April 6, 2018

The Oberlin Review April 4, 2018

established 1874

Volume 146, Number 19

Students Nominated For AAPR Steering Committee Duncan Reid Staff Writer

Students from Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct painted a rock in Tappan Square to celebrate Consent Month,which aims to spread awareness of healthy sexual and consent practices.

Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo Editor

Consent Month Reframes Sexual Conduct Sydney Allen News Editor

Editor’s Note: This article contains mentions of sexual assualt, violence, and misconduct.

Oberlin’s first official Consent Month debuts this April marking a collaborative effort between the Oberlin’s Office of Title IX, the student group Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct, the Sexual Information Center, and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

There will be speakers, programs, workshops, and events in the coming weeks to raise awareness around consent and healthy sexual practices on campus.

PRSM — a group that started in 2014 as a training program for first-years that focuses on peer education, bystander intervention, and consent — and the SIC, which aims to provide access to at-cost safer sex supplies and peer counseling, will hold over a dozen events throughout the month. All of these events will count as prerequisites for Oberlin’s famous Drag Ball, an annual event that celebrates drag culture and requires students to attend various workshops and events in order to purchase a ticket.

“What I love about the idea of Consent Month is that it really nails home that [consent] isn’t just a first-year thing,” Title IX Director Rebecca Mosely said. “It also allows us to get creative in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it at a time when people will want to attend for more than just their own personal interest, though the ability to get into Drag Ball or count it for other

things is a nice enticement as well.”

Nationally, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the College usually recognizes it by creating platforms for survivors of sexual assault to tell their stories. After years of framing the awareness month this way, Mosely and PRSM coordinators decided to keep the event in theme with the “Make Consent a Conversation” platform launched this year.

“We wanted to focus on work around sexual violence in some way, but obviously our campaign all year has been an awareness campaign around consent, which is a positive way, I think, to focus on preventing sexual violence,” Mosely said. “It made sense, fitting in with the campaign this year, to go ahead and make it Consent Month and really be focusing on that prevention work around sexual violence.”

The event’s organizers were also aware of the outpouring of survivor stories in the wake of the #MeToo movement and wanted to promote preventative rather than reactionary dialogue.

“I think with the emergence of the #MeToo movement, to be silent is a form of violence, but I think we have the opportunity as a community to kind of intervene and offer some nuance in these issues,” College junior and SIC Peer Counselor Kira Felsenfeld said. “So what does it look like when we look at this through a lens of race, or through a lens of thinking about gender and heteronormativity and cis-normativity?”

A large reason the events this month focus on bystander and preventative measures is that in Oberlin’s 2016 Cli-

mate Survey, students responded that a bystander was present in 47 percent of assaults. However, bystanders intervened in only 12 percent of these assaults.

“When I first started, we only did the consent workshops in the fall, and then because of the results of the Oberlin Climate Survey, we have begun to do the bystander workshops in the spring,” College junior and PRSM facilitator Sophia Pekowsky said. “That’s why we did these bystander interventions — to kind of train people to know how to be active bystanders and to always be on the lookout, and that involves really caring about the community.”

Some of the preventative events include “A Party Planning and Prevention Workshop” and “Bystander Intervention” training.

“I also think alcohol [is really relevant to consent] which is clear on college campuses, but I think at Oberlin it keeps falling out of the conversation, and as much as we talk about it in theory, where it’s like, ‘Yeah, you’ve had too much to drink,’ and that can inhibit consent, I think it’s just so, so central,” Felsenfeld said. “Party culture can really f**k up our ability to consent for things. And it’s also just, like, people go to parties with the goal to hook up with someone, and that can be incredibly dangerous.”

Pekowsky added that there is often a misconception at Oberlin that sexual assault is less prevalent here due to the progressive climate. However, according to the 2016 climate survey, one in five women at Oberlin and one in 12 men

Student Senate announced the students nominated to serve on the Academic Administrative Program Review Steering Committee in an email Tuesday. College juniors Sadie Keller and Faith Shaeffer, sophmores Nae Mclain and Janet Wu, and first-year Ilana Foggle were nominated to the General Faculty Council, which will choose three of the five to serve on the committee.

Senate Vice-Chair and College junior Cecilia Wallace said that Senate received a qualified pool of applicants for the AAPR Steering Committee, which will engage closely with the coming external financial review.

“Senate was not picking and choosing between opinions, but rather seeking clear dedication to current and future peers’ wellbeing,” Wallace said of the nomination process.

Foggle, a vocal critic of the administration’s new meal plan, highlighted her commitment to the student body.

“As the only first-year nominated, I feel a responsibility, if chosen, to advocate for all Oberlin students — especially first-year and prospective students, since many of the changes will be affecting us most,” Foggle said. “Firstyear students and prospective students are not getting their money’s worth for the meal plan and this is disproportionately affecting lowincome students, especially [those] left without food over Winter Term.”

Fellow nominee, former Student Senator, and member of President Ambar’s transition team Keller also said she felt encouraged to apply for the committee to serve as a voice for others.

“I applied because I feel well suited to represent a variety of student interests, think about big issues from outside the campus, and connect the students and administration as we go through difficult conversations,” Keller said.

Other nominees echoed Keller’s reasons for applying.

“I applied for this position because I want to be involved in this all-encompassing review process,” Wu said. “If I end up as a committee member, I hope to be able to bring not only my experiences to the discussion table but also those of different facets of our student body. All [student experiences] are important considerations that should be taken when doing an extensive review of Oberlin as an institution.”

Some instead highlighted recent financial discussion as what prompted them to apply.

“Walking out of [Ambar’s financial talk], a lot of the buzz I was hearing was questions and worries students had about what all of that meant and how we go forward,” Shaeffer said. “I applied to AAPR in the hopes of making myself a resource [so I] can answer some of

see Student, page 3

see AAPR, page 4

CONTENTS NEWS

OPINIONS

THIS WEEK

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS

02 Oberlin Pays Tribute to Austin Bombing Victim Draylen Mason

05 Increasing Medical Marijuana Accessibility Would Help Fight Opioid Epidemic

08–09 Oberlin’s Dandelion Romp

10 Spring Back Reimagines Choreography

14 Ohtani Defies Asian-Athlete Stereotypes in MLB Debut

12 Vikander Falls Short as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider

16 Philanthropy Lifts Athletics to Next Level

04 OTC: John Elder and Steve Hammod

The Oberlin Review | April 4, 2018

06 Dascomb Staff Deserve Respect, Increased Transparency

oberlinreview.org facebook.com/oberlinreview TWITTER @oberlinreview INSTAGRAM @ocreview

1

Ne w s

Oberlin Pays Tribute to Austin Bombing Victim Draylen Mason scholarship fund in his name for students of color in the conservatory. The petition, started by Conservatory alumnus Joshua Blue, OC ’16, has gained over 20,000 signatures. It references Mason’s unwavering commitment to music and the dire need for minority representation in the musical arts as reasons favoring his recognition.

“A student who was clearly up for the challenge, Draylen would have been entering the world of music without many mentors who look like him,” the Draylen Mason was accepted to Oberlin’s Conservatory of Music shortly petition reads. “His entry into before his murder. Following the official news of his acceptance, alumni began musical academia would in itself circulating a petition to award Mason a posthumous Bachelor of Music degree. be a radical action, and for his

Photo courtesy of East Austin College Prep sake, and for those who are put off by the lack of representation, Andrea Wang lished to help Mason’s family this needs to change.” offset home repair costs and his Citing Mason’s connection to The murder of 17-year-old mother’s medical expenses after the Conservatory as an admitted Draylen Mason by the Austin, the bombing. It also encouraged student, as well as Oberlin’s hisTX, serial mail bomber has re- donations to the Draylen Mason torical commitment to increasceived attention from communi- Fellows Program established ing diversity and inclusion, Blue ties nationwide, but particularly by Austin Soundwaves, a music said that fulfilling the petition’s at Oberlin College and Conser- education program for under- requests would be consistent vatory, the latter of which had served youth that Mason was with Oberlin’s established valaccepted Mason around the deeply involved with. ues and would be the most aptime of his death. The College, “Everyone in the Oberlin propriate way of honoring Manow grappling with how to hon- community wants to do the right son. or Draylen’s memory, has en- thing,” Vice President and Dean “We’re asking for Oberlin as couraged community members of Students Meredith Raimondo an institution to get behind [the to donate to two funds associ- said. “Now, it’s just a conversa- petition] and say, ‘This is someated with his family and life. tion about what the right thing thing that we believe in, and we The College released a state- is.” want to be a part of that change,’” ment announcing its support for Mason’s premature death Blue said. “Oberlin has such a Mason titled “Honoring Draylen ignited an outpouring of re- vibrant history of working with Mason’s Memory,” which re- sponses, most notably in the people of color and minority flected Oberlin’s desire to carry form of an online petition ask- groups and enacting change, so out a meaningful response to ing the Conservatory to award this seems right on the level of the Austin bombings. It directed Mason a posthumous Bachelor what they’ve already done.” sympathizers to a fund estab- of Music degree and establish a The petition is careful to

not overextend Mason’s connection to Oberlin, as he died before committing to a school.

However, Blue also asserted that Mason’s eventual school choice should not be a concern.

“I see this as the spark that moves more schools towards accessibility nationwide,” Blue said. “If the world saw an institution that was held to such high esteem like Oberlin doing something like this, then it could create a chain reaction among other schools around the country.”

Blue said he approved of the actions that the College and Conservatory have taken so far, but emphasized the need for supporting underrepresented musicians at all stages of education. He also highlighted the responsibility for institutions like Oberlin to provide collegiatelevel financial support.

“For musicians entering higher education, there are far fewer opportunities for them to succeed,” Blue added. “The petition is really trying to focus on representation and accessibility at a collegiate level.”

The Conservatory currently oversees a number of initiatives aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion in the arts, including maintaining a relationship with the Sphinx Organization, a group dedicated to supporting the representation of Black and Latinx students in classical music. Qualifying students receive scholarships for undergraduate- and graduate-level studies.

Additionally, Oberlin’s Francis

Walker-Slocum Scholarship exists specifically to support African-American Conservatory students.

Dean of the Conservatory Andrea Kalyn wrote in an email to the Review that diversity is a major consideration throughout the entire admissions process.

“The Conservatory has worked hard to recruit talented musicians from arts high schools with underrepresented populations,” she wrote. “We are also incredibly fortunate that Oberlin’s financial aid values and policies allow us to provide talented students of need access to this conservatory education.”

Although the statement acknowledged the issue of providing financial support to young musicians of color, it made no mention of the possibility of awarding Mason a posthumous honorary music degree.

In later correspondence, Kalyn wrote that awarding Mason a posthumous degree was not under consideration. Posthumous degrees are typically conferred to recognize work completed at Oberlin; in the rare cases where they have been awarded, the recipients were not only enrolled at Oberlin but had also completed necessary degree requirements before their death.

Conferral of honorary degrees constitutes a different process.

“They are awarded in recognition of a person’s professional accomplishments, most typically in the advanced stages of their careers,” Kalyn wrote.

First-Year Looks to Transform Local Politics, Runs for District 56 Lila Michaels Staff Writer

While most Oberlin students are once again settling into campus life after spring break, College first-year Claudia Olaes is running for local office. A pre-med student minoring in Art and Politics, Olaes has taken academic leave this semester to run for the Ohio House of Representatives in District 56. The democratic incumbent, Dan Ramos, is unable to run for re-election due to term limits, so the Lorain native is campaigning for a vacant seat against three Democrats and one Republican.

Olaes may be young, but she highlighted her youth as one of her strengths, further emphasizing the need for local change.

“As a young candidate, I bring my energy, empathy, commitment, creativity, and idealism,” Olaes said. “I’m focused, hardworking, full of grit, and I’m not afraid to

take action and risks. I offer fresh ideas and out-of-the-box solutions to the growing problems here in my community.”

Tired of years of inaction and silence from her political representatives, Olaes said she believes in her position as an underdog to break the stagnant status quo.

“I am running because I know what it’s like not to be heard,” she said. “I come from a family of advocates whose letters to the Governor, Attorney General, State Representative, Ohio [and] U.S. Departments of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Civil Rights, and the Ohio Inspector General have fallen on deaf ears.”

District 56 has one of the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in Ohio.

Lorain was once a thriving rust belt town, propelled by U.S. Steel, which generated thousands of jobs. In recent years, however, jobs have left the county and its resi-

The Oberlin R eview April 6, 2018 Volume 146, Number 19 (ISSN 297–256) 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 secondclass 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

Editors-in-Chief

Melissa Harris Christian Bolles Managing Editor Daniel Markus News Editors Sydney Allen

Roman Broszkowski Opinions Editors Jackie Brant

El Wilson This Week Editor Lucy Martin Arts Editors Julia Peterson

Ananya Gupta Sports Editors Alex McNicoll

Alexis Dill Layout Editors Hannah Robinson

Parker Shatkin Elena Hartley Photo Editors Bryan Rubin Hugh Newcomb Business Manager Monique Newton

dents have struggled to recover. As a result, Olaes’ top priority as a candidate for Ohio representative is to listen to people — particularly those who have been marginalized because of their identity in the past.

“Your voice will be heard,” Olaes said.

“The voice of individuals with disabilities, students and their families, ... the 28 percent in poverty and the unemployed; those affected by the devastating opioid epidemic; youth across the America, standing up because enough is enough of these senseless school shootings; the victims of human trafficking; the courageous women of the #MeToo movement; and any voice experiencing social injustice and inequity will be heard.”

Beyond her strong conviction and vision of equality, many wonder what qualifies Olaes to represent 113,103 residents in places including Oberlin and Lorain. Even see Olaes, page 3

Ads Manager

Jabree Hason

Online Editor

Mikaela Fishman

Production Manager Victoria Albacete Production Staff

Giselle Glaspie Eliza Guinn Lior Krancer Kaitlyn Lucey Kendall Mahavier Devyn Malouf Madi Mettenburg

Distributors

Yonce Hitt Kristen Mayhew Leo Hochberg

2

before arriving at Oberlin College, Olaes built an impressive resume. She graduated

Claudia Olaes delivers her valedictorian speech during the graduation of the Class of 2018 from nearby Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio.

Olaes, a College first-year, has taken a leave of absence to run for state representative in Ohio’s 56th District. Photo Courtesy of Claudia Olaes

Corrections: The Oberlin Review is not aware of any corrections at this time.

To submit a corrrection, email managingeditor@ oberlinreview.org.

