September 13, 2013

The Oberlin Review

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 2

Outside the Bubble News highlights from the past week Tax Reform Overturned The Missouri House of Representatives failed to overturn the governor’s veto of a statewide tax reform on Wednesday. Gov. Jay Nixon enraged his Republican opponents, provoking an hour and a half of debate on the floor.

Protesters flooded the Capitol and loitered in the legislative chamber, urging the House to heed their demands. Nixon argued that a tax cut would prove to be deleterious, depleting financing for education, mental health and other federal programs.

Voyager 1 Exits Solar System NASA spacecraft Voyager 1 became the first man-made object to exit the solar system on Thursday. The probe, which has been traveling through space since 1977, has spent the majority of the past few decades providing scientists with never-before-seen pictures of Saturn, the Milky Way and other celestial bodies. Scientists list this achievement as bearing weight similar to that of the first moon-landing — not bad for a ship who shares the birth year of the very first Star Wars.

To Catch A Predator The U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched an iPhone application this week that will enlist the public’s help in identifying child molesters. The app includes various names and photographs of sexual predators and allows the user to identify predators who aren’t in the system via photographs or filling an informational form embedded within the app. The department hopes that the technological outreach will result in the determination and incarceration of a broader spectrum of sexual criminals.

Sources: The New York Times and CNN.

Prospective Immigration Reform to Ease Naturalization Process Rachel Weinstein Last week, Oberlin students made the trek to Ashland, OH, to participate in a procession and prayer vigil that called for immigration reform. Joined by more than 40 other local activists, a dozen students marched the perimeter of Ohio Republican Representative Bob Gibbs’s office on Friday afternoon to show support for prospective immigration reform that would have a major impact on both state and national levels. Joined by leaders of various local faith groups, Oberlin students composed the Immigrant Worker Project procession, an Ohio non-profit devoted to mitigating the hurdles of rural immigrant workers from Latin America. College senior Claire Molholm, an intern for IWP and organizer of last Friday’s vigil, said, “It’s about making a demonstration and having a space for migrants and people of different affiliations to speak about why it is so pressing and important to have immigration reform.”

Participants in last week’s vigil sought to encourage Rep. Gibbs to vote in favor of New York Senator Charles Schumer’s 2013 legislation, which would enable many undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and eventually citizenship. Passing through the Senate in June 2013, the bipartisan bill aims to provide nationwide immigration reform and will endure a House vote as early as

this coming fall. If enacted, the bill will address a multitude of concerns, including border security, immigrant visas, interior enforcement, reforms to non-immigrant visa programs and jobs for migrant youth.

“It was empowering to stand with other activists and leaders of the community for this pressing cause,” said Molholm.

Although not in absolute alignment with the mission of IWP, the bill

holds great promise for the many individuals and families that the organization aids on a day-to-day basis. Under the proposed legislation, undocumented immigrants will be eligible to apply for the new Registered Provisional Immigrant program almost immediately, offering a steppingstone to permanent resident status. Other visa benefits endorsed by the legislation include a new W-visa for non-citizens seek-

ing legal means of employment in the states and a $1.5 billion budget for a youth jobs program for prospective legal citizens who have already settled in the U.S. The act also addresses the vices of current immigrant removal, detention and court processes, the shortage of legal resources available to undocumented immigrants and the lack of See Students, page 2

Students stand alongside local protesters in a show of support for the immigration reform legislation currently under consideration by the Ohio legislation.

Emanne Saleh

Oberlin Challenges State Law on Guns Claire Watson and Willa Rubin Oberlin’s chief of police received an email from Brian Kuzawa, a resident of Ashland County, on Aug. 2, the day before the Oberlin Family Fun Fair. In the email, Kuzawa argued that as an Ohio resident, he maintained the right to openly carry a firearm to the fair, and he planned to do so. While the town of Oberlin has municipal laws that preclude carrying firearms in public places — such as parks —the state of Ohio permits it.

Oberlin is not the first city in the state to confront the tension between state and municipal gun control laws. In 2006, the state of Ohio passed a law under a Republican legislature that permitted the open carry of firearms in most public places, except schools and government buildings. Gun control laws regarding open carry fall under the category of a “general law,” which means that state open carry laws

trump any municipal ordinance regulating gun control.

Historically, in the state of Ohio, cities that have fought to write their own local gun laws have failed. In 2008, the city of Clyde tried to challenge this and went to court with the state, pursuing stricter local gun control laws for concealed carry, but they eventually lost. In 2010, Cleveland also tried to challenge the state’s open carry laws, but also were unilaterally defeated. Oberlin is now trying to challenge the legislation; should they not amend the law, the state of Ohio could sue the city.

Taylor Reiners, Conservatory senior and the president of the Oberlin College Republicans and Libertarians, spoke to compromise, recommending that the city amend the law, protestations aside:: “Regardless of one’s opinion on whether or not guns should be allowed in parks, the fact is that [the city of Oberlin] is not going to win.”

New Coach Impresses

Sky Bar Transformed The newly -renovated Sky Bar opens its doors to College, Conservatory and community members.

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Collaborative Convocation Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson hosted an environmentally-minded Convocation on Sept. 10.

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INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

Head Coach Dan Palmer leads women’s soccer to newfound success.

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Arts 10

Sports 16

But there are more issues at stake. Instead, the legislation brings to light larger issues regarding municipal versus state governance.

City Council member and OC ’02 Aaron Mucciolo said that he understands why the community is feeling frustrated.

“I can absolutely understand the psychological line that plenty of people have about this, even though it doesn’t legally impact anybody’s abilities, and probably will have no impact on actual actions of individuals coming to town or not. I can totally understand why it’s sensitive and why people are saying to the council that we want this ability to choose this as a community; we want this ability back.”

But Mucciulo also agrees that changing the ordinance is unlikely to have an effect.

“Changing words in our codified ordinances does absolutely nothing to impact today, See City, page 2

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Students, Locals Join Forces on Immigration Continued from page 1 discretion allotted to immigration judges in decisions of removal and asylum.

“Coming from Border Studies,” Molholm explained, “where I learned the legal roots of immigration in terms of U.S. foreign and economic policy, I feel like the roots currently in place do not really address the larger issues. Working around this system to help these people did not feel effective enough; instead, it felt like a band-aid solution.” Support from activists aside, the bill has many unresolved issues. Undocumented immigrants must jump through bureaucratic hoops and spend large amounts of time and money for legal resources and necessary documentation.

“The reform seems promising to a lot of people; however, the 11 million people who arrived before 2011 have to fulfill a lot of requirements that make many of these people ineligible for citizenship. Obtaining citizenship can be up to a 14-year process. Many of these people do not have the time or financial resources to go through these bureaucratic processes,” said Molholm.

Last week’s vigil also served as a venue for the voices of undocumented adults, children and

families who rose in support of the legislation. Both Molholm and College senior Truman Braslaw recalled the powerful story told by a top Ohio public school student without documentation, who shared her experiences of having to adjust to the U.S. public school system as a nonEnglish speaker.

“It’s people like these who can add a new perspective to our own campus,” said Braslaw. IWP interns on campus are beginning to work with the administration in endorsing increased admission for students like these, making the administration more cognizant of their inclusion.

