plays written, directed and performed by students. Two of the pieces are directed by their playwrights. Admission is free.

The Jazz Heritage Orchestra, a 17-piece nonprofit ensemble, performs and provides workshops throughout the United States and around the world. Supported by the Cleveland State University Black Studies Program, the JHO was created in an effort to make jazz music accessible to African-American communities.

The Strategic Plan Steering Committee’s drafting process will be opened up to the student body during a lunchtime listening session. Students will have an opportunity to voice their concerns and questions about the process to members of the committee, which includes students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni.

Academic ambassadors—juniors and seniors who have been selected to help guide new students through their first semester at Oberlin College—will meet with students in Mudd to answer questions about imminent registration, spring classes and Winter Term. Copious encouragement and plenty of high-fives will be provided.

Thanksgiving Potluck Feast and Multifaith Celebration Thursday, Nov. 20 from 6–8 p.m.

Root Room, Carnegie Building Students, faculty and community members are invited to share food and company at this Thanksgiving potluck. The Interfaith Student Council, Oberlin Area Cooperating Ministries and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life are coordinating sacred readings and a variety of dishes to be shared at the celebration.

“Historical Archetypes of Masculinity and Femininity: The Kotha and the Akhara” Friday, Nov. 21 from 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery (65 E. College St., Suite 5) Artist Joan Marie Kelly has lived in Singapore since 2005 and has exhibited her work around the world. In this Oberlin show, Kelly explores masculinity and femininity through two distinct Indian communities: sex workers and wrestlers. Kelly hopes to use the history of these two groups to shed light on social issues in modern-day India.

Calendar by Elizabeth Dobbins, News Editor

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

November 14, 2014

Fall Forward Loses Quirkiness, Gains Cohesion Vida Weisblum Arts Editor Oberlin’s annual Fall Forward dance show is reputed as a spectacular display of the diverse range of movement and innovation within the Dance department; this year’s performance was no exception. Performances of Fall Forward ran last Friday and Saturday evenings in Warner’s historic main space and featured a variety of works composed and performed primarily by Dance majors and minors.

Though this year’s show lacked some of the quirkiness of previous dance showcases, the lineup proved cohesive and captivatingly dynamic.

At a Spring Back performance two years ago, a giddy group of classical vocalists performed brief skits in between acts. Both impressive and amusing, these bits provided enlivening energy to an otherwise conventional performance. The show also included an assortment of non-contemporary and even experimental pieces, including aerial performances and a swing-dancing duo.

With the creation of the more casual Student Dance Showcase in 2012, which includes all levels and genres of dance, Fall Forward has lost some of the eccentric flair it once had. However, Fall Forward’s lack of idiosyncrasies was not a flaw.

The evening was simple yet strong, emphasizing the artists’ distinct visions and the fluid range of movement they employed. This year’s repertoire of performances was an impressive showcase of the hard work done by the curious, creative and driven choreographers and dancers at Oberlin.

To start off the evening, College junior Mini Zhang’s quartet of dancers performed a technically impressive and visually exciting hip-hop piece to the catchy Olly Mur song “Trouble Makers.” An unlikely and

Left: College seniors Ellen Askonas and Silvia Sheffield, College junior Zoe Martens, College sophomore Leah Newman and College first-year Isabel LeveySwain blow party horns as part of College junior Alana Reibstein’s multifaceted “Don’t Blow It.” Reibstein’s dancers combined experimental theatricality with contemporary dance, creating a uniquely thought-provoking piece. Right: College senior Nick Schrier gazes upward while extending into a développé in his ethereal original dance solo “Moving Positions.” His breathtaking performance used elegant choreography to accentuate his articulate movement.

Courtesy of John Seyfried

engaging start to a predominantly contemporary show, Zhang’s piece was another delightful example of her apparent joy for choreography and dance. Zhang’s brand of hip-hop is clearly saturated with a variety of techniques and garners power from subtle yet effective choreographic choices. Her dancers, clothed in

colorful T-shirts, were clearly having fun onstage, which is always enjoyable to witness. Though perhaps lacking depth of meaning, her piece was engaging and started off the show with a positive message: Oberlin’s dancers simply love to dance.

College sophomore Meg Barr’s dream-like solo “From the Earth”

riffed on budding Irish singer-songwriter Hozier’s love themes as she danced to his song “Like Real People Do.” Her piece was impressively gymnastic as she performed a move resembling a one-handed handstand in the opening of her performance. Barr graced the audience with a refreshing smile and charming presence, draw-

ing the audience into the world she appeared to construct through her borderline theatrical style.

College junior Alana Reibstein’s “Don’t Blow It” was perhaps the most stirring and entertaining piece of the evening. Reibstein’s style might be See Cohesive, page 13

Students, Parents Attend Cross-Generational Tribute to SNL Liam McLean Staff Writer A gaggle of bleary-eyed Obies and their guardians filled the rows of the Apollo Theatre on the morning of Saturday, Nov. 8, the second day of Parents Weekend, for journalist James Andrew Miller’s talk on his lauded 2003 book, Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live As Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests.

The Apollo’s auditorium, which seats approximately 500, was at near capacity, with parents and students alike agog for the talk about one of the country’s most recognizable pop culture behemoths.

In his opening statement, College President Marvin Krislov attributed the universal excitement to the cross-generational

nature of the sketch comedy giant. Punctuating his speech with a quip that evoked chuckles and groans in equal measure — “Live from Oberlin, it’s James Miller!” — he set the stage for the bestselling author.

Miller himself is the parent of an Oberlin student. He boasts an impressive quarter-century career in media and politics, during which he has written speeches for former Republican Senator Howard Baker and profiled Nancy Reagan for Life magazine.

Miller featured interviews with ESPN correspondents and high-profile athletes in his book, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN — a hotly anticipated account of the network’s history. He went on to co-write Live From New York with Pulitzer Prize-

winning television critic Tom Shales.

Live From New York was dubbed by Fortune magazine as one of the “75 Smartest Books We Know.”

Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the book as “a sharp-clawed, incisive account of how nearly three decades’ worth of comic talent has emerged from a single television show.” In 2014, in honor of the show’s 40th season, the authors released an expanded edition of the book, containing over 100 pages of additional material on the last decade of SNL history.

