September 13, 2019

The Oberlin Review September 13, 2019

Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 2

PCRC Recommends Colás’ Termination Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief

Sunrise Oberlin organizers, including College second-years Faith Ward and Grace Smith, present on campus climate activism.

Photo Courtesy of Sunrise Oberlin

Sunrise Strikes for Brighter Future Alexa Stevens Environmental activists will gather in Tappan Square at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 20 in solidarity with Global Climate Strike, an international movement focusing on climate justice. Oberlin’s protest is being organized by Sunrise Oberlin. However, the international Global Climate Strike project began with high school students led by 16-yearold Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg going “on strike” from school on Fridays to express their discontent with their respective international governments’ lack of action regarding climate change.

Oberlin Sunrise hub coordinator and College second-year Dan Kennedy is hopeful that the strike will leave a lasting impression among lawmakers. “[The strike] will show the politicians and fossil fuel billionaires that we are not willing to tolerate business as usual any longer, and that millions of people are willing to walk out of the workplace or the classroom to demand action on climate change,” Kennedy said.

The strike, in line with Sunrise’s general mission, demands that leaders take action on climate change. More specifically to American leaders, the strike will call for the implementation of the Green New Deal, a bill that seeks — in part — to reduce the impacts of climate change.

Professor and Director of Environmental Studies Karl Offen expressed excitement about the Green New Deal’s several strengths. “[It] has people talking, it contributes to more people recognizing the extreme seriousness of climate change, and it has played a part along with hundreds of other large and small efforts to motivate millions of youth across the world to demand action from their irresponsible elders,” Offen wrote in an email to the Review.

The Green New Deal, also known as House Resolution 109, recognizes five responsibilities of the federal government in response to the worsening climate crisis: to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions; to ensure economic prosperity of the U.S. through job creation; to invest in sustainable infrastructure and industry; to secure crucial resources for all U.S. residents for generations to come; and to promote racial and class justice in order to repair systemic oppression.

A large reason why Kennedy joined Oberlin’s chapter of Sunrise was because of the emphasis it carries upon the passage of the Green New Deal. In a column titled “We Can — And Must — Implement Green New Deal,” Kennedy explained this reasoning.

“If the Green New Deal is politically impossible, our job is to organize, mobilize, and build the people power necessary to make it possible,” Kennedy wrote (The Oberlin Review, March 1, 2019).

Around the world, many members of Global Climate Strike and its sister organization FridaysForFuture are motivated by similar sentiments.

The movement poses the following questions: Why study for a future which may not be there? Why expend effort to become educated, when our governments are not listening to the educated?

These strikes have been primarily geared toward youth. In fact, the school strike nature of the protests has precluded participation by adults, at least until now.

As the U.N. Climate Summit on Sept.

23 draws near, the strikes have taken on new momentum, inviting employees to take part alongside the students in an international, multi-generational strike on Sept. 20.

The walk-out has already gained pledges of participation from many

companies — perhaps most notably over 900 Amazon employees have signed an internal petition to walk-out. Some corporations, such as Ben & Jerry’s, Lush Cosmetics, and Patagonia, plan to close down locations for the day as acts of civil disobedience in solidarity with the strike.

Here at Oberlin, environmental activism is not limited to any one particular type of Oberlin student.

This is something that Offen has observed, explaining that not all members of Sunrise — and other student organizations like it — are environmental studies majors. Instead, true to Oberlin’s liberal arts spirit, they come from a variety of majors.

This spirit holds true for the protest, as well. According to Oberlin Sunrise social media coordinator and College second-year Rachel Serna-Brown, Oberlin High School students will be invited to join the strike. The event will also include an educational and community-based component. “[There will be] a walkout at 9:40 [a.m.] so we’re all going to be in Tappan then, and have the strike be at 10:00,” Serna-Brown said. “[Afterward,] we’re going to have speakers and teach-ins about legislation and such.”

Kennedy hopes that the protest will have tangible impacts on global policy.

“Our politicians have known about climate change for decades now, and they have chosen to put all of our futures in danger by completely failing to act,” Kennedy said. “Business as usual will kill us, and is already doing enormous damage to frontline communities, like we saw in the Bahamas last week. This strike will show the politicians and fossil fuel billionaires that we are not willing to tolerate business as usual any longer, and that millions of people are willing to walk out of the workplace or the classroom to demand action on climate change.”

Former Professor of English Santiago (Yago) Colás resigned this summer following a unanimous recommendation by a panel of the Professional Conduct Review Committee that he be terminated. The five-person panel reached its recommendation after evaluating conduct that was judged to violate the sexual harassment portion of College policy and the professional ethics and conduct policy of the Faculty Guide.

The allegations against Colás concerned Facebook messages sent by Colás to the Reporting Party. The hearing panel determined that the messages constituted an act of sexual harassment.

“We saw no reasonable alternatives that could support the Responding Party’s argument that the messages were not sexual harassment,” read part of the report, which was submitted to the Office of the President on May 28, 2019. “Given our primary concern for protecting students, we are unanimous in our decision that termination is the appropriate outcome.”

This fall, Colás had been scheduled to teach two sections of his course, ENGL 167: Thirteen Ways of Looking at Sports, in addition to a firstyear seminar titled Writing the Sporting Body.

His classes focused on the intersections of sports and society. Colás was known on campus for sponsoring a series of discussions focusing on perceived social divides between athletes and non-athletes.

“We in the English Dept. are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience to you as a student enrolled in one of the sections of this course,” wrote Associate Professor and Chair of English Gillian Johns in an Aug. 15 email to students enrolled in ENGL 167.

At the time of his resignation, Colás was also an assistant coach for the men’s varsity basketball team.

Students can seek support and report allegations of sexual harassment by contacting the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Jaywalking Citations Issued Ella Moxley Senior Staff Writer

Recent jaywalking tickets issued by the Oberlin Police Department have launched a campus-wide conversation about pedestrian safety on campus. Last week, the Oberlin Police Department barricaded the informal crosswalk on West Lorain Street connecting the Science Center to Wilder Bowl and issued three citations to students crossing there instead of down the street at the official crosswalk.

“This area was chosen to be shut down for several reasons; we’ve received several complaints, it’s a highly jaywalked area, traffic moves at the 35mph speed limit here, and there is a REAL painted crosswalk about 100 feet down the road,” read a statement posted on the Oberlin Police Department’s Facebook page.

See Lorain, page 2

CONTENTS NEWS

OPINIONS

THIS WEEK

ARTS & CULTURE

SPORTS

03 A New Home for Campus Safety, Student Health

05 Oberlin Climate Strike Engages International Emergency

08–09 Native Plant Hunt

10 A Look Behind the Scenes: Choreographing Physical Intimacy

04 College, Raimondo Denied New Trial in Gibson’s Case

06 Nuclear Represents Best Option

15 The Most Intense Club Sport That You Probably Have Never Heard Of: Oberlin Cycling

The Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

12 OTR: Maxwell Addae and Barnaby Woods, Obertones

16 Yo, You Trying to Hoop, Bro?

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

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Lorain St. Jaywalking Citations Issued to Students Continued from page 1

College fourth-year Buster Coe was one of the students who received a citation.

“It was kind of annoying, you know, it was 111 bucks for jaywalking,” Coe said.

Chief of Police Ryan Warfield says that the police department receives complaints every year about students using the informal crosswalk, particularly at the start of the academic year. Even though West Lorain Street goes directly through Oberlin, many students don’t know that it is part of State Route 511.

“The state does control where the crosswalks are located, and it has to be at the intersection of Woodland,” said Director of Campus Safety Mike Martinsen.

In 2012, there was an effort by the city to explore lowering the speed limit on this stretch of West Lorain Street from 35 to 25 mph. “[There is a] perception that people always drive too fast through there,” explained City of Oberlin Director of

Public Works Jeff Bauman.

However, a traffic study found that most drivers actually travel below the 35 mph speed limit. Following the study, the City of Oberlin did not try to obtain approval from the Ohio Transportation District office to change the speed limit.

As for Campus Safety’s response to the recent citations, Martinsen is trying to encourage students to cross in a safer — and legal — way.

“We’re taking a two-pronged approach,” Martinsen said. “One [factor] is structural enhancement [that will be combined with] strategies we can implement to channel behavior in a positive, safer direction.”

Martinsen hopes that he can implement new solutions to reroute the flow of traffic, such as changing sidewalks or adding hedges.

Martinsen is currently working alongside Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo, Oberlin City Manager Rob Hillard, and Oberlin Chief of Police Ryan Warfield to find a

The Oberlin R eview Sept. 13, 2019 Volume 148, Number 2 (ISSN 297–256) Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch.

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Editors-in-Chief

Nathan Carpenter Katherine MacPhail Managing Editor Ananya Gupta News Editors Anisa Curry Vietze

Katie Lucey Opinions Editor Jackie Brant This Week Editor Lily Jones Arts Editors Kate Fishman

Aly Fogel Sports Editors Jane Agler

Alexis Dill Photo Editors Mallika Pandey Chris Schmucki Senior Staff Writers Carson Dowhan

Ella Moxley Layout Editors Emma Jane Haas

Lila Michaels Parker Shatkin Nico Vickers

solution. Martinsen also emphasized education, especially for international students and students from states where rules might be different.

“I’m from New York City, where we jaywalk all the time,” Coe says. “It didn’t even register to me that I was going to get a ticket for jaywalking.”

College second-year David Mathisson echoes this sentiment.

“There was a lot of frustration, anger, and energy in the community around that,” Mathisson said.

In response, Mathisson organized a Collective Jaywalking event on Facebook in hopes that students could all gather and illegally cross the street at the same time as a form of protest. He called it off on Tuesday after conversations with College administrators — conversations that he hopes to continue into the future.

Some students have expressed dissatisfaction with student activism focused on resolving the jaywalking issue.

“The whole thing came off as very

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entitled to me,” said College fourth-year Layala Khan. “Police brutality and racism are more important issues. And those protests do happen on campus and don’t have as much attention as they should, so obviously it’s a little irritating when something like this comes up and everyone is really excited.”

Ultimately, Warfield and Martinsen emphasized the importance of student safety. Martinsen says that students will likely see an effort to redirect crossing behavior “without punishing and enforcement.”

“There are some places where it’s just not legal to cross, and it is not safe,” Martinsen said. “We aren’t going to be focused on enforcement. We are going to be focused on trying to create an atmosphere where our students cross the road where it is safe and legal.”

In recent days, OPD removed the barriers blocking the informal crosswalk and there have been no further reports of jaywalking citations.

Corrections: In “Searches Launch for Next College, Conservatory Deans,” published Sept. 6, Acting Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen was mistakenly listed as co-chair of the Academic and Administrative Program Review steering committee. He actually served as vice chair.

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

Students Relax at Presidential Carnival Students enjoyed an afternoon of local cuisine, a dunk tank, and a sudden hailstorm at the President’s Welcome Carnival this past Wednesday.

Stretching from the Science Center atrium to the nearby quad, the event invited students of all class years to sample food from community vendors, including the Slow Train Cafe and Dave’s Cosmic Subs. Students tried their hand at ring toss and challenged peers to friendly races through an inflatable obstacle course.

“The Taste of Oberlin was an inventive welcome back celebration where students, staff, and community members got to relax and enjoy good company and excellent food,” College fourth-year Johan Cavert said.

“I would love to see it become a recurring Oberlin tradition.”

Text by Anisa Curry Vietze and Katie Lucey, News Editors Photo by Sofia Herron Geller

Security Notebook Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019 7:30 p.m. Campus Safety officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Union Street Housing Unit. Smoke from overheated cooking oil activated the smoke detector. The area was cleared and the alarm reset.

Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 10:38 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at a Goldsmith Village Housing Unit. Wind coming in from an open window possibly caused the alarm to activate. The detector was checked and determined to be working fine, and the alarm was silenced and reset.

