November 22, 2013

The Oberlin Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2013 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 10

Outside the Bubble News highlights from the past week Students in White Sheets Spotted on Kenyon’s Campus The Thrill, Kenyon College’s student newspaper, reported on Wednesday that two students draped in white sheets were seen walking across campus.

According to the article, Kenyon Dean of Students Hank Toutain alerted the student body the following afternoon by email.

The students were first spotted in the campus library, then confronted by campus security on Middle Path, the main walkway. “At least one student witness reported being upset by the incident. The response by Campus Safety is also being reviewed,” Dean Toutain wrote in the email. According to The Thrill, the college intends to initiate a campus-wide dialogue about social responsibility and “sensitivity to others.”

Hawaiian Lawmaker Turns Vigilante Hawaiian state lawmaker Tom Brower was tired of his state’s influx of homeless persons, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Hoping to drive a portion of the demographic from his home town of Waikiki, Brower combed the streets for abandoned shopping carts known to be used by the homeless, and spent his night destroying each and every one with a sledgehammer.

Although later branded as a cruel vigilante, Brower saw his work as that of a public servant. Brower estimates he has destroyed a total of about 30 shopping carts.

Sources: The New York Times and The Thrill

Solarity’s Next Generation Sheds Rave Image Kate Gill News Editor Solarity may be a nascent organization, but its reputation has grown considerably since Neon Garden, the inaugural event in 2011. And so too has its controversy on campus.

Throughout its operation, Solarity has been dubbed “polarizing,” a trait that students can identify, but not necessarily explain.

“It’s hard for me to say, because I think I’ve heard things through the rumor mill, and I’m not sure which ones are credible and which ones aren’t,” College fifthyear Arielle Lewis-Zvala said, who attended Neon Garden.

And according to College senior and Solarity Co-Chair Jesse Goldberg, the controversy is largely unfounded.

“At Oberlin,” Goldberg explained, “an image gets put on you. And that’s been one of the most frustrating things for me, this image that’s been superimposed onto us as to who we were, what we were doing, who we were targeting. All this came from outside of the group. We never really tried to have an image but one was developed —yeah, they’re a

bunch of white kids doing this rave thing. I’ve heard a lot of different things, there’s a lot of misinformation. Those negative images were put onto us.”

According to College senior Dan Meltzer, head of Solarity’s marketing, the organization has

See page 4

resolved to change that very image. One initiative, Meltzer noted, is a recent collaboration with the Sexual Information Center.

“A big criticism of Solarity is that people noticed a lot of nonconsensual sexual activity at the events,” Meltzer said.

“We took it upon ourselves to minimize that this year because we want it to be a safe space.

We’ve been working with the SIC. Every Solarity member was peacekeeper trained, the [same] See College, page 4

Last semester’s Solarity event, Awaken the Wild, contained light shows, performances and other features that the College deemed characteristic of “rave-culture.” The administration specifically prohibited the use of lasers, blacklights, strobes, body paint, glow sticks or fruit slices.

Dale Rothenberg

OSCA Mandates Members Attend Allyship Workshops Louis Krauss In an effort to facilitate more effective cross-community discussion, OSCA is requiring its members to attend this week’s Anti-Racism Workshops. Held on Nov. 23 and 24, the workshops will last approximately three hours and will address both the intricacies of racial insensitivity, as well as the implications of allyship. While OSCA bylaws have always allowed for this type of mandatory meeting to be proposed, this is the first case of implementation.

OSCA President Katherine Pardue said that this was partly in response to last year’s racial hate incidents, and that she thought that OSCA could be more open and

helpful to students who have been offended by past insensitivity.

“There was a call to action last spring, and up until then OSCA had been doing a lot of talk about how inclusive the organization was. It became clear that that was not entirely true, as members of our community spoke up about ways in which they did not feel OSCA was not always accessible to POCs and low-income folk in particular, including myself,” said Pardue in an email to the Review. “As a woman of color facilitating discussions about these trainings in Harkness last spring I was met with the alarming reality that many people did not know how to check their privilege, call-in others for saying harmful things

or navigate these discussions in a successful way.”

According to Pardue, one of the reasons that these workshops are required solely for OSCA, rather than the entire student body, is that the co-ops have the power to implement their decisions sooner.

“I hold OSCA to a different standard than I do Oberlin College, and felt that after the March 4 events I had not been doing all that I could to ensure the safety and accessibility of our spaces.

OSCA has the ability to decide on things faster and implement them sooner than the College can. All of our decisions are made via the collective power of our membership, whether that is through the Board of

The Next Dimension The College's new 3-D priner layers plastic to create a variety of objects.

ESTABLISHED 1874 oberlinreview.org

ONLINE & IN PRINT

Directors who directly represent the members or within individual co-ops,” said Pardue.

Like OSCA, Student Senate members have also decided to hold these types of discussions. This decision was made on Oct. 7 when a proposal detailing the need for such a series of workshops was drafted by leading members of the association. Pardue said she believes that, although a single workshop won’t make the campus dramatically more accepting, it will have some effect.

“The purpose of these workshops would not be to make everyone think the same way or force anyone to conform to a certain way of being ‘politically correct’

Dream Season Ends Mixed Media Masterpiece Exhibition Initiative and Soundfarm hosted an evening of musical and artistic improvisation.

See page 11

INDEX:

Opinions 6

This Week in Oberlin 8

The men’s soccer team returns home spirited despite loss.

See page 16

Arts 11

Sports 16

from the

but rather to establish a minimum expectation of critical thought by OSCA members in relation to privilege and accessibility,” she said.

Although such a blanket initiative may prove to safeguard against insensitivity, some students have said that they view the proposal as an outlet for the heads of OSCA to alleviate their “white guilt.” College sophomore and former Harkness resident Bill Derrah said that most co-ops’ overall lack of diversity is what led to this decision.

“During my time in OSCA, people complained [about] how racially homogenous it was — [those people] being white people. So I think See Co-ops, page 5

WEB

Please pardon any aesthetic issues on our website as we work through some technical difficulties. New website coming soon!

Visit oberlinreview.org.

News

Page 2

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

Students, Grafton Inmates Bridge Divides with Shakespeare Elizabeth Dobbins Staff Writer A small group of Oberlin faculty and students gathered behind Little Theater this past Sunday, preparing themselves for a performance at the Grafton Correctional Institute. The students were heading to the prison not to reform their outlandish Oberlin behavior, but to put on a production of My Ghosts, My Own for the inmates.

The production was brought to Grafton by Oberlin Drama at Grafton, a subsection of the Oberlin-Grafton Educational Exchange Program, which also includes an autobiography course for the inmates.

“Everybody really enjoyed it. We had a talkback at the end of the performance.

And the men were very responsive to the whole show and a lot of them had questions … just really intelligent questions,” said College junior Katie Early, a member of ODAG and one of the actors in the show.

The class is held in the Grafton Reintegration Center, a division of the prison for minimum-security prisoners and inmates nearing release.

The group has put on several plays at the prison since its inception in November 2012. Some productions, like My Ghosts, My

Own, starred Oberlin students or alumni; however, the plays have started to feature the inmates themselves, the most recent of which was a show this past fall titled ODAG Swag. The men who performed are part of the biweekly class taught by retired Oberlin Professor of English Phyllis Gorfain and College juniors Julia Melfi, Lillian White, Isabella McKnight and Katie Early.

“The men say that this is one of their favorite parts of their week. They look forward to the class,” said McKnight.

The class consists of about 20 students, with enrollment fluctuating due to releases and transfers. Currently, they’re studying William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Students in the class hope to perform some of the scenes from the play this May in a production for other inmates and outside visitors. “[Shakespeare] plays are extremely relevant and speak to all different kinds of people,” said White. “There’s a lot of power, for me at least, in what it has to offer theatermaking, really asking what theater can do.

The role it can play in our society in terms of the questions we ask and how we ask them. And I think that taking theater to alternative spaces or unexpected communities … is in itself a process of re-examining

Conservation Initiative Seeks to Demystify Recycling Regulations Paul Buser As the trees lose their color, our trash receptacles are just putting on a new shade of green. The Resource Conservation Team has been hard at work this week in a campaign to raise awareness about its new sustainability practices. Lining the bins are new green trash bags that are both biodegradable and less expensive than current clear trash liners.

Part of the campaign focuses on dispelling misconceptions about recycling. One practical problem with the new green bags is that students can misinterpret their color to mean “recyclable.”

Complex recycling rules present additional misconceptions. For example, coffee cups, because of their plastic coating, can’t be recycled. DeCafé smoothie containers, made of biodegradable plastic, can be composted but not recycled. Currently, both Oberlin College and the city of Oberlin recycle plastics 1 through

7, but exclude PLA plastics, which are a subset of number 7 plastics.

Because of opaque rules like these, education is another critical part of the RCT’s campaign.

“Recycling policy changes so frequently, [so] it’s difficult to keep the student body up-todate,” said College junior Liam Leslie, an RCT member. He and other recycling advocates have been aggressively tabling in Mudd, asking students what they think they know about recycling. “Most people say, ‘I already know everything,’ but they don’t.”

Misunderstanding rules often leads to accidental contamination, which can cause recyclables to be redirected into landfills. College junior Zach Crockford, another RCT member, told the Review that if non-recyclable items get mixed in with recyclable items, “it’s more expensive, and in at least some cases the entire bag gets thrown out.”

The same is true if a student accidentally deposits

trash in a recycling bin.

One big change that addresses this issue is the adoption of “waste stations.” The waste stations will combine receptacles for trash and recycling with the eventual goal of centralizing and consolidating how students recycle on campus. Funding for the waste stations will come largely from the Green Edge Fund, which supports environmental efforts on campus.

Crockford is optimistic about the stations, noting that they will “make people think about their waste more and show them that whenever they have the opportunity to throw something away, they also have the option to recycle it.”

The waste stations are slated to be installed in several buildings by the end of the current semester as part of a pilot program.

Next week, the RCT will begin a campaign called “We Recycle Because,” a program that seeks to educate students about the new system.

The Oberlin Review — Established 1874 —

Volume 142, 140, Number 10 2

(ISSN 297–256)

November 22, 2013

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

Advertising rates: $18 per column inch. Second-class postage paid at Oberlin, Ohio.

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

POSTMASTER SEND CHANGES TO: Wilder Box 90, Oberlin, Ohio 44074-1081.

Office of Publication: Burton Basement, Oberlin, Ohio 44074.

Phone: (440) 775-8123 Fax: (440) 775-6733 On theOn web: thehttp://www.oberlinreview.org web: oberlinreview.org

power and the stories that we tell ourselves about who we are as a society.”

Members of ODAG have expressed that they feel as though the men are also benefiting from the program.

“It’s also this amazing experience of community around achievement … Community with a process and a goal, and the process is creative and striving for excellence and using imagination and freeing themselves from inhibitions and losing themselves in something bigger than themselves,” said Gorfain. “The social change, I think, that then comes about is that they become a model in the prison of the possibility of what a team can do.”

Melfi said that she feels theater can be therapeutic for the inmates, as well as a safe space for expressing emotions.

“There’s something really important in giving the space for somebody who has perhaps committed a serious offense of some sort to have a safe space to express those feelings or to work through those issues, because the way that our prison system is set up is that you make that offense, and we shut you away, and we don’t let you deal with it,” said Melfi. “Or we don’t give you opportunities to work through that. And that is, to me, really damaging, because

Ohio House Passes Self-Defense Bill Equivalent to ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws – The bill, which has drawn comparisons

to Florida’s hotly contested “Stand Your Ground” law, passed 62–27 in the House after lengthy debate.

– Currently, Ohio residents are permitted to use force without first retreating if they are in their home, vehicle or an immediate family member’s vehicle. This law would allow individuals to use force without retreating in public spaces, including streets and stores.

– Opponents, concerned that the measure will lead to additional instances of gun violence against unarmed individuals like Trayvon Martin, have protested by organizing marches and rallies, gathering 10,000 signatures in opposition to the bill and jamming phone lines of Governor John Kasich and other Republican lawmakers.

– At least 22 states have similar self-defense laws, although this law, which was sponsored by state Republican Terry Johnson, does not include language specifically stating that an individual may “stand his or her ground.”

Rosemary Liv Boeglin Combe Allegra JuliaKirkland Herbst Managing editor Samantha Taylor Field Link News editors RosemaryKate Boeglin Gill Madeline Alex Howard Stocker Opinions editor SophiaWill Ottoni-Wilhelm Rubenstein This Week Weekeditor editor Zoë Olivia Strassman Gericke Arts editors Dessane Kara Cassell Brooks Georgia Julian Horn Ring Sports editors Nate Quinn Levinson Hull Madeleine Rose O’Meara Stoloff Layout editors Tiffany MiraFung Fein Ben DanGarfinkel Quigley Alanna Sarah Sandoval Snider Photo editors Effie Kline-Salamon Olivia Gericke BrannonRachel Rockwell-Charland Grossman Online editor Business manager Alanna Cecilia Bennett Xu Editors-in-chief Editors-in-Chief

what are you supposed to do? Theater allows this safe[ty] net because it’s not real … but it allows you to work through those really real issues, and I think that’s why it’s really important to do this.”

Melfi also emphasized the importance of creating community and safe spaces for the inmates. According to Melfi, while the prison administration has been supportive of ODAG’s work, the prisoners are known to voice doubts about the effectiveness of the reintegration center as a whole. “[The inmates] also really express that … they don’t really see it [as reintegration], and I’m skeptical also of the types of programs that they have … and nothing is really about what are the skills that you need to create a community,” said Melfi.

Gorfain reported that ODAG has received very positive feedback from the inmates, and that they feel as though they’ve benefited on both an individual and communal level.

“They talk about what happens when you get out of your comfort zone and [take] risks,” said Gorfain. “Doing something you thought you could never possibly do. And that becomes a model that now they think ‘There’s so many other things that when I get out that I will try.' ”

If enacted, the measure would: ▷ Eliminate the current requirement that a person must live in Ohio in order to get or renew a handgun license ▷ Remove the 12-hour training prerequisite in favor of four hours of safe-handling firearm training ▷ Allow attorney general’s office investigators to carry guns when investigating offenses including Medicaid program or nursing home and residential facilities ▷ Waive some concealed-carry license requirements for armed forces, foreign services and Peace Corps members while on duty and for six months after employment

Ads manager Julia Skrovan Curtis Cook Online editor Simeon Deutsch Business manager Savi Sedlacek Technician Mischa Lewis-Norelle Ads manager Reshard el-Shair Production manager Sarah Westbrook Sophia Bamert Production staff Rosie Black Stephanie Bonner Alice Fine Emma Eisenberg Annelise Giseburt Taylor Field Nat Marcus Katherine Hamilton Anna Menta Julia Hubay Kiley Petersen Tracey Knott RubyMorris Saha Noah Lydia Smith Anna Peckham Tesny SilviaErin Sheffield Drew Wise Distributors Eliza Kirby Joe Camper Edmund Metzold Joseph Dilworth James Sam White Kuntz

Reporting by AP

Corrections TheReview Reviewstrives is notto aware The printofall any corrections this week. information as accurately as possible.

