November 15, 2013

The Oberlin Review

NOVEMBER 15, 2013 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 9

Outside the Bubble News highlights from the past week Mechanic Fashions New Device to Save Babies: The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Jorge Odón, an Argentine car mechanic, has invented a new device that can extract a baby stuck in the womb. The origins of Odón’s design lie not in a medical lab, but rather in a wine bottle. In order to win a bet, Odón fashioned an apparatus to remove a lost cork from a bottle.

Later that evening, Odón awoke with an epiphany — his contraption might have medical utility. After consulting with an obstetrician, Odón used a glass jar in place of the womb, a doll as the baby and a “fabric bag and sleeve” to remove the proto-infant. The World Health Organization and other private donors have met Odón’s invention with enthusiasm and endorsements.

Doctors anticipate that Odón’s device will save many infants in poor, underdeveloped countries.

47 Killed and Many Wounded in Iraq: Forty-seven people were killed and dozens wounded in Baghdad on Thursday, following an outbreak of violence against Shiite Muslims. The holy day of Ashura, which recognizes the murder of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammed, has played host to violence in past years: 39 Iraqis were killed in 2005, dozens in 2007, and 23 in 2011. This year, a suicide bomber set off an explosion at an arena where a play about the death of Hussein was being performed.

Source: The New York Times

College Retires Savage Stadium Tomorrow Sarah Orbuch Staff Writer Last week, the Athletics department received the largest donation in its history from the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, which will allow for construction of a new state-of the-art athletics complex.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the $8 million project will be held tomorrow before the football team plays its last game of the season, and the final athletic contest Savage Stadium will ever see.

“Many trustees will be in town; there will be a tailgate and a special postgame [bon]fire on the field,” said Director of Athletics Natalie Winkelfoos. “Many student-athletes will be involved, and there will be giveaways and vintage foam fingers.”

The large donation is much appreciated. “Knowlton has been a generous benefactor to the Ohio State University, and the Knowlton Foundation has given us a significant amount of money for scholarships,” said President Marvin Krislov. “We are very anxious to begin breaking ground on the North[side] Complex.”

In comparison to other colleges in our athletic conference, such as Kenyon College and Denison University, our athletic facility pales. The Jesse E. Philips gym was built in 1971, before Title IX, as a men’s only facility. Many believe that because of this, the athletic center no longer supports the athletic needs of the school and community.

“The building is ugly and out of date,” said Winkelfoos. “We are trying to attract the best and

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brightest students, and we have high school students coming from better facilities. We are just so far behind in the race of facilities that we are doing ourselves and the community a disservice.”

Senior Associate Director of Athletics Creg Jantz also saw the new facility as an opportunity for Oberlin to compete in admissions with other schools in its athletic conference. “Prospective students will go home and say, ‘I was just at a football game at

Oberlin College, and their new facilities are unbelievable.’ After leaving Denison University and Kenyon College, people are excited. Now they will get excited after leaving Oberlin College,” said Jantz.

Walking around the athletic complex, one sees a state-of-the-art soccer field surrounded by an aging football field, a cardio center See College, page 14

Plans for the Austin E. Knowlton Athletic Complex are under way; the official groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Saturday. The $8 million donation marks the biggest donation Oberlin has ever recieved for athletics.

Courtesy of Oberlin College Athletics

Campus Relies on Fracking in Transition from Coal Madeline Stocker News Editor Although Oberlin’s recent enactment of the Community Bill of Rights may be viewed as a victory among anti-fracking students and community members, Oberlin Anti-Frack has not wavered in its efforts to create a more transparent and comprehensive understanding of the myriad issues behind hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” While initiatives to ban fracking on campus have made great strides, there is one recent development in which fracking is still extremely prevalent — the College’s imminent switch to “natural” gas.

A part of No Frack November, the Impacted Community Members Panel that was held on Sunday included several individuals from surrounding communities whose lives have been directly affected by the effects

of fracking.

College senior Alice Beecher, a member of Oberlin Anti-Frack, said that one of the goals of the panel was to “help people understand that fracking is an intersectional issue, and that it affects people in a lot of ways that aren’t just affecting the environment.”

Beecher went on to list fracking as not only an environmental issue, but one that affects health, reproductive justice, workers’ rights and the poverty rate.

“I think the best way to bring those issues to light is to amplify the voices of the people who are directly experiencing it,” said Beecher.

Featured stories ranged from a mother’s disgust at a methane-infused well placed adjacent to an elementary school to an exemployee’s recount of his teeth “snapping off like pretzels” after being exposed to the gases. Another prevalent

theme was the fracking industry’s opacity.

“They tell you all the good stuff, but nothing about what you’re getting into,” said Randy Moyer, a truck driver who had been previously employed by the fracking industry. “They don’t want workers protected because they don’t want you people to know what they’re doing.”

Another panelist recounted how her local officials, while claiming to protect against local fracking, would allow the industry to drill on their own land.

“Two of my three township supervisors have signed leases for their own personal property. So they don’t care about helping anyone like me who’s going through this; all they care about is how much money they’re making on their property. They’re suing because they don’t feel like they’ve been getting paid enough, because they

“Like” My Application Colleges, alongside graduate schools and employers, increasingly monitor the online activities of applicants.

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find out that other people are getting paid more. There really isn’t anybody to help us,” said Patti Gorcheff, a resident of Youngstown, Ohio.

Although such accounts of caginess on the part of government officials is hardly new, many would say that when it comes to sustainability, Oberlin has been comparably transpicuous.

Some students, however, have made it clear that they disagree.

The College announced its plan to switch to natural gas in the spring of 2012 and has since been confronted with disconcerted students who believe that the administration should be clearer in its description of this shift.

“Even the word ‘natural’ gas [implies that] it’s natural, it’s green, it’s good for the environment. It’s a phony green argument,” Beecher said when describing the framework that the fracking industry uses to

from the Re-Berth of Season Mutant Music Os Mutantes brought its legendary blend of psychedelic rock and Brazilian groove to the ’Sco. See page 12

INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

Men’s soccer gets at-large bid for NCAA national tournament.

See page 15

Arts 10

Sports 16

appeal to the public. “Natural gas would [be] better for the climate if they didn’t use fracking.”

According to Beecher, forums such as The Source — the school’s official communications hub — describe natural gas as a “greener” fuel, which is misrepresentative of the sustainability of natural gas. She also described several of the trustees, as well as the Environmental Defense Fund, as “explicitly pro-fracking.”

“Some of our administrators here at the College have bought into [this framework], which is really disturbing to me. There’s a big disconnect because there’s a lot of trustees [and members of the] administration that come from these elite backgrounds, but they don’t engage with these communities that are See Increased, page 4

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The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Consent Redefined amid New Sexual Offense Initiatives Rachel Weinstein Staff Writer

aware of their resources,” said Associate Professor of Comparative American Studies and Associate Dean of Faculty Development Meredith Raimondo. “Our goal around reporting is support and safety.”

On Thursday, Nov. 7, students and faculty gathered in Nancy Schrom Dye Lecture Hall to discuss initiatives to reform the College’s sexual offense policy further. The forum was hosted by the Sexual Offense Task Force, a team of seven assembled by Krislov in the fall of last year, and was moderated by two members of the OC Dialogue Center.

The task force is comprised of students, staff and faculty representatives, including Raimondo and Vice

President and Dean of Students Eric Estes. Members are responsible for gathering input and information from students and members of the College community. One of the primary operations of the task force is to promote education and communication about policies across campus.

This month, the task force will ask for the input of major committees on campus, including the Administrative and Professional Staff Council, the General Faculty Council and Student Senate. Involvement in the reform will also come from student groups that work on sexualized violence such as the Sexual Information Center and OSCA’s Sexual Offense Policy Advocates, in ad-

dition to groups of interested individuals and focus groups.

As early as spring 2014, the reFirst adopted in 1993, the formed policy will be sent to sexual offense policy has apthe General Faculty Council for peared in multiple incarnaapproval. tions, but the most recent Members of the task force changes were enacted in May explained that after the im2012. The policy defines variplementation of the policy’s ous types of sexual misconreform, the next steps will duct and asserts procedural be education and sexualguidelines in the event of an ized offense prevention. The infraction. College President committee has discussed the Marvin Krislov wrote an arincorporation of the policy ticle last October remarking and awareness of the consethat the initiatives of other inquences of sexual misconduct stitutions such as Yale Univerfor survivors and perpetrasity and Amherst College are tors to be integrated in the an opportunity for the College curriculum. to transform its own means of Since the creation of the prevention and procedure. task force, those involved have “We want to break the culadopted various initiatives, inture of silence and make people cluding the installment of an online resource guide. This guide comes in response to a call for more comprehensive and accessible support from the institution. It seeks to clarify the importance of reporting sexual misconduct, make the institution’s resources more available to survivors and other parties involved, outline the procedure of reporting sexual offense violations and educate the campus about prevention and supporting offense survivors.

“The initiative is working to better accommodate victims in all steps of the Vice President and Dean of Students Eric Estes addesses attendees of the forum held by the Sex- reporting process,” said Colual Offense Task Force as they gather to discuss the reform of the College’s sexual offense policy. lege junior and SIC staffer The policy, which was adopted in 1993, has since undergone many changes.

Rachel Grossman Sophie Meade.

“Students have been centrally involved in the process of reviewing and revising the sexual offense policy. The student task force members have full voice in all task force decisions,” remarked Raimondo.

“Students have also been included in the policy review through consultation with student leaders in the area of sexual offense policy (particularly the OSCA Sexual Offense Policy Advocates and student members of the Sexual Offense Policy Review Committee), through feedback at all-campus forums and in individual meetings with task force members.”

“We want to offer opportunities for input on the draft so that it addresses the concerns of the community as well as our legal and ethical obligations to create a campus free of sexual and gender-based discrimination and violence as fully as possible,” said the task force, who commented as a group.

“These changes reflect the ongoing intention of the College to create an equitable and inclusive campus and workplace.”

The task force has also worked to expand the College’s definition of consent by further considering factors of alcohol and drug use that will be featured in the new online resource guide.

“The College has long debated the subject of alcohol

and drug use in relation to the sexual offense policy,” Meade said.

“Every reported sexual offense violation in the last two years has involved intoxication. Currently the College deems sexual relations while intoxicated not consensual and they are working to reopen that discussion; intoxicated sexual experiences are prevalent and not always lacking consent.”

Another endeavor undertaken by the task force is the redrafting of the sexual offense policy that is currently in place. Revisions of the policy include rephrasing the policy’s clauses with more accessible language, shortening the length of the report process by including investigative steps in the timeline and addressing mechanisms that address misconduct during Winter Term, summer recess and other breaks that cause delays in the process.

Perhaps the biggest undertaking of the committee is staff turnover and the search for a Director of the Office of Equity Concerns. This newly created position would involve the training and education of students and peer supporters of those involved in sexual misconduct, communication with the campus community, policy development, reform and implementation and the responsibility of being a Title IX coordinator.

Admissions Turns Blind Eye to Online Activity Kate Gill News Editor Several years ago, College admissions officer Tom Abeyta repurposed his Facebook. He resolved to make the page private, denying all friend requests from both prospective and current students at Oberlin.

“Students began to friend me,” he explained, “and I started to see pictures [of them] that I didn’t want to see. I said, you know what? I’m going to make it a practice not to friend current students or applicants.”

By the same token, Abeyta does not venture online to investigate applicants. According to Abeyta and fellow officer Jill Medina, Oberlin admissions keeps Facebook and Twitter out of sight and, accordingly, out of mind.

But not all admissions officers practice the same restraint. The New York Times reported last week that an

increasing number of colleges trail the online footprints of their applicants.

The article — “They loved your G.P.A. Then They Saw Your Tweets” — cited a recent phone survey by Kaplan Test Prep, which indicates a new emphasis on social media. Of 381 admission officers, 31 percent admitted to some Facebook snooping — a five percent increase since last year.

“No, we don’t have a sexy answer,” Medina said in response to an inquiry about online investigations. “We don’t have anything dramatic to share … we had a discussion with our dean, who [often] says ‘just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.’ ” That said, Medina empathized with institutions that take an online route.

“I can definitely see from an intellectual standpoint why, if you’re a residential college, you want to know who you’re bringing into the community … if a school sees something that

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violates a law or their rules or their community standards. I can definitely understand why they do that.”

And although Oberlin maintains a Facebook-free approach to admissions, future applicants may undergo online scrutiny nonetheless.

“If [technology] becomes merged in any sort of application review process,” Medina said, “then we wouldn’t be able to avoid it, in that sense … technology has already influenced the process this year. And every year we have to take inventory and take stock.

What are the Oberlin priorities and how do they play out in our decisionmaking? If there’s an external force that says, you must do it this way, then we have no choice.’ ” In recent years, applicants have initiated online contact with the office, making Tumblr pages about Oberlin in an effort to climb the waitlist.

“I don’t think it’s closed off,” Medina remarked. “Several students have

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used the social media platform to advocate for themselves if they have been in a position on the waitlist.”

Yet both Medina and Abeyta emphasized the voluntary aspect of this scenario: “[The students] invite us as a committee,” Medina explained.

Beyond undergraduate admissions is the issue of future employment and graduate school admissions.

“There is a bigger question,” Medina said. “Employers are probably more likely to look at a potential candidate than a college might be.”

Richard Berman, director of the Career Center, agreed.

“Are employers interested in accessing any public information available that will give them a true reflection, or what they perceive to be a true reflection of the person? Absolutely.

And sometimes without regard to privacy or discretion,” he said.

And what might employers be looking for? “Someone lying under-

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neath a keg, [or] reference to illegal activity,” Berman said.

College President Marvin Krislov had a similar impression, noting that these online profiles can be quite deleterious in the long term.

