April 3, 2015

The Oberlin Review

APRIL 3, 2015 VOLUME 143, NUMBER 18

Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week Expert, Residents Discuss NEXUS Pipeline Linda Farrell, a member of the Pipeline Safety Coalition, a nonprofit focused on delivering information about pipelines to residents of affected areas, spoke during an Oberlin League of Women Voters meeting on March 26. The 250mile NEXUS pipeline is expected to start in Canada and pass through Michigan and Ohio, including southern Oberlin.

The speaker discussed ways local residents can protect their land, suggesting that owners keep every letter they receive from the company, request answers in writing and meet with the company as a community.

Two Student Senators Resign Zachary Crowell and Nolan Scharper resigned from Student Senate earlier this semester. Crowell, who resigned on Feb. 26, was censured in the Feb. 27 edition of the Review for accruing 27 of the allotted 30 disciplinary points due to absences and late arrivals to mandatory plenaries. Crowell said his decision to resign was not influenced by his censure, but because he felt Senate was ineffective. College first-year Arianna Crawford, who received the next highest number of votes in the second semester Senate election, replaced Crowell. Under Senate bylaws, Scharper does not need to be replaced because he resigned with fewer than eight full weeks left in the semester.

Oberlin Named a VeganFriendly Finalist Oberlin and Wesleyan University are finalists in peta2’s Favorite Vegan-Friendly College Contest. peta2 is a youth animal rights organization affiliated with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Over 13,000 votes were cast by the ballot’s closing this week and the winner will be announced on Monday.

Organizers Light Mudd Up for Autism Oliver Bok News Editor Organizers lit up the exterior of Mudd library with blue floodlights on Thursday night to raise awareness for autism as part of Light It Up Blue, an international campaign started by the autism advocacy organization Autism Speaks. The display marks the beginning of a series of events — including a panel and three film screenings — put on by student organizers and the Office of Disability Sevices.

“What I’m doing by this is just raising awareness on campus in general, because autism is not really as visible as, say, gender identity or race, or as widely talked about,” said College senior Alex Rosen, who played an instrumental role in organizing the event and describes himself as “high on the [autism] spectrum.”

According to Jane Boomer, director of the Office of Disability Services, Oberlin has a significant population of students on the autism spectrum.

“There are about 50 [students on the spectrum] that have disclosed to us,” Boomer said. “Most often, the statistics say that if there are 50 that disclose, there are twice as many who haven’t disclosed. I don’t know, … but it’s not a small number of students on the spectrum for a small school.”

Blue floodlights light up Mudd library to raise awareness for autism. Several students and the Office of Disability Services collaborated on the project. A panel on autism and a series of film screenings will take place in the coming weeks.

Briana Santiago

Boomer and Rosen both believe Oberlin to be, for the most part, a welcoming community for autistic students. “I certainly think that Oberlin is a very nice and tolerant environment [ for autistic students], seeing as they are so tolerant of other major issues,” said Rosen.

However, both Rosen and Boomer also indicated that in-

See page 3

creased mindfulness by community members could make the College a better place for students on the spectrum and neurotypical students alike.

“Most students are very willing to accept some kind of disability when they understand it,” Boomer said. “Showing these movies and having our panel discussion is an

attempt to have more of our student population, and staff and faculty too, have an understanding that autism doesn’t have to … only have one face. That there is variety inside the autism spectrum and that getting to know that person will probably enrich someone’s life, See Events, page 4

Governor Vetoes Out-of-State Student Voting Provision Elizabeth Dobbins News Editor Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, lineitem vetoed a provision in a transportation bill this Wednesday — a provision that some argued would, if put into effect, create unnecessary barriers to voting for out-of-state students. The Oberlin College Democrats, joining in the push to remove this provision from the bill, wrote a resolution in opposition that Student Senate unanimously endorsed over spring break.

“The reality is that we live here, and we deserve to have our say, and that shouldn’t be hindered,” said double-degree sophomore, Senator and member of the OC Democrats Jeremy Poe. The language in the provision states that any Ohio resident must surrender their out-of-state driver’s license and plates within 30 days of becoming a resident. Currently, the state of Ohio does not provide a time frame for this, and Republican proponents of the provision argue that this language would bring Ohio in line with the 44 other states that have similar requirements.

However, opponents of the provision, includ-

ing Poe and College junior and OC Democrats co-chair Nora Brickner, contend that the provision’s definition of residency — any person who has registered to vote in Ohio — does not have a precedent in this context and, unlike other states such as New York, does not exempt outof-state students.

“Without [the actor] registering to vote subjecting you to these requirements, without that provision, it’s a very reasonable law,” Poe said.

“It makes sense to codify and say you’re an Ohio resident. You have the same responsibilities as other residents. … It’s just that in the chain of dominoes that then happens as a result of things that fall, … it will suppress college students from voting … because it doesn’t exempt out-of-state [students].”

Kasich wrote in the veto message that the section, in addition to failing to provide a “provision for restoring” driving privileges, unnecessarily rewrote established criteria for determining residency, “which have been used successfully for many years.” He argued that any change to the criteria would be “potentially confusing to Ohioans and to government institutions.”

Baquet Speaks Dean Baquet talked about journalism in the internet era.

ESTABLISHED 1874 oberlinreview.org

ONLINE & IN PRINT

Power Duo

Political Punchlines Animal rights group will host stand-up comic Jamie Kilstein.

See page 13

INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

This week, the Review sat down with men’s lacrosse stars Nick Lobley and Matt Fox. See page 14

Arts 10

Sports 16

The decision to line-item veto the law means that over 2,400 out-of-state Oberlin students and 116,000 out-of-state students statewide will be able to vote in Ohio without surrendering their out-of-state driver’s licenses.

Brickner said, since students usually vote liberal, maintaining this voting pool is important for Democrats.

“The implication of this law is that if 100,000 out-of-state students can vote in Ohio, that could easily swing the state,” said Brickner.

“Ohio is a swing state and arguably the most important state in any presidential election.”

Former OC Democrats co-chair and Legislative Aide in State Rep. Dan Ramos’ office Eric Fischer, OC ’14, called Brickner on March 20, two days after state Senate passed the bill with this last minute provision, and asked her to organize a response. Brickner and OC Democrats members Eli Hovland, College first-year, and Jack Benson, College sophomore, wrote the resolution at a J Street U conference in Washington, D.C. over break.

See Voting, page 4

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The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Board Minimizes Significance of PARCC Tests Hannah Jackel-Dewhurst The Oberlin Board of Education plans to enter a memorandum of understanding with teachers to minimize the weight placed on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test scores when evaluating teachers. This February marked the advent of PARCC testing in Ohio.

The assessments are designed to align with the Common Core standards and measure important skills in students like critical thinking. However, some Oberlin residents have raised concern about the weight put on these test scores and how it might impact both students’ futures and teacher evaluations. According to Oberlin Board of Education President Ken Stanley, up to 50 percent and no less than 39 percent of a teacher’s evaluation will come from their students’ scores on these examinations.

The memorandum would take advantage of HB 487, a law that offers a “safe harbor” for teachers, allowing school districts to delay using the PARCC assessments in “making decisions regarding the dismissal, retention, tenure or compensation of the

district’s or school’s teachers.”

The memorandum would likely remain in place only as long as Oberlin schools can legally avoid using test scores in teacher evaluations, since the safe harbor is only in effect for the 2014–2015 school year. Under Ohio regulations, teachers will be rated “accomplished, skilled, developing or ineffective” based on classroom evaluations that are conducted by the school principal in the Oberlin School District and graded on a state rubric, as well as on their students’ scores on the PARCC assessments.

In their March 17 meeting, the Board had proposed a resolution titled “Let Teachers Teach,” which, like the MOU, declared support for teachers and aimed to minimize the use of PARCC scores in evaluating teachers. “[The resolution] was meant as a starting point for discussion. … [We’re working with] our principals and teachers to get together and discuss ways to minimize the stress on the tests, to minimize the extent to which we alter our school day,” Stanley said.

Some residents criticized the proposed resolution for not being radical enough, considering that the Ottawa-Glandorf

School Board in Putnam County, Ohio signed a resolution that called for “an immediate stop to all PARCC and AIR assessments,” and that the Elida School Board in Allen County also openly opposed PARCC testing. A major reason these districts cited for their opposition is that these additional assessments are interrupting students’ learning. The tests will take 12 days of school for Prospect Elementary School students, Board member Albert Borroni said.

The test’s rollout has also gone less than smoothly, according to Borroni. “There are tons of rules about how the tests have to be implemented, and some are just bad,” Borroni stated, citing an example of how a student had answered a question correctly but did not know how to enter the answer in the online test, and the test monitor was forbidden to assist the student by PARCC regulation.

The state ultimately wants all PARCC tests to be taken online, but many rural Ohio schools do not have enough computers for all their students and cannot afford to purchase more. While the Oberlin School District does have access to Oberlin College resources, many similar districts

are not so lucky.

Currently, according to George Viebranz, curriculum director for the Oberlin School District, 4th–graders will spend more than 12 hours in state testing this year. The number is similar for grades 3 through 8 and is higher for high-schoolers. There are two rounds of testing for every grade, one in February and one in April.

Additionally, Oberlin High School has an International Baccalaureate Program.

Students taking IB tests are not exempt from the state exams, so they will spend even more time taking tests.

Deborah Roose, Oberlin professor and director of the Oberlin College Educational Alliance Network, said the legislature needs to consider when testing is and is not beneficial.

“We need to talk to our representatives about when testing is good and when it isn’t,” Roose said.

She went on to explain that the constant stream of new testing requirements is preventing teachers from teaching. While the MOU will provide teachers relief from evaluations based on PARCC tests this year, the long-term future likely will depend on political change at the state level.

Office of Religious, Spiritual Life Holds New Week of Events Molly Brand The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life will host Oberlin’s first ever Religious Life Week from April 3–12. Organizers hope the event will provide a space for students and community members of all faiths to come together, participate in various activities and discuss spiritual life.

Additionally, the ORSL plans to reveal the findings of a six-month review process begun last October — a review which focused on evaluating ORSL’s services and identifying current trends that could inform how to best serve religious and spiritual needs on campus.

Outside reviewer Reverend Dr. Jan Fuller will lead a discussion about these findings directly after a lecture by authors Jake and Rhonda Jacobsen titled “No Longer Invisible: Religion in Higher Education Across America and at Oberlin” on April 9.

Alyssa Phelps, College senior and member of the Interfaith Student Council, expects that the discussion will be important for the future of those involved in religious life on campus and for the Oberlin community as a whole. “[The lecture] is going to be a really important thing for people to go to. It’s been a big deal,” Phelps said. “Going there, listening and asking questions is going to be really important.”

The 2014–15 College-sponsored

review is an effort to look forward and identify present and future religious and spiritual needs on campus. Through surveys and focus groups, over 600 students participated in the review. The findings, conclusions and recommendations of the review will be released in full by the end of the semester.

Historically, religion at Oberlin was rooted in the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology that existed from 1833 until 1966, when the program was moved to the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, TN. Today, religious life is often less visible at liberal arts colleges, including Oberlin, although Oberlin’s Office of Religious Life has existed in various forms since at least the 1970s, according to Reverend David Dorsey, the current director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

Religious Life Week will begin with an interfaith progressive seder in Talcott on Friday, April 3, marking the first night of Passover.

On Sunday, April 5, Ecumenical Christians of Oberlin, Newman Catholic Community and the Oberlin Area Cooperating Ministries are sponsoring an Easter sunrise service. Several speakers will also visit Oberlin during the week, including Imam Adeel Zeb, director of Muslim Life at Duke University, whose talk is titled “Muslim Peace Making: What Jews, Christians, Hindus, etc. Can Learn from

The Oberlin Review — Established 1874 —

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(ISSN 297–256)

April 3, 2015

Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods.

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Entered as second-class matter at the Oberlin, Ohio post office April 2, 1911.

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College senior Talia Greenberg (left), College sophomore Talia Rodwin, College junior Becky Berenbon, College sophomore Emily Volz, double-degree fifth year Einav Silverstein and College sophomore Simon Regenold share a laugh at Hillel’s Chocolate Seder. The coming week is Religious Life Week, which will include the release of a new report on religious life on campus.

Effie Kline-Salamon

Islam Peacemaking.”

The Muslim Students Association is hosting Imam Adeel Zeb’s lunchtime talk, as well as two other events during the week, including another talk on April 7 and a Muslim mass prayer open to the community and led by Professor Jafar Mahallati on April 10.

According to College junior

Julia Liv Combe Herbst Allegra RoseKirkland Stoloff Managing editor Samantha Taylor Field Link News editors Rosemary Oliver Boeglin Bok Elizabeth AlexDobbins Howard Opinions editors editor Will Kiley Rubenstein Petersen This Week Weekeditor editor Hazel Zoë Strassman Galloway Arts editors Danny Kara Brooks Evans Vida Georgia Weisblum Horn Sports editors Nate Quinn Levinson Hull Madeleine Tyler O’Meara Sloan Layout manager editors Sarah TiffanySnider Fung Layout editors Josh BenBlankfield Garfinkel Alanna AbigailSandoval Carlstad Photo editors Talia OliviaRodwin Gericke Online editorBrannon Rockwell-Charland Cyrus Eosphoros Onlineeditors Photo editor Alanna Mike Bennett Plotz Editors-in-chief Editors-in-Chief

and Muslim Students Association Chair Rand Zalzala, Syrian hiphop artist Omar Offendum will discuss the effects of living in the U.S. as a Muslim Arab American, particularly after 9/11 and during the Iraq War. “We’d like to raise awareness and shine light on Muslim activities around the world as well as on

Effie Kline-Salamon Curtis Cook Business Savi Sedlacek Business manager manager Ian Campbell Ads manager Reshard el-Shair Ads manager Sara Vaadia Production manager Sophia Bamert Production manager Annelise Production staff StephanieGiseburt Bonner Production staff Abbey Bisesi Emma Eisenberg Taylor Field Julia Davis Katherine Hamilton Lya Finston Julia Hubay Jennifer Jimenez Tracey Knott Joseph Kenshur Noah Morris Anna OliviaPeckham Pandolfi Silvia Michael Sheffield Swantek Drew Wise Distributors Antonia Chandler Distributors Joe Camper Edmund Metzold Joseph Dilworth Talia Krehbiel-Boutis James Kuntz

campus,” Zalzala said.

According to Reverend Dorsey, the purpose of this week is to highlight the vibrant religious activity that exists in Oberlin.

“One part is to ensure that students know what’s there,” Dorsey said. “And to model cooperation— See External, page 4

Corrections: In “Administration Mulls Over Library Corrections Future, Budgeting Process” (March 13), the article implied thatisthe The Review notStrategic aware ofPlanning Steeringany Committee has theweek. power to unicorrections this laterally ratify policy changes. The Steering Committee’ s rolestrives is to study and all propose The Review to print changes. as possible. information as accurately If you feel the Review has made an In “Faculty Approve of an ’Scoe-mail Cancellation” error, please send to (March 13), the headline misrepresented the managingeditor@oberlinreview.org. authors’ intent. The headline should read, “Faculty Weigh In on ’Sco Cancellation.”