Student Organizations Tackle Sexual Violence, Hypermasculinity continued from page 1 will experience some form of sexual violence during their time here — on par with the national average.

“People have this idea that there’s not sexual assault at Oberlin in the same way that there is on other college campuses, because a lot of the time sexual assault is seen as this thing that only happens in bigger state schools, or like an issue that’s isolated to fraternity houses,” Pekowsky said. “But sexual assault rates here completely are in the same percentage as in any other school.”

One Oberlin-specific problem that facilitators highlighted is the “chill” culture at Oberlin that discourages people from speaking up about their comfort level and sexual preferences for fear of jeopardizing their social standing.

“But I think the problems can manifest in different ways. I think there is a culture of apathy — it’s not cool to advocate for yourself, and to advocate for your boundaries, and in a hookup culture the need to be chill really silences the need for people to express their boundaries,” Pekowsky said. “And that’s not taking any of the fault off of perpetrators, but people do feel a pressure to feel comfortable with hookup culture and to be comfortable doing things that they might not actually feel comfortable with.”

In keeping with national shifts in conversations about consent and

gender dynamics, this year’s series will feature many events focusing on men and masculinity and their role in consent, which breaks from the norm of asking what women can do to prevent assault.

Consent Month kicked off Tuesday night with “Men Preventing Sexual Violence: It’s More Than Just Asking for Consent.” Director of Campus Services for the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center Alex Leslie led the workshop, which, while open to all, discussed what men can do to prevent rape and assault.

The event drew around 50 people and was the second of its kind this year, with “Consent, Sex, and Relationships for Men” launching first last semester.

“Last semester was the first time we piloted a workshop specifically targeted to people who identify as men,” College senior and PRSM Facilitator India Wood said. “I talked to a lot of people before and after the workshop. … Most of the people I talked to, which is obviously a selfselecting population, were all really excited about the idea of it. A lot of people gave me the feedback that they were like, ‘No one ever talks about this, just in groups of dudes here,’ and how it’s a pretty important thing to be talking about, but there doesn’t really ever seem [to be] a space to do so.”

Another event aimed at tackling

hypermasculinity is a screening of The Mask You Live In, a documentary that follows a number of boys and young men as they struggle to negotiate society’s expectations around masculinity.

“I feel like masculinity is something that isn’t really talked about at Oberlin that much and PRSM is trying to highlight, just because masculinity comes up as this issue that becomes present in so many cases of sexual assault,” Pekowsky said. “And even though obviously it’s not always men who commit sexual assault, and it’s not always women who are sexually assaulted — it’s so far from that — a lot of the times masculinity is still involved in very insidious ways. Even in queer relationships, masculinity can play a part in abuse.”

The Office of Title IX will also undergo a policy review this semester to revise its current policies and procedures. The Title IX Policy Review Committee has been gathering student input on the policy through surveys this spring. College junior and Student Senator Kirsten Mosjziszek will facilitate a Title IX policy listening session to gather student opinions on the changes.

A revised policy will be drafted by the end of the semester, which will then go to Student Senate for approval before reaching the General Faculty.

Olaes Runs for Ohio House of Representatives

as a valedictorian from Oberlin High School and was awarded the Robinson Scholarship, a merit scholarship for students who excel academically and socially. She is also a studentathlete at Oberlin, previously making history as a female player in a boy’s league before playing for the College.

“I played first singles and served continued from page 2 as captain of the varsity boys tennis high school team,” she said. “I won the 2017 Ohio Boys Tennis Sectional Tournament and the Lorain County Athletic Administrators Association Boys Tennis Tournament.”

College senior Sarah Hughes, the Yeowomen’s tennis captain, said that she and the team were proud of Olaes for taking bold steps to run for office while she is still a student.

“I think it’s really amazing that she’s going for it,” Hughes said. “She’s

a strong leader, and we’re all very proud of what she’s doing.”

In addition to her academic and athletic achievements, Olaes also started a foundation to advocate for autism when she was in high school.

“My brother has autism, and I’ve spoken in front of thousands of people advocating for individuals with disabilities and their families,” she said.

Together with her sister, Olaes created an art exhibition titled, “His Ability: Autism Seen Through His Sisters’ Eyes.” The sisters co-founded and continue to run the Ethan88 Foundation: Let Music Move Us, a nonprofit organization inspired by their brother Ethan, “which raises awareness and support to important causes.”

Olaes’ father, Carm Olaes, OC ’92, said that the leadership his daughter has fostered makes him confident in her attempt to run for office.

“Ever since she was a little girl,

Claudia has always had the heart of a leader,” he said. “She knows what it takes to defy the odds and stand up for what is right. What truly sets her apart is her compassion for humanity and her belief that she can change things. She has always had my vote.”

Olaes said her time at Oberlin has also been a large motivator for her to run, drawing from Oberlin’s long history of social justice and slogan that one person can change the world.

“I love what Oberlin College represents, its history and its reputation,” she said. “My professors motivate and challenge me to always be at my best.

I’ll always remember First Lady Michelle Obama giving Oberlin’s commencement address. Her words that stick with me are, ‘If you truly wish to carry on the Oberlin legacy of service and social justice, then you need to run to, and not away from, the noise.’”

OTC: John Elder and Steve Hammon Continued from page 4

this assuming that, OK, we’ve found the key to stopping pipelines from coming through the community anywhere. But I think the very slim hope we grab for is that if we could do enough to grease up the works with court hearings, with regulation hearings — just to slow it down enough — that perhaps the economic issues would overwhelm the desire for them to build the pipeline, because it really doesn’t seem economically feasible when you look at it in lots of ways. So that was really our entryway into this cause obviously, you talk about The Oberlin Review | April 6, 2018

regulatory measures — I mean industry has a lot of weight in all of this — and so you have to come at it from all the sides that you can.

Oberlin has always been used to fighting big battles. I mean, that’s not anything new here, so to do this wasn’t really entering into anything.

It was something going on in this community for a long time, so I don’t think it struck any of us as anything out of the ordinary that all of a sudden we’re involved in this thing that’s so big — I mean, we knew that from the beginning.

Can you speak a little bit more

about what CSSE has been doing throughout this whole process — the court hearings and such?

JE: The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission has a process of intervening — being able to file comments — and just as the City of Oberlin has been an intervener in the process, CSSE has been an intervener, which means that in the beginning — when this process opened — we have filed statements in which we have argued and presented our arguments that NEXUS should not be coming through Oberlin.

Security Notebook Thursday, March 29, 2018 6:33 a.m. Staff reported water coming out of the mechanical room in the north section of the basement in South Hall. A plumber was contacted to make repairs.

10:28 a.m. A student reported the theft of their backpack, containing a black ASUS laptop, from a study room at Mudd library. The student left the backpack there overnight and upon returning the next day, the backpack was missing.

1:52 p.m. A student reported the theft of their purse from a house they were visiting on North Cedar Street. No description of the purse was given. The Oberlin Police Department was notified.

8:18 p.m. Officers assisted with a safety inspection violation on the first floor of Lord House. A decorative knife was located in the room and confiscated. The item was transported to Safety and Security for safekeeping until the end of the school year.

8:19 p.m. Officers assisted with a safety inspection violation on the first floor of Barnard House. They confiscated a glass pipe containing residue consistent with marijuana, a baggie containing a leafy substance consistent with marijuana, and bottles of alcohol. The alcohol was disposed of, and the remaining items were turned over to the Oberlin Police Department.

8:20 p.m. Officers assisted with a safety inspection violation on the third floor of Noah Hall. A glass bong with residue consistent with marijuana and an unopened bottle of wine were seen in plain view. Both items were confiscated. The wine was disposed of, and the bong was turned over to the Oberlin Police Department.

9:01 p.m. Officers assisted with a safety inspection violation in a room on the second floor of Dascomb Hall. Two glass pipes containing a residue consistent with marijuana were confiscated, along with a grinder containing residue consistent with marijuana. A plastic bag was also removed from the room’s smoke detector. The items were turned over to the Oberlin Police Department.

Saturday, March 31, 2018 2:47 a.m. A resident of Talcott Hall reported that the large window at the main entrance to Talcott was broken by unknown person(s).

An officer responded, and staff responded for repair. A work order was filed for glass cleanup. The damage is under investigation.

5:03 a.m. An officer on routine patrol observed a discharged fire extinguisher on the drive of South Hall. The extinguisher was brought to the Safety and Security office. The area that the extinguisher is from is unknown.

Monday, April 2, 2018 8:20 a.m. Residential Education staff reported unknown person(s) had broken into the recycling shredder in the Res-Ed office.

The incident is under investigation.

11:02 a.m. Staff at the Science Center reported graffiti on a chalkboard and empty beer cans in Craig Auditorium. An officer responded, and custodial staff cleaned up the chalkboard and beer cans.

3

Ne w s

Senate Confirms AAPR Student Nominees continued from page 1 those questions when I hear them.”

The application process was abbreviated due to the deadline the General Faculty set for the Senate, which resulted in a short five-day nomination period and the absence of the interview process traditionally afforded to committee applicants. A decision on the entire composition of the AAPR Steering Committee, including three of the five students named by Senate, should be announced in the coming weeks.

The three selected students will serve on the 30-person committee, half of which will consist of faculty members. The remaining 12 nonstudent members will be comprised of trustees, administrative and professional staff, and union members, with President Ambar as chair. The committee members will meet weekly and coordinate communication with the student body via appearances at the Student Senate’s weekly Sunday plenary meeting.

The Steering Committee will guide Stevens Strategy, the educational consulting firm that will conduct the AAPR. Ambar used Stevens Strategy — which will review all aspects of Oberlin over the course of a year — while she was president at Cedar Crest College.

The administration has asserted in statements released to the student body that the review is necessary to “determine the optimal mix of academic programs and to ensure that administrative units are effective.”

It has also stated that the review committee will help the College “minimize risks and maximize the process’s usefulness.”

Keller echoed the administration’s goals for the AAPR process.

“If selected, I’m hoping that the financial audit process can remain focused on serving as many students as well as possible, while debunking some myths about our financial system and remaining true to the values of our school,” she said.

While President Ambar has stressed the importance of a comprehensive review in which ideas arise from campus stakeholders, some members of the GFC have been wary of the consulting firm’s ability to review academic departments, prompting Ambar to promise to bring in a representative from Stevens Strategy to quell concerns. Additionally, all results will need the GFC’s approval before anything is presented to the trustees. The committee is set to begin their work this semester, with their final report scheduled to be delivered to the Board of Trustees at their March 2019 meeting.

OFF THE CUFF

John Elder and Steve Hammond John Elder and Steve Hammond are cofounders of the group Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy, an environmental group that has been working to fight the NEXUS pipeline and advocate for Oberlin’s Community Bill of Rights. Hammond is also the Pastor for Oberlin’s Peace Community Church. The group has been fighting the NEXUS pipeline since 2013, pursuing lawsuits, engaging community members, and advocating with City Council.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview by Sydney Allen News Editor How did you get involved with Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy?

John Elder: I got involved with Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy back in 2012, when a student became aware that there was drilling south of Kipton, Ohio, on the western side of town and wanted to know if it was a frack gas well. It turned out not to be but alerted us to the possibility of fracking for natural gas in this area. So we — community people and students — began meeting and eventually we adopted the name [Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy]. We started out as anti-fracking, but we needed a more positive name. One of our members had a relationship with [the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund], which began in Pennsylvania but had had experience with farmers who had been impacted by the disposal of waste products. And this organization learned that if they protested companies for not doing adequate studies before filing for permits, their protests actually provided the companies with the material they needed to file a better application. So they decided that rather than opposing the process of permitting the disposal of dangerous processes or products, they should oppose them, period.

We used that as the basis of the Community Bill of Rights.

Steve Hammond: The Bill of Rights and Obligations used language that CELDF had provided us and we adapted to our own situation. That led us to then file an ordinance that passed in the fall of 2013 that included basically a ban on pipelines.

Bill of Rights was passed?

JE: No, when we started we knew nothing about that.

In the fall of 2013, NEXUS had an open house. We went to that open house, but that was the first public knowledge that we were aware of this public pipeline proposal, so we had the advantage that our ordinance was not an antiNEXUS ordinance — it was an anti-pipeline ordinance.

In fact, some of us probably thought it was as meaningful as Oberlin’s anti-nuclear weapons ordinance.

SH: Yeah, that whole thing about why the pipeline figures in is that the community Bill of Rights and Obligations not only talks about [not] fracking, but also [not allowing] infrastructure that [allows] fracking, including

transportation and that kind of stuff, and that’s how it became related to the pipeline.

JE: One thing that’s important to note, and I’ve been mulling this over, is that NEXUS knew, from the first public announcement that Oberlin was going to have a ban on fracking and on pipelines, so they could from the very beginning have routed their pipeline away from Oberlin. So, we’re having the confrontation now, but it’s not a confrontation that they couldn’t have avoided.

Can you speak to what it’s like for such a national environmental issue to come to Oberlin? What has it been like trying to grapple with this huge corporation?

SH: Well, this all gets put

Photo by Sydney Allen, News Editor

in the bigger context with climate change and all of those types of things, so you realize that you’re gonna be up against big corporations and stuff, but there are other communities that you’re networking with in all of this.

And I think we didn’t go into See OTC, page 3

Was the NEXUS pipeline something people were aware of about when the

Oberlin Community News Bulletin

4

Steve Hammond and John Elder.

The Vietnamese Student Association Hosts Annual Banquet

City Holds Candlelight Vigil for 50th Anniversary of MLK’s Assassination

The Vietnamese Student Association will hold its annual banquet tomorrow in the Science Center Atrium from 6–8 p.m. The keynote speaker is American contemporary poet Bruce Weigl. Food will be served, and VSA will also have a workshop station to learn how to roll your own spring rolls.

Wednesday night in Tappan Square, the city of Oberlin Human Relations Commission and co-sponsoring groups in the College and community held a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

Global Issues Symposium Highlights the Middle Eastern City The Global Issues Symposium hosted a series of talks, lectures, and a movie screening April 5 and 6 on urbanization in the Middle East. The series included a showing of the Turkish documentary Ekumenopolis and lectures by Turkish and Egyptian researchers tackling urban development in their respective countries.

OPINIONS April 6, 2018

Letter to the Editors

American College System Destroys Real Liberalism Editor’s Note: This letter contains mentions of violence.

To the Editors: Nathan, thank you for your thoughtful piece on gun control. I respond with respect. I used to be Jewish and a Democrat. Unfortunately, the Democratic party has now almost completely abandoned liberalism and instead embraced the illiberal value system called leftism. I am still a passionate liberal. Now, they call us constitutional conservatives. I certainly understand your values regarding gun control. However, I consider them, in general, highly illiberal and very harmful to us all. Here is why.