“Online activity can be very damaging,” he said. “It’s not just on college and university campuses … Anything you put out there can be picked up and have consequences.”

Even though Oberlin applicants are free from online surveillance, current students may have cause to worry.

“It’s clear,” Krislov added, “even before that [New York Times] article, [that] it’s absolutely the case [that online activity is surveilled]. I think that employers and admissions officers are looking at these things. And whether Oberlin does it or not, other people are. These things follow you the rest of your life. I think some students don’t fully appreciate that.”

Correction: The article “Aerialists Wow Audience with Art-Themed Show” Corrections (November 8, 2013) misidentifies several performers and types of apparatus.

The Review is not of Samantha Sterman, OCaware ’13, performed corrections this week. on theany straps, and College first-years Juliette Glickman and Katharine Geber The Review strives toCollege print allsenior performed on aerial silks. information as accurately as possible.

Karellyn Holston and College junior If you feel the Review has made Chris McLauchlan performed the an piece error, sendSquare.” an e-mail to “V-J Dayplease in Times College managingeditor@oberlinreview.org. senior Jessica Lam choreographed the group act.

The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

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Off the Cuff: Sheila Miyoshi Jager, director of East Asian Studies department and author of Brothers at War Sheila Miyoshi Jager, associate professor and program director of East Asian Studies, recently published a book that illuminates the military, political and cultural history of the Korean War. She sat down with the Review to discuss the East Asian Studies department, the publishing process and the Korean War. Can you tell me a little bit about your recently published book, Brothers at War: The Unending Conflict in Korea?

It’s a book about the Korean War, but it looks at not just the operational history of the war, but it also looks at the relationship between the military and society, and it looks also at memories of war. And it of course takes the broad perspective, not just the Americans, but of course Korea, China and the Soviet Union, so it’s about sort of a regional complex. But I think what distinguishes the book is that it’s not just looking at the war years, which is 1950–53 or even earlier, 1945–53, but it takes a look past the armistice, past 1953, to look at the impact of the war on East Asia, because the war never ended. The war ended in an armistice, but never a peace treaty, so in effect we were still at war. We were still at war basically with North Korea.

And how far does the chronology go?

Basically to the present. It actually ends in December 2012, which is when I had to give the book up. But the paperback version, I’ll probably even update it a little bit more, because the

book ends with Kim Jong-Il’s death and of course there’s a new leader in North Korea today, Kim Jong-Un. And a lot of people thought that he was going to be this new reformer.

He’d been educated in Switzerland, and [they thought] that there would be a new era for North Korea, but it looks like he’s a pretty hard-liner. And reform is not really on the horizon for North Korea.

So what inspired you? How is this subject different from others you have explored in your previous two books?

My focus has always been South Korea. My interest in the war [came through] memories of the Korean War because I saw that South Korean memories have changed dramatically.

From the early 1960s when it was really during the Cold War period, North Korea was viewed as this terrible enemy, sort of this devil. And then during the 1980s, views of North Korea sort of changed. There was this big incident called the Gwangju Uprising, and that included the South Korean government forcefully suppress[ing] this civil uprising, [killing] many people. And at that time, many student dissidents began to question their government and also question their government’s relationship to the United States. And so they began to look at North Korea as maybe an alternative to their own government, among dissidents and intellectuals. And then of course during the 1990s, the Cold War ends and North Korea basically collapses. And so there’s this new movement to look at unification and this sort of way of “We can reconcile with the North and help the North,” but it was really more

to replace the fire extinguisher.

Friday, Nov. 8 Thursday, Nov. 7 5:22 p.m. Staff members reported a strong odor consistent with marijuana on the fifth floor of Firelands Apartments. Officers responded and the occupant denied smoking anything; they stated that the smell could be coming from burning incense. The student was advised of College policy on burning and smoking in the dorms.

5:36 p.m. Staff members reported the smell of smoke coming from a room on the second floor of Dascomb Hall. The student was contacted and admitted that they had been smoking marijuana in the room.

6:39 p.m. A student reported the use of a fire extinguisher in the Old Barrows kitchen to put out a small fire. The fire was extinguished prior to officer’s arrival. A maintenance technician responded to make sure that the stove was functioning properly, and OSCA was told

12:08 a.m. Officers requested an ambulance for an intoxicated student on the floor of the women’s restroom in the basement of Wilder Hall. The student was transported by ambulance to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

12:33 a.m. Officers requested an ambulance for an intoxicated student on the floor of the men’s restroom in the basement of Wilder Hall. The student was transported by ambulance to Mercy Allen Hospital.

12:52 a.m. Officers reported to Wilder Hall to assist an intoxicated student to her Village Housing unit on Pleasant Street. The student was returned safely.

1:01 a.m. An officer on patrol at Wilder Hall observed an intoxicated student in the men’s restroom. The student answered all questions he was asked correctly and was transported by officers to his dorm for the night.

9:18 a.m. A staff member at

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, an Oberlin professor who recently published her third book on the Korean War.

of an absorption of North Korea than anything else. So there are all these sort of changes in the way in which South Koreans have looked toward North Korea and looked toward the Korean War and I was interested in those changes. So I got this position at the U.S. Army War College, and it was basically a policy position, and they told me, “I want you to look at the Korea situation.” So I thought, well, I needed to understand the relationship between North and South Korea from the very beginning if I’m going to understand really how South Korea became South Korea and North Korea became North Korea.

Now in the process of publishing this text you had to promote it and contend with the opinions of reviewers. What was that like?

It’s interesting because I published the book in July, which was supposed to be the 60th anniversary of the armistice, and I published it with Norton, which is a commercial press, and it’s different from academic. And of course, I had a publicity person assigned to me and she did a lot of

Dascomb Hall reported finding a glass jar containing what appeared to be marijuana. The item was turned over to the Oberlin Police Department.

2:47 p.m. A student reported their pants, wallet, jacket, keys and ID missing after attending Safer Sex Night. The phone was tracked and found to be at a house on North Main Street. Officers, accompanied

by Oberlin Police, arrived at the house and located the items. The student claimed that they had mistakenly picked up the items after the event in Wilder. The items were returned to their original owner.

3:01 p.m. An anonymous caller reported witnessing an individual fall off a motor scooter on the south side of Rice Hall. When officers arrived at the scene, the individual told them that he turned too sharply and lost control. He declined medical treatment. There were no visible signs of injury.

Saturday, Nov. 9 1:11 a.m. A member of the Oberlin Police Department reported that

trying to get me [promotional] stuff.

And of course I got National Book Fest, which was sort of a big hoo. But I think the book really took off when the Economist did a review and that was two or three months later; it was like this dark period. And they took it and they did a favorable review and after that, I just started getting all these [reviews] — the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Foreign Affairs. I mean the industry’s sort of building and building. So I really feel like it was the Economist review that sort of pushed it and everything else took off after that. It’s very different because you have to promote the book. And because it’s a commercial press, I’m sort of obligated to do these things. [Laughs.] I didn’t really want to do this stuff, but I mean I was sort of obligated to do it.

Recently, there was a New York Times article about your book. And then, of course, President Krislov wrote his Letter to the Editor about the humanities and Krislov almost came to their defense; I was wondering if you had any opinions about that?

Well it’s interesting because I studied the Cold War and George Kennan, who was the founder and author of containment policy. He made an interesting remark when he said, ‘When I formulated this strategy about containment, I wasn’t looking at political science or I wasn’t looking at economies of the Soviet Union.’ He was understanding the Russians and Russian mindset through literature.

And I think that it’s really important to understand another society, to formulate your grand strategy and poli-

they had arrested a student outside The Feve for underage consumption and disorderly conduct. Oberlin College officers responded to the police department and transported the student to his dorm.

3:52 a.m. An officer on patrol observed that the “Reserved” parking sign in Saunders House parking lot was missing from the post. A work order was filed.

12:50 p.m. Catering staff preparing for a Parents Weekend breakfast reported vandalism to the Heisman Club Field House. Six partition dividers were knocked over, three gallon jugs of water were broken and an eight-foot table was overturned.

1:21 p.m. A student reported the theft of a small black faux leather bag with gold strap while attending Safer Sex Night at Wilder Hall. The bag contained the student’s IDs, keys and other miscellaneous items.

Sunday, Nov. 10 12:45 a.m. Officers were requested to assist a student ill from alcohol consumption on the sec-

cy, you have to understand who you’re dealing with. And how do you understand a person’s culture and history if not through literature? And so I think literature and humanities and history all are extremely important, because those are the vehicles through which we understand the world, and it’s not just for our own pleasure but really for very important policy issues. So it has practical import, and I think Kennan is a really good example of somebody who completely really understood Russia through Russian culture. And we train foreign service officers, we train military officers, we train anybody who’s working in the government, anything practical, we really need those kinds of people. And so that to me is a good advocacy for why the humanities are really important.

As we enter the registration process, what courses are you looking forward to teaching next year?

I’m teaching a seminar course called The Opening of Korea. It looks at the Korean War. The Korean peninsula, even at the end of the 19th century ,was an object of superpower rivalry, and at this period in history, it was a very important period because it was the change between a Sinocentric — a China-centric — world order in East Asia to a Japan-centric world order in East Asia. So I’m looking at that huge transformation that happens from China- to Japan-centric and how Korea plays this central role in that transformation.

Interview by Taylor Field, managing editor Photo courtesy of Sheila Miyoshi Jager

ond floor of Kahn Hall. The student was responsive, coherent and able to walk on her own. The student was transported to her place of residence.

1:07 a.m. A student requested assistance after falling off his bicycle and injuring his chin and bottom lip. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

3:08 a.m. Officers were requested to assist an intoxicated student who cut his foot on a piece of glass in the Firelands Apartments. The student informed officers that he was OK, and his roommates assisted in cleaning up the glass.

8:11 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at the Wright Laboratory of Physics. The alarm was found inside a mechanical room, which was then inspected. A work order was filed to check the system and the alarm was reset.

2:16 p.m. A student reported the theft of her locked bicycle sometime between the afternoon of November 9 and the morning of November 10.

The bicycle is a red and black Trek 7.2 with a men’s frame.

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The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Increased Dependence on Fracking Affects Ohioans Continued from page 1 obviously hurting from this industry. All they do is read some report about how natural gas is better for the climate, and they [agree with] it.”

In an email to the Review, College junior and Anti-Frack member John Bergen described the administration’s stance on student concerns as “unreceptive.”

“We [had to] move to conversations with senior administrators and the Board of Trustees. Last December we held a silent demonstration during a Board of Trustees dinner where we recognized the financial limitations on the decision, called for quicker development of truly renewable heat sources and asked that students be given a greater voice in how College decisions are made,” said Bergen.

Bergen also stated that, although he recognizes that the decision may be the only financially viable one, it is still “ethically terrible.”

Bergen then elucidated what he views as the negative aspects of the College’s decision.

The adversities mentioned were the investment in natural gas boilers, the College’s alliance with the fracking process, the amount that the switch will contribute to global warming and its contradiction with Oberlin’s image as a green institution.

“Investing [in the boilers] makes little financial sense [because we are planning to transition from them in 2025], and [they] may be used as an excuse for slowing down the development of truly sustainable heating in the future. Second, we are complicit in the toxic fracking process, affecting communities around us and across the world. Third, while numbers of the lifecycle emissions (how much CO2 is generated through extraction, transportation and burning) of the fracking process aren’t conclusive, there is evidence to suggest that burning natural gas won’t actually do much to reduce the amount of carbon we burn. Finally,” Bergen continued, “it is contradictory to Oberlin’s image as a leader in sustainable initiatives — other schools already have this or more advanced systems in place, and with better funding (or more dedication placed on attracting donors) we could move towards being a leader in sustainable campus heating.”

When asked for a statement regarding the College’s subscription to fracking, the Office of Environmental Sustainability declined to respond, stating that the “From Coal to Carbon Neutrality” up-and-coming website should address all concerns.

Although the College endorses panels in which individuals who have been directly

impacted by fracking can share their battle wounds, it continues to show just as much support for the processes that helped forge those very wounds.

“Natural gas is fungible,” said Bergen, “meaning that it all ends up in the same refin-

eries and there is no meaningful way to distinguish between fracked or non-fracked gas.

[If we continue with this course of action], we will be buying fracked gas and therefore helping to fund the poisoning of the people of Ohio.”

Students stand as panelist John Williams congratulates them on their work in advocating against fracking. The students pictured have all visited Youngstown, Ohio in an effort to ban the use of hydraulic fracking.

Kaia Austin

Geologist Celebrates Arthur L. Day Prize with Lecture Series Kristopher Fraser Every three years, the National Academy of Sciences selects a recipient of the Arthur L. Day Prize who has exhibited excellence in scientific pursuits and made a durable contribution to the study of earth physics.

This year’s recipient, Dr. Lawrence Edwards, was invited to give a series of talks, one yesterday, another today and a third on Thursday Nov. 21, in Craig Lecture Hall.

Edwards admitted in an interview that his selection for the prize caught him by surprise.

“I didn’t even realize I was in the running. I was completely shocked,” Edwards said.

Dr. Edwards, a geology professor at the University of Minnesota, selected Oberlin for these talks largely because of his personal connection

to the College. “My mom worked for Oberlin in China; she worked for the Shansi program. I’ve had a few relatives go to Oberlin. My daughter is currently a sophomore there,” Edwards said.

Efforts to bring Edwards here began last year when Edwards initiated contact with Associate Professor and former Chair of the Geology department Karla Hubbard, who put him in touch with Professor and current Chair of the Geology department Dennis Hubbard. Former Dean of the Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences, Sean Decatur, as well as Geology department Administrative Assistant Pat Sturges, were also instrumental in helping to bring Edwards to campus.

Edwards’s primary research focuses on ice ages and how they come about. He has also concentrated on

the necessary steps to reduce carbon emissions globally, which he realizes is a very long and tedious process.