11:53 p.m. Officers were requested to assist with an intoxicated student at a Village House on Elm Street. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019

A New Home for Campus Safety, Student Health

Campus Safety, Student Health Services, and the Counseling Center are now located in Dascomb Hall. This move was arranged in an effort to make these services more accessible to students.

Photo by Chris Schmucki, Photo Editor

Anisa Curry Vietze News Editor Campus Safety, Student Health Services, and the Counseling Center have all moved locations into the newly remodeled first floor of Dascomb Hall.

Administrators, Campus Safety officers, and Student Health providers believe that the move helps better address students’ needs by making the services more central to campus as well as by giving the departments more room and resources.

The first floor of Dascomb previously housed a dining hall but was temporarily vacant when the dining hall was closed over the summer of 2017. Construction began this past Winter Term.

According to Director of Campus Safety Mike Martinsen, the move was motivated in part by the desire to increase accessibility and ease for students trying to utilize these resources.

“It’s far more convenient for our students because it places us in the same location as our counseling and wellness and also our health services,” Martinsen said. “So it’s kind of a one-stop-shop for someone who has a need for the services we The Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

provide. We work very closely and we collaborate often with counseling and wellness services — if they need assistance with transports, or someone from medical has a need for a transport from a leg injury or something, or they feel too ill to go pick up their prescriptions. Now we’re right there, so it just makes things a lot more convenient for everybody.”

While Campus Safety’s new location is not dramatically different from its old one, the relocation of Student Health Services and the Counseling Center is significantly closer to most of campus’ main buildings. Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo hopes this will make student life easier.

“This project represents the really positive outcomes that result from collaboration between administration and student leadership,” wrote Raimondo in an email to the Review. “Student Senate spent several years documenting the challenges related to Student Health and the Counseling Center’s distance from central campus. Sharing that data enabled the opportunity to utilize the space that housed Dascomb Dining Hall in a highimpact way that directly responds to

student concerns. I hope many more such collaborations will occur.”

In addition to the better location, the move to Dascomb Hall boasts more space and resources for all three departments.

“It gives us more space, which provides more privacy for our students,” Martinsen said. “If you were in our last headquarters, you could be in an office having a conversation, and there [were] probably three or four people that could probably almost hear what was being said because you’re so tight.”

The move leaves a few questions behind with it. Some are wondering what the empty buildings that previously housed Campus Safety buildings and Student Health will be used for. According to Raimondo, the use of these spaces will be determined once the Academic and Adminstrative Program Review recommendations begin taking shape.

“Use of the Professional Services Building is one of many questions that the space utilization work called for by the One Oberlin plan will address,” Raimondo wrote.

Another concern for some is whether the location change has been properly communicated to returning students, who might believe these services are still housed in their old locations.

“Wait, the Health Center isn’t across from Mercy [Allen Hospital]?”

College second-year Noah Plotkin said when they were asked how they felt about the move. “I didn’t know that until now. I kind of knew that they moved Campus Safety. I think someone mentioned that to me once.

Why would they move the Health Center … when it makes sense for it to be across from Mercy [Allen Hospital]?”

According to Martinsen, this shouldn’t be too big of a concern.

“We have signage up at the old place just in case, but we haven’t had any issues at all,” Martinsen said.

“And no one’s come in and said, ‘We couldn’t find you!’”

12:19 a.m. Officers responded to assist a student who fell off their skateboard on the east side of Finney Chapel. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

2:01 a.m. A resident of a Union Street Housing Unit reported two unknown individuals looking through their window, possibly taking a picture.

Officers responded and checked the area but could not locate the subjects.

11:48 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department were called to the Cox Administration Building to assist a staff member stuck in the elevator. An electrician also responded. The staff member was assisted from the elevator. An “out of order” sign was placed on the elevator.

10:01 p.m. Students reported being harassed by three high schoolaged juveniles in the area around the Conservatory. Officers from Campus Safety and the Oberlin Police Department responded, patrolling the area, but the juveniles were not located.

Students were advised to call officers if the juveniles returned.

11:46 p.m. Officers were requested to assist with an intoxicated student outside a Union Street Housing Unit.

An ambulance was requested, and the student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Sunday, Sept. 8, 2019 5:28 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student who fell off their skateboard in front of South Hall. The student was assisted to the Campus Safety vehicle and transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment for an injured ankle.

Monday, Sept. 9, 2019 12:40 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student who was having an allergic reaction to food that they had consumed. The student was transported to the Mercy Allen Hospital emergency room for treatment.

5:45 p.m. A student reported the theft of their unlocked bicycle from the bike rack on the south side of the Carnegie Building. The bicycle is a white road bike with red and yellow handlebars, built by the owner, and valued at approximately $70.

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Ne New wss OFF THE CUFF

Dr. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Iñupiaq Environmental Activist

Rosemary Ahtuangaruak is an Iñupiaq environmental activist from Alaska who has collaborated with Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Chie Sakakibara for many years. In her home village of Nuiqsut, Ahtuangaruak’s work focuses largely on addressing environmental health impacts resulting from heavy industrialization in the area, including air pollution connected to oil and gas production. She is also heavily involved in local politics, including work on education. In 2017, Oberlin College gave Ahtuangaruak an honorary doctorate in recognition of her work. This past week, Ahtuangaruak was on campus to meet with students and faculty, visit several classes to share her expertise, and deliver a public lecture.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Nathan Carpenter Editor-in-Chief Ivy Fernandez Smith Production Editor I was hoping you could start by introducing who you are and the work that you do.

My name is Rosemary Ahtuangaruak. I live in the village of Nuiqsut, AK. I’ve been working on environmental issues related to oil and gas development. Our village is next to Prudhoe Bay and the National Energy Policy Act has created a lot of change in our lands and waters — I’ve been working to address environmental health issues.

What kinds of specific issues and challenges do you work on?

Right now, we have a lot of concerns around human health issues, failure of [processes that] enforce environmental regulations, and allowing industry to self-regulate, self-monitor, and selfreport. It has led to our village being exposed to 107 million pounds of nitrous oxide per year. And we’re really looking at ways to identify the health impacts related to this because politics have prevented us from doing that and putting in preventative measures that will decrease our exposures.

Over your time working on these issues, have you seen any change? Have things gotten better or worse?

In some ways, there has been progress.

Industry has tried to reduce its footprint on this land. Unfortunately, their effort to develop industrial infrastructure is a piecemeal process, which increases the sprawl around our area.

Developments in Prudhoe Bay have a much larger footprint than the developments in Alpine, which is closer to my village. But the reality is, both are causing impacts to our community.

There have been efforts with others to decrease the use of heavy fuels, especially in the marine environment. Unfortunately, there were exemptions in our area. We had to work further in the process to try to build those protections

— we may have some success this year with the International Marine Organization, which regulates the process. We’ve also been working extensively to try to reduce the emissions related to oil and gas processes.

Unfortunately, industry has continued to allow Rosemary Ahtuangaruak. gas flaring. California only allows 10 flares in a Photo courtesy of Rosemary Ahtuangaruak year — I can see 30 flares in a night. So we still have more work to do. But unfortunately, with continue working into the future, bringing the the many different projects and many different history alive into future educational opportunities. interpretations, they really haven’t restricted When people discuss the environment and activities during important subsistence time.

There are efforts to improve these processes, climate change, they often wonder if there is but the devastation — [it’s like] what happened hope for the future. Do you think there is?

At this time and age, yes. ... The outpouring of with the Exxon Valdez oil spill, our elders knew action among young people is astronomical — about dispersants, that people who work with more than I could have ever anticipated. Their [dispersants] were some of the first ones to die. And willingness to engage and hold decision-makers yet in the Gulf of Mexico, the usage of dispersants accountable is a much stronger process than what was way too much, and they will not work in the I have been able to bring, and that has created a lot Arctic. So we have much more work to do in those of hope. areas also.

We are making tremendous change, and the willingness to try has grown. The further we get Can you describe your connections to Oberlin? educated on these issues and learn about the laws I was able to work with Oberlin through that we need to change, we can make strides that [Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies] will protect many lands, and waters, and the health Chie Sakakibara. She had offered me an opportunity of the people who live across our nation. And so to lecture on climate change through a Skype class. there is a lot of hope.

I worked with my school and had our students come in and participate in the village and listen to the presentation while I talked over Skype to the Is there anything else that you wanted to add?

I really appreciate the work of the students students here at Oberlin. who I have been able to engage with. Their The students at Oberlin were greatly impacted work in Africatown, AL, under the leadership of by that talk and went through a process to allow me [Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and to receive an Honorary Degree in Humanities. And Comparative American Studies] Janet Fiskio has that process has continued to forge connections. a special place in my heart, and to see continued I worked with three different professors at progress with that project is so very important. So this institution during this visit, and the Arctic I really appreciate that things are continuing. They collection with the Anthropology department are keeping the Arctic alive in their hearts and allowed us to share some additional interactions moving with goodness. with and explanation of those items and ways to

College, Raimondo Denied New Trial in Gibson’s Case Nathan Carpenter Katherine MacPhail Editors-in-Chief Judge John Miraldi of the Lorain County Court of Common Pleas ruled Tuesday that Oberlin College and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo would not be granted a new trial in the lawsuit filed against the College and Raimondo by Gibson’s Bakery.

In June, a Lorain County jury ruled in favor of Gibson’s, initially awarding $44 million in damages. This figure was later capped at $25 million under Ohio law.

The College and Raimondo requested a new trial or remittitur in the same court where the initial verdict was made. A remittitur is a ruling by a judge to lower the amount of damages awarded by a jury; in this case, the College alleged that the level of damages awarded

in June were “excessive.” In a motion filed on Aug. 14, they alleged several errors in the initial trial, which concluded this June.

“A new trial is warranted here to address a litany of errors that allowed some issues to be tried twice or out of order, sent the libel claims to jurors under the wrong standards, allowed jurors to hear only half the evidence proffered on Defendants’ fault (and the irrelevant half at that), and placed before jurors an array of claimed injuries and damages not relevant to any claim they were to decide, all of which resulted in wildly excessive verdicts influenced by passion and prejudice,” the motion read in part.

Gibson Bros filed a motion opposing a new trial on Aug. 28, arguing that the issues at hand had already been decided.

“Defendants have continued this theme of

Oberlin Community News Bulletin

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Constitution Day

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Meeting/Documentary

The Lorain County Urban League Guild, The League of Women Voters of the Oberlin Area, and Lorain County Rising are co-hosting a Constitution Day celebration at The First United Methodist Church in Elyria this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be three facilitated, in-depth discussions about Amendments 1, 2, and 14. This year, Constitution Day is on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

The Business of Fancy Dancing, a 2002 documentary about two childhood friends whose lives have been defined by both their shared Indigenous heritage and their disparate career choices, will be screened this Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Oberlin Public Library. The library is showing the film a month in advance of Indigenous People’s Day, observed this year on Monday, Oct. 19.

disregarding the jury decisions in their Motion for New Trial and Remittitur,” the responding motion read. “In their Motion, Defendants re-argue numerous issues this Court has already heard and decided and challenge the jury verdicts based on unpresented and irrelevant evidence or evidence that was introduced without objection.”

This week, Miraldi ordered in a one-page ruling that the new trial would not proceed.

“Having considered the parties’ respective briefs and arguments and applicable precedent, the Court finds that the amount awarded is not manifestly excessive nor does it appear to be influenced by passion or prejudice,” Miraldi wrote.

The College and Raimondo have not yet stated publicly whether they intend to appeal the decision to the Ohio Court of Appeals.

AMAM in the AM: Andrea Gyorody The Allen Memorial Art Museum is hosting an informal morning talk with Ellen Johnson ’33 Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Andrea Gyorody. The talk will be on Friday Sept.

20 from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. AMAM in the AM is a monthly series of morning talks by museum curators that highlight the museum’s exetensive collection of artworks. Gyorody began working at the museum in 2017, and specializes in 20th and 21st century postwar European and American art.