If you feel the Review has made an The Review to email print all error, pleasestrives send an to information as accurately as possible. managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.

If you feel the Review has made an error, please send an e-mail to managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

News

Page 3

Off the Cuff: Cody Wilson, developer of firearm printing software Cody Wilson is a law student, activist, innovator and self-proclaimed crypto-anarchist. He founded Defense Distributed, a nonprofit that publishes open-source gun designs for 3-D printers. Named by Wired as one of the 15 most dangerous men in the world, Wilson sat down with the Review and discussed the Second Amendment, equal protection of the law and his mission to radicalize.

Why did you develop this technology? Was it specifically for the purpose of asserting more independent control over gun possession, or were there other motives involved?

It’s that, [but] it was always layered in this political dialogue. This intentionality of actually trying to be provocative to the State, and your paradigm of maybe how guns would be controlled ... but I want to be clear that we didn’t develop any 3-D printing technology specifically. We just developed the software for actually doing guns on that technology. We haven’t added on how to do 3-D printing, just how to do guns.

What are the possibilities, and by extension the limits?

The limits are directly material right now. If we’re just talking about guns, you can’t build an assault rifle out of plastic — it will explode.

[They] have 50,000 PSI of chamber pressure, and no plastic can withstand that. But in terms of particular components, or maybe even certain calibers of handgun ammunition which aren’t that strong, plastics can, even though they expand, contain the force. So it’s a really practical way of doing it — maybe. But you can make gun components from 3-D printers.

How can this technology expand?

Well, it already is. It’s already been done. Right now it might cost you

Thursday, Nov. 14 2:05 p.m. The Bike Co-op staff reported a large sum of money missing from the co-op. There were no signs of forcible entry.

The theft is under investigation.

4:25 p.m. A student reported the theft of an unattended black backpack from the dance studio in South Hall. The backpack contained a MacBook laptop, notebook and miscellaneous items.

The theft is under investigation.

Friday, Nov. 15 9:45 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm

Right. But I’m curious as to how you’d factor in an instance like Sandy Hook.

Oh, yeah. Our project gained prominence really right after Sandy Hook happened. But Sandy Hook was more a conversation about the assault rifle specifically used in that shooting, and people saying that people shouldn’t have access to this thing, look how quickly it killed toddlers. Well, the thing is, this is a traditional rejoinder. What does it mean to be serious about rights in a civic context? Well, it means that Cody Wilson, who recently created a full-functioning pistol from a 3-D we’ll absorb some social cost. That printer. there will be shootings. And that in the end we judiciously protect the half a million — well, about a milSome of the guns, if they’re all fact that there will be these things, lion dollars — to actually print a plastic, might make it through a because it’s better in the end. Or we gun out of metal, but you can do metal detector … because they’re deem that it’s better in the end, to it. So all of the spectrum of avail- not metal. protect this mode of liberty. able possibilities has already been demonstrated, it’s just a matter Right. And is that a concern of So you think that the benefit of of mixing and hybridizing those yours? this rifle supersedes the lives of technologies, and race to the botWell, it’s not a concern of mine, I children who — tom for their availability, [and] mean. But... [Laughs.]

So I’m not doing the [specific calthen determining [what] kind of culations], but yeah, I mean to say multi-material do we use. So it’ll Well, can you see the potential that it is more worthwhile as a hube a mix of all these technologies hazards of that output? man endeavor to protect this right into doing guns just differently.

No, of course, of course, there’s in the face that terrible things will a dimension of added, you know, happen.

What if this technology falls into stealth or something. To your pothe wrong hands? Was civilian tential assassin or something. But I So you study law, right? And safety a consideration during the gotta be honest, in their current iter- obviously the Second Amenddrafting processes? ations, these are extremely impracti- ment is a huge factor in this deSo, I would first challenge the cal devices, and not what you’d use to bate, but what about the Ninth premise, right? Like, all generally try to slip into a courthouse and kill Amendment, what about equal used technologies are already in the somebody. protection? wrong hands — they’re in everyOh God. I’ll give you some equal body’s hands. And thank God they But, given how rapidly technology protection. Ninth Amendment jurisare. So there’s no efficient way of is expanding — prudence is absent. There is no Ninth preventing someone from using a I’ll give you the hypothetical. Amendment jurisprudence essenlaptop to do something terrible; we Will this be a problem? Yeah, likely. tially, even in its own right by the all have access. And that’s the thing It’ll probably even be ceramic before court. So in a sense we’re just having with these too — these are generally- plastic. But in the end, there’s really a kind of hypothetical argument. used technologies, they’re software- no way to tell me where you’d get a agnostic, to a large degree they’re handle on it. You know, other than a Well, right — but this in itself is a hardware-agnostic too. Everyone kind of blanket prohibitive law. And hypothetical conversation. will have them, or no one will. you can pass a law saying, look, if we Well no, but there’s nothing more catch you with one of these, you’re in real than the fact that you can print If I understand the technology in- trouble. And that’s probably the best 3-D guns at this point. volved, which I may not, these ma- way to do it. But I mean, it’s there. It’s chines, or these iterations, can’t available.

Just humor me. be detected by a scanner. So — I wouldn’t use a Ninth Amend-

ment argument. Basically it wouldn’t happen that way. It’s a standard of due process. What’s happening is that people are targeting 3-D printing as a technology. People are saying, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be able to 3-D print a gun.’ Well, OK, but this actually has equal protection — you can’t target the method of how I make the gun, you have to target the fact of whether I have the gun or not. In the end it’s not the Second Amendment that’s at stake, per se, it’s the implicit rights related to the Second Amendment, and those haven’t been borne out of precedent yet. I guess we’re sort of mixing the real and the hypothetical right now … Come on, let’s do some Second Amendment fighting.

at a Goldsmith apartment. A pair of jeans left atop a stove had caught fire, triggering the alarm.

The fire was extinguished prior to the officer’s arrival, and the alarm was reset.

bers of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Union Street apartment. The cause of the alarm was smoke from overheated oil. The apartment was cleared of smoke and the alarm reset. Hanging in plain view was a “Road Closed” sign, which was then confiscated.

Saturday, Nov. 16 1:29 p.m. A student reported that damage had been done to her vehicle while she was parked in the Gray Gable parking lot.

The rear wiper and light lens were torn off. Upon checking the lot further, five additional vehicles were found damaged.

All vehicle owners were notified, and members of the Oberlin Police Department responded for a report.

2:56 p.m. Officers on duty in the Field House lot witnessed a vehicle driving wildly in the lot.

The driver parked in the grass near the gate and attempted to exit the vehicle, but could not stand or speak clearly. Members of the Oberlin Police Department responded to the scene, and the individual, who was not affiliated with the College, was taken into custody.

Sunday, Nov. 17 12:54 a.m. Officers were requested to assist a student ill from alcohol consumption between Barrows Hall and Noah Hall. The student was released by paramedics and escorted to her room for the night. Three bottles of alcohol in plain view were confiscated and disposed of.

1:35 a.m. Officers on call in Langston Hall detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from

a room on the third floor. Officers knocked on the door several times before it was opened.

Occupants denied smoking anything in the room. All were advised of the College’s smoking policy.

2:05 a.m. Officers were requested to assist with an intoxicated student in Burton Hall. The student was able to answer all questions asked and was allowed to stay in his room for the night.

7:48 a.m. An officer on patrol observed damage to the tent set up on the south end of the football field. It appeared as though someone attempted to burn part of the plastic tent cover, and there was a sizeable hole.

Monday, Nov. 18 6:05 p.m. Officers and mem-

The gun debate is quite polarizing, as you and I just demonstrated. How do you think the two sides can compromise?

I’m on neither side and hang them all. I’m not interested in some result, I’m interested in leaving that behind and pursuing another avenue in this debate. There will be no synthesis, there will be no compromise. It will always polarize, forever and ever, amen.

So you have no desire to mitigate the political tension?

No. This is how we were driven to the heights of political awareness.

Welcome to the problem. I’m here to divide. We’re zealots for our own position, and we’re not particularly interested in a result where we’ve navigated the problem.

That said, why come to Oberlin, a robustly liberal campus?

Because I want to radicalize.

Even you, at the end of the day, you know maybe there will be a certain grain of truth in this. I think I can get a hook in one or two of you.

Interview by Kate Gill, News editor Photo by Effie Kline-Salamon, Photo editor

Tuesday, Nov. 19 8:57 p.m. A resident of Barrows Hall reported a strong odor of burnt marijuana on the first floor. Officers responded and located the room in question. After knocking several times with negative results, entry was made and a safety inspection completed.

The odor of burnt marijuana was stronger inside the room, but the area was clear of contraband.

News

Page 4

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

New 3-D Printer Outputs Intricate Designs Kristopher Fraser and Maddie Stocker Contributing Writer and News Editor The College received an object last month, the success of which has recently been the topic of worldwide discussion. The 3-D printer, a machine that has the capability to lay out, form and print three-dimensional objects made from plastic, arrived on campus in early October and is now available for use by the student body.

Although a seemingly novel concept, three-dimensional printing has been in practice since the early 1980s, when the technology was patented by Mr. Charles Hull.

Starting at around $2,000, these printers use a procedure known as “additive process.” The progression of 3-D printing begins with an idea, which the user then sequences into a digital software program as a sort of virtual blueprint. The program then communicates with the printer itself, which creates the object by adding the material layer by layer, until the entirety of the blueprint is constructed.

Glen Gerbush, an Oberlin College employee who will lead a Winter Term project on 3-D printing, further explained the printer. Gerbush said that the three-dimensional printer works

similarly to “a hot glue gun attached to a 2-D printer. A twodimensional image is drawn, and then the entire axis that the print head is on is raised up, and another two-dimensional image is drawn. The stacking of these 2-D images creates the 3-D object.”

The concept of 3-D printing has prompted enthusiasm across a broad spectrum of users. While some companies use the technology to mass-produce computer components or plastic figurines, others utilize the printer in order to expedite scientific breakthroughs. According to scientists in Edinburgh, a 3-D printing technique has gone so far as to develop clusters of stem cells, which could speed up progress toward creating artificial organs.

There are, however, a number of civic controversies that come with the development and distribution of such an adept technology. One of the most prevalent disputes is that these printers are already capable of manufacturing a fully functioning firearm.

While some see this technology as posing a large threat to society, Conservatory senior Taylor Reiners, chair of the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians, explained his take on the issue.

“People have always been able to create their own firearms. Anyone with a machine

can setup in their garage and create their own firearms … This just makes it more easy and accessible. It will make gun control very difficult to regulate; it’s going to make access to firearms much more widespread,” said Reiners.

The National Rifle Association has remained fairly silent on this issue while still advocating for their resilient platform on minimal gun regulation. Cody Wilson, founder of an organization that makes gun de-

signs for 3-D printers available for the public, has attempted to garner NRA support in advocating for the availability of 3-D printed gun files on the internet, but they have repeatedly declined to comment on the issue.

Reiners emphasized that access to 3-D printed guns would not cause a large increase in gun violence incidents.

“In a lot of states you don’t really need a license to own or pur-

chase a gun. Right now in most states the real issue is whether or not you have a permit to carry it concealed, so if you have a 3-D printed weapon, and you have it concealed and are walking around with it, you can still be arrested for carrying it. People don’t really have a need to create weapons; even if 3-D printing didn’t exist, access to the black market for guns is wide,” said Reiners.

Sitting stoically in the basement of Mudd, Oberlin’s new three-dimensional printer is available for student use. Posing with the machine is Glen Gerbush, a CLEAR Quantitative Skills Staff Member who leads workshops in printer use.

Shi Shi

College Prohibits Fruit Slices, Glow Sticks at Solarity Events Continued from page 1 training that the SIC members recieved for Safer Sex Night.”

“I’ve been trying to figure [the polarity] out,” Meltzer added, “and I think a lot of the objections to Solarity comes from a financial standpoint. [We receive a lot of money], and that’s an objective truth.”

Meltzer and College senior Arianne Walker, co-chair and treasurer of Solarity, both noted that the Student Finance –––––––––––––––––––––––––

‘I think they have an extravagant vibe that I'm turned off by. You have all this money; what else could you be doing with it?’

Arielle Lewis-Zavala College fifth-year ––––––––––––––––––––––––– Committee has a lot of money to give, and students often aren’t privy to its procedures.

“The College has a lot of money to [grant] organizations,” Meltzer noted.

That said, students remain dubious about Solarity’s finances, which are a matter of public record.

“I find it interesting,” said College senior Jack Ratner,

“that they get the most funding on campus, yet still charge a fair amount for events.”

In past years, Solarity has charged $10 per event, but for the upcoming Submerge, they cut the cost nearly in half, charging attendants $6.

And while ticket prices may be lower, the group’s funding remains high. According to Walker, Solarity received approximately $20,000 from the SFC for the fall semester.

Financial questions aside, some students are discouraged

by Solarity’s general character, or “vibe.”

“They have this entrepreneurial business vibe, which is great for people who are going into that world, but isn’t necessarily identifiable for other people who work in social justice or community-based work,” Lewis-Zavala said. “I think they have an extravagant vibe that I’m turned off by. You have all this money; what else could you be doing with it?”

Submerge also signifies a change in leadership: The three progenitors graduated last spring, their rave-centric legacy in tow.

“Now that Evan [Baker], Dan [Cook] and Eli [Clark-Davis] have all graduated — it was always their creative image. And they were the ones who were more closely held to raves and electronic dance music, things

like that. Me and [the other cochairs], we don’t really [care] about that. It’s not our bag, it’s not what we’re trying to do, that’s not what we want,” Goldberg said.

According to Walker, the group emanated “rave” so robustly that the administration intervened: They approached Solarity at the beginning of the semester and established some prohibitions.

“There’s a funny thing around raves,” Walker said.

“The reason that Solarity has been perceived as a rave is because the artistic revision has been rave-like in terms of light design ... And we’ve [recently] worked really closely with the administration and set some parameters. We’re not allowed to have lasers, blacklights, strobe [lights], body paint, glow sticks or fruit slices.”