First, like or not, believe it or not, leftism is a child-like value system. It appeals to people because all of us have a deep and strong drive to be taken care of. It’s a very natural feeling. It’s a feeling that men and women must fight and try to control. Because many of us do not fight or control the feeling, we end up with auditoriums full of students channeling the child inside of themselves, cheering for The Bern, for free college, free healthcare, daycare, free family leave care, free public school education, retirement care, job care, food and housing care. They want to be taken care of by a mom-and-dad government. Now, they don’t even want to hear opinions they disagree with, so they shriek and shout down speakers or run to safe spaces built by childish administrators. This childishness is wired into the nature of us all, but if boys and girls don’t grow up, they wreck their societies with this foolishness — take a peek at Venezuela today. Take a peek at men being hauled into court in Europe or Canada because the child-leaders don’t like their non-leftist speech.

This childishness is the reason we have all the cheers about gun control and common sense gun laws. The state will be there to take care of all the bad guys that populate the world.

On the other hand, the world you never hear about at Oberlin is the world of mature Americans and their liberal values. These are the people who embrace the values of the anti-child — the values of freedom, self-reliance, strength, bravery, traditions, dignity, and manhood. These are the values that teach us the realities of life. One of the great teachings is that nothing is free. The government has no money. The only money it has is that which it takes by threat of force from citizens. So all this shrieking for free this and free that are the inarticulate and foolish cries of a child.

The other reality is that evil is always with us here on earth — evil in the micro and macro sense. This is the understanding of the liberal wise man and women. These are the liberal values that tell us that no matter how much you hope or wish upon a star, robbers, rapists, kidnappers, and mass killers are always lurking about — always on the prowl. No matter how many laws we make against murder, rape, or nasty folks with a gun, they will always be there — always full of rage, lack of self-control, and victimization, always there looking to murder, rape, shoot, stab, crucify, machete, poison, throw acid in the faces of girls, behead, blow up or run over innocent people with a See Letter, page 7 SUBMISSIONS POLICY

The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and op-ed 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 that week’s issue. Letters may not exceed 600 words and op-eds may not exceed 800 words, except with consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names and any relevant titles, for all signers. All writers must individually confirm authorship on electronic submissions. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity, length, grammar, accuracy, strength of argument and in consultation with Review style. Editors will work with 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. Headlines are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. Opinions expressed in editorials, letters, op-eds, columns, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review. 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 a contributor.

The Oberlin Review | April 6, 2018

established 1874

Volume 146, Number 19

Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief

Melissa Harris

Christian Bolles

Managing Editor Daniel Markus

Opinions Editors

El Wilson

Jackie Brant

Increasing Medical Marijuana Accessibility Would Help Fight Opioid Epidemic President Trump gave a speech on March 29 in Richfield, Ohio, that, among other topics, tapped into a conversation which hits home for many Ohioans: opioid addiction. As of December 2016, Ohio’s opioid-related death rate of 39 percent was second only to that of West Virginia. Out of the 4,329 general drug overdose deaths in Ohio in 2016, 83 percent of these deaths were opioid-related. Despite numerous attempts at lowering this death rate through policy, nothing seems to work. Trump’s audience, mainly union engineers and maintenance workers, and the setting, an industrial barn, were carefully chosen; his words, less so. One topic that he failed to mention — as most legislators have failed to as well — is the potential of marijuana to decrease the rates of opioid–related deaths.

Trump has continuously promised to attack the opioid epidemic through policy. On March 2, he commented that “the administration is going to be rolling out policy over the next three weeks, and it will be very, very strong,” adding that he spoke “with [Attorney General] Jeff [Sessions] about bringing a lawsuit against some of these opioid companies.” Other policy enactments include Congress allocating several billion dollars to the federal budget to combat the opioid epidemic, promise from the Department of Justice to help states in suing corrupt opioid companies and suppliers, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allowing states to apply for waivers to use. Trump also donated his third-quarter salary to the Department of Health and Human Services specifically for use in the fight against opioid addiction.

However, his recent comments seem to contradict these previous actions, all of which were undertaken in late 2017 and early January 2018. In early March, President Trump asserted that “the only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness.” By “toughness,” Trump was chiefly referring to establishing minimum sentences and — in some cases — giving the death penalty to drug dealers who knowingly deal illicit opioids.

He also argued that other foreign countries like Singapore have lower rates of drug addiction because they deal out harsher sentences to drug dealers. He emphasized that in the U.S., individuals can be sentenced to death for the murder of one person, while drug dealers are treated much less harshly even though the drugs they sell potentially factor in the deaths of many people. Trump also plans to cut the number of prescribed opioids in half within three years, though he has not specified how exactly he intends to achieve this goal. And, of course, as the requisite cherry atop the Trumpian sundae, he has again argued that we must build a wall to stop illicit drugs from crossing the southern border, to which he also just deployed National Guard troops this week.

Although Trump’s move to increase funding to fight opioids, the waiver for Medicare and Medicaid, and the help from the Justice Department in suing opioid companies were certainly steps in the right direction, his militaristic crackdown on drug dealers and border relations are grossly misguided at best. As long as there is a demand for opioids, drug dealers will continue to develop new, more dangerous, and more easily transported illicit drugs, and no amount of regulations, tough talk, or military action will change that.

This is clearly seen through the crackdown on heroin; when legislators nationwide attempted to further regulate heroin — including the targeting of dealers — the amount of heroin-related deaths decreased, but those related to fentanyl skyrocketed. The correlation is no mystery. Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent and much cheaper than heroin. It also has legal uses within the medical field, making it much easier to obtain than heroin. There are few differences in the manufacturing processes for illicit and medicinal fentanyl, so it is much easier to transport, access, and hide. Fentanyl is also often distributed through the mail, not across the southern border like how heroin typically is. Building a wall would therefore not hinder some major sources of illicit sales, notably those sold online through China — a country identified by U.S. officials as the major source of opioid sales in the U.S. — which travel through the mail.

The proposed solutions tumbling around in the national discourse have proved unsuccessful in the past — attempts at rehabilitation reform, parole reform, suing pharmaceutical companies and corrupt physicians, and increasing the availability of life-saving emergency drugs for overdose situations have all fallen flat. However, one possibility that has not been receiving enough consideration is the legalization of marijuana. Results from a 1999–2010 study on U.S. Medicare, which mostly covers people over the age of 65, showed that states with legalized medicinal marijuana had drastically less overdose death rates. Those statistics found that the states that legalized medical marijuana in 2010 all saw a decrease of about 1,700 opioid-related deaths that year. According to another study, hospitalization rates for opioid painkiller dependence and abuse dropped 23 percent on average in states after marijuana was permitted for medicinal purposes, and hospitalization rates for opioid overdoses dropped an average of 13 percent.

While medical marijuana may be legal in Ohio, it is largely inaccessible. There are 88 counties in Ohio, but only 40 dispensaries were approved by Ohio’s pharmacy board. In a State of Ohio Medical Board survey, only 7.5 percent of the total physicians who responded said that they were likely to recommend medicinal marijuana and that they worked within a medical system that would allow them to do so. The law also does not allow home-grown marijuana for those who are approved to use it medically. Finally, there is a provision of the law that requires patients to report whether they have previously been arrested or charged while attempting to access medicinal marijuana.

The demand for accessible marijuana in Ohio is quite high. Medicinal marijuana advocate Don Keeney said that people “always say this is a young people’s item,” but that he has had “people [sign] on petitions from [ages] 80 to 18 and all in between.” Many people can greatly benefit from the effects of medical marijuana and recognize the positive role it could play in the fight against opioids. Regardless, officials are ignoring the best interests of Ohioans. Medicinal marijuana has technically been legal in Ohio since Sept. 8, 2016, yet we have not seen its potential to positively affect the epidemic because of its inaccessibility. In a state ravaged by opioids, this is simply unacceptable. The federal and state governments should be doing everything in their power to save the lives that are at risk. There is no excuse for medicinal marijuana to not be readily available to those who need it given its proven efficacy. Anyone who is interested in slowing the progression of this epidemic, including federal and state legislators and President Trump, must act on the very obvious fact before them: that marijuana can only help in the fight against opioids.

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

5

Opi n ions

Martin Luther King’s Dream Continues to Be Misrepresented Kameron Dunbar Columnist

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man on a noble quest for justice, righteousness, and peace. Many pundits, politicians, and public intellectuals alike find themselves living in his radiant light and quoting some of his awe-inspiring prose — and deservingly so. While King deserves every button, refrigerator magnet, greeting card, and Twitter banner made in his honor, he also deserves a fair and honest portrayal of his radical activism. As the nation pauses on the 50th anniversary of his assassination, it is imperative that we all think of King’s legacy and interrogate how it is represented to the public.

Earlier this year, The New York Times columnist David Brooks invoked King’s famous “dream” in a call to move American society past tribalist practices. He writes, “From an identity politics that emphasized our common humanity, we’ve gone to an identity politics that emphasizes having a common enemy.” Packaging King into a narrow, convenient narrative, Brooks continues, “Martin Luther King described segregation and injustice as forces tearing us apart. He appealed to universal principles and our common humanity as ways to heal prejudice and unite the nation. He appealed to common religious principles, the creed of our founding fathers, and a common language of love to drive out prejudice.”

Such a warm, engaging characterization of King’s ethos sounds great. It’s fluffy and kind. But it is also deceptively incomplete. Yes, King called upon us to see beyond race, creed, and nationality. He certainly called on everyone to see the common humanity in each other. For some, it’s easy to only see this part of King: the excellent orator with an ability to appeal to our shared pathos like no other. This selective interpretation — what one of my high school teachers referred to as “the Santa Claus Effect” — is as ahistorical as it is morally abhorrent. King was a radical by all accounts. He loved radically; he campaigned radically;

he fought radically. While he appealed to our common humanity, he also appealed to a very specific, uncommon set of politics. Politics that centered the vulnerable shaped his being. To characterize him as anything less than radical is to piecemeal him into a self-serving narrative.

King had much to say on economic inequality, spending the end of his life waging a campaign to eradicate it.

In March 1968, inside the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., King said, “Not only do we see poverty abroad, I would remind you that in our own nation there are about forty million people who are poverty-stricken. … I have just been in the process of touring many areas of our country, and I must confess that in some situations I have literally found myself crying.”

Appealing on behalf of some of the most vulnerable, King said, “This is America’s opportunity to help bridge the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. The question is whether America will do it. There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will.” King’s activism did not stop at visionary platitudes; it was rooted in non-violent and sustained action challenging policy and morality.

People of good will across the nation continue to tweet, text, and talk about King’s vivid “dream.” It would help to remember that in that same speech, King said, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.” So, before reducing King’s speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom to little Black and white girls singing “Kumbaya,” the public must collectively examine why there are such disparities between white and Black engagement with police forces. We must explore why some young Black women are brought to their death after being nearly forced into activism. Never forget that King once called America “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”

America was not kind to Martin Luther King, Jr. while he was alive, nor is it kind to Black folks today. When he

spoke up for a better world — when he called for races to walk hand-in-hand — he was punished for it. The FBI and its director, J. Edgar Hoover, began monitoring King in 1955, at one point calling him “the most notorious liar in the country.” In 2017, that same organization labeled a new generation of activists as “Black Identity Extremists,” a contemporary manifestation of a malicious history towards civil rights leaders. America can’t pretend to look back at King’s treatment by the FBI with disgust while simultaneously ignoring their targeting of Black leaders today.

To understand King’s legacy as one that centers the humanity of Black people, people abroad, poor people, and others is not an exercise in tribalism. His legacy helps us understand that the type of active mobilization practiced by historically marginalized people is a result of and response to systemic violence. Such work is a cry to the moral senses of the good. King said himself that “a riot is the language of the unheard.”

What’s left to do? As a public, we can keep Martin Luther King, Jr.’s many dreams alive, continuing to negotiate and understand the full and complicated history he left us with. We can support spiritual leaders, like Rev. William Barber II and others who are following in King’s footsteps and calling for a moral revival. We can acknowledge and act against anti-Black violence in all forms. We can be zealots against poverty and economic inequality. We can have material impacts on policy that would bring King’s “dream” to life, just as he challenged us to do. In reference to white moderates and others hesitant to join in his radical mission, he expressed a potential need to repent “not merely for the vitriolic words and the violent actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence and indifference of the good people who sit around and say, ‘Wait on time.’”

Just thinking about the dream is not enough; it’s never been enough. We have the power to bring it to life. We can reclaim his legacy if we honor all of it.

Dascomb Staff Deserve Respect, Increased Transparency Focus on Student Caitlin Kelley Contributing Writer I attended President Ambar’s talk on Feb. 28, 2018 in which she updated students on Oberlin’s financial situation and announced the closing of Dascomb Dining Hall. President Ambar addressed student concerns about food availability and quality of service on campus when Dascomb closes, but as a student, those are not my only concerns about the state of Campus Dining Servies.

As part of my work-study, I have washed dishes at Dascomb since the fall of my first year. I’m not a dishwasher because I couldn’t find a “better” job on campus; I wash dishes at Dascomb because I like to. Working with the Dascomb dining staff has honestly been one of the best experiences I’ve had at Oberlin. The staff at Dascomb are always smiling and helpful. If we get overwhelmed in the dish room, my coworkers help without being asked. People notice if I’m sick and miss a shift and make sure that I’m OK the next day. The cooks bring chocolate for all of the staff around the holidays. Dascomb staff always treat me with compassion, no matter what issues they face in their personal lives.

This year alone, staff I know have lost family members, dealt with chronic pain, faced job insecurity, and experienced the stress of working multiple jobs to get their children through college, yet they always do their jobs cheerfully and well.

Some students want a work study job that allows them to sit behind a desk and do their homework. Personally, I appreciate having a three-hour period in which I can’t do homework, and I can’t feel guilty about not doing it. Working at Dascomb has been an emotional detox for me. I eat dinner and joke with my coworkers, we survive the meal rush together, and we dance to Shakira and Cardi B while we work.

Working with staff who have been at Oberlin for years — sometimes decades — is a privilege. Staff on this campus bring something to Oberlin that students, faculty, and administrators can’t: the “Real World.” My experiences at Dascomb keep me ground-

6

ed. They remind me that I don’t just live at Oberlin College; I live in Oberlin, Ohio. At Dascomb, I work with students, temporary workers, and full-time staff. Some of my coworkers are as young as I am, while others are my grandparents’ age. Without my job at Dascomb, I wouldn’t have that window into life in Ohio. I wouldn’t know anything about how union or temp agencies work.

