The Oberlin Review
NOVEMBER 21, 2014 VOLUME 143, NUMBER 9
Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week City Rejects Green Acres Development Proposal The Green Acres development project, a plan that aims to turn the vacant Green Acres lot on the east side of Oberlin into a sustainable residential area, was met with underwhelming interest by City Council members this week. The Council, which needed to approve a switch from the property’s current status as a “light residential zoning” area to a “planned development district,” declined to pass the developers’ proposal. The Green Acres development plan was originally proposed, and since then revised, by development group The Community Builders. During the meeting, City Council members noted the lack of local input as one of the deficiencies of the current plan. Others said they believed local groups should spearhead the project, and one member said that the project wasn’t enough “bang for the buck.” In its current state, the development proposal includes blueprints for 50 townhouses and apartment units, as well as room for the potential development of eight single-family homes along Oberlin Road. New Emergency System Meets Resistance At a City Council meeting on Monday, Oberlin Fire Chief Dennis Kirin voiced his opposition to the new countywide emergency alert system. Earlier this year, Lorain County purchased a wireless emergency notification system, which Oberlin has the option to buy into for $414 each year. The system delivers voice, text, email, pager and social media blasts in the event of an emergency. Kirin criticized the system for its focus on smartphones and poor support of landline telephones, a device still heavily used among Oberlin residents over the age of 60. Oberlin is currently using a similar system called Code RED.
Senate Prioritizes Financial Accessibility Madeline Stocker News Editor While less controversial than its last announcement regarding the financial aid policy changes, the administration’s most recent email has still left some students reeling. This past Friday, the student body received the message that last April’s proposed changes to the financial aid policy — which were previously postponed until the fall of 2015 — would be rescinded indefinitely. Some of the more noteworthy policy changes were the proposals to “adjust [the financial aid of OSCA members] accordingly” based on their housing and dining status, to make a “downward adjustment” toward students who choose to live off-campus, and to adjust students’ financial aid package “based on the meal plan [they] choose.” The changes were originally posted to the College’s site without any warning for the student body. After discovering the changes, students have organized, demonstrated and drafted a counter resolution that called out the College for what they deemed a lack of commitment toward lowincome students and a disregard for OSCA’s financial accessibility. “Our continued review has made clear that any changes to financial aid policy must be con-
College junior Ben Libbey speaks with fellow members of the Senate’s Transparency Working Group Thursday. After the administration announced that it would fully revoke last April’s proposed policy changes, several students have voiced concern over the administration’s decision to transfer further policy decisions onto the Strategic Plan Steering Committee. Lily Napach
sidered as part of the broader strategic planning process that began in June,” said the email, which was issued by Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Debra Chermonte and Director of Financial Aid Rob Reddy. “For this reason, the retraction of last spring’s proposed changes has been extended indefinitely.”
For many, the administration’s decision to postpone the policy last May was the last they heard of the proposed changes. Some students, like College senior and OSCA President Evan Cameron, have approached the most recent announcement with cautious optimism. “We felt that this was a good step, and we’re glad they took
it off the table. … We’ve been focused on the policies on the table, figuring out if OSCA’s going to shut down and how we were going to manage that. But now that’s finally off the table, so we’re putting our focus on other things.” Cameron said that he believed See College, page 4
Activists Concerned Over Black Student Enrollment Numbers Oliver Bok Staff Writer Members of Student Senate formed a task force in response to the efforts of student activists, who expressed concern at a recent plenary that the percentage of black students and other students of color at Oberlin is too low. According to College junior and Student Senator Nick Canavan, the new task force that Senate unanimously voted to create is currently organizing a panel discussion for next semester about increasing diversity at Oberlin. “We want to have as many different people with different types of knowledge because this is such a far reaching issue. … Having not only student leaders for groups on campus but also having representatives [who] know how our finances work,” said Canavan. Using the U.S. Department of Education’s methodology for college diversity statistics, the percentage of students identifying as students at Oberlin is 5.2 percent. Students identifying
as white constitute 69.8 percent of the student body; 4.2 percent identify as Asian Americans; 7.2 percent identify as Hispanic, 5.7 percent identify as two or more races; and 7.1 percent are non-U.S. passport holders. To College senior Ali Amiri, a leader of a new push by students to make Oberlin more diverse, these statistics, which he presented at the plenary session, explain the isolating experience that many students of color face at Oberlin. “Every time I go to ABUSUA, there’s this feeling of being threatened and this feeling of isolation,” said Amiri. “I think that, because of the low percentages, it becomes a hostile environment, an isolating environment for students of color, and that would increase their likeliness to drop out. It’s certainly reflected in my experience. … If I’m not mistaken, I’m either the last or one of two black students that were in African Heritage House [my first year] as freshmen males who hasn’t dropped out,” he said.
The high watermark for black students at Oberlin — the particular group that Amiri is most focused on — came in 1974, when Oberlin had 317 black students, which constituted 11.9 percent of the student body. The nadir for Oberlin’s black population came in 2005, when Oberlin had only 151 black students, which made up 5.3 percent of the student body. Amiri added that administrators have not yet given him statistics on the number of black students who actually graduate from Oberlin each year. “No one’s bragging about these numbers. You don’t see Krislov, you don’t see African Heritage House posting these numbers during A-House dinner or anything. You see these numbers only if you dig for them,” Amiri said. According to Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Debra Chermonte, the main challenge to increasing enrollment of students of color is assuring that See Amiri, page 4
on the
Students Talk Science Several Obies attended a research conference for minority students last week.
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The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
New Shelter Provides Transitional Housing Emma Paul Staff Writer
After four years of work, Valor Home will open a veteran’s shelter in Lorain by the end of this month. Meant to house veterans for up to two years, Valor Home, a program that is part of Family & Community Services, provides transitional housing with a mission, according to their website, “to support and respect the needs of veterans so that they may continue to contribute to the community and country, which are grateful for their service.” Located at 221 W. 21st Street in Lorain, Valor Home occupies a 21,000-square foot, two-story facility. The second floor houses 30 single-person bedrooms, some of which accommodate
wheelchairs, as well as a kitchen and dining room. Lorain Community College donated computers to the home’s computer lab, allowing residents to prepare résumés, access online courses, search for jobs and stay in touch with family. According to Dan Gillotti, vice chairman of the Valor Home Lorain County Executive Committee, as quoted by the Chronicle Telegram, the mission of the home is to provide comprehensive facilities in order to be both self-contained and self-sustained. Valor Home provides more than nighttime housing. The organization also focuses on helping veterans achieve long-term self-sufficiency. According to the Valor Home website, “Critical to this mission is the ability for the individual
veteran to find and retain permanent housing. To meet that need, Valor Home support is provided through intensive case management and access to community resources and reflects the individual needs of those served.” Local effort played a large role in the construction of the home. Volunteers painted, tore out old carpet and ceiling tiles and furnished the building. The Veterans Administration contributed most of the funding to build Valor Home with a grant of $474,000. Various donations and grants provided an additional $300,000, including a $50,000 grant from the Nord Family Foundation. According to John Mullaney, executive director of the Nord Family Foundation, Valor Home will provide much-needed care in Lorain
County. Its facilities are adjacent to St. Joseph’s Community Center, a seasonal and nighttime shelter, which can only give limited support to the county’s homeless population. “In the summer, many [homeless people] end up sleeping on the riverbanks or in abandoned homes in Lorain, so it’s a pretty awful problem in the county,” said Mullaney. Lorain County has a homeless population of approximately 450. According to Gillotti, as quoted by the Chronicle Telegram, that number hasn’t changed in some years. This isn’t an issue limited to Lorain County. According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, about 12 percent of the adult homeless population are vets. Almost 50,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.
Feature Photo: Todxs Unidxs por Ayo- Crunchbutton Comes to Oberlin tzinapa (All United for Ayotzinapa) Lillian Moskin
In accordance with an international day of action, Oberlin students posted dozens of posters throughout campus that display the faces of the 43 students from the Raul Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College of Ayotzinapa in Iguala, Guererro, Mexico, who were kidnapped by the Mexican police late in September. “As students at this educational institution, it is important to show support for those whose right to study and to return to their communities to share and enact what they have learned is being violently denied by the state,” the fliers that accompanied the posters said. On Nov. 7, Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam reported that numerous suspects admitted to murdering the students and incinerating their bodies, which led investigators to find several bags of human remains. Although many of
the disappeared students’ families have not recognized the evidence as proof of their children’s murder, many are holding the Mexican government — including President Enrique Peña Nieto and the attorney general himself — accountable as complicit in the disappearances. According to the fliers, part of the purpose of the demonstration was to denounce how English-speaking media is representing the events. While many media outlets have stated that the students were arrested for protesting against the mayor’s wife’s ceremony, other outlets have maintained that the students never intended to meddle in governmental affairs. “[The mayor’s] statements to the press have been cynical and obviously laden with lies,” journalist John Gibler told Democracy Now!. “There was no plan to go to Iguala to interrupt the mayor’s wife’s ceremony. Most of
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the students who were attacked that night were freshmen. They had been at Ayotzinapa for only a matter of weeks. In fact, that Friday, for many, it was their first day of classes. So, these people, who come from some of the most economically battered municipalities in Mexico, and perhaps in the Western Hemisphere, had no idea who the mayor of Iguala was.” The fliers also commented on U.S. involvement in a larger history of state repression and violence in Mexico. “The United States has spent approximately $3 billion to fund the War on Drugs in Mexico,” the flyer said. “As residents of the United States, it is also crucial that we recognize this country’s role in perpetuating violence and repression in Mexico.” Text by Madeline Stocker, News editor Photo by Effie Kline-Salamon
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It took three minutes and 52 seconds for the new Oberlin branch of Crunchbutton, an online food ordering service and app, to receive its first order after going live Monday. Students can order from a menu of popular local food items and Crunchbutton employees will deliver the order to their location. Customers can also post reviews and comments on the Crunchbutton site to review food or suggest new places to include. Crunchbutton currently delivers from The Feve, Tooo Chinoise and McDonald’s, and plans to add Lupita’s, Agave Burrito Bar and Tequilaria, the Slow Train Cafe, Kim’s and Mickey Mart by the end of the week. Select items from IGA will also be available in the near future. The goal, according to Crunchbutton Oberlin marketing representative and College senior Juliana Ruoff, is to try to deliver from the most popular restaurants around campus, especially fast food restaurants that are unable to deliver themselves. Ruoff was responsible for coordinating the setup of the Oberlin branch and is in charge of curating the menus and ensuring that prices are up to date, as well as keeping in contact with the headquarters in California. Ruoff informally interviewed Oberlin students to decide which businesses to include. She focused on restaurants that are open late, such as The Feve and Agave, as well as businesses like Mickey Mart that carry cigarettes and other high-demand goods. Crunchbutton Logistics and Marketing Analyst Gabriela Yu says she feels the College has a community that would be interested in a delivery service. “We picked Oberlin because it is the perfect campus for Crunchbutton!” said Yu in an email to the Review. “We look for schools with a great sense of community and delicious food around campus. [I] cannot wait to get started at Oberlin and give the people what they really need!” Crunchbutton originated at Yale University. Yale senior Judd Rosenblatt and his partners made a mobile web app called “One Button Wenzel,” which allowed students to order the popular Yale chicken sandwich, the Wenzel, for delivery with one click. Rosenblatt, now CEO of Crunchbutton, recognized that college campuses tend to have a select number of extremely popular food items and designed the site to fill this niche. As of October, Crunchbutton had six locations across the nation and, including Oberlin, 10 more colleges will be added by the end of the semester. The company has expanded its locations by 300 percent in the last six months. According to Ruoff, Crunchbutton’s goal is to become the go-to food service on Oberlin’s campus. “[I hope] it’s something Oberlin students feel is filling a need,” said Ruoff. Crunchbutton currently has a website, an app and a Facebook page, and will create an Instagram soon.
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Corrections: Corrections In “FallThe Forward ReviewLoses is notQuirkiness, aware of Gains Cohesion” (Nov. 14, 2014), the song any corrections this week. “Troublemaker” and the name of its performer, Olly Murs, were misspelled. The Review strives to print all information as accurately as possible. “Jimi to feel Nami” co-choreographed If you thewas Review has made an by Jesse Wiener and College junior Caitrin error, please send an e-mail to Hughes. managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.
The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
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Research Conference Recognizes Minority STEM Students Dyani Sabin Oberlin sent a team of seven students to the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in San Antonio last week. There, several students earned first place in their field for their posters. College seniors Marisa Aikins, Hudson Bailey, Gifty Dominah, Michelle Johnson and Gabriel Moore and College juniors Anne Chege and Edmund Korley, along with two Oberlin faculty members, traveled to the conference last Wednesday to present their research at one of the largest professional conferences for minority students in STEM fields in the country. At the conference, students were judged on their oral presentations or presentations of a poster. The judging for the competition is considered highly rigorous. Of the approximately 1,700 undergraduate students in attendance, only 180 received accolades for their presentation. According to Director of the Multicultural Resource Center and Associate Dean of Academic Diversity Alison Williams, who judged a number of presentations herself, the rubric is “very rigid.” “You’re looking at how well the student understands the problem that they’re trying to study, how they put it into a bigger context, how well they understand the methods they applied
to the problem, how well they understand the data, interpret the data, draw conclusions,” Williams said. “You look at the overall presentation quality in terms of slides, or if it’s a poster, the quality of images of the poster, the clarity of their presentation in general. It’s an overall assessment of the quality of the science as well as the presentation.” At the conference, several Oberlin students received recognition. Korley won for best oral neuroscience presentation, and Aikins and Chege won best physics and neuroscience posters respectively. Korley said the conference helped him put his career goals in perspective. “It was nice, but I got a lot more from [the experience] than that award,” Korley said. “Part of that is that I always thought I would go into a career as a physician, and doing research was a step towards that. But going to that conference and seeing all that amazing research going on showed me that research is a career in itself, so that’s got me really excited about research and [has caused me] to re-evaluate my career goals.” Korley wasn’t the only participant who benefited from the career-oriented nature of the conference. For Aikins, one of the most beneficial aspects of the conference was the opportunity it offered participants to develop professional connections. “[It] was filled with graduate school representatives, which allowed us to explore various graduate programs in our fields,” said
strong odor of gas. The gas was shut off until the source could be located and repaired. The alarm was reset.
Thursday, Nov. 13 1:18 p.m. A student reported the theft of a laptop from the lobby of South Hall. The laptop, valued at $1,000, was in a silver case with pink, black and white stickers.
