October 30, 2015 by The Oberlin Review

The Oberlin Review

OCTOBER 30, 2015 VOLUME 144, NUMBER 7

Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week Time for Track or Treat The Oberlin College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Oberlin City School District will hold the third annual Track or Treat event at the John W. Heisman indoor track today from 6–7:30 p.m. Varsity athletics teams are hosting various booths with games, activities and treats for families to enjoy in celebration of Halloween. Adults must accompany children under the age of 11. Cast Your Vote Here Registered voters have the opportunity to voice their opinions on three statewide ballot initiatives and City Council candidates on Election Day this Tuesday, Nov. 3. Issue 1 proposes creating a new committee to redraft voting districts throughout the state in an attempt to alleviate concerns over gerrymandering. Issue 2, which restricts monopolies, has the potential to halt the marijuana legalization initiative, Issue 3, if both are passed. Voters can cast their ballot at the polling place inside of Philips gym on 200 Woodland Street. OCS Offers Accessible Bike Rentals Oberlin Community Services is now renting out bikes to community members free of charge. The College’s Green EDGE Fund donated bikes, helmets and locks to OCS, helping to increase the accessibility of public transportation in Oberlin. City Council candidates expressed interest in prioritizing increased public transportation in Oberlin at a candidates’ meeting last Monday night.

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Candidates Address City Council Priorities Tyler Sloan News Editor City Council candidates crammed onto a small stage to field questions at the Oberlin Community Candidates Night at the First Church in Oberlin last Monday. Fourteen contenders addressed the most pressing issues for next term’s Council members in the hopes of procuring one of the seven available seats. “For the Council, [Green Acres] has got to be one of the top priorities for the next group,” said David Ashenhurst, who sat on City Council from 2006 to 2009, in response to moderator Alan Mitchell’s question about what the City Council’s priorities should be aside from deciding how to proceed with Renewable Energy Credits. RECs have become a hot-button issue for City Council hopefuls this campaign season. Oberlin’s greenenergy investments resulted in an $800,000 rebate to the city, and candidates are split on how they want to use that money in the future. Options include a pro-rata return to the various ratepayers or investing in further citywide green initiatives, according to the League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area. “The City must return the overrecovery of wholesale power costs to the ratepayers,” said Scott Broadwell, City Council president, in a statement for the LWV voter’s guide. “The ratepayers should be allowed to make their own decisions about how they wish to spend their over-recovered funds.” Broadwell was not present at last Monday’s event due to an injury.

City Council candidates address a crowd of over 100 people at the Oberlin Community Candidates Night at First Church in Oberlin. Fourteen candidates are competing for the seven available seats on the City Council. Juliette Greene

Council member Kristin Peterson, who is not running for reelection, was also missing from the stage. Their absences made room for more newcomers to voice their opinions about how the City Council should focus its energy next term. “Council could do more to reach out to youth,” said David Sokoll, OC ’10, by far the youngest of the 14 candidates. “Part of that would be outreach to the community and finding new ways to engage people.” Job creation and local economic development permeated each candidate’s campaign, especially when addressing the question of what City Council’s role should be in helping its most vulnerable, low-income citizens. The 2010 United States census showed Oberlin’s poverty rate at 20 percent.

City Council Vice President Sharon Fairchild-Soucy echoed Sokoll’s concerns regarding youth engagement and unemployment in Oberlin. Soucy said that the City Council needs to focus on three major areas to help both young and low-income people: creating more local jobs, developing affordable housing and raising the minimum wage. Others approached the issue of economic sustainability with establishing a better public transportation system. Council member Sharon Pearson argued that focusing on public transit, along with more job trainings and opportunities, could help alleviate the high level of poverty in Oberlin. “There are low-income people who are looking for affordable, suitable housing,” Pearson said. “Social

Board Rejects Student Divestment Proposals Louis Krauss Staff Writer The Board of Trustees told Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment and Students for a Free Palestine that it will not implement their proposals to reduce or halt College investments in controversial companies. Board of Trustees Chair Clyde McGregor, OC ’74, told the five members of the Fossil Fuel Divestment group — College junior Ellie Lezak, double-degree junior Hayden Arp, College junior Jasper Clarkberg, College sophomore Naomi Roswell and Stephen Lezak, OC ’15 — last Thursday that the College currently does not invest in the 12 companies that students identified as the top greenhouse gas emitters. “The power of divestment lies not in the economic impacts it has on target companies,

but in the political statement of an impassioned and public withdrawal from the fossil fuel industry,” said members of Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment in a statement. “The Board’s statement was passive, private and did not condemn the actions of the companies in question.” Both groups submitted proposals through Student Senate last year. They asked the College to reduce its investments in a number of companies that either contribute the most to greenhouse emissions or benefit from Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The Board of Trustees has not publicized these announcements, but has been in direct correspondence with representatives from both groups. “The Board will examine ways in which the College can continue to advance measures to ensure that the College retains its leadership in

Marijuana Monopoly? Ballot initiatives clashed over the logistics of legalizing marijuana.

justice gets the short end of the stick. With that regard, I think we need to focus on local jobs and training and public transportation.” Candidates also stressed the importance of increasing transparency between the Council and local residents. City Council member Ronnie Rimbert said that facilitating communication between the Council, administration and residents is the most important function of a Council member. Issues that also recieved extensive coverage were creating a water-utility plan, improving the City’s infrastructure, finishing the Green Acres project and helping local businesses. Voters will have the opportunity to select the seven candidates who will serve a two-year term on City Council on Election Day this Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Fire Away Men’s Soccer dominated in their match against Hiram this Wednesday.

Prodigious Performers Conservatory students took on peer composers’ pieces.

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INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

Arts 10

Sports 16

environmental sustainability,” said McGregor in an email to Oberlin Fossil Fuel Divestment. The group said it is disappointed that the Board refused to promise to refrain from investments in the companies, adding that the trustees missed an opportunity to make a stronger statement by not placing a moratorium on future investments. “While we’re certainly pleased to know that Oberlin does not currently hold direct investments in the 12 companies outlined in our proposal, this statement holds little weight if we could be reinvested in them tomorrow,” said the Fossil Fuel Divestment group in an email to the Review. The group’s representatives said their next task is to make the Board commit to a policy See College, page 4

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The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

Group Releases Strategic Plan Draft Oliver Bok News Editor Smaller tuition increases, a new program strengthening student-alumni relationships and inter-departmental courses — the new draft of the Strategic Plan contains all of those components in its vision for the College’s future. The Steering Committee released a new draft of the Plan on Tuesday, intended to guide the Board of Trustees’ decision-making for the next 10 years. The Committee consists of administrators, trustees, alumni, staff and students. The draft of the new plan recommends “slow[ing] the rate of annual increases in student charges.” This language marks a shift from the 2005 plan, which called for increasing net tuition, the total amount of tuition collected while factoring in financial aid. But the contrast between the two plans on tuition is not as clear as it may appear at first glance. The College could continue to increase net tuition while slowing the rate of increase. The draft stops well short of meeting student demands from last semester for a tuition freeze. In addition, it remains unclear whether the draft recommends slowing increases in the sticker price or net tuition. According to Diane Yu, deputy president at New York University and co-chair of the Steering Committee, and Kathryn Stuart, vice president of strategic initiatives and committee coordinator, specific budgetary decisions such as the size of future tuition increases have yet to be made. “[T]here are many moving parts in our budget,

including net tuition and sticker price, that must be studied further by members of senior staff and by the Board of Trustees before we can make the best budgetary decisions for Oberlin for the next three to five years,” wrote Yu and Stuart in an email to the Review. However, according to the new draft of the Strategic Plan, the Board has already decided to reduce the endowment payout deducted each year to bankroll operating expenses. “We have reduced our endowment payout for support of operations to 5 percent, and our total endowment payout from a peak of 7.2 percent in 2008 to 6.1 percent in 2015,” the draft states. “This purposeful reduction in spending will help preserve the purchasing power of our endowment and help give our successors the ability to support Oberlin’s mission for many generations to come.” A reduction in the endowment payout combined with smaller tuition increases will necessitate cuts to the operating budget. But as with any budgetary compromise, the spending cuts will likely make other priorities in the Strategic Plan draft difficult to achieve. The promise to raise faculty compensation to equal the median of the College’s peers especially conflicts with cuts to the operating budget, as the majority of the operating budget goes directly to salaries and benefits. Yu and Stuart openly acknowledged that some of the priorities in the draft of the Strategic Plan conflict and stated that the College will have to decide See Draft, page 4

Ballot Initiatives Clash as Marijuana Legalization Faces Issue 2 Hurdle Jack Rockwell A ballot initiative that virtually bans monopolies could potentially neutralize Issue 3, the marijuana legalization initiative, if both amendments are approved on Election Day this Tuesday. Many argue that Issue 3 creates a monopoly on the marijuana industry because it demands that 10 facilities have exclusive rights to commercial production of cannabis and excludes smaller growers from the market. Issue 2 calls for the ballot board to review whether the initiative constitutes a monopoly, oligopoly or cartel and to reject it if it does. “Issue 2 is premised on the assumption that [Issue 3] should not be used to promote special interests on the Ohio ballot,” said Steven Steinglass, dean emeritus of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. Issue 2, which was written and fast-tracked onto the ballot by Ohio legislators, arose almost immediately following the introduction of Issue 3. The Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative materialized following widespread commercial support for the legislation. ResponsibleOhio, the primary group pushing for mari-

juana legalization, spearheaded this effort. Still, Issue 2 has split marijuana legalization advocates. While some argue that legalization should come at any cost, certain factions insist that Issue 2 will allow for better legislation in the long run. “Issue 2 is important because it prevents future monopolies,” said Sri Kavuru, president and cofounder of Ohioans to End Prohibition and an Issue 2 supporter. “If [Issue] 2 passes and [Issue] 3 fails, which we think will happen, a legalization plan like [Issue 3] will never come back, so we are guaranteed better legalization.” Interim Vice President of the Ohio Rights Group John Pardee and others spoke in a panel discussion on Issue 2 and Issue 3 at Craig Auditorium last Tuesday. Pardee and others expressed skepticism about the motives of Issue 2 due to legislators’ lack of protest against existing monopolies in the liquor and casino industries. Steinglass, who also spoke at Tuesday’s panel, said that Ohio’s state constitution provides for direct citizen initiatives, which can be introduced to the ballot in the general elections. He added that if Issue 2 were to pass, future citizen initiatives such as Issue 3 could be

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October 30, 2015

Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch. Second-class postage paid at Oberlin, Ohio. Entered as second-class matter at the Oberlin, Ohio post office April 2, 1911. POSTMASTER SEND CHANGES TO: Wilder Box 90, Oberlin, Ohio 44074-1081. Office of Publication: Burton Basement, Oberlin, Ohio 44074. Phone: (440) 775-8123 Fax: (440) 775-6733 On theOn web: thehttp://www.oberlinreview.org web: oberlinreview.org

blocked more easily, and that this poses a threat to the direct-democracy tool of citizen initiatives. While there is strong consensus that Issue 2 would neutralize Issue 3, some believe that the language of the amendment might stall its approval. Pardee described Issue 2 as “rushed, poorly written and ripe for legal challenges.” Whether Issue 3 actually con-

stitutes a monopoly will still be up in the air even if Issue 2 passes. Anthony Giardini, member of the executive committee of the Ohio Marijuana Legalization Campaign Initiative, said at the panel last Tuesday that Issue 3 would hold strong against Issue 2’s legislation. Still, many believe that because the growth facilities are exclusive to large corporations, longtime legalization advocates who sought

to grow on a local level will not be rewarded for their activism. Issue 3 does, however, allow for individuals to grow marijuana plants not for commercial sale. “There are 10 growth facilities, all of which will be competing with one another to give business to 1,100 retailers in Ohio,” Giardini said. “The word ‘monopoly’ is not in Issue 3, and Issue 3 is not a monopoly.”

Six speakers discuss the pros and cons of Issue 2 and Issue 3 at a panel in Craig Lecture Hall last Tuesday. The two ballot initiatives are highly controversial, as Issue 2 could nullify Issue 3 if they both pass this Election Day. Benjamin Shepherd, Photo editor

Julian Liv Combe Ring Madeline Allegra Kirkland Stocker Managing editor Samantha Vida Weisblum Link News editors Rosemary Oliver Boeglin Bok Alex Tyler Howard Sloan Opinions editor Will Kiley Rubenstein Petersen This Week Weekeditor editor Zoë Hannah Strassman Berk Arts editors Louise Kara Edwards Brooks Georgia Danny Evans Horn Sports editors Sarena Quinn Malsin Hull Madeleine Randy O’Meara Ollie Layout manager editors Talia Tiffany Rodwin Fung Layout editors Abby Ben Garfinkel Carlstad Alanna Alexa Sandoval Corey Photo editors NathalieOlivia Hawthorne Gericke Photo editors Brannon Rockwell-Charland Bryan Rubin Online editor Alanna Ben Shepherd Bennett Editors-in-chief Editors-in-Chief

Business manager Maureen CurtisCoffey Cook Business manager Savi Sedlacek Ads manager Caley Watnick Ads manager Reshard el-Shair Online editor Cyrus Eosphoros Production Sophia Bamert Production manager manager Hazel Galloway Production staff Stephanie Bonner Production staff Victoria Albacete Emma Eisenberg Ryanne TaylorBerry Field KiraHamilton Findling Katherine Annelise Giseburt Julia Hubay Tracey Knott Auden Granger Noah Morris Jennifer Jimenez Anna Peckham Sami Mericle Silvia Sheffield JuliaDrew Peterson Wise Distributors AnneJoe Buckwalter Distributors Camper Natalie Rathgeber Joseph Dilworth JosephJames Misterovich Kuntz

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Corrections: The Review is not aware of any corrections week. The Review is not awarethis of any corrections at this time. To submit a correction, email The Review strives to print all managingeditor@oberlinreview.org. information as accurately as possible. If you feel the Review has made an error, please send an e-mail to managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.