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The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

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Off the Cuff: Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times Dean Baquet is the executive editor of The New York Times and the former editor of the Los Angeles Times. Baquet started his career as a reporter at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, his hometown. Baquet later won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism with his reports on corruption within the Chicago City Council for the Chicago Tribune. Before becoming executive director, Baquet worked at the Times as a reporter, managing editor, national editor and the Washington Bureau Chief. As executive editor, Baquet occupies the top position in the newsroom and oversees every aspect of reporting. Baquet is the first African-American executive editor in the history of the Times. He sat down for a group interview with several campus news organizations a few hours before his convocation speech in Finney Chapel on Tuesday. The full version of the interview can be found on the Review’s website.

What was your reasoning behind not publishing the Charlie Hebdo cartoons in the wake of the Paris shooting? Why did you call USC professor Marc Cooper an asshole on Facebook after he criticized your decision?

He was an asshole. [Laughter.] That was a really difficult decision. Some decisions I make I will stand here and tell you they were clean and easy. We were right; it was about integrity and anybody who disagrees can go jump in a lake. That was a really hard one, and the reason I got so upset with that guy is I think he made it seem like it was just a glib, easy decision. I sat in a room, and I looked at the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. And I looked at many of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. And I sat with a Muslim staffer who helped me understand the cartoons. And I sat with a French translator who helped me understand the cartoons. And they are, by the American vernacular, truly insulting. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have a right to do it. The newspapers that said, “Look, we ran a Charlie Hebdo cartoon,” just ran the one of the prophet. To be honest, I don’t think that was a courageous act. … That was the tepid [cartoon].

The cartoons that really upset everybody are the cartoons [like the one with] the pope with his balls in the air. That’s the kind of stuff that Charlie Hebdo did. Lewd cartoons … a graphic depiction of the Virgin Birth. If you really wanted to give readers a sense of what the Charlie Hebdo cartoons are like, you would have to run those. And I don’t think that the readers of The New York Times expect to see that in The New York Times. That’s the first thing.

The second thing is that I think there are ways, today, if you really want to see it, you can go online and see it. But that was hard. I’m not going to sit here and say that everybody

Thursday, March 26 2:37 p.m. A staff member at Philips gym reported vandalism to a door in the northeast hall.

The door had been separated and broken.

5:27 p.m. Officers and mem-

much spying there was, before people realized what the NSA had become. So all we had, with all that reporting, was that there was closed door, it was mysterious, and the government wouldn’t talk about it. And I don’t think that was enough for a story. So we didn’t write a story. It wasn’t because the government told us not to write a story, it was because I didn’t think we had enough for a story. If you look at what people wrote at the time, because eventually The New York Times wrote a modest inside story about the guy’s allegations, all it said was that an engineer at AT&T thinks that there’s a door down the hall that’s locked, etc.

So I don’t have any regrets about that one. It turned out it was part of NSA spying, but, jeez, if we published everything where people are concerned about closed doors and mysteries like that, mostly we’d be wrong.

Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times and former editor of the Los Angeles Times

who disagrees with me is a jerk. The editor of The Washington Post, one of my best friends, ran one of the cartoons — not the first time, but after they put up the cartoon of the new issue of the magazine, he ran it. Look, I get that. The reason I got so upset with this guy on Facebook is that he pulled out, and you will not go far as a journalist thinking like this. He begins with: “How many people have to die before The New York Times has to [publish the cartoons]” — that’s bullshit. I worked hard at this decision. I might be wrong, but I wasn’t glib about it, and I’m totally tolerant of people who disagree. I get it. People in my newsroom disagreed with me. But I’m not very tolerant of the people who make it a glib, easy decision.

That sort of minimizes what we went through in the newsroom to make that decision.

You’ve expressed regret that Edward Snowden went to The Guardian and The Washington Post to make his NSA disclosures instead of going to The New York Times. But looking at the Times’ history, when it sat on the warrantless wiretapping story during the Bush administration and also during your career, when you sat on an NSA story at the LA Times, didn’t Snowden make the right choice? Why should the next big whistleblower come to the Times?

Was he right? No, I don’t think he was right. I understand why he made his decision.

I don’t think he was right. First off — and I wasn’t at The New York Times for the [warrantless wiretapping] NSA story — it did publish it, it didn’t kill it.

But only after the [2004] election.

It had nothing to do with the election. If you read the accounts at the time, Jim Risen was about to put it in a book. It wasn’t because of the election, it was because Risen

bers of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm on the fourth floor of Mudd library.

An activated duct smoke detector was determined to be the source of the alarm. Facilities were contacted and HVAC and electrician staff responded.

Friday, March 27 10:42 p.m. Members of the

was about to put it in a book and that forced the hand of the editors of The New York Times.

I wasn’t there, so I’m not going to judge how they made the decision. I was at the LA Times at the time, but they did publish it.

If you were to say one reason he didn’t come [was because] The New York Times screwed up in the post-war coverage before the U.S. went to war in Iraq, he’s right, The New York Times did. So did the LA Times, which I ran at the time. Everybody did. … But I think that if he looks at our overall track record, we publish stuff very aggressively. We published the NSA stuff, we’ve published other Risen stories, we’ve published hard-hitting reports about the Obama administration that they hate, we’ve published lots of stories about drones, [and] we’ve published other stories about surveillance. And it breaks my heart that he went elsewhere. But I think my appeal to him and future Snowdens would be, “We do publish.” You’re isolating a couple of things where you thought we were too slow or did something off, but if you look at the whole history of The New York Times, you have to include the Pentagon Papers, you’ve got to include coverage of Vietnam [and] you’ve got to include our aggressive coverage of the world. I think our track record is really good.

The LA Times thing has always been misunderstood. The allegation was that when I was editor of the LA Times, an engineer in AT&T or an employee of AT&T became very suspicious about a room at the headquarters in San Francisco, where he was convinced there was some surveillance going on. Nobody could go into the room and the room was always locked. So he came to the LA Times, and we reported the hell out of it. We went nuts to report it, but we could never prove it was anything other than a mysterious closed door. This is before people realized how

Oberlin Police Department reported a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Morgan Street and South Professor Street involving a student. The accident was caused by icy street conditions. No injuries were reported.

Sunday, March 29 9:45 a.m. An officer and members of the Oberlin Police Depart-

Why does The New York Times use a paywall for its articles? Do you envision The New York Times of the future relying more heavily on subscription fees or advertising? Will it always be a mix of both?

The thing that people have to understand is, running a 1,200 or 1,300 person newsroom, maintaining bureaus all around the world [and] sending those reporters to Yemen is real expensive. So when I hear people say they don’t want to pay for news, I don’t get that formulation. If you don’t pay in some way or another, what you’re going to get is a bunch of people sitting around in their underwear, writing stories from their living room. If you want people in places who have families to support, it’s going to cost. In print, the construct used to be [that] most of the costs of newsgathering and printing the paper came from advertising. That balance has started to change, and now consumer revenue — people who pay for the print paper or subscribe online — has become a bigger part of our revenue. … We created a paywall because we needed to generate revenue to make up for the lost revenue as advertising started to go away in print.

I don’t know what the future revenue model for news organizations looks like. It’s going to depend on the organization. Smaller papers will not be able to charge as much as we do. Small regional papers, it’s harder for them to construct a paywall because you can find their stuff anywhere. What I have to do, my half of the equation, is that I have to work really hard so that we have a news report that you have to have no matter how much you pay for it. My calculation is that without The New York Times, you can’t be an informed citizen, that’s my goal. There are things in The New York Times, in print and online, that you will not find anywhere else.

ment responded to a report of a damaged Honda Accord with a shattered rear window parked in the Union Street lot. No one was observed in the area and there are no suspects at this time.

6:30 p.m. A student reported the theft of their unlocked bicycle from the bike rack at Mudd library sometime over spring break. The bicycle, valued at approximately $150, is a black, green and white

Interview by Oliver Bok, News editor Photo by Yingran Nan Zhang

Genesis GS29 with a rusted chain.

8:13 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Goldsmith apartment but found no smoke or fire. Officers located the activated detector and detected a strong odor consistent with burnt marijuana. A small amount of leafy substance consistent with marijuana, a box of incense and an incense holder were confiscated.

News

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Feature Photo: Murphy Retires

Events Focus on Autism Awareness

Page 4

Continued from page 1

Patricia Murphy (center), executive director of the Oberlin Heritage Center, laughs with Beverly Miller and Camille Allen at the Center’s annual meeting and Community Awards dinner on Wednesday. This is Murphy’s last annual dinner as the director of OHC, as she plans to retire at the end of August after 22 years in the position.

“I have found it very rewarding personally and professionally to help the organization become a strong community and visitor resource over the past 22 years,” said Murphy in a press release. “It has been a tremendous gift to work and live in a community with such amazingly talented, caring and generous people who appreciate and support the preservation and interpretation of Oberlin’s rich history and its wealth of historic buildings.”

During her time as director, she helped the Oberlin Heritage Center gain accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, register downtown Oberlin as a

historic district and reconstruct the New Union Center for the Arts tower. Currently, the 112 -year-old organization has about 700 members, and the organizers at the Center plan to continue providing tours, lectures and educational programs.

OHC Board of Trustees President Nicholas Jones said the Heritage Center thrived under Murphy’s leadership.

“We are sad to see Pat leave but deeply grateful for the visionary leadership she has shown over these two decades,” Jones said. “With her high professional standards and her unstinting concern for the welfare of Oberlin, Pat has been a great asset both to the Heritage Center and to the community. She is leaving OHC in a very positive position.”

The Center plans to begin the search for her successor this month.

Elizabeth Dobbins, News editor Photo by Yingran Nan Zhang

including your own.”

The fact that the Light It Up Blue campaign was originally started by Autism Speaks has also generated some controversy, as some students find fault with the organization’s core beliefs about the nature of autism.

“When we talk about autism, we talk about it in one of two ways,” said College first-year El Wilson.

“Either it’s all about finding a cure, making it go away and branding autistic people as sick. Or you promote neurodiversity and say it’s OK to have autism. We’re all different and autism is a different way of thinking. … [Autism Speaks] only talks about finding a cure rather than [about] the amazing people throughout history who have done amazing things with autism and including autistic people in society.”

Rosen emphasized that he did not at all share the “curebie” perspective: the idea that autism should be treated as a disease to be cured.

“I am certainly trying to advocate for autism awareness on my own terms, and I believe that’s done by emphasizing how society can change its viewpoints on people who have autism,” said Rosen.

Boomer indicated that she was surprised by the controversy because she said didn’t know very

much about Autism Speaks as an organization.

“I don’t think I know enough about the controversy, but it will be helpful as we move forward to have more student input on this. I see the different camps and where they’re standing, and I hope next year to be able to balance some of the positions with some presentations that emphasize neurodiversity. … We didn’t intentionally do anything to support Autism Speaks, and we aren’t collecting any funds,” Boomer added.

The panel will be held at noon on April 13 in Wilder 112 and will include Rosen, his mother and Bethan Baker, a psychologist with the Oberlin City school system. The film Mary and Max will be screened on April 12 in Wilder 101 at 1 p.m. with Wretches and Jabberers following at 3 p.m. Adam will be shown on April 15 at 7 p.m. in Dye Lecture Hall.

Rosen personally created several PSAs to be shown shortly before the films. The PSAs show everyday situations in which neurotypical students can show more sensitivity for autistic people.

“Through patience, neurotypical people can really see that people on the spectrum can be very expressive and very talented in ways they might not have known. So don’t underestimate people on the spectrum,” Rosen said. “That would be my message for everyone out there.”

Voting Provision in Transportation Bill Removed Continued from page 1 Student Senate endorsed the resolution and, though the support was unanimous, the senators agreed this provision would promote voter suppression but disagreed about the legality of the provision, according to Poe. College first-year and senator Anjali Kolachalam signed the resolution but said she had mixed feelings about the provision after doing more research.

“On one hand I’m really glad that [Student Senate is] taking a stance on issues that are important to students because that’s what we’re supposed to do,” Kolachalam said. “On the other hand I’ll admit maybe I wish I had looked at it earlier so I could have looked at it more detailedly … but I also think it’s a good thing that we responded in a timely manner.”

Student Senate also publicized a petition that had received 1,050 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

Outcry against this provision extended outside Oberlin to the administration or student bodies of other colleges, including Ohio State University and Kenyon College, petitioning lawmakers and Kasich to remove the language.

Poe said Student Senate was also working with administration. College President Marvin Krislov did not issue a public statement before Kasich announced his decision but said

he opposed the provision in an interview with the Review and expressed concern about the late addition of the language to the Senate Bill.

“There weren’t hearings,” said Krislov. “There was really no discussion. It was really sort of stuffed in. … Ideally you would want to have some discussion of the ramifications.”

Poe and Brickner raised other concerns about the implications of this provision, including the financial burden of the $75–100 price to register a car and obtain a state driver’s license. Additionally, students are included in the census data of the area where they attend college.

“When they take census data, college students … are included here as residents of Oberlin, Ohio, so the district lines are then drawn correspondingly incorporating us as part of the population. So we are already expected to be represented as part of this district,” Poe said.

Members of OCRL also discussed the provision at a meeting last Tuesday and, according to member John Kearin, OC ’13, the group had mixed opinions about the language.

Kearin, who has anarchist political views, said he opposed the bill because it disadvantaged one group of voters.

“It unfairly burdens one group while not hurting one group,” Kearin said. “In other words, students from out of state versus students from in state.”

Members of the Oberlin College Democrats, College junior Nora Brickner, College first-year Eli Hovland and College sophomore Jack Benson work on a resolution opposing a provision in an Ohio bill over spring break during a J Street U conference in Washington, D.C. The provision, which opponents claimed would make it more difficult for out-ofstate students to vote, was line-item vetoed by Governor John Kasich on Wednesday.

Courtesy of Jeremy Poe

External Review to be Unveiled During Religious Life Week Continued from page 2 coming together across religions isn’t always easy.”

The Interfaith Service Day, which Phelps organized, will conclude Religious Life Week.

“The whole focus on interfaith is really important on this campus,” Phelps said. “Interfaith Service Day is a specific space for having these deep conversations, [especially because] service is a key component of a lot of different faiths.”

In the past, mostly students,

and in particular students who regularly participate in religious life on campus, have attended Interfaith Service Day. This year, Phelps is trying to attract a broader group.

“We’re trying to broaden [the focus] to include community members, faculty members and those who aren’t already involved in these conversations,” said Phelps. “We want to bring people into the fold, to talk about what spirituality and religion, or lack thereof — means to people.”

Interfaith Service Day, which

in previous years only had service sites in Oberlin, is stepping outside of the city this year: Three of the four service sites are in Cleveland, including a Hindu temple, an Islamic center and a Buddhist Zen center. Students will also volunteer at Oberlin’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Park and the adjacent community center.

Religious Life Week organizers emphasized that everyone is welcome to attend any of the events, regardless of religious background or level of interest. Dorsey, who has been at Oberlin for two years, says

he understands that Oberlin students like to explore their options before making commitments.

“We welcome that experience,” Dorsey said. “Religious events at Oberlin aren’t defined by consistent membership.”

Additionally, Religious Life Week will incorporate the fifth annual Friendship Day at Oberlin, which is hosted by Presidential Scholar of Islam Jafar Mahallati.

The event is intended as a reminder that spirituality extends outside of organized religion and that interpersonal relationships are a

large part of spiritual well-being.