Friday, Nov. 14 8:02 a.m. An officer on patrol in the basement of Burton Hall observed a table with a broken leg in the TV lounge. A work order was filed for repair. 12:29 p.m. An officer assisted a student who injured her ankle walking down steps at Asia House. The student was transported to Student Health for treatment. 3:12 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Williams Field House. A contractor disconnected an instrument attached to the fire alarm system and activated the alarm. Officers also detected a
Saturday, Nov. 15 12:21 a.m. Officers were requested to assist a student ill from alcohol consumption on the second floor of Dascomb Hall. The student said they felt better and were assisted to their room for the night. 1 p.m. A student reported that an individual had walked out of their unlocked room in South Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The student was advised to contact security immediately if the individual was seen again. 4:15 p.m. A student reported the theft of an unlocked bicycle from the south side of Dascomb Hall. The bicycle, valued at $200, is a blue Trek mountain bike with white, light green and purple flowers, a gray seat and a black wire basket on the front handle bars. 4:21 p.m. A student staff member reported a strong odor consistent with burnt marijuana coming from a practice room in Robertson Hall. Upon entry, the odor was stronger and the room was hazy,
College senior Gifty Dominah presents her poster at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in San Antonio. Dominah was among seven Oberlin students and two faculty members to attend the conference last week. Courtesy of Alison Williams
Aikins. “It was especially useful to those of us who are applying to graduate school now.” Aikins added that graduate school recruiters approached many of the students because of their presentations. “I would suggest any minority in the biomedical sciences to at-
tend,” she said. Many of the presentations from Oberlin addressed different questions and topics in neuroscience. Korley, Chege and Dominah study different aspects of Huntington’s disease and the brain: Korley focused on cadmium interactions, Chege studied
but no one was present. A student who later entered denied smoking in the room. 9:30 p.m. A student reported the theft of a bicycle on Nov. 8 from Noah Hall. The bike is a registered men’s 21-speed gray Bianchi.
the third floor of Fairchild House. A weekend custodian responded for cleanup. 6:54 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Bailey House. Smoke from cooking activated the alarm. The area was cleared, and the alarm was reset. 9:12 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Daub House. It was extremely hot inside, activating the alarm. The doors and windows were opened for cooling, and HVAC and electrician staff responded for repairs.
Sunday, Nov. 16 12:20 a.m. Members of the Oberlin Police Department responded to a noise complaint at a village house on South Professor Street. Approximately 50 students dispersed from the residence. 12:52 a.m. Officers responded to a noise complaint and an unauthorized party at a Goldsmith apartment. Approximately 75 students in attendance were asked to leave. 2:16 a.m. Staff reported hearing unknown individuals walking on top of Hales Gymnasium. Officers responded and checked the exterior and interior of the building but did not locate anyone. A work order was filed to replace a padlock on a door that leads to the roof. 11:23 a.m. A student staff member reported that unknown individuals threw hot sauce on the walls of
Monday, Nov. 17 12:48 a.m. A student reported the theft of their cellphone from their coat, which was hanging in the employee hallway in the kitchen of Dascomb. The cellphone is a black iPhone 5 in a black case and is password-protected. 11 a.m. A student reported the theft of a bicycle from the north bike rack at King Building, which went missing sometime after November 14. The bicycle, valued at $150, is a 26-inch men’s blue metal-
the effects of the pesticides deildrin and lindane, and Dominah looked at the effects of chlorpyrifos, another pesticide. Johnson studies the transcriptional control of the first known mammalian brain-specific tRNA, and Bailey studies how the brain integrates audio and visual signals based on the signal. In microbiology, Moore works on identifying compounds that could reduce the virulence of gram-positive bacteria. Aikins, who specializes in physics, tracked fluorescently tagged mucus proteins to identity a mucus-based immunity mechanism present in the body. According to Vinces, the College received a personal invitation to the conference last year. “They thought it was really important for Oberlin to be there,” Vinces said. “We haven’t had a presence at this conference, even though Oberlin’s history would suggest that we would.” With last year’s invitation, the conference extended an offer to fund students’ travel to San Antonio. This year, however, the team did not initially receive funding directly from the conference itself — a development that proved problematic in the early stages of its travel plans. However, the group was able to receive funding through other means — such as Vinces’s and Williams’s offers to judge presentations in exchange for funding from the conference. Edmund and Bailey won travel awards from the conference, and the See Students, page 4
lic Trek mountain bike with a black plastic pump holder and a silver water bottle holder. The bike may not have been locked properly. 11:03 a.m. An officer responded to a report of an individual stuck in the elevator at Mudd library. Members of the Oberlin Fire Department and an electrician also responded. The individual was unharmed and assisted out of the elevator. The elevator was placed out of service until repairs are made.
Tuesday, Nov. 18 6:25 a.m. Custodial staff reported graffiti in several areas on campus including the Wilder Hall porch, the southeast concourse of the Science Center and the southeast corner and the east and north sides of Mudd library. The graffiti was written with black paint. A work order was filed for removal.
Wednesday, Nov. 19 4:44 p.m. A student reported the theft of a laptop from an unknown area. The laptop, valued at approximately $1,200, is a MacBook Pro with a black cover.
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The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
College Suspends Planned Financial Aid Policy Changes Continued from page 1 the next steps for OSCA would include an increased OSCA presence at the next Strategic Planning listening session, as the Strategic Planning Steering Committee will now spearhead whatever modifications may be made to the College’s financial aid policy — a decision that has been met with much scrutiny from the student body. Formed at the beginning of this semester, the Steering Committee is tasked with drafting the College’s next Strategic Plan, a document that determines the College’s academic, artistic, musical and financial goals for the following decade. According to Arianna Gil, College senior and Tank Hall’s housing loose ends coordinator, the committee’s past decisions have clearly shed light on their values. “The Strategic Planning Committee and administration have shown a commitment to developing facilities, using our endowment and [Oberlin Illuminate] fundraising and other private fundraising to build [the] Kohl [Building], [David H.] Stull Recital Hall, the new hotel and athletic facility,” said Gil. “Focusing on facilities is a way to attract elite students and compete with other institutions with ‘state of the art’ facilities. The holes from these development projects will show in our academic depart-
ments and in the class makeup of our student body.” This year, the Steering Committee consists of 34 trustees, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni and three students — a ratio with which many students are uncomfortable. “These discussions are happening behind closed doors. If we don’t get access to the facts and figures the committee is talking about, if we don’t get access to the hypotheticals and proposals that the committee is making, there’s no way that students can even begin to have their voices heard,” said College junior and Student Senator Ty Wagner. “The administration will have all of the power.” Wagner also commented on what he defined as the “outdated” mindsets of the some of the Board of Trustees as well as some alumni. “They come and they say, ‘Well, we didn’t have [this particular amenity] when we went to school. Why are we spending money on it now?’ They’re removed, and they don’t understand the realities that students are facing on the ground every day.” Other concerns have focused on the content of the past Strategic Plan, which was issued in 2005. During last year’s protest, some of the more poorly received aspects of the Strategic Plan
were its policy changes, one of the more noteworthy of which was the modification of the study away policy. The previous policy amendments allowed students in approved study away programs to pay the costs of tuition, room and board of the program, while the modified policy, which was made without student input, charges students the equivalent Oberlin tuition, in addition to room and board costs within their program. At the time, students argued that the new policy discriminated against low-income students, who may no longer be able to participate in the College’s study away option. While neither the administration nor the Steering Committee knows to what extent the committee members will adjust the current financial aid policy, there seems to be a good chance that the policy will be modified with the implementation of the upcoming Strategic Plan. “A strategic planning process … sets broad goals and directions for an organization to work towards over the course of many years,” said Reddy and Chermonte in an email to the Review. “In this respect, the current strategic planning process will develop guidelines and directions for the College to pursue related to financial aid.” Asked if they could confirm whether or not the committee
Amiri Spearheads Effort to Increase Diversity of Student Body Continued from page 1 they choose Oberlin over other similarly selective colleges. “The competition is greater than ever nationwide,” said Chermonte in an email to the Review. “We welcome student input on our yield activities, i.e. how we might make Oberlin the top choice of all admitted students,” To Amiri, a partial solution to this problem may be to get more black students to apply by advertising Oberlin more aggressively in black communities. “In my hometown, no one knows what Oberlin is. Andre Patton [OC ’13] made the comment that he lives in Cleveland — extremely high black percentages — and no one even knows what Oberlin is,” said Amiri. “If you look at where Oberlin does advertise, they advertise to primarily white schools.” Amiri acknowledged that Oberlin does do “a lot” to attract students of color and praised the Oberlin Access program in particular. But he questioned the complacency he senses at Oberlin regarding diversity. The administration countered Amiri’s criticisms by citing its attempts at outreach. “When we travel, we often select high schools in geographic regions from which we have seen a good number of prospective students and applicants in past years, and we are always in search of less familiar schools with potential,” said Chermonte. “We also include visits to high schools that have significant student of color and low-income populations and work with hundreds of community-based organizations.” For Amiri, however, these efforts are not enough. “The thing is for you to just go halfway, or just go … a tenth of the way, and then to stop at 5–7 percent [of black students at Oberlin] — you never won the war. You might be having battles, but
you’re not winning the war until the day that you have students of color feeling comfortable on this campus and you have enough students of color who are actually graduating,” he said. President Krislov suggested that interpretation of these percentages may cause the figures to appear lower than they truly are. Ross Peacock, an administrator from the Department of Institutional Research, highlighted two recent changes in how these demographics are recorded. According to Peacock, one of these changes occurred in 2010, when the U.S. Department of Education changed its policy on how institutions report their racial and ethnic demographics. The changes define “Hispanic” not as a race but as an ethnicity. “That means that anybody who identifies as Hispanic is reported that way and only as Hispanic regardless of any race(s) selected,” said Peacock. According to Peacock, the second major change mandates that any student who identifies as Hispanic and selects more than one race is reported simply as “Two or More.” “Only students who are not Hispanic and do not select more than one race are reported as that race to the Department of Education,” said Peacock. “For most institutions, the new reporting requirements changed the counts by race from how they were traditionally reported, even though the actual composition of the student body may not have changed.” Looking forward, Amiri hopes to work with other underrepresented groups to further expand the demand for increased enrollment of students of color. Although the Student Diversity Panel won’t be meeting until next spring, Amiri is currently planning a post-Thanksgiving protest wherein students will place jackets on chairs throughout Stevenson Hall to represent what he defines as a severe lack of representation for students of color. “Awareness is the first step to change,” Amiri said.
would modify the policy — and thus confirm the fears of a number of students — Reddy and Chermonte responded without detail. “It is expected that the College will continue to invest significant resources into financial aid,” the administrators said. For many students, the largely opaque nature of the Steering Committee has complicated how they’ve chosen to proceed. According to Cameron, OSCA officials will attempt to attend future listening sessions in the hope of becoming more in tune with the committee’s decisions regarding the policy. “We’re going to have most of the four OSCA officers at the next listening session. … We asked if OSCA could have more involvement, but they were really shaky on that,” he said. Other students, however, have already begun planning their response. Members of Student Senate have created both a transparency and financial accessibility working group to further address the issue and are currently meeting with members of the administration in an attempt to gather more information. “Every administrator I’ve talked to has told me that Oberlin, like all the rest of its peer institutions, is facing difficult financial decisions,” said Wagner. “A lot of people on the Board of Trustees [and] in the administra-
tion feel like Oberlin’s financial aid spending is unsustainable. For their financial situation, they see financial aid as an area that they may need to cut in order to stay financially solvent.” According to Wagner, Senate’s first step is to gather more pertinent facts and statistics on Oberlin’s financial standing. “When senators are trying to dig into Oberlin’s finances, we’ve found that the information is either very vague or so complicated that we cannot understand it without poring over tax returns for hours on end,” Wagner said. Wagner said that this disengagement leads both to apathy and disillusionment from the student body, the attention of which is necessary to address the College’s financial inaccessibility. Ultimately, however, Wagner and fellow senators are attempting to convince the administration to publicize its financial accounts and deficits as well as to further engage the student body. “We don’t know where they’re spending their money,” Wagner said. “That’s the bottom line. They say financial aid is a place where they’re losing more money than they’re gaining, but we have no access to those numbers, we can’t know what’s true. Without this information, it’s hard for students to engage in meaningful conversations and even more meaningful change.”
Students, Faculty Raise Funds to Attend STEM Conference Continued from page 3 other students turned to their departments for funding, obtaining awards from the Oberlin Chemistry and Physics departments. Moore was able to obtain funding from his research lab at Tufts University, and all the students received substantial additional funding from the Office of the Dean of the College and the MRC. “For the future, it’s going to be an issue if we can sustain to take a team, because it costs a lot,” said Vinces. “So that’s something for future discussion — what’s a sustainable model regarding student participation and this conference and other conferences.” Vinces and Williams have discussed crowdfunding and potentially reaching out to alumni as alternative sources of funding. For both administrators, however, there are more pervasive issues than a potential lack of funding, namely the lack of support for minority students in the STEM field. According to Vinces, while the College sends a number of students to Ph.D. programs, minority students are often underrepresented in these programs. This trend is particularly pronounced among first-generation students. “Given the history of Oberlin, yes, we’re leaders in science, and we have this history of accessibility to higher education, but they could be better coupled today,” said Vinces. “We could do better.” According to Williams, the College loses minority students in STEM fields between the introductory and upper-level courses. “Our hardest task right now is getting students to come in through the intro courses and persist into the upper-level courses,” said Williams. “Once the students get through and into the upper-level courses and into a lab, they’re very well supported, but getting them to that point is where we sometimes reach stumbling blocks.” However, Vinces, Williams and other administrators are currently working towards a solution. “There’s no easy solution to this, so we’re trying to come at the problem from lots of different angles,” said Vinces. “We’re doing faculty workshops to raise awareness and to get departments to talk to each other. Some departments are doing better than others, and it’s great if they talk to each other to see what each department is doing, as well as [doing] more grassroots work with students.”