September 13, 2019

OPINIONS

Letter to the Editors

Established 1874

College Should Respect Any Future Appeal Decision Oberlin College should pay the Gibson family a lot more than the almost $25 million that the very fine Lorain County jury awarded if it is a fact that President Carmen Twillie Ambar and Vice President and Dean of Students Meredith Raimondo aided and abetted the student demonstrators to engage in activities intended to bankrupt the Gibson family because the Gibsons are racist.

Oberlin College should appeal this verdict. Replays in sports give officials a chance to make sure they made the right call. When the action is shown 10 or 20 times slower from every possible angle, sometimes the original decision is left to stand, and sometimes it is reversed. No matter the final call, some remain unhappy, while others are pleased.

But a slow-motion review brings a measure of relief to all.

After all the appeals have been exhausted and all the charges are left standing against the College, the College will have to pay even if many may still find it hard to believe those facts.

Any appeal should be simple, straightforward, and brief. For example: 1. Raimondo was on the scene to ensure the safety of the students, to make sure that the deaths that occurred at the Kent State University Vietnam War protests in 1970 were not repeated in a similar tragedy in Oberlin. That objective was achieved.

2. Outsiders in support of Gibson’s could have shown up with guns.

3. The judge ruled that the students, like all Americans, have a right to free speech; Raimondo, even if she had wanted to, had no right at all to limit their speech.

4. President Ambar did not behave in any way that damaged Gibson’s reputation. Any student, professor, administrator, etc. who did should be held accountable as an individual, not the College collectively.

5. The College is not Goliath; all the money it has must go to help all students — and Black students in particular — cover tuition, to pay salaries to the janitors, food service workers, professors, etc.

6. Any funds paid to Gibson’s by the Board of Trustees are very likely to hurt students, faculty, secretaries, and the like because it subtracts from funds going to these groups.

7. There has never been any meeting, plan, etc. by President Ambar, administrators, or faculty, etc. to cast aspersion on any business, let alone one in Oberlin, never mind what a few young students might say.

8. The College’s image or reputation to attract students may have been irreparably damaged by the charges that it tried to hurt Gibson’s.

9. The first jury’s verdict stains much of Oberlin College’s storied history and legend, as well as that of those who have worked and currently work at the College.

The appeals process may not change that decision, but history needs to record that the College fought valiantly to get the facts right, to have a fresh set of eyes and minds look at the slow-motion replay as fairly as possible. In the end, the College will pay Gibson’s what the appeal facts require.

– Booker C. Peek Emeritus Professor of Africana Studies

SUBMISSIONS POLICY

The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and oped submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in that week’s issue.

Letters may not exceed 600 words and op-eds may not exceed 800 words, except with consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names and any relevant titles, for all signers. All writers must individually confirm authorship on electronic submissions. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for clarity, length, grammar, accuracy, strength of argument and in consultation with Review style. Editors will work with contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. Headlines are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. Opinions expressed in editorials, letters, opeds, columns, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review. The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to a contributor.

The Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

Volume 148, Number 2

Editorial Board Editors-in-Chief

Nathan Carpenter

Katherine MacPhail

Managing Editor Ananya Gupta

Opinions Editor Jackie Brant

Oberlin Climate Strike Engages International Emergency In support of work undertaken by Sunrise Oberlin, Obies will once again engage with important national and international issues as we stand with the rest of the world and strike against climate change on Sept. 20. Coverage of the plan for the protest is on page 1 of this issue (“Sunrise Strikes for Brighter Future”).

The Global Climate Strike is a week-long protest starting next Friday during which citizens from over 120 countries, several thousand cities, and over a million students will take part in a climate rally to raise awareness that not only is climate change real, but it isalso a quickly-approaching emergency.

Oberlin’s contribution via Sunrise Oberlin is already significant. On May 10, the organization presented the Green New Deal — a progressive bill that includes a comprehensive climate mandate — at a local town hall attended by 80 Oberlin residents.

In just three months, the movement motivated 30 Oberlin students to demand climate action from Senator Sherrod Brown’s office in Cleveland with handwritten letters and personal stories.

Through similar movements across the country, 106 senators and representatives have signed onto the Green New Deal. If our entire community could support this climate justice movement — rather than putting energy toward protesting threats to an imaginary crosswalk — we could be a lot closer to mitigating a very real and allencompassing existential threat.

Sunrise Oberlin has also made major efforts in educating the Oberlin community by collaborating with the Department of Environmental Studies and hosting an event where speakers from the Oberlin community — including Jean Foggo Simon from the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Committee, John Elder from Citizens for Safe and Sustainable Energy, a former congressional candidate, youth activists, and a representative from Policy Matters Ohio — spoke about the importance of the Green New Deal in April.

Along with a robust social media strategy on Facebook and Twitter that educates and entertains in tandem, movements like Sunrise are what make Oberlin a unique community and a remarkable institution.

And the movement, as community members have recognized, is urgent. In 2018 alone, the U.S. saw major hurricanes Florence and Michael, eight smaller hurricanes, and 15 named tropical storms cause enormous loss of life and cost several billion dollars in damages. We are already on track to see an above-average number of natural disasters in 2019, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Such disasters can no longer be termed “natural.” One of the pivotal factors that contribute to extreme weather events is climate change. Detailed in an article published earlier this year in The Washington Post are expert opinions from researchers at esteemed institutions like University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA that showcase the last few years as the hottest and the wettest in history. Because of climate change, these numbers are only expected to worsen.

Beyond the United States, countries all over the world are feeling similar, if not worse, effects of global warming. Each day brings reports of rampant wildfires, drought, desertification, and chronic flooding all over the world. Cities like Jakarta, Indonesia and Manila, Philippines are known to be sinking due to the sea-level rise caused by melting ice caps, and the question of relocating coastal communities — both in developed nations like Italy and the U.S. and developing nations such as India and China — is becoming more and more urgent.

In short, this is the fight of and for our lives. We are amid a climate crisis that includes threats like biodiversity loss, economic injustice, environmental racism, and inaccessibility to basic needs such as clean air and water, to name just a few. These are issues that people around the world — including Oberlin students and residents — grapple with every day.

During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, several Oberlin students took time off of their regular classes to travel to the South, organize for social justice, and report back to the Review from the frontlines. In a new moment of intense moral urgency, we are happy to see the beginnings of this flame being rekindled with respect to the fight against climate change and for a just and sustainable future.

Dr. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, an Inupiaq climate justice activist with ties to Oberlin, put it best in this week’s Off the Cuff interview: “[Obies] are keeping the Arctic alive in their hearts and moving with goodness” (“Dr. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Iñupiaq Environmental Activist”). Fighting the climate crisis will require all of us to move swiftly and with goodness — next week’s climate strike is a moment of shared agency in that fight that we hope all Obies will carry forward in their hearts and into our collective futures.

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

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Opi n ions

Student Life Leaves Nuclear Represents Best Option Student Priorities, Voices Behind Leo Lasdun Contributing Writer

David Mathisson Columnist Last Friday, when the police were patrolling campus and handing students jaywalking tickets in excess of $100, student voices called for a better solution. At the time, Campus Safety largely dismissed those voices. It took over a hundred people speaking up to gain administrative support for a solution that focused on the students. The fact that we need numbers like that to enact win-win policies is demonstrative of a problem bigger than just the crosswalk: the administration’s chronic refusal to involve students in policymaking is leading to bad policies in many areas of student life.

On Monday, after a protest planned in response to the tickets received over 120 responses on Facebook in less than 48 hours, I began to meet with members of the administration. The most substantial of my demands was a community-oriented solution. Among other things, a community-oriented solution would include policy changes to mitigate the consequences of using a undesignated crosswalk and policy guiding both drivers and students to mitigate the risk of motor vehicle injuries. The student subgroup of a solution-focused committee, which I will lead, will pitch a multifaceted plan, with the full backing of the administration, that will include the city and Oberlin Police Department as well. As the organizer, I’d like to thank everyone who stood up for the community with me. Without all of you, a community-oriented solution would not have been possible.

During negotiations, multiple administrators agreed that they never would have thought of the Science Center’s unofficial crosswalk as a shortcut students use to avoid arriving late to class, demonstrating the administration’s challenges with student-based policies. Even when administrators mean well, it’s almost impossible to produce policy solutions that work for students without any of us in the room. And when administrators make important student life decisions without involving the students who they impact, it harms not only the student body but the overall community as well.

The crosswalk isn’t the only area of policy where student involvement has rarely entered consideration. Many of the College’s most problematic policy areas have little, if any, student input. Residential Education policy and the Academic and Administrative Program Review have about as much student involvement as they do policy success. Which is to say there’s a long way to go, especially in these areas dealing specifically with student life.

ResEd — one of the administrative areas most directly involved in student life — has a transparency problem. Important information is often not disclosed to students, and massive disparities in housing quality give a few individuals incredible and unregulated decision-making power. With the question of when low-quality spaces will be renovated persistently unaddressed, the mechanisms by which students are placed in those spaces must no longer remain unanswered. Adding to the pile of questions is how ResEd can bring about the sense of community it so frequently advertises as reality. In all of these processes, ResEd does not appear to prioritize student input.

Similarly, during the AAPR, student voices were repeatedly suppressed. Just like its process, the final recommendations leave many unanswered questions, specifically about implementation. Many students on campus are deeply concerned about the AAPR’s impact on student life, since questions in those areas have also been left unanswered. A committee of 31 members contained just three students, none of whom were elected. Questions linger in the community about whether or not those members were able to advocate for students.

What do these problem policy areas have in common? Students and their perspectives are almost entirely absent from policy decisions that shape our Oberlin experiences. This needs to change.

See Adminisrative, page 7

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If you watched Chernobyl, HBO’s harrowing dramatization of the 1986 nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine, you probably noticed brooding scowls, gloomy stoicism, and pointed downtroddenness.

It’s not surprising that a show targeted toward a mainstream audience would play up the tropes surrounding the murky idea of “nuclear” in many American minds. In fact, for a lot of us, these tropes of disaster, despair, and cold weather make up the entirety of our understanding of nuclear energy.

I’ve been skeptical too, probably a direct result of playing the “Nuketown” map on Call of Duty as a kid. But I’m happy to say I’ve reviewed more accurate literature, and confidently believe that the future is nuclear.

Right now, about 20 percent of U.S. energy production comes from nuclear power. One-fifth of the energy market might seem like a great deal of energy, but it starts to look much smaller when you consider that zero percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from nuclear power plants. Of course, there are other emission-free renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, but based on their shares in the energy market — 1.6 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively — they appear to be less viable options for the U.S. This fact is especially important given the time left on the doomsday clock, which shrinks tenfold with every new report. Our window to act is quickly closing, and we’d do well to pursue our most time-effective strategy for emissions reduction.

One of the strongest and most overlooked arguments in favor of nuclear energy is its economic feasibility. The costs associated with nuclear generation are largely fixed and non-marginal.

What this means is that up front, building a nuclear power plant is rather expensive, but once it’s established, the continuing costs of operation are negligible.

Expensive fixed costs and low marginal costs are features of other renewables — most notably solar and wind — but nuclear is at an advantage because much of its large fixed cost has already been spent. The first nuclear reactor was built in the U.S. in 1942, and the number of reactors steadily increased over the next several decades. We’ve already built the expensive infrastructure for nuclear energy, whereas the time it would take to proliferate a comparable quantity of solar or wind farms at their current costs would be a prohibitive factor in achieving a sustainable energy grid and fighting climate change.

In terms of reliability and intermittency, nuclear energy is far and away the most promising

alternative power source. Without covering a significant portion of the country in solar panels or turbines, neither wind nor solar would likely be able to meet the U.S.’s high energy demand. Both sources depend on different elemental factors, and can thus only produce energy under certain conditions. This problem may seem small, but solar power only achieves maximum capacity about 26 percent of the time, and wind 37 percent of the time. Nuclear plants, on the other hand, produce at maximum power 92 percent of the time, more than any other source, and nearly twice as high as coal.