I wouldn’t know what it’s like to be a parent in Lorain County. I wouldn’t know how many lives depend upon this college.

Staff concerns at Oberlin are not just staff concerns. If the staff are unhappy, I am unhappy. Food quality, food accessibility, and other, more traditional student concerns about campus dining are incredibly important, but others have already articulated those concerns thoughtfully and powerfully in the meeting on Feb. 28, 2018 and in The Oberlin Review. Something that has not been said is how important staff on this campus are to students. One worker at DeCafé pointed out to me that CDS staff see us more often than their own children. I know I see CDS staff more than I see or talk to my parents. Sometimes the only hug I’ll get all week is from a CDS coworker welcoming me to my shift.

I know Dascomb Dining Hall will be closed, and I understand why. But CDS staff have been left hanging for weeks without any information about their future at Oberlin. No one knows how many people will lose their jobs.

This radio silence is in line with the disrespectful way I’ve seen Oberlin College treat CDS employees in the past. For example, cooks on campus are forced to use recipes from allrecipes.com, even when those recipes are so bad that CDS staff are embarrassed to serve them. However, lack of open and respectful communication between staff, management, and the school is the biggest issue facing CDS. Open positions are left unfilled without explanation, and meal stations get shut down when a worker is sick to avoid paying other staff overtime to run those stations. I saw this happen just last week in Dascomb. The pizza station,

one of the most popular dinner choices at Dascomb, was shut down because of “unforeseen circumstances,” according to the card left at the station. When the staff member running the pizza station wasn’t able to work, no one was called in on overtime to replace them. Just as shifts are left unfilled, entire positions have been left likewise this year in CDS. Dascomb coworkers have applied for open positions and never heard back about their applications. Perhaps this is because administrators knew those positions would be eliminated in the future because of budget cuts, but leaving staff hanging when they are trying to plan their lives is unacceptable. And if that was the thought process of the administration, why were new CDS workers hired in February?

Those workers are the most at risk of losing their jobs because they are the newest hires.

Oberlin staff are more aware of the harsh realities of the U.S. economy than most people at this school. They understand how complicated running Oberlin is, and they understand that tough decisions must be made to secure the College’s financial future. Staff deserve more than 10 minutes to ask questions at school/staff meetings. Staff deserve to be kept in the loop as much as possible.

It should be a top priority to protect the jobs of CDS staff, and at the very least communicate with them in an open, respectful manner. As of April 4, 2018, the only CDS employees that the administration has communicated with at all about the coming changes to CDS are the unionized staff.

Other staff — staff who Obies know and love for greeting us everyday at the Dascomb doors and for DJing during Fourth Meal — are even more at risk of losing their jobs than those in the union. My coworkers are losing sleep because they don’t know what to tell their families. Some are afraid to tell their spouses that they might lose their jobs.

Staff at Dascomb are the closest thing I have to parental support on campus, but Oberlin wouldn’t treat my mom and dad this way.

Empowerment Crucial for Success León Pescador Contributing Writer This article is part of the Review’s Student Senate column. In an effort to increase communication and transparency, Student Senators will provide personal perspectives on recent events on campus and in the community.

Student empowerment continues as a driving force for Senate this semester. This year, we appointed dozens of students to general faculty committees, such as the influential Educational Policies and Planning Committee. This semester, students gained co-chairmanship of the Student Life Committee. The effect of student appointments to committees is twofold: first, students who demonstrate passion and dedication to an issue can better represent and articulate their interests. Second, fewer senators on committees allows us to hone our focus on more dynamic opportunities, such as working groups and event planning. Most recently, Senate has recommended five students for President Ambar’s Academic and Administrative Program Review Steering Committee.

Appointing devoted students to committees is just one piece of Student Senate’s empowerment strategy. This semester, Senate significantly revamped the vision and efficacy of working groups. Through requiring clearly stated goals, membership, key performance indicators, and policy outcomes, working groups approach a diverse set of campus issues with a trajectory for success.

Already off to a strong start, the Career Readiness and Applied Learning for International Students working group will hold its first forum today. Other working groups, like Capital Projects and College Infrastructure, champion student input for See Senate, page 7

Continued from page 5

Letter To The Editors

truck.

The more important part of reality that mature free men and women who believe in liberalism understand is that the worst evils come from men gathered together in oppressive governments. This is the evil in the macro realm. This is the gargantuan evil that comes in the industrial sized, Costco-level, wholesale packages of mass evil. Our wise, mature and liberal founders understood this about our world.

They knew when great power and money flow to the very flawed self-anointed ones of the Big State, corruption, oppression, and tyranny usually follow.

You can draw up any constitution you want, make as many laws as you care to, but if you give massive power and money to very flawed humans, by nature, they

will usually come after their fellow citizens in very nasty — and often very violent — ways. It is why we fought in the American Revolution. This is why 6 million disarmed Jews lie as dirt now in Europe after facing the Nazi Big State. It’s why millions of men, women, and children lie in the fields of the Ukraine, horrifically starved to death by the sadist Stalin. It’s why a hundred million innocent people are food for grass and crops across Communist China and former USSR. It’s why millions of very unarmed and very unfree people are still slave to the state thugs of Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria. And if you don’t think this can happen here in America, you’re more naive and unwise than many of your thoughts exhibit.

You don’t learn any of this adult stuff at college now because our colleges have

(cont.)

been taken over by illiberal leftist professors and administrators — most of them still children in adult bodies.

Nathan, I’d encourage you to channel your liberalism and manhood. Embrace the wonderful gifts of liberty from our founders, particularly the God or nature-given, inalienable freedom of our great Second Amendment. Man-up to liberal American life and its beauty, reality, toughness, and tragedy. Learn to safely use and own a very assaulting handgun with a magazine containing at least 10 rounds. Encourage some teachers in our schools to arm up and protect our kids from evil in the same way we protect our politicians on Capitol Hill, internet moguls behind their walls in Palo Alto, and media tycoons ensconced in their heavily armed offices in New York. Understand

that we live in a beautiful country called America, but both micro and macro evils are always roaming our land. Life is beautiful, but also tragic and tough. Liberal, brave, independent, and free American men and women face that reality and embrace their God-given right to defend themselves from all the micro and macro evils roaming our land. The good arm themselves with very powerful and with very assaulting weapons.

Unfortunately, so much of your money and time is being wasted learning the opposite, learning the childishness of leftism at places like Oberlin. Detoxify a bit.

Try to push away the child inside.

– Howard Sachs

Senate Initiative Will Offer Opportunities, Increase Accessibility Continued from page 6

community spaces, seeking to maximize benefits for students as the administration restructures student resources on campus.

By incorporating an outward focus, Senate aims to better recognize the work of student organizations. Last month, Senate collaborated with nearly 20 student organizations to plan the first Trustee-Club Expo, which brought together board members and student leaders to discuss the impact of student dollars on campus. Feedback from trustees was incredibly heartening, with some saying the event was their best interaction with students since they began their service on the Board.

At the same time, Senate has begun advocating for an increase to the Student Activity Fund, which would provide greater funding for clubs on campus. For years, the Student Activity Fee, which finances the fund, has not received an increase, despite the steady rise of the Higher Education Price Index and the recent declines in enrollment. A static fee results in clubs slowly losing their purchasing power. Last month, Senate, with input from the Student Finance Committee, submitted a proposal to substantially increase the fund.

If approved, the Student Activity Fund would receive a nearly 30 percent increase.

That increase could vastly expand opportunities for the student organizations, from giv-

ing clubs the financial backbone to host a conference to funding new computers for leading student publications. Senate plans to continue dialogue with the vice presidents of Finance and Administration and of Admissions and Financial Aid in order to successfully implement the proposed increase by next fall’s board meeting.

As the central advocate for students, Senate has reignited its commitment to expanding opportunities for its constituents. We’ve continued to build bridges with the administration through collaboration and communication. So what characterizes the roadmap now? Ambition and access. Looking to overcome the financial and administrative challenges of the College, Senate has zeroed in on numerous initiatives for next year. Senate hopes to establish transportation to Cleveland, access institutional and financial support for Oberlin Bystander Intervention, and fund a fully functional student legal aid service this coming fall. By creating different avenues of access, students can more easily establish professional lives and foster community. Together, these initiatives pave the way to realizing our ongoing mission of student empowerment. Stay tuned.

Student Senate holds regular office hours in Azariah’s Cafe from 9 to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday. For additional office hours or to contact individual senators and working group chairs, please consult the Senate Directory. Members of the student body are welcome to attend and participate.

Karpatkin’s Letter Maintains Hypocrisies, False Accusations Daniel Markus Managing Editor In recent weeks, the Review has published numerous pieces regarding gun control in the wake of the murder of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, by Nikolas Cruz. Initially, we published “Founding Fathers Would Approve of AR-15 Sales,” (The Oberlin Review, March 2, 2018) by Jacob Britton. Briefly, his piece argues that the AR-15, used in the Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Santa Barbara mass shootings, among others, would have been right at home in the 18th century when there were “guns even more dangerous around.”

Unsurprisingly, this argument elicited several responses, including “Current Gun Control Debates Give Inadequate, Ineffective Solutions” (The Oberlin Review, March 9, 2018) by Jonathan Karpatkin.

His piece was one of three printed in response to Britton’s, and apparently this was very dissatisfactory, as subsequently, Karpatkin followed up on his initial article with a letter published last week, (“Publication of Numerous Articles Attempts to Censor Conversation,” The Oberlin Review, March 30, 2018). In it, he concludes: “By publishing … three emphatic responses to [Britton’s] … letter, …

[The Oberlin Review] demonstrate[s] a haughty derision for Mr. Britton’s contribution to the conversation.”

As the Managing Editor of this publication, I would like to offer the contrasting view that Karpatkin has utterly no idea what he is talking about.

First, while Karpatkin believes that we have effectively filtered the debate on gun control in our pages, we have done quite the opposite. If we wanted to control the debate, why publish Britton’s response in the first place? I can definitively say that the majority of our staff disagrees with Britton’s view on AR-15s; we published his letter anyway.

Further, his letter betrays a grave, if understandable, misconception about the Review’s publication process.

We made no attempt to control the gun debate in terms of the number of responses we published to Britton’s letter.

In fact, we published every response we received. This is consistent with our Opinions section more generally — we rarely reject pieces, despite the editorial discretion that would allow us to do so.

With that said, we could have rejected some pieces to address Karpatkin’s concerns. In this scenario, we could have not published his piece, but I doubt that would be a The Oberlin Review | April 6, 2018

satisfying result. Otherwise, we would have had to reject one of the other two responses, which would have censored the debate just as Karpatkin wrongly accuses us of doing.

It would then seem that Karpatkin would prefer his response be the only one printed, something that would require us to filter the discussion as he inaccurately accuses us of doing.

We have not doled out “punishment for holding dissenting opinions,” as Karpatkin states. We have merely served as a medium — literally, a member of the news media — for Oberlin community members to express their views. If those views overwhelmingly reject Britton’s opinion, perhaps Karpatkin should consider the possibility that Britton’s opinion is thoroughly ridiculous and deserves to be shown for the total sham that it is. For what it’s worth, I have no problem with submissions intended to shame Mr. Britton. When you submit your opinion for publication in a media outlet, others have every right to condemn you if your opinion values weapons of war over human liveArs. The responses to Britton’s piece , argument quality notwithstanding , clearly show the state of the opinion of the Oberlin community, which is that most people don’t agree with the idea that the framers of the constitution would have approved of AR-15 sales to civilians. In representing this by publishing them, we have done our job. Just because the dialogue between writers didn’t go the way Karpatkin would have preferred doesn’t mean that the Review made any attempt to stifle discussion — and people say that liberal supporters of gun control are snowflakes?

The rest of Mr. Karpatkin’s argument, too, is a mess of “interpretive jiggery-pokery,” to quote the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, none other than the favorite son of the gun rights movement. At one point, Karpatkin states, “I disagree that the Constitution is contradictory.” Why the need for a panel of nine judges to sort it out, then? If the Constitution is so clear and free of contradictions, why the need for District of Columbia v. Heller to overturn decades of historical understanding and precedent that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual right to bear arms? For someone who throws around statements about constitutional interpretation by the court, this comment seems to indicate a shocking ignorance of the document and the history of the body.

Karpatkin also unfairly criticizes my colleagues, Julia Peterson and Roman Broszkowski, for questioning what

“arms” are permitted under the Second Amendment. To do so, they use grenades as an example. Although it is true that the District of Columbia v. Heller opinion does not include an individual right to bear grenades, this line of argument alone is unconvincing. As Karpatkin states, “There was no weapon in existence during the American Revolution or shortly after that compares to modern sporting rifles such as the AR-15 in form or function.” The point that was made is that the framers could not have predicted these weapons in their drafting of the Bill of Rights, and that there is no compelling self-defense need for an AR-15 in the same way that there is no compelling self-defense need for a grenade. Why allow one but not the other? Perhaps grenades are not the most apt example, but the question of what weapons of war are appropriate for civilian possession has to be on the table. Also, for what it’s worth, Karpatkin is wrong that they have not been used frequently in mass violence: This past November, seven people were killed in a grenade attack in the Central African Republic.

What’s more, Karpatkin has the gall to argue that Philando Castile’s murder is proof of his point that the “Second Amendment exists in many ways as a check against [racism]. Gun control has historically been used not as a defense against mass violence, but as a means to disarm the Black population.” This is downright shameful. Mr. Karpatkin has absolutely no place to argue that the systematic murder of Black folks could be checked by gun rights.

After all, he points out in the very next sentence that Castile was “a licensed, legal gun owner who did everything right.” He was still murdered. Exactly how do gun rights fix this? Police officers who murder unarmed Black men claim time and time again that they thought their victims had guns. So, absurdly, he suggests that Second Amendment protections will help counteract police violence, instead of playing to the officers’ advantages. Laughable.

Overall, Karpatkin’s letter is rife with falsehoods, mischaracterizations, and poor argumentation he accuses other writers of using, and I am tickled by the fact that someone could make such an absurdly wrong and hypocritical argument with an air of calm, cool, “clearly I am the only one who knows logic”-ism. He asserts “The Review has a responsibility to publish factual, sound arguments, but of course not every argument is perfect.” Frankly, by his own standard, we should never have published his letter in the first place. Oh well.

7

Oberlin students: $5 for evening dances; workshops and concerts are free!