Miller mentioned that his book consists of over 500 uncensored interviews with cast members, producers and guest stars throughout the years. In Miller’s talk, however, references to behind-the-

scenes controversies were surprisingly scant. He described the development of a typical SNL episode and then launched into a cursory and relatively traditional history of the show, which he anchored with carefullyselected sketches.

Beginning with the first sketch the show ever aired, an offbeat bit featuring an English teacher (Michael O’Donoghue) asking his willing Eastern European pupil ( John Belushi) to repeat inexplicable phrases about wolverines, Miller traced the show from its infancy in the ’70s to the Dick Ebersol era to the emergence of recurring characters to the recent rise of digital shorts.

Occasionally, the benign commentary brought up touchy subjects. Miller seemed cautiously critical of Lorne Michaels’s monop-

olistic authority over the show’s production. “Saturday Night Live is a dictatorship. When Lorne Michaels puts those cards on the board, that’s the way it is,” Miller said at one point, referring to Michaels’ practice of posting the sketches chosen to be included in an episode on a bulletin board before the episode goes live on Saturday night. He recounted a young Billy Crystal’s aborted appearance on the show’s first episode; the fledgling comedian walked out after Michaels insisted he cut his routine in half.

There is no doubt that Miller is a consummate expert on the show and an avid fan. Though he may not have been able to provide in 40 minutes anything close to the raw revelations he digs up in his 656-page book, he de-

livered his account with assurance, humor and passion. It was easy to share his evident delight in the sketches he chose to present, from Eddie Murphy’s hysterical take on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood to Will Ferrell’s near-legendary performance in “More Cowbell” to Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader’s uproariously melodramatic roles in “The Californians.” President Krislov’s comment on cross-generational bonding seemed to ring true; one could not help but feel the warmth in the Apollo as parents, students and Miller himself shared laughs over some of the show’s most iconic moments.

At the end of the talk, Miller discussed his lukewarm reaction to the current season, SNL’s 40th, See Miller, page 12

Arts

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Page 11

Fall OJE Concert Features Nolan’s Latest Lacks Virtuosic, Lively Soloists Louise Edwards Staff Writer The Oberlin Jazz Ensemble’s first concert of the year opened with a duel. Trombonist and Conservatory senior Lawrence Galloway and trumpeter and College junior Simon Gilbert stunned audience members with a fierce musical battle at the finale of Ben Patterson’s “No, I Don’t Fly Planes,” their notes screaming out into the resonant acoustics of Finney Chapel. Indeed, Saturday’s concert featured strident individual solos and cohesive ensemble playing that thrilled students and parents alike.

The next song on the program, “Mean What You Say” by Thad Jones, was

much softer, lazier and looser, contrasting pleasantly with the opening number.

Double-degree junior Jack Laskey began the piece with a relaxed piano melody reminiscent of a stroll in the park on a Sunday afternoon. The tune transformed into a much livelier jaunt when the horns entered, providing a rhythmic “oomph” that animated the music’s gentle melody.

Later in the program, OJE performed “The Arboretum,” a composition by Trumpet major and double-degree junior Zach Resnick. The piece featured a bassline that provided a solid rhythmic pace, giving the work a sense of depth and a distinct groove. Double-

degree fifth-year Ellington Scott’s virtuosic percussion solo at the end of the piece, while technically dazzling, failed to fit with the relaxed atmosphere of the rest of the music. Den––––––––––––––––––––––

The piece featured a bassline that provided a solid rhythmic pace, giving the work a sense of depth and a distinct groove.

–––––––––––––––––––––– nis Reynolds, the ensemble’s director, joked about the title of the Oberlin landmark. “[The students] See Big Band, page 13

Emotional Punch Clark Sacktor Columnist Christopher Nolan’s new sci-fi film Interstellar, currently showing at the Apollo Theatre, reaches for the stars both figuratively and literally. Unfortunately, the film falls short of the director’s past cinematic success, which includes the Dark Knight trilogy, Memento and Inception as well as less recognizable titles like The Prestige or Following.

At nearly three hours long, Interstellar overstays its welcome. Large segments could have been deleted without compromising any of the character development or narrative weight. The film repeatedly hammers its message home with clunky, melodramatic dialogue that ultimately rings hollow despite the efforts of the cast.

The film begins with the Earth’s population in a permanent state of ecological and economic depression, having depleted its natural resources, in a setting reminiscent of the Great Depression.

The planet’s few surviving inhabitants also suffer from the consequences of a global dust bowl. Fortunately, the mysterious Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, arrives on the scene to save the day. He pilots a shuttle with female lead Brand (Anne Hathaway) into the deep regions of space beyond our galaxy through a wormhole near Saturn. The team seeks to explore planets that are potentially habitable in order to save humanity from its current plight. From this point onward, the plot becomes overly

complicated, relying on the dumbeddown presentation of advanced physics to justify its more outrageous devices.

The relationship between Cooper and his daughter, Murph (played by Mackenzie Foy as a child and Jessica Chastain as an adult), drives the story forward. The film focuses on the message that love transcends space and time, which turns out to be too generic for its own good.

While there are certainly touching moments between the two characters, the film relies on the relationship too heavily and fails to land the emotional punch of one of its most climactic scenes.

McConaughey, Hathaway and Chastain’s performances are all satisfyingly solid efforts. In particular, McConaughey’s portrayal of an engineer turned farmer turned space explorer (not to mention model father) carries most of the film. Michael Caine appears in his expected role in a Nolan film as the professor and mentor to the protagonist. Hathaway provides an emotional grounding to the film during long stretches set in the confines of the spaceship.

Interstellar boasts some of the most impressive special effects seen on film to date. If nothing else, the movie is worth a viewing for some of the sequences that demonstrate these visual effects, especially those that harken back to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Though mildly entertaining, the overlong runtime and canned messages prevent the film from reaching the great heights that it grasps for.

Trumpet player and College junior Simon Gilbert performs a solo during the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble’s first performance of the year. The concert took place in Finney Chapel on Saturday, Nov. 8 and featured an array of strong solos and cohesive ensemble work.