Activists and undocumented immigrants are keeping their fingers crossed. According to Civic Impulse, LLC, one of the world’s most visited government transparency websites, the legislation has a 43 percent chance of enactment. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the passage of the bill could yield a $158 billion reduction in the U.S. fiscal deficit within the next ten years and as much as $700 billion by 2033. Many members of Congress have commented that if this reform does not pass through Congress, and the House and Senate refuse to seek a compromised solution, the fate of the U.S. legal immigration system will remain uncertain.

City Hall Vote Puts Municipal, State Gun Laws at Odds Continued from page 1 tomorrow, the next day.”

At this juncture, Oberlin can proceed in three ways: It can sue the state of Ohio like Cleveland and Clyde did; it could face a lawsuit for not adhering to state code which supersedes its municipal authority; or it could amend its law to reflect the state’s ordinance.

If Oberlin’s City Council elects to contest the state and bring its municipal law to the Supreme Court of Ohio, it would be, according to Reiners, “a losing battle — it’s been challenged twice and they both lost. The resources they would use to fight this battle could be used for schools, education, or if they are really serious about safety, why not more police officers? Why not increase police presence in parks if they feel that is a concern?”

On the other hand, if Oberlin

chooses not to act, the situation may get worse: a lawsuit brought by the state would put a strain on Oberlin’s resources. If Oberlin pursues neither of these options and chooses to simply amend its municipal law, it would scarcely have the support of many Oberlin residents, who, as Mucciolo emphasized, “have expressed in e-mails and in phone calls” that the legislation was against their interest.

The City Council voted in favor of amending Oberlin’s municipal law 4–3. The three council members who opposed the amendment said that grassroots organizations should aim to challenge the law at the state level. “If they wanted to create a petition and try and get it repealed at a state level, I think that would be a great idea,” added Reiners. “Bring it to the state so voters can vote on it! Then it won’t

be just in the hands of the council.”

As the law currently stands, anyone who comes onto Oberlin College’s campus carrying a gun “would either be arrested or put on the No Trespass list,” according to Reiners. Certain students, like some members of the town community, have expressed frustration.

“It was upsetting to see that Oberlin’s efforts to maintain a community that has reasonable gun laws were thwarted by state code. That was disappointing and upsetting,” said Jesse Vogel, College senior and former president of the Oberlin College Democrats.

As this conflict between state and town persists, this case, if anything, is a reminder of the power of local government.

“Courts have a lot of power that we don’t think about when we’re doing political activism here

at Oberlin,” added Vogel. “This demonstrates how important it is to look at candidates all the way down the ticket. It’s not just the

big people, but it’s all the judges, the local circuit judges, the district judges and the Supreme Court judges as well.”

Fate of Johnson House Barn Remains Unclear Elizabeth Dobbins Staff Writer The future of the Johnson House Carriage Barn, the wooden structure behind Johnson House and next to the Arboretum, remains in limbo. The current discussion over the barn was prompted by the plans to demolish it.

“The College has been in conversation with several groups regarding the issue of financing for the stabilization, and/ or use of that particular structure,” wrote Assistant to the President Tita Reed in an email to the Review. “These conversations have not resulted in new developments. College administration recognizes the public support to rehabilitate this structure but as we move forward, it is important to balance this objective with practical measures.”

Steve McQuillin, OC ’75, has been a vocal supporter of renovating the structure; last spring, he pushed for a variety of new uses for the structure, including a dorm, housing for visiting alumni or a meeting facility. McQuillin has contacted the Col-

lege about applying for state preservation money to fund the project, but has not received a response. With the Sept. 30 application deadline looming, it now seems to be an unlikely source of funding.

“We all thought it was going to be torn down this summer and that was the indication that other people had gotten about it too, So the fact that it’s still standing is good,” said McQuillin in a phone interview. ` The barn was built in 1885 for Albert H. Johnson, a wealthy resident of the area. According to McQuillin, this is not the first time the Johnson property has been threatened. About 30 years ago the College was planning to tear down Johnson House, which resulted in the placement of the Johnson House and Barn on the National Register of Historic Places in order to protect the structures. Ten years ago plans were proposed to rebuild the barn from the existing stone foundation and make a new dorm from the resulting building, but the project was scrapped when the city did not rezone the property.

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September 13, 2013

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“It’s not that crucial that something be done immediately,” said McQuillin. “It was the College that was saying ‘Well, it’s a hazard. We’re going to tear it down. I

The Carriage Barn, situated behind Johnson House, was perceived to be at risk of demolition at the end of last year. Currently, the building’s future is up in the air.

Kaïa Austin

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think you can sit there for a while while decisions are made. I just hope there’s not a decision to tear it down right away without letting anyone know.”

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Off the Cuff: Dean Ginsberg, OC ‘12 and Program Associate for Creativity and Leadership Dean Ginsberg recently assumed the position of program associate for Creativity and Leadership. During his time at Oberlin he founded two lasting businesses, Wilder Lines and BinStored, and was an active participant in different entrepreneurial projects around campus. He is currently working on two education-technology nonprofits and continues to promote entrepreneurial endeavors at Oberlin.

How do you think Oberlin prepares students for entrepreneurial adventures?

There’s this thing called LaunchU, which is a Winter Term program [whose] notion was basically to bolster entrepreneurship in Oberlin. So LaunchU acts as an incubator; it takes place over Winter Term — last year was the first time that happened — and Dean Ginsberg, founder of Wilder Lines and BinStored, alumnus and program associate for that program is amazing. They bring in lawCreativity and Leadership yers and people who are in marketing and different entrepreneurs to come and speak and they basically give you a crash course on neurship ideas, but think that they might of entrepreneurship. My focus was the Cold business. You have to apply with your own not be feasible?

War, which is very much free market capitalproject. That’s sort of been the shift in the That’s the exact thing that I don’t want to ism versus a totalitarian version of commuentrepreneurship program. It used to be that happen. That’s sort of where I think a lot of nism. I honestly think that entrepreneurship Creativity and Leadership would just give kids kids are at in Oberlin. I think that if I actually is basically finding a problem and solving it. money, and there were some resources, but sit down with every kid in Oberlin and I say, “Is And I think that everybody should have that they were scattered in helping them develop there anything that you would want to start?” mindset and the more people that have that those businesses, and LaunchU, with the help They’ll say no. And I’ll say, “Okay, well what’s mindset, the more problems that we’re goof these alumni who are also entrepreneurs, the biggest problem that you see in your com- ing to solve. What I want to do is provide a provides a space where the kids can actually munity or in the world?” and they’ll list tons context through which not only can you find develop their businesses with mentorship. of problems. And I’ll say, “Which one of those that mindset, but you can find a sustainable do you want to focus on?” And they’ll say their system to continue to prevent that problem.