“Well, [the talks are] mainly to communicate some ideas about climate change. We’re looking back hundreds of thousands of years, which isn’t very much geologically, but when you look at these large slots of time, you really get some perspective on what’s happened for climate change in the past,” Edwards said.

“How fast can you get really rapid climate change, and when you do, does it affect a large portion of the globe or just a portion of the globe?

But you see these variations; there are times when the mean variation of temperature in Cleveland changed 15 degrees centigrade in a decade.”

According to an email from Sturges, Edwards’s research also addresses limestone and cave deposits.

“Modern data show quite clearly that the climate is changing, and there is broad scientific consensus that human activities are responsible for much of the change that is happening right now. A tricky thing about this kind of work is that we know that over geologic time, the Earth’s climate has changed quite a bit without human help, and we need to establish a baseline of natural change to understand our part in the current climate predicament.

Larry’s work allows us to precisely determine the age of thinly layered limestone found in cave deposits back 700,000 years.”

Although Edwards has conducted extensive research, he still claims that he expects to learn from Oberlin students. When asked how he felt about Oberlin’s commitment to environmental sustainability, Edwards

replied, “That’s fantastic, the concept, but I actually was just thinking about that. I’m going to have all sorts of questions about [that]; the idea is just absolutely fantastic. I’ll be very interested in hearing what they are doing, but we also need to get things going on a larger scale, so a top-down and bottom-up effect.”

Edwards hopes that his recent recognition will eventually help him inspire real change.

“What we’ve got to do is something similar in magnitude to the industrial revolution, but we’ve got to get everyone in the world on board,” Edwards commented.

Regarding his hopes for the future of the climate change movement, Edwards concluded by saying, “We need to start on a good [carbon reduction] plan now. We’ve got decades [of] more business [to do].”

Environmental Dashboard Granted Chance to Expand Kasey Cheydleur The Oberlin Environmental Dashboard project has recently received a grant for nearly $100,000 to expand their work in the Oberlin public school system. Once fully implemented, the dashboard will provide citizens with real-time feedback on the consumption of water and electricity. Community members will also be able to see the water and electricity flows of residences, businesses and the city as a whole.

One of the students working on the project, College senior Shane Clark, said that the project’s goal is to further integrate the concept of environmental sustainability within schools and to allow children to become agents of change.

“The basic idea is to give people immediate feedback on resource use, so they can see how their individual and community-wide decisions impact our consumption rates. On a deeper level, we are trying to help Oberlin residents gain a better understanding of the complex social,

ecological and economic systems that shape our lives, and to develop a community identity around sustainability,” Clark said.

“Sustainability is definitely a buzzword, but part of our mission is to broaden people’s definition of the word sustainability, or really to create a new definition of the word based on the things that Oberlin residents value and hope to preserve. We want people to understand that they are already engaged in a lot of pro-environmental actions, even if they may not be thinking of it that way,” Clark said in an email to the Review.

According to members of the project, the Dashboard is set up to be visually striking and simple to operate, allowing it to be accessible to all individuals. It consists of three main parts, the first being the building dashboards, which monitor individual buildings on campus. The second component, the citywide dashboard, monitors resource consumption, weather patterns and the water quality of Plum Creek, and computes feedback on the town’s resource

management as a whole. It also has a “Community Voices” section, which acts as a combination of images and quotes from local students, business owners and volunteers. This section’s goal is to celebrate and acknowledge pro-environmental thought and action in Oberlin.

Members of the Environmental Dashboard project claim that the grant is an opportunity to expand these initiatives and project them onto other public schools in Oberlin.

Professor of Environmental Studies and Biology John Petersen noted that an important aspect of the grant is that it was awarded by State Farm’s Youth Advisory Board, which is itself comprised of college students.

“What is most unusual about this granting agency is that the granting officers — the people who actually review the grant proposals and decide what projects will be funded — are all college students. So the fact that young people decided to award the Environmental Dashboard project was a real vote of confidence from this generation regarding its potential

to effect change,” said Petersen.

Members of the Oberlin Environmental Dashboard stated that they want to see this change implemented in other areas in the community as well. According to their website, the project’s goal is to expand to all 33 residences and 14 businesses in the Sustainable Community Associates East College Street buildings.

“Our goal is to represent and target the whole community, so we hope to have displays in all sub-communities within Oberlin.”

“In particular, some of these subcommunities include places like Kendal or the new fire station,” said Aaron Kozloff, OC ’12, the current project manager for the Environmental Dashboard.

The project also looks to expand outside of the Oberlin community.

While the dashboard component that gives feedback on an individual building is already used nationwide, members of the Oberlin Environmental Dashboard hope to roll out their three-component system in additional communities.

“Faculty and students working on this project have given dozens of talks at professional conferences in the last several years about Environmental Dashboard. The organizations that have funded the work all recognize that what we are doing here in Oberlin has the potential to be a replicable model for other communities,” Petersen said.

“Our goal has always been to develop a technology and an approach that can be replicated throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond.

We have talked to a lot of very interested folks from other communities. However, we are still developing several components of it, so it is not exactly a plug–and–play approach for other communities yet. In the next couple of years we plan to work with teachers in Oberlin to integrate dashboards into the various parts of the public school curriculum,” Petersen said.

The dashboards can currently be viewed in Slow Train Cafe, Prospect Elementary, the Oberlin Public Library and the AJLC.

THE OBERLIN REVIEW, November 15, 2013

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Letters to the Editors Administration Fails to Understand Orr’s Call to Action To the Editors: I’m sitting in Azariah’s Café.

The snow from a few days ago still lingers, as the leaves reach the peak of their falling. Soon there will be no more, and the ground will be blanketed in snow.

Six days ago Professor David Orr told us a story. “Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.’ ” ***** Climate destabilization is a huge problem. But there are other huge problems, ones that we can’t afford to ignore. Our economy grinds people into the ground on a daily basis, and our societies and cultures enforce norms that tear into each of our humanities and allow us to commit atrocities against one another.

While I don’t agree with Professor Orr’s grounds — he erred through omission — I agree with his conclusions. “Now, more than ever,” he said, “we need liberally educated young people who know how — and what — to connect.” We must “boldly enlarge our ideas of education and research to meet the challenges — the unprecedented challenges — and opportunities of the time, to lead with courage and persistence.” And this process “can only begin,” he said, “with a large conversation about education that engages the entire campus community, that asks questions beyond conventional categories, questions that have no easy answers, questions that force us out of our comfort zones and conventional categories of thought and behavior.”

And our College’s president wrote the following of Professor Orr’s lecture: “His provocative talk asked us to contemplate what we can do as individuals, as a community and as a society.”

No, President Krislov, you missed the point.

Professor Orr didn’t ask us to contemplate. He asked us to

connect and to act. Now. “This is no time for complacency …

There is such a thing as too late … Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.”

Will we rise to the challenge, Oberlin College? Or will we continue to silo our institution into status quo departments so narrow that no real conversation can happen, only contemplation? Will we continue to study neoclassical economics under the title Economics, as if it’s the only economics that has ever existed? Will we continue to study Literature — the canon of Western Europe, named as if it is the only canon that is real Literature — while relegating other canons to Other Studies such as Africana Studies and East Asian Studies? Will we continue to study Environmental Studies as if everything else we do doesn’t take place on the earth upon which we stand?

Will we continue to study Computer Science as if computers were not at the heart of the 2008 financial collapse? Will we continue to practice our instruments for six hours a day as if the mathematicians in King don’t need to hear our music to solve their equations?

I am joining the call on Oberlin College and its Administration: Do not just contemplate.

Roll up your sleeves, and give us a space in which to connect.

Start with this: Take two days, say, a Wednesday and Thursday.

Cancel classes. Hold that forum, that “large conversation about education that engages the entire campus community” that we so desperately need. ***** I am so deeply terrified that it’s with me while I sleep.

I had nightmares last night.

I dreamed that the end had come. Society was crumbling, and everyone knew it. My dear friend said to me, “Anything that isn’t real is worthless. If you can’t hold it in your hand, don’t think it’s anything at all.” Then I awoke. I slowly came to and remembered, we’re not there. At least, not all the way there. Not yet.

So I’m searching for a way to act, lest we look back to see those pathetic words written over our civilization: “Too late.”

From the Archives: Nov. 20, 1964

–Isaac Hollander McCreery

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

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

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

The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review.

In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response.

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

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

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

Editors-in-Chief Rosemary Boeglin Julia Herbst Managing Editor Taylor Field Opinions Editor Sophia Ottoni-Wilhelm

Turnover Muddles Collective Memory Prospective students have descended upon campus in the past few weeks to determine if Oberlin is the school at which they can imagine spending four formative years. The perception these impressionable high schoolers will walk away from their visit to Oberlin with will be informed not only by tours and overnights, but also by the College’s promotional admissions material.

In addition to a curiously heavy reliance on imagery of albino squirrels and womb chairs, the College frequently plugs Oberlin’s historical claim to fame as one of the first institutions of higher learning to award bachelor degrees to both women and students of color. But beyond these widely publicized stats — as admirable and tout-worthy as they may be — what sort of deeper institutional memory about Oberlin does the student body possess?

As we prepare to launch a new website, the Review has endeavored to chart through its archives to gain a better understanding of the long life of this publication. This process has given us the chance to reflect on the importance of institutional memory at a place like Oberlin that possesses such a complex and multifarious history.

The obvious difficulty inherent in fomenting a collective campus memory is the regular turnover of the student body.

Since most students are part of the Oberlin community for just four short years, how might we as students take advantage of the lessons learned by those who came before us? And what role does the Review play in aiding that mission, as the paper of record for both the College and town for the past 139 years?

As Oberlin graduates we will benefit from the College’s reputation as the progressive standard in American higher education, and should therefore understand the history that we claim. While skimming through this publication’s archives, we stumbled upon what initially seemed to be an Onion-style satire on College-Conservatory relations. But upon further inspection, the mock tone that problematically adopts the rhetoric of the civil rights movement should be interpretted within its 1964 context. This suggests Oberlin’s reputation as a beacon of liberal politics was tarnished long before the barage of national media attention received last semester.

It is incumbent upon us to comprehend this legacy in its entirety — not only the tidbits the Admissions Office propagandizes in high schools across the country, but also the instances in which our community fell short of its reputation. A well documented example of this is the namesake of the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People. Edmonia Lewis, who later became a world-renowned sculptor, was accused of poisoning two of her white female classmates in her brief tenure here and was subsequently severely beaten by vigilantes for her alleged crime. Although the College acknowledges this history in naming this critical campus hub after Lewis, it fails to tell some of the uglier aspects of the story.

Lewis never graduated from Oberlin, and although the College’s official webpage on the Center chalks this up to the harassment she received, the complete answer shifts some blame back to the institution. Lewis was not permitted by the College to register for courses the next year despite her acquittal of the charges in trial. Additionally, the College skirts the issue of the violence inflicted upon Lewis, billing her brutal beating as “harassment” and failing to even mention that Lewis’s attackers were never identified or brought to justice.

But critical cues from our institution’s legacy need not come from the archives. One of the most productive responses See Editorial, page 7 Editorials are the responsibility of the Review editorial board — the Editors-in-Chief, managing editor and Opinions editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

Opinions

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The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Philippines Aid Must Include Climate Change Action Sam White Contributing Writer

life in tropical regions with warm oceans.

However, the evidence showing that humanproduced greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, including weather patterns, is overwhelming.

In a new report published this September, scientists with the National Oceanic –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Today marks the fifth day of a hunger strike led by Yeb Saño, the Philippine delegate to the United Nations’s climate talks in Warsaw, Poland. In an emotional appeal on Monday, Saño expressed the grief that he and others from his country are experiencing in the wake of a supertyphoon initially estimat- With increasingly powerful ed to have killed over 10,000 people. Saño storms draining resources each vowed to fast until the convention takes concrete steps toward meaningful action on year, the country finds itself halting climate change. His powerful words scrambling to protect against were met with a standing ovation. Climate future typhoons while still recovleaders are listening. It’s time for the rest of ering from the last. the world to follow suit.

Far exceeding the equivalence of a Cat- ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– egory 5 cyclone, Typhoon Haiyan dwarfed hurricanes such as Sandy and Katrina when and Atmospheric Administration stated that it made landfall, obliterating towns with climate change was a key factor in roughly sustained 150 mph winds and 20-foot storm half of all worldwide extreme weather events surges that outmatched evacuation shel- in 2012, including Superstorm Sandy. Furters. The Philippines, a nation comprising ther, they noted, while natural variability over 7,000 islands, is no stranger to annual — such as a peak high tide at the time of typhoons, yet Haiyan, among the strongest landfall — may be responsible for much of cyclones in recorded history, caused unprec- a storm’s impact, global warming can comedented harm. pound the damage. For instance, rising sea We, including Saño, have all heard the ar- levels due to melting ice caps exacerbate the gument that no single storm can be pinned effects of storm surges, and warming oceans to human-made climate change. This is par- provide stronger and greater fuel for tropitially true. Extreme weather events do hap- cal cyclones, increasing their frequency and pen, and cyclones are an inevitable fact of intensity.

Typhoon Exposes Structural Problems in Relief Effort Sean Para Columnist The typhoon that decimated the central Philippines last week is but the newest and most urgent reminder about the growing realities global society will have to confront in the face of climate change. At the time of publication, more than 2,300 people have been confirmed dead due to Typhoon Haiyan, with numbers expected to rise, and millions more are in need of aid. The city of Tacloban, once thriving, has been nearly destroyed and has fallen into a state of anarchy.

While this situation is tragic on an immediate level, it highlights a crucial and very visible aspect of climate change that the global community will have to deal with at an increasingly frequent and extreme level: the rising occurrence of natural disasters. If the current situation in the Philippines is any indication of what is to come, natural disasters and how to respond to them will become a key global issue.