Rick Yu

Sharma’s Proof Aims to Promote Campus Discussion of Mental Illness Aviva Blonder Staff Writer Last night marked Oberlin’s first showing of David Auburn’s Proof in a series of five showings directed by senior Maya Sharma. The play, which she describes as “philosophically ripe” and full of “awesome, dynamic female roles” will run through Oct. 16 in the Little Theater.

According to Sharma, mental illness takes center stage in Proof. “[The play] deals with questions we all ask ourselves — how can I be functional, but feel dysfunctional?” said Sharma.

“I think that Oberlin does a lot well, but one place that I think Oberlin has acknowledged that they need to really grow is in their addressing of mental illness on campus.”

The play, which has a small cast of four actors, tells the story of a young woman named Catherine

coping with the death of her father, a mentally unstable but brilliant mathematician, as she questions how much of his legacy — both good and bad — she –––––––––––––––––––––– “[The

play] deals with questions we all ask ourselves — how can I be functional, but feel dysfunctional?”

MAYA SHARMA College senior and director of Proof –––––––––––––––––––––– inherited. In a subplot, Catherine deals with her estranged sister, Claire, and pursues a possible romance with her father’s former student, Hal. The process of creating Proof began with a private reading in which Sharma read 28 plays, Proof being

the last.

“Over the summer, I read the play over and over again. I analyzed it really stringently and broke it down and figured out what happens at every moment, what happens on the surface and what happens underneath it, all that kind of prep work,” she said. When she returned, Sharma contacted College sophomore Adina Katz to be the stage manager.

“Because I had such competent people working on [the play], there haven’t been a terrible amount of difficult road blocks,” said Sharma. The play’s cast includes veteran Theater majors as well as some fresh faces from across disciplines.

“Working with everybody was really fun; I think half the fun of putting on a show is rehearsing,” said Ruby Dienstag, the College senior and Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies

major who plays Catherine.

The cast rehearsed five days a week after the roles were set and will continue rehearsing though the shows.

“The process … is [still] going on,” said Sharma, “That doesn’t really end. Even when the shows go up, it’s still … a collaboration.”

Those involved with the show emphasized that Oberlin could benefit from creating a safer space to share narratives of mental health as opposed to turning mental illness into a shameful, embarrassing or ugly fact.

“In the preparation for the show, [the topic of ] mental illness was very present,” said Katz. “The rehearsal process has been surrounded by [the topic of ] mental illness and thinking about the realities of … what it’s like to live with mental illness and to live with someone who has a mental illness.”

Additionally, strong fe-

male leads take center stage in Proof. “I love that it’s centered on two … strong female characters, [because] you don’t get that a lot, especially in the plays I was reading in high school,” said Dienstag. “[The play] also portrays mental health in a really cool way. … This person is really intelligent and put together and then sort of not, and that’s what I like about that. It really focuses on the complexities of mental health and makes it less abject — makes it more real, more relatable.”

With a title like Proof and the math-themed advertisements around campus, the play is “about math, but not really about math,” Sharma said, though there are quite a few math jokes and nods to the field dispersed throughout the script. Sharma even learned a bit about math in the process.

“More than anything else, I’ve been looking into

how … a proof or formulas can supplement art or can double as compelling visual statements,” said Sharma, “Not everyone who’s going to see the show is going to understand. … But you can see them … incorporated into the set and also around campus.” She sees the play as a bridge between math and art, using the aesthetic appeal of hastily scribbled work on math problems to create a hectic yet purposeful atmosphere.

Proof doesn’t address mental illness prescriptively, nor does it present a solution; it shares the complexity of mental illness.

“The only ‘solution’ [Proof] offers is not a solution at all, really; it’s just the idea of sharing our discomfort and sharing our insecurity and instability with others,” Sharma said.

“We can at least start to feel like we’re not so gross and ugly for having things that are wrong with us.”

Arts

Page 12

Miller Discusses Future of SNL

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Feature Photo: Karuta Workshop

Continued from page 10 and called it a transition year. He suggested that the show’s challenge now is to remain relevant amid a slew of newer, similar programs. “It used to be when we watched ‘Weekend Update’ [a recurring SNL segment in which cast members comment satirically on the news], there was nothing else like it on television. Nowadays, Jon Stewart does that every night,” Miller said.

Miller devoted the last 20 minutes of the hour to a Q&A session. Prompted by inquisitive audience members, the writer finally shared some behindthe-scenes details. Miller discussed former cast member Chris Farley’s habit of trying on John Belushi’s old costumes and his subsequent death at the same age as Belushi. Discussing the recent empowerment of women in the show’s production, he mentioned an incident in which Amy Poehler challenged Jimmy Fallon after he objected to her swearing.

The journalist recounted how, in his 20s, he served as a “captain” on an A–Z bar tour, a pub crawl popular among SNL cast members during the show’s early days, during which he had to confront a drunken Belushi and usher him back to the bus. In these moments, Miller offered a glimpse of the engaging storytelling that propelled his book to the top of the New York Times bestsellers list.

Slam poetry may be familiar to many at Oberlin, but what about speed poetry? The Oberlin College East Asian Game Club partnered with the University of Michigan Kyogi Karuta Club to present a seminar on the lightning fast traditional Japanese game of poetry and memory: Karuta. The two-day workshop took place in the Carnegie Building’s Root Room on Saturday and at the University of Michigan the following day.

Mutsumi Stone, the guest of honor, explained the game’s history and rules before inviting participants to try it for themselves. Karuta is played in pairs, with opponents seated or standing across from one another. A reader recites the beginning of one poem drawn from a collection of 100 short poems,

Rutzky Retires, Closes Wood Shop Louisa Liles After four years of business, Oberlin’s local wood shop is closing its doors.

The shop, known as Tansu, is run by owner and woodworker Jacques Rutzky. A type of cabinetry indigenous to Japan, tansu are often mobile storage units — the Japanese characters roughly translate to food storage and firewood transportation.

Rutzky is retiring largely due to financial considerations.

“I’ve discovered that really to make a go of it financially, the store needs to be open eight hours a day. Physically, I only have four hours to give,” says Rutzky.

However, Rutzky said he is excited to move his shop to his basement, where he can continue to create tansu at a more leisurely pace.