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Off the Cuff: Sonia Shah, Investigative Reporter and Science Journalist Sonia Shah, OC ’90, is the author of several books, including The Body Hunters: Testing New Drugs on the World’s Poorest Patients, a 2006 exposé on how the pharmaceutical industry uses patients from developing countries to conduct clinical trials. Shah’s journalism has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, The Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. Her new book, Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, will come out in February. The Review sat down with Shah on Tuesday before she spoke at Finney Chapel as part of the convocation series on Tuesday night. In your opinion, how prepared are we for the next pandemic? Not very prepared. I think our response is reactive. Epidemics grow exponentially, and the way our current system works, we only start trying to control them after that exponential growth has already started. So we only notice that these disease outbreaks are happening after a lot of people get sick and die. And because they grow exponentially, that’s too late. So with early detection, we can actually push that earlier and save a lot of lives. We could even get to a point where we could squelch these outbreaks before they even start to spread. And that’s sort of what my whole book is about: How do we get there? And the answer to that question is very large. You have to look at what are all the underlying drivers that allow pathogens to become pandemics. During the Ebola crisis, a lot of countries chose or seriously considered choosing to close their borders or limit their exposure to Ebola instead of sending aid. To what extent is this responding to

Thursday, Oct. 22 8:27 p.m. Student staff requested that officers pick up three bottles of wine found in the second floor kitchenette of Asia House. The wine was transported to the Security Office, where it was disposed.

Friday, Oct. 23 4:32 a.m. Custodial staff reported water in the basement of the bi-

a political collective action problem versus just a public health issue? The Ebola outbreak was illustrative of so many final errors. There actually was evidence that Ebola was in West Africa maybe 10 or 15 years before the outbreak happened, and it was people who were studying related but different diseases who were looking at blood samples and saw that, “Oh my god, all these people have antibodies to Ebola, which means that they had been exposed.” But that never rose to prominence in the way that it should have, and it was partially because Sonia Shah, science journalist and author of Pandemic: Tracking Contathat whole area had been dev- gions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond astated by 10 years of warfare. So they didn’t have any kind of es,” and the medical establish- that had a few cases, a handful, health care infrastructure there ment basically was saying, “We no more than five or six. So no, anymore. don’t have Ebola in West Africa. but it was a big epidemic. Ebola actually is really sim- Therefore, you have not seen ple to control if you get it at the Ebola. It must be something What made you want to be a beginning, if you isolate each else, since that doesn’t fit our journalist? case and don’t rupture their definition.” The Oberlin Review, actually. connection to other people — So it took a lot longer, and I’m not kidding. I started here isolate them when they’re sick because these things grow ex- as a pre-med student freshman and when they’re dead, that’s ponentially, by the time we year because both my parents the only time that they’re infec- started to try to ring this fire, were doctors. Got stymied with tious to other people. There’s no there had already been so many organic chemistry and loved carriers that we know. You only independent chains of trans- philosophy, loved neuroscience. get infected if you touch the mission that it was just out of I started working at the paper bodily fluids of someone who’s control. And it’s still going on because I wanted to do somesick and dying. So you isolate to this day. Literally, this epi- thing extra while I was here, the sick and the dying, which demic’s not over. I don’t know and that was the only thing that is something that’s routine in if that gets to your underlying seemed neutral and honorable other countries like here; when question, but I just think that at the same time to me. I think do you ever touch the fluids of it’s a combination of all these it just fit my temperament besomeone who’s sick? That hard- different factors: political fail- cause I started off as a reporter, ly ever happens because you ures, social failures, neglect — then I became News editor, then isolate them. So if you had had all these failures to recognize became Managing editor, then I those facilities on the ground evidence when it should have was Editor-in-Chief when I left. in those places at the time, it come to our attention. And literally probably the mawouldn’t have even needed anyjority of my time, junior and sething fancy or technically dif- Does the Ebola outbreak nior year for sure, was working ficult or expensive to control qualify as a pandemic? on the paper, and it just really that outbreak. It could’ve been It doesn’t. A pandemic is clicked for me. And I think part controlled right at the begin- an outbreak of a disease that of it is being a shy person. I’m a ning, but we didn’t recognize starts in one part of the world shy person, that’s temperamenthe early warnings that it was and spreads like a wave across tally, but I’m also really curious there. Then when the first cases populations and continents, and being a journalist is sort of emerged, it took weeks before and in terms of how far it has that perfect combination that the public health authorities to spread, there’s no technical you can just go up to random recognized it. Doctors Without definition of that. But Ebola was people and ask them lots of Borders was on the ground and localized in West Africa. There questions, and it gives you an saying, “We’re seeing Ebola cas- were maybe six other countries excuse for doing that.

ology section of the Science Center. Officers responded and observed water leaking from the ceiling heating unit into the coils. The facilities manager on call was notified and maitenance staff responded.

7:34 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student at the Conservatory who was feeling ill. The student declined medical attention and walked home with friends.

Sunday, Oct. 25

Monday, Oct. 26

12:25 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Lord-Saunders. Smoke from cooking caused the alarm. The area was cleared of smoke with fans and the alarm was reset.

3:55 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm on the second floor of Langston Hall. Smoke from cooking activated the alarm. The area was cleared and the alarm was reset.

Tuesday, Oct. 27 9:00 a.m. Mudd library staff reported vandalism to several floors of the Carnegie stacks. An officer responded and observed broken glass on the first, second and third floors. It is unknown who is responsible for the damage. A work order was filed for clean up and repair. 5:16 p.m. Officers were requested to assist with a student choking in Stevenson Dining Hall. Upon arrival, officers found the student was OK. The

So it was the Review, absolutely. It gave me such a great training ground because we did everything, which I’m sure you guys still do. We were training reporters, learning it on the job, we did all the layout, we did all the design, the assignments — everything. And that was just really inspiring. How did the childhood experience of routinely visiting your family in India while growing up in New York City influence your work as a journalist? I think that was a really critical part of being curious about inequity, because it’s just an obvious fact when you visit a place like Bombay in the 1970s when you have kids living on the street right outside our building. And I was just a little kid when I saw that — 7 or 8 — and there’s little kids having their bath and eating their dinner on the sidewalk, and I didn’t understand why. And my parents would tell me things like, “Well, you know, they’re there because they’re poor.” Well, OK, then why are they poor? “Well, it’s because their parents don’t have good jobs.” I’d say, why don’t they have good jobs? “Well, because they didn’t get a good education.” Why didn’t they get a good education? “Well, because they’re poor.” Wait a second, that goes around in a circle! And I don’t think anyone has ever been able to explain it to me properly. I don’t think we really have come fully to terms with the fact that this very tiny percentage of the human population owns this huge percentage of the world’s resources and the long historical processes that made that happen that way. It’s still something I’m trying to unravel, and I think those early experiences really started me thinking about that. Interview by Oliver Bok, News editor Photo courtesy of Glenford Nuñez

student was advised against talking and chewing at the same time.

Wednesday, Oct. 28 6:45 a.m. Members of te custodial staff at Dascomb Hall reported that an unknown person stuffed paper towels into a toilet in the men’s restroom on the first floor. Paper towels and rubber gloves were also thrown onto the floor of the bathroom. The bathroom was closed until clean-up could be completed.

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The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

International Students Call for More Support Xiaoqian Zhu A group of international students presented proposals regarding the perceived lack of cultural, academic and career support for international students at the Board of Trustees forum on Thursday, Oct. 8. The draft of suggested improvements is reflective of the unease many international students have felt transitioning to Oberlin, students say. While Oberlin provides some programs for international students, such as designated pre-orientation, some say that the College’s perceived insensitivity to the needs of students from other cultural backgrounds makes the adjustment process difficult. College junior Malika Ghafour from Afghanistan said she experienced an example of this frustration when she visited the Counseling Center. “[Counselors] just talk to me, and when I share stuff about my family, my country, they say, ‘Okay, I can help you with that, but I don’t know the way your culture works,’” Ghafour said. Ghafour took English for Speakers of Other Languages classes in her first year and said she found them less helpful than expected. The courses aim to prepare international students for American academic classes by enhancing their English proficiency and familiarizing them with citations and the honor code, but Ghafour found them time-consuming and unhelpful. “We spent time on grammar and basic stuff about language that I’m sure every student who comes here knows a little about,” Ghafour said. “But the main purpose [of ESOL] should be helping students with academic writing skills, not the other stuff. …

It would be more helpful if ESOL provides basic steps that guide students to the academic courses.” College junior Hengxuan Wu, an author of the suggested improvements for the College, said the academic expectations placed on international students who have learned English as a second language are often overwhelming. “I feel like people just expect me to be really good at writing and reading when I take a lot of Politics classes, and they just assume that I can totally do 80 pages of reading in English in one night,” Wu said. “It is these little things that makes this experience so hard.” Wu discovered many of these issues through conversations with friends and as a peer mentor for incoming international students, many of whom feel like outcasts in a new culture. “I knew I wanted to go to the trustee forum to talk about international students’ accessibility issues, and I saw a few other international students — especially Chinese students — who signed up, so I just emailed them to see if they would like to meet and discuss their concerns,” Wu said. Despite these difficulties, Oberlin does not offer an adequate community of support, many international students say. The International Student Organization, a group intended to alleviate some of these hardships, has not been a satisfactory source of support, according to some international students. Instead, the international student community has fractured into smaller, more specific groups like the South Asian Students Association, the Chinese Student Association and others.

“Right now, all the international students are kind of grouped, and I’m the only Afghan student here, so I cannot literally belong to any of them,” Ghafour said. “I just want to combine all the groups together because now, in their small groups, maybe they can solve some of the challenges, but I believe that if they come together as a large group, they can do more to overcome the challenges that they are facing as international students.” Wu and other students proposed that the College should do more community building for international students. They suggested the creation of a community coordinator — a “go-to person” who has similar experiences and understands their challenges as foreign students — to provide support for students and help facilitate community building. The proposal also suggests more tailored academic and career advising for international students, as well as a network with international alumni who can mentor them in career development. According to Ann Deppman, director of the Office of International Students, efforts to strengthen career services and build an alumni network for international students are ongoing. “I think there are valuable and important conversations that a number of offices are trying to have to help students to think [about] what can we do in these areas,” Deppman said. “It would probably not be happening as soon as students would wish it to happen, and part of the reason is just that we have a much smaller international alumni population than our current international students population now, so [the Career Center’s] ability to quickly identify

alumni in an interested area or field is going to be challenged until we graduate out enough international students.” Deppman said she recognized the importance of supporting the international ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“I just want to combine all the groups together because now, in their small groups, maybe they can solve some of the challenges, but I believe that if they come together as a large group, they can do more to overcome the challenges that they are facing as international students.” Malika Ghafour College junior –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– student body, but cited a lack of staff and resources when discussing institutional support. She encouraged students to continue offering specific proposals for how the College can better support international students. Dean of Studies Joyce Babyak also invited students to have more conversations with the administration about their concerns. “The General Faculty Advising Committee will soon be holding listening sessions on academic advising in Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with Senate,” Babyak said. “This will give students the opportunity to share information about their experiences with academic advising.”

Draft Argues for Financial Sustainability College Not Invested in Oil Continued from page 2 between important trade-offs. “We may choose to do some things full speed ahead. We may choose to do others over a longer period of time than we might ideally like. We may also decide that there are some things we cannot do, even though they represent good ideas, consistent with our values,” wrote Yu and Stuart in the email. Yu and Stuart reiterated the College’s need to cut costs while also arguing that the College will make these decisions from a position of strength, not weakness. “[W]e are not in crisis. Like any organization, especially higher education institutions today, we do need to consider carefully how to allocate our resources. We will need to find some things we can stop doing. We do need to reduce costs, but it is possible to do that in ways that, while not completely painless, will not fundamentally change Oberlin and may, in fact, allow us to move resources from old uses to new [ones] that will make Oberlin even better,” they wrote. The draft also calls for streamlining the College’s governance system. Echoing the Strategic Plan’s official title, “Shaping the Future,” Yu and Stuart argued that simplifying the governance system is vital to adapting to the quickly changing landscape of higher education. “To control our future to the greatest extent possible, we

should strive to ensure that our governance systems at the faculty, administration and trustee levels can adapt more quickly to changes and opportunities as they arise,” Yu and Stuart wrote. “That’s why we are interested in streamlining our governance system to speed the decision-making process.” The draft contains a variety of new proposals aimed at connecting disparate parts of the Oberlin

ods and perspectives. In addition, the draft recommends expanding programs that help facilitate interactions across lines of “cultural and ideological difference.” President Krislov said he was pleased with the progress the Steering Committee has made since the first draft was released in May. “I think the document is stronger than it was the first round, and I think it’s really improved. We ––––––––––––––––––————— took into account all of the feed“To control our future to the back. I think overall it’s a powergreatest extent possible, we ful statement about what Oberlin needs to prioritize over the near should strive to ensure that term and in the future, and it also our governance systems at lays out some of the challenges.” Krislov also noted that the prothe faculty, administration, cess is far from over, and that the and trustee levels can adapt Steering Committee is actively more quickly to changes and seeking feedback on the recently opportunities as they arise.” released draft. “There’s going to be at least one more draft and a whole series Diane Yu of discussions — student discusSteering Committee Chair sions, faculty discussions, staff discussions, Board discussions,” Kathryn Stuart Krislov said. Steering Committee Coordinator To collect student responses to –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– the draft, members of the Steering Committee and Student Senate are community to improve the quality in the process of organizing listenof an Oberlin education. ing sessions for students. Students The proposed “Oberlin 4+4” can submit feedback online up to program will connect students Nov. 2 through a survey recently with alumni mentors for the four emailed to the entire student body. years they spend on campus and The Steering Committee curthe four years immediately after rently plans to finalize the Stragraduating. The draft also dis- tegic Plan in March. The process cusses creating interdisciplinary began in the fall of 2014 and was courses that would examine cer- originally planned to be finished tain topics with a variety of meth- by December.