Several of the events, such as Friendship Day, are recurring events, but other events are totally new. One new event is the fourpart Faculty Faith Stories series, in which faculty from various departments will host discussions about different faiths.

Dorsey also highlighted a talk that will be hosted by Martin and Kate Thomson-Jones, which will focus on atheism. According to Dorsey, atheism has been previously absent from discussions about religious life on campus.

Opinions The Oberlin Review

April 3, 2015

Letter to the Editor

Graduating Class Should Remember Gratitude

To the Class of 2015 (and everyone else, including the administration, faculty and staff of Oberlin College): Greetings!

It looks as if I will not be asked to be your commencement speaker this year (or any future year, as I am already an octogenarian), so I will use the Review to convey what I’d say, had I been invited to be under the awning with the Important People on Tappan Square.

I have lived in Oberlin in retirement nearly 25 years, and though I am not a graduate of the College, I am married to one and have a son who is one. I enjoyed the status of Affiliate Scholar and am celebrated on a brass plaque in Finney Chapel as one honored by the donations of my family toward the organ there.

Now that I hope my credentials are established, I feel justified in passing on to you future graduates of this institution a few observations which are intended to make you even better people than you already are, as you “commence” your journey into the “real world.”

First of all, I hope you will have many fond memories of your time here, as I do, and be thankful for all

the opportunities offered to you. Be grateful for the chances you’ve had to make contact with all the outstanding people and things which have been so incredibly plentiful here and have surrounded you during your last four years.

But I must remind you of some situations where the College might have done better, because those memories can help you (and me!) avoid making the same mistakes we have been bothered by here.

I will focus on one in particular: communication with other people.

Here I speak personally. In my 25 years here as a “townie” I have written, phoned or emailed “gownies” on at least 25 different occasions, expressing approval of actions taken, suggesting beneficial changes, offering assistance on promoting projects and a host of other attempts to be helpful in one way or another as an interested citizen of Oberlin. To my disappointment, I received very few positive responses, a few negative ones, but mostly no responses at all. I concluded after a while that the College just wasn’t interested in what someone outside the inner circle had to offer (with the exception, naturally, of money!)

Without laboring this point, I would like to suggest that you graduates begin by recognizing that the people you come in contact with often can contribute valuable ideas

and broaden your vision of whatever endeavors you are engaged in.

This may not only be beneficial to you, but it does much for the other person’s sense of worth. So, do respond to those who are interested enough in you to want to establish a dialogue. Personal example: I wrote to one of the most distinguished music critics in the country, complimenting him on an article he had written recently and sending him a document related to his piece which I thought he might not know about.

Instead of benignly ignoring me, he replied with a hand-written note, thanking me for the document, which he hadn’t known about. It’s hard to describe the good feeling this simple act gave me. Or this example: I wrote some years back a short note to the Review, thanking a large number of Conservatory students for providing a weekend filled with incredible music for us all to enjoy. I was stopped on the street by one of these students, telling me how much my kind words meant to the musicians.

So, what does my address boil down to in a few words? The Golden Rule, I guess, which is still pretty good advice after all these years.

Please don’t forget it, and I’ll try not to either.

–Robert N. Roth Oberlin resident

Censorship Perpetuates Misogynistic Ideals Kiley Petersen Opinions Editor Trigger Warning: the following op-ed discusses menstrual blood and potentially triggering derogatory language referring to women.

When Toronto-based spoken-word poet and author Rupi Kaur posted a photo of herself on Instagram with period-stained sweatpants, Instagram’s decision to remove the image and the resulting uproar was a bloody mess — pun intended.

Since the photo did not violate any of Instagram’s terms and conditions or community guidelines, Kaur and supporters claimed it was misogynistic and an erasure of experience to delete the image.

Kaur posted on her Tumblr, “I will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in … underwear but not be okay with a small leak. When your pages are filled with countless photos/accounts where women (so many who are underage) are objectified. Pornified.

See Feminists, page 6

SUBMISSIONS POLICY The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editor 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.

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

Page 5

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

Editors-in-Chief Julia Herbst Rose Stoloff Managing Editor Taylor Field Opinions Editor Kiley Petersen

Safe Spaces Foster Inclusive, Productive Campus Conversation Content Warning: This editorial discusses potentially triggering issues like rape, sexualized violence, abuse, suicide and offensive language.

Dubbed the “Me Me Me Generation” by Time Magazine in its May 2013 issue, millennials receive no shortage of bad press. It’s almost too easy to blame technology and the instant gratification that comes with it for creating a generation of lazy, narcissistic, entitled brats who only look up from their iPhones to complain about their Starbucks orders.

Columnist Judith Shulevitz’s latest op-ed equates college students to coddled children afraid to examine frightening concepts like rape, assault, abuse and suicide or engage with racist, misogynistic and antiqueer language (“In College and Hiding From Scary Ideas,” The New York Times, March 21, 2015). She claims that schools like Brown University and Smith College pander to these “immature” demands for safe spaces, trigger or content warnings and the cancellation of various speakers and events for perpetrating “threats to stability” or other potentially offensive or triggering material. This is no way for an institution of higher learning to act, she argues, as college is where you learn to confront these “scary ideas.”

Safe spaces are useful and valuable if organized properly, and they can take many forms. Most commonly, safe spaces are either physical locations to which people can retreat to avoid offensive or triggering content, groups organized around a particular identity or communities that prohibit discussion of particular triggering topics or offensive language altogether. Despite the number of forms safe spaces take, none will perfectly protect students from every type of harm.

Students have the right to remove themselves from unsafe situations.

It’s not coddling or weak to avoid certain topics or situations, it’s actually very necessary for self-care. Knowing what situations to remove yourself from in order to protect yourself is a kind of advocacy that forms selfaware, mature and independent people.

The pretense that academia is never personal has the potential to inflict harm by ignoring the emotional and academic relevance of lived experience. Safe spaces allow us a moment to gather ourselves, self-reflect and engage deeply with the work we do. Oberlin has had a long history of trying to create an inclusive community, and regardless of whether it actually lives up to that intention, the College should provide safe spaces and other accommodation services. In unsafe spaces, the voices that are silenced, ignored or marginalized are those that are triggered by harmful conversations. A diverse, inclusive and intelligent campus discussion is a worthy goal, and by creating safe spaces, campuses increase the quality of student life and academic discourse.

The conversation regarding safe spaces and trigger warnings isn’t new. As a supposedly progressive paragon of liberal education and social issues, Oberlin’s own history with trigger warnings has lately been the topic of much debate in many major publications. Last year, Los Angeles See Editorial, page 7 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.

Page 6

Update: Your Wallet Can’t Vote For You Cyrus Eosphoros Columnist This is the first part of a three-part series on consumption-centered activism in the U.S. The next section will be published in the April 10 issue of the Review.

Consumer action as a form of activism — as political behavior that affects the world on a scale beyond individuals — that is easy to employ is a fairy new concept. Globalization and modern technology mean it is immensely easy to circulate ideas and organize events. A boycott, for example, doesn’t even require people to be in the same state or to do something at a single time. Boycotts aren’t new, but they have been harder to execute in the past, requiring massive coordination and immense sacrifice.

The sacrifice is ostensibly gone now; no matter what service or population we’re avoiding, there are alternatives available around the corner. The real life version of that model, as always, tells us the situation is much worse.

Any demand to avoid something that is an essential part of a person’s life assumes there’s a viable alternative available, whether it’s finding what they need somewhere else or forgoing it. We live in a world where food, shelter, healthcare and education are sold. This is fine, one of these organizers might say, and helpfully point out other ways to get what a person needed. But that means the way for people in these conditions, if they want to still be the movement’s definition of “virtuous,” are tasked with moving to a city with better schools or paying three times as much while driving twice as far for a week’s groceries or giving up medication that means they’re in a position to want to engage with politics at all. Or having magically known better than to live in the place they call home.

The current mess of Indiana’s exercise in religious liberty laws isn’t, on the surface, an economic issue or one of consumption. It’s political. We’re dealing with elected officials, laws and an entire state of America. The state of Indiana isn’t trying to sell us anything. But somehow, the very first movement to get massive attention was a call to #BoycottIndiana, spilling from some currently anonymous person to major officials. So far, the mayors of Portland, San Francisco and Seattle have withdrawn city funding for trips to Indiana. They are alongside many cultural actors, with churches, conventions and Wilco all dropping promised commitments to appear in the state.

The demographics of people who approve these actions include politicians as well as most of pop culture. And in the case of the entertainment cancellations, there is a near-explicit threat: They’re taking away revenue from the state.

That’s a threat to the government of Indiana, yes, but an abstract one. The real ramifications would take years to kick in. What matters, what is getting reactions, is the part of this that is a publicity stunt. Actions taken in public involving fame, big numbers or the ideal mix of both, make excellent headlines. Politicians fear for their careers and reputations in a field where those are nearly synonymous. Losing out on millions of dollars that would’ve gone to businesses and workers from the boon of out-of-town consumers only matters if the businesses in question are big enough that they wouldn’t take a hit anyway. This level of the issue is played out on a theoretical battleground.

Who gets more than a stained reputation? The people living in Indiana, specifically the queer people living in Indiana, for whom everyone else is supposedly fighting. They are the people who are going to miss opportunities to do something they loved, who are going to work at businesses in unexpected decline, who actually have to deal with the state of the ideological battleground. As long as the argument is in terms of the kind of threats activists in our generation have learned work if you have the clout to back them up, the people who can’t pull that kind of weight get to be the casualties both sides are arguing over.

Activist Kimberly Lux, who goes by the Twitter handle @vivian_games, summarized what’s wrong better than I can: “Corporations give middle finger to queer folks not rich enough to leave Indiana, upper class cis gays celebrate the march of progress.” I don’t doubt that many in Oberlin will follow suit. Not out of malice or even ignorance, but because this is how we’ve been taught to think about progressive activism. But by endorsing capitalistic activism as the solution, liberal organizers ignore the very people they aim to help.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Lawmakers Stain Hoosier Name Anne Buckwalter Contributing Writer Elected officials in Indiana are disgracing the reputation of the Hoosier state. The fight against LGBT equality in Indiana flared up over a year ago, when legislators proposed an amendment to the Indiana constitution, HJR-3, that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman. An Indiana statute already prohibited same-sex marriage, but legislators attempted to introduce a constitutional amendment to reinforce inequality.

Facing this threat, activists formed the grassroots organization Freedom Indiana. According to the organization’s website, “Freedom Indiana believes our state should promote religious liberty in a way that respects all Hoosiers.”

Freedom Indiana successfully mobilized Hoosiers to defeat that proposed amendment last legislative session, but now the organization has been called into action again.

Under the leadership of Campaign Manager Katie Blair, Freedom Indiana is pressuring Indiana officials to fix the mess they have made. What is the mess? Its name is the Religious Free-

dom Restoration Act, SB 101, or RFRA. RFRA allows businesses to refuse services to LGBT individuals on the basis of the business owners’ religious beliefs. It also allows individuals to cite their religious beliefs as excuses for otherwise illegal actions, such as domestic violence. Despite receiving over 10,000 petition signatures urging him not to sign RFRA into law, Gov. Mike Pence did so on March 26, 2015. RFRA is not entirely a partisan issue. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, a Republican, spoke out in opposition to RFRA. The NCAA raised concerns about hosting Final Four games in Indiana with RFRA in place.

Gen Con, a large tabletop gaming convention that contributes to the tourism industry in Indiana, also raised concerns about continuing to hold the convention in a state that discriminates against LGBT individuals and families.

The timing is remarkable. Hoosiers faced a hard-won fight for marriage equality in Indiana over the summer and into the fall of 2014. Now they face the challenge of RFRA, an act clearly organized in response to progress in Indiana. Freedom Indiana and its partner organiza-

tions, including the ACLU and the national organization Freedom to Marry, are fighting hard to prove that RFRA hurts Indiana individuals and business. I have received 29 emails from the Freedom Indiana campaign in the past few weeks urging me to sign petitions, to attend rallies and to donate to the cause.

Social media is also abuzz ov;er RFRA. While Freedom Indiana campaign emails often state that RFRA does not reflect Hoosier values, the issue hits closer to home for me than just “Hoosier values.” RFRA exists in direct opposition to my personal values and the values of most people I know in Indiana. Many of my friends from Indiana have posted on Facebook in the past few weeks to decry the condemnation of everything about Indiana. I have done the same on my Facebook and responded in kind when my contacts post about how horrible Indiana is. It is important to understand the effects of RFRA, but it is just as important to practice nuanced politics.

A few loud, bigoted voices may have the power to change laws, but that is no guarantee that those laws reflect the beliefs of their constituents.

Those constituents are not done fighting. Under a new law, SB 50, or the Fairness for All Hoosiers Act, that was passed on April 2, 2015, discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers in employment, housing and public accommodations has been limited. Concerns remain, however, about legal discrimination under RFRA. RFRA was not repealed, which seems the logical choice if legislators honestly intend to prohibit discrimination.

News media have referred to SB 50 as a “fix” to RFRA. This “fix” is the epitome of backpedaling. Indiana legislators, particularly Governor Pence, experienced so much backlash from constituents after signing RFRA into law on March 26 that they had to take some action. Freedom Indiana and other Hoosiers, however, are not satisfied by the “fix.” Freedom Indiana has called for comprehensive nondiscrimination policies in Indiana to replace the current legislation. I wish I could be on the ground in Indiana to fight for equality, but for now, my contribution will be encouraging folks in Oberlin to learn the history of the issue and to distinguish between loud politicians and Hoosier citizens.

Feminists, Activists Challenge Invisibility of Diverse Women in Social Media Continued from page 5 And treated less than human. … This just goes to show who is sitting behind the desk. And [who’s] controlling the show. [Who’s] controlling the media and who is censoring us.”

Luckily, thanks to Kaur’s photo and writing that went viral, people placed enough pressure on Instagram that the site reposted her images. Instagram has still done relatively little to prevent the number of photos showing women in a sexualized or derogatory light. Users can search photos with the hashtag #faketits, which shows up with 8,925 posts, or #mybitches, which has around 218,700 results. The winner, #bitchesbelike, has around 1,586,200 posts.

Instagram has previously come under fire for its controversial and prejudiced censorship of photos featuring the female body in its natural state. In January, the Australian blog Sticks and Stones posted a photo from a shoot featuring two women in bikinis. The bikini bottoms were narrow near the crotch, revealing pubic hair on both models. There were no genitalia visible.

Unsurprisingly, Instagram took down the photo and actually went so far as to delete the magazine’s account. This censorship also roused criticism of Instagram’s selective deletion. Sticks and Stones director Ainsley Hutchence believed that if the ad had contained male rather than

female models, the photo would not have been removed. The “happy trail” that often appears on male bodies is often desired, as hair is seen as a masculinizing feature. Additionally, Instagram also bans nipples on female breasts, requiring them to be blurred out or covered with a symbol, yet freely allows the posting of male nipples.

Instagram’s actions are only part of a larger societal aversion to natural female bodily functions. Breastfeeding has gotten a lot of press lately, with some arguments that breasts are sexual organs and should not be seen in public, while others argue that breastfeeding is a natural, necessary and non-sexual nurturing process for babies. “When Nurture Calls” is a mock ad campaign that reveals the absurdity of hiding breastfeeding. The creators, University of North Texas students Johnathan Wenske and Kris Haro, depict breastfeeding mothers crammed into restroom stalls, with snarky phrases like “Private dining” or “Table for two” printed on the bathroom walls.