Returning to the Chernobyl phenomenon, the association of nuclear plants with danger and disaster is, for the most part, unfounded. I’m sure that there’s a whole article’s worth of shady, bigoil-sponsored explanations for this association, but it’s noteworthy how comparatively safe nuclear energy production really is. In 2013, NASA published a report which found that, between 1971 and 2009, nuclear prevented 64 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions — 15 times more than it produced.

It also prevented 1.8 million deaths — thousands of times more than it caused — that would have resulted from extracting the energy using more dangerous and polluting methods over the same time period. This time period, by the way, includes three of the largest nuclear disasters in history.

On a smaller scale, too, nuclear plants certainly prove safer than natural gas and coal extraction, as well as other sources of renewable energy. In terms of deaths caused per unit of electricity produced — an unpleasant metric, I know — nuclear power is one of the safest forms of energy production. Though nuclear has its own external impacts, we tend to focus disproportionately on its drawbacks without turning the same critical eye toward other renewables. I believe a diverse, renewable-centric energy portfolio is an important goal, and I wouldn’t argue against expanding the use of all renewables, but it’s undeniable that other sources like solar and wind don’t get their due scrutiny. Wind turbines, for example, create serious disruptions in bird migratory patterns, and solar generation doesn’t align with energy consumption cycles.

The difficult switch that still needs to be flipped with regard to nuclear energy is not one of feasibility. Instead, it’s of public opinion. Fear of nuclear disaster is pervasive, maybe even more so than fear of climate change, the much more imminent and dangerous disaster. In an ideal world, we would have time to make the arduous and expensive switch to a renewable with better optics like solar — the reality, however, is that emissions have to stop now in order to avert the worst-case climate scenario.

COMIC Athina Apazidis, Staff Cartoonist

Opinions Section Should Reflect Entire Community Jackie Brant

Opinions Editor

Last May, I finally had the opportunity to stay on campus during Commencement week working as opinions editor for the Review’s Commencement issue. Admittedly, I was most excited to spend time with my friends who would be graduating and take part in all the Commencement week festivities. However, one of the coolest things that happened that week was also very unexpected.

During Commencement week, alumni are invited back for class reunions to connect with other Oberlin alumni and current students, reconvene with old professors, reminisce on old Oberlin memories, and help celebrate the newest class of alumni.

Many of the alumni stay in old dormitories and relive their old Oberlin experiences. The Review hosted an open house to welcome back alumni who worked at the Review during their time here, and seeing them reconnect with their old office was absolutely heartwarming.

The alumni we met included former arts editors, photo editors, news editors, and production editors. Not all of them continued down the journalism path after graduating from Oberlin; however, several of them did and are now successful journalists for national publications.

Talking to these former Review staffers made me realize the deep tradition that is rooted in this paper. The office we have in the Burton basement has been the official Review of-

fice for decades. Some of our current wall hangings have been up for years, and there are tales behind them that we may never know. There’s no telling how long ago some of the quotes and other markings were scribbled on the office walls.

The old stories and memories the alumni recounted to us were not unlike our own. Two alumni who worked on the Review in the 1980s told us about the old dart board they had in the office that had a picture of Ronald Reagan in the center. We knew exactly what they were talking about. We still have a dartboard in the Review office, although the picture of Ronald Reagan has since been replaced. We talked about how the stereotypical reputations of the campus co-ops hasn’t changed a bit and tracked how traditions — such as the Harkness bike burning and the naked run through Mudd Center — have changed over the years, but still exist.

One thing we discussed in depth with the alumni were the hot topics during our respective years on campus. One of the alumni recounted a story that I had never heard before.

She told us that in the ’80s, Oberlin hourly workers went on strike with suspicions that the administration had hired people to spy on them and report back to the administration about their overall productivity. Recently, the Academic and Administrative Program Review, and the recommendations resulting from, it has undeniably been a dominating topic at the Review. Although the situation is much different than the workers’

situation in the 80’s, AAPR has certainly brought up concerns about the treatment and the future of hourly workers at Oberlin.

These conversations made me truly realize the uniqueness of not only the Review, but of Oberlin in general.

As a result of meeting the alumni, I began to think more about the history of the Review and the legacy it carries. Except for academic breaks, the Review has published continuously since 1874, making us one of the oldest college publications in the country. Looking now into the future, the Review is in the new, unique position of being the only newsroom in our town since the The Oberlin News Tribune closed its office last year. This is certainly not something that many other college newspapers around the country can claim.

Because of that, we must take this notion even more seriously now. The Review has shifted its editorial focus in recent years from covering national news to local news, both in Oberlin and statewide. However, we still have a long way to go in terms of engaging with non-student writers.

The Review is for anyone and everyone associated with Oberlin.

While we do get plenty of submissions from current students in the Opinions section, submissions from professors, alumni, Oberlin workers, and residents of Oberlin are comparatively few and far between. Occasionally, we might receive letters from residents or professors about local issues such as upcoming town elections or town occurrences.

If the Review wants to live up to our assertion that we are the publication of record in Oberlin, the Opinions section should be representative of the thoughts and ideas of not only current Oberlin students, but of the people who live and work in Oberlin and of the alumni who have taken their Oberlin experiences out into the real world.

I want to hear from alumni about the ways that Oberlin is now different or the same from the Oberlin that they attended. I want to hear more about the shared experiences that Oberlin students across all years have in common. I want to hear what the townspeople of Oberlin think about hot button issues. I want to hear the cares and concerns of the people who actually live permanently in the town of Oberlin. If this paper is to claim that it represents the community of Oberlin, our Opinions section must amplify all the voices that constitute it, from alumni and townspeople to workers and professors.

The effort must be two-fold. As the Opinions editor, I must increase the scope of my outreach to include not only the perspectives of current students, but also the perspectives of other community members. However, I also encourage anyone reading this — current students, alumni, College employees, and townspeople alike — to submit to the Opinions section.

Your perspectives are imperative to achieving the very mission of this paper: to be the publication of record for the town of Oberlin.

Administrative Policies Need Greater Student Input Continued from page 6

First, the administration should increase transparency in student life policy. Information about these policy areas and why they’re so riddled with problems needs to be public. Many students feel that they can’t use our voices if we don’t know what obstacles we need to talk about.

Second, controversial policy changes should be held to a vote. If a supermajority of student opposition is expected, that’s probably a decision that should not be made.

Third, more student positions need to open up connections between administrators and students. In the realm of Campus Dining Services, for example, student ambassadors work with administrators to connect policy with the community. The idea of student ambassadors would be an excellent model for other administrative areas, among them ResEd. Fourth, once students, such as senators, RAs, and ambassadors, are in positions of authority, we need more power, autonomy, and policymaking agency. With that policymaking agency, we will see better, more community-centered policies that work for us all.

We can do this. We can unite as a community to solve these problems. They’re bigger than any one student or administrator. But if the administration can trust us and let us bring our voices to the tables of policy, we can solve these problems together.

The Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

7

Photo courtesy of embassylandscape.com

Sweet Joe-Pye-Weed (left) Perennial herbs with leaves that radiate from a single point and surround the stem and purplish flowers in clusters at the end of the plant stem. Joe-pye-weeds flower from August to September. Many insects, especially butterflies and bees, are attracted to the small tubular flowers.

Native Pl Text and Layout by Lily

Summer may be coming to an wildflowers are far from callin many of these native flora will until late fall. All of the followi around Oberlin’s campus. Se

Photo courtesy of Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Oak Tree Fruit (left) The fruit is a nut called an acorn or oak nut borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed — though occasionally contains two or three — and takes six to 18 months to mature, depending on its species.

Photo courtesy of smmflowers.o

Black Walnut Tree Fruit (below) Ripens during the autumn into a fruit with a brownish-green, semi-fleshy husk and a brown, corrugated nut.

The whole fruit, including the husk, falls in October.

Photo courtesy of bio.brandeis.edu Photo courtesy of ironweednursery.com

Common Poke A large, bushy, herbac sometimes resembles up to eight feet in heig by smooth, red-purpl shaped leaves and cl berries in the fall. Thi from s

Aster (above) Perennials that can frequently be seen growing by the side of the road as a clump of upright stems with wand-like spreading branches. In late August, small flowers cover the top half of the plant. The flowers are actually clusters made up of many individual flowers that can be different shapes and colors.

Weekly Calendar Friday–Saturday, Sept. 13–14

Sunday, Sept. 15

Art Rental Sign-Up & Art Rental Take home a piece of art from the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s collection! *Students are allowed a maximum of two art pieces, $5 each, paid for with cash or check.

Check-in times will be at Friday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.; Saturday at 12 a.m., 3 a.m., and 7:30 a.m.

Art Rental Begins at 8 a.m. Saturday. // The Allen Memorial Art Museum

Covet Covet, an adventure rock trio, will perform “mathematical guitar tunes” composed by multi-instrumentalist Yvette Young.

7–8:30 p.m. // The Cat in the Cream

lant Hunt Jones, This Week Editor

n end, but Oberlin’s trees and ng it quits for the year. In fact, be producing flowers and fruit ing plants can be found on and ee if you can spot them all!

White Snakeroot (right) Can grow up to 3 feet tall and is classified as a perennial herb.

It has flat-topped clusters of small white flowers. Distinctive features include opposite leaves which are coarsely-toothed, sharply-pointed at the tip, and attached to a long slender leaf stalk.

Photo courtesy of Michael Huft Photography, flickr.com

Goldenrod (below) A perennial characterized by small yellow flowers in pyramid-shaped clusters at the top of individual, unbranched, leafy stems. Its flowers are crowded onto numerous backwardcurved stalks that originate at a central point and are arranged horizontally. The leaves are lance-shaped, tapered at both ends, hairless on the upper surface, hairy underneath, and sharply toothed on the edges.

org

eweed (above) ceous perennial that s a small tree, growing ght. It is characterized le stems, large lancelusters of dark purple is species reproduces seeds.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock, Wiert Nieuman

Botany Vocab!

Perennial: a plant that lives for more than two years.

Herbaceous: vascular plants without woody stems. Often shortened to “herbs.”

Compound leaf: a leaf of a plant consisting of several or many distinct parts (leaflets) joined to a single stem.

Fruit: the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.

Photo courtesy of gardensall.com

Jewelweed (right) An herbaceous plant that grows 3 to 5 feet tall and blooms from late spring to early fall.

The flowers are orange with a three-lobed set of petals. One of the calyx lobes — the part of the flower that encases the petals — is colored similarly to the corolla and forms a hooked conical spur at the back of the flower.

Monday, Sept. 16

Thursday, Sept. 19

Constitution Day Lecture — “How to Read the Constitution and Why: Kimberly Wehle” Join this discussion about why the Constitution matters so much right now — and what you can do about problems in government.

12:15 p.m.–1:15 p.m. // Dye Lecture Hall

Study Away Fair The Study Away Fair is a one-stop-shop for information regarding Oberlin’s affiliated international and domestic study away programs. Representatives from various programs will field questions, as will Obies who have previously studied away.

4:30–6 p.m. // Science Center, First Floor & Atrium

A r t s & C u ltu r e

September 13, 2019

ARTS & CULTURE Established 1874

Volume 148, Number 2

A Look Behind the Scenes: Choreographing Physical Intimacy Aly Fogel Arts & Culture Editor As a younger actor, I remember times when I sat across from the actor playing my romantic interest, each of us stumped by the next line in the script: “The two share a passionate kiss.”

“Let’s skip that part,” I’d suggest, timidly.

While it’s possible to side-step around this stage direction for the first few weeks of rehearsal, the moment inevitably comes when the intimate scene must get staged. In my experience, what follows has ranged from giggling teenage awkwardness to extreme discomfort.