Companies, Board Says

Continued from page 1 for future investments in controversial companies. While the Fossil Fuel Divestment group was comforted that their targeted companies were not currently receiving College money, SFP was not given the same reassurance. SFP’s proposed divestments were not passed because they failed to provide proof that the student body was united on the issue, according to Wyatt Kroopf, SFP spokesperson and College senior. Kroopf said he was surprised the Board decided to label SFP’s proposal as divisive, because the language was backed by 33 organizations, including co-ops, publications and every academic department. “They claim it’s a divisive issue, which is frustrating for us because we’ve done work to try to demonstrate that there’s a united support on campus,” Kroopf said. “It’s frustrating because saying this issue is divisive is used really frequently as a way to normalize the Israeli occupation.” Kroopf added that he also questions the effectiveness of submitting divestment proposals to the Board — a process that SFP began in 2013. “It’s weird because the Board doesn’t have any clear guidelines for what the next steps would be,” Kroopf said. “It doesn’t feel like [the trustees] hope to have future discussions; they just say their decision has passed.” SFP and the Fossil Fuel Divestment group members shared the sentiment that the Board lacks transparency and that the decision-making process seems unnecessarily lengthy. SFP said it took seven months for the Board to respond to its divestment proposal, and Fossil Fuel Divestment representatives said they were “confused that such surface-level endowment information took six months to make it back to us.” In an update on The Source, McGregor apologized for the delays. “Although these responses have now been issued, the Board sincerely regrets the time that this has taken,” McGregor wrote. “Developing responses that accurately represent the consensus position of the Board proved to demand considerable time and effort.” SFP said it has not yet decided a course of action in terms of pushing its proposal through in the future.

Opinions The Oberlin Review

October 30, 2015

Letters to the Editors Students Need to Vote in Local Elections To the Editors: This Tuesday, registered Ohio voters will cast their ballots. Oberlin College students often ask themselves, “Is it appropriate for me to vote on local issues?” This is a complex question that students must answer for themselves. While any town with a college inevitably experiences some degree of town-gown friction, the reality is that positive collaboration between students and other community members has dominated city and College relationships since both were collectively founded in 1833. In recent years, students, faculty, staff and townspeople have worked closely together to address the question of how a city and college in the Rust Belt might collaborate to build a vibrant and resilient economy that alleviates poverty and inequity, promotes sustainable agriculture and local business and ultimately weans itself off fossil fuels. The candidates and issues on the ballot this year present citizens — including college students — with important choices that will help answer this question. While there are a number of fine candidates running for City Council, Sharon Pearson embodies many of the principles that exemplify the best of Oberlin — the kind of town-college collaborations that we should take pride in and support. A lifelong member of the Oberlin community, for 25 years Pearson worked for the city of Oberlin. For the last several years, Pearson has served the community as a program coordinator for the Oberlin Project, a town-gown collaboration designed to promote “full spectrum” sustainability. In her work on City Council and with the Oberlin Project, Pearson has been a tireless advocate for social justice, economic development and sustainable transportation. Accomplishments during her first term in office include: leading legislative efforts to support local economic development and local jobs; leading the initiative to successfully pass a “Complete Streets” ordinance

which advances sustainable transportation options; coordinating regional efforts to enhance public transportation; and working to establish a Youth Council to enhance the voice of the younger members of this community. In her second term, Pearson has committed to continued focus on these critical issues and increased emphasis on diversity in leadership and promoting the voices of the under-served. In addition to the City Council election, there are a number of ballot issues that are critical to strengthening this community. For example, a yes vote on Issue 1 would establish a bipartisan Ohio Redistricting Commission that could help to prevent whoever is currently in power from gerrymandering election districts. For those that care, legalization of marijuana is also on the ballot. The League of Women Voters website provides candidate statements as well as nonpartisan information about ballot initiatives. It is quite appropriate for college students to abstain from voting on issues on which they do not feel informed or feel that they have no stake. However, I would suggest that students who are registered to vote in Ohio have a responsibility as well as a right to exercise their franchise on the issues that affect their lives and the life of the community in which they live and study. – John E. Petersen, OC ’88 Paul Sears Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology

Green Energy Credits Should Be Spent Investing in Future To the Editors: The Oct. 19 City Council work session [on] Oberlin’s Renewable Energy Credits was a clear demonstration of the differences in vision among Oberlin’s City Council. The issue at hand is what to do with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in green energy credits earned by the city. This was a policy started in earnest in 2007 with City Council’s decision to sell

RECs. This initiative is designed to generate revenue to contribute to the expansion of Oberlin’s sustainable energy initiative as members of the Clinton Climate Initiative. Before the Council is a proposal presented by the staff of Oberlin Municipal Light and Power System for a “rebate” back to the average citizen of, at this counting, $89 per year for 3–5 years. This rebate will eventually end, causing a spike in energy rates. The competing proposal from the Public Utility Commission recommends using the majority of the revenue from RECs to buttress the underused Sustainable Reserve Fund and applying the balance for “community benefit.” This proposal reflects the original intent of the initiative. The proposal set forth by OMLPS is the equivalent of political corn syrup. It is a tasty short-term treat but in the long run only undermines our efforts to create a healthy, sustainable future. Yet more questionable are the solutions to this quandary proposed by some Council members of “giving people choices” between this tasty treat and longterm investment in a sustainable future. Also suggested by a Council member was an “opt in or opt out” program that would let individual citizens decide if they want this rebate or if they want to invest in Oberlin’s common good. The responsibility of City Council as elected representatives is to set policy and manage the city’s appointees. Oberlin-elected officials are elected to lead and sometimes that means making difficult decisions. Employing noncommittal “solutions” that do not reflect the original intent of selling RECs or support a commitment to a sustainable future does not do justice to Oberlin or its citizens. I encourage those voters who take seriously the issue of expanding our sustainable infrastructure, creating programs that aid all citizens in making their homes more energy efficient and support consistent energy policy, to vote for City Council candidates Bryan Burgess, Sharon Pearson, Linda Slocum, David Ashenhurst and David Sokoll. – Charles Peterson Oberlin resident See Letters, page 7

SUBMISSIONS POLICY The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and column submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in the following Friday’s Review. Letters may not exceed 600 words and columns may not exceed 800 words, except with the consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names, for all signers. All electronic submissions from multiple writers should be carbon-copied to all signers to confirm authorship. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for content, space, spelling, grammar and libel. Editors will work with columnists and contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. In no case will editors change the opinions expressed in any submission. The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review. In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response. The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to the author of a letter to the editors. Opinions expressed in letters, columns, essays, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review.

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

Editors-in-Chief Julian Ring Madeline Stocker Managing Editor Vida Weisblum Opinions Editor Kiley Petersen

Administration’s Silence on Cosby Suggests Apathy Bill Cosby still holds an honorary degree of humanities from Oberlin College, bestowed on him and his wife Camille at the grand opening of the Kohl Jazz Building in April 2010. Since 2000, Cosby has been accused of raping, assaulting or drugging a total of 57 women. In light of the allegations which surfaced this past year, some colleges — Fordham University and Brown University, to name a few — have rescinded Cosby’s honorary degrees. A recent Vulture article questioned why the remaining approximately 40 colleges — of which Oberlin is one — have not revoked his honorary degrees. An Oberlin spokesperson is quoted in the article as saying: “The matter is under consideration.” Revoking Cosby’s degree would seem like a simple way for Oberlin to distance itself from appearing to support an accused rapist, much like corporations dropping celebrity spokespeople during a scandal. Michael Phelps’ deal with Kellogg was quickly severed after the Olympic star was photographed inhaling from a bong, and Tiger Woods lost countless sponsorships when his marital infidelities were exposed. Oberlin’s situation differs in that the administration has never before revoked a degree, and this decision may very well lay down precedent for the rest of the institution’s history. Regardless of the methodology behind the decision, or why the matter has been “under consideration” for so long, Oberlin needs to adopt a stronger etiquette of communication. When virtually no information is released from official College sources, it is impossible for members of Oberlin’s community to make any sort of informed decision, and closed doors are seen as increasingly nefarious. As a self-marketed progressive institution, transparency should take priority over leaving students in the dark. The administration’s silence on Cosby is not an isolated incident. Prior administrations were known for swift and certain responses to communal outrage — a common example being the administration’s response after the Kent State shootings — but Oberlin has begun to develop a close-mouthed reputation. Financial aid changes, divestment proposals, student protests against police brutality and other demands from student groups go largely unanswered by the administration, and the few answers that are given are often due to extensive student outrage. This silence creates, whether intentionally or not, an air of indifference from the administration with regard to issues of concern to the larger student body. As an educational institution, Oberlin does not have the responsibility to publicly respond to every national controversy or celebrity scandal; the Office of Communications would be swamped if it did. The administration does not even have the responsibility to revoke Cosby’s degree if it chooses not to do so. But whatever the reasons behind Oberlin’s indecision, it is in the College’s best interest to give more information, not less, when its involvement in such a public affair is questioned. A lack of any statement — or worse, a vanilla statement — makes the institution appear apathetic in situations where apathy is a disadvantageous position to take. When matters concern city or student communities directly, responding promptly and in adequate detail becomes even more important. In cases of the latter, students don’t have to like the answer they’re given. In fact, a reliable segment of the student body often doesn’t, as with Dean of Students Eric Estes’ Aug. 25 email explaining the need for security cameras on campus or President Marvin Krislov’s eventual refusal to grant the requested academic leniency in the wake of the Ferguson ruling in December of last year. No matter one’s opinion on the controversies themselves, the fact that a response followed outward concern showed that the College was listening. The College has a responsibility to communicate with its students, especially in cases like Cosby’s when Oberlin is asked for a response on an issue with which it has at least a minor connection. It’s in cases like Cosby’s, when Oberlin has already begun to cultivate a legacy of ill-suited silence, that responses like “The matter is under consideration” just don’t cut it.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, managing editor and Opinions editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

Opinions

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The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

Captagon Floods Market, May End Civil War Josh Ashkinaze Columnist

sellers and smugglers have taken notice. Before the Syrian civil war, most of the Middle East’s Captagon was produced in Lebanon, Turkey and Bulgaria before reaching the Gulf countries, mainly Saudi Arabia. Production of Captagon has mirrored political situations. In 2007, for example, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime accused Iran of supplying Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Shiite militia, with Captagon factories and production instructions. If Iran

I don’t think any of us know what the life of a typical Saudi prince is like, but I think everyone would be surprised with what one Saudi prince was up to on Monday. Abd alMuhsen bin Walid bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud was detained at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut for trying to smuggle two tons of Captagon — a new amphetaminetype stimulant — on his private plane. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– TIME calls the Captagon trade “Syria’s Breaking Bad.” There are reports of ISIS, AlWhat is Captagon? It was originally an ADHD medication prescribed in the ’60s Nusra and various other rebel and was banned in the ’80s because of its groups using the substance for addictive potential. Now the drug has made fighting. There is a huge mara comeback because of the civil war in Syrket for this stimulant; in fact, ia. Prescription Captagon was just a mild stimulant, but as factories closed down there are estimated to be 1,000 after the drug was banned, the material armed groups in the Syrian to make Captagon became harder to find. conflict, and sellers and smugSo what’s circling the Middle East now is a kind of ’roided-up, Hulk-esque knockoff — glers have taken notice. something resembling Captagon but adul- ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– terated with cheaper and more available substances to give it a stronger kick. These did help Hezbollah in this way, this would factors make this version of Captagon high- have provided Hezbollah the cash it needed ly profitable, costing pennies to make but during the 2006 war with Israel. Because retailing for up to $20 a pill. of the strangulating effect economic sancThe effects of Captagon are increased tions had on Iran, it was crucial that Iran energy, enhanced self-confidence and a adopted the “teach a man to fish” motto in numbness to fear and pain. There are re- funding Hezbollah. ports of ISIS, Al-Nusra and various other As the Syrian civil war started, Captagon rebel groups using the substance for fight- factories began to shift to Syria for a few ing. There is a huge market for this stim- reasons. First, there’s a clear breakdown of ulant — there are estimated to be 1,000 authority; with the cocktail of anti-Assad armed groups in the Syrian conflict — and rebels, the regime didn’t prioritize check-

ing everyone’s suitcase and every abandoned building. It’s also much easier now to bribe the Syrian government forces who would ordinarily do the arresting, and Syria is a territorial checkerboard. Because of the scattered nature of territorial control, many different groups can make great sums of money by charging smugglers to pass through their territory. Because of this new political climate, many parties started producing and trafficking Captagon. For example, the Syrian man known as Al Baba has been dubbed the “Robin Hood of Syria.” He was once a rich businessman but has shifted to Captagon production. At first, this was because of profits, but he now uses Captagon to fuel the war, punishing Saudi Arabia by flooding it with the highly addictive drug. Al Baba says this is retribution for Saudi Arabia providing funds to armed groups in Syria and exacerbating the conflict. “My country is now a battleground that has more foreigners fighting than the Syrians themselves,” he said. Various rebel groups without a large funding stream or alternative source of income have also started to sell Captagon to stay afloat. While there is no evidence that the Assad regime produces Captagon, it is widely known that government soldiers and officials either turn a blind eye on the trade or outright accept bribery money from smugglers. One negative consequence of the Captagon trade is that drug lords and businessmen, not just major countries, can fund rebel groups. This will only worsen the chaos of a region already being torn apart via armed proxies. Even after the politi-

cal conflict is cleaned up — be it through Assad’s removal or some territorial concession — the challenge of how to deal with the drug dealers and Captagon Heisenbergs will remain. Paradoxically, the Captagon trade also hints rationality and cooperation. Take AlNusra, the Sunni extremist group: One of their five main goals is the establishment of a Syrian-wide Sharia judicial court system. Captagon is clearly against Sharia law. But Al-Nusra admits that it does not shut down factories because to do so is too costly and needlessly alienates villagers. The realities of the Captagon trade has forced even a hardline jihadist group to soften its resolve. Likewise, we can assume that soldiers who have not defected from the Assad regime — unlike those who joined the Free Syrian Army — are indeed loyal to the regime. Now consider that rebel groups traffic and buy Captagon and that the regime is accused of allowing the trafficking of Captagon. So isn’t it likely that in these interactions, regime soldiers have come into contact with rebels, and neither party has killed the other? This is the improbable cooperation that the highly interconnected drug market hints at. Oddly then, it seems that in the context of the Captagon trade, there is a very unlikely but tangible possibility of peace, rationality and cooperation overcoming violence. To be clear, it would obviously be better if this cooperation between enemies was for an end more constructive than selling drugs. And hopefully, somewhere down the line, that will be the case.