Multiple campaigns and movements have been founded to destroy this misogynistic thinking. Lina Esco’s Free the Nipple campaign aims to eradicate laws that prohibit toplessness or breastfeeding in public.

Plus-size model Tess Munster’s #effyourbeautystandards hashtag tackles the stigma of curvy and fat models in the fashion industry, while The Adipositivity Project, created by photog-

rapher Substantia Jones, shows fat people, and oftentimes fat Black and/ or queer people, in its photos to challenge the belief that fat bodies are not worthy of love. Abi Ishola’s photo project Beyond Classically Beautiful celebrates the beauty and diversity of Black women’s bodies by combating racist and misogynistic beauty standards that favor Caucasian features and the hypersexualization of Black women.

While these various projects are doing a lot to combat the portrayal of women in the media, body shaming still frequently occurs. By keeping these bodies and their natural functions like breastfeeding and menstruation invisible (or by only showing bodies and processes that are deemed acceptable by malecentric beauty standards), the oppression will continue. That is why the demand for more diverse women — plus-sized, women of color, queer women, trans women and disabled women — in every medium of entertainment, as well as in positions of power and prestige, is so important.

There’s constant reassurance that women are worth more than their bodies, but in a culture that still perpetuates the idea that female bodies are only valuable as sex objects or in specific shapes, sizes and colors, I want validation that my body is worthy, no matter what it looks like: bleeding, breastfeeding, hairy and all states in between.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Pronouns a Right, Not a Preference Noelle Hedges-Goettl Contributing Writer Here at Oberlin, we have this wonderful practice of introducing ourselves with not just our name but also our “PGPs” or “Preferred Gender Pronouns.” Usually, this takes the form of a simple statement. “Hello, Noelle, she/her/hers, nice to meet you.” But when holding initial introductions in a classroom, there is a large variety of ways to express what one wants to be called. Most people will say some variant on “Hello, my name is John Smith, and I prefer they/them/theirs.”

I, however, do not. I say, “I’m Noelle, I take she/her/hers.” Now for most people, the difference here is insignificant; what does it matter the precise language used so long as I wind up calling you the right thing? But it does matter. It matters because what I am called is not just a preference, and it does not indicate my gender.

To call something a preference is to say — if we take the literal definition — that I would rather have one than the other. For most people, calling their pronouns a preference isn’t accurate. When I say “I prefer the red

shirt to the blue one,” what I’m saying is that if I got to pick, I’d have the red one, but the blue one is also OK. So if I were to say “I prefer she/her/hers,” what I’m stating is “If I get to choose, I would like to be called she/her/hers, but I would be okay with being called something else.” And that’s false.

My pronouns are not a preference.

They are not something that I would rather have for dinner or a shade of nail polish I’d have more fun wearing. They are a statement of who I am and how I would expect to be called. I am not OK with being mis-pronouned; I will not be comfortable being called he/him/his, or ze/hir/hirs. It is not a preference. It is a statement. If you want to be respectful of me as a person, you will call me she/her/hers. It’s not a matter of what I would rather, it’s a matter of what is right. However, there are people who do not have strong ties to particular pronouns and may have a preference between a few that are acceptable; this is a correct use of this term.

On a related note, gender and pronouns do not necessarily have to line up. Someone can identify as a man and not use he/him/his, just as someone who uses he/him/his is not necessar-

ily a man. This breaks down the second piece of the term: gender. See, pronouns are often an expression of one’s gender, but not always, and not always the way we think of them. Frequently, pronouns are not a matter of what is “right” but a matter of what is “least wrong.” I have a friend who talks about their pronouns this way, and it feels very different than my own experience, where she/her/hers is just right. However, just because I use she/her/hers does not mean that I am a girl, woman or female. I could still be any gender and be most comfortable with she/her/hers.

This is why we encourage people to list their pronouns instead of saying “female pronouns,” because there is nothing inherently female or feminine in the words “she/her/hers.” They are values we have ascribed to those words that determine their usage and associations. These pronouns are not the special sanctity of women or females.

When you ask someone for their preferred pronouns, you think you’re asking, “What would you like to be called?” What you’re really asking is, “Define yourself in three words, and I might deign to honor your request.”

Musicians Push for Equality in DIY Scene Jake Rivas Contributing Writer Oberlin’s DIY music scene has come to reflect the student body’s commitment to progressive politics. Recently, a document circulated throughout the music scene cataloging the numerous active bands on campus that are willing to play shows. That document grew to include more than 40 bands, ranging from a standard four-piece with a male lead to a group of flautists. Despite efforts by law enforcement to curtail house shows, Oberlin’s nonConservatory concert scene is not only a thriving one but also one in which elements of social justice activism have found a place. Oberlin’s history as a forward-thinking institution has merged with its patented musicianship in the context of the DIY scene.

Oberlin’s DIY scene does not offer an outside revenue stream, contracts or guarantees. Ostensibly, this might lead to disorganization within the scene, but in real-

ity, there’s not much. In fact, the scene is so focused — on liberal politics, especially — that it has outgrown much of the nation’s rock music scene in terms of adherence to progressive ideals. At your average rock show, one might encounter a “standard” grouping of people in both the audience and among performers.

For example, predominantly white, male-led bands playing and touring with each other for audiences that, for the most part, are demographically similar are a disturbingly common occurrence.

Oberlin’s musicians have taken a stand in the opposite direction. A number of bands past and present feature powerful female leads. These groups include The Blood Pact, who recently released a long awaited EP; Sidebitch, who have made a commitment to female empowerment; and Reformer. Expression amongst Oberlin musicians has become a completely open forum. One’s right to play isn’t predicated on a look or a demographic but, more than

anything else, on a desire to communicate through music.

A scene once known for its elitism is now almost the opposite. BBC America, a band that features campus DIY stalwart and College senior Michael Stenovec along with College sophomore Swings member and prolific musician Daniel Howard dropped a scheduled performance so that a firstyear group that broke the demographic mold might have the chance to play in front of a larger audience.

With this generation of Oberlin musicians there comes promise for a change in the popular music scene at large. By this time next year, Drama Section, which features a number of graduating seniors and fifth-years, will have relocated to Brooklyn, a hotbed of post-grads and musicians.

However, Drama Section guitarist and double-degree fifth-year Stephen Becker revealed some hesitancy in moving to Brooklyn. “Trying to stay educated on how gentrification is affecting areas like Brooklyn

and healthy ways to combat the issue [is a central concern],” he said.

Becker suggests some solutions like “avoiding up-scale housing and dining, interacting with locals [and] supporting events in the community.”

He continued, “It’s something I would need to engage with fully in order to live there or many of the other neighborhoods that people my age are moving to.”

It says something about our community and what we stand for that Becker brought up this issue on his own accord. It is no coincidence that Oberlin students are disrupting racially unbalanced and patriarchal systems, and that should be a point of pride for DIY scenesters and students in general. When the day comes that a show bill represents more than one demographic — not on purpose but due to equal proportions of people finding followers and fellow musicians to create with — that will say something to the state of affairs for the country as a whole. Hopefully, there won’t have to be an article written about it.

Editorial: Real World Issues Confronted in Safe Spaces Continued from page 5 Times columnist Meghan Daum commented that Oberlin is a “[symbol] of the widespread scourge of campus political correctness and the glorification of victimhood” (“Why ‘trigger warnings’? We already live in a hair-trigger world,” LA Times, April 3, 2014).

Despite outside perspectives that view Oberlin as overindulgent, Review staff member and College sophomore Cyrus Eosphoros’ op-ed argues that the disability services regarding content warnings are severely lacking at Oberlin (“Content Warnings Needed as Accommodations,” The Oberlin Review, Feb. 27, 2015). So the debate rages on between

college administrators, students and other opinionated individuals on the necessity and productivity of safe spaces and trigger warnings.

Providing safe spaces, respites from the nastiness that bogs down our psyches, is not the same as locking ourselves in isolated rooms for four years of our lives. Most of us encounter the outside world every break, every time we open our laptops and even on campus, where offensive and upsetting opinions still exist in classrooms and dorms without warning or moderation. Attending Oberlin doesn’t mean we are sheltered from every offensive and rude thought.

However, many have learned to surround themselves with supportive, rather than

oppressive or silencing, communities.

And that is something we learn here that we can carry with us into the real world.

The oft-mentioned “Oberlin bubble” is more permeable than many believe.

If Oberlin was an isolated bubble of respect, removed entirely from the dangers that plague the world, there may very well be no need for safe spaces. Creating safe spaces is a way of honestly assessing the world around us. As students, we aren’t going to be stunned by the harshness of the real world once we graduate; we interact with the real world every day.

Understanding the role and necessity of safe spaces will help us empower ourselves and others despite the harshness of reality.

Page 7

Hobbies Unveil Interconnection of Various Disciplines CJ Blair Columnist As students at a liberal arts college, we should be familiar with what a liberal arts education is supposed to entail. Rather than admitting students who specialize in a single area of study, colleges like Oberlin seek out applicants with a broad range of knowledge and skills that span various disciplines.

While this aim certainly sounds noble, it’s easy, in a time where progress is equated to making the next best cell phone or curing major diseases, to question the value of this approach. While it’s hard to argue that a broad base of knowledge won’t benefit you as a worker, it seems like the people who make the greatest impact on the world are those with a single focus they pursue wholeheartedly.

Instead of arguing the value of a liberal arts education, I think it’s easier to approach this problem as it pertains to the world outside academia. Though education may become a substantial part of a person’s life, no prestigious college can substitute for the internal development that makes someone a valuable asset to society. For this reason, the problem greater than the system of education is the uncertainty people feel in meandering across many disciplines while their peers are honing their skills in one.

Take me, for example. Last Saturday I ran my first half-marathon, did so in under 90 minutes and placed first in my age group. Happy as I was with this outcome, I should mention that I do not run competitively for Oberlin’s cross country or track teams. Similarly, I’ve played saxophone for seven years and received several scholarships auditioning at other colleges, but I’m not in the Conservatory.

While I could speak highly of my skills, the reality is that my running would probably be no more than average among collegiate runners, and I doubt I would’ve even been accepted into the Conservatory.

Yet I still run and play saxophone, without any intention of stopping either. Students who are focused on one area may argue that I’m wasting my time by dabbling with things I’ll never truly excel in. To them, I would say that these things keep me sane, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish I were a true virtuoso at something. This is where I think most prospective college students get trapped, and all they can think about is the straightest, most direct shot toward their future career. Even if they end up at a liberal arts college, students like this will avoid gen-ed requirements at all costs and pursue their careers like Wile E. Coyote after the Road Runner.

But something is truly lost when taking this approach. People who take this stance fail to notice how broad interests can inform and deepen understanding of a primary focus by shying away from hobbies and “outside” classes. No discipline exists in a vacuum, and that’s an eternal truth that eludes many aspiring professionals. Technology and economics are all but inseparable, sustainability is frequently determined by politics, and environmental justice requires social justice. The late Wangari Maathai, founder of Kenya’s Green Belt Movement, started as an environmentalist who saw tree-planting as a way to galvanize oppressed Kenyan women, thereby combating deforestation and institutionalized misogyny all at once.

Instead of viewing multiple interests as a source of distraction, broad exploration should really be seen as providing new perspectives on issues often approached from the same angle. Entirely new ideas are getting harder to find, but there are infinite possibilities for re-examining foundational issues. I can’t always specify how my running and music will inform my creative writing and biology majors, but I’ve signed up for the Cleveland Marathon and will continue playing jazz because I can’t imagine life without these pursuits. Even if they don’t directly contribute to my career, these avocations help me appreciate the breadth and complexity of this maddening world, and I have no doubt that such appreciation is going to be a valuable tool in the future, one that narrow-minded students may never allow themselves to have.

N E W

A R R I V A L S

Red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus North Fields

HARBINGERS O F S P R I N G The last two weeks brought the first crocus blooms in the beds outside South Hall and Finney Chapel, snowdrops that scattered lawns and daffodil shoots around every corner. But these botanical messengers are not Oberlin’s only signs of spring. For several weeks, birds of many species have been quietly returning to town from their southern winter retreats. Some, like the red-winged blackbird, are here to stay for the remainder of the warm season. Others, like the less common rusty blackbird, are merely passing through on their way further north. The small, grey dark-eyed juncos, on the other hand, are wrapping up their long winter stay in Oberlin and will depart within the next few weeks for summer breeding grounds elsewhere.

However, spring has come late to Oberlin this year and the birds are late as well. The monthly average temperature this March and last March was 33°F — the coldest averages in almost two decades. Accompanying the late thaw, red-winged blackbirds and killdeer did not appear in great numbers until near the beginning of March, several weeks later than their usual arrival.

Ducks, loons, grebes and other water birds are the largest group currently moving through Ohio, although many of those species are more often found in waterways and ponds outside of the town itself. In addition to the ducks, many species of sparrows are currently passing through the area, heading to summer breeding grounds north of Oberlin. However, the season is still too early for many anticipated spring arrivals.

“The exciting migrants — the colorful birds — will happen in late April or early May,” said Professor of Biology Keith Tarvin. “Warblers and buntings and hummingbirds and other thrushes and orioles … that’ll be a few more weeks.”

Keith Tarvin is a researcher in the Biology department, and teaches an ornithology field course every two years.

American robin Turdus migratorius North Main Street Although robins can be found in Ohio throughout the winter, they arrived in far greater numbers during March.

Canada goose Branta canadensis Westwood Cemetery Turkey vulture Cathartes aura Photo courtesy of Ken Bosma

Brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater North Pleasant Street

Jesse Rowsell Memorial Symposium and Celebration Saturday, April 4, 1:30 p.m.–12 a.m.

Wright Laboratory of Physics 201 This symposium will honor the work of Chemistry Professor Jesse Rowsell, who died in late January, with presentations by scientists from various institutions as well as current Oberlin students on their research in the field of crystallography. A reception in the Science Center atrium from 5–7 p.m. will follow the afternoon of presentations. See the online events calendar for a full schedule.

What are some of the most interesting birds found around Oberlin?

You’re talking to kind of a bird geek right now. I think blue jays are absolutely fascinating; they’re just so smart and brainy and have such interesting social systems, problem-solving abilities and all that. So even though they’re really kind of dirt cheap, really common, they’re still really cool to look at.

Chimney swifts also, just flying constantly during the day; they do everything on the wing.

They eat on the wing. I don’t know if they drink on the wing, but they copulate on the wing.

Everything they do is in the air. They fly around in these small flocks, really noisy chattering birds, constantly. If you’ve never noticed them before, once someone points them out to you, you can’t get them out of your head because they’re everywhere in these towns. They also like to nest in buildings, old buildings with holes and chimneys, things like that.

I mean, there are so many cool birds.

Somebody saw a turkey in town yesterday, a wild adult. That’s pretty cool.

How many kinds of birds can be found in the area?

If you spent a good week, [in the Oberlin area] I could easily imagine you picking up 85–100 species this time of year, and maybe 150 in the summer. There are probably more — that’s just the ones you find. In the winter, we might be talking about 45–50, and that’s if you’re finding every one of them.