The Philippine government has practically abandoned many who have lost their homes and loved ones in the more adversely affected areas, focusing on maintaining law and order rather than distributing aid. The United States has commenced a humanitarian mission in the region, sending an aircraft carrier to help victims and also taking over some operational control of Tacloban’s damaged airport. The response, however, has not been nearly adequate to ease the suffering of millions and points to increasing troubles responding to humanitarian crises in the future.

Even the wealthiest governments have inadequate resources to deal with natural catastrophes. The U.S. response to Hurricane Katrina is a glaring reminder of this sad truth.

Aid workers were unable to reach those in need; civil government failed to protect the inhabitants of New Orleans before, during and after the hurricane. The failure left a traumatic scar on the national consciousness and will always remain an example of our government’s inability to perform its basic duties. The Philippine response to the typhoon is predictable in light of the American example.

The real problem here is climate change; natural disasters cause more destruction than any modern government can reasonably cope with. Yet, as has been conclusively shown by scientists, climate change is a problem created by global society and its dependence on hydrocarbons. Therefore, the only way to mitigate the effects of increasingly frequent natural disasters is to work against climate change and prevent greenhouse gas emissions created by transportation, power production and many other intrinsic aspects of our economy.

Despite these incontrovertible truths, the international community — particularly the United States and other major growing greenhouse gas emitters like China and India — has not done nearly enough to curb emissions. The reasons for this are clear enough: It is cheaper for major corporations to pretend climate change is not a growing problem caused by people rather than the environment.

This needs to stop. New laws must be enacted to reduce emissions and subsidize clean energy instead of fossil fuels.

It is probably already too late to prevent increasingly severe climate change and the natural disasters it results in, but we must try. If we do not, this issue should still be brought to the fore. The international community needs to focus more on how to deal with these disasters when they occur.

The consequences of this come to bear all the more strongly on island nations like the Philippines. Low-lying coastal cities, often major economic centers and transit hubs, are typically the hardest hit. Haiyan reduced the city of Tacloban, the capital of the country’s Letye province and a major economic center, to rubble. The topography additionally makes it especially difficult both to evacuate before a storm and to bring in aid resources afterward. With Tacloban’s airport left in ruins and roads from other airports blocked by fallen trees and debris, rescue efforts have faced serious delays as survivors, like Saño’s brother, search in desperation for nonexistent food and assistance.

To be sure, the United States is among the array of world powers contributing vastly to recovery efforts. Its military, stationed around the globe, is uniquely equipped to mobilize resources in the region, delivering relief goods by helicopter and bringing in further assistance by aircraft carrier. Even if its motivations are as much political as they are humanitarian, its services are invaluable in putting Tacloban and the region on the road to recovery.

Yet however unprecedented the damage may be, Haiyan is just the latest and likely worst in an upward trend of deadly typhoons, the third cyclone to cause over a thousand deaths in the country in the past three years. The majority of the deadliest

and costliest typhoons in the Philippines’ history have taken place in the past decade.

With increasingly powerful storms draining resources each year, the country finds itself scrambling to protect against future typhoons while still recovering from the last.

And the Philippines, which is responsible for less than half of one percent of global carbon emissions, is effectively powerless to slow the global warming contributing to the everincreasing likelihood of more devastating storms like Haiyan.

If the United States wants to help the Philippines in the long run — whether out of altruism or desire to improve its global image — it must change its ways. Second only to China in greenhouse gas emissions, the United States has the power to reverse global warming that smaller and more storm-vulnerable nations lack. Yet its record here is abysmal, not least exhibited by its repeated refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the emissions reduction guidelines that are central to the United Nations’s ongoing climate talks.

As the United States continues to act abroad, it is in the unique position of being able to leave the largest long-term impact by making changes at home. And the global warming that continues to wreak havoc on the Philippines is the same global warming that has already begun to affect us. Before long, the United States will have to change to survive.

U.S. Failing to Pursue Diplomacy with Iran Oliver Bok Contributing Writer The last couple of weeks have been a blizzard of diplomatic activity. For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, actually sat in the same room and talked it out. While an interim deal with Iran was torpedoed at the last minute by the French government, everyone agrees that the two sides made significant progress, and negotiators plan to reconvene on Nov. 20.

But sometimes our political system can astound even a cynic like me with its breathtaking capacity for destruction. A bipartisan coalition in the Senate is currently coalescing — like slugs in the dark — around the idea of blowing up the recent talks with Iran by passing additional sanctions.

In Iran, unemployment is somewhere around 20 percent and inflation is at least 30 percent. For comparison’s sake, unemployment in the United States peaked at 25 percent during the Great Depression, and inflation never reached 15 percent in the stagflation of the 1970s. Sanctions have already inflicted an unimaginable amount of pain on the Iranians, the vast majority of whom have zero responsibility for their government’s nuclear program.

Hassan Rouhani, the newly elected president of Iran, was voted into power largely because of his promise to negotiate with the West in order to roll back sanctions. He won a decisive mandate, and Ayatol-

lah Khomeini is allowing him to pursue diplomacy. Essentially, the economy is so bad that even many hardliners recognize that freeing the economy from sanctions is more important than pursuing a staunchly anti-Western foreign policy. But for Rouhani to continue to receive this broad-based support, he must deliver.

And conversely, if sanctions are ratcheted up by the U.S. Senate in the very midst of negotiations, Rouhani and his diplomatic tactics will be discredited, and Iran will go back to sulking in its corner.

If the talks fail, war will come quickly. The Israelis intend to bomb the Iranian polonium-enriching facility at Arak.

Without a deal — and without the United States forcing Israel to stand down — the bombing will probably take place in the next year, before the facility is operational.

But before I write any more, I want to dispel some popular myths about Iran and its nuclear program. This issue is so densely thicketed with lies and deceit that I must act like Sam Gamgee in Shelob’s lair: I must hack away at the webs before I can slay the spider.

You’ve probably heard that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once said he wanted Iran to “wipe Israel off the map.” Indeed, this quote indicates quite a serious threat, explaining much of the hysteria over Iran’s nuclear program. John McCain recently voiced his opposition to any deal with Iran by referencing this quote, claiming that “they are still dedicated to wiping Israel off the map.”

The only problem? Ahma-

dinejad never said that. He was mistranslated. According to The Washington Post, Ahmadinejad used a phrase meant to convey a prediction of Israel’s collapse, not a threat. It’s the difference between telling your neighbor you want to burn his house down and informing your neighbor that his house has certain structural deficiencies and that you expect it to fall down shortly. The latter is rude; the former is criminal.

But even if Iran, armed with nuclear weapons, wanted to commit mass murder against Israel — an assertion for which there is absolutely zero evidence — Iran still wouldn’t do it because Israel has more than 100 nuclear weapons of its own.

The doctrine of mutually assured destruction would keep the Middle East safe just as it kept the world safe for much of the 20th century. For Iran to launch a nuclear weapon against Israel, they would have to be both genocidal and suicidal, and there is simply no evidence that either of those words describe the Iranian regime.

Of course, I’m making the assumption that the Iranian nuclear program is for military purposes. According to the CIA and Mossad, Iran still hasn’t made up its mind to pursue nuclear weapons. A few years ago the Ayatollah actually issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that nuclear weapons are contrary to the principles of Islam.

Contradicting that fatwa now would hurt his credibility with the Iranian people.

But we don’t have to be naïve. The Iranians aren’t going to See Senate, page 7

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, Novermber 15, 2013

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Smoking Ban Proposal Infringes on Freedoms Aaron Pressman Contributing Writer With controversy on the rise regarding the Student Senate bill that would ban tobacco on campus, I would like to respond to Machmud Makhmudov’s commentary piece (“Tobacco-Free Policy Would Reaffirm Campus Values,” The Oberlin Review, Nov. 8, 2013).

Makhmudov argues that the Surgeon General’s declaration that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke supports the move toward a tobacco-free campus. Although I concede that secondhand smoke is a health problem, this is not a reason to ban smoking entirely. There are plenty of other chemicals for which there is no safe level to inhale, such as exhaust from cars, but there is no movement on campus suggesting a campus-wide ban of motor vehicles.

The current ban on smoking inside and in the immediate vicinity of buildings does plenty to protect those who do not wish to be around smoke for extended periods of time. With the large amount of outdoor space on the Oberlin campus, those wanting to stay away from the smoke experience little to no hassle.

Makhmudov’s second argument is that

smoking zones would not be a viable alternative because “social dynamics at Oberlin make smoking just as much of a way to meet and connect with people as it is a way to alleviate stress and cater to an addiction.” I could not agree more with Makhmudov that smoking can be a social activity, but I do not see how this is in any way relevant to smoking zones. Just as smoking functions socially now, friends could still hold conversations in smoking zones. The only difference would be that smokers could continue smoking on campus, while those wishing to stay away from cigarette smoke would not be inconvenienced at all. I am not suggesting that we should create smoking zones; however, they certainly would be a better alternative to a complete campus-wide ban, as they would solve most of the public health issue while still allowing smokers a convenient place to smoke.

The third point Makhmudov makes is that “going tobacco-free would … reaffirm Oberlin’s commitment to social justice.”

This is an extremely weak argument and has absolutely no relevance to the issue at hand. The author’s mention of some unnamed studies that show that individuals with lower incomes have been less successful quitting smoking than individu-

als with higher income levels has nothing to do with a campus-wide smoking ban.

Even if I were to assume Makhmudov’s unnamed study is correct, the fact that there is a correlation between lower income and difficulty controlling smoking says nothing about causation.

No matter; this social justice argument is completely irrelevant, as the primary purpose of this bill is not to assist people in quitting smoking. This is a bill designed primarily to decrease smoking rates on the Oberlin College campus (which basically means getting smokers to step off campus before lighting up). Although I am in full support of any provision of this bill that would increase the resources available to those who wish to quit smoking, banning smoking on campus really has nothing to do with helping people quit.

There are many other issues with this bill that Makhmudov appears to be overlooking. Banning smoking from campus will not make Oberlin a smoke-free campus. If anything, it will increase the amount of smoking done indoors, which is a much more severe health and safety problem than outdoor smoking. Students will know that they will be written up if caught smoking, so they will do everything in their power to minimize the chances of being caught.

Senate Must Not Add to Iranian Sanctions Continued from page 6 all this trouble just to get nuclear power. They clearly want the option to construct a nuclear weapon in the future.

And why wouldn’t they? The best strategic move an enemy of America can make is to construct a nuclear weapon. We hate Pakistan, and Pakistan hates us, and yet we still give billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan each year. They have a nuke. We hate North Korea, and North Korea hates us, and yet we mostly leave them alone.

They have a nuke, too.

In contrast, both Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi had nukes and other WMDs before giving them up. Both of those suckers ended up dead.

The way to avoid a pointless war and ensure that Iran does not construct a nuclear weapon is to cut a deal; Iran will not build a nuclear weapon if they no longer feel threatened by the United States.

The broad outlines of any potential deal are well known. Iran must allow for rigorous and unscheduled inspections of every nuclear facility it has. Iran must also accept a cap on the level to which it can enrich the uranium; highly enriched uranium is critical for building nuclear weapons and unnecessary for nuclear power. In return, the sanctions must end, and the United

States must signal that it respects Iran’s “right to enrich” uranium for peaceful purposes.

That last bit is likely to be the most problematic. Israel’s position is that any Iranian enrichment capability must be destroyed, as their nuclear infrastructure will give them the option to construct a bomb in a matter of months. Of course, at this point the only way you could take away their nuclear capability entirely is by bombing them to pieces, which is precisely what Israel wants the United States to do.

From an Iranian perspective, giving up on nuclear power altogether is completely unacceptable. The regime has made nuclear power a central part of their propaganda; to abandon it would be a staggering admission of weakness and would be seen by most Iranians as abject surrender. Iran will not give up on nuclear power, regardless of the price it pays in sanctions.

And so we come back to the Senate, which is threatening to sabotage diplomacy by adding to the sanctions unless Iran stops all of their enrichment immediately.

Iran, of course, will refuse, as they will see it as a sign that their “right to enrich” will not be respected in the final deal. If the Senate sanctions are then passed as planned, Iran will walk away from the negotiating table.

We will then begin the slow and sorry march to an utterly avoidable war.

Additionally, the campus-wide smoking ban would have a negative impact on the town of Oberlin. Students would have to leave campus every time they want to permissibly light up a cigarette, and public spaces in the immediate vicinity of campus would face a significant increase in smoking rates, making shopping or going to restaurants near campus a miserable experience for those wishing to avoid cigarette smoke. This could hurt local businesses, or at least inconvenience both locals and Oberlin students when they are shopping or dining in town.

The school should treat its students as adults and not infringe on their liberties.

Although I would not dispute that the school has the legal authority to institute such a ban, it is not the job of a college institution to tell its students how they should or should not live their lives. Just like alcohol usage for those over the age of 21 is a personal decision, tobacco usage for those over the age of 18 should be treated as a personal choice. Even though this bill would not force anyone to quit smoking, the school’s campus is home to most of the students and it is not reasonable to expect students to leave campus every time they want to light up a cigarette.

Editorial: Students’ Role Key in Documentation Continued from page 5 to the bigoted incidents last semester was the creation of student working groups that raised important questions about internal documentation and the importance of clarity in these records.

Members of the Africana community constructed a timeline outlining the progression of events on March 4 and the weeks leading up to it, which was published in the Review and widely circulated by national publications.

As reform is implemented in response to these vociferous calls for action, there will come a day when the events on March 4 and those leading up to it will be obscured from student recollection. Even three years from now, progress on efforts to reimplement a need-blind admissions policy or create new tenure positions will have their genesis in the student movements of today and should therefore understand the history that begot them.