How can Oberlin promote entrepreneur- favorite or least favorite one. And I’ll say, “Well That can be something small. My first problem ship better? how do you think we can change that?” And was transportation home from school. I didn’t Just this year we’ve added completely awe- they’ll have an answer. They’ve been thinking like flying on planes — they’re too expensive some and brand new resources that take it to about it. And people shy away from wanting — [and] I had to pay for cab fare to and from. another level. That’s why it’s really exciting to to do something because they can’t figure out My problem was transportation, a very simple see where it’s going to go. In the process of me how to get from step one to step ten. And I thing, and I solved it by creating this bus line being here kids have come up to me and said, just want to provide this framework through [Wilder Lines], and when I see kids riding the “I’m working on this project. Can you help me which kids can both learn from each other and bus, it makes me so happy. with that?” learn from alumni.

How did you come to create Wilder Lines?

What would you say to students who feel What do you find interesting about My first business was when I was in high that they might have re- entrepreneurship? school. It was kind of like a sketchy partyally interesting I was an Econ and History major. I’ve based throwing business, which is pretty typical in entrepre- my whole education off of this idolization New York City. It was called Good Karma Par-

Friday, Sept. 6 Thursday, Sept. 5 1:30 a.m. Officers were requested to assist a student who was ill from alcohol consumption in Noah Hall. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

11:03 a.m. Officers responded to a report of a student who had fallen off his bicycle on the west side of Fairchild House. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment of face and head injuries.

5:04 p.m. An officer responded to assist a student who cut his finger while peeling potatoes in Barrows Hall. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

12:23 a.m. An officer responded to the Dascomb kitchen in order to retrieve a backpack that had been found. Officers made contact with the owner and disposed of the six cans of beer found inside the backpack.

11:14 p.m. Officers responded to a report of an unauthorized party in South Hall. When the residents opened the door, the officers saw a game of beer pong being played, along with several cans of beer. The beer was confiscated and disposed of and the music was turned down.

Saturday, Sept. 7 12 p.m. A student reported the theft of her locked bicycle from the west side of the Firelands Apartments. The bicycle is

a red Raleigh Venture, women’s seven-speed bike and valued at $200. The bicycle is registered.

1:25 p.m. A student reported the theft of her unlocked bicycle from the north door of Harvey House. The bicycle is a green Rudge, men’s three-speed bike.

The bicycle is registered.

6:22 p.m. Officers responded to a complaint of loud music and odor of marijuana in East Hall.

Officers located the room and the music was turned down. The strong odor of marijuana was detected from a room down the hall, in which the smoke detector was found bagged, and an 18pack of beer and a grinder with a small amount of what appeared to be ground marijuana were found in plain sight. The items were confiscated and the grinder was turned over to the Oberlin Police.

ties. What I did was I would rent a loft, security guard, DJ, all this stuff, and then I would charge for tickets. I would donate half of what I made to a charity, which is kind of like the “Good Karma” thing. So I was in Oberlin, and I knew I wanted to do business, but there were no business classes available at the time that I started. So basically me and a friend of mine would meet every weekend, and we’d meet under the wisdom tree and talk about business — businesses that we could potentially start.

It was actually after fall break, and we decided we were going to run one bus, and that bus ended up selling out. It’s not a big business, I can’t make a living off of it, but in terms of learning, it was a really awesome opportunity.

Anything else you’d like the Oberlin community to know?

My focus this year is on Creativity and Leadership, and I genuinely think that it’s an amazing program. If you have an idea, and you think that the idea can have a positive effect on other people, you owe it to yourself and you owe it to those people to find out if you can get a grant or reach out to me. There’s [the] Oberlin Entrepreneurship Club, which is basically students working on their own projects and people providing support and ideas, and there’s all these different resources available.

They can email me personally. My job is awesome. I get to go to Slow Train and talk with kids about their business ideas. And there are all these grants in place. The course of action you can take is you take Creativity and Leadership: An Introduction to Entrepreneurship, which I fully recommend. But if you just want to flesh out an idea, just reach out to me, and we’ll work through the business plan, and you can apply for one of these $1,500 grants. And then you can do LaunchU, which is like the big time. You’ll learn so much, and there’s an opportunity to win a lot of money and pitch in front of investors. It’s also a great program where you’ll learn a lot and make friends that will last you a lifetime.

Interview by Rachel Saks Photo courtesy of Dean Ginsberg

Sunday, Sept. 8 2:02 p.m. An officer reported damage to the handicap system at the entrance of Dascomb Hall.

The motor above the door was pulled away from the wall. Facilities was notified for repairs.

4:55 p.m. A student reported the theft of her unlocked bicycle from the bike rack at Zechiel. The bicycle is a blue women’s Marin Larkspur with a broken kickstand taped to the frame. The bicycle is not registered.

Monday, Sept. 9 10:33 a.m. A staff member reported locating a can of orange spray paint on the east porch of Keep Cottage. The spray paint had been used to paint the legs of a coffee table, not Collegeowned, and in doing so the porch

was also sprayed. A work order was filed for the cleaning of the porch.

Tuesday, Sept. 10 11:34 a.m. A student reported that, while in Tappan Square, she was approached by an unknown, non College-affiliated male who asked for her phone number.

The student said that she later received an unwanted text message from the male. The Oberlin Police Department contacted the individual and advised him to cease calling or texting her.

12:32 p.m. A student reported the loss of her wallet, which possibly occurred when she attended an off-campus party the previous night. The wallet is brown and contained a credit card, which was canceled, an ID, a passport and a health insurance card.

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The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

New Quantitative Center Makes Sciences Accessible Kristopher Fraser For the past several years, campus has been home to the Writing Center, an outlet for students to convene and work on their essays alongside trained writing assistants. Given Oberlin’s plethora of writing-intensive courses, this center has proved useful to students of all departments. However, what the College has in terms of writing assistance it severely lacks when it comes to assistance in quantitative proficiency — an issue that, until now, has gone unaddressed.

This year will be the first that students will be able to get support specifically focused on sciences and mathematics. College junior and computer science major Eli Rose, who is a tutor in the Quantitative Skills Center, says that the center is necessary because “some people think of themselves as not being ‘math people,’ or peo-

ple see math as alien and difficult. Our purpose is to overcome that kind of idea and explain [it] to people in a way that makes it more intuitive.”

The idea for this new center was born when Associate Professor of Chemistry Jason Belitsky, Associate Professor of Biology Marta Laskowski, Dean Sean Decatur and several other professors throughout Oberlin’s natural science departments convened to write a grant for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute last year, in which they delegated funds to a quantitative skills center that would be able to supply students with tutoring services across the different math and science disciplines offered at the College.

According to Belitsky, although the Quantitative Skills Center is currently funded by the HHMI, there is “potential for it to be funded in other ways or through other grants.” The Quantitative Skills Center will be the third resource center for tutoring on campus, in addition to the

Writing Center and the digital arts mentorship program directed by Julie Cruse. Even before the Quantitative Skills Center was created, Oberlin still had a large individual tutoring program across many of its departments. The chemistry department has one of the largest student volunteer tutoring programs on campus.

“We have a tremendous amount of tutoring; the free one-on-one tutoring can’t possibly be beat,” said Belitsky. “Many of our [peer institutions] have quantitative skills centers, [but] our center is different [because] it is broad for all of the sciences. One of the things we are talking about a lot now is that we have all these different programs, we have discussed potentially having shared training and also just transparency in advertising, making sure students know all these opportunities are available to them.”