General admission: Full weekend $75 Saturday workshops $25 Sunday workshops $15 Dances $15 Non-Oberlin students and people25 years and younger: Full weekend $40 Saturday workshops $15 Sunday workshops $10 Dances $8 Prospective students receive free admission for the whole weekend!

O

Layo

This year's Romp will feature music by: Pete's Posse with Pete Sutherland, Oliver Scanlon, and Tristan Henderson Great Bear with Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand and Kim “Mama Bear“ Yerton The Oshima Triplets with Sean and Jaime Oshima and Jakob Raitzyk.

Saturday April 7

PRSM's Consent for Men workshop covers important concepts such as consent, communication, hook-up culture, and relationships at Oberlin for those who identify as men. This will count as a prerequisite event for Drag Ball.

Wilder 112 2–3:30 p.m.

Sunday April 8

The Oberlin Friendship Festival features student music performances, Aladdin's food, spoken word poetry by Meeko Israel, raffle prizes, a city proclamation, and make-your-own friendship bracelets from Bead Paradise.

Carnegie Root Room 4–6 p.m.

Monday April 9

Deaf Culture Exco, the Office of Disability Resources, and Obility are sponsoring a screening of SIGN–a silent film. is about two men, one of whom is deaf, who fall in love.

There will be pizza and a discussion after the movie focusing on disability, deaf culture, and ASL. Wilder 101 5:30–7 p.m.

Oberlin’s Dandelion Romp

out, text, and dancing dandelions by Lucy Martin, This Week Editor The Dandelion Romp is Oberlin's annual Contra dance and folk music weekend. There will be dance workshops and sessions available for both students and non-students!

Dana Parkinson started contra dancing in 2009 in Tampa, FL, and is based in southern Indiana.

She has been a caller since 2012 and attended a Contra Calling workshop hosted by her co-caller, Cis Hinkle, who has been calling since 1985.

Wednesday April 11

The last installment of Cooking with CDS will cover making overnight oats. Campus Dining Service's Eric Petrus will be teaching this free and informative session.

Kahn Hall First Floor Lobby 5:30–6:30 p.m.

Thursday April 12

College senior Chandler Browne illustrates the stories of professional tap dancers in her original documentary play, The Tap Project.

She preserves tap's complicated oral history as a Black art form as she presents what often has been neglected by dance society.

Little Theater 8 p.m.

Thursday April 12

Oberlin presents Angels in America Part One: Millenium Approaches, the two-time Best Play Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece.

The play is about two couples, one straight and one gay, and the ways their lives interweave.

Tickets are $8.

Hall Auditorium 7:30 p.m.

A r t s & C u lt u r e

ARTS & CULTURE April 6, 2018

established 1874

Volume 146, Number 19

Spring Back Reimagines Choreography Kate Fishman Staff Writer Every year, Oberlin’s Dance department hosts two faculty-directed shows: Fall Forward and Spring Back, which usually play out in a more-or-less traditional program in Warner Main Space. This year’s Spring Back breaks from this mold, as it will have no set stage. Instead, guides will lead audience members all through Warner Gymnasium. Beginning in Warner Main Space, where three of the concert’s pieces will be performed, the show will bring audiences to three pieces on the first floor, two more in the basement, and back again. There are only 50 tickets sold per night due to these restricted and innovative spaces, and upon arrival, viewers will be split into three groups, each of which will have a different experience of the show as they move through it.

“We did a lot in [Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos’ first semester choreography class] with site-specific work, … and we all thought it would be so cool if we could do this for Spring Back,” said College sophomore Georgie Johnson, one of the student choreographers featured in the show.

Since Ramos was the faculty member scheduled to direct this year’s Spring Back, she decided to follow the bent of that

student interest and give them a platform to display their work.

Johnson’s piece interrogates the role of ritual and repetitive practice in our lives through the lens of “making the strange familiar and the familiar strange” — inspired by reading some of her father’s memoirs and his descriptions of the way his late autistic sister would move through space. Some other pieces in the show hinge on transience, rhythm, and the relationship between the otherworldly and the grounded. The primary unifying factor is the show’s experimental drift, as choreographers were encouraged to consider dance in a way that many of them hadn’t before.

“Many of [the student choreographers] are accustomed to thinking about dance being the coordination of movements of the body,” Ramos said. “But putting it in a new space that maybe limits or changes those possibilities and asks them to consider the environment or consider the audience experience, is new. What can I do with this space? I think what drives a lot of the pieces is the investigation of that.”

The new format this year has also changed the way that the dance department plans to approach these shows in the future, Ramos added.

“Instead of being locked into a formula, we’re going to assess each time

how we want the shows to go, so they could potentially be driven by a different concept,” she said. “And I think that’s important, to make them more meaningful to the students.”

Ramos also said that there have been points when student interest in Fall Forward and Spring Back waned, given that the Student Dance Showcase has no audition and a shorter tech week.

“We’re thinking about, when a student just wants to make a concert, why would they want to commit to a longer process and having to audition?” Ramos asked.

“What are the benefits of that? And a lot of that has to do with mentorship and production support, so how do we make those benefits evident? … If we have students who are interested in [a different area of concentration], maybe we’ll go a different direction.”

The choreographers took time to consider that that an audience might not always find the same vitality in watching dance as a choreographer does in making it or a dancer does in performing it.

“We talked about how doing a show like this would activate the audience and get them to move around with the performers and allow them a little bit more agency in what they see,” Ramos said.

The performers and the director all want audiences to understand the opportunity

to access the work as experimental. Some of the pieces use aerial work and video, in addition to spatial exploration.

“I think often what I hear from audiences is that they don’t ‘get it,’ or they feel like they’re supposed to get something [specific] out of [dance],” Ramos said. “And I think the intention of this [show] is to explore the space, and to communicate that that’s OK … and people can take it as that.”

There will be performances April 5–7 in Warner Gymnasium. Tickets to the show are $5 and can be purchased in advance through Central Ticket Services at Hall Auditorium. Viewers should note that some of the spaces can only be reached by walking up and down flights of stairs.

“There are cool spaces in this building that people don’t know exist,” Ramos said.

“Going into the basement is a little bit like going into the past of this building, when it was a gym.”

A lot of Johnson’s excitement around the show stemmed from this innovation.

“It’s going to be a pretty weird show, I think,” she said. “It’ll be fun and interactive.”

In the words of College senior Michal Schorsch, one of the choreographers: “Come share the pulse and support dance as an art form.”

Duo Violão Brasil Stages Varied Brazilian Guitar Performance

Acclaimed Brazilian guitarists Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber, with percussionist Lucas Ashby, perform a program of Brazilian music in the Birenbaum Innovation and Performance space Tuesday night. Photo by Hugh Newcomb, Photo Editor

Julia Peterson Arts & Culture Editor Editor’s note: Quotes attributed to Rogério Souza in this article were translated by Edinho Gerber and Lucas Ashby.

Brazilian guitarists and members of Duo Violão Brasil, Rogério Souza and Edinho Gerber, stopped in Oberlin Tuesday night for a performance of Brazilian guitar, or violão, as part of Oberlin’s Performance and Improvising series. The guitarists, accompanied by D.C.-based percussionist Lucas Ashby, are currently touring the U.S. Their performances showcase the many styles of 20thcentury Brazilian popular music, as well as the artists’ original compositions. After the performance, which took place in the Birenbaum Performance and Innovation Space, the musicians also led an interactive workshop for student musicians.

According to Souza, one of the main goals of the evening was to introduce students to the wide variety of styles present in Brazilian music. “[We’re playing] pretty much traditional Brazilian music — so, you know, styles like choro, samba, bossa nova, baião,” Souza said. “All these different genres are kind of what we work on, both in terms of repertoire that already exists and stuff that I compose. Our goal tonight is to just provide an overview experience, musically, that provides some fundamental basic things about this music from Brazil that could be an entré to people taking this music,

10

making it their own, and participating in the future.”

Gerber noticed that this performance might be particularly well-received in a community like Oberlin, where many people are curious about music history and evolution.

“Although you do get quite a good amount of Brazilian music that made its way over here to the U.S., especially as repertoire for jazz players, choro specifically is something that isn’t so well-known here,” Gerber said. “But it’s growing a lot. There are a lot more people interested in it, and it’s an interesting style of music, so we’re going to give a little taste of some different styles within that genre and different possibilities of what the music can be.”

By the time the event started at 8 p.m., the Birenbaum was filled with excited students, and the performers disappointed neither in their set list nor their execution.

They moved fluidly between styles, highlighting the versatility of Brazilian music and the technical virtuosity of the guitarists. Though the performance began with only two guitars and one percussion instrument being featured at any one time, the musicians blended and played off of each other so perfectly that it often seemed that many more instruments were present. Students tapped their feet and bobbed their heads in time with the rhythms, clearly enjoying every piece.

At some points, the performers paused to give a brief history and context for the styles of the music that they were performing. They spoke about how their music parallels with musical history within the U.S., particularly in terms of the evolution of American jazz.

“Choro music started as parlor music in the 1850s,” Ashby said. “This music shares a lot of common ingredients with ragtime and jazz as it came up in New Orleans. It was an urban music, city music.”

“Rio de Janeiro, which is where this music comes from, in many ways was like New Orleans,” Gerber added.

“They’re both port cities with influences from Europe, from Africa, from the Caribbean, and from Native peoples.

And the musical fusion, there was a lot of similarity in taking traditional European jigs and dance music [like] polka and mixing it with African rhythms and stuff, and that’s where you got the rhythm known as maxixe, which is the first authentic Brazilian rhythm. Maxixe was the dance craze that came after the polka. It spread all over the world. It was very popular music. It was very taboo and risqué in Brazil when it first started, because it was very

suggestive — people wanted to dance, it’s very syncopated, it wasn’t that traditional straight European rhythm. So it kind of caught fire the world over.”

Midway through the performance, Souza, Gerber, and Ashby invited Professor of Advanced Improvisation and Percussion Jamey Haddad and Associate Professor of Jazz Arranging Jay Ashby to join them onstage, to an enthusiastic audience. Haddad joined Lucas Ashby on percussion, while Jay Ashby brought out a trombone that he had left backstage and added brass to the mix. After the end of the performance, the musicians quickly transitioned into teaching a quick choro intensive and inviting students to get their instruments and join them. When talking about the workshop before the performance started, Gerber was certain that it would resonate with students.

“We’re going to share some of the rhythms and variations on the rhythms within each style of the music with the students,” he said. “Each category can be divided into sub-categories, and so there are some little variations that you have rhythmically, both in terms of accompaniment and melody — how the melodies are constructed. So we’ll be going through some songs in different styles with the students and have them participate. Hopefully it will rub off a little bit on them and they can take some of it home on them and further their interest in the music.”

According to Haddad, Gerber’s hopes were wellfounded.

“From all appearances, the students would have played and danced all night if it had been an option,” Haddad wrote in an email to the Review.

The relationship between Oberlin and Duo Violão Brasil began over Winter Term 2018, when Haddad and Jay Ashby brought a group of 10 performance and improvisation students to Brazil. While there, the students studied in a workshop format with a number of Brazilian master musicians, attended performances, and performed at a Municipal Cultural Center Theater.

“When we were in Rio de Janeiro, all of the artists came completely prepared to give the students their generous attention and we met with them for six to seven hours each day,” Haddad wrote. “These Brazilian musicians are all performers with the highest reputations, having performed regularly with artists like Milton Nascimento, Hermeto Pascoal, Djavan, Chico Buarque, and Egberto Gismonti. In future years, we plan to alternate between India, Brazil, and Bali for winter term.”

ON THE RECORD

Mary Ann Newman, Translator

Acclaimed translator Mary Ann Newman is the executive director of the Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the U.S., co-chair of the PEN Translation Committee, a board member of the Catalan Institue of America, and a member of the North American Catalan Society. She translates from Catalan and Spanish and has published works by Quim Monzó, Xavier Rubert de Ventós, Josep Carner, and Josep Maria de Sagarra. She was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 1998 and the 2017 North American Catalan Society prize for her translation of de Sagarra’s novel Private Life. Newman visited Oberlin this week as the keynote speaker for the annual Student Translation Symposium. She gave her talk, “In Praise of Borders (Not Walls),” Tuesday afternoon in Craig Lecture Hall.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview by Sophie Drukman-Feldstein How did you first get interested in translation in general, and in translating from Spanish and Catalan in particular?

I think that there are some people who are vocational translators, and when I was 18 — in my first semester in college, I think — I read the first poem I understood completely. It was one of the 20 love poems of Pablo Neruda, and I thought it was so beautiful that my immediate impulse was to translate it so that my mother could read it — my mother and my aunt were in the house. I think, for some people, there’s an impulse to share that’s intrinsic to translation.

Are there any specific challenges that Catalan and Spanish present linguistically, or characteristics of them that shape your work?

I’ve translated more from Catalan literature. My one published work in Spanish is an essay. I think there are the challenges of the marketplace, and then there are the challenges of the text, right? Spanish, on one hand, is an omnipresent language in the United States. On the other hand, it’s undervalued. You had the Latin American boom in the ’60s and ’70s, and now texts continue to be translated, but don’t have the same effect on literature. That kind of special invisibility of Spanish where it’s always there, not seen and not valued, is one of the challenges.

And for Catalan, of course, it’s the utter invisibility — until recently, you had to explain what Catalan was. The first book I translated from Catalan — the publisher was very smart, and on the front cover it says, “The Catalan culture is one of the world’s richest. It has given us the art of Dalí, Caballe, Miró, Gaudí, and Casas.” ... It was the only way to give context.

Spanish has that very beautiful romance rhythm, but that can be limiting when one is translating. Catalan is interesting because it has more edges. It has a lot of monosyllables, it has words that end in consonants — it’s very, very beautiful, but it has a somewhat more staccato sound. That makes it fun to translate into English, because English has those elements as well. I find that it allows me to play with the sounds of English as an equivalent to the Catalan, whereas in Spanish, the sound of Spanish is much more mellifluous than the English.

Translation has been framed by a few theorists as this negotiation between The Oberlin Review | April 6, 2018

the two poles of either “domesticating” the original language or “foreignizing” the target language. How do you strike that balance, and how do you make choices about what unfamiliar elements of a text to preserve?

There’s a personal translation practice that I have on one hand, and then there’s the question of reception. As my practice, I think that if you hew closely to some aspects of the text, you bring out the foreignness. If you can transmit the literal notes of the foreign language, there is already a lot of foreignness, and you’re kind of bursting the seams of English by telling that. When I translated Private Life — Private Life is a love letter to Barcelona, and the author kind of traces the map of Barcelona — I just radically use all of the street names, and the titles. ... I think one critic said that it felt like it was a very muscular translation, like a transcription from Catalan.