Both Goldberg and Walker emphasized that Solarity intends to change its image by showing students, not just telling them.

“There certainly wasn’t an image objective when we started,” said Goldberg when asked about Solarity’s promotional mission. “The vision for the Neon Garden came from [our founders] because they were all for the rave bit. When we started, we weren’t thinking about image at all. We just thought about what we were doing.”

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

News

Page 5

Barnard Residents Sidestep Substance Abuse Kasey Cheydleur This week marks Oberlin’s annual Alcohol Awareness Week. Over the past few days, several events around campus have examined the role that alcohol plays in both social and academic life and the abuse that sometimes accompanies it. The events this week were designed to open a dialogue about the effects this substance can have.

The residents of Barnard Hall –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

‘I think it’s abuse and ...

I don’t think alcohol is something that should be used to excess,” he added. “I have no inherent problem with alcohol, and I would probably participate in a drinking culture that was a glass of wine at dinner with friends, but I don’t think that’s what people do here.’

Conrad Sheridan Barnard resident, College first-year ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– comprise a part of this dialogue.

Located next to East Hall and across from Stevenson Dining Hall, these 40 students have chosen to live in a space designated “substance-free.” The residents of the space picked Barnard for a variety of different reasons: location, the quiet atmosphere, a smaller community. But they all share the same basic commitment to keep their living space free of alcohol and other substances.

The RA of Barnard, College sophomore Scott Hulver, shared his view of the space and its goals: “Most of the events I organize focus on building community and allowing my residents the opportunity to just get to know each other and have fun,” said Hulver.

“I think that although being substance-free is an important part of this dorm, it’s the people who live here and the interactions we have that makes this community so great. I don’t want the absence of alcohol or drugs to inhibit the dorm experience of my residents, so events and programs where people can have a good time without substances are, in my opinion, the most important.”

Paul Anderson, a College senior, is currently spending his sixth semester in Barnard. He chose Barnard initially because of what he had experienced and heard about Oberlin. Yet he has chosen to stay there because he values the people and appreciates the location.

“I chose substance-free because of the combination of when I went to visit schools [and] the amount of cigarette smoking I saw there, and the reputation of Oberlin I started hearing in the months before I came here, [these reasons] led me to believe that some dorms may have more substance usage than I would have liked. I have no problems with other people [using substances], but I guess I wanted to find some other people that wanted to do stuff that wasn’t going to parties. I like the atmosphere; the people I hang out with tend to stay around here. It’s a very quiet dorm, and it’s actually perfect in terms of

Members of And What?! bust a sober move as they lead a dance workshop in Philips gym. A part of Alcohol Awareness Week, this workshop was one of many detailing the dangers of substance abuse.

Rachel Grossman

location.”

Stephanie Atwood, a double degree sophomore, chose the dorm for a similar reason.

“Substances aren’t really a big part of my life, and I find that substance-free housing tends to be quieter, less rambunctious [and] the bathrooms aren’t as gross. It is just a nice place to be.

Everyone is very independent.”

This independence is something that many students noted as an attribute of Barnard, although a few also mentioned that this meant the dorm events are not very well attended, since the residents tend to keep to themselves.

“There are a lot of independent people,” Rebecca Debus, a College first-year, said. “I have formed a pretty close friend group with the freshmen, and

Co-ops Expand Annual AntiRacism, Privilege Trainings Continued from page 1 it’s kind of flamboyant and selfinflating to have race meetings when it didn’t seem to be an issue,” Derrah said.

He went on to say that, because there isn’t much diversity in co-ops, workshops like these don’t often make their desired impact. Derrah said that this lack of diversity might have led OSCA members to believe that they have to make up for racial insensitivity more than other Oberlin students.

“This sounds like something OSCA is upset with itself over, and this is like penance, or the flagellant whipping himself, saying ‘No, we’re not exclusive, see?

We worry about racism too,’ ” Derrah said.

Some students have also noted that three hours on a weekend is too long of a time commitment for all of the members of OSCA. According to Derrah, some OSCA members have called them “useless.”

Others are upset that missing

the workshop would result in a missed-job.

However, while there might not be an influx of racial diversity in the co-op community, some members believe that other forms of diversity are more widely respected. OSCA Education Coordinator Chandler Atkinson said that her veganism and allergies are always respected, and that members of the co-op should be just as supportive to people of different ethnicities.

“I am vegan and severly allergic to peanuts, a diet that many people would think of as “extremely hard to accommodate,” yet I am served two meals a day every day in my co-op and have never had an allergic reaction in my five semesters in Harkness.

So I think that OSCA should do everything it can to let all of its members experience the same level of safety and acceptance as I do,” Atkinson said in an email to the Review.

She also said that, although the meetings are required, there

will be more workshops to accommodate the members who won’t be able to attend.

“There were a couple members early on that were worried about the time commitment, but we worked out ways for people who cannot make the trainings to be trained at different times. The trainings are mandatory and members that do not attend one receive a missed-job, but as long as they contact the education coordinators or the accessibility coordinators they will not receive the missed-job,” Atkinson said.

The College is currently on the fence about requiring the entire student body to attend these tutorials, as such a demand would necessitate a College-wide bylaw. The workshops will be held by several North American Students of Cooperation heads, including Director of Membership and Communications Farheen Hakeem, People of Color Caucus Chair Layla Oghabian and Vice President Vivian Onuoha.

we tend to go to most of the stuff that [our RA] puts on, but a lot of the upperclassmen don’t.”

However, despite the dorm “not being the friendliest dorm,” she plans to live in Barnard next year as well.

Many students in Barnard harbor strong opinions about the drinking culture at Oberlin. Conrad Sheridan, a Conservatory first-year, said, “I think it’s abuse and I don’t think that’s how alcohol should be used.”

“I don’t think alcohol is something that should be used to excess,” he added. “I have no inherent problem with alcohol, and I would probably participate in a drinking culture that was a glass of wine at dinner with friends, but I don’t think that’s what people do here.”

He mentioned that some of

the people in the dorm seemed uptight, but that this was almost a product of the living experience.

However, other residents seem uncomfortable with such statements. Working against the perception that they were judgmental about substance abuse, several residents clarified that, while they personally choose not to engage in substance use, they do not condemn those who do.

“It’s not hard to find substances if I wanted them, but I just didn’t want to be in an environment where it was sort of like a necessity,” said College first-year Oliver Okun. “I want to respect everyone’s decisions. I’m not going to tell people how to live. It’s a different priority system. Some people, it’s their priority to party.

And that’s just not my priority.”

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Page 6

Letters to the Editors Oberlin Student Coalition Stands With CCNY Students To all students currently affected by recent events at CCNY, Here at Oberlin College we have truly seen the necessity of political freedom and spaces for students to organize and support each other. Last semester, as many know, there was a sustained series of hate-based attacks on the student body and the Multicultural Resource Center. Had students not had spaces like Third World Co-op, the Multicultural Resource Center, Afrikan Heritage House and the Edmonia Lewis Center (spaces developed out of student protest), many students would have been left without resources and support during these adverse times. These spaces serve students who are continually pressed to advocate and fight for their survival at higher education institutions that systemically push them out.

Without them, the institution only further affirms that supporting and graduating these students is not their priority. Last Sunday, the City College of New York’s administration seized the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Student and Community Center, closing it off to students and community members. The University claimed that the Community space would now be designated as a Career Resource Center. Student belongings, including books and documents, were taken from the center to be held and “examined.” The center has been a hub for the activities of the Students for Educational Rights and the Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee and allowed community outreach throughout the Harlem community.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, the students held a well-attended sit-in in protest of the closure of the center. The situation soon escalated and a City University of New York alumnus was pepper-sprayed and arrested. On Monday, Oct. 28, the Office of Student Affairs suspended and removed two student leaders from the City College of New York campus. In a few months, the Board of Trustees will vote on the Expressive Activities Policy, which would further restrict the First

Amendment rights of student and faculty.

We also believe that these actions infringed upon the student’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. We are calling on the administration of City College and CUNY to immediately reopen the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Student and Community Center, to allow students to continue to utilize this space as a center for organizing and discussion, to give all organizers amnesty and to return all belongings and resources seized from the Center to students and community members. We believe the actions of the CCNY and CUNY administration have seriously infringed on student and community rights to organize and have intentionally disempowered students doing important anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-rape organizing.

We believe in the right of students to hold independently run spaces inside their university. We believe universities should be spaces of knowledge and exchange, where students can grow also as political individuals and empower themselves. We oppose an exclusively career-oriented university with no space for political dissent.

We oppose in the strongest possible terms the recent trend of militarization of the CUNY system and the clear attempt of the CUNY administration to silence the voice of students by infringing on their first amendment rights. Both CCNY and New York police should have no space on campus. We support our fellow students at City College in their movement to stand up for themselves and their community and reclaim the Morales/Shakur Center.

Finally, we thank New York Students Rising and the Liberate CUNY Front for helping to keep students around the country informed about the injustices happening on your campus. We have much to learn from this assault and hope we can prevent this from happening anywhere else.

Sincerely, –The Oberlin Student Coalition Further endorsed by Student Senate and the Responsible Investing Organization

Buser’s Column Stolen from Grape Office I enjoyed reading last week’s column on computer recycling at Oberlin (“Computer Recycling Thrives on Campus, for Now,” The Oberlin Review, Nov. 15, 2013) written by Mr. Paul Buser. Well researched and written — precisely the kind of piece I’d like to find in The Grape more often.

Which reminds me of when I pitched this exact story at a Grape meeting in October. My memory also tells me that Mr. Buser signed up for it. Days after the Grape deadline, Mr. Buser said he couldn’t find time to write it.

I’m forgiving when someone can’t commit to an article. Usually it’s just a matter of assigning it to another writer or printing it in a later issue. But when articles that are conceived in the Grape office go missing and turn up elsewhere? That’s lousy form.

Creating news stories on a tiny campus is difficult. It’s one of the hardest parts of running a newspaper at Oberlin. Instances like this turn a rewardingly tough job into a frustrating one.

I contacted Mr. Buser via email explaining this. He replied: “I am sorry I caused you frustration over this article. I realized while writing it that I wanted to publish it in the Review, and I went ahead and submitted it without thinking about the consequences.”

However considerate an apology, I’m afraid Mr. Buser missed the point.

The idea was not Mr. Buser’s to begin with. Let’s pretend, however, that it was Mr. Buser’s idea. In this case it would have been perfectly fine for Mr. Buser to have had an epiphany midway into his writing and gone, “Whoa — this is a Review article.”

But the idea was mine. It wasn’t a particularly inventive idea, but it was mine nonetheless. In turn, Mr. Buser had absolutely no business in deciding where it best belonged. If Mr. Buser wishes to have such freedoms, I encourage him to come up See Letters, page 7

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

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

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

The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review. In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response.

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

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

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

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

End of Semester Too Late to Effectively Address Stress As college students, we are subject to intensely formulaic cycles of stress, generally culminating in a few hellishly busy weeks at the end of the semester during which we eschew social conventions, like changing our sweatpants regularly, in favor of consuming unnatural amounts of caffeine. For most of us, this severe period of stress will not prepare us for our post-academic lives, since most assessments in the “real world” don’t follow such an artificially regimented sequence.

But stress isn’t just a problem during the relatively short midterms and finals periods.

And though the majority of us deal with high levels of stress throughout the semester, it’s only at the tail end of the academic year that the majority of mental health offerings are most apparent; OSWELL schedules activities including coloring sessions, one-minute dance parties and a visit from therapy dogs to help students deal with increased finalsrelated anxiety.

While these may be useful tools for some to combat acute instances of test-related panic, it can also feel trivializing,when we are told that the answer to our problem is just taking a break from whatever work we’re frantically attempting to complete Especially since the one surefire strategy to target the source of the stress is just to tackle the onslaught of projects and assessments hanging over our heads.

More importantly, by the time we reach the conclusion of the semester, it’s already too late to effectively address the significant mental wellness issues faced by many students on campus. What Obies need is a far more consistent and far-reaching approach, which would require additional resources at the administrative level.

The Counseling Center is the only source of mental health services for many students during their time at Oberlin, particularly for those who lack financial resources to pay for treatment off campus. This past year, the Counseling Center only referred 9 percent of patients to outside therapists. Though they added a new staff member this year, the Counseling Center could benefit from additional staffing. At this time of year, it can take three weeks to get an appointment with the Counseling Center psychiatrist. Even patients looking to see a therapist can still have a hard time securing an appointment at a time that fit into their packed schedules. The small staff means that a good patienttherapist match might not be found on the first or second try. With more funding, the staff could be expanded to suit the real, omnipresent needs of students.

This problem is compounded by the absence of other practicing psychiatrists in Oberlin. Even if a student has the financial resources to obtain additional or alternate services outside the Counseling Center, travelling outside Oberlin in order to reach these doctors can be an insurmountable impediment. Beyond student needs, this kind of barrier to mental health care points to larger socioeconomic problems in Lorain County.

What keeps Oberlin students from accessing mental health care beyond the Counseling Center could entirely prohibit low-income residents from accessing mental health care at all.

Further allocation of funds by the College to support mental health would allow more students to receive effective treatment and help the administration pool resources before we hit a critical mass of demand. This demand extends beyond just finals and midterms; an especially high number of students may need access to mental healthcare services after events like last semester’s hate-related incidents or in the case of a national disaster.

Additionally, programs that begin at the start of the semester in which students, perhaps in particular first-years, learn about making healthy life choices, such as getting regular exercise and not overcommitting to extracurricular activities, could be far more effective than waiting until the last weeks of the year when free time is at such a premium. Aiming to break stress-inducing habits sooner rather than later could elicit greater turnout with more overarching results.

Programs like these could help supplement the important work that some student-led groups like Active Minds do to promote mental health wellness continuously throughout the semester. Student groups play a vital role since, in order for offered services to be effective, they must be embraced and utilized by students.

As we are calling for student access to more thorough mental health services, it’s necessary to recognize that the majority of people in the U.S. don’t have access to this level of mental health care. As Oberlin students, we are easily, and rightfully, frustrated when we feel the services we receive don’t measure up to the College’s price tag, though these issues extend to a national discussion.