Opinions The Oberlin Review
November 21, 2014
Letters to the Editors
Attendance at CDS Policy Symposium Essential for Food Justice To the Editors:
Oberlin students and CDS employees have the incredible opportunity to help write a food policy for Oberlin College that will guide the College and CDS in its purchasing and employment practices. This Saturday, we, the Real Food Challenge, are hosting a symposium to discuss a draft of the food policy we have written. This policy is based upon the values of the Real Food Challenge, which is a national movement working to increase the amount of local, sustainable, humane, ecological and fair food purchasing and practices on college campuses across the country. This symposium is a forum for students to voice their opinions on food purchasing, campus sustainability, labor rights and other foodrelated issues. This feedback from the student body will be used to inform the guidelines in the policy and ultimately shape how CDS and the administration operate. The College spends millions of dollars on food and dining annually, so this symposium really allows students to exert power in administrative decisions. In addition to receiving feedback on the policy, we will also welcome ideas for an action plan to reach the goals outlined in the policy. Food justice encompasses many different social and environmental issues, as it impacts farmers, factory laborers, small businesses, consumer health, global warming and Oberlin employee rights. If you are involved with feminist work, you should be at the symposium on Saturday, since investment in businesses that are run by women or empower women is a key component of feminism. If you are involved with anti-racism work, this is a forum for you to impact what kind of labor and business practices we support overseas and in the United States, as well as issues of cultural appropriation through food served in the
dining halls. It is not necessary to have an extensive knowledge of food justice issues to contribute to this policy. We need you, as students who are investing in Oberlin College, to attend the symposium on Saturday. Firstly, in order for this policy to reflect the values and opinions of the Oberlin student body, we need to have discourse that reflects the diversity of values and opinions on this campus. Secondly, if a critical mass of students on campus visibly supports fair food practices, this movement will garner more support from the rest of the student body. Participating in creating this policy is an opportunity for you to have your values put into effect on a scale that can ultimately shift millions of dollars toward humane, sustainable, local and fair food and labor practices. The Food Policy Symposium will be divided into two sessions. We would love to have you at both of them, but feel free to come to the one that matters to you the most. They are as follows: 3–5 p.m.: Food Procurement, Supply Chain, Campus Sustainability, Student and Community Involvement 5–6 p.m.: Labor, Immigration and Human Rights If you would like to help with the implementation of the policy, we will discuss the food policy implementation group in each session. –Aliya Tuzhilin, Helena Bader, Eleanor Catlin and Ayami Kan College sophomores
OCRL Encourages Respect, Tolerance To the Editors: Oberlin preaches tolerance of individuals and groups, but recently, we, the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians, as a club have seriously had to question the true tolerance of the Oberlin community. Responses to the climate debate and other recent demonstrations have shown a lack of respect for other people’s beliefs
and rights. First, we would like to recognize and thank the administration of Oberlin for allowing speakers such as Dr. Patrick Michaels and Dr. Judith Curry, who do not hold the same views as the majority of the Oberlin community, the opportunity to speak. It shows that the administration is confident enough in its own beliefs and is thus willing to entertain arguments from other camps of thought. With members of OCRL on the Oberlin Illuminate Debate Series committee, we believe it is important to mention that we also were not happy with the outcome of the debate. The purpose of the debate was not to debate whether or not global warming was occurring, but rather to debate the severity of climate change and what the speakers believe to be the best policy concerning the climate. As a committee, we recognize that we should have investigated the debaters in more depth in order to have more of a discussion; however, four years ago, Dr. Judith Curry would have taken a much more liberal stance on the issue. Due to new science concerning the climate, Dr. Curry has changed her beliefs on the severity of climate change over the past four years. OCRL believes Dr. Curry might have been more a more beneficial speaker for the Oberlin community than Dr. Michaels. A lot can be learned listening to a renowned scientist in her field talk about how she has followed current science and has thus altered her beliefs to certain degrees. It shows how true science grows and progresses. The slight paradigm shift that Dr. Curry experienced is exactly what Thomas Kuhn, a physicist and philosopher of science, was describing in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. To silence such people stifles progress within society. A group of students from our community made a call to organize and disrupt future events that do not feed their already established beliefs. As students, it is our right to not believe either 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.
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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
Emergency Declaration in Ferguson Premature, Discourages Structural Change In anticipation of the announcement by prosecutors of whether a grand jury will file charges against Darren Wilson — the Ferguson, MO police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in August — Missouri Governor Jay Nixon stoked the flames of a virulent disconnect between government officials and black residents in greater St. Louis by declaring a state of emergency Monday. Nixon, a second-term Democrat, authorized National Guard troops to assist a coalition of three police agencies in controlling expected demonstrations following the announcement, sending a stark message to the nonviolent organizers: You are our enemy. Nixon’s misguided action worsens a pervasive lack of effective leadership at a time when there are real opportunities for local, state and national officials to do better. The events of the past several months have laid bare many of the problems plaguing governments in Ferguson and beyond. Ferguson, for its part, has an ugly history of disenfranchising African-Americans. Fueled partially by rapid gentrification in urban St. Louis, the suburb has shifted from being more than two-thirds white to two-thirds black in just two decades, according to Al Jazeera America. Yet its leadership has not adapted to reflect this. Ferguson’s police department is more than 90 percent white, and both the local and St. Louis County police forces have well-documented histories of alleged racial bias, profiling and brutality. James Knowles, the young white mayor of Ferguson who was elected in 2011 with just 16 percent voter turnout, has appeared before cameras sporting an NRA cap to candidly deny the city’s long-standing racial tensions. In a recent clip on Vimeo titled “Ferguson Speaks: A Communique from Ferguson,” city residents offer criticisms of their mayor such as “He’s not for the people at all” and “It’s like he lives in another world.” If other leaders accept the deep-rooted reality of these tensions, they haven’t shown it. Ever since Michael Brown’s death, the dominant treatment of demonstrations by both government and media has been one of law and order — even though the law is at clear odds with the people. And Nixon’s executive order spells out some of the most dangerous ironies in this approach. “Our citizens and businesses must be protected from violence and damage,” Nixon writes in the order, a clause that clearly invokes scenes from Ferguson in August in which demonstrations gave way to looting and vandalism. Yet nowhere in the order does he acknowledge the violence and damage done to communities of color on a daily basis by law enforcement. “Our citizens have the right to peacefully assemble and protest and the State of Missouri is committed to protecting those rights,” he writes. Nowhere does he admit that so many of the demonstrations of the past several months, while peaceful in intent, were met with militarized police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Nixon, Knowles and their fellow elected officials must change their course. They must see demonstrators for who they are: human beings, deprived of other channels of access, subjected to systems of government that are structured not to protect them but to protect others — oppressive, white others, many ignorant of their privilege — from them. And they must realize that the structures which put them in positions of authority did so in no small part through the exclusion and oppression of communities of color. The first critical step toward any meaningful change is for them to listen. If the government of Missouri is sincere in its desire to uphold its citizens’ “right to peacefully assemble and protest,” it needs to recognize — as has long been the case — that smoke grenades and suppresSee 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
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Student Senators Call for Financial Aid Transparency, Engagement Jordan Ecker and Ty Wagner Student Senators Oberlin College Student Senate is committed to investigating Oberlin’s finances by gathering as much information as possible, synthesizing this information so that students can engage with it, creating discussions about Oberlin’s financial direction particularly involving financial aid and making the Steering Committee more accessible to the Senate and to students themselves. Here’s why. Over and over again, when asking questions about the school’s financial situation, we as Student Senators have been told: “Oberlin College needs more revenue to remain a prestigious institution.” “Changes must be made.” “We are spending too much money on financial aid.” Yet students across campus feel nickel-and-dimed by the College on issues from laundry costs to the amount of food that counts as a meal in Dascomb — not to mention the ever-rising tuition. The administration has made little to no effort to make Oberlin’s financial situation transparent, and any individual student attempting to make sense of where their money is going must enter a Kafkaesque labyrinth of tax returns. Official financial reports lack information that students care about and need, and the same reports are so unintelligibly complicated that it takes hours and hours of work to make any sense of them. We believe the administration’s statements that the College needs more revenue to remain solvent. However, as student senators, we also need the College to be transparent about the school’s financial situation so that students can meaningfully engage with the administration. Many students took the announcement that the administration is indefinitely suspend-
ing the changes to financial aid as good news. However, tacked on to that announcement was the troubling news that discussion of changes to the College’s financial aid policy will now take place exclusively in the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. The Steering Committee, formed every 10 years, is tasked with drafting the plan which will guide all of Oberlin’s decisions over the following 10 years, and it is one of the most important and most opaque institutions on campus. Its meetings are not open; its facts and figures are not released. It doesn’t release minutes, pro–––––––––––––––––––––––––
As student senators, we … need the College to be transparent about the school’s financial situation so that students can meaningfully engage with the administration. ––––––––––––––––––––––––– viding instead only summaries neatly packaged by Oberlin’s Communications Department. The Steering Committee’s website is designed more to inspire than to inform. Additionally, of the 37 members of the committee, only three are students, none of whom were democratically elected by the student body. Instead, the Board of Trustees chose these students. That’s not to say the work these students do on the planning committee isn’t valuable; however, they need all the help they can get in representing the student body. The student members of the Steering Committee have been holding “listening sessions;” while this is a great tool, students need a direct avenue to the Steering Committee at large. As it stands now, students
Editorial: MO Leaders Must Listen to Protestors Continued from page 5 sion will inspire fear and self-defense, not dialogue. It is the government’s responsibility not merely to allow demonstrations, but to acknowledge the protesters’ grievances and work diligently to redress them. And it’s important to remember that whatever announcement the grand jury ultimately makes, it will not change the fact that Michael Brown is dead. The fate of Darren Wilson will not be determined by what is morally just; instead, the decision of whether or not to indict the officer will be made by a group of jurors constrained by a narrow legal framework. They will settle a matter of law, not morality, and their decision will do nothing to dismantle the structures of injustice that tie Michael Brown’s death into a bleak nationwide picture. This last task must become the priority of government officials — and these officials must carry it out on the terms of the citizens they represent.
simply do not have enough of a voice on the Steering Committee. There are no listening sessions with the full committee and no committee working groups with students outside the committee. This opacity creates a situation where students, particularly those most marginalized, are alienated from the most important decision-making body on Oberlin’s campus. Students do care about the work the Steering Committee is doing. The protests that exploded in the wake of the changes to the financial aid structure last year should at the very least teach us that Oberlin’s student body cares about the financial decisions Oberlin makes as an institution. But the Steering Committee makes it very difficult for students to meaningfully engage with it. Relocating discussions about financial aid changes from the administration to the Steering Committee disengages students from a dialogue they have worked to shape over the past few months, and it means that students have to start from scratch to make their voices heard again. This will bar students from participating meaningfully in the real discussions about financial aid. For these reasons, Oberlin College Student Senate is committed to gathering as much of Oberlin’s financial information as possible and increasing the Steering Committee’s accessibility. We would also like to invite the student body to work in both the Student Financial Accessibility Working Group this Sunday, Nov. 23 at 3:30 p.m. on the first floor of Wilder Hall, and the Transparency Working Group on Thursdays from 5–6 p.m. in Wilder, in order to more fully discuss these issues. We need to have a voice regarding the future of our college. For a full list of co-signatories on Student Senate, please the Review’s website.
The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
TIME Misses Point with Poll, Apology Taylor Field Staff Writer TIME magazine announced its fourth annual poll on Nov. 12 in order to determine “Which Word Should Be Banned in 2015?” The poll lists 15 options for words to be banished, and beneath the poll, TIME elaborates on “the type of person who would like to see each nominee launched into the deepest, darkest, most hopeless eternity from whence there is no salvation nor return.” Included in this year’s poll were expressions deemed tired or overused, such as “bae,” “kale” and “said no one ever”; those considered grammatically incorrect, such as “I can’t even,” “literally” and “obvi”; and, finally, the most disturbing category: miscalculated attempts at social justice via censorship. This year, TIME proposed banning the word “feminist.” Firstly, the entire premise of a word-banning poll is absurd and illconceived. Telling people how they can and cannot communicate reeks of censorship and elitism, not to mention historical and systemic racial oppression based on language. In 2011, TIME banished “OMG,” followed the next year by “YOLO” and, just this past year, “twerk.” This poor attempt at humor is essentially a glorified game of identifying and insulting those whose speech is considered below the proper standards of TIME’s readership. Honestly, I cannot imagine the thought process that went into the creation of this: “Let’s play a fun game where we ask our readers to judge how well other people speak English.” Really? This seemed like a good idea? As for TIME’s shocking proposal to ban the word “feminist,” I am hardly the only person outraged at this severe error in judgment. Robin Morgan, a well-respected feminist author and activist who co-founded the Women’s Media Center with Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, wrote a response last Monday detailing the extensive history of feminism and its continuing importance. The succinct blurb in TIME outlining why exactly the word “feminist” should be banned
does not take into account the complex workings and history of the feminist movement. Instead, it expresses distaste for celebrities declaring their feminism and the frequency with which the label is thrown around. Personally, I agree with this point; I’m not that excited to hear about how Katy Perry or Taylor Swift aren’t feminists, usually because they don’t really understand the movement or fear being labeled man-hating or angry. What I do appreciate, however, is the growing critical discourse surrounding the word, the movement and the related activism and academia. Talking about feminism is not the problem. Hating feminism is the problem. And TIME’s poll did nothing to help. The proposal to ban “feminist” was ultimately one of the most popular responses on the poll. After the uproar of internet activists, journalists and well-known feminists, TIME finally issued an apology Saturday and reportedly removed the word as an option, though it is still listed in the poll along with an editor’s note. While I certainly appreciate the apologetic sentiment, the statement’s wording is objectionable. Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs wrote, “While we meant to invite debate about some ways the word –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Talking about feminism is not the problem. Hating feminism is the problem. And TIME’s poll did nothing to help. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– was used this year, that nuance was lost, and we regret that its inclusion has become a distraction from the important debate over equality and justice.” Unfortunately, TIME mitigates its apology with an attempt to explain their poor choice, standing by their effort to “invite debate.” I cannot help but see the disturbing irony of trying to stir up conversation by censoring our words.