In terms of reception, I’m doing a round table at the World Voices Festival; it’s called “Translation and the Power(s) of Language,” talking about the places where there is a bilingualism and a power relationship between the two languages. I have two questions. One is, “How do you decide what language to write in, and what is your relationship to the other language?” And the second is, “How does translation affect that?” For example, if you’re translating into English, French, or Greek, does translation even out the playing field? Does it [put a] Catalan or Guinean text on more equal footing with other literary traditions? On the other hand, does translating it into a major language erase the difference?

I think both of those things are true.

You wrote that translation is a way to discover our commonalities and our differences. What specific commonalities and differences are there between English and Catalan or Spanish that are especially compelling to you, as languages or as cultures?

You know, Catalans are reading English, always.

The thing about being in a minoritized language ... is that you always know more about the others than the others know about you. And that’s less true of Spanish. It’s partially true of Spanish. But it’s interesting.

One of the interesting problems of Spanish is that it’s also hard for people to read one another.

Spanish is not necessarily a common language in literary terms — I mean, of course, the

great Latin American writers and the great Spanish writers are reading one another, and the boom writers, for example, were very aware that they represented a generation that was Latin America. I feel as though that’s much more fragmented now.

Mexican writers are being read

by Mexican readers. And in Catalan and in Spanish, being translated into English is one of the things that makes them be read by other people of the same language. For example, Peter Bush translated a Catalan civil war novel, Uncertain Glory.

It got a lot of press in the U.K. and was considered one of the 10 best books of the year by The Economist, and it created a boom in people who hadn’t read Uncertain Glory in Catalan.

Suddenly, it became a bestseller in Catalonia because of a kind of reflected glory. I think those things are interesting to look at.

Could you talk about the theme of your keynote address for the Translation Symposium on Tuesday afternoon, and what borders mean to you?

I think borders are porous, and I think they’re a stimulus.

If you’re not being kept out — if a border is simply a signpost — then there’s a certain kind of excitement. I think even something as silly as going from “You are now leaving New York/ You are now entering Vermont,” you say, “Oh, look!” We are passing into some other place.

I think a border can tell you where you are, and I think that that’s a useful thing. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s power. One of the things [I’m going to do] is read a little bit of a poem by Wislawa Szymborska that’s about the futility of borders in terms of dust or clouds or ants, or anything having to do with nature. She concludes that only the human has difference.

I think the border shows us, in a way, where we’re human. I have a hopeful interpretation. I mean, I think that a border that has barbed wire and is meant to keep people out — that’s a wall. And it doesn’t keep people out, but it hurts them. ... I’m not saying that they’re not places of danger.

I just think that there’s another way of looking at them.

Do you see your work as situated in any specific way in relation to Catalan nationalism?

Yeah, I guess. I think, you know, the funny unintended consequence of the Catalan crisis is that now people know where Catalonia is and what it’s about. I used to say that I do Catalan literature, and people

Mary Ann Newman, translator and keynote speaker for the 2018 Student Translation Symposium.

Photo courtesy of Mary Ann Newman

would say “Huh?” I’d explain it.

Now, I say that I’m a Catalanist, and they say “Really? Oh, tell me.” I think, curiously, the crisis has given visibility to Catalonia as a culture or as a politic. ...

My translation used to be sort of a voice crying in the desert, and now the conflict had been internationalized, and my work is maybe being swept up on the wave.

Do you think that some degree of identification with a text is necessary in order to translate it well?

Well, I have only translated things that I love to translate — it’s one of the privileges I allow myself. But, for example — in [a book that I worked on], there are instances of antisemitism and homophobia that I don’t feel comfortable with. But they are attitudes from the period, so I just think it’s important for people to know. I mean, there are things like that in Tolstoy as well. And that kind of thing gives you an understanding of the author and his intentional acts, the value of the text. But I prefer to feel some kind of devotion to the writer or the writing. Having said that, I made a decision that translation was not going to be my living, so I can — by making a living doing other things, I can afford to translate only the things I want to.

One thing that struck me about your translations, especially of Maria Cabrera, was your ability to create unusual and innovative syntax in English.

How do you approach the translation of phrases whose structures are experimental in the original?

There’s a lot of instinct involved. I think the good thing about getting old and doing this for many, many years is that there’s a level of comprehension.

I think it’s really interesting that you’ve looked at the syntax, because what I try to do is convey the foreignness of the text by reproducing as much of the syntax of the romance language as I can in English. And I think old-fashioned translations used to do that, I mean, I think people used to do that a lot more. On the other hand, I make the syntax close, but I try to use the most colloquial lexicon. So, maybe there’s a tension — that’s one of the interesting things is [that] there’s a tension between, I hope, a modern language and a hewing to the romance syntax.

You’ve written about the

gendered nature of translation in our cultural consciousness: the figure of the translator as a seductive, unfaithful woman.

That’s something I speak against. That is the position.

The translator as unfaithful, and hence gendered as “la donna è mobile.”

As a woman translator, do these kinds of images impact your own relationship to your work?

No, because I believe that’s erroneous. I think the translator is shuttling back and forth between the two languages, trying to maintain faith with both of them, and is a kind of diplomat. In any case, if there’s a lack of faith, it’s not a bad faith.

It’s doing it in good faith.

I think there are few professions that are more idealistic and utopian than that of the translator, which is why I see borders as kind of fuzzy.

Do you have any advice to aspiring translators?

Make sure the rights are available. It was really thrilling to be at the symposium [Monday night], because I think all of you know what you’re doing and have very definite ideas. But the only advice is in terms of if you really want to make a living as a translator. There are some people who move to a country where the cost of living is lower — I know people who live in Mexico and Spain for that reason.

Another way to be a translator is to be an academic. But of course, that was a problem for a long time, because translations were not considered to add to the curriculum of an academic.

Having said that, translation is entering into a period of crisis. It’s had about 10 years of looking like translation was becoming a part of the American publishing scene, because there was money from foreign institutions, there were grants for translations, there were a lot of small independent publishers arising who were devoting their work to translation. And it seemed like there was a little ecosystem that was functioning, but it turned out that the profit margin for publishers, for these small publishers, is so small that a lot of them may not survive.

So when translators are taking a stand, and saying we need to be valued, the publishers are in a very untenable position. Because if they can’t survive, then the translators will have nothing to translate.

11

A r t s & C u lt u r e

Vikander Falls Short as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider Ananya Gupta Arts & Culture Editor

Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers for the Tomb Raider series.

After playing Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary and watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, it’s safe to say that I’m a superfan of the gun-toting, knife-wielding, acrobatic badass Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider, starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft and directed by Roar Uthaug, unfortunately reduced this iconic, legendary woman into a onedimensional character, with a storyline several notches below even the amateur Adobe Flash games one can excavate online today.

While several versions of Lara Croft’s backstory exist, all franchises tell the story of an English woman who is trained to be an archaeologist and tomb raider by her father, Sir Richard Croft. She is of aristocratic lineage and in line to inherit a vast amount of wealth, including the famous estate of Croft Manor. Most game and movie storylines tell how Lara lost her father at a young age to mysterious circumstances, consequently sparking her interest in the occult. Lara begins her adventures searching for her father — or the reason that he is missing, presumed dead — and develops a lifelong obsession with finding and protecting the world from ancient, powerful, and deadly artifacts from around the globe. All avatars of Lara Croft feature the same long braid, combat boots, tiny shorts, and several guns strapped to her thighs.

Departing from established canon, Vikander’s Lara Croft is an athletic, inexperienced 21-year-old who rejects her family wealth and supports herself

in East London. Although this reboot was supposed to be an origin story — prior to Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of Lara Croft as a charmingly cocky, selfassured badass — it was downright painful to watch the film’s lack of logical character development.

In the first scene, we see Lara face an extremely humiliating defeat to another woman her age in a boxing ring, but she is later able to defeat huge, muscular men several times her size. In another scene, she participates in a bike race against a number of men, displaying her intellect by hitching a ride with a truck rather than pursuing any strategic maneuvers other than cheating. Despite this, Lara doesn’t even win the race and is instead run over by a police car, winding up in prison. After all of two demonstrations of independence and rebellion against her family inheritance, Richard Croft’s business partner Ana Miller (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) bails Lara out of prison and convinces her to accept her father’s estate and businesses.

Lara then gains access to her father’s hidden room, where she discovers his research obsession: a mythical Japanese queen, Himiko. According to legend, Himiko possessed powers over life and death. Lara’s father leaves her instructions to destroy his research, but being the rebel she is, she travels to Hong Kong looking for a ship to take her to the island Yamatai, where Himiko’s tomb is located. After some pointless running around and fight scenes, which involve her facing further defeat, Croft washes up on the island, shipwrecked, and is promptly captured by a group called Trinity.

Trinity aims to unleash Himiko as a weapon on the world, and Lara must prevent this. However, her arrival provides them with the exact location of Himiko’s sarcophagus, as she brought all of her

father’s research on the tomb with her.

During her time on the island, Lara finds her missing father. Together, Lara, her father, and the leader of Trinity, Mathias Vogel (played by Walton Goggins), take about half of the two-hour film to finally enter the tomb. Here, Lara once again displays her intellectual acumen, remembering that the colors blue and yellow together make green, “the color of life,” saving her and the rest of the archaeologists from death. With puzzles fit for Dora the Explorer episodes and obvious plot twists, Uthaug’s Tomb Raider could make viewers lose faith in humanity. Though I’m sure one can guess the ending, I won’t reveal it. Suffice to say, had Lara used her father’s wealth to hire a helicopter, there wouldn’t have been a movie.

The only silver lining in the entire movie is that Vikander reinterprets the sex symbolism of Lara Croft through her portrayal. While most video games and both previous movies featured Croft with abnormally large breasts, in clothes unfit for combat, Vikander promotes a healthier body image for the character in terms of desexualizing women.

Furthermore, Vikander is extremely fit and has many opportunities to showcase her strength in the movie.

However, Vikander’s acting is subpar, speaking in monotone and wearing a constantly worried expression. When comparing Vikander’s reunion with her father to Jolie’s in Cradle of Life, there is a clear disconnect in acting chops. Vikander fails to create a single emotional moment in the film with her father, and it doesn’t help that her lines are extremely cheesy. The dialogue is poor, with lines like “I’m not that kind of Croft” repeated several times throughout the film, pushing the idea that Vikander just isn’t a convincing Lara Croft.

OSlam Prepares for CUPSI Tournament

Members of OSlam, Oberlin College’s competitive slam and performance poetry team, gave a show at the Cat in the Cream Sunday night. This slam was an opportunity for the poets to test their new material before heading out to represent Oberlin at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational in Philadelphia this week.

Oberlin’s CUPSI team, composed of the winners of last semester’s Grand Slam, features College sophomore Zite Ezeh, College junior Sarah Ridley, College firstyear Jalen Woods, and OSlam co-presidents College juniors Hanne Williams-Baron and Deborah Johnson. So far, the team has competed in preliminary bouts against Tulane University, the University of Virginia, East Carolina University, Macalester College, Ryerson University, and Stanford University. Depending on the results of those preliminary bouts, some teams will move forward to the semi-finals tonight, and the final bouts will take place tomorrow. This academic year, the OSlam team has been responsible for bringing a number of acclaimed poets like sam sax, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, and Hanif Abdurraqib, as well as hosting events like the Love Slam around Valentine’s Day and publishing the team’s first chapbook, Golden Hour, which featured a variety of original poetry and illustrations.

Text by Julia Peterson Arts & Culture Editor Photo by Hugh Newcomb Photo Editor

12

Blac Rabbit Showcases Delightful Beatles Covers Kirsten Heuring Staff Writer

Thanks to the excellent music and good vibes of Blac Rabbit, a self-described psychedelic rock band beloved for their covers of Beatles songs that performed at the Cat in the Cream Wednesday night, all my thoughts about the cold, my homework, and my Cat in the Cream cookie melted away for 45 minutes, replaced by a sense of celebration, admiration for the band’s excellence, and pure musical fun.

Blac Rabbit, a band from Rockaway Beach, Queens, was formed by identical twin brothers Amiri and Rahiem Taylor. They taught themselves how to play guitar and bass, and started off performing in the New York City subways — earlier this year, The New York Times went so far as to suggest that they are “maybe the best Beatles cover band ever.” They have recently gained momentum through YouTube

videos of both covers and their original music.

They also recently released their first EP, Blac Rabbit, and appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Wednesday night’s show was one stop on their first tour, and for their visit to Oberlin, the band focused on their iconic, effervescent Beatles covers.

From the beginning of the show, I noticed that the Taylor brothers were incredibly deft in both their singing and their playing. Sometimes, bands can drown themselves out at the Cat in the Cream so listeners can’t understand a word they sing or hear some of the nuances of the music. That was not the case for Blac Rabbit.

They jumped right in, and the audience could hear every word and enjoy all the subtle guitar picking. If you didn’t know Amiri and Rahiem were twins at a glance, you could definitely tell by their playing and singing. They harmonized wonderfully with each other, and their guitar and bass playing were perfectly synchronized.

CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS: Navigator

N

P

C

S

R

O

S

E

S

P

L

I

T

G

O

O

P

B

R

A

Y

E

L

I

S

A

O

K

R

A

I

D

L

E

P

O

E

M

S

S

E

A

T

E

A

S

W

U

S

S

D

A

H

A

I

N

A

L

V

I

L

E

S H

A

R S

C

O

M

P

A

S

I

D

I

O

M

S

R

O

D

S

C

U

S

T

A

R

T S

H

R

J

O

E

C

A

R

D

R

N

U

T

U

O

M

E

R

W

I

N

E

N G

T

S

T

R

E

M

O

R

P

O

O

R

E

S

T

E

O

N

S

O

B

I

O

L

A

R

S

M

U

T

S

O

A

S

I

S

P

O

N

D

D

U

R

A

M

A

D

R

E

A

L

T

O

O

A

T

S

E

R

A

S

E

E

A

S

T

R

U

S

H

Amiri and Rahiem Taylor, twin brothers and musicians from Rockaway Beach, Queens, performed covers of Beatles music at the Cat in the Cream Wednesday night. Photo by Yonce Hitt

Their voices sounded almost exactly like Lennon and McCartney on the original Beatles albums.

As the concert went on, the crowd became livelier, and this energy fed into the performance.