How does Oberlin compare to other areas?

If you want to drive about an hour and 15 minutes, or maybe an hour and a half, you can get to a place called Magee Marsh in the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which is northwest of here on Lake Erie. It’s world famous for bird seeing, especially during spring migration. If you go there on Mother’s Day weekend, you will see so, so, so many people from all over the U.S. who go to that spot, because it’s a great funnel for migration. … The lake is narrower so it kind of concentrates [migrating birds] there.

Omar Offendum: How Hip-Hop Culture Reconciled My Arab/Muslim/American Identity Saturday, April 4, 6–8 p.m.

Dye Lecture Hall, Science Center Syrian-American hip-hop artist Omar Offendum has gained recent acclaim for the themes of politics and peace in his work. While touring the world and attending music festivals, his attention to humanitarian causes and education has made him a voice for the Syrian and Muslim communities in America.

Dinner will be provided at the event.

W I N T E R RESIDENTS

Blue jay Cyanocitta cristata North Fields

Dark-eyed junco Junco hyemalis

Tufted titmouse Baeolophus bicolor North Fields

Photo courtesy of Alan Vernon

YEAR-ROUND RESIDENTS

The arb can be good on some days. You can get a little migrant fallout and get maybe 10 or 15 species there, but look fast because they’re not going to be there tomorrow.

What’s the focus of your research in ornithology?

I’m a behavioral ecologist and I’m interested in signaling behavior in birds primarily, but also some other species. So my main bird project is looking at bill color and plumage color in American goldfinches. During the breeding season, they have bright orange bills and bright yellow plumage. Males are super bright; females are pretty bright. Most of my work is focused on bill color, and their bill color fluctuates over a really short time period, like within six or eight hours. If we catch them and hold them in captivity, which is stressful for them, the bills can fade very subtly. I don’t know that I would notice it with the naked eye, but we have spectrometers that allow us to see that.

We found that bill color is correlated with their immune system — the quality of their immune system and some measures of stress.

In female goldfinches, it appears that they pay attention to the bill color of other female goldfinches in competitive situations. We think that it’s a signal of their competitive ability. So, if I’m a female goldfinch and I see a food patch over there and I want to get it but there’s another goldfinch there, if she has a really bright orange bill, I may just back off. If she has a pretty dull bill, I think, “I can manage that,” then I go in there and eat the food and she may back off. So it seems to be a signal of competitive abilities.

Interestingly, it’s only a female-female channel. Males don’t pay attention to the bill color of the females. Males don’t pay attention to the bill color of males. And females don’t pay attention to the bill color of males either, even though they all have these bright orange beaks.

So it seems to be a female-only channel, which raises all kinds of interesting questions for us.

Northern cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis Westwood Cemetery

House sparrow Passer domesticus Asia House courtyard Mourning dove Zenaida macroura North Pleasant Street

House finch Haemorhous mexicanus Asia House courtyard

Tree sparrow Passer montanus North Fields

Red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis Oberlin reservoir

This Week editor: Hazel Galloway Photographs by Hazel Galloway Song sparrow Melospiza melodia North Fields

CALENDAR

Interview by Olivia Konuk, Contributing writer

Muslim Peace Making Tuesday, April 7, 12 p.m.

Wilder Hall 101

She’s Lost Control Wednesday, April 8, 7:30–9 p.m.

Apollo Theatre

Colors of Rhythm Finney Chapel Thursday, April 9, 6:30 p.m.

Muslim Chaplain and Director of Muslim Life at Duke University Imam Adeel Zeb will hold a lecture to discuss what those of other faiths can learn from peacemaking in the Muslim community. The event, sponsored in part by the Multicultural Resource Center and the Muslim Student’s Association, will include free lunch.

This 90-minute film examines the complications and boundaries of physical relationships. The plot stars a young woman employed as a sexual surrogate in New York City who becomes emotionally involved with a patient, causing both her personal and professional lives to unravel out of control.

This annual event will return for its 19th year of showcasing music, dance and cultural performances featuring students of color. According to the event’s organizers, part of the show’s mission is to “empower marginalized groups to develop and articulate their voices and encourage majority groups to reflect their relative privilege.”

Ordinary Days Little Theater Thursday, April 9; Friday, April 10; and Saturday, April 11; 8 p.m.

This show, directed by College junior and theater major Colin Anderson, explores the ways in which four New Yorkers found their lives to be interconnected in surprising and extraordinary ways. The play focuses on the theme of growing up. Tickets are available for $5 at Wilder desk.

Spring Back Warner Center, Main Space Thursday, April 9; Friday, April 10; and Saturday, April 11; 8 p.m.

This second-semester counterpart to the annual dance performance Fall Forward is directed this year by Professor of Dance Nusha Martynuk.

Students will present choreography in a number of different styles. Tickets can be purchased at Central Ticket Service.

N E W

A R R I V A L S

Red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus North Fields

HARBINGERS O F S P R I N G The last two weeks brought the first crocus blooms in the beds outside South Hall and Finney Chapel, snowdrops that scattered lawns and daffodil shoots around every corner. But these botanical messengers are not Oberlin’s only signs of spring. For several weeks, birds of many species have been quietly returning to town from their southern winter retreats. Some, like the red-winged blackbird, are here to stay for the remainder of the warm season. Others, like the less common rusty blackbird, are merely passing through on their way further north. The small, grey dark-eyed juncos, on the other hand, are wrapping up their long winter stay in Oberlin and will depart within the next few weeks for summer breeding grounds elsewhere.

However, spring has come late to Oberlin this year and the birds are late as well. The monthly average temperature this March and last March was 33°F — the coldest averages in almost two decades. Accompanying the late thaw, red-winged blackbirds and killdeer did not appear in great numbers until near the beginning of March, several weeks later than their usual arrival.

Ducks, loons, grebes and other water birds are the largest group currently moving through Ohio, although many of those species are more often found in waterways and ponds outside of the town itself. In addition to the ducks, many species of sparrows are currently passing through the area, heading to summer breeding grounds north of Oberlin. However, the season is still too early for many anticipated spring arrivals.

“The exciting migrants — the colorful birds — will happen in late April or early May,” said Professor of Biology Keith Tarvin. “Warblers and buntings and hummingbirds and other thrushes and orioles … that’ll be a few more weeks.”

Keith Tarvin is a researcher in the Biology department, and teaches an ornithology field course every two years.

American robin Turdus migratorius North Main Street Although robins can be found in Ohio throughout the winter, they arrived in far greater numbers during March.

Canada goose Branta canadensis Westwood Cemetery Turkey vulture Cathartes aura Photo courtesy of Ken Bosma

Brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater North Pleasant Street

Jesse Rowsell Memorial Symposium and Celebration Saturday, April 4, 1:30 p.m.–12 a.m.

Wright Laboratory of Physics 201 This symposium will honor the work of Chemistry Professor Jesse Rowsell, who died in late January, with presentations by scientists from various institutions as well as current Oberlin students on their research in the field of crystallography. A reception in the Science Center atrium from 5–7 p.m. will follow the afternoon of presentations. See the online events calendar for a full schedule.

What are some of the most interesting birds found around Oberlin?

You’re talking to kind of a bird geek right now. I think blue jays are absolutely fascinating; they’re just so smart and brainy and have such interesting social systems, problem-solving abilities and all that. So even though they’re really kind of dirt cheap, really common, they’re still really cool to look at.

Chimney swifts also, just flying constantly during the day; they do everything on the wing.

They eat on the wing. I don’t know if they drink on the wing, but they copulate on the wing.

Everything they do is in the air. They fly around in these small flocks, really noisy chattering birds, constantly. If you’ve never noticed them before, once someone points them out to you, you can’t get them out of your head because they’re everywhere in these towns. They also like to nest in buildings, old buildings with holes and chimneys, things like that.

I mean, there are so many cool birds.

Somebody saw a turkey in town yesterday, a wild adult. That’s pretty cool.

How many kinds of birds can be found in the area?

If you spent a good week, [in the Oberlin area] I could easily imagine you picking up 85–100 species this time of year, and maybe 150 in the summer. There are probably more — that’s just the ones you find. In the winter, we might be talking about 45–50, and that’s if you’re finding every one of them.

How does Oberlin compare to other areas?

If you want to drive about an hour and 15 minutes, or maybe an hour and a half, you can get to a place called Magee Marsh in the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, which is northwest of here on Lake Erie. It’s world famous for bird seeing, especially during spring migration. If you go there on Mother’s Day weekend, you will see so, so, so many people from all over the U.S. who go to that spot, because it’s a great funnel for migration. … The lake is narrower so it kind of concentrates [migrating birds] there.

Omar Offendum: How Hip-Hop Culture Reconciled My Arab/Muslim/American Identity Saturday, April 4, 6–8 p.m.

Dye Lecture Hall, Science Center Syrian-American hip-hop artist Omar Offendum has gained recent acclaim for the themes of politics and peace in his work. While touring the world and attending music festivals, his attention to humanitarian causes and education has made him a voice for the Syrian and Muslim communities in America.

Dinner will be provided at the event.

W I N T E R RESIDENTS

Blue jay Cyanocitta cristata North Fields

Dark-eyed junco Junco hyemalis

Tufted titmouse Baeolophus bicolor North Fields

Photo courtesy of Alan Vernon

YEAR-ROUND RESIDENTS

The arb can be good on some days. You can get a little migrant fallout and get maybe 10 or 15 species there, but look fast because they’re not going to be there tomorrow.

What’s the focus of your research in ornithology?

I’m a behavioral ecologist and I’m interested in signaling behavior in birds primarily, but also some other species. So my main bird project is looking at bill color and plumage color in American goldfinches. During the breeding season, they have bright orange bills and bright yellow plumage. Males are super bright; females are pretty bright. Most of my work is focused on bill color, and their bill color fluctuates over a really short time period, like within six or eight hours. If we catch them and hold them in captivity, which is stressful for them, the bills can fade very subtly. I don’t know that I would notice it with the naked eye, but we have spectrometers that allow us to see that.

We found that bill color is correlated with their immune system — the quality of their immune system and some measures of stress.

In female goldfinches, it appears that they pay attention to the bill color of other female goldfinches in competitive situations. We think that it’s a signal of their competitive ability. So, if I’m a female goldfinch and I see a food patch over there and I want to get it but there’s another goldfinch there, if she has a really bright orange bill, I may just back off. If she has a pretty dull bill, I think, “I can manage that,” then I go in there and eat the food and she may back off. So it seems to be a signal of competitive abilities.

Interestingly, it’s only a female-female channel. Males don’t pay attention to the bill color of the females. Males don’t pay attention to the bill color of males. And females don’t pay attention to the bill color of males either, even though they all have these bright orange beaks.

So it seems to be a female-only channel, which raises all kinds of interesting questions for us.

Northern cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis Westwood Cemetery

House sparrow Passer domesticus Asia House courtyard Mourning dove Zenaida macroura North Pleasant Street

House finch Haemorhous mexicanus Asia House courtyard

Tree sparrow Passer montanus North Fields

Red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis Oberlin reservoir

This Week editor: Hazel Galloway Photographs by Hazel Galloway Song sparrow Melospiza melodia North Fields

CALENDAR

Interview by Olivia Konuk, Contributing writer

Muslim Peace Making Tuesday, April 7, 12 p.m.

Wilder Hall 101

She’s Lost Control Wednesday, April 8, 7:30–9 p.m.

Apollo Theatre

Colors of Rhythm Finney Chapel Thursday, April 9, 6:30 p.m.

Muslim Chaplain and Director of Muslim Life at Duke University Imam Adeel Zeb will hold a lecture to discuss what those of other faiths can learn from peacemaking in the Muslim community. The event, sponsored in part by the Multicultural Resource Center and the Muslim Student’s Association, will include free lunch.

This 90-minute film examines the complications and boundaries of physical relationships. The plot stars a young woman employed as a sexual surrogate in New York City who becomes emotionally involved with a patient, causing both her personal and professional lives to unravel out of control.

This annual event will return for its 19th year of showcasing music, dance and cultural performances featuring students of color. According to the event’s organizers, part of the show’s mission is to “empower marginalized groups to develop and articulate their voices and encourage majority groups to reflect their relative privilege.”

Ordinary Days Little Theater Thursday, April 9; Friday, April 10; and Saturday, April 11; 8 p.m.

This show, directed by College junior and theater major Colin Anderson, explores the ways in which four New Yorkers found their lives to be interconnected in surprising and extraordinary ways. The play focuses on the theme of growing up. Tickets are available for $5 at Wilder desk.

Spring Back Warner Center, Main Space Thursday, April 9; Friday, April 10; and Saturday, April 11; 8 p.m.

This second-semester counterpart to the annual dance performance Fall Forward is directed this year by Professor of Dance Nusha Martynuk.

Students will present choreography in a number of different styles. Tickets can be purchased at Central Ticket Service.

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

April 3, 2015

Warren, Adron Collaborate Throughout Respective Sets

Portland-based singer Johanna Warren serenades Tank Co-op with her strangely enchanting guitar playing and vocals. Warren contrasted her solemn music with quirky stage banter.

Effie Kline-Salamon

Danny Evans Arts Editor Johanna Warren and Adron distinguished themselves from the rest of the singer-songwriter crowd while remaining firmly planted in folk tradition with their show at Tank Co-op Tuesday night. The atmosphere the two musicians set embodied this contradiction. They managed to establish a relaxed yet otherworldly mood that felt both similar to other folk shows and also entirely distinctive. Tank’s homey furnishing and a small but supportive audience helped foster the intimate feeling of the show, while the musicians’ spooky storytelling and lit incense created eerier vibes. More than location, incense or ghost stories, however, it was the songwriters’ music that played the paramount role in producing this contradictory — and highly effective — atmosphere. Both Warren and Adron offered songs that could be grouped into the folk genre but simultaneously defied expectations.

Warren, who opened the show with a lengthy and gripping solo set, connected with her audience as soon as she took the stage. Setting her guitar to an open tuning — the first of a number of unorthodox tunings she utilized throughout the show — the Portland, OR, native engaged the crowd with a laugh-inducing tidbit. “Oberlin was the only college that rejected me, and it was my first choice,” she said with a chuckle. Warren exuded charisma, and showgoers participated in the fun as she continued to banter. However, she made it abundantly clear that her set wouldn’t be all laughs when she launched into her first song.

The track’s nostalgia-inducing chord progressions and haunting vocal melodies contributed to a somber tone.

Most of Warren’s music stayed in moody territory, but her brooding sound never became boring or hackneyed.

Complex, evocative lyrics (“My malaise was molten metal / Twisting into golden petals / Kiss me softly like a sparrow”) that often dealt with subjects uncommon to rock

and folk lyricism served as a constant point of interest, as did Warren’s riffy guitar style and penchant for ending songs on unresolved chords. Whenever it seemed that she had fallen into a folky, downtempo routine, Warren made sure to keep the crowd guessing with alternate time signature rhythms, moments of startling dynamic contrast and deployment of extended guitar techniques.

Warren continued to tell amusing stories and jokes between gloomy songs without coming off as forced or unnatural. At one point, she delved into a quirky tale of her and Adron’s long-standing friendship, shedding light on the important roles the two have played in each other’s lives since their early years. When Adron joined Warren for several collaborative songs, their friendship could be heard in the music. Their voices blended together expressively; it seemed as though collaboration was second nature for the pair.