Mending Town-Gown Divide Begins with Council Elections Sam Price Contributing Writer While at Oberlin, I have met students who are extremely passionate about issues concerning social justice and grassroots activism. People regularly attend meetings, rally against discrimination that occurs on campus and post passionate statements online. Yet when I attended the Oberlin Community Candidates Night on Monday, Oct. 26, I was baffled by the lack of Oberlin students present. After the candidates answered various questions, I talked to community members and handed out fliers to promote a project that other Oberlin students and I created: a series of environmentallybased auditory interviews with City Council candidates. The purpose of these interviews is to help the Oberlin community become aware of the various positions each candidate has on how environmentalism plays into their roles as candidates. As I handed out fliers, numerous community members thanked me and lamented that not enough students are involved with the Oberlin community. This lack of engagement can be partially attributed to the large divide that exists between between the town of Oberlin and the College. Students at Oberlin are isolated from the town, which alienates us from important issues that community members face daily. Oberlin students should reach out to the community and start a dialogue. We should work to break down the barriers that separate us and work with community members to combat

the problems that affect the town of Oberlin. Many of the obstacles and disputes that need addressing are at the center of the City Council elections. During the auditory interviews that students and I conducted, candidates told us how they plan to tackle raising the standard of living and provide aid for low-income families, create environmentallysustainable investments and find ways to stimulate local business. Through renewable energy credits, the town of Oberlin is sitting on roughly $1.5 million. This money can be invested into sustainable projects, returned to the citizens or even used to provide free insulation for low-income families. The first step to working with the community is participating in the City Council elections. By having a say in the future of the town, we are showing Oberlin that we as students want to take the time to learn about the important issues and realities that community members face. We can vote for City Council candidates and hold them accountable for promises they made during their campaign. The political process is not always the best route to enact change. It is often tiresome and exhausting to go through bureaucratic channels. I am an avid supporter of grassroots organizations, peaceful protests and other alternative forms of activism. However, utilizing the right to vote is a fundamental avenue for achieving progress, and by voting, we can support and uplift the narratives of community members. This is a long and difficult process, but it starts by learning about City Council candidates. I urge stu-

dents to go to the polls on Nov. 3 and vote for Oberlin’s next City Council members. There are 14 different candidates, and learning about each candidate will aid in making an informed decision. Currently, the list

of candidates are as follows: David Ashenhurst, Scott Broadwell, Don Bryant, Bryan Burgess, Peter Comings, Eugene Matthews, Elizabeth Meadows, Jeanne McKibben, Sharon Pearson, Ronnie Rimbert, Kel-

ley Singleton, Linda Slocum, Dave Sokoll and Sharon Fairchild-Soucy. Students can start to learn about each candidate’s platform by listening to auditory interviews on SoundCloud.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

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Letters to the Editors, cont. Continued from page 5

Slocum’s Leadership Experience Will Translate to City Council To the Editors: The commitment, skills and leadership experience that Linda Slocum brings to her candidacy for the office of City Council member equip her in unparallelled ways to represent the citizens of Oberlin and to work with a team of leaders to execute effective decision-making that will benefit the Oberlin community. Linda’s years of dedicated leadership in the League of Women Voters exemplify her belief in fostering an informed and participatory democracy. She values studying complex issues, and she is committed to learning, listening and working to bring consensus among people with varying ideas. Linda’s shared leadership in the Interfaith Hospitality Network demonstrates her ability to organize and work with a variety of volunteers as well as her commitment to on-the-ground efforts to improve the lives of individuals and the community in very practical and tangible ways. The ability Linda has cultivated to listen and to hear citizens and colleagues on Council in the vital decisions on Oberlin’s future will benefit the Council and the community. Linda has communicated openly and clearly her commitment to environmental sustainability, to improved transportation systems for this area, to public safety and to the welfare of the entire community. Oberlin voters face a challenge, a positive challenge, in the vote for Oberlin’s City Council on November 3 — to make good choices among a field of very strong candidates. We urge you to consider Linda Slocum to represent you on City Council. – John and Linda Gates Oberlin residents

Student Vote Critical for REC Investment Decision To the Editors: A major issue of concern to Oberlin students is now before City Council: what to do with several million dollars earned from exchanging renewable energy credits. A bit of history is informative. In 2008, four newly-elected Council members, elected in part because of student votes, caused the city to reverse the action of the previous Council that had committed the city to a 50-year contract guaranteeing continued reliance on coalbased electricity. Council’s action then not only switched Oberlin’s dependence on coal to “green” sources of electricity but also earned the city many RECs. Three incumbent candidates running for City Council today — Soucy, Broadwell, Rimbert — voted then for coal and against withdrawal. RECs were created by states to counter climate change by replacing fossil fuel electricity with renewable and carbonneutral electricity. The REC market that emerged permits the city to swap high dollar value RECs for lower-priced RECs. This keeps Oberlin’s electricity “green” while generating millions of dollars. The city’s attorney has stated that REC dollars belong to the city and can be spent as City Council decides, including as stated in city ordinance no. 07-39 that created

the Sustainable Reserve Fund in 2007 to house monies paid to the city by the College for hydro-RECs. Oberlin’s Public Utilities Commission has recommended to City Council that most REC revenues, perhaps 85 percent, go into the Sustainable Reserve Fund to be used for energy efficiency, energy conservation, greenhouse gas reductions and/or development of green power generation sources as stated in the above ordinance, and that the remainder be spent for betterment of the Oberlin community. The College and city are committed to be climate-positive by 2025 and 2050, respectively, with the city reducing its heattrapping gas emissions 75 percent from 2012 level by 2030. Achieving these goals will increase dramatically Oberlin community’s economic and environmental sustainability as well as our resilience and social justice. We need to ask ourselves: Who among the 14 candidates believes these goals must be aggressively pursued? The League of Women’s Voter Guide provides the answer in a candidate’s recommendation for use of REC dollars. The three incumbents, who voted for coal, do not elect to aggressively address climate chaos. Ashenhurst, Burgess, Comings, Mathews, McKibben, Meadows, Pearson, Slocum and Sokoll favor investing most REC dollars to reduce heat-trapping gases that cause climate instability, social injustice and cost money. Think Katrina, Sandy and California’s current drought and fires. The situation is dire now because the current City Council leaders, Broadwell (president) and Soucy (vice president), have put on Council’s Nov. 2 agenda the directing of staff to research and bring back a proposal to City Council to use REC revenue to lower by about a penny the kWh charge for electricity. The average resident’s monthly cost would go down about $7 a month. Rates will be artificially depressed for a few years while REC revenue lasts, then rates jump up. Investments through the Sustainable Reserve Fund will lower rates substantially more and long into the future. Please keep in mind which candidates support your wishes concerning how REC dollars can be put to work to gain the greatest benefit for College and City residents and beyond. Remember too, student votes were critical in 2007, as they will be in next Tuesday’s City Council election. Go to “Oberlin City Council Candidates 2015 YouTube” to see and hear the nine candidates who elected to participate in this public service video. Pick the seven best to get your votes. Do vote! – Carl McDaniel, OC ’64 Visiting Professor Oberlin City Public Utilities Commissioner

Oberlin’s Future Reliant on Changing Status Quo To the Editors: Oberlin has a wonderfully diverse citizenry, and that diversity has been well represented on City Council during my tenure. Members of Council come from an array of backgrounds but work together for a common purpose — the betterment of the Oberlin community. Although we sometimes have differing views, I believe that is preferable to unanimity in groupthink. We have experienced a paradigm shift in terms of the economy, energy and politics such that the previous approaches

will only serve to exacerbate our problems. Old Oberlin appreciated sprawl development, relied upon an expanding economy, expected plentiful cheap energy and maintained a general satisfaction with the status quo. This is still a pervasive belief and is well represented in city government but does not acknowledge the reality of the world we live in today. Our new challenges are to create opportunities for businesses supporting local employment, bolster home values by investing in our existing neighborhoods, diversify clean energy sources while reducing consumption and generally strive to better our community despite an era of economic uncertainty. These have been my driving motivations while serving on City Council for the past six years. I have always believed that my role on Council was to vote my conscience, represent the long-term interests of the entire community and encourage others to do the same. This upcoming election is going to test Oberlin’s commitment to a progressive future. Please vote for candidates that share your values! Oberlin College students are an integral part of this community, and your opinions, aspirations and actions serve to shape our town’s future. I encourage everyone to seek out information on the candidates and issues via YouTube, SoundCloud and the League of Women Voters. Your vote matters!

ties for Safe and Sustainable Energy. There are some people who don’t want many of you to vote here. Don’t make it easy for them, unless you agree. And if indeed you do agree, please ask yourself: Why is that? You may hear some people say you should vote “back home.” Why should you, unless you’d rather? You live here! It’s a little like you have dual citizenship; just remember you’re only allowed to register and vote in one political subdivision of one state. Don’t be talked out of voting in Oberlin because “you won’t be here” (next year or in four) because, first of all, you very well might be here. And if you’re not, your space and place are likely to be occupied by someone very much like you. You are part of the largest and most stable electoral demographic we have here. Follow the rules. Take proper ID to the polls. Know your street address; a dorm name and room number will not be enough — matter of fact, they won’t help you at all. Between now and Tuesday: Listen. Read. Investigate. Ask questions. Give your citizenship some exercise. Please vote in every race and on every issue for which you have developed an informed opinion. And if you don’t have an informed opinion (and only if you don’t)? Well then, no, please don’t vote Tuesday — here or anywhere else.

– Bryan Burgess Councilman, City of Oberlin

– David R. Ashenhurst Oberlin resident

Informed Opinion Necessary for Election Voting To the Editors: All elections matter. Even-year, odd-year, primary, general. Presidential, statewide and local. Issues and candidates ( for every office), every time. All elections matter — every one — no exceptions. Many of you are preparing to cast your ballots on three very important statewide issues; when you go to the polls on Tuesday, please stay long enough to vote in every contest about which you have an informed opinion. And if you don’t yet have informed opinions, please spend some time this weekend acquiring them. Oberlin has 14 candidates, six incumbents and eight challengers, for seven City Council seats. (Two incumbents for Oberlin City School Board are running without opposition.) I’m one of those challenging for a City Council seat. Please consider voting for me. There are several ways more effective than looking at yard signs for learning about the candidates. The election issue of the Oberlin News Tribune is out. The League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area Voter Guide is circulating in print and available online. Monday’s Oberlin Community Candidates Night can be seen on the local cable channel, and I understand the questions asked there are to be posted on Oberlin Community Candidates Night’s Facebook page. Specific responses to questions about the City’s Climate Action Plan, the use of proceeds from the Renewable Energy Certificates market, local resistance to unwanted pipelines and plans for the redevelopment of the former Green Acres site (a deep parcel fronting on the west side of Oberlin Road, all the way from Lorain Street to College Street) also appear on YouTube, on WOBC (I think) and in print in a newsletter circulated by Communi-

Personal Agendas Should Not Interfere with City Council Governance To the Editors: When members of the Oberlin College community and the town community at large go to the polls on Nov. 3 to elect our Oberlin City Council, we should all bear in mind the unnecessary distractions and deep divide in city government caused earlier this year by a dysfunctional group of four Council members. This quartet attacked an outstanding city manager and his administration based solely upon what many, myself included, adjudged to be no more than petty personal agendas and grudges. They denied the community all manner of transparency in their doings by repeatedly refusing to participate in public sessions to discuss their problems. Their individual and collective actions were inappropriate, irresponsible and inexcusable. I regrettably bring up this past history because three members of this disruptive group — Sharon Pearson, Bryan Burgess and Elizabeth Meadows — are running for reelection. Every voter in Oberlin needs to look closely at the negative effects of their actions on our community and our local government and deny them a return to the Council. We have three other experienced incumbents and a number of new candidates with excellent qualifications running for Council; cast your votes for seven of these. I strongly urge you to not vote for any of the three aforementioned people whose actions earlier this year were so damaging to us all. Send Pearson, Burgess and Meadows a message that bullying, vindictiveness and lack of transparency have no place on Oberlin City Council. – Richard W. McDaniel Oberlin resident

WARNER CENTER

The Warner Center may be known for theater and dance, but here is a Halloween surprise that most people aren’t aware of: A dead redheaded woman is said to haunt this building. She roams the halls, and is known to scare local high school students when they least expect it.

NEW UNION CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Know people who love Oberlin so much that they never want to leave? Residents of Johnson House do. There have been several sightings of the ghosts of Oberlin’s past roaming through the building. Rumor has it that one particular ghost is Mrs. Johnson herself. After Mr. Johnson died in a road accident, Mrs. Johnson allegedly killed all the horses in their barn and then hung herself in her basement. So lock your doors, stay out of the basement and pull your sheets up high because these ghosts don’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Walk into the Center during the day and you’ll probably be fine. But there have been frightening accounts from people who entered this spooky building at night. They apparently heard strange voices coming from the walls and witnessed objects mysteriously moving from one room to another ... sometimes even while the objects were in use!

DASCOMB

One strange night, roommates in Dascomb 310 had identical dreams. They dreamt that they both awoke in the middle of the night to “a tall, lanky male figure with a bag on his head” standing over them. To see if their dreams were really all that similar, they decided that they would each draw the man. Their drawings were identical.

THE MOST HAUNTED PLACES IN

LORAIN COUNTY

For the past 30 years, Harkness 311 has had the same resident — Lindsay the ghost. One fall break 30 years ago, Lindsay’s neighbor was startled by the sound of a window crashing next door. The neighbor went to investigate and found Lindsay’s room empty with nothing but a broken window. Two days later, Lindsay was still missing and no one, including her parents, had any clue where she was. The police searched high and low but Lindsay and her cat were never found. Things quieted down until 15 years later, when a student who lived in room 311, unaware of the freaky happening, reported seeing “a college-age woman in a long, white, flowing gown wandering around my room or hovering outside my window” on two occasions. The student was eventualy driven out of the room by supernatural penomena.