The center is currently staffed with 11 tutors — all recommended by professors for this pro-

gram — who represent seven different majors.

All staff members have taken an array of introductory level science courses. As the center continues to expand, staff members will be hired based on expertise in whatever disciplines students visiting the center tend to find the most difficult.

Marcelo Vinces, who was hired by Oberlin in January and now works as the director of the Quantitative Skills Center, says that his goal for the center is “for students to become much more comfortable with quantitative skills that will be useful to them no matter what they end up doing, especially as we go into the 21st century. No Oberlin student will graduate with this idea that they can’t do math or computers; that’s the big idea. I want more retention in courses in the sciences and math and in the majors and better performance for students who lack the confidence in those skills.”

Conservatory’s Sky Bar Gets Facelift with New Menu Ben Reid Over the summer, the Lily McGregor Sky Bar — part of the newly constructed Bertram and Judith Kohl Building — experienced some welcome changes that, according to the new Assistant Dean of Technology and Facilities Michael Straus, are causing a “considerable amount of excitement” in the Conservatory.

Since it opened its doors in 2010, the Sky Bar has been a work in progress.

“It hasn’t been fully realized,” Straus said. “But I think this is the first step along the way of making it a favorable destination for students … [and] a quick stop for faculty members.”

According to Straus, the administration hopes to attract all Oberlin students, regardless of a College or Conservatory affiliation, and it is also open to all Oberlin community members, allowing them to pay in cash.

The new menu, according to Sophie Meade, a Sky Bar cashier and College junior, now boasts a brand new espresso machine, muffins, an assortment of fresh bagels and different flavors of tea, thanks to a new beverage vendor, Crimson Cup. Despite these changes, the Sky Bar is still operated and run by CDS. “We aren’t separate,” Nicholas Engelhardt, OC ’11 and assistant ensemble manager and assistant for academic operations, said. “We purchase all our coffee, tea and muffins through CDS who works with us and the outside vendor to make sure we have everything we need. We are treated the same, through CDS, as Azariah’s or DeCafé.”

With its new menu, the Sky Bar continues to maintain a commitment to locally sourced food: the muffins are made on campus, and the bagels are supplied by Bialy’s Bagels in Cleveland. “We’re sticking with the locally-serviced industry standards that [the College and CDS] have set,” Straus said.

Last year, the Sky Bar provided coffee under the honor system: students could pump their own coffee, but were required to put one dollar in a box. Ac-

cording to Straus, although the coffee now has a fixed rate, the price — one dollar per cup — will remain reasonable.

“We purposely made the prices as low as possible. We’re very much catering to the students,” Straus said.

The Sky Bar shares the top floor of the Kohl building with only departmental offices, so it lacks the foot traffic that the science cart enjoys. The management hopes to offset this by attracting students with more beverage and snack offerings.

Meade predicts that the upgrades to the menu will attract far more customers than in previous years.

“Even though I didn’t come up here a lot last year, I probably will now since it’s only one floor above where I spend most of my time,” noted sophomore Conservatory jazz guitarist Michael Esber. Last year, Esber would walk down to Gibson’s and buy coffee or a snack while practicing in Kohl. Now, he realizes that the Sky Bar offers a more varied menu than before.

Some Conservatory students, like Esber, wish it were open later than 8 p.m. on a regular basis, as it would make grabbing a snack during late nights in Kohl — a common practice for many Con students — much easier. In response to this, Straus said that he was certainly open to having that conversation and he encourages students to come to him with any questions, comments or criticism they have about the Sky Bar. The goal of these changes, Straus explained, is to fully realize the Sky Bar’s potential as a communal meeting space that brings students and faculty together.

“The thing I’m really excited [about] the Sky Bar is that it joins two buildings. It is literally a sky bar, hovering three floors above this wonderful little kind of architecturally landscaped area. For me, it’s just a [way] to bring Conservatory students together in a more intimate and maybe less formal atmosphere to study and work and have a creative, free exchange of ideas.”

The Sky Bar has recently undergone a number of improvements, including a new menu and layout. CDS is now attempting to draw a broader customer base, welcoming community members and all students.

Kaïa Austin

THE OBERLIN REVIEW, September 13, 2013

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Letter to the Editors Campus Group Urges Student Involvement To the Editors: Students for a Free Palestine welcomes Oberlin’s student body back to campus. We hope you all had wonderful summers!

As we all dive into the new learning and commitments that the school year will bring, SFP would like to extend an invitation to anyone interested in learning more about the struggle for justice in Israel and Palestine to join us at our general interest meeting Sunday, Sept.

15, at 7 p.m. in Wilder 211.

SFP is a Palestine solidarity group made up of students with a variety of backgrounds and points of view. We strive to work within an anti-racist framework and stand against all forms of bigotry including but not limited to Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

Our work focuses on raising awareness of the oppression of

Palestinians under Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies.

We recognize that we do not speak for the Palestinian people and instead make every effort to enable Palestinian voices to be widely heard.

Last semester, in an inspiring moment for Oberlin College, our Student Senate voted to endorse an edited version of SFP’s resolution calling for the College to divest from the illegal occupation of Palestine. Specifically, the resolution calls for divest–––––––––––––––––––––—

Our work focuses on raising awareness of the oppression of Palestinians under Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies.

bit Systems and Veolia, six companies that effectively represent different aspects of the Israeli government’s oppression of the Palestinian people.

SFP was proud to work alongside many individuals and organizations who lent their support to this courageous first step.

This semester, Students for a Free Palestine is excited to move forward with this work, in addition to creating more opportunities for education and collaboration.

We look forward to engaging in critical discussion with our communities, and we hope to see many of you on Sunday and throughout the semester as we seek to deepen Oberlin’s role in working toward justice.

More information can be found at www.oberlin.edu/ stuorg/sfp/.

Contact SFP at sfp.oberlin@ gmail.com.

–––––––––––––––––––––— ment from SodaStream, Caterpillar, the Hewlett-Packard Company, Group 4 Securicor, El-

–Oberlin Students for a Free Palestine

“Let me make something clear: The United States military doesn’t do pinpricks. Even a limited strike will send a message to Assad that no other nation can deliver. I don’t think we should remove another dictator with force — we learned from Iraq that doing so makes us responsible for all that comes next. But a targeted strike can make Assad, or any other dictator, think twice before using chemical weapons.”

–President Obama in a primetime address, Sept.

10, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

Page 5

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

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

College Faces Financial, Ethical Dilemma In light of the College’s recently assigned “negative outlook” by preeminent credit rating agency Moody’s, it is unclear if it will be able to respond in full — or at all — to renewed student concerns regarding its ethically questionable capital investments and the termination of a need-blind admission policy.

According to Inside Higher Ed, Oberlin is in the company of other elite liberal arts colleges that have failed to fully rebound from the 2008 economic downturn. Generally, the revenue for these colleges is generated through tuition, donations and endowment growth. The article also notes that Oberlin has seen a considerable decline in its endowment and has increasingly leveraged its balance sheet to finance operations.