The scope of these concerns, reaches beyond the sphere of the College, and even the town. Access to healthcare necessary for mental well-being should be a right, rather than a privilege, for more than just tuition-paying Obies.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review editorial board — the Editorsin-Chief, managing editor and Opinions editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

Page 7

Democrats Must Move to the Left Crisis Grips Republican Party Oliver Bok Contributing Writer Whenever the conversation turns to national politics, I often hear people whine and moan about how Congress can never get anything done. I think differently: Every time I hear the words “bipartisan coalition,” I tremble at the legislative monstrosity to come.

The Iraq War, the banking deregulation of the 1990s, the Patriot Act: all brought to you by bipartisan coalitions. If some of the “serious” people in both parties had their way, Social Security and Medicare and the rest of our threadbare safety net would also be dismantled by a bipartisan coalition. If another major terrorist attack occurs, U.S. totalitarianism will be ushered in by a bipartisan coalition preaching the gospel of Safety and Security — you can be sure about that.

Cooperation between the parties rarely brings anything good for the U.S.; it’s usually far better for the country that the political tribes focus solely on beating the shit out of each other instead of on lawmaking.

I’m not saying there is no difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. I’ve voted for Team Blue in every election so far, and I fully expect to vote for the Democrats in the future. But I also think it’s vital that liberals face the cold hard truth: The Democratic Party is a staunchly conservative party.

To illustrate my point, let’s embark on a short thought experiment: Imagine the Rapture happened and all the Republicans in Congress suddenly disappeared, leaving the godless Democrats to legislate at will. What legislation would our elected officials pass?

Here are my guesses: immigration reform; an assault weapons ban and an array of accompanying weak gun control laws; perhaps some kind of cap and trade law, provided it gave enough money to corporations; a tax hike on the top tax bracket; and maybe a tax hike on the financial sector.

I support all of those policies — that’s why I vote Democrat. But here’s what I’m very sure would not be on the agenda: single-payer healthcare; public financing for elections; substantive financial reform that would end “too big to fail”; a basic minimum income; or any other kind of expansion of the welfare state. Even with a free hand, the Democrats would be totally incapable of producing any kind of radical reform. Why?

Well, one obvious explanation is that the Democrats are a corporate party that represents corporate interests. I think that has a lot of truth to it, but it’s not the whole story. While both parties are dominated by the interests of big business, American politics is also a duopoly, and duopolies behave in a very specific way.

Imagine a beach. Every American voter is placed on the beach according to their political views; if they are on the left, they sit on the left; if they are on the far right, they sit on the far right and so on. The two parties are represented by two ice cream trucks (you can credit Hirschel Kasper, my Econ 101 professor, for this analogy). Naturally, each ice cream truck wants to maximize its business, and generally people will buy from the ice cream truck that is closest to where they are sitting. So where on the beach should the ice cream trucks position themselves? That is, where on the ideological spectrum should the parties reside to maximize their votes?

If the ice cream trucks act rationally, both trucks should end up right next to each other in the middle of the beach; there should be an equal amount of people to the left of the Democratic ice cream truck as there are people on the right of the Republican ice cream truck, and there should be very little space between the ice cream trucks at all.

If one of the ice cream trucks thinks it’s in the middle of the beach but is really off to one side, the other ice cream truck will win more business. The ice cream truck that lost will then move closer to the middle of the beach.

We see this pattern quite clearly in presidential politics. Many presidential elections come close to evenly splitting the electorate, because the candidates are very good at positioning themselves in the dead center of the beach. When a party starts losing landslide elections (like the Democrats in the 1980s), they move their ice cream trucks towards the center, and Presidential elections become competitive again.

But there’s a problem with this analysis. The Republicans have lost two straight Presidential elections by sizable margins, and yet they show zero indication of moving to the center. The Republican Party has lost the ability to act rationally; due to a powerful conservative wing, the Republican ice cream truck is stuck in the sand on the right side of the beach. The See Progress, page 10

Sean Para Columnist The Republican Party faces a grave impasse in its role in American politics.

Torn between radical ideology and pragmatism, the party is splitting into two wings.

On one side lies the radically conservative section of the party, which emerged from the neoconservative movement and has been invigorated in recent years by the Tea Party movement.

On the other side lie the more moderate Republicans, still tied to conservative values but seeking a more practical compromise in the current political deadlock.

The extreme conservatism that has become the mainstay of the party and is espoused by its leading members is a truly novel development in American politics.

Never before has a party been so defined by ideology, to the point where it will disrupt politics as usual and lose supporters based upon its political program.

American parties have largely been based upon wide coalitions of political views, as the Democrats still are. The Federalists, Democratic-Republicans (historical antecedents to the modern Democrats), Whigs and Republicans in the past all functioned on a broad and varied basis; their primary goal was not to further a political agenda but to achieve power.

The Democratic Party of the 1950s and 1960s, for example, included Southern segregationists with Northeastern liberals and was able to function successfully despite its seemingly contradictory constituencies.

The Republican Party’s problems, therefore, stem from its extreme commitment to neoconservatism that contradicts established precedents based upon wide-ranging political interests coalescing into opposing parties.

The question all this raises is, of course, why have the Republicans be-

come so committed to ideology over a coalition-based system? It is primarily because the Republican Party’s primary constituency has become the super-rich, who favor government deregulation, lower taxes and a weak welfare state, as these policies best serve their interests.

These are the policies that have allowed the super-rich to gain wealth over the last three decades while the rest of the country has experienced little change in income. The super-rich are largely responsible for funding the campaigns of the Republicans in office, and therefore Republicans must continue to work for these policies.

Thus, this extreme ideology is the result of practical considerations, but those of a narrow constituency. The people that vote for the Republicans are largely won over by considerations secondary to this main agenda, issues such as gun control, abortion and religion. Ironically those who suffer most from Republicans’ policies are the same people who vote the Republicans into office. The rarified and super-rich Republican base thus supports the party and is able to gain an undue influence on the political system.

The current political situation is untenable in the long term. The recent budget and debt standoff showed the inability of radical Republicans to force their political program on the rest of the country. They do not have enough support within their own party or in the country as a whole.

The American political system is not built for such an ideological party. The future of the Republican Party lies either in return to moderation (the Democrats are a much more centrist party than conservatives would have you think) or a split into two parties, one extremely conservative and the other encompassing the moderate elements of the party.

For American politics, radicalism is a no-go in terms of appeal to the public or success in policymaking.

Letters to the Editors, Cont.

Continued from page 6 with his own articles.

Mostly I’m insulted that Mr. Buser believed such a gesture might go unnoticed. While The Grape entertains a “competitive” relationship with the Review, at times insinuating that no living students read it, we do not pretend to assume its status as the College’s authoritative news source.

In short, The Grape reads the Review.

Cover to cover. Every week. If Mr. Buser wishes to hide stolen material from The Grape in the future, I would recommend that he publish someplace other than the Review.

–Maxwell Cohn Editor-in-Chief , The Grape

Healthcare for the Poor Part of Protecting American Values Dear Editors, Many agree with former Vice President Dick Cheney that we have the world’s most awesome military, one that is more powerful than those of Russia and China combined. And Dick Cheney argues that we must pay any price to maintain our superior defense.

I agree that we must have a strong

defense, but it is just as important that we remain committed to ensuring that America’s healthcare system for the poor soon becomes just as good as it now is for the rich. We don’t need much of a defense if we don’t do a lot more to help the poor, who often are disproportionately represented on the battlefields defending our American values.

–Booker Peek Professor Emeritus, Africana Studies

Member of Alumni Association Reflects on Thanksgiving Ah, Thanksgiving. This time of year always brings pleasant memories of holidays past and allows me to look forward with anticipation to the upcoming season of family get-togethers. When I was a student at Oberlin back in the ’80s, things were a bit different for us around the holidays than they are now for you.

A quick look at Oberlin’s website just revealed several things to me: 1. There is an event called Thanksgiving Recess, during which it appears that classes are canceled on the day after Thanksgiving.

2. Students can look for and offer car rides to other states. “Looking for a ride eastward! Gotta see da fam!”

3. Alcohol Awareness Week is only three days long (Nov. 18–20).

When I was a student, classes were canceled only on Thursday. You were expected to attend your classes on Friday. This seemed rather draconian to me, but as an inveterate rule-follower, I abided. I spent my freshman-year Thanksgiving on campus, eating turkey and the trimmings at Dascomb. I’m sure I had a pleasant time with my friends, but it wasn’t the same thing as being in a home with family. The next year, my friend Steve invited me to join him on a day trip to Akron, where we would share Thanksgiving dinner with family friends of his. This was nice, but I felt some trepidation. I had met this family once before, and they had impressed me as being very aware of current events. To ready myself for stimulating conversation over mashed potatoes, I spent the week before Thanksgiving reading The New York Times cover to cover (remember, this is before the internet) in order to catch up on goings-on in the world. I wanted to be able to keep pace with the conversation and not embarrass myself by not knowing an important bit of news, such as this item from The New York Times (“Vigil for Flying Saucer Brings Death to Women,” The New York Times, Nov. 19, 1982): “A man and woman apparently waiting for a flying saucer spent a month

in a car in the snowy wilderness of northeastern Minnesota before the woman died and the man fell unconscious, the authorities say.” I can’t say I remember reading that particular story, but I do recall that I did an acceptable job of following the conversation at the dinner table. It was very stressful though!

The next year, when I was a junior (third-year to you), I knew I had had enough of this rule-following and family-missing, and I decided that I was going to join my folks in Westport, CT, where we often celebrated Thanksgiving with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Brian. I wanted it to be a surprise, however, and this is where things got tricky. First of all, I figured I needed to fly. There was no website to look for shared car rides, and besides, we were all supposed to be back on campus Friday morning, so not too many people were even posting signs offering rides.

Problem was, I had no money in the bank with which to purchase a plane ticket. And believe it or not, most of us did not have credit cards. ATM cards, yes (they had been around for only a couple of years); credit cards, no. I called another relative, Aunt Sally, and asked her if she could mail me a check for two hundred dollars, which I would repay sometime down the road. She did, I bought the ticket, and next thing you know, I landed

at [John F.] Kennedy Airport on Thanksgiving Eve. I currently live in Brooklyn, and can comfortably get myself around by public transportation, but as an Oberlin student who had grown up in central Pennsylvania, finding my way to Grand Central Terminal to board a Metro-North train to Connecticut was a little challenging. I did it, though, and when the train let me off at the Westport station, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I knew the route to the house, and whether it was due to my frugality or a lack of cabs, I decided to walk. In the dark. Carrying my heavy suitcase on my head. When I finally rang the bell of my aunt’s house, and heard the exclamations of surprise from my relatives as the opening door revealed this unexpected guest, I knew I had made the right decision. It was my most memorable Thanksgiving ever.

During my last year at Oberlin, I lived off campus, and decided to stay in town and prepare a Thanksgiving dinner at home with friends. It was delicious, comfortable, and easy. I hope that you enjoy your upcoming four-day Thanksgiving Recess, whether you spend it with family or friends, in Oberlin or away!

–Sarah Anderson Richards, OC ’85 At-Large Board Member of the Alumni Association

K E E W

S I TH D O O G L E E F

Between researching for papers, preparing for exams, figuring out Winter Term plans, getting down at Splitchers, making use of Feve Happy Hour and finding the courage to talk to that mysterious cutie on campus — your mind might not be focused on your health. College can be a demanding and chaotic place, but it is important to take care of yourself as well as your coursework.

Chill Out

In a 2012 study, many incoming college students have reported feeling overwhelmed and stressed because of their coursework. More than twice as many incoming females students (40.5 percent) reported feeling regularly overwhelmed as firstyear male students (18.3 percent).

To lower your stress levels, eat healthy, well-balanced meals.

Avoid caffeine. It may lead to anxiety, insomnia, nervousness and trembling.

Cut back on refined sugars. Excess sugars cause frequent change in blood glucose levels, which adds stress to the body’s physiological functioning.

Reduce drug and alcohol intake. These substances can cause headaches, decrease coping mechanisms and amplify depression.

Get physical. Add at least 20 minutes of aerobic activity to your day. Go out and hug your roommate or pet a dog.

Physical contact relieves stress.

Balance Your Meals

Although CDS offers an enticing buffet of pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs and French fries everyday, it is important to maintain a healthy diet.

A balanced diet, which includes all food groups, is important to supply nutrition and energy to your body in order to maintain healthy functioning of its cells, tissues and organs, and to support growth and development.

Don’t skip breakfast. If you do, you’re more likely to make poor food choices throughout the day.

Eat at least three meals each day.

Don’t consume high levels of saturated and trans fats, added sugars, salt or alcohol.

The average person should eat four servings of fruit, five servings of vegetables, three ounces or more of whole-grain products and three cups of fat-free or low-fat milk products each day.

Work it Out

You need at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity activity each week.

Additionally, you should perform muscle-strengthening activities on two or more days a week, working major muscle groups like legs, hips, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms.

Regular activity reduces risk of chronic conditions like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Find an activity you enjoy and do it at moderate or vigorous intensity for at least 10 minutes intervals.

Ride your bike around campus. Take a stroll through the outskirts of town.

Take a yoga or aerobics class next semester.

Talk about it. Speak to a friend, parent, counselor or doctor about your feelings.

ep

le S

f o

y t u a e B

e h t n i e ic jo Re

This Week Editor: Olivia Gericke

CALENDAR

Sources: CDC, New York Times, College Drinking Prevention, American Freshman National Norms

College students should get seven to nine hours of sleep a day.

Lack of sleep can be a risk factor for chronic diseases and conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity and depression.

College students who do not sleep enough can feel sluggish during the next day and have trouble concentrating, participating in class, taking tests and making decisions.

Regulate your sleep schedule. Try to wake up and go to sleep at the same times each day.

Avoid eating a large meal before going to bed.

Only use your bed for sleep. Don’t study, read, watch TV or play video games in your bed.

If you need to nap, limit it to an hour and doze off before 3 p.m.

It takes 15 to 30 minutes to wind down before bed. During this time, put away your cell phone, laptop or iPad and just relax.

College students with medicine-related majors are more likely to receive fewer hours of sleep than humanities majors.

Put a Cork in It Avoid binge drinking.

Each year more than 1,850 students die from alcohol poisoning and alcohol-related injuries; 700,000 students are assaulted by classmates who were drinking, and 100,000 students are victims of alcohol-related sexual assaults and rapes.

25 percent of college students have reported negative academic consequences due to their drinking, such as missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams and papers and receiving lower grades overall.

In a recent survey, 19 percent of American college students met the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence.

If you or your friend displays characteristics of alcohol poisoning, it is important to call Safety and Security.

Oberlin Brass Ensemble Friday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m.

Celebrate! ’Tis the Season Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m.