Letters to the Editors, Cont. Continued from page 5 scientist. Furthermore, we believe it is our responsibility and job as students to first become educated on matters, and then evaluate the validity of all arguments, and finally determine our own beliefs based on what we have learned. In the spirit of debate and free exchange of ideas, we would like to extend an open invitation for any students to give input and help put on constructive debates. As members of OCRL, we could have easily have gone to a school such as Hillsdale College, Rush Limbaugh’s token college in Michigan. However, we each initially chose Oberlin for one reason or another and have all grown to like and respect the diversity and opportunity Oberlin offers. We do not protest or call to disrupt every event that we do not believe to be credible or that goes against our established beliefs. In fact, if one were to ask, the majority of the club’s members will admit to changing some of their established political beliefs through the critical examination of contrasting arguments, thus resulting in
progress and growth. OCRL is challenging the Oberlin community not to just preach tolerance, but to engage all groups of people and camps of thought from a critical perspective. We do not believe we can or wish to be able to fully change one’s thinking; instead, we would rather have individuals challenge and create their own beliefs after being educated by a large spectrum of different camps of thought. Instead of calling to disrupt future events or rudely interrupting convocation speakers brought in by the college, why don’t we attend all events with the neutral perspective that we are students? It is our responsibility to educate ourselves. Many times, the journey to a belief is much more important than the end result. While we may not change what we or others believe or stand for, at least we can all become aware of the beliefs of those around us. This is truly the spirit of a liberal arts education. –The Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians
Opinions
The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
Latest Kardashian Photoshoot Has Racial Undertones Kiley Petersen Staff Writer Kim Kardashian has broken the internet. Her controversial photoshoot for the winter 2014 edition of Paper magazine, where she poses both nude and in a black dress, blew up on Twitter and Facebook after it was published on Tuesday, Nov. 11. Social media users expressed a variety of opinions, ranging from disapproval to praise to outrage. The two cover shots, specifically, got a lot of people talking. The first depicts Kim, slathered in body oil, showing off her famous butt and hourglass figure. In the second cover she is clothed in a fancy black dress and evening gloves, with a champagne glass balanced on her backside while the bottle of bubbly sprays over her head and into the glass. It’s actually an almost identical copy of a 1970 photograph by the same famous French photographer, Jean-Paul Goude. While America has become accustomed to Kim’s and the rest of the Kardashians’ outrageous, overdramatized actions (remember that 72 day–long marriage?) the family has received a lot of criticism for behavior that is being produced and performed specifically for the American public. It’s the cyclical relationship of reality TV: Someone does something stupid and outlandish, the public condemns their actions as immoral, and, simultaneously, the audience can’t tear its eyes away from the screen. The cycle continues. While the majority of responses were in some way critical of the shoot, some celebrities openly praised Kim or playfully spoofed the shoot. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi’s parody of the Kardashian annual Christmas card featured Ellen and Portia’s heads Photoshopped onto Kim’s body with red bows adorning her butt. Meanwhile, Lorde simply tweeted “mom,” expressing her approval of the photographs. On the other hand, negative responses
were diverse, ranging from simple annoyance to pointing out Instagram’s double standards to condemning Kim’s unmotherly choices. Everyone had an opinion on the shoot. Auto racing driver Arie Luyendyk, Jr. tweeted on Nov. 12, “So while I was sleeping we as humans landed ON A COMET 500 million km away and my whole feed involves Kim K’s naked body, makes sense,” commenting on the sensationalizing and hype of the photos. Alyssa Milano tweeted, “Wait! I don’t get it. No disrespect to Kim but... people are offended by my breastfeeding selfies & are fine with her (amazing) booty cover?” Naya Rivera commented on Kim’s Instagram, “I normally don’t. But... you’re someone’s mother…” The last two remarks by Milano and Rivera focus on the dual limitations placed on the female body. First: Seen through the male gaze, the female body is only a sexual object, and anything pertaining to the biological functions of motherhood — such as breastfeeding or menstruating — is seen as disgusting and should be censored. Second: the idea that a woman’s sexuality and sexual appeal somehow disappear after motherhood. This is an extension of the Playboy-esque older-manyounger-woman myth, which teaches us that men want young women because they don’t want “old” women. Hidden in Rivera’s comment is also the implication that because Kim is now a mother, she must set an example for her daughter on how to act like a good girl. Her mother shouldn’t be a walking sex symbol for the American public. Yet Kim, despite her controversial ways, proves that you can be both a mother and a sex icon; the two are not mutually exclusive. Kim’s acceptance of her body — including her sex appeal — is a powerful feminist statement in a society that constantly polices the female form. Sensationalization of these photos have overshadowed what is, in my opin-
ion, the actual most controversial and offensive issue at play here: Jean-Paul Goude’s blatant hypersexualization of the black female body. The second cover of the now infamous champagne bottle and glass is a replica of his earlier work, “Carolina Beaumont, New York, 1976,” printed in his 1982 book Jungle Fever, a title that is rich with racist and sexist implications. Both of these photographs are eerily reminiscent of caricatures of Saartjie Baartman, the South African woman also known as the Hottentot Venus — an offensive label for her Khoikhoi ancestry. Baartman was exhibited in freak shows across London and Paris from 1810 until her death in December 1815. Her body was seen as exotic and abnormal compared to the white women of Western Europe. In order to show off her large buttocks, breasts and rumored elongated labia minora, she was forced to wear skin-tight costumes and was put on display in a cage where European onlookers would gawk at her. In France, artists created scientific paintings of her body; after her death her cadaver was dissected, and her skeleton and body cast were displayed in the Musée de l’Homme until the 1970s. This horrific abuse of Baartman and the sexualization and objectification of her body is a sickening event in the long history of European objectification of African bodies and cultures. Obviously, Kim wasn’t aware of this historical racist image that she was echoing. I’m guessing Goude wasn’t either, in 1976 or in 2014. I certainly wasn’t aware of Baartman’s story until last week. But Goude should definitely be called out on his exploitation of the black female body in both Jungle Fever and Kim’s “Break the Internet” photoshoot. Maybe there is a way for Kim to defy restrictions against the female body in modern society; but there is no way to repare the damage and abuse against Baartman and black women.
Unwanted Schedules Offer Hidden Opportunities CJ Blair Columnist Getting into college can be a chore, especially when high school students are aiming for colleges like Oberlin. When all that’s taken care of and students are admitted into prestigious schools, it makes sense that they would feel entitled to the resources at hand when they arrive. This may be the primary reason that course registration is such a stressful time for almost all students. They’ve worked immensely hard to get here, and now that they’re enrolled, why should it be difficult to get into the classes they want? Frustration with class registration is serious and justified for many students. When upperclassmen are unable to take classes they need to meet requirements and graduate, it’s perfectly logical for them to be angry. This flaw signals a clear need for re-evaluation of the current system. This isn’t the case for everyone, however. For that reason, I focus here on the situation as it applies to students who aren’t as negatively affected by unplanned schedules, particularly first- and second-years. For this crowd, the response to conflicts is more likely to be disgust or confusion rather than anxiety. If you’re a potential Biochemistry major, what purpose is a humanities class going to serve, and why is the only one left “Musical Analogues” of a country you’ve never heard of? The simple answer would be that distribution requirements are designed to produce well-rounded students who don’t think in a singular way, which is more or less the motto of every liberal arts college in America. I believe the answer runs deeper than this cliché, however, and perhaps deeper than anything specifically designed by Oberlin’s faculty and staff. Imagine if there was a fixed trajectory of classes for each major that laid out every specific course required, and everything else was something general like “Humanities 100” or “Introductory Social Studies.” Seems absurd, right? I had a creative writing teacher once who told me that power lies in details and
specificity. While any class at Oberlin will promote thinking and analyses, they would all be superficial if they weren’t grounded in a very specific topic. Though this focus might result in course titles so weirdly specific that they can be off-putting, it ensures that the curricula will home in on details such that students can really explore the subjects with sufficient depth and rigor. It’s the difference between learning to drive by taking a simulated course and actually getting behind the wheel and getting the feel for the quirks of your dad’s Honda. While this may justify why Oberlin students should take a variety of classes at Oberlin, it doesn’t quite deal with the scenario of getting a less than ideal schedule. First off, I would argue that having the notion of an “ideal” schedule, in many cases, isn’t really a helpful mindset. When most students picture an ideal schedule, they’re really thinking about the most logical sequence of classes to get them to the next step: life after college. Of course college is designed to equip its students with the education they need to go into the world, but there’s something to be said for taking advantage of the resources available while you’re enrolled. With the “ideal schedule” mindset, Oberlin turns into a mere means to an end. But college classes, where the focus is so finite and the study so intensive, are the perfect environment for finding and sorting through interests. The fact is, you can’t say for sure if you really like Russian history until you’ve rigorously studied it. In this sense, college is less a place to pursue a predetermined course of study than it is one for experimentation. When you step back from the dominant “pick a major, get a degree and leave” mentality, it can become apparent just how many opportunities there are to be happily spontaneous with the classes you take and to figure out what you may love. With this mindset, that curveball schedule you might end up with becomes less of a disappointment and more like a painter’s palette — where every color is worth a try.
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Just Ask Us: National Library Day Jolie De Feis and Mike Plotz Columnists This article is a little sentimental for us because it is how this whole column began. One day, early in the semester, before the temperature with wind chill was negative 6 degrees and the albino squirrels were still alive, Mike was sitting in the Charles W. McCandless Main Level of Mudd library (in the area commonly known as the Robert Lemle ’75 and Roni Kohen-Lemle ’76 Academic Commons) and thinking about how amazing it was. It was then that Mike bumped into Jolie — you could say it was fate — and together they began to Marvel© at Mudd, and then at the idea of libraries in general. We are of the opinion that libraries are grossly underrated, and we’re here to show you why you should never take the Seeley G. Mudd Center, or any library, for granted. Charles, Robert, Roni and Seeley G. clearly understood the wonder that is libraries, but do you, reader? No, you don’t. We could explain to you, reader, the deep history of the library. We could tell you about the trials and tribulations public libraries have faced in the wake of widespread book burnings and censorship. We could tell you about Alex Abramowitz’s librarian mom (Hi, Ellen!) and her feelings towards libraries, or we could tell you about how today’s libraries are used for us to sit on our computers and access our own personal libraries (Wow, think about that one!). We could tell you about the lack of funding our libraries receive today; we could tell you about the Oberlin Review archive that may or may not exist in Mudd library (but we don’t know because we haven’t checked); or we could even tell you about how the first floor of Mudd acts as a student union because Oberlin is sorely lacking a proper student gathering space. But we’re not going to talk about any of that. Why don’t you go to the library and do your own damn research? (It’s free!) Today we’re going to talk to you about Library Day. It is of our opinion that we, and all of you, should demand that the federals and governments and Yankees up in Washington Square Park create this blessed day. On Library Day, everyone has the day off — except, of course, librarians — and we celebrate the hard work that goes into this underutilized and underappreciated but priceless resource. On this day, we place our favorite librarians (in the case of Mike, that honor goes to College senior Cassandra Hay, while Jolie remains fond of Ms. Spangler from her alma mater Chatsworth Avenue Elementary School) into chairs and hoist them high into the air like it’s their second bar mitzvah. Mazel tov, librarians! Every Library Day, we also choose a new large corporation to burn down. Who’s next, MGM? Libraries are radical, and that scares media distribution companies. Seriously, libraries are the college student who decides to pursue a film degree rather than becoming a doctor or lawyer like everyone else in his family, and further defies them by moving over 300 miles away to cold and gray Ohio; libraries are that guy. In this case, that guy is Mike. Come on, reader; let’s try a little thought experiment. Imagine, if you can, that we live in a world with no libraries. All of a sudden, 21st-century Ben Franklin comes along (he lost a little weight, grew a little hair, but still doesn’t know what electricity is) and opens up a 21st-century public library in Media, PA (hi, Ellen!). The town loves it — it’s legal, after all — because little Ben Franklin is simply buying content and sharing it with all of his friends. But BAM! NBC, CBS, ABC, MGM, NPR, PBS, KGB, BBC, FBI, DEA, CIA, CNN, NSA, they’re all after you! They’re waiting outside your house, they know that you rub your mom’s feet every morning, and they’re not, I repeat, not, happy about your little library experiment. Copyright infringement, they say! An assault to their profits! You didn’t pay for that! And so on. Did you know that Amazon offers unlimited books ( from participating publishers) on Kindle for the low price of $9.99 per month? Seems like a great idea, right? It is! And it already exists — it’s called a library. This is why we here at “Just Ask Us and We’ll Tell Ya” are of the opinion that we need a National Library Day — because profit won’t enlighten your soul. Happy reading, “friend.”
Winter by Numbers Days of Clear Skies over Ten Winters Total Days Without Clouds per Winter
16
2009 had the cloudiest winter in the past decade, with only three completely sunny days through the months of November, December, January and February.
14 12 10 8
Total days without cloud cover over November–February of each year for the past 10.
6 4 2 0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
WINTER IN OBERLIN PHOTO CONTEST
Submit your photos by emailing them to thisweek@oberlinreview.org! Each week until the end of the semester, several winning photos and photographers will be featured in this section. There is no limit on submissions, but they should be from this year, local and unaltered.
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 7
8
9
10 1 1 12 1 3 14 1 5 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2 2 23 24 25 2 6 27 2 8 29
November
Last winter’s high, achieved Nov. 17.
64°
-11°
Last winter’s low, achieved Jan. 6 and Jan. 7.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 1 1 12 13 1 4 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2 3 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3 1
December
Only 15 times in the last century has the month of November recorded a temperature colder than the 10 degrees reached in Oberlin last Tuesday. The last occasion was on Nov. 23, 2000.
60 mph
Strongest windspeed recorded in Oberlin in the past decade.
25
Lowest January Temperatures
20
15
5
60
-10
14 20
13 20
12 20
11 20
10 20
09 20
08 20
07 20
06 20
05 20
04 20 -5
Total Annual Snowfall over Fifty Years
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 1 1 12 13 14 15 1 6 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 6 27 2 8 29
February January of 2013 reached 64 degrees twice in the month, the highest temperature reached in January since 2006.
10
0
70
1
January
14
6
20
5
09
4
20
3
05
2
20
1
-10
04
0
20
Average Daily Temperature in °F
Average Daily Temperature over Five Years*
Total Inches of Snow per Winter
Photographer: Ben Stassen, College sophomore Location: North Quad
Photographer: Benjamin Biffis, College sophomore Location: Outside Bailey House
Photographer: Emma Eisenberg, College sophomore Location: Second floor of Peters Hall, facing the Warner Center
Lowest point reached by thermometers in January over the last decade.
For the first time in recent memory, the College adjusted its academic schedule due to the extreme temperatures. An email sent to the student body read, “Due to the predicted extreme temperatures and anticipated wind chills, the faculty and non-essential staff members are given the option of reporting to work on Tuesday morning. If you have projects or scheduled classes, please contact your faculty member ... to check the status of needed attendance on Tuesday. “
Total inches of snow that fell over November–February of each year for the past 50 years.