Despite the negative outlook, the College held onto its strong Aa2 credit rating and isn’t in any immediate financial trouble. But to stay in the black, Oberlin must rely on its fundraising capabilities and lucrative investing tactics — the latter seen as problematic by several campus groups.

Moreover, this puts direct pressure on the College to continue to rely on student tuition as a primary source of revenue. In an interview with Inside Higher Ed, Ronald Watts, Oberlin’s vice president of finance, said, “It’s like a car dealership being sales-of-car dependent… I mean, it’s our industry, what do you want us to do?”

This puts the College’s financial solvency in direct conflict with valid student concerns about the re-implementation of a needblind admittance policy, the current lack of economic diversity among students — particularly within the College of Arts and Sciences — and capital investments that various student organizations have deemed unethical for one reason or another.

In 2005, the Board of Trustees unanimously passed the The Oberlin College Strategic Plan, which outlines the College’s goal of “realiz[ing] more net tuition revenue per student.” The implication of this policy is that the College must decrease the number of matriculating students in need of financial aid, while admitting students whose families are able to commit upwards of $200,000 for their child’s education.

Last semester, Student Senate adopted a resolution proposed by Students for a Free Palestine, calling for the College’s divestment in companies tied to Israel. The proposal specifically criticizes the College’s lack of transparency regarding its investments, insinuating that as as indirect financiers of the conflict, the College is a “complicit third party” to any human rights abuses that occur in the region.

Various other student projects — such as Socially Responsible Investment, the Responsible Investing Organization and Obie Leaks — have pressured the College to be more transparent in its capital investments and stock portfolio.

The College must now navigate between pressing ethical and financial concerns. Though the morality of divestment is framed as a black-and-white issue by some student groups who see the College as dismissing its acclaimed progressive values for the sake of monetary gain, the financial report exposes a gray area. Perhaps the College could remain true to its progressive commitments — and better articulate its conundrum — if it increased transparency to provide students with a clearer context for the College’s position.

But until this happens, frustrated student activists will remain at a standstill with cash-strapped administrators, neither side fully privy to all relevant information.

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

Opinions

Page 6

The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

Multilingualism Normal in Rapidly Changing World Sean Para Columnist This summer, I spent a week staying with a friend in São Paolo, Brazil. There I noticed a linguistic situation far different than those I had previously encountered. My friend, his family and most everyone he knew belonged to a largely Anglophone expatriate community. Most people spoke two or three languages every day: Portuguese, English and Spanish or some other language from their native country. I was rather shocked by this as I had grown up in a monolingual world. In every other place I had visited around the globe people spoke usually only one language a day, be it French or Balinese.

Yet, in São Paolo, among the community I encountered, multilingualism was the norm. One girl even remarked to me that she could hardly imagine speaking only one language a day. The effect this has on the culture and values of a community is difficult to gauge. In essence, though, it is a reflection of the internationalism that has taken on its own culture. Speaking English is no longer the preserve of Britons, Americans and Australians. English is now divorced from its roots; it has taken on a life of its own.

Let me be clear — the people I encountered in Brazil were a very small subsection of the population. Most Brazilians speak only Portuguese. The community I encountered was largely based around the American schools in São Paolo, specifically the Graded School of São Paolo (I know, an odd name for an American school, but let’s not rest on it). Speaking with my friend’s high school companions, I learned that their families had all come to Brazil from other countries, such as Guatemala or the Netherlands, for business reasons.

They said all of this in perfect, often accentless English. Had I, the American, not been present, they still would have conversed among themselves in English, whether they had been born in São Paolo or halfway around the world. Several had never visited the United States. Never had I seen clearer evidence of the way that English, a language I had grown up speaking, had taken on a global identity.

This polyglot community is a precursor of the globalized world to come.

English is no longer tied to a national identity. But perhaps, in the face of multilingualism and internationalism, national identity as we have come to understand it will soon fall by the wayside as well. Nationalism is a thor-

oughly modern construction, springing largely from the French Revolution’s new definition of the citizen and the collapse during the 19th century of the multi-ethnic empires that had previously dominated world history. However, the most important aspect of each ––––––––––––––––––––––––––———

A polyglot community is a precursor of the globalized world to come. English is no longer tied to a national identity. But perhaps, in the face of multilingualism and internationalism, national identity as we have come to understand it will soon fall by the wayside as well.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––———

self-identifying nationality is that it is tied to a language. The international expatriates all continued to see themselves as members of one or another nationality yet, they were all part of the same community. What is the fate of nationality when Brazilians and Dutch converse in flawless English in an up-

scale São Paolo apartment?

I am not predicting the imminent demise of nationality or global order. I am simply pointing out that in a brief and limited experience I saw a community in Brazil different from any other I had ever witnessed in terms of the use of language. This is possibly a precursor of things to come. Nationality has always been an imagined identity and it is possible that with the advent of globalization and a truly international community, nationality as we know it will begin to break down.

Before my trip to Brazil, I had never reflected on the transitory and malleable nature of national identity. However, I have realized that nationality is entirely a creation and not at all based in the concrete. In a world where people feel more comfortable in English than their native tongue, where many speak several languages a day, national identities begin to grow hazy.

There is no tangible marker that makes use of our nationality, only our own self-conceptions. Nationality as we know it is beginning to separate from language. Yet nationalism, when created, was tied so intimately to language that only time will tell what comes of it.

Debate Over U.S. Involvment in Syria Bears Consequences for Thousands of Refugees Sam White Contributing Writer When the United States speaks, the world listens. Despite the heated global rhetoric, this is undeniable: President Obama’s threat of military action in Syria — and his subsequent request that the congressional authorization vote be postponed — has exacerbated existing crises and thrown the region into a frenzy.

In his address to the nation on Tuesday, Obama spoke of noble intentions, among them, to “stop children from being gassed to death” and to “make our own children safer over the –––––––––––––––––––––-­–––––

As many as one million children have become displaced, many abandoned by parents living in extreme poverty, left to live and work illegally on the streets in deplorable conditions.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––– long run.” Amidst the waves of criticism Obama has received for his handling of the Syrian crisis, these intentions must not be ignored. But if these are truly the president’s motives for military intervention, the United States must rethink the consequences of its actions, both past and future, in charting the most effective course forward.

This is hardly the first time

Obama, himself a parent, has played to the emotions of Americans by referencing children. In national debates on gun control, education and economic reforms, America’s youth are a constant in the president’s rhetoric.

For the most part, these references are appropriate, thoughtful and — in the sense of gaining votes — effective. It is therefore no surprise that Obama would frame his Syria appeal to the American public in the same terms; as he has repeatedly emphasized, among the thousand victims of the August chemical weapons attack in Damascus were several hundred children.

Yet somehow overlooked in the Obama administration’s statements are the signs of a far greater issue, of which Damascus is merely one symptom: mass migration on levels that international news agencies have deemed a refugee crisis.

As many as one million children have become displaced, many abandoned by parents living in extreme poverty, left to live and work illegally on the streets in deplorable conditions. Predictably, the very real threat of U.S. strikes has only increased the rates of displacement, with children sent into neighboring Lebanon — 20 miles from Damascus — by fathers preparing to fight.