Blac Rabbit encouraged the audience to clap and sing along to favorites like “We Can Work It Out,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” and “Help!” They joked around between songs, teasing one another, asking the audience, “Anyone play harmonica? We need a harmonica for this one,” and even putting on a fake British accent. The Taylors picked the catchiest, most upbeat Beatles songs they could, and there were absolutely no downer tracks in their set — unless love songs make you lonely. I, along with the rest of the audience, couldn’t help but tap my feet and clap along with the beat. I even noticed one person singing along and dancing in their seat for nearly every song. This is something the band encourages: “Come and sing along — we’re nice guys,” Amiri once said in an interview.

The only complaint I could possibly make is that the performance was too short. I was genuinely enjoying myself until the very end, and I was disappointed that they did not perform longer.

Otherwise, it was an absolutely fantastic show.

I enjoyed Amiri and Rahiem’s banter with each other and the audience as much as I enjoyed the ebullient energy that they brought to their music. I enjoyed every second of the performance.

“Our campus is the New York subways, but if I could pick any other campus, this would be the one,” the Taylors said after the concert, and they also expressed their hope that they would come back to Oberlin later this year. Since they seemed to enjoy their visit and performing in Oberlin as much as the audience did, this reviewer certainly hopes that Amiri and Rahiem get their “ticket to ride” back to Oberlin soon.

THE UNFORTUNATE OWL: Hole Paddy McCabe

PADDY MCCABE

The Oberlin Review | April 6, 2018

13

Sp ort s IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Tom Reid, Bowling Coach, Mentor

Tom Reid, OC ’80, came to Oberlin College in 1976 from the small city of Wilkes-Barre, PA — but that wasn’t his first choice, as his plan was to bowl professionally. Fortunately for Reid, half of his dream ended up coming true when he discovered the Oberlin College Lanes. After 45 years of participating in the sport and 84 consecutive semesters at the College, Reid has coached the bowling team that he founded shortly after he graduated and instructs the Bowling I and II classes. The team averages around 15 members per season and competes in seven tournaments a year. Tomorrow at noon the College Lanes will host its 20th annual OC Unconventional tournament, which will feature the Oberlin bowling team and teams from Kent State University, the University of Akron, the University of Toledo, and Lorain County Community College. Students interested in joining the team are welcome to participate at Monday’s team practice at 4:30 p.m. at the College Lanes or can email Reid at Tom.Reid@oberlin.edu or bowling@oberlin.edu.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tom Reid, OC ’80, Bowling Coach.

Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo Editor

Interview by Alex McNicoll and Alexis Dill, Sports Editors How and when did you become involved in bowling?

My church was forming a bowling league, and I asked my parents if I could join. I figured they’d say no, but they said yes. I was one of the those kids who was picked near the end in gym class whenever we would be choosing sides for basketball or anything, so I did not have a self-image as someone who was at all athletic, even though I wanted to be a Major League Baseball player. My best friend at the time — who was one of those naturally gifted people who is really good at everything the moment they first try it — also signed up for the bowling league. The first week, I beat him by a few pins. That was cool, but when I beat him again the second week, I thought, “Hey, this might be the thing I’m good at.” I got way into it, and by the end of high school I was bowling six leagues a week. I didn’t want to go to college. I just wanted to bowl.

When and why did you decide to create a team at Oberlin?

Fortunately I came to a school that had bowling lanes on campus, and during my first semester here, a woman who was teaching a bowling class put together a team to go to a tournament out in Cleveland. I was recruited for that team, and we drove into Cleveland one Saturday, bowled three games, and finished in second place.

I was second in singles, and that was the only intercollegiate bowling opportunity that I had as a student. I did not know that there was this whole world of intercolle-

giate bowling competition out there until the semester after I graduated, when I came back to manage the lanes and started getting all of the mail that comes to the lanes. I wish I would have known. In this classic “make it better for the people who come after you” [opportunity], I knew I had to form a team. Our first tournament was the [Association of College Unions International] tournament. It was at Kent State University in the spring of ’81, and I’ve had a team ever since.

Who typically joins the bowling team?

How do students find out about it?

We do not draw many students to Oberlin who are already bowlers. The high school students who are serious bowlers usually want to go to a school that has one of the top bowling teams. We are growing bowlers from the ground up. There are a lot of programs at the lanes that feed off of each other. There’s the free bowling for College students every Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. There are intramural leagues on Wednesday nights and Sunday nights. There are the bowling classes — lots of different entry points. One of our biggest ones is actually the club sports fair at the beginning of the year, and particularly this year and last year, we’ve had several first-years sign up with the bowling team who have never really bowled before — maybe at a birthday party when they were like 10. They’re really not bowlers, but they’re looking for a community to become a part of. They found it with the bowling team and have stayed with it. It

just warms my heart. Last year, several of our new members were women, and that allowed us to field a women’s team for the first time in 10 years.

Why is it so important for students to have a sense of community and some form of an outlet, like bowling?

I think it’s important that we help students to be of sound body as well as sound mind. The bowling lanes attract a lot of students who would never go to the gym, and we sort of trick them into being physically active. I like to think that our program is helping bridge the athlete/non-athlete divide.

How has coaching the team allowed you to connect to the student body on a deeper level?

When you work with someone repeatedly, you really build a connection there.

I lead a practice for the team for an hour and a quarter every Monday afternoon, but when we travel to these tournaments and we’re going on a road trip together and eating at a restaurant together, you form close bonds. Many of the people who were team members early on back in the ’80s and ’90s are still close friends of mine, and we stay in touch. They often come back to Oberlin, which helps them connect to the institution as well. We have our alumni game — or “funraiser” — on Saturday morning of commencement weekend. Our 29th one will be coming up this year, and the students lead the match 15–13 overall, so it’s still pretty close. Bowling helps keep people engaged

with Oberlin long after they were students here.

What are some of the best moments you or the team has experienced this year so far?

What really stands out to me this year is our newer students who just started bowling. Two bowlers, one on the men’s team and one on the women’s team — [College senior] Julian Meltzer and [College sophomore] Clare Curry — really stand out to me.

I was just so impressed with these folks at [a couple of the tournaments]. In Julian’s case, it was his first tournament ever, and he was really nervous and didn’t do very well at the start, but he was so focused and determined to make it work. He made a string of really good shots. In Baker bowling, you typically put your best bowler last — in the anchor spot. They have a chance to roll four strikes in a game, while everyone else has an opportunity to roll two. In the 10th frame, if you roll a strike, you get to keep on going. Julian was doing so well that I put him in the anchor spot in the very first Baker game and just left him there all day. In another tournament, Clare had not yet demonstrated a higher level of control over where the ball was going. But in that tournament, she was playing the lanes as they transitioned and was moved to the anchor spot. I hate to single out those two, because this is just typical of what happens to Oberlin bowlers when they go to these tournaments, but every year there are just instances like that that make me so proud.

Ohtani Defies Asian-Athlete Stereotypes in MLB Debut Jane Agler Staff Writer Major League Baseball’s opening day is not only a signifier that spring weather is fast approaching; it is also a celebration of clean slates and the purest of hopes for the oncoming season. Baseball franchises and fans alike approached the day with full hearts and the mentality that anything could happen this season. But while there are 30 teams in the MLB with 25-player active rosters that all competed on this day, there seemed to be a massive spotlight shining on a single member of the league: the Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani. Not only is he an instant star in the MLB, but he is also just as important to the Asian athletic community in the U.S. and an inspiration to me as an Asian-American sports fan.

Standing at 6’4” and weighing 213 pounds, the 23-year-old Japanese rookie was an athletic icon back in Japan. He made his professional debut at the age of 18 for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, a team known for churning out well-known MLB pitchers Yu Darvish and Hideki Okajima. However, Ohtani seems to be a different case from his Japanese predecessors.

In fact, he is different from most players all throughout baseball history. In these past two weeks, Ohtani became the first MLB player since Babe Ruth in 1919 to play in both a non-pitching role and as starting

14

pitcher within the first 10 games of the season. In mores straightforward terms, Ohtani is a two-way player, serving the Angels as both a hitter and pitcher. But unlike Babe Ruth — who decided to focus on batting and almost entirely scrapped pitching after 1919 — Ohtani hopes to maintain his dual role throughout his entire career.

During his five-year stint with the Fighters in Japan, Ohtani managed a 2.52 ERA and averaged 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings, all while hitting .286/.358/.500 and snagging the Pacific League MVP when he was just 21 years old. He was immensely sought-after by MLB teams throughout his final season in Japan and had the option to leave and join the big franchise Los Angeles Dodgers. However, Ohtani carefully chose to join the comparably smaller-franchise Los Angeles Angels after a month-long contract negotiation with the Fighters.

While it is too early to say whether he will succeed more in batting or pitching, Ohtani made his official MLB debut as a designated hitter and whacked a single. He exhibited his pitching prowess a few days later — throwing one of the nastiest sliders I’ve ever seen and masterfully playing with pitch speeds that ranged from 75 mph to 95 mph — and clinched his first win. While the debuts calmed Angels fans everywhere after a less-than-impressive spring training performance, they also inspired scrutiny and debate — side-effects of being under

the microscope of both national and international media attention.

The discourse around Ohtani’s first appearances with the Angels were predictably mixed and extreme — mixed because there were as many negative reactions as there were positive, and extreme because this feedback was formulated after a mere two performances. Ohtani can or can’t bat, can or can’t pitch well, should or shouldn’t go down to the minor leagues, and will or will not be the MLB’s next “big thing.” But in a sport with 162-game seasons, one at bat has never really been a deciding factor.

After hitting his second home run of the season — this time against 2014 American League Cy Young Winner Corey Kluber — on Wednesday, he seems to be finding his rhythm.

If you go to ESPN.com and click on the MLB home page, you’ll see a tab named “Ohtani Tracker” next to the standings, scores, and season previews. There isn’t such a tab for Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees poster-child and AL MVP runnerup last year, or even Mike Trout, the two time MVP who is projected to finish in the top 10 Wins Above Replacement ratings of all time when he’s done. So why do so many people care about a 23-year-old rookie who hasn’t even played 10 games yet?

I can’t speak for all baseball fans, but Ohtani has rapidly become an important figure in my life since opening day. He’s a

little different than the average 6’4” mammoth of a two-way MLB baseball player, much like how I am much different than the average St. Louis Cardinals fan. Ohtani is an Asian baseball player — just like how I am an Asian-American baseball fan — and he is not just trying to dominate this league.

He’s doing something that hasn’t been done in 100 years, and the last guy to do it was Babe Ruth, who is considered to be the greatest baseball player of all time. Ohtani is also accomplishing this all while living in a foreign country with a starkly different culture and racial discrimination against Asians. These anxieties are a familiar narrative to Ohtani’s Asian audience. His story makes me think of my own grandparents, who left South Korea to live in the United States in the 1950s and faced similar challenges. So when I’m watching Shohei Ohtani, I am looking at a representative of a diaspora I proudly belong to — and this is despite being a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan since birth, which dictates I should not love an Angels player as much as I love Ohtani.

Asian players make up a very small percentage of the MLB. As of recent years, they are around two percent of the league.

In other words, I watch a lot of baseball but see few players that look like the EastAsian-me. In my experience, an average baseball fan either does not know a single Asian baseball player or manages to solely See Shohei, page 15

Men’s Tennis Enjoys Victory Against OWU on Senior Day

Senior Michael Drougas celebrated his illustrious collegiate career at Senior Day last Saturday with an 8–1 victory against Ohio Wesleyan University. Drougas and fellow senior Manickam Manickam sealed an 8–5 victory at No. 2 doubles.

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

Jackie McDermott Staff Writer Four seniors who helped the men’s tennis team rise to become a formidable force in both the North Coast Athletic Conference and the region celebrated their Senior Day Saturday against the Ohio Wesleyan University Battling Bishops, winning 8–1. Following the Senior Day ceremonies, as the Yeomen hoisted “fatheads” of their senior leaders, they convincingly swept doubles and eventually earned their second conference win, improving their overall record to 7–7.

As parents, grandparents, and friends looked on from the bleachers next to court one inside Philips Gym, Oberlin honored Michael Drougas, Manickam Manickam, Robert Gittings, and Levi Kimmel.

Drougas has had a particularly storied career with the Yeomen, consistently playing in the top

of the lineup and winning 65 percent of his collegiate matches to bring his wins total well over 100.

“Playing tennis at Oberlin has been a tremendous honor and joy,” Drougas said. “Four years of collegiate tennis has required significant determination and hard work, so Senior Day was a nice day to celebrate the achievements of all of our seniors.

Having my family at the match made the day even more special and meaningful.”

Drougas added that his other senior teammates felt the same way.

“The senior class and our families have become close over the past four years, and so it was very special to have everyone together for Senior Day,” he said.

The seniors played together on court, with Drougas teaming up with Manickam in the number two doubles spot and Gittings and Kimmel working together at number three.

Manickam and Drougas got off to a bit of a shaky start, which Drougas attributed to Senior Day jitters. But after being down a break early in the match, the senior pairing eventually fought back to close out the Battling Bishops 8–5.

“I was nervous at the beginning because I really wanted to win the match for our team and for Manickam,” Drougas said. “Once we settled down, we began to play better. Winning is fun to begin with, but it is even better when you win with your best friend, so it was a special victory.”

Close friendship also aided the doubles chemistry of Gittings and Kimmel, who bested Ohio Wesleyan in a convincing 8–3 win in the number three spot.

Kimmel, who kept up the volume throughout the match, has become known as a driving force of the team’s lively presence since he transferred to Oberlin in hs sophomore year.

“Levi has been a great addition,” Head Coach Eric Ishida said. “He has a great positive energy. He is always working hard, having fun, and being intense all at the same time.”

Ishida said that Gittings shares a similar intensity, but with a more calm demeanor.

Gittings has been a mainstay of this season’s doubles lineup and a consistent starter in singles, and Ishida noted that he continues to work to improve.

“Robert has a very diligent work ethic and is always toying with his game to get the most out of it,” Ishida said.

Gittings and his classmates have helped the tennis program do a complete turnaround. As recently as six years ago, the Yeomen finished in 8th place in the NCAC and struggled to compete with regional powerhouses. Over the last four years, they have slowly climbed the regional rankings and finished third in the conference last season. Oberlin currently holds a national ranking of 39.

“This group in particular really pushed us to the next level,” Ishida said. “They helped change how we go about practice and how we do things every day, which eventually, over time, has really increased our level of play and rating within the conference.”

Manickam attributed the team’s success to the friendship they share.

“The four of us are really close,” Manickam said. “I feel very lucky to have Michael, Robert, and Levi as teammates and classmates.