Submerge Saturday, Nov. 23 at 9 p.m

Small Jazz Ensembles Sunday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m.

The Oberlin Brass Ensemble will be hosting a free concert in Finney Chapel. The program includes six pieces and will be conducted by Michael Roest, OC’06.

The Oberlin Business Partnership will be hosting their annual fundraising event at the Oberlin Inn. The evening will include hors d’oeuvres, live music, dancing, lucky number auctions and a $1,000 cash raffle.

Student group Solarity will be throwing an ocean-themed event in Hales Gymnasium. The event will include a showcase of student bands and an exhibition in the Cat in the Cream.

Come to the Cat in the Cream for a concert of student jazz ensembles. The concert features the Melchior Maetzener Ensemble, the Joseph Simmons Ensemble and the Patrick Graney Ensemble.

Piscapo’s Arm Sketch Comedy Show Monday, Nov. 25 at 9 p.m.

The Cat in the Cream will be hosting the Piscapo’s Arm Sketch Comedy Group, featuring original sketch comedy.

Thanksgiving Thursday, Nov. 28

Opinions

Page 10

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

Smoking Crisis Demands Tobacco Ban, Social Justice Machmud Makhmudov Contributing Writer Last week, The Oberlin Review published a column (“Smoking Ban Proposal Infringes on Freedoms,” The Oberlin Review, Nov. 15, 2013) penned by Aaron Pressman in response to a column that I wrote the previous week (“TobaccoFree Policy Would Reaffirm Campus Values,” The Oberlin Review, Nov. 8, 2013). I would like to thank the author for his honesty and enthusiasm. I hope that my response sufficiently addresses the concerns that he raises.

In his column, the author writes, “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”; I interpret this as implying that the only way that individuals can be adversely affected in a smoking area is by the negative health effects of secondhand smoke. I would kindly request that the author also consider how a pervasive smoking culture — whether relegated to designated smoking zones or not — affects those attempting to quit.

Studies done by the Center for Disease Control demonstrate that 69 percent of smokers desire to quit, but only 25 percent of those who use medication in the process are able to do so.

For those who don’t use medication, the success rate for quitting falls to 5 percent. Anybody who is interested in verifying the validity of this study can simply Google “smoking quitting rates.”

Why is this relevant? Environment and culture play a tremendous role in an individual’s ability to quit smoking. Having a campus overblown with cigarette smoke makes it much more likely for those who are in the quitting pro-

cess to succumb to the temptation of old habits.

Do we really want to stack the deck even more against those who are already fighting against chemical addiction? In my opinion, a compassionate Oberlin should be lending a hand to those attempting to quit smoking by fostering a supportive and healthy environment that isn’t conducive to relapsing into old habits.

The author also states that my argument of tobacco use as a social justice concern is “completely irrelevant” and “has absolutely no relevance to the issue at hand.” Respectfully, I could not disagree more. Understanding my argument simply involves a comparison of successful quitting rates for those who use cessation medication versus those who don’t. As mentioned earlier, those numbers are 25 percent to 5 percent, respectively.

Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that access to cessation products plays a tremendous role in the quitting process. Unfortunately, these products are not cheap, and the effects of that are apparent. As I mentioned in my previous article, there is a clear correlation between income level and smoking rates, as demonstrated by studies also conducted by the CDC. The proposal under discussion to make Oberlin a tobacco-free campus includes the provision that cessation products be made available at a discounted rate.

I’m not sure what the author thinks, but my definition of social justice states that nobody should be denied the opportunity to live a healthy life due to financial circumstances.

Frankly, I think that it is morally irresponsible to understand that certain groups of people have a higher propensity to smoke — a habit we know is harmful — and simultaneously continue

perpetuating a culture that pressures people to smoke.

I would like to thank the author once again for his sincerity. He has brought up several important matters to consider. I would also, however, caution him and others not to lose themselves in an esoteric thought exercise when considering this issue. Let’s talk about the stakes that are actually at play. Are we really a campus that values life so little that we allow it to wither away slowly around us, person by person, life by life, while most of us walk by with indifference?

Are we really a campus that is hypocritical enough to champion ourselves as stewards of the environment while refusing to take a stand on an industry that dumps 1.69 billion pounds of toxic waste onto the Earth every year?

Are we really a campus that is so callous to one another that we refuse to accept the responsibility that we have to ensure that everybody, regardless of income, has access to an environment that supports the decision to quit a habit?

My answer is no. Oberlin’s legacy calls on us to live up to an authentic sense of compassion and recognize the fragile beauty of every life.

Mostly, it calls on us not to be silent during the everlasting struggle for justice that defines our institution and its spirit.

Every year, an Oberlin first-year picks up the habit of smoking. Every year, as some of us know too well, loved ones are lost and lives are torn apart by those entirely preventable deaths.

Sadly, their voices will now forever be silent, save for one harrowing, echoing question: Will you remain silent, or will you take a stand?

This week, Student Senate is proud to announce that we stand with the students of The City College of New York as they fight for their rights as students, including their right to retain the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Student and Community Center as a campus resource. We join numerous other student groups, both on our campus and on many others across the nation, in condemning the actions of the administration and supporting the students in their protest. For the full text of our formal letter of support, check out the Student Senate website.

The rest of last Sunday’s Senate plenary meeting was also very productive; the meeting included the appointment of new members to the Library, Admissions and Winter Term committees and the tentative scheduling of further venues for students to interact with Oberlin’s trustees.

There was positive discussion concerning the proposed Undocumented Students Fund, collaboration with the Office of Disability Services and the upcoming referenda on the Student Finance Committee and Senate, which concern pay and related matters.

As always, there will be another Senate Plenary Session this coming Sunday from 7–9:30 p.m. in Wilder 215, and all students are invited to attend.

Submitted by Emma Snape, Secretary of Student Senate

Progress Possible Only Legislators Make Millions on Capitol Hill, Must Reaffirm Commitment to Public Service If Democrats Shift Left Continued from page 7 rational party leaders who want to maximize votes — think Karl Rove — have lost much of their control.

If one of the ice cream trucks is irrationally stuck on the right side of the beach, how should the rational ice cream truck respond? To maximize business, the rational ice cream truck should move right next to the irrational ice cream truck. That way, the rational ice cream truck will win both the business on the left side of the beach and the business on the center-right.

In other words, the Democratic Party will continue to consistently win elections, but only by articulating a solidly centerright agenda. The Democratic ice cream truck will get more business, but only by placing itself on the right side of the beach. If the Republican-Legislator-Rapture took place, the Democrats would enact center-right legislation — that’s who those politicians are.

The Democrats “win,” but conservative ideology triumphs.

So yes, the Tea Party is costing the Republicans elections. But on a substantive level, the Tea Party has made America a far more conservative country by dragging both parties to the right.

And the truth of the matter is that the Tea Party hasn’t cost the Republicans very much. Voters follow politicians more than politicians follow voters. People choose to sit near the ice cream trucks. If both ice cream trucks

are on the right side of the beach, that’s where the majority of people will sit.

My assertion is true for two reasons. Firstly, American politics is tribal. Calling yourself a “Democrat” is not a political statement; it’s a statement of identity.

Secondly, we live in a country where almost all political debate is framed in a partisan way. If you turn on CNN, you’ll see debate after debate with three people: a Republican operative, a Democratic operative and an “Independent” (someone who intentionally positions himself somewhere between the two parties).

If you consider yourself a Republican, you’re very likely to agree with the Republican, even if the Democrat’s position is closer to where your opinion used to reside. Most Americans change their opinions to fit their party.

Over the last few years, very few Republicans — even mainstream, “liberal” Republicans — have switched ice cream trucks; instead, they’ve gotten up and moved with their party.

So what does this mean for all of us Oberlin lefties — the lonely liberals and socialists, sitting far, far away from any hope of ice cream?

We have to mirror the Tea Party. We need the Democratic Party to act just as irrationally as the Republicans. We need to stop deferring to the party elite.

We need someone to run against Hillary Clinton in 2016. We need to vote for them. We need to start dragging that ice cream truck.

Sam White Contributing Writer

Every four years, the influence of money in politics becomes painfully evident to even the least politically minded Americans, as the airwaves flood with aggressive and incessant political advertisements funded by corporate-backed Super PACs. Yet the influence of money in everyday policymaking, equally aggressive and incessant outside election season, rarely reveals itself to the casual observer.

In October of this year, the political blogosphere saw a flurry of online petitions calling on members of Senate and Congress to refuse to accept their pay until they had reopened the federal government from its fortnight-long shutdown, restoring its authority to spend money. Almost half of these lawmakers obliged, including several who had already donated their $174,000 salaries to charity. Others, however, denounced the move as a publicity stunt, purely symbolic and otherwise meaningless. Their critique is ill-founded and in poor taste, yet it says a great deal about our elected representatives.

To the average American, no part of a six-figure salary is meaningless.

This is true, too, for the average federal worker furloughed during the shutdown, earning closer to $80,000 per year. And it’s also true for some politicians. Freshman Congressman Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ), a Newark city employee turned councilman, explained to NorthJersey.com that forfeiting his pay would leave a substantial impact on his family: “I have a family to raise.

I have triplets in school, and unlike some of the members on the other side of the aisle, I’m not a millionaire.”

There are, in fact, millionaires on both sides of the aisle — and more

than a few. While the median American household has a net worth of $66,740, as of 2010, the figure for members of Congress was more than $1 million higher, with relatively little variation between parties. The 50 wealthiest members of Congress, according to the latest report by Congressional Quarterly, all have over $6.5 million, and Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) — at the top of this year’s list — has over $430 million in assets. Speaking in these terms, it is easier to understand why some lawmakers, such as Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), say that conversations about what members of Congress chose to do with the mere $7,600 they earned during the shutdown “really don’t matter.”

There is nothing wrong with being rich, but there is a great deal left unsaid when a substantial portion of our lawmakers are over 100 times richer than their constituents. And the disparity begs the question: Why do multimillionaires run for Congress when they could easily find better salaries elsewhere?

Ideally, the answer to this question would be simple: Our lawmakers run for office out of a commitment to serving their fellow citizens, those with less power than themselves. Yet at a time when less than 10 percent of Americans feel that Congress is performing well in representing the people in the federal government, it is reasonable to presume that this is not universally the case.

The more realistic answer is that there is more money to be won in Washington than the simple six-figure congressional salary, and much of it comes from the same corporations that donate so heavily to political ad campaigns. On Capitol Hill, the money takes the form of lobbying, where com-

panies seek to influence legislation in ways that serve their own interests.

And for lobbying firms seeking to swell their ranks with law-trained professionals talented in political persuasion tactics, Congress is the natural feeding ground.

Of members of Congress not elected to another term after 2010, roughly half of those who have found new employment have taken up jobs in lobbying. Rarely, though, do they independently seek these positions after losing an election or leaving office. Instead, members of lobbying firms approach them over the course of their congressional term and offer the lawmakers the promise of lobbying positions at the end of their tenure, with starting salaries as much as 1,452 percent greater on average than the congressional salary. In exchange for the position, lawmakers agree for the rest of their term to push for legislation — often deregulation of a wide range of industries — that is favorable to the lobbying firm’s clients.

The whole process takes place in negotiations and contracts that lawmakers are not required to disclose.

And the process is all too often a cycle: Law-trained lobbying clients working for large corporations, in turn, then run for the seats vacated by legislatorsturned-lobbyists. The corporations, naturally, help fund their campaigns.

In the end, the issue is not the dominance of wealthy individuals in our federal government: It is the fact that these individuals continue to prove that they are committed not to their constituents but to their own career ambitions. As a result, these lawmakers are fundamentally unfit to serve us, the American public, in government.

We, at the polls, must direct their job search elsewhere.

Arts The Oberlin Review

November 22, 2013

Page 11

Improv Artistry Collides at Counterpoints Odette Chalandon Staff Writer Last Saturday, SoundFarm, the concert series for improvised music, and Exhibition Initiative, the student-run visual arts curatorial group, collaborated to create Counterpoints, a musical and visual improvisational show. The event, which took place in Fischer Gallery, consisted of four acts. The first three acts were performed by two musicians and one visual artist, while the last act featured one musician and one visual artist.

The room was organized such that each act had a preset station, much like an elementary school science fair.

Counterpoints could not have been held in a better location.

Fischer Gallery’s towering white walls subtly evoked the anticipation of a blank canvas. This feeling was heightened by the knowledge that the whole space was to come alive to support the performers. The use of Fischer Gallery allowed for an interplay not only between audio and visual art, but also between the creators’ private process and their public performance.

In the first act, keyboardist and double-degree sophomore Christy

Rose joined double-degree sophomore Matthew Omahan, who used his computer. The pair were placed on either side of a large canvas. The visual artist, Matthew Gallagher, OC ’13, picked up his paint-covered rubber band tool and prepared to launch, making brief eye contact with the musicians before they began their piece. Watching the performance, one could see the artists thinking, making decisions and listening to each other. One of the best moments of the performance was when the top right corner of the canvas came unattached from the wall.

A surprise like that could have sunk a rehearsed show, but the musicians picked up in the temporary absence of the artist. The improvised nature of the show ultimately saved the piece from failing.

The second act, which passed much more slowly, felt like watching an ongoing process rather than a performance. Each artist really took their time, making a move, observing its effect and then deciding whether to proceed or to try a different route.

Electric guitarist and Conservatory junior Sivan Silver-Swartz was off to the right, head tilted slightly down, listening and occasionally glancing up at the piece unfolding before him.

Double-degree senior Devin Frenze maneuvers a no-input mixing board, collaborating with College senior and percussionist Dan Friedman (left) as College senior Taylor Herman (right) experiments with acrylic paint on Plexiglas.

The three performed together for Counterpoints, a student-curated, improvised music and art event.

Grace Lu

The medium for artist and College senior Katie Rotman was brightly colored red string, which she looped through hooks nailed into the wall.

The second musician, College senior Porter James, walked around

the space, holding handheld radios playing static. As a whole, they made more complete use of the available space. Like the first act, there were moments that enhanced the experience by taking the audience out of

the performance: Rotman stopped to eat a carrot, and James caught a classical music station on one of his radios. The artists laughed, and so See Fischer, page 13

DJ Collective Digs into Vinyl Vault for Workshop Series Dessane Cassell Arts Editor Ben Goldfarb, OC ’93, describes his transition back to vinyl records as a return to “artifacts of [his] life.” A DJ and the founding member of New York City-based DJ collective I Love Vinyl, Goldfarb spent Friday night discussing his early DJing career and his preference for vinyl over digital formats while leading a hands-on workshop with fellow alumnus, old friend and DJ Opuruiche Miller, OC ’98.