The notion that, if it were approved, a strike in Damascus would help these children is little short of insane.

Taking at face value President Obama’s claim that the

United States’s national security is indeed at stake, it is also difficult to see how a strike in Syria would “make our own children safer.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his remarkable and polarizing op-ed in Thursday’s The New York Times, is not the first to suggest that the proposed strike “would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism,” likely in reference to the Hezbollah group affiliated with Iran, one of Assad’s closest allies.

Obama’s frequent reassurance that no country poses a credible military threat to the United States does little to reassure America’s children or parents against the threat of extra-governmental retaliation, and there is clear evidence to suggest that, with provocation, this threat is real.

Developments in the past week have made two things clear.

With confirmation of the United Nations’s receipt of documents

declaring Syria’s intent to sign onto the international chemical weapons ban, it’s becoming increasingly evident that diplomacy is possible. And the United States’s reactions to these rapidly changing circumstances — and their increasingly grave ramifications for the people of Syria — are making painfully obvious that whatever decisions America ultimately makes, the consequences of its actions will be felt around the globe.

Have opinions on twerking?

Thoughts on foreign affairs?

Feelings about Brobama?

Then you should probably write for us.

Contact opinions@oberlinreview.org.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

Kiss My Sass: I Don’t Like the Way You Twerk It Sophia Ottoni-Wilhelm Opinions Editor When Miley Cyrus took the stage at the recent MTV Video Music Awards, twerking away on the lap of R&B musician Robin Thicke, she made the whole world vomit a little as she proved just how far she’s come from her Disney days.

It didn’t come as too much of a surprise — we’ve all watched during the past two years as Miley has worked diligently to shed her tan, her curves and her wholesome Southern image. Who can blame her? The highlights were pretty hideous.

This summer things took a turn for the worse. In the music video of her hit song “We Can’t Stop,” she took a baseball bat to a piñata full of blunts, made out with a doll replica of herself and strutted her –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

She has incredible wealth, people who care about her and so much media attention. The ways she uses these gifts is downright funny, sad and sometimes nauseating.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– stuff in a fur coat while dragging around a stuffed ferret. Last week she spent more time in an Amsterdam “coffee shop” than I spent applying to Oberlin. Then came the VMA debacle, when an underwearclad Miley bent over and twerked — popping her tiny millionairebooty in a style of dance originating from a poverty-stricken neighborhood in New Orleans.

I want to make it clear that I respect Miley’s desire to reinvent her image. I do not respect the selfdestructive ways she’s gone about it. She’s bringing up issues by embodying them, and that makes me uncomfortable, partly because I’m not sure if it’s intentional and partly because it’s downright sad.

In the recent video for her song “Wrecking Ball,” Miley demonstrates this point perfectly. It features her crying as she perches naked on top of a swinging — you guessed it — wrecking ball.

Besides looking incredibly cold (Who in their right mind would choose to straddle metal?), the overall message being conveyed was one of utter sadness and disparity. What’s wrong, Miley? Did you realize that billions of people live on less than a dollar a day?

Or that one percent of the bank bailout in 2008 could have fed the world’s hungry children for a decade? Don’t worry, these things make me sad, too.

In the interest of not unpacking every racial, gender and sociocultural issue she raises in her music and lifestyle, I’m going to stick with this simple point. The messages she’s sending the world — she’s sad (“Wrecking Ball”), and she wants to party (“We Can’t Stop”) — and the ways she goes about sending them are frankly embarrassing.

She has incredible wealth, people who care about her and so much media attention. The ways she uses these gifts is downright funny, sad and sometimes nauseating. She has sacrificed her humanity to become an object of art, an aesthetic being, and she isn’t even good at it.

Page 7

Evidence of Assad’s Involvement Lacking Yagiz Harun Contributing Writer On Aug. 21, President Assad’s forces supposedly used sarin gas on civilians. British Prime Minister David Cameron jumped at the chance to propose an attack on Syria. Using the G-20 Summit as a platform to discuss military involvement, he convinced President Obama to pledge U.S. military support.

Prime Minister Cameron took the proposition to the House of Commons, but it got rejected. French President François Hollande initially backed the attack but recently decided to pull his support. This has left President Obama in a sticky situation. Without international support, a military engagement of Syria will involve U.S. forces only. Still hurting from the years, resources and lives spent in the Middle East, President Obama is wary of involvement in another conflict.

By seeking Congress’s support, he buys himself some time to back out and save face.

Since President Obama declared his intention to attack Syria before the G-20 Summit, he cannot suddenly rescind his promise to punish the use of chemical weapons and maintain his image.

And surprise! Enter a wild Vladimir Putin (it just wouldn’t be a party without him).

Putin has demanded that Assad give up the chemical weapons to “international organizations.” What is implicit in this statement is that Assad should relinquish the chemical weapons to international organizations so Putin can distribute them to terrorist organizations in Syria to be used against the Free Syrian Army. Putin’s offer is not an innocuous bailout option, but it will still help Obama escape this situation with less damage to his reputation.

First, this is not a national security problem, as President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry keep claiming. A government’s use of chemical weapons is a transgression of international law, and that makes it an issue of the United Nations. Meanwhile, the U.N. has taken a neutral stance on the conflict, and both Russia and China are busy cre-

ating obstacles in the U.N. Security Council.

Second, there is no evidence that shows us definitively who used the chemical weapons.

Neither Prime Minister Cameron nor President Obama has given us legitimate evidence to support that claim. The videos that have been released showing the affected civilians cannot be used as evidence of Assad’s guilt because they do not involve him in any way.

What if these videos are just the Free Syrian Army trying to evoke intervention by an external force in hopes of ruining Assad’s chances of winning? What if the videos are a U.S. attempt to compel us to attack Syria? I watched both the voting in the House of Commons and President Obama’s speech live, and I was not convinced by the attack propositions. If the claim is to counter the abuse of chemical weapons, then why haven’t we attacked Iran or North Korea, both of whom are developing nuclear weapons? Why just Syria?

Also, chemical weapons have been used many times before this civil war, and none of the nations in the world took action. Why now? Is it worth it to intervene in Syria just to protect Israel?

I believe an intervention in the Syrian Civil War would have very negative consequences for the U.S. Syria is in great turmoil, and once we intervene, we cannot just walk away. We all know that a U.S. intervention would not cease with a “limited attack to degrade and deter Assad’s power to use chemical weapons,” as President Obama states. How could we acquire the chemical weapons without executing a land operation anyway? Is the plan to “force pull” the weapons from Syrian destroyers or fighter jets?

As far as I know, the U.S. military does not have any Jedis to assist us on this impossible mission. Even with Assad out of power, Syria is still destined to be in chaos for years to come. Like the Iraq War, this war may have no winner. Action in this matter should not be left to our discretion and instead must be decided upon by the U.N.

Well, That’s Problematic: Liking a Macklemore Song Doesn’t Make You an Ally Libby Salemi Columnist While I’m on the subject of controversial songs (drawing back to last week’s article on “Blurred Lines”), let’s talk about the hit “Same Love” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert. Here’s another song that’s done a 180 in my brain as far as opinions go. The first time I heard it, I loved it. As someone who identifies as a lesbian, it was refreshing to hear some music that supports equal rights and had an excellent video equating the gay experience with straight love. The song and video are gorgeous, and for a while, that was nice. That satisfied me.