WESTWOOD JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Thinking of taking a trip back to middle school? Think again. A tall, well-dressed man who apparently never worked for the school has been seen roaming the halls. People have heard slamming lockers, faint whispers of children’s voices and have reported feeling as though they are being watched.

CALENDAR

Campus Trick or Treat Friday, Oct. 30, 4-5 p.m. Various buildings Start getting your candy early this year. Hit the Bonner Center for Service and Learning, the Career Center, the first floor hallway of Cox Administration Building, the Geographic Information Systems lab on the fourth floor of Carnegie building and the Shansi office at Peters Hall 103.

OSLAM October Poetry Slam Friday, Oct. 30, 4-6 p.m. The ’Sco If you are not collecting candy at the campus trick or treat, head to OSLAM’s first poetry slam of the year. For the low price of $4 you can watch a showdown between four teams made up of OSLAM members. Six audience members will judge the competition.

Barnard and Asia House Halloween Party Saturday, Oct. 31, 9-11 p.m. Asia House, Shipherd Lounge Go party, eat snacks and hang out in a substance-free space for the night with Barnard and Asia houses. Costumes optional!

JOHNSON HOUSE

Winter Term and Summer Internships in the Visual Arts: Study Away Application Info Sessions Wednesday, Nov. 4, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Info Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 3, 4:30 p.m. Allen Memorial Art Building, Classroom 1 If you are interested in visual arts internships during the summer or Winter Term, stop by this meeting to hear advice from to Jason Trimmer, curator of education in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, and other faculty and staff.

Peters Hall 212

If you want to study away during the 2016-2017 academic year, it is required to attend one of these info sessions to receive access to the online academic leave application. These sessions are offered two times per week through Dec. 17.

HARKNESS Stories courtesy of blogs. oberlin.edu, ohioexploration. com and oberlin.edu

Info Session: Venture for America Thursday, Nov. 5, 5-6 p.m. Wilder Hall 115 Venture for America is a fellowship program for recent Oberlin graduates who are interested in starting businesses. These grads are sent to low-income areas in the U.S. to start companies. Learn more about it at the info session.

WARNER CENTER

NEW UNION CENTER FOR THE ARTS

DASCOMB

THE MOST HAUNTED PLACES IN

LORAIN COUNTY

WESTWOOD JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

CALENDAR

JOHNSON HOUSE

Peters Hall 212

HARKNESS Stories courtesy of blogs. oberlin.edu, ohioexploration. com and oberlin.edu

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

October 30, 2015

Paabus’ Prints, Sculptures Form Layered Landscapes Lya Finston The Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery, located in the Ward Alumni Center, is bursting at the seams with Oberlin Professors Kristina Paabus’ and Jacob Ciocci’s vastly different yet equally compelling bodies of work. In their current exhibit, Fear Chaser, which opened Oct. 9 and will remain on display until Dec. 4, exhibit-goers are immediately thrust into Paabus’ wide array of screen prints and sculptures. Within each work, Paabus seeks to create “hybrid spatial conversations [that] explore [the] factual and fictional constructions that we employ to interact with the world around us,” according to her artist description within the gallery. In addition to teaching reproducible media at Oberlin, Paabus is a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship for Installation Art in Estonia, the Grant Wood Fellowship in Printmaking at the University of Iowa, an Illinois Arts Council Grant and Oberlin College Faculty Research Grants. Paabus has also served as an artist-in-residence at nine different institutions across the world and taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her MFA, Ox-Bow School of Art and the University of Iowa. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. In pieces like “Plan to Forget,” Paabus capitalizes on the screen printing process, using it to achieve a sense of depth and atmosphere. In the print, a linear pattern arranged in an architectural formation rises from behind a white transparent block, which is populated by several organic-looking, icy blue, gray and white forms. Serving as both the top layer of the print and the dominating aspect of the composition, this block

recalls at once a body of water and an X-ray view of the earth’s surface. Multiple other overlapping layers of blue, gray and white at varying levels of transparency combine to create a soft, atmospheric effect, further blurring the lines between the abstracted architectural and geographic forms. Paabus’ use of overlay also clarifies her intent of transforming the two-dimensional print into an environment of its own, which proves highly successful in this work in particular. With each screen-printed layer comes more depth, drawing the viewer further and further into the artist’s created universe. What results is a compositional marriage of the natural and manmade landscape that questions the way in which we perceive our surroundings. The setting within Plan to Forget is abstract enough to remove the viewer from their surrounding environment, yet reminiscent enough of the outside world to provide the perfect starting point for close evaluation of the relationship between the individual, their environment and the individual’s understanding of their environment. Paabus’ collection of nine prints is broken up by two three-dimensional sculptures, “Say it is So” and “Hold On.” Standing starkly at almost human height on four thin, wiry stilts, “Say it is So” takes on a life of its own despite its rocky, earthy exterior. Particularly in contrast to the framed, two-dimensional works that surround it, this sculpture of foam, metal, plastic and paint commands attention as an animated stone creature, looking almost as if it rose from the earth. This aspect of the piece invites viewers to contemplate the work almost as if it were a life form of its own, just as prints like “Plan to Forget” are perceived and understood as inhabitable

environments as opposed to purely aesthetic designs. Paabus’ second sculpture, “Hold On,” is more interesting in terms of its multimedia exploration. Made from wood, paint, screen print, metal and synthetic fur, this piece marries three-dimensional sculpture with two-dimensional printing. By placing a screen print in the round, Paabus has embarked on a unique multimedia exploration, highlighting the exciting possibilities that arise when one stretches the limitations of a given medium by combining it with another. Though not as animated as its dimensional counterpart, “Hold On” is more successful at cultivating the illusion of movement, leaning at an angle, which is in keeping with its title. The name “Hold On” enhances the sculpture’s sense of downward motion in combination with its slanted form. Paabus’ titles are highly relevant to her creative process. They play central roles within each work, which is more than most artistic champions of the notorious “Untitled” would allow. Titles like “Plan to Forget,” “Of Absolutes” and “Probability 1,” for example, are brimming with meaning and intent that cry out for viewer interaction and interpretation. As patterned, architectural forms fade into a haze of frosty geographic abstraction within “Plan to Forget,” viewers can relate this oxymoronic title to the print’s visual aspects in terms of the relationship between planned architectural design and the world of vaguely recognizable abstraction that emerges only from a mind forgetful enough of the limiting reality of its surroundings. In her courses at Oberlin, Paabus encourages students to approach the titles of their pieces with more emphasis and intent.

The work that Visiting Professor of Integrated Media Jacob Ciocci has on display within Baron Gallery is vastly different from Paabus’, as his pieces combine bright, attention-grabbing color

Professor of Studio Art, Reproducible Media Kristina Paabus’ textured sculpture stands among her prints in the Richard D. Baron ’64 Art Gallery. The pieces, which will be on display through Dec. 4, appear in the exhibit Fear Chaser, along with multimedia works by Visiting Professor of Integrated Media Jacob Ciocci. Hayley Drapkin

See Exhibit, page 13

Writer-in-Residence Tackles African Diaspora, German Identity Through Film L. Schumann Branwen Okpako, the Max Kade German Writer-in-Residence for fall 2015, first became friends with Auma Obama when they both attended the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. When Auma Obama’s half-brother, Barack Obama, began his presidential campaign, Okpako used this opportunity to make a film about Auma Obama that could broaden the discussion about the African Diaspora through anecdotal narrative. This project, which took Okpako to locations including Kenya, Germany, Britain and the United States, became the documentary The Education of Auma Obama, which will be screened at the Apollo Theatre on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. When the film premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, Okpako recalled a critic wrote that her portrayal of Auma Obama was too loving. That criticism of her film as “too loving” may have missed the point. Okpako sees objectivity as an impossible ideal. She aims to treat the self-perceptions of her subjects as inherently valid. This is not to say that she would not challenge her subjects’ views, but she seeks to be conscious of the power she has to frame the people in her films. She intends to give her subjects agency. During fall 2013, Okpako was a Visiting Professor of the German department at Earlham College and spoke at a different college nearly every weekend. German Facultyin-Residence Marina Jones, whose

scholarly work focuses on Afro-German history and identity, invited Okpako to screen several of her films in concurrence with Jones’ class, Transnational Connections: Afro-Germans in a Global Context. Associate Professor and German department chair Elizabeth Hamilton and Professor of German Steve Huff were deeply impressed by a screening of The Education of Auma Obama. Hamilton was particularly taken with the way Okpako illuminated her own work in the question and answer session after the screening. “She communicated beautifully, … and she really opened up the discussion,” she said. “Professor Huff and I looked at each other and we kind of nodded and we said, ‘Let’s go ask her!’ We almost knocked her down as she was leaving.” Okpako is the first filmmaker to fill the post of German Writerin-Residence at Oberlin. Given that the position was created specifically to bring in a writer, Hamilton said that the department had to check with the Max Kade Foundation, which funds the residency, about the choice of a filmmaker. Hamilton emphasized the strength of Okpako’s written works. In addition to writing screenplays and writing about her films, Okpako has written theater pieces. Okpako sometimes refers to her films as biographical portraits. “I really want the person who’s being portrayed to be the most memorable aspect of the work, even though there’s a lot of political issues being discussed,” she said.

A number of Okpako’s films are portraits of East Germans. Dreckfresser (Dirt for Dinner) is a portrait of Sam Meffire, the first Black policeman in the former East German state of Saxony. Tal der Ahnungslosen (Valley of the Innocent) was named after the easternmost areas in East Germany that did not receive West German television signals. It focuses on a woman who investigates her family’s involvement with the East German secret police. Fluch der Medea (The Curse of Medea) investigates the life of the author Christa Wolf, one of many prominent East German writers to hold the Max Kade German Writer-in-Residence position at Oberlin. Okpako respects the way Wolf ’s voice comes through in her novels, calling her a “visionary.” Okpako keeps a similar authorial imprint on her own work. Okpako spent much of her childhood around the campus of the University of Ibadan in southwest Nigeria, her father’s home country. She completed her International Baccalaureate at Atlantic College in Wales, her mother’s home country. She then obtained a degree in politics from Bristol University in England. By the time she graduated from the German Film and Television Academy, she had a family in Berlin, so she stayed there. However, that is not the only reason that Okpako continues to live and work in Germany. She said that as an artist, one wants to feel needed, like a farmer is needed to tend the land. Germany was where she felt her work was needed.

Okpako said she is drawn to East Germany and its history not only because it is her current home, but also because the post-East German experience is in some ways comparable to the post-colonial experience. After East and West Germany reunified, East Germans were required to learn West German culture — from grappling with different phone booths to the capitalist economy — in order to get by. There were no such hurdles for West Germans, Okpako noted. Okpako describes her short film LoveLoveLiebe as somewhat autobiographical. The film follows a Nigerian woman, Fatima, and her white German lover, Hans, against the backdrop of the German reunification, a time when racist hate crimes were on the rise. Hans worries about how uncomfortable and unsafe Fatima feels in her new home. Landing, another of Okpako’s short films, centers on a Black woman in Berlin who discovers one day that she has become invisible. Throughout her work, the filmmaker defines visibility as the ability to define yourself and be seen in ways that you want to be seen, specifically as it relates to the Afro-German community. Jones recognizes the necessity of Okpako’s work in Germany. “[It’s needed] to broaden discussions about what German identity means,” she said. Hamilton sees the importance of Okapko’s art as well. “Germany gives the world the very best and the very worst thinking on human identity, social identity and belonging,” she

said. “Germans have always asked themselves, ‘What does it mean to be German?’ And they have always used the arts to pose that question. … The arts are perhaps the best medium of all to engage in self-reflection. Branwen Okpako holds up a mirror to Germany. She is a person who has come from abroad and yet who is very much an integral part of Germany … We see in her work moments from which we learn what does it mean to be German, what does it mean to be European, what does it mean to be human? We need her, because we’re looking at those questions too.” Okpako sees teaching her films as an extension of her process. At weekly public screenings on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in the Kade House lounge, she introduces her films and leads a discussion with her audience. Okpako started to teach her own work gradually after seeing how her films were taught by others. She disagreed with professors who taught her films as anthropological studies, showing Afro-Germans in a different light from reality. “It’s difficult to make generalizations about a whole group of people or a whole complex culture based on the bits you’ve shot on film,” she said. “I’d rather focus on the individual biographies that I’m trying to portray and bring them to life as much as I can. … There are many more things that are actually in common about the way we live and the conflicts that we encounter, and I think that gives us more back; to be able to see ourselves in people who don’t necessarily look like us, than to see difference in people who don’t.”