Goldfarb, who DJs under the name Scribe, founded I Love Vinyl in 2009 to get back to the beloved format with which he started his career. After spending a few years DJing in digital formats, he returned to vinyl for a small gig, and quickly remembered why records used to be his medium of choice. Nostalgic for all the old memories he had attached to his records — even the feel of them in his hands — Goldfarb got a group of his friends and fellow DJs together for an all-vinyl party that would form the basis of the collective.

In addition to Goldfarb and Miller, I Love Vinyl consists of DJs and record industry veterans Jon Oliver, Amir Abdullah, Geology and The Twilite Tone. Together with Wax Poetics magazine, music retailers Turntable Lab and Halcyon and the online music publication Fusicology, the members of I Love Vinyl host a weekly all-vinyl dance party at the Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, in addition to hosting a radio show and pursuing their own individual projects.

This past weekend, the entire I Love Vinyl team traveled to Oberlin to host a series of vinyl-themed lectures and events. Organized by Hip-Hop 101 — Oberlin’s student-led hip-hop programming organization — in conjunction with Goldfarb and Miller, the series commemorated the 65th anniversary of the long-playing record and the Oberlin Africana community’s

Kumba week creativity celebration. The series featured educational lectures, demonstrations and workshops about a range of vinyl-related topics, including music production, DJ techniques and a lecture on Detroit’s legendary independent jazz label, Strata. The weekend culminated in an all-vinyl dance party at the ’Sco featuring the I Love Vinyl DJs and special guest DJ Spinna.

On Friday night, Miller and Goldfarb hosted a vinyl DJ workshop in the Lord Lounge of Afrikan Heritage House. Oliver, Abdullah, Geology and The Twilite Tone were also in attendance to contribute their own input and DJing advice while cracking a few jokes with the hosts every once in a while.

Miller began the workshop by explaining how he first became interested in DJing. He moved to Oberlin at age 15 with his parents — his father is Chair of the Religion Department A.G. Miller — and had his first encounter with live DJing when he ended up at a college party Goldfarb DJed at Stevenson Hall, which was then “the new dining hall.” Amid laughs and immediate questions from the audience, Goldfarb stepped in to clarify, remarking, “OK, there were not parties there. That was completely our doing. I saw that space and I was like, ‘We need to have a party here,’ and so we made it happen.”

From what must have been an epic party, the two struck up a friendship that would lead to years of the musical and professional collaboration that continues between the two today.

Over the next couple months, Miller spent almost every weekend at Goldfarb’s, practicing the art of maneuvering and mixing vinyl records. After initially struggling to mix two records together, Miller was eventually able to build up to mixing three, four and eventually five records together. He nailed his first gig — DJing a

formal at Afrikan Heritage House before he was even a student at Oberlin — and started to pursue DJing more seriously.

After college, he traveled to South Africa on a Watson Fellowship to study the country’s hip-hop and youth culture, and is now a DJ instructor at Dubspot, a New York DJ school.

Throughout their workshop, Goldfarb and Miller provided the audience with a basic introduction to working with vinyl. They discussed their own musical backgrounds and the beginning of their friendship before –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Opuruiche Miller, OC '98, and Ben Goldfarb, OC '93, provided the audience with an engaging and, at times, hands-on introduction to working with vinyl records.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––– covering everything from the mechanics of their turntables — three impeccable sets of Techniques 1200s — to some DJing terminology and basic spinning techniques.

From the outset, the workshop was casual and intimate. Goldfarb, Miller and the rest of the I Love Vinyl team punctuated their demonstrations and bits of advice with funny stories and jokes directed towards each other; it was clear that they were all old friends. Miller and Goldfarb provided the audience with an engaging and, at times, hands-on introduction to working with vinyl records. Several audience members, including young kids and several College students, were given the chance to step behind the turntables and practice needle dropping, a DJing technique used to cut into and out of different records without using the fader.

Miller demonstrated the technique at

first, explaining how to count the beats of the music and drop the second record in at just the right moment. When Miller asked for volunteers from the audience, a young boy was the first to shoot his hand up, eager to try the technique himself.

The boy nailed it right away, and Miller then turned back to the audience to find another volunteer. Standing at the front of the crowd and making what must have seemed like a terrified face at the thought of going up there, I may as well have shot my hand up like the little boy before me, because I was immediately called upon to try the technique myself.

As someone who has trouble clapping to a beat, I did not expect the demonstration to go well. Yet while I never quite managed to drop the needle correctly — Miller let me go after the fifth “not quite” — the experience of standing behind the turntables was a cool one, even if I did get shown up by an elementary school student.

So with only a slightly bruised ego, I stuck around for the rest of the workshop and learned about a few more DJing techniques, though I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be attempting them on my own in front of an audience again.

The workshop was followed by another lecture in Bibbins, during which Abdullah, a renowned record collector and compilation curator as part of Kon & Amir, discussed Detroit’s short-lived but influential independent jazz label Strata.

The series continued into last Saturday, with a live I Love Vinyl radio show on WOBC and a record dig in Cleveland. The series brought a bit of something for all kinds of music lovers. From initial workshops like the Vinyl DJ event to more advanced production classes and the all-vinyl dance party, the series was multifaceted and offered people a good introduction to DJing or just a fun evening.

Arts

Page 12

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

OSTA's Company Puts New Twist on Old Standard Anne Pride-Wilt Staff Writer People love to talk about love, and as far as Stephen Sondheim is concerned, people love to sing about it, too. This conviction was on full display in the Oberlin Student Theatre Association’s production of his musical Company, which ran in Wilder Main from Thursday to Saturday last week. OSTA’s Company was a clean, stylish show that stayed faithful to the original without seeming derivative, thanks to excellent performances executed with vigor and enthusiasm. While the lack of microphones made dialogue and lyrics often difficult to decipher, the verve of the production overcame that considerable set-back, rendering this version of the classic musical a pronounced success.

Company revolves around the character of Robert — played with appropriate charm and everyman appeal by College first-year Hank Miller — and his relationship to his own bachelorhood as influenced by his encounters with the couples with which he has surrounded himself. The original book, by George Furth, is well-written, but the

show’s best moments come from the combination of Stephen Sondheim’s characteristically idiosyncratic music and clever lyrics.

The musical is presented as a series of short vignettes, tied together by the indecisive Robert at his 35th birthday party. Robert spends time with his various coupled friends, punctuated by songs on the topic of — what else? — love and commitment, before eventually reaching a decision about the direction of his romantic life. The plot, to say the least, is unconventionally nonlinear and sometimes seems unfocused. However, the plot is really not the point.

Instead, the draw of Company is the music and, in the case of OSTA’s production, the consistently excellent performances coached by director and College sophomore Robert Bonfiglio.

Standout performers included Miller in the role of Robert, and College first-year Zoë DePreta, who played the neurotic Amy — one of Robert’s coupled friends — in the Saturday night showing. She exuded a frantic, brittle energy and See Company, page 13

College first-year Hank Miller (left) and Conservatory junior Kaitlin Loeb share a moment in a scene from OSTA’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. The show’s superb casting and darkly humorous musical numbers made for a truly enjoyable experience.

Jenna Bergstraesser

Wong Proves Flute Loops More Than Just Gimmick Lydia Rice In the dimly lit coffeehouse atmosphere of the Cat in the Cream, a student took the stage wearing an oversized maroon shirt with gray patches, a striped tie and a snazzy fedora.

College junior Robin Wong, the lone member of Flute Loops, not only plays the flute exceptionally well, but is also an impressive beatboxer to boot. A loop pedal allowed him to take full advantage of these skills by letting him build prerecorded and live tracks on top of each other to create melodies that were both soothing and slightly cheeky.

This was only the second time that Wong had performed solo at Oberlin in the past two years. “I discovered there was a lot more that goes into a show than simply getting together a few songs,” Wong said of the long respite. “I decided that before doing another show, I would take the time to really prepare something I could be

confident about.”

Though far from being a virtuoso, Wong made up for the hiatus with plenty of enthusiasm, to which the audience responded positively. Between sets, he chatted about public transportation, reflected on decorum,and encouraged the audience to grab some cookies. Throughout his musings, the audience, obviously filled with his friends and acquaintances, responded well to his rambling.

Wong set the unusual tone of the performance by starting with a cover of the Game of Thrones theme song. A ceremonious piece played by a laid-back performer, this first tune hinted at the relaxed nature of the evening to come. The majority of the pieces, however, were originals by Wong which were either pre-composed or improvised on the spot. At different times during the night, he experimented with his flute by blowing over the mouthpiece to create eerie wind effects.

However, it was his incor-

poration of beatboxing that really made the concert stand out.

Wong’s decision to use his voice as an instrument to provide rhythmic support and variation –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Beatboxing and playing flute not only helped bridge the gap to being able to develop more rhythmic sounds … but also helped to re-establish how cool the flute can be beyond a classical or jazz setting.’

Robin Wong College junior ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– made the pieces more organic.

The pops, whooshes and clicks added a contemporary feel which further removed the performance from the formality that one usu-

ally associates with flute music.

“I’ve always believed that flute should not be limited in the genres it can be used in,” Wong said. “Beatboxing and playing flute not only helped bridge the gap to being able to develop more rhythmic sounds and grooves, but also helped to re-establish how cool the flute can be beyond a classical or jazz setting.”

But Wong didn’t just depend on his voice and a loop pedal; he also showed off his skill with other woodwinds. Throughout the concert, he put down his concert flute and took up either a lilting piccolo, somber dizi, resonant shinobue (the latter two are traditional instruments from China and Japan, respectively) or, most amusingly, a slide whistle, to produce a goofy effect. These additional combinations added further unpredictability to the evening.

Another example of this was when he called Conservatory junior Dylan McDonnell, another

skilled flutist and beatboxer, to the stage. Wong introduced the next piece, describing it in a way that made the audience expect a nightmarish saga that would involve a prolonged escape. Instead, it turned out to pay homage to the world of Super Mario Bros. The duo covered the theme song, creating a cacophony of layered sounds which, while not easy to hum along to, were at least very fun to listen to. Another performance by New York University student Aviv Gilad in-corporated a prerecorded piano piece that Wong had written and performed last spring as one of the instrumentalists in the Theater department’s production of Journey to the West.

After an encore with McDonnell, it was evident from the responsive crowd that Wong managed to move beyond what could have been a one-off gimmick to a memorable reminder of how far a little creativity and technology can go.

First OSlam! Open Mic Showcases Young Poetic Talent Ruby Saha Staff Writer A profoundly personal art form, effective slam poetry relies on the performer’s ability to draw stories from deep within themselves, requiring an incredible amount of resilience and courage. OSlam!, Oberlin’s newest slam poetry group, seeks to create a space where poetry can be accessible and shared in a safe and interactive environment, as it did at its Open Mic Night at the Cat in the Cream on Monday. Composed of first- and second-year students, the group performed to a large and enthusiastic crowd who remained engaged throughout the night, snapping their fingers along to particularly clever or powerful wordplay.

OSlam!’s first major

event of the year alternated between performances by its members and talented musicians. The music provided a welcome break from the intensity of the slam performances. The evening began with College firstyear Zachariah Claypole White, who emphasized the importance of stories — a running theme throughout the night, and for slam poetry in general — and engaged the audience in a calland-response with his poem “Meaningless.” His plaintive, thoughtful style came as a welcome introduction, with lines like, “For what else is a story if not a lover?”

Every member of the group created a memorable and unique performance, whether through a delicately eerie blend of poetry and electric guitar

by College first-year Peter Asch and double-degree

first-year Griffin Jennings, or the cleverly self-deprecating piece, “A Letter to an Idiot,” performed by purplehaired College first-year Sol Solomon. College firstyear Joseph Farago’s “Youth Culture” offered a stirring anthem to being young, poignantly anchored in the poet’s relationship to his mother.

But it was OSlam!’s female members who truly stole the show that night, capturing that distinct blend of raw, catch-yourbreath emotion tempered by meticulous tonal control and exquisite turn of phrase that characterizes the best slam poetry. OSlam! Co-Chair and College sophomore Alison Kronstadt came out strong with “First Snow,” a conversation between the poet and her friend with boy troubles, and “Choose to Refuse,” a

poem about the politics of women’s clothing. Kronstadt shifted from sharp wit to pointed criticism in the blink of an eye with lines that incited a chorus of finger-snapping and assenting murmurs from the audience. Her final poem was a charming portrait of her father written for his birthday, overflowing with gorgeous lines like, “I’m trying to write ‘thank you’ on the walls of this house in the kind of Braille only you can read,” and ending with the message that “art is only good for something if you can make it for the people you love.”

College first-year Annika Hansteen Izora gave the standout performance of the night with a stunning combination of gospel singing, foot-stomping and beautifully controlled lyrical rhythms. Izora focused

on the black experience, with lines referencing the injustice faced by thousands of black individuals and brooding over her place in their history: “I encompass the infinities of a thousand black skies.”

She was captivating to the very last moment, with her final poem, “An Open Letter to Kanye West,” calling the rapper out on his divalike behaviour (“stormed award shows worse than Katrina”) while highlighting Yeezy’s inspiring work ethic and confidence (“failure crafts character and success builds ego”), ending the poem with “Sincerely, Miss East.”

OSlam! Co-Chair and College sophomore Hannah Rosenberg gave another terrific performance with a series of untitled pieces that focused on disparate themes — from her

experiences growing up in Brooklyn to her sister getting tattooed by a neo-Nazi — pairing a devastatingly incisive, lyrical style with an unparalleled tonal command. The evening ended brilliantly with College firstyear Jenna Bellassai’s scathing letter to the Col-lege Board on the innumerable failings of the SAT, an experience most members of the audience knew all too well.

OSlam!’s mission to create a safe space for poetry meant that the spirit of competition that characterizes slam poetry was missing from Monday evening’s performances. Instead, it was replaced with a respectful and supportive environment that encouraged each of the poets to perform without hesitation or reservation. The first rule of OSlam!, after all, is “no disclaimers.”

Arts

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

Page 13

Jazz Quartet Makes Virtuosic Music Accessible Justine Goode “You already got populist zombie jazz, right?”

“Screwball post-lullaby. Or is it post-screwball lullaby?”

“Pop-oriented improvisation.”

Only minutes after ending their set of original compositions at the Cat in the Cream, double-degree seniors Nate Mendelsohn and Stephen Becker stood offstage, tossing out various quippy phrases in an attempt to define their band’s musical style. “It’s a ‘songs’ band,” Becker finally said before walking away. “Just put that.”