Then something pretty weird happened. I went home from college, back to my conservative little town in Michigan. For most of my friends, I’m pretty much the guru on all things gay

since I’m one of the very few “out” kids in town. They don’t really adhere to the same code of politically correct behavior that we do at Oberlin. But the thing is, they’re getting better, partially due to my and other openly gay kids’ help, and partially because things like “Same Love” exist. It seemed like we were all on a path toward gay enlightenment, but then, of course, we hit a bump. My friends back home still do that thing where they say “that’s so gay” when what they really mean is that something is stupid. So like any sensible Obie, I correct them. And for some reason, now I get this response: “Oh, no, I’m so sorry! It just totally slipped! I’m not homophobic, I love that song ‘Same Love’!” Which then always makes me respond with, “What the fuck does this have to do with a stupid Macklemore song?!”

This has happened to me on multiple occasions now. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not. The less-informed straight allies –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

As someone who identifies as a lesbian, it was refreshing to hear some music that supports equal rights and had an excellent video equating the gay experience with straight love.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––– think that by liking this song, they’re in the clear. It’s the same as if a white person said, “Sorry I let the N-word slip. I listen to Kanye West, though, so we’re cool.” No, we’re not fucking cool.

My identity and the level of offense I take from ignorance isn’t based on a catchy song writ-

ten by a husky-voiced straight boy. Don’t remind me that you love that song because frankly, I don’t care. Just apologize for being offensive, shut up and listen to me tell you what you did wrong instead of silencing me with Macklemore lyrics.

Then you’ve got the fact that, even though there are hundreds of queer artists out there writing songs about their lives and experiences, we’re focusing all of our attention on a song written about the gay experience by a straight man. The gesture itself is wonderful, but really, I’d just like to hear some queer music by actual queer people.

I’d like to see Frank Ocean get the recognition he deserves for writing songs about his firsthand experiences. I’d like someone besides Oberlin kids and the Tumblr community to know that Mary Lambert made her own version of “Same Love,” called “She Keeps Me Warm,”

and its music video is even more mindful of the gay experience than Macklemore’s video.

Instead, I get to hear 20 times a day that Macklemore wrote something that was so original and profound even though it’s already been done before, time and time again, by those sharing their own lived experiences.

All in all, though, it’s not a bad song, and Macklemore definitely isn’t a bad guy. And a lot of straight people who listen to the song — definitely all the straight kids here at Oberlin — understand that listening to this song doesn’t make them better than everyone else. But most likely I will continue to be irked by this song, because, for some reason, there are still a lot of people that think this song has changed everything for gay people. Sorry, Macklemore, but we’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have.

The belief that breaking a mirror is a bad omen originated in Ancient Greece. To reveal their fortunes, spiritual advisors would decode the shattered reflection. If distorted, the unlucky Greek was believed to live a short life. This superstition transformed as Romans in the first century BC believed a person’s health renewed in seven cycles and a shattered reflection connoted seven years of bad health.

It’s a common Oberlin myth that if you walk under the Memorial Arch, you won’t graduate.

This superstition likely originated from the old controversy over the arch and Commencement.

In order to receive their diplomas, graduates would have to walk under the arch. However many students found the practice morally objectionable due to the fact that the arch was built to commemorate Ohio missionaries killed during the Boxer Rebellion and is therefore considered a symbol of American imperialism.

A rabbit’s foot is a common good luck charm in Europe and North America, though the origin is unknown.

Blame it on the Brits. The belief that opening an umbrella inside leads to bad luck can be traced back to Victorian England, when umbrellas were significantly larger than they are today. Often when people opened umbrellas inside, they would end up breaking something, causing the practice to become associated with disputes between friends and, therefore, bad luck.

Did you wake up this morning with an inexplicable sense of paranoia? Did you find out your bike was stolen or order a really bland sandwich at DeCafé? Today is no good; it’s the very unlucky Friday the 13th.

CALENDAR

The belief that Friday the 13th is cursed is one of the most widely-held superstitions in the United States. Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute, estimates that up to 21 million people in the country suffer from a phobia of the cursed day. Those who suffer from an irrational fear of Friday the 13th — also known as paraskevidekatriaphobia — often avoid perform-

ing normal activities on this day, such as going to work, planning events or driving a car. Most high-rises don’t have a 13th floor, many airports omit a 13th gate and hotels avoid assigning guests to room 13. Friday the 13th looms like a dark cloud over corporations, which have lost an estimated $800 million as a result of customers choosing to avoid flying or doing business on this day.

12 gods at a dinner party in heaven. When an unwelcome 13th guest, the god of mischief, arrives, he convinces the god of darkness to kill the god of joy with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. The story bears a similarity to another famous dinner party, the Last Supper, after which 13th guest Judas betrays Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Speaking of Jesus, the most ancient myth regarding today’s Where did this widespread superstition originate? Well, like unluckiness is his crucifixion, which took place on a Friday every Oberlin hookup — it’s a little blurry. Various theories the 13th in 33 A.D. And Cain, son of Adam and Eve, killed his link the number to bad luck. However, the oldest documenta- brother Abel on this cursed day. So watch your back. tion of the superstition harkens back to a Norse myth about

Yom Kippur Meditations

Latino/a Heritage Month Tamalada Kickoff

Friday, Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m.

Join Chabad at the Clark Bandstand in Tappan Square for guided mediation.

Celebrate the beginning of Latino/a Heritage Month with tamales and music. Hear about upcoming events this month at Spanish House.

Need some good luck? A horseshoe hung in place with seven nails is widely considered to be a protective talisman. The number seven is considered a prosperous number due to its connection to various cycles including the days of the week and the moon cycle.

Cheers! In most European countries failing to make eye contact while clinking glasses during a toast is considered bad luck and may lead to seven years of bad sex.

Black cats’ close association with witches is the primary reason for the superstition regarding these furry felines. The belief originates from the Middle Ages, when it was believed that the cats were companions to witches or possibility the witches themselves in disguise. When a black cat walked by, it was thought that an evil entity was watching you.

You would think the reason that walking under a leaning ladder is considered taboo is because it is a hazard, but in fact, the superstition traces its roots back to Ancient Egypt. Egyptians viewed the triangle as a holy symbol representing the trinity of the gods. Since a ladder makes a triangular shape when propped against a wall, walking underneath it destroys the sacred shape.

People have been upset over spilled salt since 3500 B.C., when salt was such a valuable commodity that spilling it became considered a bad omen. Ancient Sumerians originated the practice of throwing a pinch of salt over the left shoulder to prevent bad luck from befalling the clumsy.

This Week Editor: Olivia Gericke Sources: Live Science, Inside the Travel Lab, National Geographic, Urban Legends, Scientific American

Sunday Object Talk

Chile: 40 Years Later

Supply Shock: Growth vs.

Steady State Economy

Celestial Influences on Earth’s Climate

A Reading by Kathleen Flenniken

Oberlin-in-London Program Info Session

Sunday, Sept. 15 at 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 15 at 2 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 pm

Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 4:30 p.m.