40 30 20 10 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1 993 1 994 1 995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Harry Potter Trivia Night Friday, Nov. 21, 7:30–9:30 p.m. Science Center Atrium
The Oberlin Musical Theater Association’s first production of the year tells the tale of two partners: one the proprietor of the drag cabaret under their flat, the other a glamorous drag queen. However, the comedy has a serious streak that arises when the couple’s son brings his girlfriend’s extremely conservative family home for dinner, forcing the characters to confront ideas of family and identity.
Bring your Potter-savvy friends for an evening of trivia based on the Harry Potter books and movies. Teams of up to six earn points for right answers to questions ranging from well-known characters to obscure details from the series. The event is hosted by the Oberlin Harry Potter Alliance, which will award prizes to the winning teams.
Weather data courtesy of www.weather-warehouse.com and www.wunderground.com
This Week editor: Hazel Galloway
-20
La Cage aux Folles Friday, Nov. 21, and Saturday, Nov. 22, 7:30–10 p.m. Wilder Hall Main Space
* Temperatures for this figure recorded in Oberlin. All other data were collected in Elyria.
-15
50
0
2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015
The Fourth Dimension Friday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, midnight The Cat in the Cream OCircus’s fall show will continue its tradition of racy, burlesque-style entertainment combined with acrobatics and other circus acts. With time travel as its subject, the show promises to carry audience members through the eras in what history indicates is likely to be a crowded Cat in the Cream.
This section is seeking writers for the spring semester! Earn practicum in journalism credit and gain writing experience. Email thisweek@oberlinreview.org for details!
CALENDAR
Film Screening: Amreeka Friday, Nov. 21, 8–10 p.m. King Building 106
Oberlin College Food Policy Symposium Saturday, Nov 22, 3–6 p.m. Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center
Semble N & Beards Sunday, Nov. 23, 8 p.m. The Cat in the Cream
Film Screening: Vessel Monday, Nov. 24, 7–9 p.m. Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center
The International Students’ Association and the Muslim Students Association will screen this critically acclaimed independent film following the life of a Palestinian family immigrating to the U.S. The film, both tragic and humorous, focuses on the family’s experiences with culture clash and a teenager’s struggle to discover where he truly belongs.
As part of the process that began last year when the College accepted the Real Food Challenge, a commitment to 40 percent “real food” by 2020, organizers will host a symposium to solicit feedback on a draft of the new Oberlin Food Policy. The event will be divided into sections, with one hour each devoted to food procurement and the supply chain; campus sustainability, student and community involvement; and labor, immigration and human rights.
Semble N, Oberlin’s student contemporary music collective which aims to perform new works in novel spaces, will join Beards, a four-piece group influenced by free jazz and pop elements, for an evening of contemporary, jazz and rock-influenced music. The Cat in the Cream will host the double-header as its last event before Thanksgiving break.
Students United for Reproductive Freedom will screen this documentary about a project that inspired a media frenzy. Activist Rebecca Gomperts’s organization, Women on Waves, began with a shipboard medical clinic that provided legal abortions in international waters. The film follows the project’s departure from that model toward providing women worldwide with World Health Organizationsanctioned pills that safely abort unwanted pregnancies.
Winter by Numbers Days of Clear Skies over Ten Winters Total Days Without Clouds per Winter
16
2009 had the cloudiest winter in the past decade, with only three completely sunny days through the months of November, December, January and February.
14 12 10 8
Total days without cloud cover over November–February of each year for the past 10.
6 4 2 0
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
WINTER IN OBERLIN PHOTO CONTEST
Submit your photos by emailing them to thisweek@oberlinreview.org! Each week until the end of the semester, several winning photos and photographers will be featured in this section. There is no limit on submissions, but they should be from this year, local and unaltered.
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 7
8
9
10 1 1 12 1 3 14 1 5 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 2 2 23 24 25 2 6 27 2 8 29
November
Last winter’s high, achieved Nov. 17.
64°
-11°
Last winter’s low, achieved Jan. 6 and Jan. 7.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 1 1 12 13 1 4 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 2 3 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3 1
December
Only 15 times in the last century has the month of November recorded a temperature colder than the 10 degrees reached in Oberlin last Tuesday. The last occasion was on Nov. 23, 2000.
60 mph
Strongest windspeed recorded in Oberlin in the past decade.
25
Lowest January Temperatures
20
15
5
60
-10
14 20
13 20
12 20
11 20
10 20
09 20
08 20
07 20
06 20
05 20
04 20 -5
Total Annual Snowfall over Fifty Years
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 1 1 12 13 14 15 1 6 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 6 27 2 8 29
February January of 2013 reached 64 degrees twice in the month, the highest temperature reached in January since 2006.
10
0
70
1
January
14
6
20
5
09
4
20
3
05
2
20
1
-10
04
0
20
Average Daily Temperature in °F
Average Daily Temperature over Five Years*
Total Inches of Snow per Winter
Photographer: Ben Stassen, College sophomore Location: North Quad
Photographer: Benjamin Biffis, College sophomore Location: Outside Bailey House
Photographer: Emma Eisenberg, College sophomore Location: Second floor of Peters Hall, facing the Warner Center
Lowest point reached by thermometers in January over the last decade.
For the first time in recent memory, the College adjusted its academic schedule due to the extreme temperatures. An email sent to the student body read, “Due to the predicted extreme temperatures and anticipated wind chills, the faculty and non-essential staff members are given the option of reporting to work on Tuesday morning. If you have projects or scheduled classes, please contact your faculty member ... to check the status of needed attendance on Tuesday. “
Total inches of snow that fell over November–February of each year for the past 50 years.
40 30 20 10 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1 993 1 994 1 995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Harry Potter Trivia Night Friday, Nov. 21, 7:30–9:30 p.m. Science Center Atrium
The Oberlin Musical Theater Association’s first production of the year tells the tale of two partners: one the proprietor of the drag cabaret under their flat, the other a glamorous drag queen. However, the comedy has a serious streak that arises when the couple’s son brings his girlfriend’s extremely conservative family home for dinner, forcing the characters to confront ideas of family and identity.
Bring your Potter-savvy friends for an evening of trivia based on the Harry Potter books and movies. Teams of up to six earn points for right answers to questions ranging from well-known characters to obscure details from the series. The event is hosted by the Oberlin Harry Potter Alliance, which will award prizes to the winning teams.
Weather data courtesy of www.weather-warehouse.com and www.wunderground.com
This Week editor: Hazel Galloway
-20
La Cage aux Folles Friday, Nov. 21, and Saturday, Nov. 22, 7:30–10 p.m. Wilder Hall Main Space
* Temperatures for this figure recorded in Oberlin. All other data were collected in Elyria.
-15
50
0
2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015
The Fourth Dimension Friday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22, midnight The Cat in the Cream OCircus’s fall show will continue its tradition of racy, burlesque-style entertainment combined with acrobatics and other circus acts. With time travel as its subject, the show promises to carry audience members through the eras in what history indicates is likely to be a crowded Cat in the Cream.
This section is seeking writers for the spring semester! Earn practicum in journalism credit and gain writing experience. Email thisweek@oberlinreview.org for details!
CALENDAR
Film Screening: Amreeka Friday, Nov. 21, 8–10 p.m. King Building 106
Oberlin College Food Policy Symposium Saturday, Nov 22, 3–6 p.m. Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center
Semble N & Beards Sunday, Nov. 23, 8 p.m. The Cat in the Cream
Film Screening: Vessel Monday, Nov. 24, 7–9 p.m. Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center
The International Students’ Association and the Muslim Students Association will screen this critically acclaimed independent film following the life of a Palestinian family immigrating to the U.S. The film, both tragic and humorous, focuses on the family’s experiences with culture clash and a teenager’s struggle to discover where he truly belongs.
As part of the process that began last year when the College accepted the Real Food Challenge, a commitment to 40 percent “real food” by 2020, organizers will host a symposium to solicit feedback on a draft of the new Oberlin Food Policy. The event will be divided into sections, with one hour each devoted to food procurement and the supply chain; campus sustainability, student and community involvement; and labor, immigration and human rights.
Semble N, Oberlin’s student contemporary music collective which aims to perform new works in novel spaces, will join Beards, a four-piece group influenced by free jazz and pop elements, for an evening of contemporary, jazz and rock-influenced music. The Cat in the Cream will host the double-header as its last event before Thanksgiving break.
Students United for Reproductive Freedom will screen this documentary about a project that inspired a media frenzy. Activist Rebecca Gomperts’s organization, Women on Waves, began with a shipboard medical clinic that provided legal abortions in international waters. The film follows the project’s departure from that model toward providing women worldwide with World Health Organizationsanctioned pills that safely abort unwanted pregnancies.
Arts The Oberlin Review
Page 10
November 21, 2014
In Pandora’s Box, Aerialists Personify Assortment of Evils Louise Edwards Staff Writer The audience gasped as College first-year Anika Lindsey suspended herself by her head using swirling purple silks. The silks encircled the back of her head, her outstretched arms creating tension on the silks, while her feet dangled far above the blue mats on the floor. Such startling and astounding feats were presented in the OC Aerialists’ one-night performance of Pandora’s Box in Hales Gymnasium on Saturday. The performance was based on the Greek myth of Pandora’s box first printed in Hesiod’s “Works and Days.” In this narrative, Pandora, the first human woman, is endowed with gifts from gods and goddesses, including the gift of curiosity. Pandora marries Epimetheus, who represents human men, and Zeus gives Pandora a jar with specific instructions not to open it. But curious Pandora defies Zeus and opens the jar, unleashing evils on humanity. However, hope still remains inside the jar after Pandora closes it. While by modern standards Hesiod’s myth objectifies Pandora as a “gift” presented to Epimetheus, and modern retellings of the myth describe women as the catalyst for “a plague upon
men,” the OC Aerialists’ reinterpretation of the myth celebrated the strength of women. In the opening act, Pandora, played by College junior Maya Muenzer, opened Pandora’s box, which was formed by vertical blue mats, and “evils” dressed in black and red leotards and tights came spinning out. Muenzer went on to perform a graceful solo utilizing a hanging hoop. In the following acts aerialists personified specific evils. While one might expect an interpretation of violence to be loud, fast paced and chaotic, College senior Vel Nipson’s performance was melancholic and elegant. Swinging from her legs upside down on the trapeze, she performed to “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” first released as a single by singer-actress Cher. The slow, powerful music and its lyrics complemented Nipson’s movements, which oscillated from dangling from the trapeze to standing tall on top of the trapeze bar, suggesting an internal struggle to find a sense of calm. Her emotional act gave a quiet and tragic beauty to a performance that could have been melodramatic. College sophomore Kat Geber, who portrayed “madness,” began her performance by sitting on the mat with her head in her hands.
The anxiety in her jerky movements increased as she hung from the silks by her ankle, waving her arms around her head. Another impressive point of the piece was when Geber went into the splits in midair, suspended by silks wrapped around each of her ankles, the strain in her body a –––––––––––––––––––––
The slow, powerful music and its lyrics complemented Nipson’s movements — oscillating from dangling from the trapeze to standing tall on top of the trapeze bar, suggesting an internal struggle to find a sense of calm. ––––––––––––––––––––– physical representation of the psychological stress symbolized by her performance.The piece ended dramatically with Geber hanging upside-down with her hair just brushing the floor. College sophomore Zoe Beach’s interpretation of addiction resonated with both Nipson and Geber’s performances, all of which skillSee OC, page 13
College sophomores Zoe Beach and Kat Geber perform a cooperative duo on the trapeze in Hales Gymnasium. The pair’s act marked the finale of the one-night-only OC Aerialists show — a reinterpretation of the myth of Pandora’s box — last Saturday. Sarah Herdrich
Creative Writing Alumni Visit Oberlin For Flawed Yet Enjoyable Fiction Reading Aviva Blonder Staff Writer According to Edan Lepucki, OC ’02, it was the “apotheosis of achievement” to return to campus and read aloud from her latest novel alongside fellow Oberlin graduate Jacob Bacharach, OC ’03, Thursday, Nov. 13. Her opening remarks reflected the tone of the evening: casual, but not without significance for the returning alumni. The two Creative Writing majors returned as published authors to share what they have accomplished since graduating. Lepucki read a segment from her debut novel, California, which she described as “postapocalyptic domestic drama.” She chose a selection from the middle of the novel, and the reading suffered from the lack of context. The scene opens with the protagonist, Frida, washing her clothes by a stream. Lepucki explained that, living in the woods after the end of the world, the characters have to do their laundry by hand. Frida then wanders off into the woods, leaving a trail of clothes behind her to mark her way, which Frida
compares to the story of Hansel and Gretel in her internal monologue. The parallel made to the fairy tale and Lepucki’s vivid descriptions helped cement the haunting, surreal feel of the scene, made even more dreamlike by Lepucki’s soft, calm voice. She told the story in third-person limited, using the protagonist’s rambling trains of thought to give color and humanity to the scene. Ironically, though the entire scene is told from Frida’s perspective and her thoughts are deeply ingrained in the narrative, the audience never found out why she decided to diverge from her usual path and go wandering off through the woods. Frida obviously knows that she shouldn’t wander through the woods; it’s dangerous and she could get lost. She’s also pregnant, so one would think that she’d also be looking out for the interests of her unborn child, which she later acts more protectively toward. She ought to have a very good reason to do something she knows is so dangerous, but Lepucki never explained her character’s motivation. The lack of context surround-
ing the scene became even more jarring when Frida abruptly encounters a coyote that drops a dead animal at her feet before threatening to pounce. The scene contained no explanation for why a coyote would try to give her a dead animal or attack her; there isn’t even any foreshadowing that wild animal attacks are a problem in the post-apocalyptic Californian woods. The calm, steady tone with which Lepucki read did nothing to clear up confusion. As the tension in the text mounted, her cadence remained unanimated, making it difficult to empathize with her character’s fear. Despite a lack of drama, the scene’s abrupt ending left the audience in poignant silence for a moment before listeners erupted with applause. Following Lepucki, Bacharach read the beginning of his novel, The Bend of the World, which he described as a comingof-age story retold as a conspiracy plot. The story takes place in Pittsburgh, where he lives. According to Bacharach’s introduction to the reading, many places in the story were inspired by jokes between him and his friends about various mythical
places within Pittsburgh. The inspiration is apparent in the light, comedic tone of the story that comes across as a series of coincidental events rather than as a unified whole. This is fitting for a tale about conspiracy theories, which are often made up entirely of unrelated coincidences arbitrarily juxtaposed and infused with meaning. Unlike Lepucki’s protagonistcentered scene, Bacharach introduced a whole cast of characters in a fast-paced burst of satire. The scene began with a series of UFO sightings as they were perceived by the media, the government and finally the protagonist. Bacharach wove political humor into his work in a straightforward manner. Fast-paced and captivating, the author switched back and forth between presenting unique perspectives on the UFO sightings and going off on comedic tangents, all the while creating a vivid image of life in Pittsburgh. Bacharach’s voice expressed the tone of his selection well, with lots of energy and drollness. However, variation between his interpretations of the characters’ voices was less distinct than
it could have been, especially in the conversations between the protagonist, Peter, and his friends. The dialogue itself effectively conveyed the speech of the somewhat aimless young adults featured in his story; the characters spend the scene drifting in and out of situations, all the while flippantly commenting on the world around them. The scene transitions from UFO sightings to a rambling tangent about one of the protagonist’s past romantic exploits. The humor is just as sharp and the characters are just as vivid, but the frequent narrative transitions were difficult to follow. Bacharach’s decision to include a conspiracy plot works to the story’s benefit, serving as a unifying thread to tie the disparate elements together and give the story purpose, even though, like in a conspiracy theory, the purpose may be artificially constructed. The reading ended with a Q&A session. The two authors discussed their writing processes and the significance of setting and genre in their work. They also mentioned future projects; both of them are currently working on new novels.