How do we ensure the former rather than the latter? In the Me Too era, we’re finally aware of the unbalanced power dynamics that often occur between young, usually female actors and male directors.

The question is, how do we navigate those dynamics when a script calls for two actors to kiss or have sex on stage?

In the last few years, a new title has been given to theater artists who are brought in during rehearsals specifically to direct such scenes. The term is “intimacy coordinators.” They function much like choreographers, breaking down the movements in the physical encounter and ensuring that the actors are safe. This role is extremely new — the first Broadway production to make use of an intimacy coordinator opened just this past May. On the Oberlin campus, the Theater department has long used choreographers in its productions.

Now that intimacy coordinators are gaining national attention, there has been increased discourse

Drawing by Alex Tash

about the role they should play at Oberlin. Professor of Theater and Africana Studies and Chair of Theater Caroline Jackson-Smith explained that intimacy coordinators are a necessity for the well-being of the Oberlin theater community.

“I know in this community that we’re all becoming so sensitive around Title IX issues about permission and respect for people’s boundaries,” Jack-

son-Smith said. “To have someone who can sit and talk with the actors and the director, who can offer suggestions, who has already [been] trained in what’s safe, that is huge for us in this community, in the kind of community we want to be, so there aren’t abuses of people transgressing boundaries in any way, shape, or form.”

See Intimacy, page 13

“E. Pluribus” Recontextualizes 9/11 in Analysis of Conflict Casey Troost

Walking into the Firelands Association for Visual Arts gallery for a panel focusing on the 18th anniversary of 9/11, I expected tense silence. Instead, I was met with excited conversation and laughter between an intimate audience and the panelists. The mood didn’t match the somber nature of the day, but I sensed that this would inspire the crowd to continue the conversation after the event.

The panel concluded the FAVA’s “E. Pluribus” exhibition, a collection of artworks depicting war from a diverse range of American and Middle Eastern perspectives. The panelists were also diverse: their personal backgrounds ranged from working in the Pentagon at the time of the attack, to fighting for the U.S.

Attendees at the FAVA gallery panel this Wednesday. The panel was part of the “E. Pluibus” exhibition, which will continue through Sunday.

Photo by Chris Schmucki, Photo Editor

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in the war in Iraq, to living in Pakistan during drone strikes. Though the members spoke about drastically different experiences, they were united in their final message to the audience: the conversation around global conflict needs to continue.

Currently, the “E. Pluribus” exhibition includes the works of 10 additional artists, spanning interactive installation pieces to live performances. Because most of the collection is in the process of moving to a new location, the FAVA gallery is currently showing the works of only Matthew Diebel and Mahwish Chrishty, two of the panelists. These pieces will still be available to view until Sept. 15.

Barbara Koenen, the creator of “E. Pluribus,” began making art about war after she realized that both the media and the government were disregarding the nationwide marches against the war in Iraq.

“It was a straightforward decision,” she said. “How could you not address [the attacks, the protests, and the war]?”

Her pieces, based on Afghan war rugs and Tibetan sand mandalas, eventually became part of the “E. Pluribus” collection, which Koenen began curating in 2016. To counter government and media censorship, Koenen used the collection to record history, depict the complexity of the crisis, and spread awareness as the exhibition traveled around the country.

Last Wednesday’s panel educated the audience in a similarly nuanced way. Each of the panelists shared sobering experiences of violence and explained the importance of the exhibition, but the bulk of the conversation centered around defining the larger forces at play in the conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia. The panel was eager to describe the complexity and vastness of the problems affecting international relations, but it struggled to recommend many concrete solutions.

Deibel, an Iraq war veteran, said that though the conflicts show few signs of ending, the question of withdrawing troops presents an acute moral dilemma. “[Marines] don’t know what to do,” he said. “From our experience on the ground … [it seemed like] most of the Iraqis appreciated us being there.” Deibel said that the U.S. military provided medical care and running water to civilians who hadn’t previously had ac-

cess to either. While the military had helped to keep citizens alive for the time being, the lack of public awareness left the situation without a long term resolution.

“We had despotic leaders like Saddam Hussein doing atrocious things to their people, and this was largely not talked about in the media,” he said. According to Deibel, these problems are still relevant as long as the U.S. military remains active in Iraq.

Mahwish Chishty, a Pakistani-American artist and Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, added that she hadn’t been able to find enough information about the U.S. drone strikes on Pakistan in the states; she only found the answers she needed at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in London.

“We [the U.S.] have multiple news channels … but we’re not getting what we are seeking,” she said.

Chishty lamented the fact that U.S. taxpayers were funding the CIA’s attacks on Pakistan without having enough resources to fully understand the situation.

But a lack of publicly accessible information may not be the only issue. Oberlin Visiting Instructor of History Jiyul Kim, who worked at the Pentagon, said that the panel’s small turnout reflected the average American’s apathy for current events in the Middle East and Central Asia.

“It’s become normal, for [current Oberlin students]; you can’t remember a time when we weren’t fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said. Kim also suggests that the recent lack of U.S. casualties in these two countries contribute to the lack of press coverage and national interest.

The decrease in student activism on the issue is easy to see. Following the attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in 2001, Oberlin students responded with blood drives, weekly demonstrations, new classes, documentary screenings, forums, panels, and fasts to raise funds for the survivors in New York and D.C. Now, although we have a fuller knowledge of the complexity of the crises in the Middle East, we are taking less action. At the panel, I noticed that the only students that had come were myself and a photographer. It seems like this is an issue which is in danger of being forgotten.

The Innocents Shines Light on Falsely Incarcerated, Wrongful Imprisonment

Percussionists Allen Otte, OC ’72, and John Lane perform using instruments assembled by incarcerated people.

Courtesy of Concert Production

Carson Dowhan Senior Staff Writer Objects like rocks, pots, pans, and trash cans may not sound like typical musical instruments, but they are artfully used to produce The Innocents, a percussionist exhibit that will be performed this Sunday, Sept. 15. Percussionist John Lane and Allen Otte, OC ’72, created The Innocents to address issues of wrongful imprisonment, the American criminal justice system, and exoneration. This is one of many projects, including several at Oberlin, that advocate for prison reform through artistic means.

In The Innocents, the duo uses found objects to produce artistic soundscapes that weave in the voices of incarcerated people.

“We made a conscious decision early on that we didn’t want to include any traditional instruments,” Lane wrote in an

email to the Review. “We’ve even found that some of the choices we’ve made in that regard have psychological underpinnings.” Although the cardboard boxes, tin cans, pipes, and newspapers were originally chosen for their sound, Lane explained that these nontraditional instruments also allude to poverty.

“Many individuals who get swept up in wrongful imprisonment often also struggle with poverty or homelessness,” John said.

The duo also chose sounds which deliberately reference incarceration, such as rocks smashing together from a recording of a chain gang, which is a group of prisoners chained together as punishment.

“In performance, we have the opportunity to direct and focus not only attention but, more importantly, to engage on an emotional level where experience is more than simply processing facts and

figures,” read the program notes.

Some pieces are purposefully uncomfortable, and at times confusing, while others are more direct. According to the program, this is done to prove the value of “empathic engagement with issues that ultimately touch all of our lives.”

The project was conceived as a performance art piece in collaboration with University of Cincinnati Professor of Theatre Michael Burnham, along with actors from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music drama program. It coincided with a photography exhibition, The Innocents,

by Taryn Simmons, which was comprised of photographs and interviews with wrongfully incarcerated people.

“We both believe strongly, and often quote the composer Herbert Brün’s notion, that it is a good idea for artists to lift their voices for something other than themselves,” Lane wrote in an email to the Review. “In a climate of social media and branding, it feels good to be working as advocates for something other than our own careers.”

The Innocents fits into a larger conversation about prison reform in the Oberlin College arts community. There are a variety of programs at Oberlin that also explore and support creativity in prison.

“Research indicates that men who participate in educational experiences have a lower rate of recidivism,” said Professor of Music Education and founder of Oberlin Music at Grafton Jody Kerchner, referring to the decreased likelihood to be incarcerated again. “My research also suggests that men participating in choir also learn to follow directions, receive feedback from the director, an ‘authority,’ take risks by showing others their inner selves, deal with and reframe their feelings, and practice positive internal attributes such as patience, confidence,

motivation for doing one’s best, and allowing oneself to enjoy oneself during the process of learning.”

Kerchner’s service-oriented organization at Grafton Reintegration Center aims “to provide an opportunity for residents to engage in community-building, cooperative group learning, discipline, enhanced self-esteem building, healing, and self-expression through music.” She has extensively researched this topic throughout her career.

Another program, Oberlin Drama at Grafton, offers residents the opportunity to perform classical drama, with an emphasis on Shakespeare’s plays.

The website states that, “As Grafton men bring to life characters grappling with profound social problems using brilliant language in complex ethical situations, they gain deep insights into society, themselves, and other individuals.”

Students and organizers work with residents on performances such as Merchant of Venice, which was performed last May. Zoe Jasper, College thirdyear and Assistant Director of ODAG, also touched upon the importance of the program. She has been part of the program for a year, attending production meetings and rehearsals, as well as working with actors in groups or oneon-one to refine their performances.

“This program is deeply important to me because it provides an opportunity for people in the free world to connect with incarcerated men and make prison just a little more bearable for them,” she wrote in her email to the Review.

Come see The Innocents this Sunday and witness the power of arts to empower those behind bars. For those interested in getting involved in Grafton’s programs, contact Jody Kerchner for OMAG, and Emeritus Professor of English Phyllis Gorfain for ODAG.

Grown-Up Losers Club Confronts Evil Clown in IT: Chapter Two Kushagra Kar Production Editor Clowns can be fun. They prance around in their absurdly large shoes, make balloon animals, and usually have no qualms about cracking the occasional slapstick joke. However, popular culture has not been kind to this wholesome community, often depicting clowns as the kind of monster that will hide under our beds. If IT Chapter Two can teach us anything, it’s that clowns have feelings too, and all they really want to is to make friends.

It (2017) and its recent sequel follow the story of seven teenagers (known as “The Losers Club”) as they face down Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Played by Bill Skarsgård, Pennywise is a monster shrouded in mystery, inevitably leading to endless exposition that slowly unveils his origins. Over the course of the two films, we become familiarized with his gimmick: he appears every 27 years to feast on unassuming children before presumably going into hibernation. The sequel picks up at the start of such a cycle. The Losers Club, now all grown up and played by a new cast of actors, are still reeling from the trauma of their encounter with a creature from their childhood. Determined to put an end to the clown and his child-eating rituals, The Losers Club embark on personal journeys, confronting their own demons before finally challenging Pennywise.

IT Chapter Two is a film driven almost exclusively by the performance of its core cast. Skarsgård reprises his role with fresh zeal and added depth, delivering an absolutely chilling performance that often keeps the film afloat. Further, the distinctive use of Pennywise’s haunting gaze, both throughout the film and in its promotional material, contribute immensely to the overall effect of the character on the viewer. In an eerie, almost uncomfortable way, we are forced to make

The Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

eye-contact with Pennywise from the moment we see the poster. This narrative choice challenges audiences with its use of extra-diegetic gaze, while simultaneously justifying the extent of agency attributed to the villain. I do not think it was the film’s intention to have viewers sympathize with Pennywise, but some part of me still does. His dialogue is often rife with emotion and his existence is inherently lonely. Understanding his existential reality provides perspective on why Pennywise thrives on fear, and reimagines his ability to exploit emotions as an acute empathetic sensibility.