The band in question was Men With Short Beards, featuring Mendelsohn on alto saxophone, Becker on guitar, Conservatory senior Cory Todd on bass and Duncan Standish, OC ’13, on drums. The group’s set on Saturday night — an hour of almost completely improvised music — clearly thrilled the sizable audience that gathered at the Cat. The band seeks to make its music as accessible and enjoyable as possible for listeners, some of whom might feel alienated by the famously sophisticated and complex nature of improvisational jazz.

This distinct lack of pretense was incredibly refreshing and one of the band’s biggest assets. Mendelsohn created a natural, easygoing rapport with the audience between

songs, expressing genuine excitement at the turnout and plugging the group’s double life as a party band that plays Rihanna covers. After one song, he deadpanned, “That was about how mundane existence is,” before switching tone to a heartwarming declaration: “Everyone I love in the world is in this room.”

Once the band began playing, its talent and skill was instantly and overwhelmingly apparent, but its casual, inclusive approach meant that audience members never felt intimidated. This allowed listeners the freedom to sit back and enjoy the rich, caramel-like saxophone solos and the lush layerings of various musical styles without overthinking things.

The original compositions were enthralling, weaving together different musical elements into full, rich syntheses that took the form of both lullabies and anthems, meandering melodies and frenzied phrases. “The Trio Goes to Shake Shack, Pt. 1,” which opened with the swinging sounds of a big band and with the inclusion of Becker’s guitar, suggested Count Basie with a country twang. The marriage of these two styles created a raucous, joyful and almost rockabilly feel. And “Everyday is an Odyssey,” composed

by Todd, evoked the dreamy listlessness of Henry Mancini’s “Moon River,” before building on Mancini’s

Conservatory senior Cory Todd (left) and double-degree senior Nate Mendelsohn perform as part of Men With Short Beards at the Cat in the Cream on Saturday. The quartet melded together a variety of genres during its improvised set.

Yvette Chen

motif to make it more complex and contemporary. As the set went on, songs began to feature more and more moments of wild, frenzied playing that felt unin-hibited but never truly out of control. The band’s training resulted in a sort of measured abandon. The members had clear, natural chemistry, and their relaxed demeanor onstage

helped foster the accessibility and enjoyment of their virtuosic tunes.

Men With Short Beards is headed to China for a two-week tour this Winter Term. The band plans to hold a fundraising party for the trip in the near future, playing covers of pop songs as well selling merchandise and auctioning off various band-related prizes. They even con-

sidered changing the name of the group to “Banter” in preparation for the tour; however, the members said such a change felt too constrictive, and it was bound to be short-lived.

“We thought ‘Banter’ sounded more serious — one word,” Mendelsohn explained. “But now we hate it for that reason.”

Fischer Gallery Hosts Mixed Media Collaboration Continued from page 11 did the audience.

The third act consisted of devilishly loud electro-punk music performed by doubledegree senior Devin Frenze and College senior Dan Friedman, accompanied by the art of College junior Taylor Herman, whose work resembled a mix of Picasso and Van Gogh. Herman’s square piece of plexiglass, suspended from the ceiling by string, swung precariously as he painted furiously to the sound of the music. Half of the audience was hypnotized by

the swinging plexiglass, one side of which was painted a vibrant yellow and teal, and the other white and black.

The other half of the audience was headbanging along to the music. There was a moment when the artist, engrossed in his work and swigging from his beer bottle, failed to finish his painting after the music had crescendoed and stopped. Out of respect for the artist’s need to continue, the musicians, barely missing a beat, simply restarted. The energetic piece brilliantly brought together two fairly recognizable genres and created a new hybrid.

The fourth and final act, a duet, was performed by musician and Conservatory junior Yuri Popowycz and visual artist and College junior Oliver Levine. The piece was set up in such a way that the musician, on electric violin, was in the same position as the audience — facing the artist, whose back was facing the audience, giving the air that the audience was watching over his shoulder. Popowycz was busy constantly recording and looping his performance.

Levine’s two canvases, one white and one black, were soon filled by sweeping strokes matched by the violin’s often screeching tones.

As one attendee explained, “The artist captured on his canvas in one second what we heard in three to five minutes of violin loops.”

As a whole, Counterpoints was one of the more creative shows put on by Oberlin students in recent memory. Interacting with this performance gave one the sense of watching the future of art unfold. The point of the collaboration between Exhibition Initiative and SoundFarm was not to create something that works, but to create something new. They did a beautiful job; it was incredible to witness something simultaneously ephemeral and permanent.

Feature Photo: 50th Anniversary of Company Delights and Impresses Choir's Soviet Union Tour Continued from page 12

(From left) Ohio State University Associate Professor of Musicology Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Lee J. Irwin, OC ’64, Jack M. Russell, OC ’64, Professor of History Clayton Koppes, Carol Scherer, OC ’64, and Sheila Allen, OC ’66, gathered in the Nancy Schrom Dye Lecture Hall last Saturday to discuss the 1964 Oberlin College Choir tour of the Soviet Union and Romania. As part of the US Department of State’s Cultural Exchange programs, the choir spent eight weeks serving as Cold War cultural ambassadors. Members reminisced about their cross-cultural experiences and shared memories of their interactions with Soviet students, stressing their interest in religion, race and American music forms.

Effie Kline-Salamon

more than carried her weight in the difficult, riveting number “Getting Married Today.”

While every other performance was also robust, of particular note were Robert’s sweet, uptight friend Jenny — played by double degree first-year Elana Bell on Saturday night — and his weird but poignant romantic interest, flight attendant April, played by Conservatory junior Kaitlin Loeb. At times, in fact, Company seemed like a showcase of excellent female performances; while the male performers were certainly strong, they largely seemed like supporting cast for the uniformly fabulous bevy of wives, fiancées and girlfriends that tethered the show.

The additional tether of the production lay in the musical numbers. The darkly funny “Poor Baby” and “Barcelona” contributed to the professional caliber of the show, while the finale “Being Alive,” sung movingly by Miller, allowed the show to come out with a sweet, nuanced affirmation of love before the rather abrupt end of the show. If the ending seemed abrupt, however, it was a feature of the musical itself and not this production. Though Amy tells Robert when she rejects his marriage

proposal, “You need to marry somebody, not some body,” Robert ends the show strangely opposed to this, with an urge to marry but without any particular woman in mind.

Aside from the idiosyncrasies of the musical itself, this production was unusually good. The main issue, however, was a big one. The lack of microphones combined with the unwieldy venue rendered many lines completely indecipherable, which undermined the viewing experience considerably. The unavoidable murmuring of the packed house and the volume of the otherwise-excellent accompanying musicians only exacerbated the problem. While it was not enough to ruin the show, it did diminish one of its best features.

Fortunately, the superb quality of the other elements was enough to overcome that obstacle. OSTA’s production of Company was polished and attractive from beginning to end, an example of what happens when talented directing meets talented acting, and singing meets talented set design, musicianship and costuming.

The cast may have been singing about love, but there was nothing trite about it. On the contrary — they put on a complex, nuanced production that does justice to the original.

Sports

Page 14

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

The Oberlin Review, November 22 , 2013

Ellie Huizenga, Tricia Souza and Sarah Willette

This week the Review sat down with sophomore soccer players Ellie Huizenga, Tricia Souza and Sarah Willette to discuss the responsibility that comes with sophomore year, Mamma Mia medleys and intramural basketball.

How is being a sophomore on the team different than being a first-year?

Ellie Huizenga: Oh, it’s so different.

Tricia Souza: I feel like we have a lot more responsibility on the team now that we know what’s going on. We can be a part of the leadership of the team.

Sarah Willette: Especially since we have such a large freshman class, too — we have a lot more responsibility. Technically, we’re upperclassmen, since they outnumber us and the [juniors and seniors].

Since you are the only three sophomores on the team, do you feel a special bond?

EH: Most definitely.

TS: We definitely developed a closer relationship second semester last year and this semester.

What was your favorite part of this season?

EH: I don’t know. It was a tough season. I guess getting to see everyone blossom, which is cheesy. But I think everything was so different and so new this year that as the season progressed, you could see changes so distinctly.

TS: My favorite part was definitely our last game because you could tell that we had implemented all the things we had been working on all season. We played really, really well together and it was exciting to see. That game was great to be a part of.

EH: I’ve been told I’m not allowed to sing.

TS: No, Ellie, we’re doing a medley. Ellie and I are doing a medley from Mamma Mia. And now Willy’s going to be a part of it too, because I just decided it’s going to be a sophomore tradition.

Sophomore Soccer Players, Ellie Huizenga (left), Sarah Willette (center) and Tricia Souza SW: I’d agree; that Kenyon [College] game was spectacular.

It was really fun, and in comparison to last year, our team has evolved so much, so seeing the progress from the last game last year to the last game this year was incredible. Night and day.

How was this season different from last season?

EH: We had 12 freshmen come in, a new coach, and so not only did the team dynamic change but the way we play on the field changed.

TS: We had a completely different mindset about the way we went about practice and the way we went about games. We weren’t really coached last year, and this year we got a lot of direction, which really helped. I think it brought us closer, and I think it made everyone a better soccer player too.

What is your relationship like with the men’s team?

TS: My best guy friends on this campus are on the men’s team.

They’re a really great group of guys, and they are really supportive of us, and we are definitely supportive of them. It’s like a big family. It’s really cute.

EH: There’s definitely a sense of team unity, too. Over half of our girls’ soccer team went out to their game this weekend that was four and a half hours away and I think the boys would do the same for us. When we lose together, we win together.

TS: This year I was definitely living vicariously through their success. I was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to the national tournament!’

Do you have interesting team traditions?

Feature Photo: Groundbreaking

SW: Mock dine ding.

EH: We yell “mock dine ding” at the beginning of every game which means “do your thing.”

TS: We have a stomping circle before the game where we clap our hands and stomp our feet.

It’s supposed to get us fired up.

EH: We have the hustle suit too, where if you win a home game you get to wear the hustle suit out. Willy [Sarah Willette] wore it this year, as our sophomore rep!

SW: We’re also going to start a talent show.

TS: That will probably also be a hot mess.

What are your acts going to be?

EH: I’m gonna dance.

TS: I have a few in the making.

I would like to perform a couple dances.

I hear you also have an intramural basketball team?

EH: We realized that soccer and basketball are not the same.

TS: We are doing so well though. Our first game we scored six points and in our last game we scored 58.

EH: It’s night and day in that, too. Just saying.

TS: We have developed a basketball squad.

EH: It’s fun. We get about half the team to come to our basketball games. It’s a lot of fun. We just run around like maniacs.

Interview by Rose Stoloff, Sports editor Photo by Rachel Grossman, Photo editor

Despite Fan Support, Men’s Soccer Loses in Playoffs Continued from page 16

The official groundbreaking ceremony for the new Austin E. Knowlton Athletics Complex took place Saturday. The ceremony preceded the football team’s final game of the season against Hiram College, which the Yeomen won 47–13. Director of Athletics Natalie Winkelfoos and College President Marvin Krislov both gave speeches at the event. The new facility is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of the 2014–15 academic year.

Brian Hodgkin

What are you most looking forward to in the offseason?

SW: Scrimmage day. That is the best time; it is amazing.

Scrimmage day last year, we had such a small group go. We had six or seven people go, but it was so fun. You are playing teams, and it’s lighthearted and it’s a lot of fun.

TS: Last year, [goalkeeper] Kate Frost was playing lacrosse and so she couldn’t play, and each of us had to take a turn in goal and it was a hot mess, but it was a lot of fun.

EH: I’m excited to see our freshmen blossom not in soccer season.

said Wertman.

Winward agreed. “I couldn’t believe how many people made the trip, and the support was overwhelming. The cheers only got louder as we were scored upon in the second game, which is a testament to their support. It’s one big family and we know we are playing for more than ourselves.”

Commentators at the home field even had high praise for the “Yeobaby” cheer, led by an alumnus at the event.

Though the conclusion of the weekend’s events was an unfortunate close to a groundbreaking season, the Yeomen were, all in all, satisfied with the progress the program has made.

“We did a lot of great stuff this season, and I am certainly fortunate and happy to look back on how great all of it was.

Overall, I was very happy with the way the season went. It paved the way for the team to just get better in the next few years,” said senior captain Joe Graybeal.

The team set an all-time school record for wins in a single season after tallying their 14th victory on Saturday and finished with a final record of 14–4–4, while

remaining undefeated at home. This also proved to be Head Coach Blake New’s most successful team in his sixteen-year tenure; finally, New was honored with the accolade of NCAC Coach of the Year.

President Marvin Krislov was impressed with the team’s history-making success. “I think soccer’s been on the cusp of being very competitive, and this year they just went over the hump,” he said.

Individual players were recognized for their success this season as well. Besides Rentel being named NCAC Defensive Player of the Year, Rentel, Ingham and Schwartz all were recognized for their impressive performances and made All-NCAC First Team, a title reserved for the conference’s top-tier players. Graybeal, sophomore Slade Gottlieb and junior Josh Wilkerson made All-NCAC Second Team, and Wertman and sophomore Dean Schapow earned honorable mentions from the league.

This year’s squad will lose seven seniors — including Rentel, Graybeal, Schwartz, Graham McQueen, Evan Tincknell, Aiden Apel and Matt Tunzi — but they will leave a strong and eager group of underclassmen behind them.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, November 22, 2013

— Women’s Basketball —

Strong Offense Helps Yeowomen Win First Two Games of Season Erickson Andrews Staff Writer The Oberlin women’s basketball team got off to a strong start last weekend as it handily trounced the Franciscan University Barons and the Geneva College Golden Tornadoes.

In the first two games of the 2013–14 season, the Yeowomen put their new fast-paced offense to work with great success, defeating their opponents by a combined score of 190–127.

Two games into the season, the Yeowomen have scored more combined points than in any other two-game span over the last five seasons.

In their first contest against the Barons, the Yeowomen jumped to a 49–34 lead at the half with the help of superb play from the team’s bench, which finished the night with 37 points. The Oberlin attack was wellbalanced, with five players scoring double-digits, though junior Christina Marquette led the team with a game-high 23 points in the win.

Oberlin was deadly from all over the floor, making 45 percent of their shots and 90 percent of their free-throws. The Barons were thus forced to pick their poison: They couldn’t give the Yeowomen open shots, but when they contested a shot and fouled, it was as good as giving up two points.