“My interest wasn’t just making a living,” said Rutzky. “It was always in the pleasure of making the tansu and teaching.”

“Wood is not artificial, manufactured or standardized,” Rutzky said in the artist statement posted on his website. “It has its own character, based on the kind of tree it comes from, its location, the weather during its life and its place on the tree.”

After Rutzky studies the dimensions, grain and other qualities of the wood, he forms a relationship with the lumber.

“Only then can I envision what I will make,” Rutzky said in his statement.

“Because I work this way, no two works are alike. I work with care and attention to detail, enjoying the challenges presented by the wood as it is transformed into a tansu with drawers, a cabinet, a table, a flower vase, an altar or a sculp-

ture. I hold the pieces together with wooden nails, glue and hinges that I design myself.”

Rutzky has been tinkering since he was a teenager, but his formal training in the craft of Japanese tansu began in 1990.

“I learned by looking,” said Rutzky.

“There was a Japanese antique store two blocks from my office in San Francisco, and so for my lunch hour, I would go [to] this antique store, and they got to know me. I would buy a few small things, so they let me take apart all the tansus, so I learned how a drawer is made.”

Today, Rutzky has five apprentices to whom he teaches his craft; some are students and some are professors at the College and Conservatory. He also teaches Buddhist meditation to students. Now that he is retiring, he hopes to devote more of his time to teaching meditation.

Rutzky also said he believes the town of Oberlin is the best possible place for him to have his business.

“The attraction is obvious to me.

There could not be a better spot for me in Oberlin. I’m 100 feet from Slow Train, so people can look through the window and see through my windows and see the materials.”

Sometimes Rutzky will even leave his lights on after closing for the night.

According to him, this gives people a chance to examine and reflect on his shop in solitude, without the pressure of him standing over them. Students will often wander by after late-night study sessions or when the Slow Train Café closes.

“They feel like the time and space is their own,” he said. Some return when the shop is open, excited to ask questions and learn about his craft.

“I’ve made a ton of friends just being in Oberlin,” Rutzky said.

the Hyakunin Isshu, and contestants race to find the card that completes the poem. The game is primarily a test of memory, as players must not only remember each line of poetry but also where the lines are placed on the playing surface in front of them.

Stone claims that the game is not difficult to learn, even without prior knowledge of Japanese. She travels the world to give demonstrations of Karuta to promote interest in the game, and has met with success in Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, China and the United States.

Text by Jeremy Reynolds, Arts editor Photo by Mike Plotz

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Arts

Page 13

Cohesive Lineup Marks Positive Shift for Fall Forward Show Continued from page 10 described as strange, as she centered her movement on a vague theatrical narrative and incorporated an odd array of miscellaneous props, including plastic vegetables and party horns. Despite the bizarre nature of the piece, her choice of musical accompaniment and the delicate pinkish color scheme transformed her dance into a work of art.

Neither her quality of movement nor her brand of humor failed to captivate, as “Don’t Blow It” garnered both sighs and giggles from audience members — though it was unclear what exactly was funny about it. Because each of her five female dancers appeared to be self-objectifying, crafting themselves as caricatures of women, her title gained resonance with each separate section of the humorous yet subtly disturbing piece.

“Moving Positions,” choreographed and performed

by College senior Nick Schrier, epitomized simple elegance.

Though its title is somewhat unoriginal, his piece was a beautiful and intentional display of exactly what he wanted it to be: a refined study of position and transition. Tastefully crafted and gracefully executed, his stellar piece was one

of the standout numbers of the night. Aesthetically a complete contrast to Schrier’s solo, College junior Jackie Pitts’s “In the Worst Kind of Way” featured a large, visually entertaining and complex but not particularly memorable cast.

Her choice of dull-colored costumes only compounded the piece’s lack of vibrancy.

However, College sophomore Leah Newman’s piece was satisfying in every regard.

Her title was a clear statement of her piece’s purpose: “I am in a space that keeps getting smaller. I cannot move.” Abstract yet universally accessible, her piece simply made sense. Newman began dancing mid-stage in contorted and jerky movements. Over the course of the piece, College junior Alex Katz drew lines on the floor with red tape closer and closer to Newman’s body, continually closing her off until she literally could not move. Newman ultimately took the roll of red tape into her own hands, binding her own body and mouth. Her costume — white underwear and a Tshirt — created a quality of vulnerability and desperation that was amplified by her intense, focused facial expressions.

College junior Samantha Ferguson’s gestural “Breaking” was reminiscent of the hand motions within the flight

attendant-themed piece by contemporary dance company Keigwin + Company’s “Air,” though clearly with different intentions. Ferguson’s piece, while somewhat clichéd in style, was still emotionally impactful. Ferguson did not deviate far from a single spot onstage, perhaps in order to emphasize her inability to move during her demise. Remaining fairly rooted in a single place did not necessarily add to the piece, but it did not detract either.

“Untitled,” a two-part piece by College senior Pam Wang, was powerful. Dancers chanted words of hatred that they had presumably been subject to at some point in their lives, providing a musical backdrop for the first part of the dance, which consisted of calculated stepping patterns. The voices, though bizarre, were a refreshing soundtrack for the piece. Though the first part of the dance was not particularly exciting, the poignant commands created a hush throughout the audience: “Don’t feel for him,” “You’re so fat,” “You don’t know how to talk.” The second part of the piece was performed in silence. Wang’s side-by-side duets were truly lovely to watch; each of the pairs had undeni-

able chemistry and flawlessly incorporated weight transferring techniques.

College senior Silvia Sheffield’s “Royale Lady” was an oddly humorous spectacle.

In between her lush and dramatized movement, Sheffield paused in a spotlight while a Lay’s potato chip commercial voiced over the stage; she then continued dancing. Clothed in a red velour sweat suit and dancing to Johann David Heinichen’s “Dresden,” Sheffield ap-

peared to be crafting a parody of something, though it was unclear what exactly she was trying to satirize.