Adron’s contributions to Warren’s songs, which included everything from mournful countermelodies to bird-calls, showed that she too was a force to be reckoned with among singer-songwriters; her solo set confirmed this. Adron’s performance had a number of elements in common with Warren, but stood out nonetheless. Like her collaborator, Adron had a cozy and informal stage presence; in a move that separated her from Warren, Adron retained an informal sensibility in her lyrics, which contained colloquial phrases and the occasional swear word in place of lofty vocabulary and intricate rhyme schemes. Adron, who hails from Atlanta, GA, emphasized her guitar ability throughout her set as Warren did, but her particular playing style was hers and hers alone.

Containing elements of Brazilian guitar, traditional folk fingerpicking and even pop-country influences, Adron’s technical yet eloquent playing sounded unlike Warren’s — or anyone else’s. Though it was ethereal in a manner similar to Warren’s, Adron’s singing displayed an enormous vocal range that differentiated her from Warren.

In general, Adron placed herself in the same world as Warren, but nevertheless managed to leave a lasting impression.

Warren and Adron’s performances succeeded in separating the two from an arguably overcrowded genre without appearing artlessly experimental or disrespectful of folk tradition. The two musicians represented a model of what the modern singer-songwriter can be, displaying unique command over their instruments and an admirable disinterest in writing conventional songs. Unlike many of their peers, Warren and Adron appeared unafraid of moving beyond the boundaries of traditional folk music.

Mudd Library’s Special Collections and Letterpress Thrive Thanks to Vermue Jeremy Reynolds Staff Writer Ed Vermue and I failed to acknowledge one another as we impatiently brushed past in the hallway before whirling in a simultaneous double-take, recognition arriving just a second too late. I had caught him miderrand, and rather than pop back into his office ( for reasons I discovered later), we settled into a pair of comfortably cushioned chairs in the hallway just outside of the Special Collections on the fourth floor of Mudd library.

Between a row of blue lockers and the wall of windows that separate the hall from the sun deck on the roof of the building, Vermue reclined against the back of his seat as he began to explain exactly what the positions of Preservation Librarian and Special Collections Librarian entail.

“There’s hardly a typical day,” he said. As we spoke, he fiddled with a pair of reading glasses in his hands, squinting against the glare of sun through the windows

and speaking with slow, clear cadence, almost as if giving a lecture.

Even though his daily routine may be rather irregular, Vermue’s work, like that of a college professor’s, can be divided into two time periods: when academic classes are in session — the fall and spring semesters, along with Winter Term — and breaks. “I wear two hats,” Vermue said.

During the latter intervals, Vermue works primarily with a small group of students to ensure the survival of the books in Oberlin’s circulating collection.

Together, they work to repair and prevent damage to the aging books on the lower floors of the library so that future generations can continue to benefit from the large collection.

Most of his interaction with students, however, comes through his work with the College’s Special Collections, which feature a constantly developing assortment of historical artifacts relating to the evolution of printed media.

“It’s not just a rare book collection, but a special collection on any subject,” Vermue said.

The fourth floor of Mudd houses

everything from a facsimile of a beautifully illuminated Book of hours to original copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and other anti-slav-

ery literature to 20th century Star Trek fanfiction — and that barely See Preservation, page 12

Special Collections and Preservation Librarian Ed Vermue opens a 15th century Northern-Italian antiphonal manuscript. Aside from his curatorial roles in the library, Vermue also operates the Oberlin Letterpress, where he runs special Winter Term and ExCo programs focused on book arts.

Simeon Deutsch

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Arts

Page 11

Mitski Concert Hits Hard with Angsty Vocals Samuel Rueckert Staff Writer Before starting her set at the ’Sco Monday night, indie-punk singer-songwriter and bassist Mitski said, “I am not caffeinated enough for this.” If there was any truth to this joke, it certainly did not show in her hard-hitting performance. The energy of the performance was matched by the equally energetic and sizeable crowd that shouted compliments to the singer throughout the show and hushed each other when offstage noise became distracting from the music.

Mitski, who recently finished playing at South by Southwest, began her set with soft crooning over an open chord but quickly transitioned into her most widely known song, “townie.” The song had the crowd dancing and cheering when she came to her refrain of “I’m not gonna be what my daddy wants me to be” and later “I’m gonna be what my body wants me to be.” Perhaps her positive reception was partially due to catchy, subversive lines like these.

Mitski’s singing was dynamic, both in range and in volume. At times she sang like an acoustic singer-songwriter, but she also referenced an angsty grunge sound. Her singing blended well with her driving bass lines, the steady pulse of the drums and memorable chord progressions. All in all, Mitski and her band did a good job of negotiating the line between edginess and sweetness.

The performance wasn’t an hour of variations on the same four-chord song, a trap to which some artists in Mitski’s genre tend to fall victim. Mitski would occasionally sing chant-like interludes, adding tonal variation and a change of pace. Her second Mitski stands contemplatively among her bandmates beneath psychedelic lighting. Her politically slanted ’Sco set Monday night delighted her loyal fanbase.

Eli Steiker-Ginzberg

See Despite, page 13

Decorative Beards: A Formative Fad? Gags Hit and Miss in 2000 SNL Comedy The Ladies Man Vida Weisblum Arts Editor

Nate Levinson Columnist After a six-week hiatus, this column returns to assess the artistic integrity — or lack thereof — of the 2000 comedy The Ladies Man. The film earned positive marks from just 11 percent of the 72 critics who reviewed it, and the consensus from critics seemed to be that the movie was overly vulgar, dry and generally a gigantic waste of time and money. Perhaps the best indicator of the movie’s worth was its lack of success at the box office. Despite a $24 million budget and decent cast, the flick raked in just $13.4 million.

Based on an SNL sketch and produced by Lorne Michaels, the movie stars Tim Meadows as Leon Phelps, a sex-obsessed radio host and sex therapist seeking to reconnect with one of his former flings.

That’s about everything of substance that can be said about the plot and Phelps’s character. The movie plays like a bunch of sketches lined one after the other, but any connection between them seems purely coincidental. Will Ferrell, Eugene Levy, Chris Parnell and Karyn Parsons appear in supporting roles, but all except Ferrell add little or nothing to the movie.

The Ladies Man has about as many sex jokes as could possibly fit in to 84 minutes, so, if you’re into that kind of thing, I’d definitely recommend you see the movie. It’s easy to see why many critics thought the short skit was best left as is, but Leon’s character is entertaining enough to keep the film interesting. Sure, he’s a shallow, self-involved sex-addict who looks like he dropped out of the 70s, but he’s a damn funny one. One prominent online movie critic, James Berardinelli, called Leon “fundamentally unlikable,” but I say it’s just the opposite. He’s nothing if not foolish, but his love of Courvoisier, innocent lisp, houseboat and corny pickup lines make him a lovable fool.

Some of the film’s finest moments come with Ferrell’s on-screen appearances. He plays the husband of one of Phelps’s former lovers and the head of a group aiming to kill Leon for his womanizing. A few of Ferrell’s top moments in film have been in cameo roles (Eastbound & Down and Wedding Crashers to name a few), and his role here is no different. Unfortunately Levy and Parnell’s roles lack the same zest.

Comedy Central seems to play the movie every couple weeks, as if some high-level executive feels the need to showcase the low point of Michaels’ comedic career whenever possible, which only adds insult to injury. As a result, however, I’ve seen a censored version of the movie on TV multiple times, and enjoyed it enough to give it a review. As a teenager, I enjoyed the vulgar and sophomoric jokes, and this time around was no different. The humor is definitely immature, but there are enough good jokes to keep it interesting.

All in all, I find it a little hard to believe that only 11 percent of critics like The Ladies Man. It’s not exactly comedic genius, but I like to think there a few more people out there who can ignore a subpar plot as long as the jokes are good. The Ladies Man is bad, but come on, it’s not that bad.

While mustache-decorated notebooks, mugs, clothing and the like have become fairly ubiquitous in chachka stores around the country, finding beard paraphernalia requires effort. Fortunately however, the beard appears to be making a comeback, and better than ever. Rather than adorning common objects with beard decoration, hipsters everywhere seem to be interested in adorning their own beards and have merged Victorian stubble standards of the 18th century with modern Bohemian style. Worry not! You won’t need to raze away your well-groomed handlebar to test the new trend, but you might consider adorning your Thoreauvian chinstrap with bejeweled hairpins or trying out a ’60s-inspired flowerstudded chin curtain.

College first-year Zack Gill has already embraced one of the latest beard trends. When his friend’s 16-year-old sister visited his Harkness dwelling and offered to decorate his facial fuzz, Gill couldn’t help but oblige. The College firstyear might be mistaken for a senior due to his mature facial features, given that he took a gap year and is nearing 21. Despite appearing older than his contemporaries, Gill sported a bold assortment of neon hair ties in his fluffy auburn beard for a portion of the school year, giving him an air of youth. Though he claims he wouldn’t be able to style his beard as such himself, Gill would consider switching out his current hair bands to black ones to achieve what he describes as a “more natural look.”

Gill is one of the first students at Oberlin to adopt beard beautification. While numerous Obies approve of and even advocate for the standard, non-decorative beard, campus has yet to see more creative beard-bending choices. Over the past couple of years, a flood of articles surrounding beard decoration has saturated many collegeage oriented websites, including Buzzfeed, Tumblr and Pinterest. Back in July of 2014, Buzzfeed reporter Rachel Zarrell posted about flower beards, which featured images of various men wearing different types of flowers in their facial fuzz. She credits Pierce Thiot art director of TBWA\Chiat\ Day, for starting the trend of sticking stuff in beards. Thiot runs a Tumblr account titled “Will It Beard” and posts photographs of his beard decorated with various every-day objects including but not limited to flowers, pastel-colored slinkies, raw spaghetti, gummy worms and googly eyes.

Later in December, Rachel Wilkerson Miller

— also of Buzzfeed — posted about miniature Christmas ornaments created for stringing on beards during the holidays as an alternative to summer flowers. The idea sprouted from a company called Beard Baubles, run by Pauline Ashford and Mike Kennedy of the creative agency Grey London, as part of the Beard Season Initiative to spread awareness for melanoma. The tiny baubles come in an array of festive colors and can be fastened to beard hair with the use of bobby pins.

While flowered beards might be viewed as a reincarnation of ’60s flower power, the introduction of other objects as hair accessories marks a shift in beard decoration. With the new progression in beard culture, beards now come with a handful of variations. Though many Oberlin students are outspoken beard advocates and many wear their beards with pride, not everyone agrees on the functionality of beards today.

College sophomore Sol Solomon finds decorated facial hair to be a positive fashion statement that marks a social shift. “As a person who is traditionally perceived as masculine because people tend to assume gender, facial fair is a phenomenon that I find sometimes inaccessible,” Solomon said. “However, in recent times I found that trends such as decorating beards either with flowers or other knick-knacks defies the initial perception that decorating one’s hair [is feminine] and having facial hair is masculine.

[The trend counters] the gendering of facial hair as masculine, allowing for a more accessible fashion medium for people with facial hair …

Not only is it a great fashion trend that allows … people with facial hair [to accessorize more], but it contributes to the de-heteromasculinizing of the masculine appearance.”

For College sophomore Joe Greenberg, who hasn’t shaved his robust yet moderately trimmed facial hair since high school, the beard continues to bear a more traditional meaning. “It makes me look older,” Greenberg said. “Some people wear a beard because they can [decorate it], and that’s not me.” He believes that beard decoration is not so much a fashion statement but a means of attracting attention. “I think a beard is supposed to make you look, in some sense, more masculine. If I were to analyze why I had a beard, it would be to appear as more of a professional man.”

While there are plenty of students sporting stubble, Gill still appears to be the first to try out the trend. No one can know whether or not the fad will progress on campus, but questions surrounding the beard’s connotations will persist.

Arts

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The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Feature Photos: AMAM Thursday Lecture Series

Haitian-born artist Edouard Duval-Carrié addresses an audience at the Allen Memorial Art Museum for the museum’s First Thursday lecture series, which takes place on the first Thursday of each month. Duval-Carrié gave a talk focusing on his painting Justicia, which he created as a response to the 18th-century Haitian Revolution. The painting, now on display in the AMAM’s Latinx exhibit, is one of the artist’s better-known works. After studying at L’école Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and attending universities in Canada, Duval-Carrié blossomed globally. A prolific artist, his work has been featured in various galleries amd museums and as installation art worldwide.

Text by Vida Weisblum, Arts editor Photo by Effie Kline-Salamon, Photo editor

Preservation Librarian Sustains Book Art Traditions Continued from page 10 scratches the surface. Each manuscript tells its own story, and Vermue acts as a liaison between each artifact and the teachers and students who peruse them during their sessions with him.

In addition to working with the manuscripts directly, Vermue has approached the Special Collections with a more “handson” attitude. In an effort to help students understand exactly how some of the materials in the collection were made, Vermue has developed a working knowledge of the skills necessary to replicate some of the historical processes involved in print culture.

He regularly runs workshops at the Letterpress Studio on the second floor of Mudd, helping students learn to navigate historic printing methods amid row upon row of typeface and ink rollers.

Vermue received an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario. He remained there to attain a Master of Arts in religion and culture before completing a second Master’s degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario. Vermue joined Oberlin’s staff in July of 2000 and continues to attend a variety of seminars and workshops relating to different aspects of the history of the book.

When I asked where he had picked up these skills, he smiled and said that he traveled throughout the year to different conferences that spotlighted

book arts. “I sure didn’t learn it in library school,” he said, explaining that most of his education had been focused on using the digital information systems that libraries generally employ. Now, Vermue uses that training to renegotiate the relationship between the library’s physical collection and digital text. He helps students understand how book culture developed and that many of the most meaningful clues to the historical, economic and social context of a given text are firmly wrapped up in the physical attributes of the manuscripts in the collection.

“I don’t see my function as being a warehouse – I see Special Collections as having a laboratory purpose,” he said excitedly.

Under his care, Special Collections has increasingly focused on the book arts, from the days when everything was made by hand. This focus on the interpretation of physical artifacts makes his job more like that of a museum curator than of a librarian.

Vermue looks for reader marks, binding flaws, patterns of wear or even indications of censorship to tell the story of the vast range of books under his care.

I asked if there were any particularly popular areas in the collection; there aren’t. Or rather, according to Vermue, there are, but interest in the various niches on the fourth floor of Mudd tends to shift with students’ curricula.

At the moment, the medieval manuscripts are drawing a large amount of interest, but so is the collection of documents and ar-

tifacts from the 20th century.

“Telegrams aren’t as sexy to look at as a medieval manuscript,” he quipped, explaining that the growing interest in these more recent artifacts is linked to their casual nature. Vermue’s face brightened as he began to talk about the Special Collection’s small but growing collection of artifacts of visual culture like primitive moving image devices, which the college’s Art History, Cinema Studies and Comparative Literature departments have all developed a particular interest in recently.

The librarian works directly with professors to continue to build and develop the collection.

Collection-building occasionally involves purchasing additional manuscripts or accepting donations, but according to Vermue, the majority of his time is spent searching through existing sections of the collection and reinterpreting their potential applications. “Collection-building is a little bit of a sleight of hand,” he said, going on to explain how the same material could be relevant to a range of different courses.