The progress already made by these working groups can and should serve as a blueprint for future student action that hinges on these key issues at the intersection of class, race, accessibility and diversity.

Computer Recycling Thrives On Campus, For Now Paul Buser Contributing Writer With new iMacs in Mudd library and computer labs around campus, where do the old ones go? I’m talking about the the ones that are almost as flat as the new ones, and just as functional. I followed these computers to the Center for Information Technology, where I spoke with Walter Owens, who has been running Oberlin’s computer recycling program for six years.

Rest assured that the old iMacs have not yet left Oberlin’s campus. As Owens explained, these 4-year-old computers are used as “trickle-down” computers for visiting professors or for offices with banks of student workers. All old computers are recycled off campus when “we don’t need [them] anymore. I’d

say [they’re] all probably six or seven years old.”

Oberlin College recycles computers off campus with InLine Recycling, an Akron-based electronics recycler. Owens chose them for their close proximity to Oberlin, Ohio EPA endorsement and free pickup. InLine also assures us that none of their recycled components leave the United States.

However, there’s no way to ensure that all of Oberlin’s recycled electronics stay within the United States. The computer recycling supply chain is large and complex. InLine, a relatively small operation, subcontracts with 15 companies, each specializing in a different component. Owens acknowledges this, adding, “But you do the best you can do.”

Students and faculty used to be able to purchase used com-

puters from the Technology Store instead of having them picked up by a recycler: “We’d do it once a year and sell all the old computers for like $100 or something.

But then [technical] support became the issue.” Even with the expectation that the used computers were unsupported, users would “come back and say ‘I cannot sync my iPod or iPhone,’ and we [would] have to tell them that they can’t.” The fast-changing pace of software like iTunes or Flash makes it near-impossible to update these computers for even basic tasks like web browsing. As a result of these difficulties, the Technology Store no longer sells used computers.

CIT also used to have a “junk pile” similar to the Free Store, but for electronics, from which students and faculty could scavenge usable components. Unfortunate-

ly, this practice died out as well, because the pile was difficult to maintain and often created a mess for library custodians, CIT employees and students. The recycling pile is now locked away in a secure part of the CIT offices.

The cost of legal recycling of electronics is on the rise. One reason for this cost increase is the decrease in lifespan of computers. Technology changes fast, and part of this change is the increasing rate of obsolescence of older computers. For example, Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 7, runs only on devices from the past three years.

Not only do current devices not last as long, but they are less valuable for recyclers. As Don Cain, the head of InLine Recycling, explained, “The old computers have a lot more gold in them … Laptops and iPads

and notepads and notebooks — there’s nothing there of any value.” Cain said he expects many recyclers to begin charging for pickup in the near future, when the value of the reclaimed material falls below the costs of certification, shipping and processing. Oberlin College currently recycles its computers and electronics equipment for free. If recycling becomes costly, it will be interesting to see if our policy changes.

So to answer my question, the iMacs stay here, at least for a short while, before they go… nowhere, really. They get disassembled and smelted and recycled and possibly dumped into a landfill, but they don’t go away.

The stuff they’re made of stays with us, for better or for worse, until we can figure out how to use less of it.

The Well-Structured Research Paper

WORK IT

As the semester begins to wrap up, research paper deadlines are looming closer. It is important to plan out long writing assignments now to avoid pulling three all-­nighters in the basement of your dorm before leaving for winter break.

IT ALL STARTS WITH AN IDEA

Gather evidence -­

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Use multiple types of sources to support your statements and ideas.

Include both primary and secondary sources.

You can find sources using the library catalogue, periodical indexes and bibliographies.

When possible, avoid citing websites. Any information you use that was found online should come from a reputable source.

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Do basic research to determine what topic interests you.

Set up a meeting with your professor to go over the topic and possible thesis statement ideas.

Try posing your topic as a question that needs to be solved.

Keep the scope of your topic small enough to be covered adequately in your paper.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE IMPORTANT -­ -­ -­ -­ The academic workload at Oberlin can be demanding. Success is dependent upon an individual’s work ethic, ability to utilize resources and courage to ask for help when mystified by a topic.

Oberlin’s coursework can rattle many students throughout their four years. It may happen when you realize that your Renaissance Literature class requires you to read and absorb the full text of the Divine Comedy by the end of the week, or when you realize you may actually need to interview a member of the Chinese Communist Party for an article about internet censorship for your Journalism Basics course. These tasks can seem insurmountable, and you assure yourself that “by this time next week, they will be done!” But even in a state of anxiety and self-doubt, it is important to remember there is a safety net.

There are specific campus and student organizations that are able to assist with most types of academic strain. The Writing Center on the first floor of Mudd is an excellent place to receive help on structuring essays, articles and research papers.

The writing associates often begin by asking you to read your work aloud. While this may be intimidating at first, it is very valuable for you to hear

the way your language sounds. Awkward sentences can be easily restructured. Your fellow students in class can also be a useful resource, depending on their personalities. Most people are trying to understand the material, too, and discussing difficult concepts together outside of class can be useful.

Oberlin has been improving its study resources for students in math and science classes. Last year, Oberlin received an $800,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to help students improve their scientific and mathematical skills.

The Center for Learning, Education, and Research in the Sciences will provide help for students who are struggling in chemistry, physics, computer science and economics. It will also provide mentorship for those who want to improve their already clear understandings of scientific concepts and reasoning. It is directed by Marcelo Vinces who, in addition to his institutional work, strives to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

According to Dean of Studies Kathryn Stuart, Vinces is setting up quantitative skills drop-in hours for anybody with questions about the sciences.

Learning a foreign language can be stressful due to the importance of memorizing cumulative information. Students commonly seek help outside of the classroom. It is critical that you speak the language you are learning every day outside of class, even if it is simply in the act of pointing to objects and identifying them with your new vocabulary. Language specialist Richard Simcott, who professionally translated 14 languages for the British Foreign Service, emphasizes the importance of involving the language you are attempting to learn in your everyday routine. It’s important to find what medium you learn best from — audio tapes, flash cards or practicing conversations. Everyone learns languages differently, but it’s crucial to be consistent with your studying. If you want help with structure, cases, declensions and characters, you can get help from student tutors.

Nobody was born with an understanding of macroeconomics, Latin declensions, class struggle or endosymbiosis. You are learning about them, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Go work it.

Present relevant background information in your intro.

Make sure to define terms and concepts.

Explain the focus and purpose of the essay.

Illustrate the structure of your paper.

Damn, look at that body -­

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Explain your argument in your body paragraphs.

Incorporate sources within your discussion.

Make sure to explain and evaluate large quotes rather then including them without context.

Start with more background information, then move to specific details and evidence.

Then reconnect those details with the background information.

MAP IT OUT Write an outline of what you want your paper to look like.

Build your essay around the points you want to make, not your sources.

Highlight what sources and quotes can support specific paragraphs throughout your paper.

CLOSE WITH A BANG '217 )25*(7 $%287 0( -­

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Read the paper over to make sure your ideas and

content are strong.

Check your topic sentences, order of ideas within the paragraphs, summary sentences and transitions between concepts.

Look over your sentence structure, word choices,

punctuation and spelling.

Make sure you cited your sources correctly.

Conduct additional research if there seem to

be gaps in your evidence.

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Summarize your argument in your conclusion.

Avoid introducing new ideas.

If you haven’t already, explain the significance of your points collectively.

Transition from more detailed aspects of your argument to broader

concepts.

End by explaining where your topic can lead to further research.

CALENDAR

This Week Editor: Olivia Gericke / Writer: James Koblenzer

Vinyl DJ Workshop Friday, Nov. 15 at 6 p.m.

Work It For Women!

Friday, Nov. 15 at 10 p.m.

Oberlin alumni and New York City-based collective I Love Vinyl DJs will be in Afrikan Heritage House to discuss the history of the DJ and lead a hands-on presentation on vinyl mixing techniques.

Dance the night away at the ’Sco for Students United for Reproductive Freedom’s annual fundraiser for the Preterm Abortion Clinic. The night will include a performance by And What?!

Dance Workshop: The DJ and the Dancer Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.

Exhibition Initiative and Soundfarm Present: Counterpoints Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.

Freestyle house and club dancer Brian “B-Polite” Polite will be holding an interactive workshop at the Warner Center exploring the relationship between dance and music.

Presented in the Fisher Gallery in the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Counterpoints features live collaborations between improvisers in music and visual art.

I Love Vinyl Dance Party Saturday, Nov. 16 at 10 p.m.

Mocktails Monday, Nov. 18 at 8:30 p.m.

Get your ticket for the ’Sco to see worldrenowned DJ collective I Love Vinyl, featuring special guest DJ Spinna and a performance by And What?!

For Alcohol Awareness Week, the staff of the Office of Student Wellness will be serving an array of mocktails in the Science Center Atrium. Stop by for a free drink.

And What?! Dance Program: How to Bust a Sober Move!

Wednesday, Nov. 20 at 6 p.m.

Oberlin’s hip-hop dance group will be giving a free dance class at Philips gym as a part of Alcohol Awareness Week.

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

November 15, 2013

Hänsel und Gretel a Dark Take on Humperdinck’s Classic

ä

During Wednesday’s performance, Hänsel (Marisa Novak) is held captive by the Witch (Karen Jesse) as Gretel (Alexis Aimé) stands frozen. Superb singing and a powerful score helped build the onstage drama and made for an enjoyable listening experience.

Courtesy of John Seyfried

Jarrett Hoffman Posthumous decapitation? Gesticulating at the audience with their child-sized fists as their parents kneeled in prayer in a blatant eschewal of religious themes? This was no kids’ story.

Spearheaded by director Jonathon Field, Oberlin Opera Theater’s production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel on Nov. 8 in Hall Auditorium was a dark interpretation and an overwhelming success.

As soon as the curtain rose, a grim scene greeted the audience. The set, designed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Christopher McCollum, emphasized stark diagonal lines, drab browns and a general raggedness. The walls of the protagonists’ house were tilted, and the trees outside were a messy collection of brown sticks. Likewise, the straw in the house’s brooms — the father character is a broom-maker — was rough and unkempt, and the table cloth was tattered, fraying at the sides. An axe hanging on the

back wall punctuated the intensity onstage.

In regard to the acting, violence was the main tenet. The siblings Hänsel and Gretel, played by double-degree fifth-year Marisa Novak sque and Conservatory junior Alexis Aimé, rough-housed constantly in the beginning of the Friday night performance, with Gretel coming out on top more often than not.

But the mood sobered when their mother, played by Conservatory junior Hannah Hagerty, arrived home, put her bag on the floor and

promptly smacked the two children on the head.

Hagerty’s performance was powerful, as she seamlessly alternated between anger, stress, misery and, for a short, wonderful time, joy, when the father (Conservatory senior Michael Davis) brought home unexpected food. Davis, too, impressively toed the line between drunk, playful “tavern-cavalier” behavior and frightening abusiveness.

See Opera, page 12

Lehman Octet Showcases Unfamiliar yet Engaging Repertoire Logan Buckley Staff Writer The Steve Lehman Octet played to a crowded and appreciative audience at the Cat in the Cream on Sunday night, delivering a virtuosic and sensitive performance that took advantage of the full range of instrumentation and musicianship in the ensemble. Lehman, an alto saxophonist, led his group through a mix of improvised and orchestrated tunes.

The group is currently in the midst of a tour through the United States and Europe. Its lineup features Lehman on saxophone and live electronics, Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet, Mark Shim on tenor saxophone, Tim Albright on trombone, Chris Dingman on vibraphone, Jose Davila on tuba, Drew Gress on bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. Their

repertoire consists mostly of new music commissioned by Chamber Music America, a nonprofit organization that connects small ensembles to professional development, networking and funding resources. The concert on Sunday was only the third time some of the material had been performed.

The show began unexpectedly, however, with an older piece titled “Redemption.” As would become a pattern throughout the evening, the octet took advantage of the full range of timbres available to them. They employed expressive dynamic shifts to support an unsettling, staggering rhythm, with outbursts of sax, trumpet and solo drums fading back into a relentless pattern not unlike skipping stones. The piece built to a towering peak before a sudden and dramatic finish.

During a master class earlier that day, Lehman stressed the

importance of leaving space for improvisation in jazz music, and this ethos came across beautifully in much of his music. The next two pieces expanded upon the octet’s mastery of expressive dynamics. The second piece, “Beyond All Limits,” used well-timed stops and silences to contrast with and emphasize the manic energy of the group playing in unison.

The third piece began with a slower, quieter introduction played by only the tenor sax and vibraphone. The trumpet joined, then exited, teasing, then joining again with the whole group — but only for a brief section before bowing out once more. Finally, the whole group came together for the bulk of the piece before stripping gradually back down to saxophone and vibraphone at the end.

The remainder of the concert

was comprised of pieces which continued to incorporate expressive and virtuosic soloing, including “Alloy,” which featured extensive trombone solos. Sorey in particular soloed with dazzling polyrhythms and odd meters while maintaining rhythmic certainty. But the ensemble also showed a sensitivity and awareness about when to back off and let the music breathe, ensuring that the technically impressive solos fit into a coherent and impactful whole.

Lehman showed an affinity for the unexpected and complex when it came to musical choices.

Aside from having a tuba and bass playing at the same time — a strange yet effective combination — several orchestrated moments made fine use of spectralism, a method of composition that uses combinations of notes which bring out distinct

overtones. Add to that Dingman’s alternately-tuned vibraphone top swapped out partway through the show, and the result was jazz that sounded at times jarring and otherworldly to listeners’ ears.

The concert also featured Lehman’s electronics more as the night went on. He was accompanied by a MacBook for the duration of the show, though it was unclear whether the unique sounds were originating from the machine itself or being modified and looped from other players.