“Jimi to Nami,” an amalgam of taiko drum music and contemporary dance choreographed by College senior Jesse Weiner, stole the show. Her cast of dancers was clearly well-trained, executing each move with fierce accuracy and precision. The chill-inducing vibrations of the drums permeated the performance;

complemented with her sophisticated vocabulary of movement and luxurious orange lighting, Weiner’s piece was a spectacular last moment with which to end the show.

Overall, Fall Forward’s lineup proved to be a terrific representation of Oberlin’s multifaceted and impressive Dance department. Next Friday’s Student Dance Showcase will likely bring even more excitement to Warner’s main stage.

College senior Jesse Weiner’s artful “Jimi To Nami” seamlessly blended traditional taiko music and striking lines. The dancers’ technical skill and the musicians’ precision were equally compelling in Fall Forward’s final performance.

Courtesy of John Seyfried

Big Band Concert Opens with Dynamic Musical Duel Continued from page 11 had to explain [the title] to me,” he said. “They said, ‘You live by one of those,’ and I said, ‘Really?’”

Reynolds went on to describe the next piece, Oliver Nelson’s “Blues and the Abstract Truth,” as “an obscure piece of music.” The song starts out as a nervous tic that builds on itself until the initial tune spills over into a smoother, more relaxed melody. These two textures continue to alternate, creating an atmospheric tension within the piece. Conservatory junior Ana Nelson performed her alto saxophone solo with passionate abandon. Her expressive musicality alternated between large intervallic jumps and lyrical, flowing lines that matched the fluctuating style of the work.

“Whisper Not” featured a much darker mood than the rest of the program. The song’s composer, Benny Golson, boasted that he wrote the piece in only 20 minutes; nevertheless, the work has become a jazz standard thanks to its quirky charm. A quiet and secretive melody in the beginning evoked the image of someone sneaking around street corners late at night, perhaps loitering against a wall while furtively shifting their eyes at passersby. In this section, the members of the ensemble demonstrated their ability to play softly, displaying an accomplished sense of dynamic balance difficult to achieve in larger ensembles. Toward the end of the piece, however, the mu-

sic shifted in an almost humorous direction, with a bugle call-like trumpet melody that one might imagine as the marching of police boots or some authoritative force intruding on the stealthy character’s movements.

According to Reynolds, Buck Clayton’s “Avenue C” isn’t often performed due to its age; the piece is celebrating its 70th birthday this year. While Finney Chapel seemed –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A quiet and secretive melody in the beginning evoked the image of someone sneaking around street corners late at night, perhaps loitering against a wall while furtively shifting their eyes at passersby.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– like a static venue for this foot-tapping tune, the music had some audience members bobbing their heads or swaying in their seats. Soloists and ensemble members interacted much more with each other than in prior selections, creating a layered and nuanced sound. “Avenue C” would have provided an enjoyable, lively conclusion to the performance, but Reynolds chose instead to end with “Slide’s Derangement”

by Slide Hampton, which felt somewhat flat and empty after “Avenue C”’s jubilant, feel-good melody.

Page 14

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Sports

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Women’s Basketball

This week, the Review sat down with women’s basketball players and housemates senior Christina Marquette and junior Lindsey Bernhardt to discuss their season kickoff, their hopes for the 2014–2015 season and spending Winter Term on campus.

Who is your biggest conference rival?

CM: DePauw [University] is the best team in the country and we play them really close, and so I want to beat them, but they’re not really our rival. [The College of] Wooster is probably our rival because we are comparable to them talent-wise.

LB: Obviously I want to beat DePauw also. We lost to them by five points last year when they were the best team in the country. I would say our biggest rival is [Ohio Wesleyan University] because we have almost beat them so many times, and they really suck, and we should beat them every time, but we haven’t done it yet.

How has the preseason been going so far?

Lindsey Bernhardt: It’s been going well so far. The freshmen have really stepped up and played a nice role on our team, and we are looking good this year.

Christina Marquette: I think that we look pretty good. We are really, really young, and so we are making expected mistakes in that sense. We are talented, so that’s good.

How are the first-years transitioning into playing basketball at the collegiate level?

LB: They were nervous at first, especially about conditioning, but they have really stepped up and are doing their part for the team.

CM: I would definitely say college basketball is more physical and faster, so it’s just something that they have just had to get used to, but they’ve adjusted pretty quickly.

What do you think are the major differences between how you finished last season and how you look going into this year?

LB: Last year, we had a lot of almost-wins that ended up being losses. This year we are looking to change that since we have the ability to play with the teams. We are looking to finish and get the “W.” CM: I think that last year we got consistent toward the end of the

Junior Lindsey Bernhardt (left) and senior Christina Marquette year, and so we have begun the year that way, whereas last year it took months to get to the point where we are now. We have energy every day, and we aren’t always moving backward, unlike last year when it felt like we took one step forward and two steps back.

How do you stay motivated over Winter Term? What are the most challenging parts?

CM: It’s a grind. It’s a really, really, really long season. Your body starts to hurt and you don’t always want to come to practice everyday, so you have to feed off of each other’s energy and take care of yourself. We have suffered from injuries every year that I’ve been here, and we’ve

never been able to move past that.

LB: Winter Term is my favorite time of the year because we don’t have to focus on school. All we focus on is basketball. We have basketball, then we hang out and play basketball again.

CM: All of our Winter Term projects are involving the team. They’re all interactive.

What are the best and worst parts of being on the women’s basketball team?

LB: The best part for me is that our team is like a second family and we are all best friends; three of us live together. The worst part is the losing. I come from a winning team in high school, but the positive part

is that we are growing and creating talented kids and getting better, which is pretty evident.

CM: Coming to Oberlin as a freshman, it’s really hard to lose.

There have been times when we play so well and we just weren’t as good as the other teams. And then there are times when your team just doesn’t play as hard, which is really frustrating. I think one of the best parts of being on the team is seeing us grow into a team that now cares about losing, cares about coming out and playing hard, and comes out and plays hard and takes pride in being a part of the team.

Everyone wants to make this team good.

What is the best part of living together?

LB: Well, we all do work downstairs in the living room while watching TV. CM: Gilmore Girls. Also, because we live together, we have the team over a lot.

What are you both studying and do you have plans for after school?

CM: I am studying Biology and Environmental Studies, so obviously that would tell you that I want to be a coach. I am looking at continuing to be a part of basketball for a while and seeing if I like the coaching aspect of that or if I should pursue a career in the sciences.