Arts

The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

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Grashoff ’s New Book Uncovers Microscopic Life Elizabeth Akant Photographer Linda Grashoff ’s new book They Breathe Iron brings together two dichotomies: nature versus technology and science versus art. 27 of the photos in They Breathe Iron are on view at Ginko Gallery & Studio through Nov. 15. Sometimes resembling oil spills, the photos demonstrate how advanced technology can measure and record subtleties of our environment, despite the numerous environmental disasters technology itself has created. However, Grashoff ’s photos actually depict beautiful organisms:

tiny, ancient bacteria called Leptothrix discophora that live in an irradiant film of their own making and breathe iron the way humans breathe oxygen. Grashoff ’s photographs, which she gave a talk on last Tuesday at Mudd library, could easily stand on their own, but the emphasis she puts on scientific concepts sets the project apart from other environmental photographs. Her exploration of such concepts is unique in its accessibility and beauty. Grashoff began work on They Breathe Iron in 2004. She explained how it was important to

her to first understand the science behind Leptothrix discophora before responding with photographs and writings. Along with emeritus Professor of Biology David H. Benzing, Grashoff consulted with Eleanor Robbins, a retired biologist from the U.S. Geological Survey, to learn the science behind the images that compelled her. “[Robbins] was so patient,” Grashoff said of the pair’s 10-year email correspondence. Grashoff sent photographs and questions to Robbins, who could respond with scientific information just by seeing the photographs. Technology played an impor-

tant role in other elements of the project as well. Initially, Grashoff had a difficult time finding a literary agent and publisher for her book. She sent it to 12 agencies unsuccessfully before turning to self-publishing in 2012 with the help of programs like Adobe Lightroom. “I could produce the book exactly to my liking,” she said. Grashoff started shooting with film in 2004, but problems arose. “When the photos came back from the photo processor, they didn’t look quite like what [I] saw,” she said. Eventually, as digital cameras

developed further, things became easier. “It was heaven, because with the digital photograph … it often looked much more like what I saw than the [processed film photos did],” Grashoff said. “If it didn’t look exactly right, I could go into Photoshop and I could make it look exactly right.” Grashoff, with the aid of a microscope, uses technology to display what she observes with her trained eyes, zooming in on aspects of environments people often don’t know exist. In her writing, Grashoff deSee They Breathe, page 13

Narrative Complexity, Lush Visuals Set Crimson Peak Apart Christian Bolles Columnist Between the reds and blues of love and tragedy, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro finds his stride. He fathoms horrifying beauty in the macabre landscapes of the human mind, weaving tales as rich in narrative complexity as they are in visual sumptuousness. His obsession with the dark nature of life led him to probe immortality in Cronos, where an old man is confronted with terrible power. In The Devil’s Backbone, he questioned the toll of power on the young, telling a tale about the ghosts left behind by war. Pan’s Labyrinth, his crowning masterpiece, addressed our need to escape from the evil of humanity, positing that even in the face of death, the fantastical transcends the human condition. Now, Crimson Peak takes del Toro’s explorations one step further, stressing that the fantastic arises from tragedy, allowing the horrific events of the past to pierce through the veil of time and haunt the heartbroken lovers at its core. Though the first viewing may be underwhelming for some, Crimson Peak rewards diligence in its audience, proving to be the most layered, visually striking and narratively complex del Toro film thus far, and in this writer’s humble opinion, one of the very best films ever made. Edith Cushing, played by Mia Wasikowska, is haunted. The opening moments reveal that her mother, taken by

illness, has returned from the grave in a gloriously creepy form to issue a single warning: “Beware of Crimson Peak.” From the outset, the narrative layers on dense helpings of ominous foreboding that permeate its first act and the characters therein. Now a grown woman, Edith is set on publishing a work of fiction inspired by her own experiences. Though rejected by a potential publisher due to its lack of romantic flair, her story draws the eyes of Sir Thomas Sharpe, a nobleman who crossed the sea from England to pitch his potentially lucrative clay business to Edith’s father, an investor. Through a series of wonderfully dramatic circumstances, Thomas and Edith fall in love, and our heroine is whisked across the ocean to the Sharpe estate, where she and Thomas are to live as man and wife under the shadow of Thomas’ frigid sister, Lucille. To say any more about the narrative would spoil a masterful exercise in shocking revelation and gruesome revelry. Suffice it to say that even those perceptive enough to predict the film’s twists and turns will have plenty to sink their teeth into. Visually, Crimson Peak is a feast. Del Toro oversaw the construction of Allerdale Hall — the mansion used in the film — over a period of six months, so very little digital enhancement was involved in the production. Unlike many recent period pieces, the direction doesn’t rely on sweeping shots of cityscapes and scenery.

Rather, del Toro relies on intimate, carefully constructed framing, always knowing exactly where he wants you to look. This requires a level of visual artistry that most directors aren’t capable of producing. The likes of Peter Jackson may have the sweeping vision to evoke the expanse of Middle Earth, but del Toro is able to find beauty on a small scale, painting focused vistas that are just as captivating as any battle. The colors jump out from the screen, allowing his thematic and visual motifs to ring out loud and clear. Thomas’ industry hinges on a particularly strong but liquefiable red clay that naturally resides in the plains surrounding his homestead. Liquefied clay leeches through the soil, drips down the mansion’s walls and sputters out of its sinks, acting as a recurring harbinger of the bloodshed to come. True to form for del Toro, this is a violent film; though death is used with discretion, blood gushes generously from horrifying wounds likely to make most of the audience cringe. The film’s dramatic beats are generally punctuated with murder, attempted or successful — a del Toro staple that serves the Gothic influences well. As with del Toro’s other films, Crimson Peak must be examined on the director’s own terms. Pan’s Labyrinth is required viewing before plunging into his most recent picture, as his style is wholly unique from other directors. A del Toro film is meant to be an exercise in immersion and

artistry, like a tour through an art museum where the images spring to life and pull the viewer into the painter’s twisted world. Both films begin with a teaser of the ending, stressing that the ultimate showdown does not act as the lynchpin moment of the film, as it does in most movies. Rather, every single moment in Crimson Peak is just as important, grave and as emotionally charged as the next — a realization that could not possibly be reached with one viewing. More so than Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak’s underlying narrative pulses through every line of dialogue, every nervous glance and every breath. Here, the sheer force of the acting talent packed into the picture lends a much needed hand. In interviews, it was revealed that del Toro gave each of the three main actors their own 10-page description of their characters, along with histories, fears and motives. As a result, the actors bring a remarkable sense of self-knowledge to each scene, knowing exactly how del Toro’s twisted characters would respond at any given time. The landscapes in which they deliver performances are just as nuanced, carefully arranged and as spectacular as the sets they occupy, making for a film that packs detail into every possible crevice. Jessica Chastain deserves special mention for a performance that ranges from See Del Toro, page 12

’Sco Continues Year of Impressive Acts with Hellfyre Club Rapper Milo Paul Mehnert Next Thursday, Nov. 5, Oberlin will bear witness to a performance by the one and only rapsmith Milo, aka Scallops Hotel, aka Black Orpheus, aka Rory Ferreira. The ’Sco show will feature an opening performance by local experimental hip-hop collective Bémbe. Born in Chicago and raised in Maine, Milo has proven himself to be one of the most consistent forces in underground hip-hop, releasing a multitude of mixtapes, EPs and studio albums since he broke onto the scene just a few years ago. The rapper is currently riding the success of his sophomore full-length album so the flies don’t come and his EP Plain Speaking, both released this year. The album features guest appearances by fellow underground darlings Elucid and Open Mike Eagle, as well as Hemlock Ernst, aka Samu-

el Herring of Future Islands. At just 23 years old, Milo is nothing if not prolific. Via email, he explained how he manages to maintain such a strong work ethic. “I’m young, so the world is new and brimming with inspiration,” he said. “Right now it’s natural to make a lot and I don’t stifle the instinct to.” This eagerness to express and create is evident in the opening lines of “Rabblerouse,” the first track on so the flies don’t come, where Milo raps “I feel like Perseus but less merciful / I’m thirstiest / Most of all impervious / The wordsmith gets knee deeper / Beleaguered, his burdens at will summon purpose.” Attention to lyricism is perhaps Milo’s greatest strength, and his music is full of heady, contemplative musings and crafty wordplay. He is also known for his signature deadpan delivery, a characteristic which the rapper acknowledges in the track “Souvenir,” saying, “This monotone is great to the monot-

ony / Sought its own philosophy.” While his lyrical prowess is consistently strong, Milo’s subject matter varies with each release. His earlier output often revolves around feeling disconnected from other rappers. This sense comes through on the track “Just Us” from 2011’s I Wish My Brother Rob Was Here, in which he mocks the very profession he finds himself a part of. “Arbitrarily call myself the greatest rapper alive / Without ever consulting any of you other rhyming guys,” he raps. Later on, however, Milo found a home with the record label Hellfyre Club, a collective featuring a group of similarly abstract outsider artists, including Busdriver, Open Mike Eagle and Nocando. Finding his place within the hip-hop world has lead to a boost in confidence that can be seen in Milo’s more recent musical output. On “True Nen,” from his latest record, he raps about his crew when he rhymes, “We dress like spice mer-

chants / Preaching Black aesthetic gospel / Michael called it art rap so you wouldn’t find it hostile.” The event was organized by College sophomore Andrés González as the first show he has booked as part of the Oberlin Student Union Programming Committee. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure at first how many people at Oberlin already knew about Milo,” González said. “But the reaction so far has been really good, which is exciting.” González also listed “Re: Animist” off of so the flies don’t come and “Yafet’s Song” from A Toothpaste Suburb as two of his favorite tracks by Milo. Both songs feature Milo rapping over hazy, cloud-rap inspired instrumentals. Oberlin has seen a number of impressive and diverse hip-hop acts over the past couple semesters, including Joey Bada$$, Shamir and Abdu Ali. With any luck, Milo will keep this hot streak alive.

Rap artist and wordsmith Milo will perform at the ’Sco this Thursday. His two releases this year, so the flies don’t come and Plain Speaking, both recieved critical acclaim. Courtesy of Milo

Arts

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The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

On the Record: Brenda Way, ODC Founder Del Toro Offers The dance company ODC/San Francisco, formerly Oberlin Dance Collective, will return to its Oberlin roots for a performance and panel discussion with the Dance department on Nov. 4. The Review spoke with Brenda Way, OC ’66, who helped found the group in 1971 and continues to work as its artistic director today. Way touched on everything from her experiences teaching at Oberlin to the central values of ODC/San Francisco. What does collective mean to you? It means many specific things. It means that everyone in the group at the beginning could choreograph, and everybody was in each other’s work, and everybody took part in some aspect of the administration of the company. So in the big picture, everybody ... had their hand, in several different ways, [in] the decision-making as well as [in] imagining the future of this company. Did you enjoy your time as a faculty member more or less than your time as a student? My time as a faculty member really framed everything that has happened since. So I have to say that was the most formative time. You know, I met amazing people in the Conservatory of Music, Randy Coleman chief among them; the people who came to visit both in the Dance department and the people I brought; Twyla [Tharp], the Grand Union, Meredith Monk. … I mean, I brought wonderful people and all of the visiting artists who came to the Conservatory: Morton Feldman, Mauricio Kagel. … It was an explosion of wonderful opportunity. … I helped hire Herb Blau for the Inter-Arts program, and he was wonderfully influential, and he brought his CalArts gang, including Bill Irwin, who ended up marrying one of the dance company [members]. So it was one of those magic moments when there was a confluence of enormous talent, energy and resources. The president at the time, Bob Fuller, was extremely supportive. How do you see the work that you did with the Inter-Arts Program and ODC in relation to the social climate that existed in Oberlin? Well, I think the social climate that existed in the U.S. dominated my consciousness — I was part of the women’s movement in New York City, so I brought that consciousness with me, and it resonated with students in Oberlin, but traditions were breaking down and things were opening and happening across the country. … We were not an isolated moment in history. Things were connecting across the country in ways that they don’t always. Were those themes represented in any of the pieces that were created from the Dance department or from Inter-Arts? Well, you know, we were performing in unorthodox places. We did some events outside. … We did concert work but also events like outdoor installations that certainly did reflect on what was going on. More politically motivated … responses to the war for instance. One of the things about the ’60s is that we were intent upon diminishing the distinction between high art and low art. So the idea of what you did in the street or on the roof of one of the halls or in the concert hall or our huge happening in the squash courts, you know, it was all part of expressing things that

Brenda Way, OC ’66, Artistic Director of ODC/San Francisco, will return to Oberlin on Nov. 4 for a dance performance and panel discussion. Courtesy of Brenda Way

we thought were worth considering for the public, all equally important. Some of them had political implications and some were purely aesthetic. It was a very pluralistic moment, I think. Do you have any specific memories of something you did that tried to blur that line in between “high art” and “low art”? If you do something in the squash courts — in 10 different squash courts — you’re blurring it. Basically taking it out of its traditional classical environment is a proposition. Consider this. You could be drinking your Coke or wandering the green, and it’s not the Church of Art. So it didn’t need to have quotes around it, “that is the proscenium”, you just put it in a place where people are in a different frame of mind and you’re raising the issue of “what is art?” and “who is it for?” As a faculty member, did you learn from your students or learn from the process of teaching? I think you always learn from your dancers, always. One of the things that was part … of the era was a new way of working in the studio in contrast to the more classical environment I had been trained in. … We tried to put our materials together in new ways. This entailed problem solving and exploring unfamiliar terrain so that we could figure out a language that you don’t learn in the classroom. And that meant that you and the dancers, whoever they were, were investigating and taking the creative journey together. Was that idea of exploring a new creative route central to ODC in terms of it being a collective? Yes, it definitely was, structurally and creatively. At that time, we had a musician and we had a poet and we had a painter and we had, well, you know, it was an inter-arts company at the beginning. So it really was all about exploring the constraints and the possibilities of the different forms as they related to each other. The first summer of ODC, you and the students were in Martha’s Vineyard. What was that like? We were out there for a couple months. We built our own dance floor, we all lived in tents, we built a big central house that we cooked in collective-

ly. And I think we really figured out how to do everything ourselves — I mean everything. We had a huge chart of duties that organized our daily life, and the main thing that we learned, which was perhaps most important, was that you can just do it. In other words, the tradition in dance is to first dance for someone else, apprentice yourself in someone else’s company — at least it was in those days — and then from there, if you were motivated and you had the courage, you launched your own thing. And what we really realized is you could just hang up a shingle and do the thing, and that was very empowering, as you can imagine. When we gave our first concert out in the Vineyard, I wrote the critics in Boston, and Laura Shapiro, a serious dance writer, and someone else whom I don’t remember came down from Boston to review what we did. That was really instructive and exciting as well. Do you think that feeling carried on as ODC progressed and moved to San Francisco? Was there still that attitude of “just do the work”? Yeah. So, we moved out here, we got a little space, we renovated it, we put in a new floor, we painted the place, we put up new walls, and then we were evicted and we bought a building. There, we put in the plumbing, the wiring, the walls, the dance floor; we painted. Every place we had been was built with our own labor until the current campus, which was actually built by professionals. It was always hands-on … so that there was a much deeper collective ownership of the whole vision than there might have been otherwise. And so even though it’s not a collective anymore, I think the spirit of “two heads are better than one” and “how can we all solve things?” is still the operating mode in the organization. I still think it retains a sense of participatory governance even though it’s now a more traditional hierarchical organization than it was at its beginning. Interview by Katherine Moncure

Gothic Masterpiece

Continued from page 11 cold to leave-the-theater levels of terrifying. In fact, her most powerful moments are the quiet ones, where a slight cock of the head or mumble under the breath seems to warn of doom. Tom Hiddleston, too, is spectacularly comfortable on screen even when his character is not, playing Sharpe as a well-intended English puppy while simultaneously making it clear that he hides a terrible secret. And finally, Wasikowska has an excellent turn as Edith. Though she has nothing to hide, her transformation from bookish but outgoing writer to a desperate survivor clinging to the idea of life beyond the walls of her new home is captivating to watch. Del Toro’s films have always contained an element of, as he puts it, “horrible beauty.” He is uniquely brilliant at exploring the intersection of fantasy and reality, but he is not a master of horror. Tragically, Crimson Peak was mismarketed as a horror film, when it is in fact a Gothic romance with horror elements. At one point, Edith, in reference to her story, says to a potential publisher, “It’s not a ghost story; it’s a story with ghosts in it.” Here, del Toro might as well have run across the set bearing a massive red flag while screaming, “This is not a horror film.” It’s an important distinction that the director consistently made in every single press tour for the movie, despite Legendary Pictures’ insistence on undermining him with cliché trailers befitting a standard horror flick. Do not make the same mistake many audiences and critics have. Just as one could not call Pan’s Labyrinth a horror film for containing horrific scenes, Crimson Peak is through and through a slow-burning period thriller. Watch Crimson Peak for the romance, the visual beauty, the masterful performances and the enthralling narrative. It’s worth forking over the additional cash for an IMAX ticket, though the squeamish may find this a bit too much to handle. Crimson Peak is a masterpiece of modern cinema, hiding a beautifully twisted tale beneath a meticulously arranged Gothic landscape of rich colors, layered characters and sets worthy of nothing less than the del Toro masterpiece the film proves to be.