Regardless, the electronic flourishes provided a tasteful and intriguing complement to the group’s more traditional instrumentation without overwhelming the ensemble.

Overall, the Steve Lehman Octet delivered an impressive, virtuosic and engaging performance, a treat for Oberlin students and community members alike.

The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Arts

Page 11

Fall Forward’s Inconsistent Execution, Pacing Doesn’t Hamper Overall Success Aria Dean Fall Forward, Oberlin’s fall dance showcase which took place in Warner Main on Nov. 7–9, featured a number of Oberlin students performing pieces that drew from a wide array of styles, including ballet and contemporary dance. For the most part, the performances were tight and well-choreographed, but the show did suffer from lengthy lulls of overt experimentalism.

This unconventional spirit was foreshadowed by the show’s opening piece, “Letting the Sweet Out,” in which College sophomore Alana Reibstein danced to a minimally composed piece by Conservatory sophomore Jonah Haven. “Dance” in this instance was loosely defined; Reibstein writhed across the stage tucking oranges under her arms and neck. It seemed to be an experimental piece about experimentation itself.

The rest of the pieces in the first act all followed in this vein of hyperexperimentalism. For instance, the second piece, performed by College senior A.J. Palacio and College junior Christopher McLauchlan, featured no music at all. Similarly, doubledegree senior Meryl Dominguez’s solo piece “Rejazz” featured her singing the Regina Spektor song as she danced. While technically well-executed, both of these pieces fell flat in their attempt to present work that existed far outside of our traditional conceptions of dance performance.

Other pieces were more successful, including the first act’s improvisational piece. Accompanied by

The second act of Saturday’s performance of Fall Forward opens with “Candela,” which proves to be one of the liveliest performances of the evening. Choreographed by Africana Studies Artist-in-Residence Adenike Sharpley, the piece was an engaging reprieve from the overly experimental first act.

Courtesy of John Seyfried

TIMARA major and Conservatory junior Noah Chevan, the choreography featured a number of dancers in flowing white dresses who moved along what seemed to be a designated grid, improvising within this framework. Their movements found balance somewhere between order and chaos, and the audience was left to wonder what exactly dictated their paths. The piece was undoubtedly an exercise in contemporary dance experimentalism, but remained compelling and engaging.

While the first act did have its interesting or provocative moments, some audience members were bored and disappointed with the

lack of traditional dance pieces by the show’s end. This may have been purely a symptom of the show’s curating and logistics; someone must have decided that front-loading it with nontraditional performances was a good idea. However, after the intermission, the dancers launched into “Candela,” an upbeat piece choreographed by Artist-in-Residence of Africana Studies Adenike Sharpley. A live band backed the dancers as they lit up the stage with their lively dancing and big smiles. It was a refreshing reprieve from the less engaging experimental pieces of the first act.

The rest of the second half of the show was a mixed bag. The second

of two improvisational pieces in the show fell particularly flat. It was far less interesting, perhaps due to a general sense of fatigue on the audience’s part, or due to being overshadowed by the other, stronger pieces in the act. This second improvisational piece was sandwiched between the show’s two standout performances, causing it to get lost in the mix. It followed “Liminal,” a beautiful piece performed by a large company of dancers, and preceded the finale, “ascension/descension,” which closed out the show. The latter was a gorgeous and skilled performance by another large group. Both “Liminal” and “ascension/descension”

exemplified a blend of experimental, contemporary and technically challenging choreography that wowed the audience in ways that some other pieces did not. These pieces seemed to have some heart to them that fostered a connection between the dancers and the audience.

Fall Forward was, overall, an impressive production. The dancers all made a strong showing, and the show highlighted the skills of the Conservatory students and faculty who accompanied the pieces.

However, in some attempts to step outside of the content one expects in a dance showcase, Fall Forward stumbled here and there.

Silent Film Ensemble Baffles With Surrealist Production Anne Pride-Wilt Staff Writer What does a lemon have to do with a woman’s smile or with a key that transforms into a knife? On the surface, nothing. It’s the space below the surface, however, that the Silent Film Ensemble seeks to excavate, the kind of subconscious associations that are often overlooked. The Silent Film Ensemble’s Saturday night presentation of “Lemons, ‘Professors,’ and Dancers” in Warner Concert Hall was all about uniting disparate images with music in an attempt to create an experience that transcended its components, and, to an extent, it was successful.

After all, the experimental music and the surreal silent films it accompanied were both rendered interesting by the other. And yet, one had to wonder whether anything important was being conveyed, or if the project was merely reveling in its own weirdness.

Previously known as the Cut-It Ensemble, the group is composed of nine Conservatory and double-degree students ranging from first-years to seniors who improvise live experimental accompaniments to silent films. In this case, the short films were uniformly bizarre and unsettling, as was the music performed by the ensemble, robbing listeners of the traditional reference points of melody and musicality. The product was a double whammy of disorientation, as the human urge to hunt for patterns was frustrated both by the buzzing, beeping score and the highly surrealistic nature of the films.

The six films span a wide range of time periods: from 1896, with George Méliès’s The Haunted Castle, to 1969, the year of Hollis Frampton’s Lemon, to the contemporary, with a silent film titled Rim Ram by ensemble member and Conservatory senior Charles Glanders. While some films were grounded in recognizable images — a lemon, a woman, a knife, the ocean — others, particularly Woody Vasulka and Brian O’Reilly’s highly abstract, synthesized Scan Processor Studies, contained only the merest suggestion of the familiar, giving the whole presentation a nightmarish, disconnected aura.

Considering that the ensemble is affiliated with the TIMARA department in the Conservatory, it should come as no surprise that the music, although presumably created to some degree by the instruments present on stage, was presented as wholly electronic. Just as with the films, the music, which was ostensibly the point of the presentation, was as hard to pin down. While we may primarily be familiar with melodramatic, cue-heavy orchestral music as the backdrop for a silent film, the music eschewed the limitations of tradition in favor of the avant-garde. The music provided no emotional cues for the audience members, instead leaving them to piece together whatever emotion it could from the bizarre interaction of noise and screen.

There was nothing fun or pleasant about The Silent Film Ensemble’s presentation. On the contrary, it was frightening and disorienting, an ab-

surdist vacation from the real into a mental space where the rules of cause and effect did not apply. There is something to be said for the occasional break from reality, but the problem inherent to “Lemons, ‘Professors,’ and Dancers” was that the form it took was solely that: a break. While such a

stunt may be worthwhile simply for its disorienting quality, the viewer leaves with no interesting ideas or revelations. The only thing the viewer takes with them is a sense of discomfort and confusion.

Weirdness for weirdness’s sake can only take you so far. While all the

performers were certainly technically talented, the program focused heavily on the bizarre with little attention given to actual substance. The lemon, the woman’s smile, the key — the only connection between them is the startling disconnect they create between themselves and the audience.

Arts

Page 12

The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Psych-Rock Legends Make Genres Collide at ’Sco Julian Ring Arts Editor Sérgio Dias may be the sole original member in Os Mutantes — his revolving cast of psychedelic rockers has gone through more lineup changes than the band’s home country of Brazil has presidents — but draped in a black cloak over a T-shirt, arms raised and sporting a wide grin, he looked more like a jovial father figure than an undisputed grandmaster of Tropicália. He is, of course, both.

Os Mutantes is legendary in South America, and despite garnering a few high-profile fans, their genre-bending career has met with limited acclaim here in the States. Dias’s grin was warranted, then, by the number of people who packed the ’Sco on Tuesday night to hear the group blaze through a rhythmic set spanning almost 50 years. Part nostalgia trip, part victory lap, Os Mutantes’s show articulated without words why this group defies, well, definition.

Sneering, anthemic and loud as hell, Argentine garage trio Capsula was a propulsive opener and a fabulous comple(From left) Esmeria Bulgari, Vinicius Junqueira, Sérgio Dias and Vitor Trida of Os Mutantes trade vocal and instrumental licks during an extended ment to Mutantes’s slower burn. This jam. The band saturated the ’Sco with Brazilian beats and psychedelic sludge during its Tuesday night show.

Effie Kline-Salamon is a band that, in energy and aesthetic, should be playing to far bigger crowds — and in touring behind its first English lan- verb, before scraping off the riff to begin such a no-frills ensemble, but Capsula in German, no less — the six members guage album, Solar Secrets, that appears the corroded shuffle of “Seven Crimes.” tapped into this dichotomy as a source of Os Mutantes proceeded to dispel any to be precisely its goal. Singer and guitarThose antics were sustained by the fe- of raw power. Only after Guevara’s guitar, doubts about their performance to come. ist Martin Guevara led the sonic charge rocious call-and-response between Gue- strangled by a mic cable, was left swinging Rambling through a danceable piece of like a Stooges-era Iggy Pop, spending as vara and bassist Coni Duchess, as well as from the rafters did one remember that retro-psychedelia, Dias, now 62, sang as much time taking his histrionics into the the heavy-handedness of drummer Igna- this was only the warm-up band. well as he did on the band’s 1968 debut. crowd as he did flaunting them atop his cio Solimo, who, like Keith Moon before This wouldn’t have been the first time Across the board, rich harmonies and monitor amplifier. “The planet is going to him, rarely abandoned the crash cymbals that the good part ended early at the ’Sco clean arrangements made the legacy act fucking destroy [sic], so we’ve got to have for the duration of the show. It’s rare to see this year. But after clambering onstage fun,” he shouted, vocals dripping with re- a singer so devoted to showmanship front for a humorous soundcheck — conducted See South, page 13

Opera’s Bizarre Take on Fairytale Proves Successful Continued from page 10 The music, under the baton of conductor Raphael Jiménez, was superb.

Levesque, Hopkins, Hagerty and Davis, as well as double-degree senior Rebecca Achtenberg and Conservatory sophomore Victoria Davis in the smaller roles of the Dew Fairy and the Sandman showcased their rich voices with impressive tone and German diction. Particularly notable was the duet between Levesque and Hopkins in the serene “Abendsegen,” the evening prayer before the siblings fall asleep together in the forest.

Holistically and in solos, the orchestra was excellent. Moreover, there was a palpable connection among the entire ensemble, the singers and the orchestra together building the music’s drama as one. Interestingly, the aesthetics of the production didn’t coincide much with the score, which was indeed Romantic, though far more often brave or domestic in tone than dark.

There was no doubt, however, who the star of the performance was. From the moment she first snuck up on Hansel and Gretel to her inevitable demise in the oven, Karen Jesse, OC ’04, was stunning in the role of the witch. Whether singing enticingly of cakes and marzipan, gesturing alluringly toward her gingerbread house, attempting to charm a conflicted, hungry Hänsel or shrieking with rhythmic laughter, she owned the stage.

The witch’s costume and the set for her house were both perfect contrasts to the production’s otherwise gloomy aesthetic. While in general the costumes were appropriately ragged — Hänsel’s ripped corduroy shorts, for example — the witch’s ensemble was Costume De-

signer and Associate Professor of Theater Chris Flaherty’s shining moment. Jesse sported clown face paint, a bowler hat with feathers and a dress sewn together from swaths of different fabrics, perhaps taken from the clothes of previously captured children. Against the brown setting of the woods, her house sported purples, greens, reds and blues and was adorned with candy canes, pin-wheels and faces sticking out of the walls. A very creepy Candy Land, indeed.

The production was enthralling, but a few weak points stuck out. While the use of a projection screen to depict a rising moon after Hansel and Gretel had fallen asleep was clever and effective, the moon’s bursting apart — with poor animation to boot — was rather cheesy and overly symbolic. And while some might call the scene in which angel children emerge from the woods and run around the sleeping siblings “cute,” a better word might be “tacky,” especially in juxtaposition to this extremely original production.

The most disappointing part of the production was the score at the moment when Hänsel and Gretel push the evil witch into her own oven, vanquishing her — a moment of glory, or at least satisfaction. For the definite climax of the narrative, it was a bit of a musical dud. More energy seemed to be reserved for the explosion of the oven shortly thereafter, indeed a surprising spike in the drama but a fleeting and cheap one in the course of the denouement.

Of course, it’s rare for an opera to completely nail its narrative, so a high standard in that department may be asking a bit much, but this was a particularly unsatisfying moment in an otherwise riveting evening.

Arts

The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Page 13

Don GK’s Flight to Brazil Soothes Crowd at Slow Train Matthew Sprung Staff Writer “Vamos ya!” College senior Gabe Kanengiser exclaimed with an anticipatory grin, as he and his band, Don GK’s Flight to Brazil, played a jam-packed Parents Weekend show at the Slow Train Cafe last Saturday. The request, which loosely translates to “Come on, let’s go” in Portuguese, indicated that the seven-piece Brazilian band was going to take the audience on a figurative trip to Latin America.

The crowd readily granted their request, swaying to the samba melodies of the Brazilian singer-songwriter and musician Antônio “Tom” Jobim, known for composing “The Girl from Ip-

anema,” one of the most frequently recorded songs ever. While abroad in Brazil, Kanengiser fell hard for the smooth wave vibes of bossa nova, a fusion of samba and jazz from the mid-20th century. He picked up the language and began thinking of performing a show entirely in Portuguese. “To be able to bring Rio back with me was really special,” Kanengiser explained, saying he had been trying to recapture the music he experienced abroad since returning to Oberlin.

Besides Kanengiser, the band consisted of College senior Regina Larre Campuzano on vocals, double-degree junior Stephen Becker on guitar, double-degree senior Nathan Swedlow on bass, Conservatory sophomore Patrick

Graney and double-degree junior Ben Rempel on percussion and double-degree senior Carl Mitchell on the saxophone and flute.

Double-degree senior Nate Mendelsohn, who is also in the band, was absent due to illness.