LB: I am a Biology major, and I plan to apply to medical school right after I graduate.

Interview by Tyler Sloan, Sports editor Photo by Rachel Dan

— Volleyball —

Yeowomen Take 6th Place at NCAC Tournament Sarena Malsin Staff Writer The volleyball team concluded its playoff run and 2014 season at the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament with an overall record of 13–19 last Saturday. The Yeowomen clinched one of seven spots in the tournament early last week and proceeded to take sixth place, falling to the Denison University Big Red in all three sets of the match.

Despite the subpar results, Head Coach

Erica Rau said she was satisfied with her team’s performance during the game against the Big Red. “We played Denison the best we could have,” she said.

The Yeowomen began the opening round of the tournament seeded seventh, falling to the DePauw University Tigers in three straight sets — 25–16, 25–13, 25–17 — on Friday night.

Oberlin’s offense hit just .140 for the match compared to DePauw’s .291, but stood its ground defensively with sophomore setter

Junior Maddy Dunn spikes the ball against the Franciscan University Barons earlier this season.

The Yeowomen concluded their season last weekend with an overall record of 13–19.

Courtesy of OC Athletics

Meredith Leung and junior defensive specialist Molly Powers combining for 25 digs.

The Yeowomen went on to beat the Allegheny College Gators in the consolation bracket on Saturday morning. Oberlin fought back from a first-set deficit and proceeded to push past Allegheny in the following three sets.

Although the Yeowomen’s offensive momentum proved shoddy in their contest against DePauw, they saw a significant turnaround when playing the Gators. Junior middle hitter Maddy Dunn led the way with a game-high 17 kills, and sophomore Hannah Tyburski and first-year Dana Thomas added a combined 23 kills.

“It was nice going into the conference tournament and being able to beat Allegheny in four sets, because we had previously lost to them during the regular season,” said Rau. “It was a nice redemption for us, and it allowed us to improve on our win record from last year.”

Looking back on the season, the Yeowomen made noticeable improvements from past years. One such feat is the team’s overall record, which has improved each year since Rau’s arrival. Dunn said she attributed the Yeowomen’s growth to the young roster, which began settling in toward the end of the year.

“We ended a lot stronger than we started, and I think that’s a lot because we’re such a young team,” said Dunn. “It took a bit of time, but we had some really big wins at the end.”

Those big wins include a victory over the Case Western Reserve University Spartans, a team the Yeowomen had not previously defeated since 2008. Coach Rau also cited the game against the College of Wooster Fighting

Scots as an important redemptive win, as the Yeowomen lost to the Fighting Scots during the regular season.

Dunn said that along with the team’s rapidly maturing roster, the late-season success was also a result of a newfound cohesion and team chemistry that was previously lacking.

“For those [later] games, everything was just syncing,” she said. “Sometimes we have a problem where defense will be really strong one game and offense will struggle, or offense will be really strong and defense will struggle.”

Tyburski echoed Dunn’s sentiment and said that the team’s record does not reflect its potential or individual skill levels.

“Preseason went great; we saw the talent in everyone,” she said. “But once the games started, it didn’t click.”

Still, Tyburski said this season was a sign of great things to come next year. The team has laid the groundwork for future success, she added, and it will come back for the 2015 season with more intense practices, on-court position huddles to maintain in-game communication, and more solidified lineups.

“When we lost, it’s not like we got creamed — we were right there,” said Tyburski. “It gives me a lot of hope for next year.”

Next season will also mark an important milestone for Rau when the first senior class that she has worked with for its entire collegiate career will graduate. With an experienced squad and Rau’s coaching tactics, the future looks as bright as ever for the Yeowomen.

“I’m excited to see our underclassmen playing with more experience under their belts,” Rau said.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, November 14, 2014

Page 15

— Football —

Yeomen Lose Third Straight Game to Bishops Nate Levinson and Tyler Sloan Sports Editors The football team dropped its third consecutive game against the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops last Saturday, falling 50–13 at home and pushing its season record to 2–7.

The Yeomen fell behind early in the game, giving up 17 unanswered points in the first 11 minutes in the form of two rushing touchdowns and a Bishops field goal. The scores on the ground foreshadowed the Yeomen’s defeat, as the Bishops ended up racking up over 175 yards and four touchdowns on the ground over the course of the game.

Although the final score was lopsided, Oberlin hung tough in the first half on the heels of two second-quarter scoring strikes from junior quarterback Lucas Poggiali to sophomore receiver Justin Cruz.

The first score came after junior Gabe Edwards recovered a fumble by Bishops returner

Kevin Herman following a 69-yard punt by senior Max Schenk. The Yeomen quickly cashed in on the scoring opportunity as Poggiali hit Cruz for a touchdown from seven yards out.

The next scoring drive was a completely different story. The Yeomen drove 76 yards down the field in just over four minutes, culminating in a one-yard strike from Poggiali to Cruz. The hookup was their ninth of the season.

“The second scoring drive was 17 plays, and it was a nice drive where we were able to convert and get into a lot of third and mediums and go for it on fourth and short,” said Head Coach Jay Anderson. “That was a drive where the offense was firing on all cylinders.”

The score cut the Bishops’ lead to 23–13 and gave the Yeomen a chance at victory heading into the second half. The chance didn’t last long, however, as the Bishops scored four unanswered touchdowns to open the second half, taking a commanding 37-point lead.

“I think the turning point was when they

First-year running back Khalil Rivers is tackled by an Ohio Wesleyan defender. Though the Yeomen fell 50–13 to the Battling Bishops, Rivers managed 42 yards on 15 carries.

Simeon Deutsch

Editorial: Too Early to Panic About Cavaliers Continued from page 16 four years, people are quick to forget the struggles LeBron and the team had in his first year there in 2010. Though they finished with the third best record in the NBA and went to the finals, they didn’t hit their stride until December and started off the year just 10–8. A similar adjustment period for the Cavs shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Learning how to effectively play together takes time, especially when three players on a team are used to being the primary ball handler any time they’re on the court.