Arts

The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

Page 13

Composers Debut Thought-Provoking Pieces Ben Silverman A small group of interested students filed into Warner Concert Hall and gathered up front in anticipation for the Student Composers Concert this past Wednesday. During the concert, Conservatory students showcased original works that ranged from vivid theatrical accompaniments to postmodern, entirely electronic noise sequences. Each musician displayed great conviction in their performance. It was a concert that signified the approaching conclusion of the formative stages in these musicians’ careers — practice for their future creative escapades. After a short introduction, the first six performers — three string players as well as College junior Gabriel Simon on electronics and synth bass, Conservatory junior Carina Wu on piano and College sophomore Athena Matsil on vocals — took the stage. The piece, “Specter,” a soulful and melodic pop number by double-degree junior Griffin Jennings, highlighted the clean tenor of all the string instruments and Matsil’s animated voice. The piece was tender and delightful; the com-

bination of expressive lyrics and beautifully meshing instruments felt romantic and nostalgic. It was an uplifting introduction to the night. From that point forward, the program focused more on distilled expression than aesthetically pleasing sounds. The second piece, Conservatory first-year Hao Zou’s “Unspeakable Landscape,” was an impressive theatrical number featuring College sophomore Kelsey Burnham on flute, Conservatory first-year XinYuan Wang on violin and Conservatory first-year Jay Hwan Kim on piano. It was composed of contrasting harsh and delicate sequences and played upon each person’s imagination, bringing to mind both haunting and idyllic landscapes. During harsher parts, the performers occasionally manipulated their instruments in creative ways. Kim violently plucked the strings of the piano while Wang blew into the violin’s f-holes, and Burnham buffeted her flute with even more powerful breaths. The next three pieces, composed entirely for electronics, were irregular and industrial. The ways each piece manipulated certain instruments were engaging. The three composi-

tions — double-degree sophomore Joseph Misterovich’s “Sounds Made with Analog Synthesizers,” doubledegree sophomore Nathaniel BakerSalisbury’s “NIEQ Expansion” and Conservatory junior Judy Jackson’s “beta II” — distinguished themselves by their varying intensity and types of sound. Ultimately, each composer exemplified the goal of the concert: to push themselves to create something truly new. The rest of the concert consisted of music written in a more traditionally classical style. Although these pieces utilized familiar instruments and formats, they still demonstrated an unrestrained sense of expression. Conservatory sophomore Gabriel Hawes’ “Ocean,” featuring the composer and Conservatory senior John Burnett on violin, Conservatory sophomore Milo Talwani on viola and Conservatory first-year Nia Burger on cello, consisted mostly of jagged short strikes on the instruments which rhythmically alternated between members of the ensemble. Conservatory first-year Aliya Ultan then performed her own composition for cello, titled “this one held

Conservatory first-year pianist Jay Hwan Kim, Conservatory first-year violinist XinYuan Wang and College sophomore flutist Kelsey Burnham play in Conservatory first-year Hao Zou’s piece, “Unspeakable Landscapes.” The Student Composers concert, in which Zou’s piece was performed, covered diverse stylistic territory. Clover Linh Tran

the other.” She would passionately, and sometimes violently, pluck and slash at her cello, producing what seemed to be a deeply personal piece. The concert concluded with Talwani’s own piece, “Ideally, everything would float,” performed by double-degree sophomore Jerry Xiong and Conservatory sophomore Javier Otalora on violin, double-degree junior Nic Vigilante on

viola and Conservatory sophomore Zachariah Ettlinger Reff on cello. The introduction was composed of staccato sequences, and after a brief intermission, the ensemble resumed with airy cadences. By the time the final group had finished, the audience had witnessed an impressive and varied show that doubled as a successful display of each composer’s craft.

They Breathe Iron Explores Technology, Environmentalism Continued from page 11 scribes the microorganisms and writes about the bond she has formed with them. “Sometimes they’re not visible, sometimes they are visible but not photogenic,” she writes of Leptothrix discophora, as if the tiny creatures were camera shy. In They Breathe Iron’s first-person narrative, Grashoff describes bonding with nature through the photographs. “Taking photographs and

naming features of the landscape are two ways I know to get closer to the physical world,” she writes. Perhaps Grashoff ’s investment in the process points to why she can spot the most beautiful, “photogenic” areas of Leptothrix discophora. In a talk last Tuesday, Grashoff described the difficulties of the writing process. She said choosing a first-person narrative gave her more liberty in her writing and made the scientific aspects seem less dry because

Exhibit Showcases Faculty Art Continued from page 10 with clusters of collaged and painted images and patterns. Ciocci’s half of the exhibit consists of two 48”x 48” canvases of mixed media collage and acrylic paint, along with a half-hour video installation titled The Urgency. Ciocci’s work breaks down internet culture and the symbols that consumers associate with it, like hashtags. By taking these symbols out of their digital context and presenting them in new ways through art, Ciocci evokes emotional and intellectual responses in viewers with his references to preexisting online imagery. In addition to teaching within Oberlin’s Art department, the Brooklyn-based artist is a current member the performance group Extreme Animals and a previous member of the Pittsburgh, PA and Providence, RI art collective Paper Rad. His work has also received critical acclaim from the New York Times, ArtReview, Artforum, Art in American and Vice. Ciocci’s motif of illustrative hands, which can be found in both of his multi-

media pieces, is a particularly evocative aspect of his work that also successfully ties the two pieces together. Despite the two pieces’ chaotic compositions, Ciocci’s hands, which grasp and hold different objects in each work, ground the collaged images, establishing them as more than objects floating in space. In his first multimedia piece, You are not alone, forever, Who is DisneyCollectorBR? ???, this is very much the case. This piece, which is dominated by slimy lime greens, features guest appearances from DreamWorks Pictures’ Shrek along with a myriad of ribbons, text and scissors that threaten to destroy the very imagery that makes up the multimedia collage. The two pictures of human hands and three animated hands within the piece add a sense of cyclical direction to it, as the viewer’s eye travels from the magician’s hands at the bottom left of the canvas to each successive hand and the objects and internet symbols within them. Even the piece’s title, with its repetitive and thoughtfully spaced punctuation, is a reference to modern day

internet culture, as similar textual style can be found on any current social media platform. Ciocci’s second multimedia work, Why Does Everything Always Happen to Me?, is a chaotic entanglement of gradated pinks, purples and greens, fragmented facial features, spiders hanging from webs, tears and geometric forms. On closer inspection, however, this work appears as though it could be a self-portrait, as a paintbrush gripped by an extended, pink arm falls at its center. The dispersed facial features throughout the piece invite the viewer to go digging for figures and faces within it, establishing a highly evocative and interactive relationship between the canvas and its audience. Fear Chaser is an impeccable display of artwork from Oberlin’s very own Art department that would make any student eager to learn from its two featured artists and professors. From visceral deconstructions of internet culture to emotive, created environments and creatures of abstract form, Fear Chaser is not an exhibit you’ll want to miss.

uninformed readers essentially learn with the narrator. However, this style was not without issue. Grashoff spoke of the questions she often asked herself throughout the process: “Was I giving too much information about myself or was I not divulging enough? Was I giving obvious information or was I [not] being explicit enough?” Ultimately, Grashoff grounded her anxiety by emphasizing the connection between self and the environment, a theme

she comes back to in much of her work. “Whatever I photograph comes down to one idea — I’m honoring the physical world,” Grashoff said. “I take photographs to be part of the physical process.” Digital cameras, emails, photo sharing and Adobe products have allowed her to honor — not translate — the world of which she feels she has become a part. It is a true luxury to be invited into that world through her photographs.

Sports

Page 14

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

Men’s Basketball

This week, the Review sat down with men’s basketball first-years Ryan Lockman, Spencer Seabaugh and Nile Godfrey to discuss their most memorable basketball moments, NBA comparisons and expectations for the upcoming season.

and spending time together. Hopefully we end up with the result we want: a championship. NG: Opening night, playing with the team and seeing how we look against the competition will definitely be interesting. I’m definitely hoping that home games are lit, too. Nothing like playing in front of a good crowd.

Where are you from originally? Ryan Lockman: White Salmon, WA, 265 Northwest Washington Street, 98672. Spencer Seabaugh: Prairie Village, KS, right outside of Kansas City. Nile Godfrey: South Orange, NJ. What was your most memorable basketball moment in high school? RL: One time when we were playing our rivals on their home court, we started the fourth quarter down 19 points but ended up rallying to win the game. SS: Definitely a two-way tie between my Elite Eight appearance in the state tournament my senior year, and sophomore year, my team won state. Though I didn’t play much, it was a cool experience, and it’s always good to get a ring. NG: The state semifinal game my senior year was by far one of the most intense and memorable games that I have played in. It went down to the wire, and it was one of my favorite moments in high school. Why did you pick Oberlin? RL: [It was] definitely the best academic school that recruited me; I also got along very well with the team and coaches when I visied. Most importantly, I promised Nate Cohen to continue beating him in FIFA, and I always keep my promises.

Men’s basketball first-years Nile Godfrey (left), Spencer Seabaugh and Ryan Lockman SS: Academics were first and foremost for me. Also, Coach McCrory and Coach Cavaco did a great job recruiting me, and when I finally met the team the deal was sealed. NG: When I visited, the teammates and the coaches seemed like a family, and I was really impressed by the camaraderie and the culture of commitment. Also, academics — Oberlin’s reputation definitely speaks for itself. Few schools can beat an Oberlin education. Did you play any sports in high school besides basketball? RL: I played soccer for a few years.

Visiting Professors Discuss Latinix Culture, Baseball Continued from page 16 Heritage Month. It focused on illuminating not only the importance of Latinx cultural ties to baseball in the United States, but also the erasure of these identities and the delegitimization of the contributions of Latinx players and fans to baseball’s development.

SS: Nah, ball is life. NG: I played baseball freshman and sophomore year, and then I ran track my junior and senior year. What NBA player, if any, would you say you model your game after? RL: I try to model my game after Manu Ginobili. He’s a lefty, too, and he gets to the rim very craftily. Anthony Bennett is also someone whose game I respect. He works really hard even though he doesn’t always get playing time. SS: J.R. Smith. Whenever I watch him play, he seems like he’s having a

Guridy, author of Forging Diaspora: AfroCubans and African Americans in a World of Empire and Jim Crow, said he appreciated being able to share his research with the eclectic group of Oberlin students sitting before him. “It’s a rare academic opportunity to address these diverse communities,” he said. Guridy shared a number of anecdotes describing how Black and Latinx Bronx residents sought to take ownership of the original Yankee Stadium, originally a whitedominated space. He also highlighted the franchise’s response to the changing demographics of

Frank Guridy, professor of History at Columbia University, discusses the importance of stadiums in baseball’s history in the United States. He and Adrian Burgos Jr., professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, presented their research on Latinx players in American baseball in Hallock Auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 28. Benjamin Shepherd, Photo editor

great time playing basketball. I can definitely relate to that. NG: Either Damien Lillard or Russell Westbrook. They both play at a great pace, and they can get to the rim or score whenever they want. They control the tempo of the game, too, which is something that not a lot of players can do. What are you most looking forward to this season? RL: I want to see what a college crowd is like. I am very curious to see what collegiate spectators and the general atmosphere is like. SS: I can’t wait to see how we develop as a team, going on the road

the Bronx in the mid- to late-20th century, namely their fear that the growing Black and Latinx populations would “scare away” their white fans. One anecdote came in the form of a video clip of the Fania All-Stars, a music group combining musicians on the leading salsa record label Fania Records, playing at Yankee stadium and inspiring their fans to the point that they mobbed and eventually climbed onto the stage. Burgos focused on Roberto Clemente’s legacy as the first Latin American and Caribbean player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, an honor that followed only after his tragic death in a plane crash on his way to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He discussed how Latin American baseball players were rendered invisible by the media despite their significance in American baseball and the sport’s significance to their own culture. Clemente is a prime example, as he was not noticed until his death created a widespread feeling of guilt among baseball reporters who silenced and delegitimized him. “Latinos are invisibly present in the history of baseball,” Burgos said. “They’re rendered invisible even as they’re our heroes.” He also underlined the ways in which the press delegitimized Latin American baseball players by phonetically recording their interviews to emphasize their accents. As Burgos said, “There was an emphasis on how they speak versus what they were saying. They were stripping [their voices] of their power to communicate, emphasizing their difference.” Following the presentations, D’Orazio

What have you liked most about playing at Oberlin so far? RL: Socially, I’ve had a ball. The team is like a family: The upperclassmen are like my parents, and the other freshmen are like my brothers. I love being around the team and the coaches. SS: Chilling with the homies. But in all seriousness, in high school, at the end of the day, you always go back to your respective homes. In college, the team is always together. I love hanging out with the guys, working out, playing FIFA and just having a second family away from home. Give me three songs that you have to listen to before a game. RL: “Hard in Da Paint” by Waka Flocka [Flame], “Shabba” by A$AP Ferg and “CoCo” by O.T. Genesis. SS: “Choices” by E-40, “Ante Up” by M.O.B. and “What Do You Want” by A$AP Ferg. NG: “Dreams and Nightmares (Intro)” by Meek Mill, “Know Yourself ” by Drake and “Antidote” by Travis Scott. Interview by Randy Ollie, Sports editor Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor

lamented the dark, exclusionary nature of sports that Guridy and Burgos illuminated. “I think of sports as a unifier,” she said, “but then you see all these things that show that that isn’t true.” Guridy assured the audience that there was still much to be optimistic about regarding the unifying capabilities of sports, –––––––––––––––––––––––––––———–

“Latinos are invisibly present in the history of baseball. They’re rendered invisible even as they’re our heroes.” Adrian Burgos, Jr. Professor, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign –––––––––––––––––––––––––––———– however. “I think that element is still there, as much as we talk about exclusion,” he said. Altogether, the event consisted of three parts: a dinner discussion with POC students and the visiting professors on Wednesday, followed by presentations by Burgos and Guridy and concluding with a lunch with student-athletes at the Knowlton Athletic Complex on Thursday. At the athlete lunch, Guridy and Burgos both emphasized the positive force sports participation can create, despite the grave issues they had both shared the night before. “There is something about the sporting life that enables you to create knowledge,” Guridy said. “The actual practice of it is a powerful thing that hasn’t even been harnessed.”