Opposing Pennywise in his headstrong yet charismatic way is protagonist Bill Denbrough, an accomplished writer with an affinity for botching endings played by James McAvoy. By far the best-developed character, McAvoy embodies Bill’s emotionally conflicted and torn persona with ease and finesse. The conflict between Bill’s past and ongoing sense of responsibility plays out incredibly through McAvoy’s performance, undeniably becoming the emotional core of the film. Giving McAvoy a run for his money is Bill Hader’s take on Richie Tozier, who has risen from the ranks of irrelevance to become the star of the show whenever he is on screen. With a riveting personal story arc and a unique relationship with Pennywise, Hader brings his best both comically and dramatically.

Unfortunately, the remainder of the Losers were treated with far less care and their arcs were botched by poor plot points. The creative constraints placed on the character of Beverly Marsh felt like a wasted opportunity considering the caliber of actress Jessica Chastain. Almost all of the character traits attributed to Marsh in this film have been rehashed from the original, not to mention the patriarchal tropes that dictate her entire arc. The biggest disappointment, however, was timid mama’s boy Eddie Kaspbrak.

Played enjoyably by Jack Dylan Grazer in the previous film, James Ransone’s iteration is deeply lacking in those expressive character traits that made Eddie so endearing. The remainder of the Club was used exclusively to drive subplots and were oftentimes merely plot devices on their own.

A thriller would be incomplete without the execution of its genre-specific tropes. Director Andrés Muschietti maintains the same style of contextual horror as in the first film, relying more on the setting, the emotional distress of the characters, and the tangible psychotic disposition of the antagonist. While he does conjure a few good jump-scares, the dramatic tension of the film is far more effective in the way it maintains a consistent sense of discomfort. Further, the pacing allows Muschietti to add a degree of levity to the story, giving us the opportunity to appreciate the characters outside of their conflict with Pennywise — a narrative choice that pays off in film interest. While IT Chapter Two does subvert traditional horror genre clichés, it does so at the cost of genuinely terrifying set-pieces. While this may dissuade die-hard horror movie-goers, it manages to open the avenue to people less inclined toward the genre. The overall narrative effect is well worth the sacrifice.

IT Chapter Two is a decent film — especially by conventional horror movie standards. Yes, it is important to watch the first film to be able to fully appreciate the nuances of the sequel, but both movies are well-worth the time. While IT Chapter Two does suffer from a number of pitfalls, namely a lack of an effective score and overall cinematographic appeal, the enjoyment gained from watching it outweighs most other factors.

It is essential to find a buddy to join you through this experience, and be prepared to suspend disbelief for some ridiculous moments that you can enjoy if you give into the whims of the storyteller. So reach out, believe, and maybe you’ll float too.

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A r t s & C u lt u r e ON THE RECORD

Maxwell Addae and Barnaby Woods, Obertones it for the past two or three years. It was one of our oldest arrangements. Part of doing it too was it was a tribute to one of our graduating seniors. He was on the solo for that song. It was a way to honor him and give him tribute as he graduated.

This song is one that you guys already had rehearsed?

MA: I arranged it my [first] year — so like 2016 — and it’s been around for a very long time. I’ve gotten pretty sick of it after a point, and I was like, “You know what?

Let’s record it and get it out there. And just be done with it.”

Barnaby Woods: [The recording] definitely breathed new life into [the song], hearing the studio version of it.

Now that the song has been released, how do you feel about the effect?

BW: Well, for me at least, I just love being able to listen to a studio version of one of our arrangements. … And also, you know, this has been something that I sent to all of my friends and family, all of my social circles, everyone possible, because this is mixed studio single, but it still sounds like us, you know? At its core, you can still pick out all the voices of the members in the group. And because of that, I’ve just like sent it everywhere — people have been really, really enthusiastically responsive, and it’s just been an absolute honor.

MA: Totally agree. I think one of our major goals for Obertones on their spring tour in Washington, D.C. the group too is to really expand our work beyond the Photo courtesy of Maxwell Addae Oberlin campus and get our name out beyond Oberlin. So I think having the single out is really helpful to … get our Double-degree fourth-year Maxwell Addae and College brand out of [just] the Oberlin circle. third-year Barnaby Woods are the respective music director and president of the Obertones, Oberlin’s premier a cap- Let’s talk about your tour during spring break. Could pella group for people who identify with the experience of you briefly describe it? manhood. This summer, the group released their first single, BW: We went to four different places. We started out “Dream On,” which Addae arranged during his first year at in Washington, D.C., and there on our first night we hostOberlin. They discussed last year’s iteration of their annu- ed a concert at the Lyceum [Museum] in Alexandria, VA. al spring tour, their legacy as a group on campus, and their And that was a huge success. … And then the next day we goals within the Oberlin community and the world. performed in the Cherry Blossom Festival, which is down in D.C. close to the National Mall. So that was also an inThis interview has been edited for length and clarity. credible experience … We just had people passing by and like stopping and listening to us. And that was pretty aweRachel Fang some.

And then [we stopped] in New Jersey. Obertones memCould you guys tell me briefly about the process of ber Patrick Wai is from there, and we stayed at his house. making and releasing the single?

He coordinated everything with his high school, and we Maxwell Addae: During Commencement week, we went in and did multiple workshops with [students there]. were here for the Commencement a capella concert. So We stayed in New Jersey for about three days. After that, I basically had each of the 12 members of the group come we moved on to New York and did some busking on the into the Conservatory basement one by one and recorded Highline, and we met with a whole bunch of Obertones them on their own individual tracks. Then, I spent a bit alumni, like 40 to 50 alumni. We did this huge concert in of time over the summer editing, fixing, tuning, stuff like the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. You know, that. And then, [I] sent [the tracks] off to a professional a it was totally sold out, and it was a lot of fun because we cappella mixer at the end of June so that they could han- went up and did our set and then the alumni joined us. dle the mixing process. They got it back to me in mid-July, It was like this ridiculous a cappella group of 60 people and then we put it out July 19. … The Obertones have re- singing the Backstreet Boys medley. corded before, but not this group of singers. It’s our first studio single.

What do you think is the key to The Obertones’ success?

Have you encountered any problems or difficulties BW: Obviously, we owe a huge part of that to our histoduring the process of making it? ry. The Obertones were the first a cappella group on camMA: The main issue on my end was doing it all within pus, since then they kind of owned that role. The precea very compact time period. It’s very time-consuming to dent has been set for many years now to just kind of grab record every single person on their own track, and so do- as many gigs as we possibly can and perform a lot. ing all of that in four days was very tiring. But other than I think we have just been very lucky, largely. I feel like that, it was a pretty smooth process. Everyone knew the since getting here, I’ve just been very lucky that there was song pretty well at that point because we had been doing already a very solid foundation to work with. Really, that’s

a huge thing. We also just have a ton of energy, which I think is a big thing. You know, we all love performing and running around and moving while we’re performing. I think people respond to that.

MA: And also, I don’t want to paint this picture of us being like the perfect group; there’s definitely been some low moments, both in recent years as well as in the ’90s. ...

There have been moments where the group has not been a great place. But I do think it is a good environment now. … I think the people in the group are very conscious of [being a group of members who identify with manhood] and are really trying to make it a space that is musically inclined and musically intentional, but also socially intentional and really trying to be aware of how our actions affect the broader Oberlin [community].

And just to add to Barnaby’s point about the history of the group, in addition to the musical side of things, the language around how we present ourselves has changed a lot. Previously it’s been an all-male group, which has connotations that are complicated. So we’re transitioning more into this language I didn’t find with “manhood,” whether that be cisgender man or trans man or non-binary but still aligned with manhood. So I think that kind of opens the door for more people to feel okay in that space and feel not as pushed out by the all-male dominance that there once was.

What is the biggest thing that you learned from the experience of being a member of the group?

BW: That I can be friends with a big group of men. I’m being serious. Like, that is not something I experienced before that group, and it’s been really important for me.

MA: That’s so real. Also, musically, so much — The Obertones kind of opened the door for me to start arranging music. … And that has been an absolutely invaluable skill that I’ve learned from being in The Obertones. … Over time, I started doing my own arrangements and learning how to develop my own musical voice and how to take a preexisting song and turn it into something that is for The Obertones.

I’m going to latch onto the being in an all-men space thing for a second, [because] that is so real. In my high school, there were very few openly gay men. They were very few spaces where I felt like I could be myself as a man. In The Obertones, it’s a very different space: super welcoming. Everyone is just pretty gay, first of all, but also just unafraid to be themselves and and to be there for people and to cry and to just embrace emotion, you know? It’s a very different space that I have not encountered outside in most predominantly male spaces.

Is there anything that you guys want to improve as a group?

BW: Personally, I like the direction we’re heading in. I think our progression since I have been in the group has felt very natural. I’ve been lucky enough to kind of stick with the same general group of people moving up every year, and every year I have seen that group of people grow.

MA: I think another goal for the group that I want to instill is being consciously aware of what an all-men’s space can be and what we should try to make it not be — just being very conscious that as an all-men’s space, we need to have certain things in mind and craft the environment in a way that is healthy rather than toxic. As an all-men’s group, we have to be super consciously aware of how our actions affect the wider community and promote an environment that produces people that we can be proud of.

COMIC Clair Wang, Staff Cartoonist

12

CROSSWORD

An Astrological Crossword

Kate Fishman Arts & Culture Editor

ACROSS 1 Celestial body.

8 One of the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals; proud, hardworking.

9 The Cancer symbol.

10 A well-accessorized constellation.

11 The most organized sign.

14 A December sign, abbreviated.

16 All eyes on them.

18 This sign determines your basic, core identity.

20 Birth _____.

21 The society where astrology originated.

24 A popular astrology app.

26 Two-faced.

27 The planet of the mind.

DOWN 1 Something’s a little fishy.

2 The aloof creative of the zodiac.

3 Sign of the stubborn.

4 Tells you what’s happening daily, annually, or anytime in between.

5 The heavens split into 12.

6 Of the tides; ruling your moods.

7 The workaholics of the zodiac.

12 The sign that determines how you’re perceived by others.

13 Soul, spirit, and mind.

15 Associated with Capricorn.

16 This crossword author’s sign.

17 What planets do, “___it” 19 An emotional summer baby might have this as their sign.

22 You should make sure you’re astrologically compatible with this person.

23 A country where astrology has remained culturally popular, from ancient times to now.

25 A Chinese zodiac sign associated with resourcefulness, spelled backward.

Intimacy Coordinators Play Crucial Role in Theater Post #MeToo Continued from page 11

Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Holly Handman-Lopez, who is studying to be an intimacy coordinator, echoes Jackson-Smith’s sentiment.

“While doing this kind of coaching, and this is now in the national spotlight, it’s important that performers feel comfortable, respected, and in charge of their own bodies; how they are touching and being touched by others,” Handman-Lopez wrote in an email to the Review.

Jackson-Smith has worked with Handman-Lopez on her directorial projects in the past, and she hopes to use Handman-Lopez as an intimacy coordinator for a project she’s directing in Cleveland this spring. Jackson-Smith is an accomplished director, but she explained that she would rather have an intimacy coordinator direct scenes involving sexual intimacy.

“I’m still uncomfortable after all these years trying to stage a sexual scene and to figure out how everyone can feel safe,” Jackson-Smith said. “I mean, it really is [like] fight choreography where it really is a specialty of how you evoke what you want to evoke, but keep the actors safe [without] doing explicitly what you think you’re seeing.”

While the two jobs may seem extremely different, fight choreographers and intimacy coordinators have similar approaches to staging their respective scenes. A fight choreographer breaks the fight down into “beats,” much like a dance routine. Each movement is specifically chosen to make the scene look like a fight from the audience, although the actors are not actually hitting each othThe Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

er. Intimacy coordinators can use choreography and the power of suggestion to achieve the same effect.

Cat Potts, OC ’19, who majored in Theater, explains that when she assistant directed Bright Half Life, she tried to block the kissing scenes as carefully as possible. “[The director] has to be so careful because there are always power dynamics at play, and those can be taken advantage of super, super easily,” Potts said.