That adjustment will be an especially big one for Irving, since LeBron should be the primary ball handler and Love definitely has the acumen and ability of playing off the ball. I think he’s more than up to the challenge.

Irving has proven himself an able outside shooter, and while his handle is what has set him apart from other point guards in the past, it will serve him just as well even if his usage rate decreases.

Anyone who expected the Cavs to gel right out of the gate and immediately play like a

super-team was kidding themselves. Throwing together a new head coach and three superstars who have never played together might work right away in a video game, but not in real life.

A far more serious issue for the Cavs is a report from ProBasketballTalk that Kevin Love will “seriously consider opting out” after this season. The Cavs will be able to make a more lucrative contract offer than any other team, but it’s definitely fair to wonder if Love might prefer to head to a place where he wouldn’t have to be a complementary piece and play second fiddle to another superstar.

That’s an issue that the team won’t have to deal with until after this season, though.

I won’t deny that the Cavs’ season thus far has been a disappointment, nor that they need to step it up in a big way if they are going to compete for a championship, but I will say this: They are simply way too good and have way too much talent not to figure it all out.

No one said it would be easy, and LeBron and the Cavs are still my pick to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA finals.

had a couple of quick scores in a couple of minutes, and then the offense turned around and we had a couple of three-and-outs,” said Poggiali. “By not being able to keep the defense off the field for a while to let them rest and find themselves, we put the defense in a situation where they had to make stops.”

Anderson attributed the team’s struggles in the second half to a lack of experience in being consistently competitive deep into its games.

“For a lot of guys, that was their first time coming out of the locker room and being in a game and still having a chance to win,” he said.

“Everything is a learning process for our young players. They came out, and we were a bit flat, and they were ready to roll. Our guys have to come out and play fast and be ready to roll.”

Poggiali in particular struggled to get into any kind of rhythm for the majority of the game, finishing just 14 for 39 for 125 yards.

Anderson pointed out several shortcomings in Saturday’s contest that led to the Yeomen loss. “[Poggiali] missed some passes, and I thought the receivers dropped some passes as well early on in the game,” said Anderson.

“It’s just about continuing to work to get those guys on the same page.”

Even so, Anderson has hope that the coaches and Poggiali can make the necessary adjustments to get the junior quarterback back on track for the last game of the season.

“We’ve tried to do some things differently in the past games; we’re trying to get the ball out fast to allow [Poggiali] to hit receivers in stride and not hold onto the football,” said Anderson. “I think that will allow him to have a higher completion percentage this week. He has to put the ball on the receivers.”

The end result was especially disappointing for the Yeomen since it was the final home game for the five seniors on the team.

“We definitely wanted to play harder for [the seniors], knowing it was the last time they would get to play at home,” Poggiali said.

“We love everyone on the team, and we have a

pretty close bond. … We wanted to make sure that the seniors went out on a high note. Obviously it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, but we did a lot of good things for one half of football.”

Though the game was Schenk’s last on Oberlin’s home turf, he said he did not want to harp on that fact to prevent his emotions from getting in the way of his focus.

“For me, it was like this was a game like any other game that I want to win,” he said. “Rallying behind the seniors can be motivational, or it could be a distraction. I told people, ‘Don’t focus on me; just worry about yourself and focus on your game and playing your best.’”

The next and final game for the Yeomen is this Saturday on the road against the Hiram College Terriers. Last season, the Yeomen dismantled the Terriers at home in their season finale by a score of 47–13, but Anderson says that he believes a victory may not be so easy to come by this time around.

“Hiram’s a different team this year than they were last year,” he said. “They have a little bit more of an experienced defense. They’re having one of their better seasons in recent history.”

In order to win, the Yeomen will have to play their own brand of football.

“We have to focus on us,” Anderson said.

“We have to run the ball on the first and second down, being able to throw the ball effectively and efficiently and taking care of the ball.

Whether it’s running or passing, we have to figure out that balance that works best for us.”

Another key for the Yeomen will be to keep their emotions in check as they strive to end their seniors’ careers with a victory.

“It’s a special game for our seniors,” said Anderson. “For those guys, it’s the end of the road here playing college football, and you’ll forever remember the last game you played in college. It’s going to be an emotional game for our five seniors, and we hope to perform well so we can send them off the right way.”

Basketball Hopes to Make Noise in NCAC Continued from page 16 be more of a focal point this year, coming off of a season in which he led the team in three-point shots, both made and attempted.

As a key offensive player, Ollie will look to expand on a sophomore campaign in which he averaged 9.9 points and 7.6 rebounds. Despite leading the team in both blocks and rebounds last year, Ollie knows he has to improve if the team is to see future success. His leadership on and off the court will be especially necessary for the team, which has lost two 26-game starters from last season in Lewis and Simpson.

“I think that the best thing I can do is to continue being a vocal leader on the court in games and in practices,” he said. “Also, I think it’s crucial that I try to play my best and also try to play as consistently as I can this season. I think this will definitely give my teammates more confidence in me, as well as giving my team the best chance to win.”

Much of Ollie’s improvement for the upcoming season comes from an offseason in which he worked on his mid-range jumper and focused on further establishing his fitness base.

“Personally, the offseason and this summer were chances for me to really get in shape and break down my game to improve on some of my weaknesses,” said Ollie.

After losing 12 of their final 15 games last season, offseason development and improvement were common goals for the Yeomen, who used last season’s struggles as motivation to work on their game.

“A lot of the guys honed their skills over the offseason, and the things that needed improvement definitely were solved the moment we all arrived on campus,” said Walker.

The Yeomen open their season at home this Saturday, Nov. 15 against the Wittenberg University Tigers.

In their home game against the Tigers last season, the Yeomen fell 70–63.

Home Games This Week Saturday, Nov. 15 3 p.m. – Men’s basketball vs.

Wittenberg University in Philips gym

Wednesday, Nov. 19 7 p.m. – Women’s Basketball vs.

Adrian College in Philips gym

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

November 14, 2014

— Men’s Basketball —

Ollie Leads Yeomen into Winter Season Bob Cornell Expectations steadily rise for the men’s basketball team as a once-inexperienced core rapidly matures.