Junior Christina Marquette gets ready to shoot the ball. The Yeowomen are off to a 2–0 start.

Courtesy of OC Athletics

After netting 49 more points in the second half, the ladies set a singlegame high for points in a game under Head Coach Kerry Jenkins, finishing the night with a 98–64 win.

The second game against the Golden Tornadoes was an equally dominating performance for the Yeowomen.

Lead by senior Allison Gannon’s double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds and sophomore Lindsey Bernhardt’s 19 points and six assists, the Yeowomen cruised to a 92–63 victory.

“We weren’t hitting our outside shots as well at the start [of the game],” said Gannon. “That allowed us to emphasize getting the ball inside where I could get some easy buckets.”

The bench again came

through with a big game, outscoring Geneva’s 40–20.

The defense was also working for the Yeowomen as they forced 22 turnovers, converting them into 35 points.

Though the final score was a lopsided victory in the Yeowomen’s favor, the game was close until Oberlin went on a 10–2 run with three minutes to go in the first half to enter halftime with a 38–29 lead.

Geneva tried to mount a comeback in the second half, but the scorching hot Yeowomen shot 60.6 percent from the field in the second half, sealing the team’s second win in as many games.

It is too early in the season to say that this scoring will continue, but it’s hard not to be impressed with the perfor-

mance thus far.

“We are coming together really well as a unit,” said senior Lillian Jahan. “Last year we struggled to get scoring production outside of two to three of our players, but this weekend we had offensive production from everyone — whether that was scoring, rebounding or getting assists.”

With seven of eleven players on the roster being first or second-years, the Yeowomen are young, but talent is abundant.

The team will look to continue its strong play as they seek to avenge some of their close losses from last season.

They are away for the next three games in Michigan and Pennsylvania, until they open at home on Nov. 26 against the Heidelberg University Student Princes at 8 p.m.

Page 15

Editorial: Hazing Scandal Haunts NFL Continued from page 16 that otherwise worked, his conduct means all hazing has to go. Its potential harm to players obviously outweighs any good it may have been doing. Players might argue that hazing brings teammates closer together, but there are countless other ways to promote team bonding.

Sadly, the IncognitoMartin incident wasn’t the only time this month that a professional athlete was unable to keep from running his mouth.

Barnes, who obviously learned nothing from the Dolphins incident that shook the entire sporting world, took it upon himself to use the N-word in a rant on Twitter during the middle of a game. In the middle of a freaking game. Barnes was ejected from a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder and used the slur in a tirade where he said he would no longer stand up for his teammates during games.

It’s clear that, at the very least, the NBA and NFL need to do a better job policing players. If the leagues have allowed the creation of a locker room culture that says it’s OK to use racial epithets and bullying to get a point across, then something is seriously wrong.

But, how should the leagues go about establishing change? Grown men have the right to express themselves the way they want. Still, teams are paying players millions of dollars to not only perform on the field, but also to

behave and be role models off it. It’s up to coaches and higher management to send the message to players that hazing and racial slurs have no place in the locker room or in on social media.

The leagues also need to better educate players, particularly when they’re first drafted or signed, about the despicable history behind the words they use so casually.

The NFL made a big first step on Thursday. The Fritz Pollard Alliance, an organization that promotes diversity and equality of job opportunity for NFL coaching candidates, issued a statement that said officials have noticed excessive use of the N-word during games.

The Alliance acknowledged that players have different ways of communicating, but said that to use the N-word “so loosely now is a disgrace.”

This is a step in the right direction. Now, players need to do their part.

Professional athletes come from all different backgrounds, and many of them hail from environments where hazing is common and certain racial epithets are heard often. That can’t fly in the pros, though.

Players need to realize that there are millions of eyes on them at all times, and that they are setting an example for people all over the country, young and old.

To players who still can’t help but run their mouths, I ask them the question: “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

Running Injuries Pose Challenge to Trainers, Athletes Emma Lehmann Physical therapy facilities contain a variety of injured people — some are on crutches, some have large knee braces and others appear to be completely functional.

This is because some chronic injuries are hard to detect.

Many severe sports injuries are completely debilitating and even require surgery — a torn ACL, for instance, can impair basic mobility for as long as a year. A broken leg can similarly prevent someone from performing basic activities.

The difference between these types of injuries and common running problems is their onset. While many serious sports injuries can occur in a second, running injuries have a progressive course. “[Running injuries have] an insidious rather than acute onset,” noted junior Carey Lyons, a cross country runner. Lyons suffered many injuries over the course of her college career, including a calcaneal stress fracture and a currently unidentified hip problem.

Running injuries often evolve differently than other athletic-induced afflictions. Chronic running injuries often take

the form of tendonitis or stress fractures — both are treatable but can require extensive time off from the sport. The clear solution in many cases is to take a few weeks’ hiatus from running, but many athletes ignore this prescription.

Assistant Athletic Trainer Christine Schwartz, who is responsible to the Oberlin cross country team, agrees.

“With long distance runners, it can be harder to reach compliance,” she said.

“Some runners have the mentality that if they take time off of running, that they will be out of condition. Runners have the love and passion of running, not cross-training, so it can be hard for the athlete to accept that decreased physical activity and immobilization are a very essential part in healing a chronic injury.”

Senior cross country captain Lauren Taylor admits she is guilty of this mentality.

“Endurance sport injuries are harder to treat — you lose so much fitness from taking time off, ” she said.

Taylor has suffered from a pelvic stress fracture that first appeared the summer after her sophomore year. She spent most of her junior year injury-free but endured a stress reaction for three weeks this fall.

Stress reactions, while less serious than fractures, indicate that the bone is weak and susceptible to breakage. A runner with a stress reaction is usually advised to take about two weeks off. Athletes can crosstrain by swimming or biking, but sometimes they are advised to avoid physical activity entirely.

Taylor has had a positive experience working with the trainers in the Athletics department this fall. “They’ve really been proactive about trying to strengthen the area surrounding [my injury],” she noted.

Therapies for overuse injuries often employ some sort of strength training because the cause of the injury is usually related to an imbalance in form. Strength training is also useful for avoiding future injuries. Unfortunately, many athletes will only follow a strengthening regimen after they become injured.

Runners also have a different relationship with the trainers than other athletes.

Athletic trainers are assigned to specific sports, and in some cases develop a strong relationship with the team.

“It’s more difficult for us to come to them because we don’t work with them as much as other sports,” said Taylor. Other

teams, especially in contact sports, have a more involved relationship with their trainers.

The men’s soccer team, for example, has close ties to its athletic trainer. “We have a good relationship with our trainer, Jill [Rondini]. She comes to all of our games,” said junior soccer player Remi Schneider.

Of course, different sports come with different risks, and soccer players especially need to be careful of head injuries.

Trainers have to be present at practice because the risk of receiving an acute injury in a contact sport is much higher. The involvement of the trainer is dictated by the nature of the sport — running seems to be the rare case in which pain is both common and expected.

“When you’re running every day, usually something is going to hurt; it’s just whether or not you decided to talk to someone about it,” said Taylor.

The difficulty lies in determining what degree of pain is dangerous. Runners can help protect against future injuries by being more proactive when they feel pain.

Better communication about preventative exercises and injury risk may reduce running ailments.

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

November 22, 2013

—Men’s Soccer —

Historic Soccer Season Comes to a Close Tyler Sloan and Rose Stoloff Staff Writer and Sports Editor

Nate Levinson Sports Editor

unsettle the home team.

“We didn’t have a great start and that came back to bite us,” Winward. “We woke up and moved the ball well after their first goal but had trouble being dangerous in the final third.”

As the game came to a close and it was clear the Yeomen were not going to recover, the mood turned bittersweet. With only a few minutes left in the game, Head Coach Blake New made some last-minute substitutions so that all seven graduating seniors could

finish out the game together for the last time in their collegiate careers. Alumni and fans that had traveled to the game cheered long after the clock hit zero, as players, coaches and fans alike teared up.

The enthusiastic crowd was much appreciated. “It was pretty much the greatest thing in the world. Our fan base is what kept us going throughout the year and the support from our fans. I can’t even describe the feeling,” See Despite, page 14

— Cross Country —

Oberlin Sends 9 Runners To NCAA Sarah Kahl Staff Writer

named to the All-Region team.

“Emma [Lehmann], Lindsey [Neal] and SJ [Kerwin] are all in my workout group, and I think a huge part of the success is the way we train.

Neal and Kerwin are great at keeping the pace in the middle and Lehmann and I are good at turning on that last gear in the end. We need each other to race well, and our team’s support and dynamic is a huge part of our success,” added Martorella.

The Yeowomen finished second overall behind Calvin College. This earns the entire seven-runner team an automatic qualifying position in the NCAA national meet.

Though the entire men’s team did not qualify for the national meet, many individual performances stood out.

Arthur finished just 13 seconds off the top finisher, with a time of 25:23.

His impressive time earned him the accolade of All-Region honors.

“I think this race only shows that we’re building,” said Urso. “We really upheld the expectations we had for

ourselves at a big meet like this, but we haven’t even come close to reaching our full potential.”

Fellow sophomore Samuel Coates-Finke finished in 27:00, and first-year E.J. Douglas crossed the line just five seconds later. Senior Jimmy Taylor and sophomore Gabe Brown finished right on their tails in 27:12 and 27:16 respectively. This race marked the end of Taylor’s Oberlin cross-country career. Sophomore Rob Moreton was the final Yeoman to cross the finish line in 27:38. The Yeomen finished 10th out of 39 teams.

“It’s a different atmosphere than any other meet, and we all get way more pumped up about it than any other meet. That part was really fun,” said Arthur. “This is kind of like the playoffs, but you only get one shot.

We all cheer for each other, and it’s really a special day.”

The seven Yeowomen, Arthur and Urso will compete at the National Championships on Saturday at Hanover College in Hanover, IN, at 11 a.m.

See Editorial, page 15

the trash — r in e r p

e or compost ycl it ec

The men’s and women’s cross country teams had an impressive showing at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet this past Saturday.

The Yeowomen finished second overall, automatically qualifying them for the NCAA national meet. Sophomores Geno Arthur and Joshua Urso ran well and earned individual bids to the national meet.

Juniors Emma Lehmann and Kyle Neal, who have both had consistently successful seasons, led their teammates in the women’s 6k. Lehmann pulled ahead at the end of the race to finish second overall with a time of 21 minutes, 41 seconds. Neal finished fifth, just a few seconds behind with a time of 21:47. Completing the impressive junior trio was Sarah Jane Kerwin who finished just outside the top 10, in 11th with a time of 22:08.

Junior Carey Lyons, who is currently recovering from an injury, finished 38th overall in 22:56 and senior

captain Lauren Taylor followed on her tail with a time of 23:13.

Senior captain Molly Martorella, who was sidelined due to an injury, was impressed with the runners’ performances. “The mentality that day was spot on,” she said. “We just have a great team dynamic and can get each other through the races. I was just so impressed that everyone really rose to the challenge and ran confidently.”

Martorella was particularly excited by junior Erica Morelli, who finished in 23:44, and first-year Emily Curley, who crossed the line at 24:22.

“Erica was our alternate, so she was kind of put on the spot to race.

But she performed mentally strong, came in line and just did the unexpected,” said Martorella. “Emily, who’s a freshman, didn’t get overwhelmed by the meet; rather [she] just handled the pressure and competed really well.”

The Yeowomen’s top three finishers, Lehmann, Neal and Kerwin, were honored for their success and were

t this new t pu sp o a n

continued to impress by making 13 saves.

Unfortunately, round two of the tournament was not as successful. The Yeomen could not manage to find the back of the net in a 3–0 loss that ended their season against the home team, the University of Rochester Yellow Jackets.

The opposing team came out strong and got six shots on goal in the first 13 minutes of the game. The Yeomen continued to play the strong game they had all season, but it was not enough to

o

excitement for the duration of the half. With only two minutes left in the game, the Yeomen secured their win when senior captain Ari Schwartz crossed the ball to first-year Nick Wertman. Wertman drove the ball past the Dragons’ keeper, and the crowd erupted in excitement, knowing the season would continue for at least one more day.

Senior goalkeeper Brandt Rentel, who earlier in the week was honored as the NCAC Defender of the Year,

ead! Please d

Senior Ari Schwartz dribbles the ball against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons. Supported by a loyal fan base, the Yeomen won the game 2–0.

Courtesy of Erik Andrews

This month, Miami Dolphins offensive guard Richie Incognito and Los Angeles Clippers guardforward Matt Barnes showed that the NFL and NBA have a huge problem on their hands.

On Nov. 2, it was reported that Incognito bullied teammate and fellow offensive lineman Jonathan Martin over the course of several months.

The abuse eventually got so bad that Martin had to leave the team nine weeks into the season.

After hearing that Martin had left his team midseason, my initial reaction was that he should suck it up. Hazing is simply an accepted part of NFL locker rooms, and if Martin couldn’t handle it, then the problem was his.

As information about Incognito’s harassment came to light, however, my judgment proved to be rash.

Incognito, who is white, went well beyond just hazing his 24-year-old teammate. In one particularly damaging voicemail, he called Martin, who is biracial, a “half-n****r,” and said he would “shit in [his] fucking mouth” and “slap [his] real mother across the face.”

If this is at all indicative of what goes on in NFL locker rooms, then the league needs to take action immediately to put an end to it.

Hazing in NFL locker rooms is an age-old tradition, but if it leads to things like this, it’s time for the practice to go. Apparently NFL players don’t have enough respect for one another to be trusted to take part in what should be light-hearted hazing.

Even if Incognito was just a bad seed in a system

t ins

The men’s soccer team traveled to Rochester, NY, this past weekend to compete in the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time in the team’s history. The team was met by an enthusiastic horde of adoring fans, parents and alumni soccer players.

The Yeomen prevailed on Saturday and defeated the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons 2–0. However, on Sunday, the Yeomen tragically fell to the nationally ranked University of Rochester Yellow Jackets, marking the end of this historic season.

Saturday’s game commenced with a scoreless first half. However, 20 minutes into the second half, after a shot by junior Sam Winward, the Red Dragons received a red card for a purposeful handball in the box. As sophomore John Ingham placed the ball and wound up for a penalty kick, the rowdy crowd fell quiet in anticipation. Seemingly effortlessly, Ingham tucked the ball away, giving the team a 1–0 lead.

For Ingham, this marked his 16th goal of the season, tying him for second place in goals scored in a single season in the College’s history.

He also finished as the top goal scorer for the NCAC in a breakout season.

The Yeomen rode this

Racial Slurs Plague Pro Sports