On court we bring very different talents, but I think that’s what makes us so unique.”

The team’s sophomores have also played a role throughout the season in propelling the seniors’ efforts. At number one doubles, the sophomore duo of Camron Cohen and Stephen Grupposo holds at a 8–2 record. Cohen’s height and slamming put-away volleys, paired with Grupposo’s imposing serve, have propelled the pairing to win seven of its last 10 doubles matches.

Cohen also seems to be in the midst of a breakout year in singles and holds a winning record in the number five spot.

Another sophomore who has upped his game is Zachary Vaughn. Playing primarily in the middle of the lineup, Vaughn earned a 7–2 record at the number three spot.

Ishida praised both sophomores for stepping up to fill important roles on the team.

“Camron has really put the time in and shown the dedication to improve,” Ishida said. “He’s been a pleasant surprise for us at five singles. Zach, moving up to three, is just a fantastic singles player, and he’s bringing a lot of easy wins to the team which brings everyone around him a lot of confidence. ” The Yeomen recently returned from their spring break trip to Orlando where they finished 2–1, beating Division III foes Hamilton College Continentals and Grinnell College Pioneers but falling to the Division II Washburn University Ichabods. With four matches remaining in the regular season, the Yeomen will travel to Wooster, Ohio, tomorrow to take on the College of Wooster Fighting Scots. While preparing for the NCAC Championships, which will be played at a neutral site in Indianapolis, IN, April 27– 29, Ishida said he hopes his team will focus both on presence and physicality.

“We want to focus on Oberlin as much as possible, improving ourselves every day,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of talks about our footwork and preparation.

We feel like that’s one thing we can control that gives us an edge against conference teams, in bigtime matches.”

Shohei Ohtani Donations Drive Athletic Overhaul Has Changed Baseball, Two-Way Player or Not Continued from page 16

Continued from page 14

cite Ichiro Suzuki. I will always hold the highest regard for Ichiro Suzuki for both his contributions to baseball and for embracing his status as an Asian pioneer, but he alone is not enough. If anything, he is evidence that I should be able to look forward to even more celebrated Asian baseball players like him in the present and near future. Ichiro was a tactful hitter and his 3,000 hits will undoubtedly land him a place in the Hall of Fame, but Ohtani is potentially a home-run power hitter — therefore defying the prevailing stereotype that Asian players are only good for pitching or playing small ball.

Ohtani seems to be the beginning of this exact transition that I have been waiting for, and I couldn’t ask for a more qualified representative. He is proving that Asian ballplayers can be sluggers who rake home runs with Judge or Trout, and they can even be twoway players like Babe Ruth. While East Asian pitchers seem to be a hot commodity for MLB franchises, East Asian sluggers are far less common.

Perhaps the most thrilling aspect of Ohtani, specifically to an Asian fan like myself, is that he is an exciting player to all baseball fans regardless of his race. He is not being given this staggering amount of attention because he might be a great Asian baseball player. Ohtani might be a great baseball player in general, Asian or non-Asian. Looking at his position now, he stands equally with his Angels, American League, and MLB counterparts, thankfully making his Asian status the least remarkable thing about him.

The Oberlin Review | April 6, 2018

The other piece of the Oberlin Illuminate project, the Health & Wellness Center, will be a space for everybody on campus, not just members of varsity sports teams. Although the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will practice in Carr Pool, some lanes will be reserved for recreational users. The hope, Winkelfoos said, is to bridge the athlete/non-athlete divide. She said the new facility is a recruitment tool for students interested in keeping up with their fitness or exploring classes like yoga or spinning.

“Philips gym was built in 1971, a year before Title IX,” Winkelfoos said. “Now there’s more of a concentration — not just by the College but by the world — on being physically and mentally well. Our facility is busy, and if you’re not working out with your team, you’re bumping into people and not having the experience you want.”

The Heisman Club, created in 1978 to honor legendary former Oberlin Football Head Coach John William Heisman, has done its best to renovate Philips. Club members meet formally three times a year, brainstorming ways to enhance the athletic experience for students of the College and community members. The Heisman Club, led by Carla Freyvogel, OC ‘79, remodeled the main lobby, second-floor classroom, and conference room in Philips. In addition, the club pays for class instructors, equipment, and other resources. The key to the Heisman Club’s success in getting people to donate, Winkelfoos said, is to get them to buy in.

“It’s about vision and reconnecting [donors] to their experience as a student-athlete,” Winkelfoos said. “It’s about listening and finding the value proposition for them.

It’s really all about relationship-building.”

Trustee Steve Dolcemaschio and his family have bought into the athletic department’s vision. A year after baseball alum Jack Dunn, OC ’10, and his family gifted the baseball program with a new press box, Dolcemaschio played a big role in making it possible for Dill Field’s dirt infield to be replaced with synthetic field turf. Dolcemaschio’s son, Blaise, OC ’16, earned 106 starts behind the dish over his

four-year career for Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz. In the past six years, the Yeomen have made it to the conference tournament four times and broken several program records.

“The baseball parents as a collection are amazing,” Winkelfoos said. “They’ve really helped that program grow.

That’s an example of how philanthropy can actually help you find success. Of course, it always takes the right people, but once you get that mindset dialed in, the sky is the limit.

I think we’re starting to see that with the softball program.”

Prior to the softball team’s doubleheader tomorrow against Denison University, the official dedication of Dolcemaschio Stadium will take place. Dolcemaschio and his wife, Julie, made it possible to have stadium seating and a press box installed at Culhane Field. In addition, the Goldring Family Foundation — named after Becky Goldring, OC ’09 — and Ernest and Josie Newborn — parents of baseball alum Josh Newborn, OC ’16 — will be honored on each dugout.

Over the past decade, the athletic facilities at Oberlin have been remodeled into some of the nicest facilities in all of Division III, and it’s important to recognize and appreciate those who have helped make it all possible. As a direct result of their time and effort, many have helped transformed Oberlin athletics from a laughing stock into a story of success and goodwill.

Winkelfoos was one of four athletic directors from NCAA Division III who earned the title of Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year last month. Winkelfoos said the award represents the holistic success of the Oberlin athletics community.

“This isn’t an award about me,” Winkelfoos said. “It’s an award about the growth of Oberlin athletics. People are recognizing the good work we’re doing here. This is my 12th year here, and this is the strongest coaching staff we’ve ever had. I’m just as grateful for them as I am the Heisman Club and [other donors]. They’re recruiting the right kind of scholar athletes, which is where it all begins.”

15

SPORTS April 6, 2018

established 1874

Volume 147, Number 19

Philanthropy Lifts Athletics to Next Level Alexis Dill Sports Editor

First-year pitcher Emily Tucci prepares to deliver a pitch against Grinnell College on March 22. Tucci has been a major addition to the softball team, boasting a team-low 2.72 ERA in 13 appearances and adding 14 hits and three home runs through 18 games.

Photo courtesy of OC Athletics

Softball Earns Split Against Kenyon Ladies, Falls to Allegheny Gators

Alex McNicoll Sports Editor

The Yeowomen recorded their first win against rival Kenyon College Ladies in three years in their first week of North Coast Athletic Conference play last weekend 14–12. However, it was the only win they recorded, as they also lost Saturday, split the weekend against the Ladies on Saturday, and dropped both games of their double header against the Allegheny College Gators Wednesday 2–9 and 2–8.

Going into the Wednesday games, Head Coach Sara Schoenhoft — who is in her third year with the program — was optimistic about their matchup.

“Allegheny has been a good matchup for us the past few years,” Schoenhoft said. “We’re just going to focus on playing our best, but we definitely have some good momentum going forward.”

Battling freezing temperatures, fierce winds, and intermittent snow, the Yeowomen got off to a slow start in their first game ever Wednesday in the brand new Dolcemaschio Stadium, which includes stadium seating and a state-of-the-art press box. Against the Gators, firstyear Emily Tucci — who was fresh off her win against the Ladies — held her own on the mound, but the offense could not offer her any run support. While she managed to hold the Gators to just two runs through the first two innings, the Gators broke away in the third, scoring four runs. With a 6–1 lead, the Gators comfortably coasted to a victory, despite the poor weather conditions. For the Yeowomen, sophomore third baseman Alexis Dill and senior outfielder Dana Rae Goldstein enjoyed strong performances, as Dill collected two hits and Goldstein raked a home run, but it was not enough to avoid their 9–2 defeat.

With such a young team, as eight of the 18 players are first-years, Schoenhoft has helped her players learn on their feet and adjust at a moment’s notice.

“We talk a lot about making adjustments,” she said. “Not only from at-bat to at-bat, but within an at-bat. If someone’s struggling in a game, we just focus on the adjustments they can make. We’ll never let a kid get down on themselves and say, ‘I’m done.’ We’re always reminding them that they can do this, and we have a ton of talent on the bench to come out if need be.”

Adjustments aside, the Yeowomen did not perform much better in the second matchup of the double header, again scoring just two runs in their 8–2 defeat. In this game, it took the Gators much less time to get on the board, as their five first-inning runs proved enough to win the game.

In the fifth inning, the Yeowomen narrowed the gap to just three; junior outfielder Emma Downing hit an RBI triple and first-year outfielder Dani Pechthalt drove in a run of her own to put her team in striking distance entering the final two innings. However, facing runners on second and

16

third in the top of the sixth inning, the Yeowomen recorded a costly error, and on the next play senior pitcher Sandra Kibble walked a batter with the bases loaded, sending the Gators out of reach with a four-run lead. By the time it resumed snowing, the Yeowomen let up another two runs and lost the game.

Despite a shaky showing against the now 8–9 Gators, the Yeowomen still had a lot to be happy about after this week. In addition to opening their brand-new stadium, they recorded their first conference win of the season last weekend against the Ladies.

Despite the win, it took a while to get going against the Ladies. In their first matchup, the Yeowomen had virtually no success on offense, scoring just one run in the sixth inning off of an infield fly double play by first-year Sophia Musiak. While Tucci and Kibble were strong on the mound, their lack of run support led to a 6–1 defeat.

“The first game I definitely struggled a lot,” Tucci said.

“Just getting my changeups to hit their spots and being calm — because I usually am calm and screwing around — was tough. In between games I just tried to be a little more relaxed, got a quicker warm-up, and focused on hitting the corners, knowing the changeup was something we needed to get to be effective in that game.”

Oberlin opened up the second game on a much stronger foot, scoring four runs in the first inning. However, Kenyon was quick to respond, flooding the Yeowomen with nine runs in just the bottom of the first. A lone home run by Downing was all the Yeowomen could muster in the second as Kenyon stretched their lead to 12–5. In the third inning, Tucci returned to the mound and helped turn the tide defensively, blanking the Ladies over the five remaining innings. Tucci helped rally the Yeowomen bats as well.

Going into the sixth inning — with Oberlin down just three runs — home runs by Tucci and Pechthalt sealed the game.

“I talked to Dani [Pechthalt] about our mentality before we went up to bat,” Tucci said. “We were just like, ‘If you get a hit, that’s awesome, and if you don’t get a hit, that’s OK too,’ and then she hit a home run, I hit a home run... It was great.”

Pechthalt — who has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the roster, as she did not even expect to play entering spring training — had not ever hit a home run going into last Saturday’s game.

“I thought it was going foul [at first],” Pechthalt said. “I didn’t really believe it was happening, but then I saw it go over and I started screaming. I was screaming all the way around the bases. It felt really good to have helped get a win — especially against a team we haven’t beaten in so long.”

The Yeowomen won’t have much of a break in the action, as they will suit up once again to play the Denison University Tigers tomorrow in a double header in Dolcemaschio Stadium starting at 1 p.m.

The men’s and women’s tennis teams and softball team were welcomed to Amway Center two weeks ago to catch an Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers game and meet fellow Obie Jeff Weltman, OC ’87, president of basketball operations for Orlando. As the former Oberlin basketball player reminisced about sitting in Wilder Bowl with his buddies in the springtime, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the opportunities our athletics department continuously provides its student-athletes.

Just two days before the game, Eastern Michigan University announced it will cut four sports at the conclusion of the semester: men’s swimming and diving, wrestling, women’s tennis, and softball. The reduction will affect 58 male student-athletes and 25 female student-athletes, but it will save the school an estimated $2.4 million. I empathize with the studentathletes at EMU — I went to high school with an athlete on EMU’s women’s swimming and diving team and an athlete on the men’s team. But I also feel relief. Despite the $5 million budget deficit Oberlin faces, our athletic department continues to grow every year thanks to its philanthropic donors.

“I guess you can say we’re generating revenue through enrollment and fundraising,” Delta Lodge Director of Athletics and Physical Education Natalie Winkelfoos said. “I want to control our own destiny. I don’t want to ask for handouts from the College. I don’t want athletics to ever be a drain on the institution.

Athletics should be a source of energy and pride for Oberlin.”

Student-athletes — including myself — use the Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex and other facilities on a daily basis, yet how many of us are aware that most if not all of these state-of-the-art facilities were made possible because of the generosity of Heisman Club members, alumni, parents, friends, and other benefactors?

Admittedly, I assumed the College paid for most of it until I was three semesters into my college experience.

Since 2012, when former President Marvin Krislov named Winkelfoos the new athletic director, Winkelfoos has worked closely with the Office of Development to raise over $30 million as part of the Oberlin Illuminate campaign. The money went toward Knowlton — completed in September 2014 — and the Pat ’63 and Merrill Shanks ’61 Health & Wellness Center, which includes Carr Pool — scheduled to open this August.

Knowlton includes the all-weather, multipurpose Dick Bailey Field, a renovated press box, a locker room building for all outdoor sports, and a building used for meetings, banquets, and other social events. It’s named after the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, which provides grants and donations to colleges and universities across the Midwest. Originally the foundation gifted Oberlin athletics with $5 million to replace Savage Stadium.

“We told [them] the story behind what we’re planning on doing,” Winkelfoos said. “They came for a site visit, saw our stadium, and realized that was where they wanted to be a player in the game for us. It’s awesome because they’re not alumni. There’s a soft connection between them and us. They just ended up falling in love with Oberlin and what it stands for.”

Shortly after construction began, Winkelfoos realized she would need more money and convinced the foundation to donate another $3 million. Alumni — many of whom were athletes — covered the rest of the cost. Before the installation of the turf field, the football team used the stadium five or so times a year for home football games, but that was it. Teams couldn’t practice on the grass field, especially in rain or snow. While men’s teams had locker rooms near their respective facilities, the women’s teams had to drag their equipment to and from Philips gym.

See Donations, page 15