The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
The Epicurean: “Steakhouse of Lies” Dashes Hopes Matt Segall Columnist I should have known better than to go to an “upscale” restaurant located in Crocker Park, a so-called “lifestyle center” and the go-to retail platform closest to Oberlin since the indoor mall was declared dead in 2008. It was a Friday morning. I was plugging away at an Art History assignment due in a matter of hours. Still, I managed to procrastinate on Facebook, where I discovered that Cleveland Restaurant Week ended the next night! I texted two of my close friends and eager dining companions to make sure they were down for a night out. Right away, I began researching my options. My assignment cried out “Finish me,” but I neglected it in pursuit of crispy calamari, strip steak and chocolate soufflé. In an ideal world, I would have been able to dedicate all night to the outing, but I had responsibilities back on campus at 9:30 p.m. So I limited our options to the west side suburbs, which, unlike downtown, are not renowned for their dining selections. By then I’d heard back from my dining companions, so we began to rank our preferences. The first choice was booked all the way until 9 p.m. Maybe I should have given up at this point. After all, this whole plan was hatched as a desperate ploy for procrastination. But I went ahead and booked a table at our back-up: Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse. My first thought on arriving was that they must have skimped on the design costs, because the ambiance was bizarre. We were greeted with a large painting of a Boston terrier in a smoking jacket. Once seated, I noticed that the table dividers were conspicuously high. I got the feeling that if I had inspected the hardwood, brass railings or really any of the luxury furnishings, I would have discovered that they were fake; fortunately for the restaurant, the service was quick enough that I didn’t have time. Whoever designed the menu was a bit over-ambitious. As noted in previous columns, I am not a fan of large menus at upscale restaurants. Hyde Park is a first-degree offender on this charge. Lobster mashed potatoes, garlic whipped potatoes, potato Gruyère gratin, baked potato, fries; creamed spinach, spinach with mushrooms, garlic spinach. Can’t they just choose one of each and do it well? Even if the execution wouldn’t change with more limited offerings, it would have given me a bit more confidence. However, the dishes sounded tasty enough. Service was strange. Our main server came by three times in the first 10 minutes of our meal to get our orders and
encourage us to buy drinks. We never saw him again. In hospitality, there is a delicate balance between being attentive but not overbearing. Our server hit both extremes — overbearing early on, then mysteriously nonexistent for the rest of the evening. Subsequently, 10 other staff members served us during the evening, bringing our food and filling our glasses. This inefficiency is likely due to poor management. One of too many managers came by to inform my companion that the kitchen ran out of the salmon that he had ordered. He awkwardly crouched next to our table and was overly apologetic. When asked where the mahi-mahi was coming from, he replied, “It’s a Hawaiian fish,” not so cleverly avoiding our obvious inquiry: From where was the product sourced? Great food could have saved Hyde Park. But their food was not great. It was bad. Not “I paid $50, this should be good” bad. It was “I would rather be eating at The Feve” bad. The wedge salad included an entire head of brown-edged iceberg lettuce, chopped in half and covered in watery blue cheese. They could’ve offered a less gargantuan salad with better greens or maybe even offered a non-salad starter on the restaurant week menu, but that probably would have been too much to ask. My “twin filets” were the scraps from the beef tenderloin, cleverly pressed together and wrapped in bacon to look like one steak. The meat was raw in the center, undercooked despite my medium-rare request. The cut lacked significant beef flavor. I’m not even convinced it was USDA Choice grade, which is the lowest any high-end steakhouse should be serving. The bacon was thin and stringy, creating a tangled mess on my plate. My companion’s chicken Milanese still makes me chuckle. The breading was shiny with grease, a result of improper frying technique. The white winelemon-caper sauce tasted like a melted popsicle. Everything lacked balance and finesse. We were hopeful that they wouldn’t screw up the most classic dessert — chocolate cake. False. It was so dense the fork barely moved through it. It was more like a mass of poorly made fudge than a cake. They even had the nerve to top it with an unripe raspberry. We called it a “neutron star cake” because it was so dense and we’re nerds. Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse is a microcosm of Crocker Park as a whole. The lifestyle they try to propagate, much like the food in the restaurant, is tacky and contrived. The table dividers were probably so high in order to keep diners from commiserating on the poor experience, organizing and staging a riot.
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Sheffield, Reibstein Continue Larson’s Vision of Dance Inclusivity Vida Weisblum Arts Editor Though the Student Dance Showcase is only two years old, the free dance show held each semester in Warner Main already feels like a fundamental part of the department’s annual listing of events. With the addition of the showcase, the department began a student-run plan in making a more inclusive range of dance accessible to a wider audience. This year’s event, which took place last Friday and Saturday evenings was exactly what Hayley Larson, OC ’14, envisioned when she first started the Student Dance Showcase during her sophomore year. Now working at the Allen Art Museum full-time, Larson, a former Dance and Chemistry major and Art History minor, has continued to assist the current leaders of the showcase. When Larson auditioned as a first-year for the Dance department’s annual Spring Back show and was not accepted, the only remaining option to perform her piece was to include it in the lineup for what Larson describes as “the spring reject show” in which she would have been the only performer. Even worse than the spring reject show’s title — “Sprung” — is that the fall version of the show was titled “Fell,” a name that was not exactly encouraging to dancers hoping to continue in their choreographic pursuits. “[Fall Forward and Spring Back] don’t leave a lot of space for students to really be creative with work,” Larson said, “I wanted a space to show things that I wasn’t sure were going to work.” She went on to explain that in order to gain ac-
ceptance into one of the two dance shows, choreographers are required to have their pieces approved by a dance faculty member and supported by other dancers. Long fed up with the department’s lack of inclusion, Larson made a daring move. In an act of defiance, during her audition for Fall Forward in 2011, Larson walked onto the stage and ate a ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
“[Fall Forward and Spring Back] don’t leave a lot of space for students to really be creative with work. I wanted a space to show things that I wasn’t sure were going to work.” HAYLEY LARSON, OC ’14 Founder, Student Dance Showcase –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– piece of paper in an attempt to push the boundaries inherent in the dance audition process. “To my surprise, it actually got into the show,” she said. “I decided that if [Fell and Sprung] weren’t gonna happen, then why not start another show?” Daniel James, the technical coordinator of Warner Center in charge of lighting design and stage-managing shows at Oberlin, helped train Larson to run the Showcase, which is funded by the organization Dance Umbrella. Larson managed much of the production of the first ShowSee Student, page 13
Rapper sword dancers perform during the Student Dance Showcase in a jam-packed lineup of diverse performances. Founded by Hayley Larson, OC ’14, in 2012, the showcase has made a vast assortment of dance forms accessible to choreographers, dancers and audiences. Rick Yu
AAAC Features Blue Scholars in Showcase Adam Chazin-Grey Promoting inclusivity and self-expression is central to Blue Scholars’s mission; last Friday night, a frenzied mass of Oberlin students displayed wild enthusiasm for the pair’s vision at their ’Sco concert. The Oberlin Hip-Hop Collective and the Asia America Art Collective brought the Seattle-based hip-hop duo of George Quibuyen (MC Geologic) and Saba Mohajerjasbi (DJ Sabzi) to Oberlin as part of the AAAC’s two-day showcase. This concert was Blue Scholars’s first time back since its 2008 debut; the pair performed as part of a collective including acclaimed poet and chair of the Creative Writing department Kazim Ali
and photographer Mia Nakano, who ran a tintype workshop. Blue Scholars formed in 2002 when Quibuyen and Mohajerjasbi, both University of Washington students, met at a meeting run by the Student Hip-Hop Organization of Washington. Since its founding, Blue Scholars has released three full albums and four EPs and has come to be recognized as one of the top alternative hip-hop groups from the Pacific Northwest. Blue Scholars, whose name plays on the term ‘blue collar,’ is recognized for its strong political, social and economic messages. The band’s powerful critique of social conformity, violence, socioeconomic inequality, racism, sexism and other
forms of discrimination is why the Asia America Art Collective chose to feature it in their twoday-long schedule of events. In a 2011 NPR interview, Quibuyen, who is Filipino-American, and Mohajerjasbi, who is Persian-American, discussed their efforts to raise awareness about the ethnic diversity of Seattle and to break down oppressive stereotypes. Aside from their positive messages, their sound and engagement with the crowd, too, were impressive. There can never be too much quality hiphop music on Oberlin’s campus. With red and blue stage lights setting the mood, students See Blue, page 13
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The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
On the Record with Founders of New Campus Zine ‘Treasures’ This week, College juniors Sadie Oliver-Grey and Katalina Cabrera spoke with the Review about their new zine publication, “Treasures.” After a successful first printing, Oliver-Grey and Cabrera are on the lookout for fresh creative talent and welcome submissions in the effort to expand and develop their enterprise. Could you introduce yourselves? Sadie Oliver-Grey: My name is Sadie Oliver-Grey. I’m a third-year Psychology [major]; I’m from California. [Cabrera and I] went to high school together, and now we go to college together. Katalina Cabrera: I’m Katalina. I’m also a thirdyear, and I’m a Cinema Studies major. Tell me about “Treasures.” KC: I guess we were frustrated that there weren’t more free-form publications on campus. There are options like The Grape or the Review, but they all have a certain prestige about them, or a certain voice or brand. So we were inter-
ested in making something that was more low-pressure. We’ll accept anything that people think is worth sharing. SG: Yeah, obviously there are plenty of small zines on campus, but a lot of them are very specific, which is charming and fabulous, but we really liked the idea of just getting to hear the things that people are interested in — the little tiny grains of something that a stranger is interested in that you don’t necessarily get to experience. KC: Or even something that’s on your desktop that you’ve shown to three people, but you don’t think anything would accept or pay money to print. What’s hard about making it is that it’s so open-ended that I think people feel a little bit confused because there are so few guidelines. But literally, we’ll take any visual thing that you put time into, enjoyed or even just found. You could find a weird thing online and take a screen shot or find three Post-it notes on the ground and give them to us. It’s very open-ended.
Can you talk about some of the pieces that you’ve run? SG: So in the last [issue] we had people submit little stories, fiction pieces and also personal anecdotes. ––––––––––––––––––––––
“We really liked the idea of just geting to hear the things that people are interested in — the little tiny grains of something that a stranger is interested in that you don’t necessarily get to experience.” SADIE OLIVER-GREY Co-founder, “Treasures” –––––––––––––––––––––– KC: One girl gave us quotes that she’s heard from her window in a kind of artistic format. SG: Something that we’re having in the next [issue] is someone’s series of Yelp reviews. KC: Just weird things
Rapper on the Rise: GoldLink Commands ’Sco Stage Sam Winward Staff Writer Whether his attempt to conceal his identity is based in humility or a calculated marketing scheme, GoldLink wants his music to speak for itself. Either way, the artist revealed a previously covert identity to an excited audience Saturday night at the ’Sco. The unassuming 21-year-old is fresh off his critically acclaimed debut mixtape, The Gold Complex. While many rappers are eager to bask in the limelight, GoldLink has been deliberately secretive about his identity. Strangely, he is nowhere to be found in his recent music video for “When I Die,” which features fellow rapper Black Zheep as the lead actor. “A lot of the homies I grew up with listen to GoldLink and don’t know it’s me,” he said in an interview with Complex magazine. GoldLink maintained powerful control over a stage in spite of his slight physical presence. His eyes remained impressively focused on the audience — even when an audience member decided to lie down on stage, nearly at his feet. While his presence on stage was not extremely energetic, his music conveyed an engaging focus and intensity. One of GoldLink’s producers, Lamak, has coined the term “future bounce” for his distinct sound. His songs featured upbeat tempos resembling house music’s synths and were grounded with groovy drum and bass lines. He has a unique criterion for select-
ing instrumental tracks worthy of his vocals — ideally they must have a danceable feel that evolves without respect to the traditional pop structure. Thus, GoldLink is left with instrumental templates many rappers shy away from. The nontraditional nature of his final product takes multiple listens to fully appreciate. Following a squeaky instrumental intro to “Sober Thoughts,” GoldLink strung lines together across metric boundaries, creating an off-balance but pleasant rhythmic style in a Chance the Rapper–esque verse. Not until he reached the hook of the song did GoldLink reveal his singing abilities. While many rappers layer or Auto-Tune their voices during melodies, GoldLink’s unaltered talent held its own; he could afford to utilize more singing in his work. In October on the Lily Mercer Show, the rapper admitted that the inclusion of singing in his pieces was a recent addition, as he was unaware that it was in his arsenal of musical tools. Regardless, the smooth undertone of his voice can be heard, even as he raps with speed. GoldLink’s intense lyrics fostered an intimate set, despite the party-like atmosphere, and danced around heavy subjects in a playful manner. With a tone somewhere between rapping and singing, he said, “When I die, I just want my father to apologize. When I die, I hope my ex don’t uncover my lies.” His deeply personal lyrics will undoubtedly garner a following as he continues to reveal and develop his artistry.