Opening with “Aquarela Do Brasil” by Ary Barroso, the audience was transported back to 1939 through the timeless rhythm of the music. The song, which translates to “Watercolor of Brazil,” was fitting, as the music painted a picture of Brazil that melted in the listener’s head. The music was so contagious that it made the audience of parents and students alike turn their tables into drums, smiling as they tapped away on the surfaces. During one song a glass fell and shattered; however,

in the warmth of the room, the crowd cheered as the band continued to smile and play without missing a beat.

After a girl in the audience standing near the stage began dancing a convincing samba number, the rest of the crowd was implored to follow her example.

“You don’t have to dance, but you should dance,” Kanengiser and Campuzano both agreed.

Of the remaining six songs of the set, the majority were pieces

by Jobim, who is often considered to be one of the 20th century’s most important songwriters.

Continuing in a conversational tone, Kanengiser addressed the crowd with “Gente lindo,” which means “beautiful people,” as he paused for a short commentary in

between songs. Even though most people probably did not speak or understand Portuguese, the important message was conveyed by the music: enjoy.

Yet their music was not all wistful sand and sunsets, and toward the later part of the performance, the tempo was lifted, and the pace of the music quickened.

Drums took the lead over the vocals, and as the dancing continued, the band dared the crowd to take a sip of wine or coffee without spilling as they moved. Passersby stopped and put their faces to the glass to see and hear what the commotion was all about.

With its upbeat end and an audience both inside and outside of Slow Train, it’s safe to say the performance ended on a high note.

South American Bands Tear Roof Off ’Sco Alumna Pioneers Place for Comics in Academia Continued from page 12

Grace Pullin Professor Hillary Chute, OC ’98, of the University of Chicago gave an illuminating presentation last Thursday on a topic that was perhaps untraditional for the English department. As part of the Oberlin Lectures in English & American Literature series, Chute discussed her personal and professional history with graphic narratives, the term she prefers to the common misnomer “graphic novel.” Aside from Chute’s anecdotes and interesting insights into the world of comics, the lecture directly addressed her field’s at times uneasy and often questioned position within the discipline of English, as well its general place within the formal academic sphere.

Throughout the lecture, Chute contextualized her study of the graphic narrative within her interest in shaping and writing public and private histories. While an undergrad at Oberlin — an experience she recalled fondly and comically throughout the night — Chute studied contemporary American literature. It wasn’t until graduate school, when she was assigned to read Art Spiegelman’s Maus, that she discovered the graphic narrative and developed an interest in the medium as a means of narrating autobiographies and works that dealt with traumatic history. Since that realization, Chute has effectively pioneered the field of graphic narratives through her studies of the relationship between image and word in comics and its unique ability to register temporality in a visual form.

Chute’s professional success in the last decade speaks to the continuing legitimization of comics as a unique medium; she has published her work in various literary journals, including Modern Fiction Studies and various journals associated with the Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, as well as in her own books, Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics and Comics Form and Narrating Lives. She also personally introduced the graphic narrative into the curriculum of the University of Chicago’s English department.

Still, Chute went to great lengths to convince her audience of comics’ legitimacy and growing popularity.

She called upon two canonical graphic narrative texts, Maus and Alison

Bechdel’s Fun Home, to illustrate the significance of her work and its important place in popular culture. Oberlin has also championed the two authors for their work, especially Bechdel, OC ’81, an Oberlin alum who returned to speak last spring. In the context of Chute’s talk here, her efforts to summarize and reassert the canonization of Maus and Fun Home seemed slightly tedious and unnecessary for the audience.

However, Chute’s accounts of working with Spiegelman and Bechdel were both enlightening and amusing.

She spoke extensively about her experience collaborating with Spiegelman on MetaMaus, offering insights into the nature of the archival process and the challenges associated with researching the personal, artistic practice involved. Similarly, she discussed her friendship with Bechdel — the origins of which she credits to their mutual affection for Oberlin — as well as the work they did together at UChicago while Bechdel was a Mellon Fellow there. She shared rare insight into her friends’ identities as both artists and intellectuals, elaborating on the theory and histories with which they attempt to engage in their work. With a distinct focus on their belabored writing and drawing processes, Chute related their work and her experiences with the authors back to her own interest in the complex nature of the visual in the medium.

Chute’s accounts of recent projects included “Comics: Philosophy and Practice,” a conference she arranged that included the likes of R. Crumb and Charles Burns, and a course she taught with Bechdel on autobiography in which each student was asked to write a graphic narrative and share it with the class as their final project.

These stories gave a strong impression that she is committed to innovation. Since delving into the theoretical side of comics, Chute has expanded the field and introduced new ways of understanding, teaching and talking about graphic narratives. Toward the end of her lecture, Chute mentioned that she had spent the previous year as a visiting scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Science; I found myself hoping she might take up a visiting position at her alma mater at some point and bring her creative energy and ingenuity along.

sound inspired and full of life.

A group of its stature has the luxury of being selective about which songs to play, but Os Mutantes is so consistent in its output that it was impossible to notice when batches of older tracks butted heads with much newer material — that is, when Dias wasn’t explaining his critics-be-damned approach to performance: “We’re here to put our face to slap,” he quipped. The group then tumbled into a deliciously trippy mambo. Routine, it seems, is not high on their list of priorities.

No, Os Mustantes is at its best when it’s relishing in the freedom that comes with decades of collective musicmaking. At heart, it is very much a jam band, and save for a few acoustic ballads, Dias kept busy by drawing extended

shrieks and shudders from his guitar. It was during solos that the assorted elements of the band’s sound differentiated themselves: A samba-flavored percussion interlude by Cláudio Tchernev drew from traditional Brazilian music or even Santana at Woodstock, while

–––––––––––––––––––––––––

Part nostalgia trip, part victory lap, Os Mutantes’s show articulated without words why this group defies, well, definition.

––––––––––––––––––––––––– keyboardist Henrique Peters dug his heels into a meaty organ tone that recalled the best stateside southern rock.

Os Mutantes’s not-so-subtle fascination with America was on full display, most evidently

in songs from its own English language record, Fool Metal Jack. That album’s single is a politically charged tune called “Look Out,” which, that night, came barreling down on the heels of another recent cut, the Zeppelin-bluesy “Piccadilly Willie.” Perhaps Os Mutantes is trying to make big statements with big riffs as a way of remaining relevant at the tail end of their fourth decade together. That those two songs were the evening’s standout performances affirmed that it has at least a decent shot.

On the other hand, the band will always have one foot stuck in the Summer of Love — and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. It’s got nothing to prove next to neo-psychedelic disciples like the Flaming Lips and Tame Impala. Of course, Dias will never admit his greatness.

He’ll just stand there with that sly grin and play on.

Sports

Page 14

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

The Oberlin Review, November 15 , 2013

Andrew Wise and Silas Montgomery

This week, the Review sat down with Silas Montgomery, OC ’13, and Andrew Wise, OC ’13, two alumni soccer players, to discuss their devotion to the team, how to heckle players and cheerleading.

John really liked it, and everything else has sort of fallen through.

There has been talk about getting a mascot to run around at games.

How do you feel about that?

AW: I probably wouldn’t do it, but I would love it.

SM: That would be awesome. I’d be way too anxious to be a mascot.

Mascots are awesome though, they just run around and dance.

AW: It’d have to be somebody who doesn’t care as much about the game.

SM: Yeah, we have to watch the entire game. We analyze the games a lot. It’s really hard not to play.

How many Oberlin soccer games have you gone to this season?

Silas Montgomery: We’ve gone to every game we could go to. We went to every home game and drove to a couple others.

Andrew Wise: We drove to Wooster, we drove to two Kenyon games, Baldwin Wallace, Case Western; we wanted to go to Denison, but that didn’t work out.

SM: And now we’re going to Rochester.

Why? AW: Because I like watching them. They’re like my family.

SM: Yeah, definitely. After every game, they’re always like, “Thank you so much for coming out.” And honestly, I love watching them play.

As people and as players, I want to support them.

AW: I feel like I’m still a part of it — even though I’m not on the team anymore — if I can be there to cheer for them.

What’s your favorite cheer to lead at games?

AW: Yeo Baby.

SM: It’s gotta be the Yeo Baby.

It’s so nerve-wracking for me to do though. It’s really embarrassing — you yell a lot and put yourself out there. I can’t do it; it makes me very nervous.

AW: Everyone always joins in and it’s great.

What’s the most enthusiastic game you’ve attended?

SM: Our freshman year, I have these memories of there being huge crowds there. I don’t know if that’s true or not.

Andrew Wise (left) and Silas Montgomery AW: For me, there would be the moments when I was playing in front of big crowds and one of my friends just had an “Andrew” chant that he did, where he would just yell “Andrew” a lot. He got the whole crowd to do it once. But this year, probably the game against Hiram. There were a lot of people there; there were a lot of Hiram parents. I got really mad at the referees.

SM: Yeah, we got in trouble. We had to stop picking on individual players because apparently you’re not allowed to do that. So dumb.

What’s your best heckling technique?

SM: Well, I pride myself on coming up with clever cheers. They aren’t necessarily mean — they’re not nice — but it’s more fun to yell something that makes people laugh and gets them out of the zone that way.

One of my favorite ones I ever came up with, which no one laughed at, which made me pretty disappointed, was right after the movie Looper, had

come out with Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Someone took a shot that was super high and “looped” over the goal, so I yelled, “Nice looper Joseph Gordon-Levitt!” and no one laughed. I thought it was great. I had to explain that one like four times.

AW: My favorite one that Silas has done was when we were at Wooster and the referee gave a yellow card to the wrong player when it should have gone to the captain.

SM: And, by the way, their colors are yellow and black.

AW: And so, Silas said something along the lines of, “Not very captainlike of you to let your other player take the yellow. Real Hufflepuff move, Wooster.”

SM: Yeah, I kept that one going for a while.

AW: I think [Head Coach] Blake [New] even turned around and laughed at that one.

You guys bring a drum and didgeridoo to the games. Where did those come from?

SM: Last year, we were with Josh Brancazio, [OC ’12], who played on the soccer team with us, and we were in his apartment before a game, and we were like, “We need to make some instruments!” So he found this recycling bucket, and we put a bunch of tape around it and it turned into the best drum ever. The didgeridoo I got when I was helping Josh move out this summer and he didn’t want to take it with him. I didn’t want it, but he left it in his apartment, so I had to take it.

AW: It’s become my weapon now.

SM: Yeah, we’ve put it to good use.

Have you come up with any new cheers?

AW: Well, we’ve made some personal cheers. One I really like is, instead of yelling, “Olé, olé, olé, olé,” we yell, “OSlade, OSlade, OSlade,” [for sophomore Slade Gottlieb]. We have the [sophomore] John [Ingham] cheer which is to the tune of “Shots.”

It goes, “John, John, John, John,” instead of “Shots, shots, shots, shots.”

If the team wins both of its games this weekend and continues on in the NCAA tournament, how far are you willing to travel to watch them play?

SM: I’m willing to go as far as I can. I don’t mind driving. If we can get there, I’ll go there. We’re in a good situation because our boss [at Slow Train Cafe] will help us out with work. If we could go with the team to any state, I’d go.

Any last words?

SM: It’s not just us. There are so many people who love this team. Everyone who’s played on it feels some connection to it, and even friends of players have a connection to the team. When we went to the Kenyon game, so many people texted me and told me they were watching it via livestream. Now we’re going to New York, and there are some alumni, some of whom aren’t even ex-players, who are going to travel out there to watch it. This team’s really important to a lot of people, and supporting them is an incredible thing to be able to do.

Interview by Rose Stoloff, Sports editor Photo by Jodi Helsel

College Receives Landmark Donation Volleyball Finishes Season Continued from page 1 located in a hallway, insufficient space to hold recreational classes and lots of brick. In a society where health and wellness is a major topic of conversation, many believe that Oberlin is falling behind.

But all that is going to change, according to Winkelfoos. “This is a very rigorous campus. If you’re not taking care of your body, you’re not taking care of your mind. I don’t think that our building is very welcoming for the non-varsity athlete; a new health and wellness center will change this,” she said.

Winkelfoos believes the new emphasis on health and wellness will help the Oberlin community grow in ways outside its athletics.

“This will only make Oberlin that much stronger. We are a really great school. Imagine how powerful we can be if everyone is on top of their game physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Winkelfoos.

The new complex will feature a multipurpose field with artificial turf and lights, a state-of-the-art press box and new guard stands for home

and visiting fans. The facility will also include new home and visitor locker rooms as well as meeting and social spaces for the campus community to host events. The second phase of construction is the South Complex, which will include a renovated pool and health and wellness center that will include a fitness center, a multipurpose room, a personal training room, a wellness classroom, a demo kitchen, a café and a lounge.

“We are really excited that we have secured funds for the first phase,” said Jantz.

“The new North Complex will be very beneficial for our varsity athletes and our community at large,” said Krislov. “I imagine that some of our club and intramural sports will use it as well. It is just huge to have a turf field because I think we are the last school in our conference with a grass football field. It becomes a big challenge in the winter. The new field is a great opportunity to get more use out of our field and allow us to do things including community concerts and activities.”

Along with the donation from the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation, the Athletics department has been work-

ing hard to secure donations from other sources. Some donors have specified where they want their donations to go directly, while others have put it in the hands of the department.

Two concerns for many students are in regard to mental health and a South Campus gym. When asked, Winkelfoos was certain theses concerns would be addressed.

“Mental health has always been a part of our plan. We have carved out space within the new health and wellness center for offices for the director of wellness, the counseling center … to ensure that we are keeping the mental aspect in the forefront of our minds.”

Winkelfoos also mentioned that there are plans underway for South Campus. Though the gym was originally intended to be completed by Thanksgiving, the process has been slower than expected. “There are always hiccups when you start digging into old space. We are going to do it, and we are going to do it right,” she said.