The 2013–2014 season proved to be a period of both disappointment and growth for the Yeomen, as the team finished 7–19. Still, they gained valuable experience during the campaign that has left them better prepared for the upcoming season.

Although the squad graduated guard Emmanuel Lewis, forwardcenter Trey Levy and last year’s

Matthew Walker Junior swingman

leading scorer Geoff Simpson, junior big man Randall Ollie views this year’s team as more complete.

“We are a much better team

than we were last year,” he said.

“We are a more cohesive unit, and we share the ball very well. Many of us are also much stronger and more fit than we have been in previous seasons.”

Junior swingman Matthew Walker agreed with Ollie, seconding the statement that this year’s team is a closer-knit, more efficient group.

“We should be pretty well-rounded this year in terms of scoring and playing time, so I think that’ll help bring more continuity for our team, which is something we have not had in past years,” he said.

The lineup will be very guardheavy, with Ollie occasionally playing as the sole big man on the court.

In explaining the team’s strategy, Head Coach Isaiah Cavaco, now in his eighth year of coaching, noted that the strength of the guards on the team will better allow the team to go small.

“We may be lacking some size and depth in our frontcourt, but our guards rebound well and our pace of play should make up for those deficiencies,” he said. “We can expect an up-tempo team that has quickness on both ends of the court.

Ollie will be a major part of what we do, and we’ll play with four guards on the court a lot.”

Senior guards Jesse Neugarten, Austin Little and Miles Gueno

will be integral to the guard-heavy strategy and should see sizable bumps in their playing time from

last season. Little, in particular, will See Basketball, page 15

Nate Levinson Sports Editor

Junior Randall Ollie dunks the ball against the Elmira College Soaring Eagles during the Nov. 26 game last season. Ollie was second on the team in scoring and first in rebounds and blocks last season.

Courtesy of Yvette Chen

— Swimming and Diving —

Yeowomen Prevail, Yeomen Fall to Spartans Michaela Puterbaugh The swimming and diving team split its meet this past weekend against the Case Western Reserve University Spartans, with the Yeowomen coming out on top by a score of 145.5–94.5 and the Yeomen falling 148–80. The meet marked both sides’ fourth of the season and second nonconference contest. The win pushed the Yeowomen’s record to 2–1 and dropped the Yeomen to 1–2.

“Overall, I was really excited with how the meet went,” said Head Coach Andrew Brabson. “We had a tough meet against [The College of] Wooster the previous weekend, and this weekend was definitely redemption for both men and women.”

Leading the Yeowomen to victory were juniors Lauren Wong, Deirdre Haren and Samma Regan and sophomore Vera Hutchison; the quartet placed first in the 200yard medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 53.07 seconds.

Wong proceeded to clinch an individual win in the 100yard backstroke race with a time of 1:01.48. Regan also shone solo when she finished

in first place in both the 100yard breaststroke and the 50-yard freestyle races with times of 1:10.73 and 25:30 respectively.

Other contributions came from sophomore Nora Cooper, who placed first in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle.

“I want to support our swim team in every way I can,” said Cooper. “Scoring at meets is just a small part of how each of us can chip in, but it still is important, and it feels wonderful.”

Still more individuals for the Yeowomen garnered accolades for the team. Sophomore Maddie Prangley finished first in the 500-yard freestyle, and first-year Oriene Shiel added more points when she won the 1,000-yard freestyle.

“I thought that our team’s mindset was very positive during this meet,” said Cooper. “Everyone seemed so full of energy. It was an amazing feeling to be standing behind the blocks before your race and see your teammates along the pool to cheer for you.”

Although the Yeomen could not take away an overall victory, they did come

Keep Calm, It’s LeBron

Junior Ben Miyamoto dives in last weekend’s meet against the Case Western Reserve University Spartans. The Yeomen fell while the Yeowomen prevailed in the meet.

Mike Plotz

away with a few wins from senior Chris McLauchlan and sophomore Nils Gudbranson.

“Our men’s team is so small, so a win against much bigger teams is extraordinarily unlikely,” said Gudbranson.

“Every member of the men’s team is a fighter.”

Gudbrandson earned first place in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle.

In the latter, he was able to achieve a season-best time of 49.60.

“To win the 50 and get a

best time in the 100 this early on in the season means everything to me; it shows me I can help the men’s team in a meaningful way,” he said.

All-American diver McLauchlan’s scores of 263.40 on the one-meter board and 275.85 on the three-meter board drew in additional points for the Yeomen.

Despite the tough loss, senior captain Jack Redell said the team has maintained a positive outlook on the rest of the season.

“Thus far, our team looks really great. We’ve got a really great attitude this season. Instead of starting a little late like we did last year, this year we started on time, and you can really see the confidence in our coach as a returning coach of the team,” said Redell.

The swimming and diving team will take on a tri-meet this Saturday, Nov. 15 in Ada, Ohio against Ohio Northern University and Wittenberg University at 1 p.m.

The Cleveland Cavaliers team, expected by nearly every expert to be one of the best teams in the NBA, has gotten off to a slow start this season, dropping three of its first six games.

It’s far from time to worry, though.

The panic surrounding the team began following its opening game, when the Cavs fell to a weak Knicks team in what was supposed to be LeBron James’s glorious return to Cleveland. Instead, he turned the ball over eight times and scored just 17 points; the team lost by five.

The team’s struggles have continued in subsequent games — the Cavaliers have fallen to both the Portland Trail Blazers and a Utah Jazz team that won just 25 games last season, the worst mark in the Western Conference.

LeBron is averaging a career worst of 4.2 turnovers per game, Kyrie Irving is getting only five assists per game, and Kevin Love is shooting well under 40 percent from the field. The offense has looked anything but cohesive, and the defense is giving up the fourth most points per game in the Eastern Conference.

That’s all the bad news about the Cavs. Now, here’s what is right with the team.

Absolutely nothing has changed with regard to a Cavs team that nearly every person with an opinion that matters predicted would go to the finals.

LeBron is still the top player on the planet, Love is the second best power forward in the league, Irving is a fantastic playmaking point guard, and the team’s primary role players, Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters, still perform their roles of ace offensive rebounder and fourth scorer to a tee.

Given the Miami Heat’s dominance during the last See Editorial, page 15