— collages, comics, pretty standard stuff so far. We’re really hoping to branch out a little bit and get some stuff that’s a little more outside the box. SG: I think that definitely for the first publication, it was hard to convince someone to trust [us, since] this sort of thing has never happened before. We want anything that you have. I think that was a bit too much, and so we got a nice variety, certainly, but it was art- and writing-based. Where did the idea for “Treasures” come from? KC: I’ve always been someone who puts little scraps of things in a folder on my desktop, or I keep little ideas on my iPhone notes. Things that aren’t necessarily fleshed out, but are just little units of ideas. I thought that more people must have small, simple things that they could share. SG: For years, I’ve had [a] “good things” album, and they’re things that bring me so much joy when I’m having a bad day. I’ll look through the
album, and it’s just a collection of things from through the years that are just pleasant to me. That kind of stuff is really nice, and I’m always picking up trash in hopes of finding just a little scrap, and 90 percent of it really is trash, but then there’s that 10 percent of really interesting stuff. It’s really hard to engage someone, especially someone you don’t know very well, and to get the small details, and to find out what stimulates them, but maybe isn’t “noteworthy.” But those are the best parts. KC: Things that are really informal that happen in a conversation, like, if you and a friend were talking and you were trying to figure out what food celebrities would be, then you have a whole set of things you came up with. That might be really interesting to someone, but you can’t just have that published. Where do you envision “Treasures” going? SG: At this point, part of what we struggled with was, yes, it’s very possible
that we could just go to our friends [ for content]. In that way, it’s something we could push out pretty quickly, but what’s much more interesting is trying to get more people that we don’t know and that we wouldn’t normally engage with, and that’s hard, so it’s been a slower process because strangers are weirded out by it. Ultimately, I think it’s something we’d like to be able to put out twice a month or something, but it really depends on how much traction we can get. KC: If it’s able to circulate more widely and people get a better sense of what it is, we would like to have it be a regular thing. But right now, we’re just focusing on getting out issues at whatever pace that we can. SG: If the piece is in black and white and fits on an 8-by-7 [inch] space, then we’ll take it. Also, part of it is that we really hope that people feel comfortable with the idea that whatever they send to us, we’re going to [print] as is. Interview by Colin Roshak, Staff writer
Arts
The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
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OC Aerialists Reimagine Classical Pandora Myth Continued from page 10 fully showcased beauty, despite the fact that they portrayed ugly human behaviors. Deftly twisting her body, she performed to Jhené Aiko’s “3:16 AM,” which references both addiction to drugs and to lovers and includes lyrics appropriate for the aerial performance, such as “I do not feel the fear of falling / Thought I could fly.” The impressive repeating somersaults Beach did around the trapeze’s bar fittingly mirrored the cyclical nature of addiction. Like Nipson and Geber’s performances, Beach’s movements were strong and controlled, as well as daring and expressive. The cohesive theme of Pandora’s box celebrated the female body as a medium for creativity. The performers’ physical strength allowed them to achieve graceful and elegant artistic expression. The performance of the final act, “Hope,” exemplified both these aspects of the show. Dancers on the floor raised their bent-over bodies in wakeful circular motions while Beach and Geber performed a complicated, cooperative duo on the trapeze. The symmetry in their movements and the necessary supportiveness needed to pull off feats like hanging upside-down from one another’s arms off of a trapeze emphasized the importance of working together to achieve a hopeful future. College junior Maya Muenzer, playing Pandora, performs a strong and graceful solo. The opening act of the OC Aerialists show featured a dramatic portrayal of the evils of Pandora’s box. Rachel Dan
Dance Showcase Encourages Choreographic Experimentation Continued from page 11 case herself. Now run by College senior Silvia Sheffield, who has assisted the show for four semesters, and College junior Alana Reibstein, who joined this fall, the showcase is equipped with a production crew so that the directors don’t have to handle multiple jobs at one time. “Being a director for this show is a really unique thing because you are not just directing, but publi-
cizing, stage managing, etc.,” said Reibstein. “Creating institutional memory is a whole other challenge and requires patience, organization and devotion.” This year’s show had 21 pieces compared to the 15 they had in the past; the show reached full capacity, requiring the directors to set up full bleachers in Warner. “I don’t know what we would do if it grew much bigger than this semester,” Sheffield said. “I … really love how much ener-
gy the audience-performer relationship can create, and how that can really fill the space and leave people feeling differently from when they walked in.” The showcase included a variety of non-contemporary dance pieces that arose out of dance programs, like ViBE Jazz and Tap, as well as “just for fun” pieces. “I love how totally varied and diverse this show is,” Reibstein said. “It forces the audience to locate themselves in a new
world every several minutes.” This year’s lineup featured performances by the Umoja Steppers, an extravagantly impressive hip-hop number and even a rapper sword dance. Other performances include work by Ballet Oberlin, KOREO and Movimiento. Larson, who plans on going to a four-year circus intensive program after leaving Oberlin in May, performed an aerial act onstage at the showcase for the first time since her senior show last
spring. This was Sheffield’s last semester co-directing the showcase, as she is beginning to prepare for her senior show in the spring. College sophomore Leah Newman, who performed an experimental piece in the showcase, will replace Sheffield alongside Reibstein this spring. Despite their dedication to the Student Dance Showcase, all of its directors have performed in Fall Forward and Spring Back
and consider these events to be a crucial aspect of the Oberlin Dance department, along with Dance Diaspora and the Essence Dance Concert, both organized by Artist-in-Residence Adenike Sharpley. “I think it is vital to the dance community here that there is more than one show a semester that goes up in Warner Main and that they have different goals and represent different things,” Reibstein said.
Blue Scholars’s Positive Messages Affirm Asia America Art Collective Mission Continued from page 11 crowding around the ’Sco stage did not hesitate to show appreciation for Blue Scholars by singing along to every song. “This isn’t just a concert… it’s a fucking party,” said Quibuyen, and the crowd roared its approval. Students jumped up and down throughout the entire set, which included an interesting mix of slower, more soulful songs like “Sagaba,” and other quicker, more lively songs like “The Ave.” When the crowd insisted the concert continue as 1 a.m. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
With red and blue stage lights setting the mood, students crowding around the ’Sco stage did not hesitate to show appreciation for Blue Scholars by singing along to every song. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– quickly approached, Quibuyen jokingly asked if they could extend their play time until 2 a.m. and “rock a whole ‘nother hour?” Unfortunately, the ’Sco staff was not amused, and the chanting students settled for one final song. Lastly, Quibuyen passionately expressed his commitment to promoting peace and love through hip-hop. “[To promote inclusivity is,] above everything, why we are here,” Quibuyen said.
An energetic crowd claps and dances at the Blue Scholars ’Sco concert last Friday evening. The Seattle-based hip-hop duo sang about social justice and peace at a successful performance sponsored by the Asia America Art Collective. Olivia Scott
Sports
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The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
IN THE LOCKER ROOM
Basketball Coaches
This week, the Review sat down with men’s basketball head coach Isaiah Cavaco and women’s basketball head coach Kerry Jenkins to discuss their coaching styles, Winter Term at Oberlin and the importance of recruiting.
how much time there is to kill. We also say it’s the best part, though. I love Winter Term as a basketball coach, and I think the players love it too. IC: Winter Term is more about developing habits. You get to do some individual skill work, but you’re also giving guys stuff to take home for the summer.
How has the season gone thus far? Kerry Jenkins: I think well. We have good chemistry; we’re working really hard. We’re young, so we’re trying to solidify certain positions and trying to get better in certain areas, but so far I would say I’m pleased with the progress. Isaiah Cavaco: Ours is going well. We have a physically small group, so we’ve been a little bit creative with the way we play, and the guys are buying into it. Early in the year, to have a little success obviously helps [the players] with their belief. Talk about your own college playing careers. KJ: I was actually a football player in college. I think that influences how I coach my players. I think of the game in pieces in the way that a football coach would, breaking things down to individual plays. There were also times in my career when I felt that if I had better coaching, I would have been a better individual player. If I see something good in a player, I try to develop that. My own experience really influenced my approach to coaching. IC: I had a good time. I had two different college coaches; there was a coaching change halfway through my career. I had a bunch of knee surgeries my junior year, and that’s when I started looking at the coaching aspect of basketball — while I was sitting out. I started seeing the game from a different perspective, and that’s kind of how I got here.
Kerry Jenkins (left) and Isaiah Cavaco How have you changed as a coach since coming to Oberlin? KJ: There’s an infinite amount of answers to that question, and it’s hard to pinpoint any one specific area. Isaiah and I talk about it all the time — you just try to get better everywhere: better communication, better X’s and O’s, better organization, better teacher and better relationships with players. It’s all about incremental steps. IC: I think you just have to trust your instincts here. You can come in and lay out all four months’ worth of how this process should go in your mind, and then by day one you blow that up and just improvise. As a young coach, when I first got here, it had to be a certain way, and now I come in with a lot more of an open mind every season. How has Oberlin changed since you came here?
KJ: We’re getting bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic, smarter and more dedicated. There’s been an evolution. The athletes now that we have on the team fit Oberlin really well but might not be considered the classic Obies. I think we’ve both figured out how to recruit kids that will excel at Oberlin. IC: There’s a greater sense of pride in the athletes now. Because Oberlin is such a good academic school, sometimes they shied away from being proud of what they did extracurricularly, especially athletics. The group is very tight-knit, whereas before they came here as individuals, and they individually played a team sport. How would you describe your style of coaching? KJ: I consider myself a players’ coach. That doesn’t necessarily mean I let the inmates run the asy-
lum, but at the same time, every decision that I make, I consider their perspective, their needs and what they’re going through first. IC: Outside the box, unorthodox, crazy. Even our style of actual play is actually different than most of the teams that we play. You take what you have, and you mold to the player instead of making them mold to what you want to do. How does the season and the team’s preparation change over Winter Term? KJ: You get to focus a little more individually over Winter Term. You have a lot of time to work with the players, and you can prepare a little better; you can kind of just put your emphasis on making them better players and getting ready for each game. You also have to spend a lot of time entertaining over Winter Term. I can’t emphasize enough
Have you started recruiting for next season? KJ: That’s 80 percent of what we do. It never stops until Admissions absolutely sets a deadline and tells us we can’t get any more applications in. Then, we stop for the current year and go for the next year. IC: One of the misconceptions is that we have a hard time finding players, and that’s not true. It’s not a matter of finding players, it’s about finding high-quality players and also not recruiting players who are just students who happen to like the game. We need basketball players who are also exceptionally committed to their academics. How do you sell recruits on Oberlin? KJ: We don’t. We present Oberlin, we don’t sell it at all. It’s become way more efficient for me because I’ve stopped trying to sell it and just let the campus and community promote itself. IC: Everything here is acceptable. Anything that you’ve ever wanted to try or become is possible during this four-year window. This is a great place to do that, and along the way you get to do what you love and play basketball. Interview by Nate Levinson, Sports editor Photo by Mike Plotz
— Women’s Basketball —
Jenkins Preaches Defense to Young Squad Abby Weiss The women’s basketball team opened its season last weekend, winning its first game over the Hartwick University Hawks and falling in its second to the Johnson & Wales University Wildcats. The games came on the road at the Swarthmore College Tip-Off Tournament. The win over the Hawks was particularly notable, as the Hawks are coming off of a very successful season last year. The Yeowomen
faced little resistance and showed little rust in the game, however, breezing their way to an emphatic 66–46 win. “Hartwick made it to the NCAA tournament last year, so we were expecting it to be a challenging game. But we came out really strong and started really well,” said junior center Katie Lucaites. In the game, three Oberlin players finished with double figures. Lucaites led the way with a career-high 17 points. Senior forward Christina
Junior guard Lindsey Bernhardt dribbles past an Adrian College Bulldogs defender last Wednesday. Bernhardt scored 17 points and led the Yeowomen to a 68–59 victory. Courtesy of Sarah Kaufman
Marquette added another 15, while junior guard Lindsey Bernhardt contributed 13 points of her own. The game was pretty evenly matched in the first half, and the Yeowomen went into intermission with only a 28–25 lead, but then exploded in the second half, hitting 14 of 18 shots from the floor. The lead grew to 25 points late in the second half in the dominant effort. The game was also one of firsts, as first-year forward Abby Andrews received her first collegiate start. “It was my first collegiate basketball game, and I was so nervous,” she said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but I quickly relaxed once we started to play. It was a very exciting first win.” With a short break between games, the Yeowomen were unable to match their intensity from Saturday during their game the next day against Johnson & Wales. The Yeowomen played well in the first half of the game, ultimately leading by 14 points and to finish the first half with a 37–23 lead. Fatigue caught up to them in the second half, however, and they eventually fell to the Wildcats 62–59. Bernhardt led the team with a career-best 24 points, tallying five 3-pointers, and Marquette, who was later named to the all-tournament team, added an additional 13 points. Lucaites also chipped in with 10 points of her own. The game was tied with just under three minutes to play after Johnson and Wales surged ahead with a 16–6 run. The Wildcats kept the momentum going, taking a 59–55 lead with 30
seconds to play. It was a lead they would not relinquish. “We were playing good defense and our offense was flowing, but in the second half, they came out in a three-two zone, which we had never seen before and hadn’t ever practiced for. We just struggled to make the right adjustments,” said Marquette. “We set a great base for the season and started off much better than we finished last year.” Despite the series split, Head Coach Kerry Jenkins said he was satisfied with the team’s opening weekend. “There is always some uncertainty and nervousness that comes with the first game of the season,” he said. “The success of the team is due to the success of the individual, and everyone played well this weekend. I am very proud with how the entire team, on and off the court, performed this weekend.” The Yeowomen managed to brush aside that uncertainty moving into Wednesday’s game against the Adrian College Bulldogs at home. Oberlin walked away with a 68–59 victory as Marquette and Bernhardt led the way, tallying 20 and 17 points, respectively. The win puts the Yeowomen at 2–1 overall and 1–0 at home. Oberlin now heads into a flurry of home games starting this Saturday, Nov. 22 against the Trine University Thunder at 2 p.m. The Yeowomen will then face the Thiel College Tomcats on Monday and the Denison University Big Red on Wednesday night to finish out the threegame streak.