“It’s got to be so spot on, because if you don’t have those very specific directions given, how is a person who feels violated supposed to speak up? So if two actors are kissing and, you know, one actor starts to shove their tongue up the other actor’s mouth … for me as a woman, that would be like, ‘Okay well I … feel uncomfortable speaking up, because maybe I’m just being sensitive.’”

Using an intimacy coordinator ensures that everyone understands the boundaries of the scene, which enables actors to speak up when these boundaries are broken. Because the intimacy coordinator is not the director, who is often in charge of the actor’s employment status, there are fewer barriers discouraging actors from speaking up for themselves.

This job doesn’t just ensure the safety of the cast — it also makes for better art.

The clearer the directions are, the more comfortable the actors are fully committing to the moment, which makes for a better scene.

“You don’t want [the scene] to be weak and tepid because you’re kind of afraid or don’t know enough about how to have people engage safely,” Jackson-Smith said. “So if there’s somebody

who’s good at [staging intimacy], it’s going to be better for everyone all the way around.”

There are times when the rehearsal room does not reach this ideal. Potts spoke about her experience performing a sex scene for a faculty-directed production. While she felt that the students were good at setting boundaries for themselves, she wished that the director would have approached the scene more carefully. “[The conversations] need to be facilitated by the adult in the room, the faculty member, the director, and … either you two or all three [of us should] have this conversation, ‘What are you comfortable with? What’s uncomfortable?

What’s your tap out? What’s too much, and how can you express that?’” Potts said.

Sofie Rejto, a third-year Theater and Psychology major, also mentioned feeling uncomfortable with scenes in Chamber Play that featured sexual assault.

“The first play that I did here was Chamber Play,” Rejto said in an email to the Review. “There were scenes that involved sexual assault that became rather uncomfortable to choreograph mostly because we were left to our devices (despite our director’s best efforts to guide us). I was incredibly anxious about making choices that were ‘too real’ and causing my acting partner discomfort. And on top of that, I was just a first year who only realized the content of the play after accepting the role and felt obligated not to take issue with the process.”

Carrie Babigian, a fourth-year Theater and History major interested in directing, shares this concern. As an as-

sistant director in Heathers, she found it difficult to stage a sex scene, because she had not been taught how to choreograph intimacy.

“I think in professional theater there are definitely freelance … intimacy and violence [choreographers], and then there’ll be a separate person as a director,” Babigian said. “But it is interesting to think about, because in student theater, you don’t have those resources.

[Hiring an intimacy coordinator] is just not going to happen.”

It’s important to remember that the conversation around intimacy coordinators is extremely new, and, though there are still improvements to be made, I’m grateful that there are Oberlin professors who are raising the standard for directing intimate scenes.

Last semester, a student worked as an intimacy coordinator on Oberlin’s production of What We Look Like, and Handman-Lopez has been interested in this work for years.

“Oberlin directors are ahead of the curve as they have been reaching out for assistance in this way for years,” Handman-Lopez said.

Potts hopes that the department increases the use of intimacy coordinators in the future.

“But as far as the department goes, I just want them to keep pushing and keep learning and keep growing,” Potts said.

In my own acting experience, the presence of an intimacy coordinator would have created a third outcome other than the two I mentioned earlier: not slightly awkward nor dangerously uncomfortable, but secure, professional, and, most importantly, safe.

13

Sp ort s IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Leo Ross and Bethany Gen, Queer Varsity Athletes

Varsity basketball player Leo Ross and varsity soccer player Bethany Gen, both College third-years, have been dating for the past ten months. The two athletes met while working as Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct trainers, a program designed to educate students on combating gender-based discrimination and sexual violence. Throughout their relationship, they have navigated their position as queer Oberlin students, with the added layer of being queer varsity athletes. Their relationship has illuminated the heteronormative culture that exists generally in athletics.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jackie Bryant Opinions Editor Jane Agler Sports Editor How did you two meet?

Leo Ross: We both were PRSM trainers, so we first met during PRSM. And, well … I don’t want to expose her, so it’s your turn.

Bethany Gen: Um, let’s just say, I didn’t know I was queer until I realized I liked Leo. Did you know each other from athletics before that?

BG: I knew of Leo because they were organizing and in charge of the Stronger Together stuff, which was required for all athletes. So I saw them in front of a crowd there.

LR: The basketball team did game management for the soccer team, so I knew of Beth because I saw her starting for the team as a first-year and I was like, “Whoa, that’s [wild]!”

What kind of role, if any, does athletics play in your relationship?

LR: I think, being two athletes, we share a lot of the same values. We both like being active and doing athletic things and supporting each other in those endeavors. And I think that’s a nice thing to have. It definitely is really helpful regarding time commitment.

Since my season’s so long and we’re in the gym all the time, having somebody that understands that is important.

BG: It’s cool to see your partner excel in something different. I see them excel in academic endeavors and really cool social endeavors, but I also see them excel athletically, and that’s really cool.

At Oberlin, it seems that athletics has a reputation of being the “straight” part of Oberlin, which is unusual, I think. Based on your experiences, do you think that that’s true?

LR: Yes, but I think a lot more of us are queer than people realize. I just see differences in culture. We are queer people in a straight, cis-gendered culture. Oberlin is like queer culture and [non-queer people] are just existing in that culture, you know. But I think in athletics, it’s vice versa.

BG: In the past, specifically on the soccer team, we’ve had a culture of not really talking about queer culture. So by default, it becomes a very heternormative space. And so I think this year with the help of a lot of other queer people on the team, we’ve been able set out discussions about queer people and queer culture and we’re changing that around a little bit.

What have your experiences been like as out queer athletes at Oberlin?

Do you get a lot of support from your teammates, trainers, coaches, etc?

LR: Well, my former coach was horrendous. I think I didn’t communicate how I should have, but I did make some suggestions. When someone offers you a breath mint, you take it, right? And the same way, I

14

offered him different resources on how to do pronouns and stuff like that and he didn’t take it. He didn’t use my pronouns once all year for an entire season, and then asked why I wasn’t playing as well.

I told him that I kinda broke down a little bit and said I was having trouble with identity, and that it was really hard. But it didn’t change anything with him. I don’t think his intentions were bad. I just think he was really out of his comfort zone and didn’t step up. But the new coaching staff has been excellent, they’ve really been great.

My teammates have been really open to learning. The training staff have been really good, and again, I think there’s a joint understanding that we’re getting there and we’re learning, and that’s really all I ask of people is that you learn and you try on the pronouns and gender stuff.

But you know, I’ve had my shirt off after I had top surgery in the training room and I’ve had all three trainers working on my chest for scarring and you know, people have been really surprisingly good about stuff like that.

BG: I think my team has been very supportive of me, which is really amazing and impressive. I don’t know if my coaches know, but the training staff have seen Leo and I in the training room together and … I don’t think we’re all that subtle and they don’t really bat an eye, so I can’t really ask for more than that.

What do y’all think of each other’s sports? Do you go to each other’s games?

BG: I spent a lot of time last year learning how basketball works.

LR: I initially associated soccer with game management, which would mean that you all would punt the ball out of bounds and I would have to go chase the ball down in the stands the whole game.

BG: I used to think basketball was boring but then I started learning how it works and then it got more interesting.

And I obviously like watching Leo play.

What would you want people to know about the intersection between being queer, or being in queer relationships, and athletics at Oberlin?

LR: What really comes to mind is, I don’t really go out anymore with athletes because I get deadnamed and misgendered. I can exist in spaces, but sometimes I feel like I can’t be myself in spaces. I can’t make trans jokes … sometimes you make jokes and people are so rigid in their gender conformity, so some athletes just kind of look at you and don’t really know what to say. So I find it really hard to sometimes exist as the trans person that I want to be. But that isn’t to say that individual people don’t try, and I want to be very clear about that. There are people who are trying and they do a really good job. But as a community, there doesn’t seem to be a collective effort.

BG: It’s kind of interesting because I have the experience of thinking that I fit in with the super heteronormative culture of the athletic community, but then I realized that I am outside of that.

And sometimes you just don’t feel like the space is for you.

College third-years Leo Ross and Bethany Gen.

What are ways that people in athletics have or can help make things better for queer people in these spaces?

LR: I think letting queer culture permeate a little bit through athletics and recognizing that doesn’t make you queer, it just makes makes you a part of the greater community and engaging with the culture. I had this one experience where I watched someone on a men’s team be able to fully express himself at Queer Beers, but not at [his] team’s party, and that just seemed so ridiculous to me.

So there needs to be recognition that you can engage with queer culture and be straight and have a good time. I think some athletes have a hard time with that. I will say that people do a good job of recognizing when I tell them that the culture is really cis[gendered], but they just don’t do anything about it. It’s nice to know people know that it’s happening but at the same time, for them to know that it’s happening and to recognize the sacrifices I have to make to go out and be a part of the team, and then not doing anything to try and change it can be frustrating. It is on the athletic community to make this a place where queer and trans people can exist.

BG: I think part of that could be just thinking about everyday language that’s used during training sessions in the locker room and stuff. Like, “Let’s go ladies” is a perfect example. We can just easily cut that out and say “let’s go Yeo” or something like that instead. And I think you were talking about how the Review changed the wording from “female athletes” to “people on women’s teams,” which is great. These are easy changes to make that would make it at least a little bit more inclusive from my perspective.

LR: Statistically speaking, there are queer people on the men’s side of athletics.

I say that because that speaks more to the culture that they feel like they can’t be out.

To be very clear, they should do whatever they need to do to feel comfortable. They don’t need to come out and you can stay wherever they needed to say and do whatever they need to do, you know, to feel safe and comfortable on a team. But the men’s side of athletics need to take a really good look at the culture that they have and see that it’s a really big problem if they have no out queer athletes [while] the women’s side does. I mean, this isn’t going anywhere, queer people aren’t going anywhere.

BG: I think it’s interesting also that I had to go outside of athletics to get queer culture. If I had stayed solely in that community, I wouldn’t have been exposed to queer culture and realized that I was a part of it. I had to leave the athletic community and culture to find it and then try to bring it back. And I hope a lot more people are also doing that.

Photo by Em Webster

What are successful steps that your teams have taken to try to make spaces more inclusive? Should these be things that other teams try to do as well?

LR: You know, we go to Queer Beers, and that’s seen as pretty normal on our team. You don’t really have to be queer, everyone’s welcome. And I’m doing a gender workshop that just gives all the basics and people seem really excited about that. There is an effort to learn, which I really appreciate. I think the route we tend to go to is queerness as normal, which I think is one method of many, but it can be really helpful for people. I am really proud of the basketball team in the way that we communicate about queer culture on the team, and I think we do a good job.

BG: I think we have a lot of queer leaders on the soccer team this year, and I’ve been really excited and impressed with the way that we’ve all stepped up and been outspoken and willing to communicate that this is a culture we need to create. And everyone on the team seems very receptive of this and also really excited to learn new things and talk through things, so I’m really excited for future years and the rest of the season.

Any final thoughts?

LR: One last thing we think is really important for people to understand, but has less to do with athletics, is that when you step off the campus, the rules change. And so if we want to go on a cool adventure together, we have to plan it out. I think a lot of the anxiety that comes from leaving the campus is the ambiguity over whether we pass as straight or not.

And I think what makes it harder is my gender. It’s always in flux. I don’t know if people think we’re just like really close gay best friends, or I don’t know. We have to plan out scenarios and make sure we’re safe and take precautions that might seem unnecessary to straight people. We’ve had a couple incidents that were a bit scary.

BG: We had someone come up from behind us at night and we had just leaned over to kiss each other, and he made a really weird comment about it and just kept going. I don’t know if he thought he was just making fun of a young straight couple or if he was being homophobic. I have no idea.

LR: After he passed, I made a point to pull off the sidewalk and make sure we had enough distance. There was definitely an emotional moment and we were apologizing to each other because we had forgotten where we were and we forgot we couldn’t really be ourselves. So yeah, that isn’t as related to athletics, but we just want people to be aware that it’s not necessarily safe outside of campus for queer athletes or other queer people here.