The Oberlin Review, October 30, 2015

Stop Skimping on Skin Care Isabel Hulkower Columnist Aging is an extremely daunting idea from almost any angle, and just one scoop of the inevitable sundae of adulthood is the prospect of fading skin. Though it seems trifling, treating your skin right is extremely important for maintaining a healthy complexion. Many Oberlin students take part in basically all of the activities that prematurely deteriorate your face: stress, sun exposure, lack of sleep, smoking and alcohol use. That, coupled with tender nonchalance, is a recipe for unhealthy skin. But none of this is novel. The beauty industry has done an incredible job of instilling a pervasive fear of aging while simultaneously hawking hundreds of expensive products claiming to halt or even reverse that process. Skin care can be conflated with subscribing to the ideals of youth and flawlessness. Though those ideals are marketed through beau-

ty products, you shouldn’t let the capitalist pigs in the beauty industry scare you off of skin care altogether. You can take care of your skin without playing into mainstream constructs of attractiveness or the collective fear of aging and maturity. Your skin is just another organ that requires love, care and maintenance, so don’t overthink it. In reality, expensive products are unnecessary. You can pull out the big guns if you really think it’s worth it, but for most people in their 20s, a few middle-range products are more than enough. However, while adequate skin care is of vital importance and generally inexpensive, the actual process is a little cloudier. Skin care is like piercing care — everyone has their own specific routine that they hail as the beall and end-all, while in reality, different things work for different people. Because this can be such a fragile process, it’s important to start slowly and introduce products one by one. That way, if you have an adverse reaction, you can stop using it STAT. That being said, a basic routine to start with includes sunscreen, cleanser and moisturizer.

Sports Sunscreen is where it’s at. It’s cheap, easy to use and incredibly effective. It will protect your skin from the sun damage you get every single day. Even when it’s winter and gloomy, the sun can still have adverse effects on your skin’s health. Eighty percent of –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Skin care is like piercing care — everyone has their own specific routine that they hail as the be-all and end-all, while in reality, different things work for different people. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– skin aging comes from UV rays, so it is important to protect yourself from the sun whenever possible. Wear at least 30 SPF or above every day and use at least one-fourth of a teaspoon for just your face. And to get the rest of the world off of your face, get a cleanser! CeraVe or Neutrogena Gentle are two no-fail brands. Last but not least, don’t forget

Page 15 about moisturizer: It will keep all that dope natural moisture in your face! Preferably use something without too many chemicals. It’s also helpful to find something with a pump, because every time you dip your fingers in a tub you are filling your precious moisturizer with microbes. A chill routine might go as follows: Morning: Wash your face with water. Moisturize. Wait until the moisturizer dries, then don’t forget to apply some sunscreen. Night: Remove your makeup, if you use any. Clean your face thoroughly with water. And always be sure to moisturize before you hit the hay. If this has piqued your interest or you just want to hear

a lot of people really duke it out about the subtleties, then head to the SkincareAddiction subreddit on reddit. com. There is a whole crazy world of skincare out there, and it is yours for the taking. While it can be extremely tedious to parse through the vast collections of facts and medical opinions, it is a great non-commercialized resource overflowing with useful information. Proper skin care may be burdensome, but it’s an easy way to take better care of yourself. The results are obvious, and healthy, happy skin is like a little gift you can give older you, who is totally swamped with taxes and kids or whatever.

Editorial: Glory Days Behind Bryant the Legend Continued from page 16 tempts in a game was when he was shooting 27 during the 2003–2004 season. But during that season he was averaging nearly 35 points a game, whereas in 2014–2015, he was averaging 25. While the Lakers’ front office was able to bolster Bryant’s supporting staff over the summer with free agents such as Lou Williams, Brandon Bass, Metta World Peace and Roy Hibbert, the majority of the scoring load will ultimately fall on Bryant’s shoulders as it has for most of his career. Additionally, while there are high hopes for first round picks D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle to produce immediately this season, in reality Bryant is still the main attraction. However, expecting a 37 year old playing in an 82-game season to be productive against the tough competition of the Western Conference seems as improbable as it is unrealistic. Bryant still has $25 million left on his two-year max contract that he signed last summer, and the question in the back of everyone’s mind has been whether the Lakers will resign him. Bryant has made it clear that he wants to keep playing basketball, but as prolific of a player as he is, he is surprisingly undesirable to the championship contenders in the rest of the league. Accusations have been flying around the league during the past couple of seasons that Bryant is hard to play with. While nothing has been substantiated for certain, the Lakers’ recent drought of perennial superstar signees during free agency seems to support this claim. After all, trying to convince a 20-something to come make millions of dollars in the City of Angels shouldn’t be too difficult. So while Kobe wants to play, and is certainly capable of playing after his contract expires with the Lakers, many general managers will have a lot to consider before even thinking of signing the superstar. But should he even keep playing? I feel like a traitor even thinking this, but part of me only wants to remember Kobe the legend, not the 40-year-old has-been that hops from team to team trying to get that sixth championship ring. Michael Jordan’s short stint with the Wizards is something I still can’t get out of my head. While Jordan is without a question the greatest player of all time, those years with the Washington Wizards were a dark time indeed. To continue playing in the league successfully, Bryant is going to need to rein in his ego and accept that he can no longer be the focal point of a team. He is also going to need to accept that his max contract days are in the rearview mirror. But personally I don’t think that he should do either. He is one of the greatest players in the world, and he should be treated like one. While the idea of the NBA without Kobe seems like a tragedy, all great things must come to an end. Whether Kobe retires or continues to play, his legacy will definitely remain intact. However, every year he stays in the league he becomes increasingly average, and while it may sound blasphemous to some, Bryant is only human. Every season he plays will only illustrate this further. Whatever ends up happening, try and catch some Lakers games this year if you can. It may be the last time you ever see number 24 don the purple and gold.

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

October 30, 2015

— Men’s Soccer —

Oberlin Dominates Hiram 4–0 Scott Rivilin The men’s soccer team defeated the Hiram College Terriers in a 4–0 shutout this past Wednesday in their final home stand of the season. Senior forward John Ingham wasted no time in getting the Yeomen on the scoreboard, rocketing a shot into the corner of the net in the 10th minute of play for his 14th goal of the season. Junior midfielder Adam Chazin-Gray followed suit in the 17th minute, sending the ball over the keeper and earning his first goal of the season. Junior midfielder Nick Wertman didn’t let the first half pass without getting in a goal of his own, collecting his fourth goal of the year shortly before the halftime whistle to give the Yeomen a commanding 3–0 lead. In the second half, Oberlin continued to dominate possession and dictate the pace of play. The Yeomen settled into a comfortable lead, playing a possession game and weaving the ball between the Terriers easily, giving themselves plenty of offensive chances. The team would finish the game with a 21–7 margin in shots and 9–1 advantage in shots on goal. Chazin-Gray said the Yeomen’s fluid ball move-

ment set a good pace for the rest of the game. “The game was fastpaced overall,” he said. “We dominated the first half, moving the ball really well through the midfield, and John Ingham and Slade Gottlieb did a great job working together up front, playing creatively and making nice runs and moves up the field.” Head Coach Blake New said the Yeomen’s control of the match’s pace was integral to their success on the field. “We took control from the very start,” New said. “Playing to our strength of keeping and moving the ball as well as converting chances was definitely key in the win.” The Yeomen’s final score of the game came in the 56th minute, when sophomore midfielder Jonah Blume-Kemkes managed to set up sophomore forward Timothy Williams for his fifth goal of the season. First-year keeper Koryn Kraemer saw little action in the Yeomen’s final home game, finishing the game without a save in the shutout. Prior to their Hiram game, the Yeomen faced the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday but were ultimately defeated 1–0 to spoil a rainy senior night. Despite the abysmal conditions, Kraemer main-

P L AY E R

Geno Arthur

O F

The End of An Era Randy Ollie Sports editor

Senior forward John Ingham fires a shot on goal against the visiting Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops this past Saturday. The Yeomen were ultimately defeated by the Bishops 1–0 but went on to defeat the Hiram College Terriers 4–0 on Wednesday. The Yeomen are currently 10–6–1 overall and 4–4 in conference play. Benjamin Shepherd, Photo editor

tained that the weather was not a major factor in the Yeomen’s loss. “The rain increased pace but did not negatively impact the game,” he said. “It simply forced defensive players and goalkeepers to be more conservative with decisions in the slippery conditions and encouraged shots on the ground from strikers. The rain created a cool atmosphere in which to play.” The first half was a back and forth battle, but neither team was able to score. In the second half, the pace picked up as both teams noticeably increased their intensity. In the 67th minute, the

T H E

W E E K

Senior standout Geno Arthur runs ahead of the pack at the Inter-Regional Rumble. A 2014 NCAA All-American, Arthur is unbeaten in 2015 and most recently completed the Inter-Regional Rumble in a course record time of 24:04.0, defeating the field of 281 Division-III competitors and outlasting North Coast Athletic Conference opponent Logan Steiner. Arthur also became the first Yeoman to be crowned a men’s 8K champion. The Yeomen are currently ranked the 35th best team in the country by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Arthur and his team will travel to Gambier, Ohio this Saturday to compete in the NCAC championship. Photo by Benjamin Shepherd, Photo editor

deadlock was broken by Ohio Wesleyan’s Phoenix Neitzelt, who headed the ball off of a well-placed set piece play past Kraemer and into the back of the net. While the result was certainly not ideal for the Yeomen’s senior night or for post-season aspirations, Ingham didn’t let it dampen his appreciation for the recognition, nor his nostalgia for his college career. “Senior night was great,” Ingham said. “To be appreciated for what we have done is nice, but this team has done so much for me that it is sad [that] it is almost over. I have really

enjoyed playing here, and for it to be almost over is very tough to get over.” Despite the loss to Ohio Wesleyan, the Hiram win moves the Yeomen to 4–4 in the NCAC and 10–6–1 overall; this is the second time in three years that the Yeomen have reached 10 wins in regular season play. More significantly, the win ties Oberlin with Denison with 12 total league points and keeps them in contention for the final playoff spot. Oberlin plays at Denison at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31. With an NCAC playoff bid on the line, it should be an exciting match.

Lecture Highlights Cultural, Racial Roots of Baseball Sarena Malsin Sports editor Many different Oberlin communities came together in Hallock auditorium on Wednesday night to hear Professors Adrian Burgos, Jr. of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Frank Guridy of Columbia University discuss the cultural and racial significance of baseball’s history in the United States. Guridy specifically focused on his research into the significance of stadiums in baseball’s cultural history, whereas Burgos examined the legacy of Roberto Clemente, right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The talks were part of a three-day event organized by College senior Dyaami D’Orazio. “This is my last chance to unite the different communities I have been a part of at Oberlin,” D’Orazio said while introducing the lecture. D’Orazio, a former member of the Yeowomen’s varsity field hockey team, named student-athletes, the Latinx community and Bonner Scholars as a few of the targeted Oberlin communities she wanted to bring into dialogue with one another. The event, titled “Sports Culture: A History of Color Lines, Stadiums, and Baseball,” was part of Latinx See Visiting, page 14

As another exciting NBA season unfolds, I can’t help but recognize the hard truth: This may well be Kobe Bryant’s final season with the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as his final year in the league. The prolific shooting guard has been a global basketball icon for nearly two decades, and his fame and reputation transcend multiple generations of basketball fans. Bryant’s jersey currently ranks as the fourth most popular NBA jersey and ranks in the top 10 of the most famous sports jerseys of all time. Heck, if you ever see someone trying to shoot their trash into the garbage bin, you can probably hear them muttering “Kobe” under their breath. As much as Bryant’s brand and fame have grown over the years, they have always been under the storied franchise umbrella of the Los Angeles Lakers. Much like Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees or Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, Bryant and the Lakers are practically synonymous with one another. The idea of Bryant ever wearing anything other than a purple and gold jersey is simply unimaginable, as is the idea of a Laker’s roster without number 24. Yet Bryant is 37, and in a league that is being warped by freak athletes and new up-and-coming superstars, one cannot deny that the Kobe era is coming to a close. Last season he shot a career worst: under 30 percent from the floor while shooting close to 24 shots a game. The only time that he averaged more shot atSee Editorial, page 15