As interest in extra-textual objects — like the letterpress — increases, Vermue mentioned his interest in acquiring a selection of quills and exploring the history of calligraphy and paleography in more depth for his next venture.

The fourth floor of Mudd offers only limited space, and as Vermue continues to study the archives he said that he regularly finds texts that don’t belong in

Special Collections; often they shouldn’t have been there in the first place. When this happens, he simply relocates the material to the main floors and the object enters circulation with the rest of the library’s books. Rather than a comprehensive assortment of any particular literary epoch or genre, Vermue said that he is satisfied to collect only a sample — enough to teach with — of each kind of work. After we had finished talking, I stopped by the librarian’s office to check scheduling for the rest of the week; literally every surface was covered with one sort of text or another, all clamoring for attention.

A couple of days after our conversation, I watched him work with a class on 18th-century British print culture taught by Professor Laura Baudot. While the students may have been bleary-eyed and possibly coffeedeprived at 9:30 a.m., Vermue moved energetically around the table in the classroom of the Special Collections department, preparing each of the books that the students would be working with.

After Professor Baudot explained that the lab would be focused on the para-textual aspects of the selection of volumes, Vermue laid down the ground rules of working with older volumes. He talked about the texts as if they were human beings.

“Don’t force them to do something that they don’t want to do,” he said. “You wouldn’t force a human leg above the head if it didn’t want to go there.” As the class progressed, Vermue sur-

veyed the students like a hawk, a stern, almost fatherly expression on his face as he let them handle the books, with the occasional “be careful” directed at some of the more enthusiastic students.

After dividing into pairs, the class carefully studied each of the prepared volumes, with Vermue anxiously roaming around to answer questions and point out details more obvious to his trained eye. Here was the curator in action. Vermue provided an encyclopedic level of context on everything from the watermark on the paper to the economic status of the print shop that had produced the work. He has a dry, somewhat officious tone, but I felt like I’d miss something important if my attention lapsed even for a moment. He had mentioned to me that Master’s programs in the history of the book were becoming increasingly popular; I think he was happy that other institutions were developing such an interest in his field. As Vermue worked with the texts, his style of speech became less congenial, more lecture-like; he seemed more professor than librarian.

Baudot chimed in from time to time to point out the relationship of the physical context to specific narrative attributes from the class, but she generally deferred to Vermue on any matters relating to para-textual elements. “You can always look this stuff up on the computer in the other room,” she said. And then, with a smile — “Or, you know, you can just ask Ed.”

Arts

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Page 13

Composition Majors Present Cumulative Work Colin Roshak Musicians often fill Warner Concert Hall with classical and romantic masterpieces. Occasionally, the Contemporary Music Ensemble will offer some variety, but very rarely is Warner home to a concert of completely original and truly contemporary works. This past Wednesday, members of the Oberlin community were treated to a welcome change of pace: the second of three year-end concerts featuring newly composed pieces by Conservatory Composition majors. While the performances adhered to very traditional instrumentation, the music that was presented was far from normal.

First on the program was a piece for solo piano titled Bear. The piece, written by Conservatory first-year Gabriel Hawes and performed by double-degree senior Daniel Hautzinger, began triumphantly with fortissimo major chords sustained until the sound had almost completely died away.

Delicate dissonances at the highest range of the piano contrasted the strong opening chords. Hautzinger paced the music expertly, allowing for high dissonances to

be heard above the low bass chords before continuing. Punctuated by long, anticipation-filled silences, the piece alternated between thick sonorities and clearer textures. The original opening choral motif recurred many times throughout the piece, interlaced with shorter ideas derived from the same musical phrasing and melodic ideas balanced on top. The opening musical gesture was reiterated a final time at the end of the piece. Hautzinger held the final resounding chord until the sound had completely dissipated.

The next piece on the program, How about u, darling?, by Conservatory junior Greg Manuel, offered a stark contrast to the slow pace and thick texture of Bear.

Political and social commentary charged the piece, which was written for voice and piano, and expertly performed by College sophomore Jourdan Lewanda and doubledegree senior John Etsell, respectively. The libretto for the piece included subjects such as God, sexuality and societal boundaries. The piece called for a speech-like vocal technique, often called sprechstimme, highlighting the text rather than melody or harmony. The fairly simple piano part of-

fered a strong foundation which supported the text without inhibiting the vocals. The music undulated with a flowing eighthnote pulse in the piano and sporadic interruptions in the vocals. Instead of centering the voice part around melodic ideas and specific pitches, Manuel instead decided to emphasize certain groups of words and letters in different sections. The words “simple” and “similar” were often repeated, mirroring the simple piano accompaniment. Etsell played with sensitivity and nuance, giving Lewanda room to shape and contour each phrase. Lewanda occasionally gestured with her hands or made certain facial expressions, but for the most part, she let the music and text speak for itself. Lewanda made subtle changes in her demeanor and vocal inflection throughout, adding to the hazy, atmospheric feel of the piece and giving the audience a strong sense of musical direction.

The concert concluded with an inspiring performance of Come back to my body

by Geoffrey King, OC ’14. Violist and Conservatory junior Daniel Orsen and Hautzinger flawlessly maneuvered the changing moods of the piece. It began with strong

chords in the piano and a ferocious technical passage in the viola. The viola line charged ahead; Orsen played with intention, drive and unparalleled technical precision. Underneath the viola line, the piano played long sustained chords that acted as a foundation for the virtuosic viola line. Moments of sheer calamity were juxtaposed by tender interludes in which Orsen played delicate pizzicatos and Hautzinger wove descending motifs in and out of the transparent soundscape.

After a quasi-cadenza that Orsen played with flawless technique and musical intention, Hautzinger slowly joined back in. The music swelled and crescendoed before dying away and building again one more time. At last, a dramatic cut-off at the peak of the final crescendo ended the piece. Hautzinger and Orsen played with flexibility and delicacy and breathed great energy and life into the piece.

Although short, the recital offered three distinct and well-crafted pieces of varying styles. The final concert of the Composition major series is on April 22nd, and if it’s half as engaging and well-executed as this one, it should be a rousing success.

Oberlin Animal Rights Group Hosts Jamie Kilstein Show Jake Frankenfield Tonight at 7:30, Oberlin Animal Rights will host political comedian Jamie Kilstein, who will be performing his latest act “Jamie Kilstein Hates Stand Up” at the Cat in the Cream.

The progressive stand-up artist is best known for his role as co-host of the podcast Citizen Radio and co-author of Newsfail: Climate Change, Feminism, Gun Control, and Other Fun Stuff We Talk About Because Nobody Else Will. Kilstein’s political take seems to mesh well with Oberlin’s activist climate.

“The event came together after we realized as a group that we wanted to bring a speaker who would touch on issues including animal rights but would also appeal to a larger audience interested in progressive political and social issues,” said Evan Cameron, co-chair of OAR. Though he’s not a mainstream media icon, Kilstein has been an influential voice in progressive politics since the founding of Citizen Radio. “Considering how famous and well-regarded he is, we are so fortunate that Oberlin students will be able to come and see him for free,” said Ben Hanna, OAR’s other co-chair. “Jamie is so great at informing

people about really important and overlooked issues but at the same time presenting them in a way that makes people feel passionate about change instead of despair about current conditions.”

He said that hosting an esteemed guest has a positive impact on OAR’s members. “The way he incorporates comedy into his informative presentation style really makes me feel empowered about my own activism and the activism that is required to make this world a better place,” he said. The group hopes the show will appeal to anyone who is interested in political satire and its ability to shift a collective conversation. According to Cameron, the show will likely include discussion of issues such as climate change, animal rights, gun ownership and abortion rights, among other things.

Kilstein’s position on animal rights influenced OAR’s choice to bring him to campus, but that wasn’t the only factor they considered when deciding on an entertainer.

Cameron said that the criteria for their choice was based on “the current state of politics, the news and the social state of this country and the world at large that will res-

onate with many people on campus.” And according to Hanna, Oberlin students aren’t the only people who they expect to attend. “[Kilstein] has a massive fanbase in the area, and now people from all over the Northeast Ohio region will be able to come and see him perform for free.”

The show has seen a wide reach, too, as some have committed to coming from as far as Cincinnati.

His fanbase can be attributed to Citizen Radio, where he explains his unique perspective on the news. “Major broadcast corporations tend to cater to their financers’ interests, while Jamie touts Citizen Radio as a place to receive news unaffected by corporate sponsorships or the like,” Cameron said. “They receive no money from anyone except the show’s listeners and don’t run any advertisements.” As Hanna said, “Anything we can do to help his and Citizen Radio’s mission is important.” Hanna believes the event should be both entertaining and informative. “It should be a really fun event for people on this campus to feel a little better about the state and future of the world while becoming even more impassioned about change and activism,” Hanna said.

Edgy Indie-punk Artist Enchants at Memorable Show Continued from page 11 song, with its more laid-back tempo and melodic guitar solos, was enjoyable, but unfortunately her guitarist’s playing didn’t meet the caliber of the other two musicians in her band. Mitski’s guitarist wasn’t a bad player, and she did justice to the power-chord portions of the songs, but when it came to solos and melodies, she didn’t meet the standard of quality in playing that is expected of professionals. She mainly faced issues with pick technique, string muting, vibrato and tonal variation.

In between songs, Mitski would occasionally jokingly ask questions like, “What are you all doing here?” Each time she would receive a gracious response from her loving audience, and she would respond with sincere gratitude.

The set entertained consistently but got especially interesting during the last three songs. The final song that featured the full band, “drunk walk home,” began with a march-like drum beat and calm, descending vocals. Mitski quickly got the audience excited with a shouted, expletive-laden refrain. The military-esque beat continued, bringing with it a chord progression to match the melody of the vocals that built toward a grand finish. Finally, after the second verse completed, the band broke into a roaring instrumental breakdown. Suddenly, to finish the song, Mitski set into an untamed, incomprehensible bout of screams, shocking much of the crowd, who roared in admiration at the end of the song.

The other members of the band left the stage after this song. Mitski put down her hot pink bass, picked up the microphone and proceeded to swipe her hand against the still active guitar sitting on its stand, which had been left in a semi-open tuning.

She sang the next entire song accompanied by only swipes to the guitar. Feedback harmonized with her voice as her chant-like vocals reappeared. Her usage of reverb created a heavy atmosphere. She finished her set, but the audience demanded more, so she picked up the guitar for one last song, “last words of a shooting star,” a laid-back waltz that left the audience with a literal “goodbye” –– the final word uttered in the song. After the show, fans swarmed Mitski, showering her with praise. She talked to and thanked every single one of them. It was clear that she had meant what she said earlier on in the show: “I love this.”

Sports

Page 14

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Men’s Lacrosse

This week, the Review sat down with men’s lacrosse power duo, college juniors Nick Lobley and Matt Fox, to discuss their individual successes, the challenges of practicing indoors and their goals for the remainder of the season.

NL: We definitely got a good freshman class. But like I said before, some of the older guys are still in their positions. We got a really good midfielder, Reese [Koburov], he was a first-day starter.

He’s very athletic and has a very good shot. There’s definitely three or four freshmen that get good time.

MF: It’s nice that we have the older guys to help the freshmen develop their skills.

You both lead the points, goals and assists categories.

What do you attribute your individual success to?

Matt Fox: Just growing up in a hotbed of lacrosse. I’ve been playing since I was six or seven years old, so I feel like we can see the field better than most others.

Nick Lobley: We definitely play off each other. He probably has more assists, and I have more goals because he feeds me. But it’s more of a team thing. Lacrosse is just such a team sport, and you need the whole team to be playing well to put up numbers. I need everyone else doing other stuff so I can play well.

Moving into a flurry of conference games in the upcoming weeks, which teams are you expecting to be the toughest competition? Do you have any rivals?

MF: We play Denison [University] on Saturday, and they’re nationally ranked. They’re a premiere DIII program; they’re top 20 every year. So that’s going to be a really tough contest.

And then we play Kenyon [College] next Wednesday, so if we beat either of those teams we can set our path toward the playoffs. We play a couple of younger teams to finish off the year, so if we beat Denison or Kenyon we’re really in the driver’s seat to make the playoffs.

NL: Kenyon is a big rival.

We haven’t beaten them in 19 years, and our coach hates Kenyon so he kind of hypes it up.

Nick Lobley (left) and Matt Fox We’ve lost in a heartbreaking fashion to them for the last few years. I think it’s probably the most similar school in our conference.

What have been the biggest changes you’ve seen in the program from your first year up until now?

NL: When we were freshmen, we were really young, and a lot of the better players on the team were young. I think that our team has been like that for the past three or four years ever since we got our new coach.

We get these good recruiting classes, and they’re better than the year before, and keep getting better and better. But now, I think we’re at a point where some of our better players are the older guys. We had that last year a little bit too, but es-

pecially from freshman year to now.

How much does the weather influence your ability to come out strong at the beginning of each year?

MF: Spending time in Williams [Fieldhouse] is terrible.

It’s not even a third of the field that we play on. So we can’t spread out our offense or get a feel for the field. Our defense gets so used to playing in tight little zones, so if they get spread out it’s a completely different game outside.

NL: That’s one thing that the turf helps with because it gets us out earlier than the grass.

That definitely helped out a lot.

We got out two weeks earlier than last year.

What have been the most ex-

citing and the toughest parts of this year?

MF: The toughest part was losing to Capital [University] and Baldwin Wallace [University]. They’re two teams that we kind of crushed last year and were better than. And we still are better than them.

NL: The most exciting [part] was beating The College of Wooster last Saturday. That got our season back on track. With some of these worse teams it’s harder to get up, but you get more excited for home games against conference rivals. At the same time, that’s why you can’t sleep on some of these other teams.

How big of a role do you think the first-year class has played on and off the field this season?

How did you use spring break to prepare for upcoming games?

MF: We went to Annapolis, MD, and played an east coast Maryland team. It was nice to get away because our freshman year we stayed here and that kind of stinks. So it was nice to have a good break, and Annapolis is a great little town. It was fun to be with the team and travel. We practiced on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and then we left on Wednesday morning.

NL: It was a good bonding experience for the team to all stay in the same place. You only focus on lacrosse without having to worry about work and stuff like that. You get to just relax and play.

What are your goals for the rest of the season? Next year?

MF: We really want to make the conference tournament: so beat Kenyon, beat Denison. Our first year was the first year our conference had playoffs.

NL: DePauw and Hiram are first-year programs that have never even had teams. So ever since there’s been eight teams in our conference, they’ve started playoffs. There’s only been two years of playoffs. It used to just be off of record, which isn’t that fun.

Interview by Tyler Sloan, Sports editor Photo by Eli Steiker-Ginzberg

Suh’s Mega-Deal Top Move of NFL Offseason Dan Bisno and Henry Weissberg Columnists We bet you’re wondering what we are going to throw at you this week. Will it be a left jab of basketball analysis? Or a righty uppercut of football talk? Oh yeah, that’s the one. We’re talking NFL. Football! Football! Football! There is no offseason for us.

Free agent signings and offseason trades are what keep us warm during the dreary final days of winter.

We are here to update you on the most important offseason moves in the NFL. Practically as exciting as the regular NFL season, the offseason is a time when millions are made and championship teams are crafted. With dozens of difference makers available, the offseason is like a trip to Disneyland for general managers.