The Most Intense Club Sport You Probably Canadian Athletics Have Never Heard Of: Oberlin Cycling Deserve Recognition Zoë Martin del Campo Contributing Sports Editor It is common to see students cycling casually around campus, but there are also some students who take this traditionally-viewed leisure activity one step further. The Oberlin Cycling Club has built a strong intramural presence over the past four years, introducing Obies of all skill levels to the world of collegiate bike racing.

While the Oberlin Cycling Club has existed for many years, it was College fourth-years Eamonn Schnell and Adam Fulcher, who serve as the club treasurer and president, respectively, who revamped the team. “[The club] was a little bit more disorganized in the past,” said Schnell. “Adam [and I], our [first] year — I guess we’re pretty big racers, [so we] got together and started up as a more race-focused cycling team.” chnell and Fulcher both started as first-years with a keen interest in competitive racing and have since fostered a closely-knit team. The team now competes all throughout the Midwest.

Last year, members of the club participated in the Trek CX Cup in Waterloo, Wisconsin, a race that attracts some of the best riders in the world and provides the opportunity for riders to bike on a professional course. The team plans on sending riders again this year.

“I think cycling is a really good form of keeping your head straight, and it kind of acts as a therapy,” said Fulcher. “Just riding along … it really gives you a lot of time to think and process things.”

In the fall, the team races cyclocross, a mixture of mountain biking and road biking. Riders use a bike that appears to be designed for roads, but instead race on grass, dirt, and gravel. In addition to rougher terrain, competitors are also expected to get off the bike, jump over logs and barriers, and then quickly board the bike once more to continue the high-speed race.

The spring season focuses on collegiate racing, including participation in the Midwestern Collegiate Cycling Conference. Cleveland is also home to various competitions, which gives members the opportunity to race without having to commit an entire weekend to travel.

Cycling is one of the few sports that is both a team and an individual sport. Teammates practice “drafting” during races, which involves riding behind someone else to help minimize wind resistance.

Communication is crucial throughout this process; members communicate during the race to indicate whether or not they have a chance of winning. If not, they collectively strategize how they can best support the teammates that do have a shot at gold.

The team is made up of a range of skill levels that are quantified into categories created by USA Cycling, the main governing body of cycling in the U.S. Both Schnell and Fulcher were upgraded to Category Two, one riding group away from pro-cycling. Both are looking forward to the challenge of racing in a new category with new people this year as they finish up their time at Oberlin. Typically, the team recruits new members at the Connections Fair and receives inquiries throughout the year from people that are interested in exploring the world of competitive racing.

“I’m looking forward to racing with some new [first-years],” said Schnell. “Meeting new people to ride with [is great].”

When members are not competing, they mainly focus on individual training, riding anywhere from 15 to 80 miles a day. Last year, College second-year Joaquim Stevenson-Rodriguez rode with teammates past Cleveland and back, making detours to visit additional bike routes along the way, covering approximately 100 miles in one day.

“We did a 100-mile ride, just for fun,” said Stevenson-Rodriguez. “It was really painful. We passed into Cleveland … got some food. It took all day, like eight or nine hours.”

The team also organizes rides where where members compete on a route, showing off their speed and agility and pushing each other to their athletic limits.

Cycling has also provided opportunities for the team to explore the landscapes of Ohio.

“There are so many things that you don’t get to see if you don’t leave the town on a bike,” Schnell stated. “Even if you’re in a car, you’d miss all these little farms and stands. I’ve found some incredible produce stands just riding my bike. It’s a really great experience.”

First-year Liam Akpata and second-year Kofi Asare Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Continued from page 16

basketball has with the nation as well.” With young talent like Andrew Wiggins, RJ Barrett, and Jamal Murray, Asare is right to be hopeful about the presence of Canadians in the NBA. Despite the exceptional talent of the previously named players, the projected success of the country in ice hockey a makes this next era an exciting one for Canadian athletics.

Canadian athletic prowess has spread across a wide range of sports. Andreescu and De Grasse have the country poised to compete in the worlds’ of tennis and track for years to come. Joey Votto has been a force in Major League Baseball for over a decade and Valdimir Guerrero Jr. is looking to continue that legacy for at least another decade. Brooke Henderson, at 22 years old, is already one of the most successful professional golfers in Canadian history. All of these athletes are at the forefront of one of the most promising generations of Canadian athletes in recent memory.

“I believe the world’s perception [of Canadian athletics] is shifting because I see more and more Canadians are being recruited to play sports at the college level or higher,” says Akpata, noting that both he and his brother were recruited by American colleges and universities to play football. The sheer numbers of Canadian athletes playing in major sports leagues around the world coupled with the talent these players possess make one thing very clear: As Asare says, “Canada is on the rise.”

George A. Abram Memorial Pavilion Inauguration

Oberlin community members gathered together last Thursday to inaugurate the new George A. Abram Pavilion on South Main Street. Speakers and family members at the memorial inauguration cut the ribbon together, signifying the opening of the renamed pavilion. Abram, who recently passed, made many lasting contributions to the town of Oberlin and the College. He established the Oberlin Chapter of the Boys & Girls Club, consulted with Oberlin College to create their Affirmative Action Plan, served as a longtime public-address announcer at College varsity sports games, and much more.

Text by Jane Agler, Sports Editor Photo by Anokha Venugopal

The Oberlin Review | September 13, 2019

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SPORTS Established 1874

September 13, 2019

Volume 148, Number 2

Canada On The Rise Khalid McCalla Contributing Sports Editor

Oberlin students playing pick-up basketball at Philips gym.

Photo by Mallika Pandey, Photo Editor

Yo, You Trying to Hoop, Bro? Eder Aguilar Oberlin can be suffocating at times. Downtown, there is only a handful of restaurants and spaces where you can actually feel that you’re off campus.

You could be standing on Main Street but still see King Building or Bibbins Hall, or you could be chilling in The Feve and see a professor — they definitely don’t want to see you, either — and then be reminded of the paper you have due at the end of the week.

Suffocating.

That’s been the case for me during my time at Oberlin. The College has a chokehold on students and, unless you have a car, it is incredibly difficult to get away from campus. However, the one place I’ve been able to get away from all the stresses of Oberlin has been Philips gym, where I can run some pick-up basketball.

I’m not a top-tier hooper by any means, but I’m not a mediocre one either. I think I’m above average when it comes to the people that play regular pickup at Oberlin. Trust me — I can hit difficult shots and can use my off-hand pretty well. If Oberlin College was NBA 2K and the players on the varsity team were the 92–99 overalls, I would place myself in the 83–87 range. This is on a range from like 75–99. At least, that’s how I’m seeing it in my mind.

Even if people are not around to play, I get my shots up on my own and have my own training routine, you know? Just to stay ready in case I grow 10 inches and decide to join a G-League team — I’m 5’8”, so that would put me at 6’6”.

Funny stuff aside, I have noticed a recent decline in the participation in pick-up and that saddens me because, as a fourth-year, I’m on my way out.

I cannot stress enough how much playing pick-up at Oberlin has kept me grounded, simply because it is so different than what I was used to before.

I’ve played basketball with a variety of people before, but Oberlin pick-up is different. I’ve played pick-up in various places, like Chicago, Miami, and Houston, but Oberlin players are generous. People

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are actually nice compared to other places that I’ve played.

I want to say this atmosphere exists because we’re not varsity players; we’re just trying to play.

The hoopers here are pretty chill and I’ve never seen anything escalate in Philips. Then we typically share information, like our name and the next time we’ll be back. That’s how I’ve formed and been picked up for a number of intramural teams.

I really do want to shout-out noon-hour hoop sessions. I went to my first noon-hoops the fall semester of my first year, and ever since it has been one of my favorite campus groups that I’ve belonged to.

It was Brian Cabral, OC ’18, that brought me. I was pretty shy at first. So much so, that I’m pretty sure I was garbage for a solid two weeks. It was different because there were staff and faculty playing, too — and they were so much better than what I would have thought. I was used to playing basketball with people my age and then leaving with my homies and not even talking to the other players.

In addition to the faculty, staff, and older students that I was able to connect with, people from the town also come through all the time — both high schoolers and adults. One of them, Jahlil Mitchell, was a key part of the intramural team that I put together last semester.

Last May, I twisted my ankle at noon-hoops. It was probably the worst physical injury I’ve ever had. People gathered around me and really took care of me — “damn, this is one hell of a community,” I thought. It’s pretty slept-on because we’re just a random collection of people, but we all come together to play some pick-up, and we have each other’s backs. Honestly I’m grateful that I’ve had a group of people to play basketball with and connect with through collectively running up and down a hardwood floor.

Anyways, everyone should come through on Tuesdays and Thursdays 12–1:30 p.m. for noonhoops, or catch me on the court between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on any random weekday — see you there.

The Toronto Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors to win the NBA championship on June 13, 2019. This was the first time in history that the number-one team in the league was not based in America. Nearly four months later, on Sept. 7, 2019, Bianca Andreescu defeated Serena Williams in the final of the 2019 U.S. Open, becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title. Both of these momentous occasions shocked the world, but a closer look revealed that they are evidence of a larger shift of power in sports: Canada is to be feared.

Canadian athletes have made their impact felt not only at the international level, but also locally at Oberlin. Second-year Kofi Asare has already made an impression on the Oberlin Track and Field team, placing third in the triple jump at the All-NCAC indoor meet and second in the same event at the All-NCAC outdoor meet last year. This year, he is joined by first-year Liam Akpata, who starred as a safety for the Oberlin football team in his first ever collegiate game last week, finishing with seven total tackles and a pass deflection. So why have Canadian athletics been largely ignored by the world?

“The athletic culture [in Canada is] mostly [centered around] basketball and hockey,” Akpata said.

This isn’t an unfounded perception. The majority of Canada’s athletic success has historically been in the Winter Olympics, specifically ice hockey and skiing. This specialized success not only impacts how Canadian athletics are viewed by the rest of the world, but also can feel limiting to young Canadian athletes trying to find their own way.

“As a child, I didn’t have many Canadian athletes to really look up to,” says Asare, who only named former NBA MVP Steve Nash and sprinter Andre De Grasse as role models.

Part of the lack of respect for Canadian athletics comes from a perceived weakness of the country’s athleticism. Akpata feels this ingrained sense of doubt every time he steps onto a football field.

“Being a Canadian athlete, I feel I always have a chip on my shoulder when I play [in America], since nobody expects [Canadian athletes] to be any good.

They assume everything is slower and not as physical as the U.S.,” he said. While this is one explanation as to why Canadian athletics do not generate a lot of respect, Asare offers another perspective: “I think that Canada has been overlooked over the years due to its proximity to the U.S.,” he argues.

With America’s dominance in several sports, this explanation also makes sense.

“Whenever the opportunity presents itself I always make a point to show them that just because you were born in the U.S. doesn’t mean you’re athletically better than me,” says Akpata.

The belief that Canadian athletes are somehow inferior to their American counterparts is not only being dispelled at the collegiate level thanks to athletes like Asare and Akpata, but also on global and professional levels as well.

While the Raptors’ NBA title and Andreescu’s US Open win may appear to be the breakout for Canadian athletics, they actually serve as something more impressive: A formal announcement that Canadian athletics are headed toward a new era of dominance.

As Akpata noted, the world can expect the country’s usual contribution to ice hockey and basketball.

“There will always be great Canadian hockey players. Personally, I like P.K. Subban. He’s my favorite, but there are so many other great players,” says Akpata, when discussing the wealth of talented hockey players in Canada.

Similarly to Akpata’s faith in the relationship between his country and hockey, Asare is also hopeful about the future of Canadians in the NBA, noting that “being an NBA fan… I see the connection that See Canadian, page 15