Sports
The Oberlin Review, November 21, 2014
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— Football —
Oberlin Loses to Hiram, Cruz Sets Record Casey McGuire The football team dropped its final game of the season last Saturday, falling 35–13 to the Hiram College Terriers. The loss left the team with a 2–8 record in what was Coach Jay Anderson’s first full year as head coach. Sophomore Justin Cruz did catch two touchdowns to set Oberlin’s single-season record for receiving touchdowns. However, his scores weren’t nearly enough to help the Yeomen pull out a win. This loss was especially disappointing for the Yeomen, considering it was their fourth in a row and the last game ever for the team’s five graduat-
ing seniors. Last fall, the Yeomen also played their final game of the season against the Terriers, coming away with a 47–13 win, a far cry from this year’s 22-point defeat. The Terriers put the game out of reach with a stellar first half, scoring 21 unanswered points to start the game on drives of nine, eleven and again nine plays. The Yeomen’s inability to get off the field on third and fourth down was especially troublesome, as they allowed the Terriers to convert on nine of their eighteen third and fourth down chances. While the Terriers’ offensive statistics don’t jump off the page, senior
captain and left guard Josh Guisler said that a few key errors plagued the team. “The defense played well, but there were a few mistakes that resulted in points for [Hiram],” he said. Despite coming out of the half down 21, the Yeomen didn’t quit and reversed their recent trend of tough third quarters. Sophomore wide receiver Justin Cruz caught a three-yard pass from quarterback Lucas Poggiali to score Oberlin’s first touchdown with seven minutes and 47 seconds left in the third quarter to finish off a 14-play, 85-yard drive. Thirteen seconds later, the Yeomen scored again after recovering a
Junior quarterback Lucas Poggiali looks downfield in a game against the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops on Nov. 8. The football team concluded its season last weekend with a loss against the Hiram College Terriers, finishing with an overall record of 2–8. Courtesy of Simeon Deutsch
Hot Start For Poyle Has Yeomen 2–1 Continued from page 16 often trailing only by a few points, but were ultimately unable to push past the Penguins. Cohen led Oberlin with a valiant effort, tallying 15 points. He was joined by junior Matt Walker, who managed to put ten points on the board. “In hindsight, we were emotionally and maybe physically spent from the day before, but I like the fact that we stayed aggressive and we weren’t intimidated by a Division I team,” said Cavaco. On Wednesday night, the Yeomen took that aggressiveness to the road to play the Muskingum University Fighting Muskies in New Concord, Ohio. Cavaco’s defensive preaching paid off when Oberlin held Muskingum to just 21 of 65 in shots and forced 13 turnovers. Before the game, Poyle said he was confident that the Yeomen would produce more impressive results in Wednesday’s contest. “I think we just need to focus on what we have been working on all preseason and we should be fine for our game [on Wednesday],” he said. “Coach did a great job preparing us this preseason.” Poyle maintained his offensive momentum and managed to rack up 17 points to complement his two assists. Senior Jesse Neugarten and Cohen also contributed to the Yeomen’s offensive, each adding nine points to lead the Yeomen to victory. With the second win, the Yeomen advance to 2–1 overall. After a short break, the team will take on Hiram College next Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7:30 p.m in Philips gym.
fumble on the Terriers’ 20-yard line, allowing Poggiali to hit Cruz for a second straight score and pull the Yeomen to within eight points. “Up to that point it could have just been another blowout, but we ended up rallying a little bit, and we scored two touchdowns in a pretty short span to make it a game again,” said Guisler. This second touchdown was Cruz’s 11th of the year, giving him Oberlin’s single-season record for receiving touchdowns. The previous record of 10 touchdowns in a season was set in 1974 by Jay Greely. Cruz finished the game with nine catches for 80 yards, leaving him with 64 catches and 828 yards receiving on the season. “I really couldn’t have done it without Lucas [Poggiali] throwing me the ball and the offensive line blocking for me,” he said. Unfortunately, Cruz’s touchdowns weren’t enough, as the Terriers put 14 more points on the board in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach for the Yeomen. Poggiali’s third interception of the game was returned for a touchdown by the Terriers and another late touchdown with under a minute to play iced the game. The loss came as a harsh letdown, given the win was Hiram’s second in the last 13 times the two teams have met. Though the team was unhappy with the 2–8 record, a new head coach and stadium have given the Yeomen plenty to be optimistic about. “We laid the foundation to do some good things for the future, and I think things are definitely going to turn around,” said Guisler.
Editorial: Silver Smart to Legalize Gambling Continued from page 16 key similarities that strengthen Silver’s argument. The starkest overlap between the two proposals is that people are going to do it no matter what, so Congress might as well regulate it and make the market safer and more reliable. Silver outlines his argument as follows: “Despite legal restrictions, sports betting is widespread. It is a thriving underground business that operates free from regulation or oversight. Because there are few legal options available, those who wish to bet resort to illicit bookmaking operations and shady offshore websites. There is no solid data on the volume of illegal sports betting activity in the United States, but some estimate that nearly $400 billion is illegally wagered on sports each year.” In his op-ed, Silver hints at an important point: the legalization of sports betting would hardly change the culture that already exists. Despite the 1992 passage of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, otherwise known as PASPA, gambling is prevalent and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. While in years past the NBA has endorsed PASPA, Silver says it is time
the league starts singing a different tune because the times, they are a-changing. States are seeking to expand the ways in which people can bet, Silver wrote, citing the fact that “Most states offer lotteries. Over half of them have legal casinos. Three have approved some form of Internet gambling, with others poised to follow.” He continues to cite many persuasive reasons why betting should be legalized, somewhat downplaying what seems to be the main motivator: money. Just as legalizing marijuana would bring in massive amounts of money for companies in the industry, legalizing sports gambling would create a whole new source of revenue for the NBA. The regulation of sports betting would also preserve the “integrity of the game,” as Silver puts it, instead of driving betting into the underground systems already in place, which produce no profit for the organization. Soon enough, it can be expected that other executives in the industry will start openly supporting the legalization of sports gambling. Silver has led the way in a revolution that makes it socially acceptable to promote safe, regulated betting on professional sports teams.
Anderson seconded Guisler’s words, noting that there were a number of factors that held the team back this season. “This was a developmental year for us,” he said. “We got off to a decent start playing a lot of young players, and we got hit with an injury bug a little bit mid-season, which forced us to play more younger players. It was a huge year for us, getting those young guys some experience and developing them and getting them acclimated to the college level.” With 20 incoming recruits, things are looking up for the team. “I think that we hit on our needs with what we’re looking for while recruiting,” Anderson said. “We expect to bring in another successful and exciting recruiting class.” The team is graduating five seniors this year, but the 20 expected first-years would give the team over 60 on its roster next fall, a number they haven’t had in 15 years. The larger roster will allow for the team to practice more effectively and efficiently, while also giving players more rest between reps and hopefully keeping the team healthier. Between getting Anderson back for his second season and the increased numbers on the roster, Cruz is already excited about next year. “I know all of the football guys are going to be working really hard during the offseason,” Cruz said. “Next season I definitely see some growth, especially with the younger guys, because they now have a year of experience under their belt. They’ve developed a little bit more. I think it’s going to be a really good year.”
Yeowomen Take Second at NCAA Regional Meet Continued from page 16 of runners. “They’re wonderful women. They’re the perfect kind of people to be doing this,” said Appenheimer. “These women train their butts off, and they’re community-minded people.” Despite all of Lehmann’s individual accolades, she attributed much of the team’s success to its teamwork and support system. Neal echoed this sentiment and commented on the team’s constructive dynamic. “The team is a close group
and everyone wants to see everyone else do well,” said Neal. “We push each other to succeed.” The Yeowomen, accompanied by Urso and Arthur, head to Nationals this weekend for the final showdown. Oberlin is providing transportation for the first 55 fans to sign up to cheer on the cross country team at the race. Supporters can sign up on the Oberlin College Athletics web site for the free ride, which will depart from Philips gym at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.
Home Games This Week Saturday, Nov. 22 2 p.m. – Women’s basketball vs. Trine University in Philips gym
Monday, Nov. 24 7 p.m. – Women’s Basketball vs. Thiel College in Philips gym
Tuesday, Nov. 25 7:30 p.m. – Men’s Basketball vs. Earlham College in Philips gym
Sports The Oberlin Review
Page 16
November 21, 2014
— Men’s Basketball —
Yeomen Win Season Opener Over Tigers Let Them Michaela Puterbaugh Staff Writer The men’s basketball team made history with a 65–63 victory over the Wittenberg University Tigers for the first time in 35 years on their home court last Saturday, Nov. 15. Sophomore guard Jack Poyle spearheaded the Yeomen’s offense with a career-high 26 points to provide his team with the edge it needed to push past the Tigers and break the 50game losing streak against Wittenberg. Head Coach Isaiah Cavaco commended the Yeomen for their accomplishment and said that the future looks bright. “The whole weekend in general was good because it showed that we could accomplish something that hadn’t been accomplished in a while, and maybe that makes us a different team than in years past,” said Cavaco. At the halftime buzzer, the Yeomen seemed doomed to an all-too-familiar fate, but it appeared that they were not ready to fold quite yet as they took
the court for the last half. Poyle, who was tabbed North Coast Athletic Player of the Week, came out hot and managed to close the gap and then some when he sunk a three-pointer, putting the Yeomen ahead 60–59 late in the game. The Avon, Ohio, native went 11 for 16 from the field, tallying two more three-point shots against the Tigers, who went 21–8 last season. “I have to credit my teammates for my performance,” said Poyle. “They helped put me in the position to make plays and without them, I wouldn’t have had the performance that I did.” Poyle’s efforts were buoyed by classmates Zach Meyers and Nate Cohen. Meyers tallied nine points, five assists and four rebounds, and Cohen added the free throw necessary to secure the Yeomen’s win after a successful drive to the hoop with 25 seconds left to play. Junior center Randy Ollie was sidelined for part of the game due to foul trouble but managed to finish the game with six points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.
“I think our teamwork was the key to our victory. A lot of people came into the game and contributed,” said Ollie. Cavaco said that with a defense oriented around the guard, the Yeomen faced some hurdles when Ollie could not finish out the game. “Defensively, everything we do is geared around playing around our center, and [Ollie] did a really good
job,” said Cavaco. Oberlin could feel the energy radiating from the 323 fans that filled Philips gym to cheer the Yeomen on. Poyle attributed his team finding its second wind to the fans’ enthusiasm. “The crowd was awesome,” he said. “They were really into the game and they helped give the team the energy boost we needed to beat Wittenberg. It was the best crowd I have seen
for any sport in my time at Oberlin, and it would be great to have that at every home game.” Following the historic victory, the Yeomen could not take advantage of their momentum when they faced the Division I Youngstown State University Penguins and fell 71–53. The Yeomen hung tough for the majority of the game, See Hot, page 15
Sophomore Jack Poyle looks past a Wittenberg University defender in a game last Saturday, Nov. 15. Poyle was named NCAC Player of the Week after he scored a career-high 26 points in Saturday’s contest. Courtesy of Simeon Deutsch
— Women’s Cross Country —
Arthur, Urso, Yeowomen Return to NCAA Championships Sarena Malsin Staff Writer The women’s cross country team placed second in the 2014 NCAA Great Lakes Regional race last Saturday, Nov. 15, earning them a bid to the NCAA Championships for the sixth consecutive year. The Yeomen will also send juniors Geno Arthur and Joshua Urso to the championship after the duo finished in third and thirteenth place respectively in the regional competition. The men’s team placed eleventh overall, disqualifying the rest of the Yeomen from racing in the championship. Wilmington College will host the national race this Saturday, Nov. 22. Head Coach Ray Appenheimer, who was recently honored as the North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, said that this year’s results were in line with his high hopes for the season. “Our expectation the whole year was
that this year was going get to this point,” said Urso. improve in taking our“My class came in to end at the National Appenheimer. “It’s gratifying to see selves a little more se- with a lot of potential, Championships,” said On the men’s side, Geno [Arthur] and Josh riously and not being and we’ve improved as Appenheimer. Arthur and Urso repre- [Urso] perform at such a afraid of taking chances runners each year and Senior Emma Lehm- sented Oberlin well in high level so consistent- during races,” he said. really grew together as a ann led the team with a the 8K race, securing ly,” said Appenheimer. Urso added that team,” said Neal. second-place finish in two top-15 positions for Although Arthur even in the last year, the Appenheimer said the 6K race with a time the team with 24:29.3 and Urso couldn’t bring men’s team has devel- that the Yeowomen’s of 21 minutes, 23.5 sec- and 24:50.8 finishes re- their team with them to oped more confidence. seniors have set an exonds. Classmate Kyle spectively. Both runners Nationals this year, Urso Lehmann, Neal, cellent example for the Neal trailed closely be- earned All-Region hon- has noted a significant Kerwin and Lyons also team’s next generation hind, crossing the finish ors, marking a second- improvement in the received All-Region line third at 21:31.4. time achievement for team’s mentality. recognition for their See Yeowomen, Lehmann main- Arthur and a first for “I’ve seen our team performances. page 15 tained her regional runner-up status from last year while Neal jumped two places from her previous season’s results, moving from fifth to third. Senior Sarah Jane Kerwin also improved upon her results from last year, jumping 20 places into seventh place with a time of 21:57.5. Senior classmates Carey Lyons and Erica Morelli rounded out the leading pack of senior Yeowomen with 15th- and 47th-place finishes respectively. “Our five seniors, our top five runners, understand the emo- Senior Kyle Neal races past a Brockport University runner at the Inter-Regional Rumble on Oct. 18. The tional energy it takes top seven Yeowomen runners and juniors Geno Arthur and Joshua Urso will represent Oberlin in the for the entire year to NCAA championship this Saturday. Courtesy of Dale Preston
Bet
Tyler Sloan Sports Editor Adam Silver, the commissioner of a little-known organization called the National Basketball Association, made history last week by openly supporting the legalization of sports gambling. The new stance takes a sharp departure from the organization’s position in recent years and has opened up a new dialogue regarding the controversial subject. In Silver’s New York Times op-ed piece, which caught fire in the media and led to numerous subsequent articles with speculation about Silver’s opinion, he provides a detailed list of suggestions for regulating legalized sports betting. His proposal sounds curiously similar to the proposals made by many advocates of marijuana legalization. Silver’s guidelines for how Congress should treat sports betting are as follows: “Mandatory monitoring and reporting of unusual betting-line movements; a licensing protocol to ensure betting operators are legitimate; minimum-age verification measures; geo-blocking technology to ensure betting is available only where it is legal; mechanisms to identify and exclude people with gambling problems; and education about responsible gaming.” The reason that these laws sound reminiscent of the recent marijuana legalization policies that have passed through Congress in places such as Colorado is because the two are similar in more ways than one. Colorado’s laws include guidelines like the following: Only licensed establishments may sell retail marijuana products; it is illegal to give or sell retail marijuana to minors; you must be 21 or older to have or use retail marijuana; and it is illegal to take marijuana out of the state. While conflating the legalization of marijuana and sports betting would be inaccurate, the two issues do share See Editorial, page 15