The Athletics department is abuzz with excitement over the new plans.

“The new facility will give Oberlin a sense of pride,” said Jantz.

with Eye to Next Year Continued from page 16

ence rankings. “Next year, we want to start chipping away at those top teams,” said Rau. Coach Rau hopes that as this year’s large first-year class experiences more collegiate play, the team will move up in the rankings. She also hopes to recruit a few more players for next season to build on the strong core of talented athletes.

Rau believes that competition within the team for playing time could encourage the women to always be at their best. This could also benefit the players in terms of fatigue. A larger team means less individual playing time, but more energy to draw from when players become exhausted.

Next season, the women want to work on consistency. The Kenyon and Allegheny games showed the girls at their best, but Stanek feels that there is room for improvement.

“If we practice well all spring, we definitely have a shot at beating Denison and Hiram,” said Stanek.

Meredith Leung and Hannah Tyburski, both first-years, earned allNCAC Honorable Mentions for their efforts this season.

If the team can work on its consistency and fatigue in games, this young and skilled squad will be very successful in the future. For now, they have the offseason and the spring to work on technical aspects of their training.

“As a team in general, we’ve done a great job of adapting [to college play],” said Antonsen.

Rau said she is focused on creating a strong program that will both attract and demonstrate talent and believes the team has made great strides toward becoming a more competitive unit.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, November 15, 2013

Page 15

First-years Add Talent to Women’s Team Boasts Strong Men’s Basketball Roster Chemistry, Camaraderie Continued from page 16 credibly hard and truly are busting their butts to not let our team down. They all have tremendous talent and a good understanding of how the game should be played. I think with experience, their class should definitely be remembered,” Walker added.

The Yeomen know that in order to be successful, they will have to rely on more than individual players. Fortunately, they believe this year’s team will play well together.

“I think our biggest strength as a team is chemistry. Everybody gets along and enjoys playing one another. The next

step for us as a team is to find ways to utilize our good team chemistry on the court so we can be more successful,” said Ollie.

The Yeomen will also be looking to capitalize on what they believe is a solid defensive core.

“Our strengths are definitely on the defensive end. Our defensive principles with the match-up zone really confuses a lot of teams,” said Gueno.

With high expectations, the Yeomen will look to improve on last year’s 7–18 record.

The team’s first game is at home this Sunday at 3 p.m. against the Muskingum University Fighting Muskies.

Continued from page 16 jokesters off the court, but on the court you can tell they really want to get better. I really think their personalities and carefree nature have helped bring the team together. They’ve definitely helped the team dynamic,” she said.

“The freshmen bring a lot of fresh new energy to the team. It’s nice to have some new people around to make fun of — I mean, hang out with,” Marquette added.

Though the team has only just begun their season, there has been plenty of time for early team bonding.

“Some of the team went to watch a Division II school play, and it was really fun to

get to watch and analyze a higher division school and bond with the team,” said sophomore Lindsey Bernhardt. Since competetive play on the court relies on strong chemistry, the team looks like they’re headed in the right direction.

“Without these girls, I’m not sure where I’d be. I got sick this past weekend and every single one of them checked in on me and made sure I was okay, including the coaches.

I rest easy knowing that they have my back,” Hamilton said.

The Yeowomen hope that their strong team chemistry will lead them to victory when they play their first home game on Tuesday, Nov. 26th at 8 p.m. against Heidelberg University.

Editorial: Parents Shouldn’t Force Competitive Spirit on Children Continued from page 15 training” at 5 a.m. to ski before the mountain opened up.

The skiing world I knew was brutally competitive, but the competitive drive didn’t come from the young athletes themselves. While I began competitive ski racing because, as a naïve 8-year-old, I wanted a cool uniform, most of my teammates began skiing because their parents were former Olympians or U.S. Ski Team members.

I remember one teammate of mine, Maddie, whose father had been a member of the U.S. Ski Team. Unable to ski competitively anymore, Maddie’s father made it his goal to turn his two daughters into world-class aerial skiing champions. Aerial skiing is an Olympic event in which the athletes ski off of two- to four-meter jumps that propel them about six meters into the air. Once in the air, the aerialists do gymnastics-like flips. It is to skiing as diving is to swimming. Despite living three hours from Tahoe, Maddie skied every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and occasionally on Thursdays as well. She had missed so many days of school for skiing that although she was my age, she was two grades behind me in school. On days when she wasn’t skiing, Maddie would be at the gym working on trampoline stunts to prepare herself for aerial skiing.

While writing this article, I decided to look Maddie up to see if she was still skiing. She isn’t. She goes to UC Santa Barbara, where snow is unheard of. The pressure her father put on her made her burn out.

When I started high school, I was told if I wanted to remain competitive, I would have to take my commitment to skiing to the next level. If I wanted to be as good a skier as possible, instead of going to a regular high school, I would have to go to the Sugar Bowl Academy. The Sugar Bowl Academy is one of many ski academies, small schools in which students spend the first half of the day training on the mountain and the second half of the day in school. Skiing, not academics, takes priority. The Academy’s goal is to turn high school students into professional athletes.

Unlike many of my teammates, whose parents urged, if not forced,

their children to enroll in the Academy, my parents forbade me. Not skiers themselves, my parents saw it as a risky path. They knew what I couldn’t understand at such a young age — that I had other passions and that a traditional high school education would serve me much better later in life than a sub-par education intended only to supplement a skiing career. I realize if I had gone to the Sugar Bowl Academy I likely

would have burned out as well.

However, I learned a lot doing competitive skiing. I learned how to win, how to lose, how to care for my equipment, how to root for and compete against my friends and how to endure pain and discomfort.

My experiences doing competitive skiing formed me. In skiing, I was rewarded for doing well and for trying hard but not for being a passive participant.

Contrary to what many people think, competition doesn’t turn kids against each other. In skiing I was always told that I wasn’t competing against other people, and that it didn’t matter how they did; I was just competing against the clock. Skiing is about improving your time, not putting down others.

In one of my many politics classes, we were discussing the merits of competition. Many students found

it destructive. But there is a distinction. Competition that is driven by children’s parents is destructive. It causes kids to burn out. But competitive sports are by no means inherently destructive to children.

Competitive sports give children skills nothing else can deliver. I would even go so far as to say that participating in sports is essential for children’s development. At least it was for me.

Feature Photo: Men’s Soccer Clinches Berth to NCAA Tournament

Sophomore John Ingham outruns an Allegheny College opponent. The men’s soccer team received an at-large bid to participate in the NCAA national tournament. Their first game is on Saturday in Rochester, New York against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons.

Simeon Deutsch

Nate Levinson Sports Editor After a hard-fought defeat against the Kenyon College Lords last week, the men’s soccer team thought its near-perfect season was over. But news came on Monday that the team had received an at-large bid for a spot in the NCAA tournament, and its storybook season was resurrected.

“I had a gut feeling that we would move

on,” said junior Remi Schneider. “We play in one of the toughest conferences and I think that was recognized.”

The team went 13–3–4 this season, but fell to the Kenyon College Lords in the semifinal round of the North Coast Athletic Conference.

Though the team is thrilled to have made the tournament, they’ve worked too hard and too far this year to be satisfied with just a spot in the tournament.

“We’re happy we made it, but that doesn’t

mean we’re content now,” said junior midfielder Sam Winward.

The Yeomen know they have a tough task ahead of them in facing the SUNY-Oneota Red Dragons, who finished with an 11–4–4 record this season.

The men’s soccer team will head to the University of Rochester to play the Red Dragons on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m., in what will be the team’s first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

November 15, 2013

— Women’s Volleyball —

Yoewomen Snag 6th Place at Conference Emma Lehmann

Rose Stoloff Sports Editor

encourage the team to improve for next year.

Coach Erica Rau was impressed with the season as a whole and said she was generally pleased with the outcome of the tournament.

“I expected us to be a little more competitive against De-

Pauw, even though they are ranked 25th in the nation,” said Rau. The loss to Kenyon did not change their standing in the conference, placing the girls in the middle of the conferSee Volleyball, page 14

— Basketball Preview —

Men’s Team Starts Sea- Yeowomen Boast Preseason son with Lofty Goals Chemistry, Camaraderie Jake Miller

See First-years, page 15

Ellie Huizenga The women’s basketball team is champing at the bit for their season to begin.

“I am most looking forward to seeing things come together and how we respond when we face adversity,” said sophomore Caroline Hamilton. “We’ve been going at each other in practice for about a month of preseason, so we are all really anxious to finally face some other competition as a team.”

Senior Lillian Jahan said she’s ready to move on from the team’s preseason preparation.

“We’ve been in preseason for about a month and also had team workouts in the six weeks leading up to our first practice, so I am ready to just get out there and play. I can’t wait for us to step on the court and kill,” she said.

Junior Christina Marquette kept it simple. “Winning, I hope,” she said on what she’s looking forward to this season.

The team has a new mindset this year, Jahan explained.

“The biggest change is that everyone has 100 percent bought

into the program. Everyone comes working hard and is ready to go every single day. Our team chemistry is amazing, and the fact that everyone is finally here and focused on basketball is awesome.”

Hamilton also noted that she feels the camaraderie of the team is especially strong this season.

“I feel the team is just a lot closer than we were last year. We all get along, and we have so much chemistry. Hopefully we can continue to transfer it onto the court, but it is great to have a team that has so much fun together. Also, there is just a lot more competition for spots. People are competing for positions and minutes, and it has been pushing us to all get better.”

Past team members already see that the first-years will bring another element to the team.

Hamilton praised the strong oncourt work ethics of the three new players and sees big things coming from them this season.

“The three freshmen are so unique … they’re a bunch of See Women’s, page 15

See Editorial, page 15

the trash — r in e r p

e or compost ycl it ec

As the Yeomen get set to tip off their season, expectations for the team are high.

With the addition of five firstyears this season, the team will have a lot of depth alongside another five sophomores, three juniors and four seniors.

Six-foot-nine sophomore center Randy Ollie looks poised to step up for the Yeomen this season. Last season, Ollie averaged 25.5 minutes and 7.5 points per game and finished the season averaging 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks a game. He also ranked fifth in the conference with 33 blocked shots for the year. His best performance of the season came against the Allegheny College Gators, when he scored a season-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds.

“I expect a successful season,” Ollie said. “Finishing in the top half of the North Coast Athletic Conference and making the conference tournament are two things we as a team expect to do.”

The team knows this goal is a lofty one, but they think they

have the talent to achieve it.

“I think the expectations for this season are what it is for us every season: to win a conference title and to get into the NCAA Tournament. I don’t ever lower our expectations because our talent level is limitless for Division III basketball,” said sophomore Matthew Walker.

Hopes are especially high for junior guard Miles Gueno, who said he wants the team “to be a top-five seed in the conference tournament” and be more “consistent across the board.”

As for the incoming firstyears, the Yeomen will look to Nathan Cohen, Zach Moo Young, Scott Miller, Zach Meyers and Jack Poyle to step up for the team to help achieve their goals.

“The upcoming freshmen are all very talented, so much so that it will be hard for the coaches to decide who plays. I expect most of them to play important roles in our upcoming season,” Ollie said.

“The freshmen that we have are nasty. I think they play in-

t this new t pu sp o a n

“We were pretty consistent against Kenyon, even though we didn’t come out on top,” said sophomore Shavonne Stanek.

It was a disappointing conclusion to the season, but the hope among the Yeowomen is that the upset will

o

longtime rival, the Kenyon College Ladies. Unfortunately, they lost in a grueling five sets.

At this point in the tournament, the initial stress of the competition had worn off.

The loss to Kenyon was difficult, but the team fought for every point.

ead! Please d

First-year Ave Spencer spikes at the North Coast Atlantic Conference championships. The tournament was the Yeowomen’s last of the season.

Simeon Deutsch

From the time I was eight until I graduated high school, November was always a waiting month. I spent November checking the weather and monitoring snowfall levels in Tahoe, waiting for ski season.

Thanksgiving was never about stuffing my face with turkey or meeting extended family; rather, Thanksgiving usually marked the day my beloved Sugar Bowl mountain would open its doors and I could finally put on my skis.

My experience skiing when I was younger was atypical of my peers. I didn’t ski for fun, I didn’t go to the mountains with my whole family for a leisurely vacation, I didn’t ever take hot chocolate breaks. I didn’t ski for skiing’s sake. I skied for competition.

From the end of November sometimes until well into May, I would wake up at 6 a.m. and drive three hours with my dad from the San Francisco Bay area to Tahoe.

At 9 a.m. I would put on my skis and train with the Sugar Bowl Ski Team until the lifts closed at 4 p.m.

Ski racing is an exhausting sport. Some training days were spent “running laps” on one course, trying to beat my previous time by as little as a couple hundredths of a second. Some days my team members and I endured brutal temperatures and chilly winds.

I have distinct memories of my coach, a big, burly guy named Jim who competed in rodeos during his free time, telling us on really cold, wet days that we could not go inside until every spot on his leather gloves was dark from melting snow.

Occasionally I would wake up for “early-bird

t ins

The women’s volleyball team took 6th place at the North Coast Atlantic Conference championships this past weekend. The tournament took place at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

The team played three games, winning one and losing two, with the first a veritable struggle for the team.

Although the DePauw University Tigers came in ranked a mere one spot ahead of the Yeowomen, the game ended in only three sets.

“We had a rough game against DePauw. There were a lot of nerves — [the firstyears] hadn’t been to conferences before, which was difficult,” said junior captain Christine Antonsen.

By the second game of the tournament, the team seemed more comfortable with the championship setting and was ready to compete.

For the majority of the team, this was the first conference game in a weekendlong tournament. The girls played with more ease in the second game against the Allegheny College Gators. After winning each of the three sets, they earned back some confidence to carry them into the final game against their

When Competition Goes Too Far