Now, without further ado, the top moves of the 2015 NFL offseason.

The New York Jets were clearly still bitter about losing their stud cornerback Darrelle Revis in the 2013 offseason, so they went out of their way to get him back.

They signed their former first-round pick to a record-setting deal that will pay him

$70 million over the next five years. Last season, Revis’ one-on-one coverage skills allowed the New England Patriots to experiment with different pass-rush options, a structural change that surely assisted in the team’s Super Bowl run. Now, “Revis Island” returns to New York, where he will add a defensive security blanket that will allow Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson to get after opposing quarterbacks. Because of the huge impact he’s likely to have, we say he’s the fourth biggest acquisition of this offseason.

In the biggest surprise of the offseason, the Seattle Seahawks traded starting center Max Unger and a 2015 first-round pick to the Saints for former All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham and a fourth-round pick.

If you’ve forgotten, the Seahawks were one poorly timed pass away from winning back-to-back Super Bowls. The Seahawks refused to stand on that recent success, though. Graham is the model for the contemporary superhuman tight end. He’s a former college basketball player who has speed, can line up in the spread and is a beast in the end zone. Graham led the league with 16 touchdowns in 2013 and

had another 10 in 2014. His addition to the Seahawks turns a heavy contender into the favorite to win it all. Graham is the owner of the largest contract ever given to a tight end, and a beneficiary of the third most significant move in the new NFL year.

Leaving teams for the biggest paycheck is one thing we don’t approve of, but that’s the opposite of what this 214-pound running back did. DeMarco Murray leaving the Dallas Cowboys for the Philadelphia Eagles was all about the chance to earn a shiny gold ring next February. Murray is fresh off a career year in which he led the league with 1,845 rushing yards, tied for the league lead with 13 rushing touchdowns and finally proved he could stay healthy. Now he’s cashed in big time. He began the season with an explosion that dug shrapnel into the ghosts of running backs past. Murray broke Jim Brown’s legendary record of six consecutive 100-yard games to start the season. As the hottest running back on the market this offseason, he was quickly picked up by the Eagles for a respectable $42 million over five years. His one-year-old daughter Savannah is gonna have one heck of a cool crib

and cradle. We share Head Coach Chip Kelly’s excitement about his newest toy, and for that Murray takes the No. 2 position on our listicle.

While Ndamukong Suh may not have held an hour-long television special about his free agency decision, he did take his talents to South Beach. Just one year after J.J. Watt signed the largest defensive contract in NFL history, Suh received a contract worth $114 million over six years, eclipsing Watt’s deal by a staggering $14 million. That’s a boatload of dough!

Among defensive tackles, Suh leads the league with 36 sacks, a 50% disruptive play percentage, and 4,107 total snaps since 2010. Last year he was the centerpiece of a stalwart Detroit Lions defense that ranked first in rushing yards allowed per game.

Suh fills a heavy need for the Miami Dolphins as they ranked a lowly 24th in run defense last season. His addition is probably enough to push them into the top 10. The former unanimous All-American from Nebraska is a decorated NFL all-star.

Bringing a Lombardi trophy to Miami will make him a future hall of famer and prove us right for ranking him No. 1.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, April 3, 2015

Page 15

Out West, Women’s Lacrosse Wins Big

Feature Photo: Softball

Continued from page 16

First-year pitcher Sandra Kibble delivers a pitch in a game against the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops last Tuesday. Kibble leads the team with 10 appearances and 12 strikeouts. Coming off an 11-win season, the Yeowomen have struggled this year, dropping each of their last 12 games after winning the season opener, including all nine of their spring break games in Clermont, FL. They will look to get back on track on Saturday when they host the Kenyon College Ladies at Culhane Field.

Caption by Nate Levinson, Sports editor Photo by Mike Plotz, Photo editor

Editorial: No Guarantee Durant Will Return to Full Health Continued from page 16 ments. In the NFL, Robert Griffin III may never be the same after injuring his knee, and in the MLB, the Cubs’ Mark Prior and Kerry Wood both flashed tantalizing talent before succumbing to arm injuries.

Basically, there’s no guarantee Durant will ever be the same.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining for Durant.

Bill Walton, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ming all saw their careers wrecked by foot injuries, but they were big men whose already limited mobility was zapped by their injury. Durant may be 6’10”, but he’s nothing like those guys. He’s a thin, agile scorer who relies on his lethal jump shot and freak athleticism rather than his footwork around the rim. There are no guarantees,

of course, but he’s only 26, and as long as he and the Thunder are cautious with his rehab, he has a good shot at regaining his MVP form.

For what it’s worth, Durant is also optimistic that he’ll return to full strength next season. He wrote on his Instagram account that the injury was just a “small obstacle,” though he also acknowledged that this season has not gone as he envisioned.

I’m also cautiously optimistic that this is all one big overreaction and that Durant will return to MVP form as soon as next season. Basketball is way better off with a healthy Durant leading the Thunder deep into the playoffs and carving a path toward the Hall of Fame. Durant’s long been heralded for his incredible drive and work ethic, but here’s hoping he takes some time off to sit back and get healthy — the NBA needs him.

Home Games This Week Friday, April 3 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. –Softball vs. The College of Wooster at Culhane Field

Saturday, April 4

11 a.m. – Track and Field hosts Bob Kahn Invite at Kahn Track 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. – Softball vs. Kenyon College (DH) at Culhane Field

Wednesday, April 8

4:30 p.m. – Women’s tennis vs. The College of Wooster at the Heisman Field House 7 p.m. – Men’s lacrosse vs. Kenyon College in the Austin E. Knowlton Athletic Complex

Thursday, April 9

5 p.m. – Women’s tennis vs. Denison University at the Heisman Field House

finish last season pretty competitively and conference games are always tougher than non-conference games, but this year we’ve had a tougher schedule and that is promising for us,” she said.

The Yeowomen played well in the first of seven consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference games against the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops on Wednesday, dominating the Bishops 15–1. Phister scored five goals and an Ohio Wesleyan goal with under a minute remaining in the game was the only thing between the team and a shutout.

Schumacher downplayed the game’s importance because the Battling Bishops have struggled this season but said the game was “a chance to show the rest of the conference what we can do.”

Two years removed from a 4–11 campaign, the Yeowomen have taken huge steps to become major players in the NCAC. Strong recruiting and coaching

by McCandlish has a lot do with that, but the team’s improved confidence has also played a part in its success.

“We are a lot more composed than we were in years past, and that has led to results,” said senior defender Jodi Helsel.

“This is the first year where we feel like we can not only compete in the tough conference games but also win them.”

The team will look to stay perfect in NCAC play when it takes on the Wittenberg University Tigers next Tuesday, April 7 in Springfield, Ohio.

Baseball Fights Fatigue, Drops to 9–12 Following Tucson Invitational Continued from page 16 first-years Sean Kiley, Liam Flaherty and Nicholas Morgan as potentially strong assets for the team. However, with a senior-heavy squad occupying seven of nine starting spots, the firstyears might see less playing time heading into upcoming North Coast Athletic Conference games.

After Oberlin’s game against Gustavus Adolphus, the team played Williams College and Middlebury College in back-to-back games on Monday, March 23. Seniors Kyle Decker, Jeff Schweighoffer, Andrew Hutson, Benjamin Whitener and Danny Baldocchi laced consecutive singles to score two runs early in the first inning against Williams. The Yeomen added three more runs in the first inning, which Hutson said was an intense start to the game, with trash-talk being exchanged between Williams’ pitchers and Oberlin’s hitters. However, he said that the tension created a more competitive and fun environment.

“It got heated, needless to say,” Hutson said. “The dugouts cleared out for a minute, but I think it helped fire up the team and helped catapult us into beating them.”

The Yeomen pulled out a much closer 14–13 win against Middlebury.

The team fell behind early in the game, trailing 12–4 in the fifth inning, but was able to claw its way back in the game to ultimately score 10 runs in the final six innings en route to a walkoff win. After Hutson tied the game with a sac fly in the eighth inning, junior catcher Brian Hemmert added the final blow on a bases-loaded single to score classmate Josh Newborn for the game-

winning run. Baldocchi attributed the come-from-behind win to bench players producing in key spots.

“For whatever reason, Middlebury always gives us a close game, even though we know we are infinitely better than them,” he said. “But Mike Massala got the game-tying hit, which is huge from a sophomore who has gotten maybe 15 career at bats to come in with the game on the line and get a huge hit that let us win the game.”

Oberlin continued its up-and-down play throughout the rest of the week, losing in both games on Tuesday, March 24 against Carthage and Carleton Colleges but besting them in rematches the following day. With most of the week behind them, the Yeomen’s momentum waned heading into their last doubleheaders against Lewis and Clark College and Grace University.

Oberlin lost to Lewis and Clark 7–5 in its first game and suffered a more decisive 12–6 loss in the second contest.

The Yeomen continued that streak in their doubleheader with Grace University, losing 11–3, 9–5. Schweighoffer said that the team was exhausted and out of pitchers after playing in so many games, which contributed to the losses late in the week.

Moving forward, the Yeomen will kick off their first weekend of conference doubleheaders against Hiram College this Friday at 3 p.m. in Hiram, Ohio. Schweighoffer said that the Yeomen will have to be wary of not playing down to Hiram’s level.

“Hiram is definitely not bad,” he said. “We need to play a hard-hitting game and take them like a top team, or they can sneak up on you sometimes and win a couple of games.”

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

April 3, 2015

— Women’s Lacrosse —

Yeowomen Sweep Spring Break Games Nate Levinson Sports Editor The women’s lacrosse team traveled to Oregon and Washington over spring break, winning all three of its games to push its season record to 7–1.

After defeating the the DePauw University Tigers 12–5 on Saturday, March 21 in its last game before the road trip, the team played games on Tues-

day, Thursday and Friday, picking up wins over the University of Puget Sound Loggers, the George Fox University Bruins and the Pacific University Boxers.

Against the Tigers, the Yeowomen dominated from the outset, scoring six unanswered goals to start the game. They led 7–1 at the half and never looked back, thanks to multiple goals by junior midfielder Grace Bar-

low, senior co-captain and midfielder Kate Hanick, first-year midfielder Sydney Garvis and sophomore attacker Sara Phister. Sophomore goalkeeper Alexa L’Insalata also played well, making 15 saves.

Three days later against the Loggers in Tacoma, WA, the team wasn’t nearly as dominant early on but rode a strong second half to a

Senior captain and midfielder Kate Hanick sprints down the field during a home game against the DePauw University Tigers on March 21. The Yeowomen have won six games in a row and are 8–1 on the season.

Courtesy of Erik Andrews

13–8 victory. After heading into the half tied at five, the Yeowomen finished the game on an 8–3 run to keep their winning streak alive.

The team’s next game against the Bruins followed a similar script.

After trailing 5–4 at halftime, the Yeowomen ultimately won 11–8. Barlow led the comeback as she scored three of her gamehigh five goals in the second half.

The comeback victories were the Yeowomen’s first of the season, and Head Coach Lynda McCandlish hopes they will benefit the team later in the season.

“It was an awesome confidence booster for us, knowing that we can come back in the second half of games and win even if we are down at halftime,” she said.

Though the Yeowomen gained valuable experience from the close games early in the week, the team was happy to head home with an easy 11–4 game against the Boxers in their third and final spring break game.

L’Insalata played well

again, making 13 saves to lead the Yeowomen’s effort.

Now, the key for the team will be to continue its strong play. The Yeowomen got off to a strong start last season as well, winning their first five games. They struggled to keep up the pace once conference games began, however, and lost five of their final eight games.

This year, the team is healthier, and, according to senior co-captain and attacker Bronwen Schumacher, confident it won’t hit a similar snag.

“Last year we had a lot of injuries. Sara Phister was out in the middle of spring break, and this year she’s been doing a really great job. Same thing with Kate Hanick,” said Schumacher. “We also have a very deep team, especially when it comes to attack.”

McCandlish also feels the stiffer competition that the team has faced early this season will benefit them in the tougher conference matchups.

“I think that we did See Out, page 15

— Baseball —

Yeomen Inconsistent, Go 6–8 On Trip to Arizona Tyler Sloan Sports Editor The baseball team returns to Oberlin after a 14-game stretch at the Tucson Invitational over its spring break trip to Tucson, AZ. The Yeomen faced competition from all over the country at the weeklong event, finishing with a 6–8 record to push their overall record to 9–12.

The Yeomen started the week off with back-to-back doubleheaders against Hamline University and Gustavus Adolphus College, both Minnesota-based schools that also made the trip out west for the competition.

Oberlin split the first doubleheader to Hamline, dropping a close 8–7 affair in the first game before bouncing back with a convincing 11–5 victory in the second contest. The Yeomen used this energy to propel themselves over Gustavus Adolphus in their first game 6–2, but couldn’t muster the momentum to close out the second game in a 19–10 loss.

Head Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz said that playing 14 games over the seven-day stretch definitely pushes the team to exhaustion, but that the objective of the trip was to assess the team’s tal-

ent and prepare for the upcoming conference games.

“I always say if you can play 14 games in seven days, playing four games in two days should be really easy on the weekend,” Abrahamowicz said. “So we use it to

evaluate talent and to give younger guys an opportunity to get on the field too. We went down there with 43 guys dressed, and everyone played.”

First-year Milo Sklar was one of the 10 first-year baseball players

who used the Tucson Invitational to showcase their abilities. Abrahamowicz said that Sklar was one of the key contributors of his class as a relief pitcher; he also named See Baseball, page 15

NBA Will Miss Durant On March 27, news broke that Oklahoma Thunder superstar forward Kevin Durant would miss the remainder of the NBA season due to complications in recovering from a Jones fracture in his right foot, which he suffered in early October of last year.

He’s since had bone graft surgery, beginning his long road to recovery.

In the short run, Durant’s injury is a huge bummer because it deprives NBA fans of one of the league’s brightest stars and most marketable players. At full strength, he’s the best pure scorer in the league and forms the most exciting duo in the NBA along with Russell Westbrook. When he returns, Durant will be just a season away from entering unrestricted free agency, and he’ll have plenty to prove. Prior to the injury, Durant’s path toward the Hall of Fame was unquestioned, but now it’s uncertain whether he’ll regain his all-world ability.

Durant had missed just two games in the last three seasons prior to this year, but one misstep has his future in doubt. There are likely still countless people out there who consider Durant to be the heir apparent to LeBron James as the best player in the NBA, but he’s no longer the slam dunk choice he once was. Some of that is due to the emergence of Westbrook and Anthony Davis this season, but a lot of it also has to do with this injury. That Durant initially rushed to get back only to succumb to the pain makes it even scarier.

The potential long-term ramifications of Durant’s injury are frightening. Foot injuries are notoriously difficult to recover from, and far too many athletes have seen their once-promising careers cut short in recent memory. In the NBA, we’ve seen Yao Ming, Greg Oden and Derrick Rose fall from grace after foot and knee ailSee Editorial, page 15

Senior pitcher Benjamin Whitener winds up for a pitch in a game against Williams College last Monday, March 23 at the Tucson Invitational in Tucson, AZ. The Yeomen defeated Williams 11–3 and went 6–8 over spring break.

Courtesy of Mike Mancini