The Weltzheimer/Johnson House is holding an open house, with presentations every hour. Admission is $5.

Take 15 minutes to hear from a student docent about one of Oberlin’s artworks in the King Sculpture Court by the Allen Memorial Art Museum.

Forty years after the overthrow of dictator Salvador Allende, Professor Steve Volk discusses the historic event at a conference in Spanish House.

Conservation biologist Dr. Brian Czech gives a talk at the Hallock Auditorium in the Adam Joseph Lewis Center.

Learn how the motion of other planets affects Earth and how human activity is changing natural cycles at a talk held in King 306.

Join nonfiction writer and poet Kathleen Flenniken in Wilder 101 for a reading of select works by the author.

There are a couple openings left for Oberlin-in-London’s program for Spring 2014. Go to Wilder 112 for more information about the program.

Frank Lloyd Wright Open House

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

September 13, 2013

Berry, Jackson Team Up to Tackle Sustainable Agriculture, Assert Importance of Liberal Arts

Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics David Orr, Wes Jackson and Wendell Berry, from left, discussed environmental policy during the kickoff Convocation on Sept. 10. Berry and Jackson, longtime collaborators, promoted a return to agrarianism instead of a reliance on energy-efficient technology.

Shi Shi

Nora Kipnis To kick off this year’s Convocation series, author Wendell Berry and acclaimed scientist Wes Jackson met in Finney Chapel on Tuesday, Sept. 10 to discuss environmentalism, sustainable agriculture and the role of a liberal arts education. Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics David Orr moderated the conversation, though he started out by saying that moderating a conversation between Ber-

ry and Jackson is “like choreographing a buffalo stampede.” The conversation was indeed forceful, with a level of connection and deep understanding between the two that was unstoppable. They frequently left the original topic of conversation behind to launch into a riff of inside jokes and passionate speeches on the environmental and personal benefits of living in a sustainable way, or to encourage the audience to ask questions that have more than simple answers.

From a disciplinary standpoint, Berry and Jackson seem like an unlikely pair to be taking on environmentalism together. Berry is a fiction writer and poet who has been honored with a National Humanities Medal and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, as well as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Wes Jackson is an esteemed scientist, writer and sustainability activist who founded The Land Institute and in 1992 received a MacArthur Fellowship. He

studied genetics at North Carolina State University and founded the undergraduate Environmental Studies program at California State University, Sacramento — the first of its kind in the country.

Despite their different career paths, the connection between the two runs deep. Their professional and personal relationship has been evolving since the late 1970s. Both are See Berry, page 12

Singers Vie for Coveted Spots in A Capella Groups Nicole Gutman First-years and returning students alike spent the past weekend vying for a coveted spot as a new member in one of Oberlin’s six everpopular a cappella groups. The new recruits possessed a variety of skill levels. Some had a lot of performance experience, while others had no experience at all. Similarly, some candidates auditioned for more than one group, while others tried out for just one specific group.

One of the ensembles auditioning new members was the Obertones, a 25-year-old all-male group started by Arnold Lee, OC ’88. Lee was exposed to a cappella by his brother who sang in an Ivy League group, causing him to fall in love

with the art form and decide to bring it to Oberlin.

“Despite having lost seven members in the transition from last year, we are not treating this like a rebuilding year,” Obertone and College sophomore Colin Seikel said. “We’re thrilled about how the audition process is going, and the vision smells good in the oven.”

This year was the first in several that the current members of the Obertones returned to campus to put on a first-year showcase concert during orientation week. They performed in Stevenson Dining Hall as well as in some of the co-ops to get first-years interested in joining. The Obertones’ audition process was short and sweet: They asked candidates to perform a few exercises to

test their vocal capabilities and to sing 60 seconds of a song.

Oberlin’s newest a cappella group mirrored this process. CHALLaH Capella, the only Jewish music group on campus, was founded just last year. Although many members of the group are Jewish, they welcome members of all backgrounds. For the audition, hopefuls were asked to go through some vocal tests to gauge their musical abilities and to sing part of a song. As a group, they’re one of the most versatile, singing religious songs of all sorts, including songs that just have Hebrew lyrics and pop songs by Jewish artists.

CHALLaH Cappella looks to expand this year and get themselves more widespread recognition on campus as a Jewish a cappella group.

They are hoping to book some performances at Shabbat dinners in the Kosher Halal Co-op as well as at the annual A Cappella Study Break. Additionally, the group is considering a Hanukkah concert for sometime in December.

The two all-female ensembles, Acapelicans and Nothing but Treble, took a similar approach when auditioning new members. Both sing a wide variety of genres of music, making group dynamics an important aspect for current members to consider. They asked their prospective members to sing a verse and a chorus of a song, a round that had to be learned on the spot and a handful of singing tests not dissimilar from those of other groups.

Acapelican and College sopho-

more Maya Zeemont said that the group looks for “individuals who not only can hold their own as a singer, but also blend well with the group.

We want each song to sound cohesive, without one voice sticking out too much.” The group is also looking to perform in different venues and events such as Fairchild Chapel, the A Cappella Study Break, Parents and Family Weekend and potentially during Commencement week.

At press time, most groups are going through or completing the process of choosing from all the singers who auditioned. While the singers wait anxiously to hear back, the rest of campus excitedly looks forward to the new spin fresh faces will bring to a beloved musical tradition.

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The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

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Noise Musician Merzbow Dazes and Confuses at ’Sco Anne Pride-Wilt Merzbow, the German-derived stage name of Japanese-born “noise musician” Masami Akita, has released over 300 recordings since 1980. After his concert Monday night at the ’Sco, one has to wonder how he keeps coming up with ideas. Merzbow’s trippy 45-minute set was a stark departure from the venue’s typical fare, eschewing such profligacies as pitch and rhythm, resulting in a show that was highly unusual but ultimately frustrating.

After a strident opener by the supremely weird experimental band Guerrilla Toss featuring a yelping female vocalist and a guitarist inexplicably showing a lot of skin, Merzbow grimly kicked off the composition of his sonic landscape. His art — as the word “music” hardly seems appropriate — is the construction of tuneless, dada-inspired droning that grows and evolves depending on which equipment the artist chooses to manipulate. At Monday’s set, the preference was

largely for creating earsplitting walls of what sounded roughly like constantly departing aircrafts and the white-noise blur of television static — not, typically, the feel-good jams seemingly called for by a Monday night.

But Merzbow, apparently, has a method to his madness — 300-some albums worth of method, no less. The crowd at the ’Sco was a decent size and met the unorthodox performance with genuine, if bemused, appreciation. For his part, Merzbow barely acknowledged their presence. His extreme reticence — he never spoke or cracked a smile for the entirety of the time he was onstage — necessarily forced all attention onto his creation, the sprawling, maddening wasteland of sound over which he made himself master.

The problem of focusing all attention onto the noise, however, is that the audience is forced to listen to it without the distraction provided by any possible onstage antics. As a consequence, they are in danger of realizing that what they’re hearing is not in fact very good. Merzbow’s art is certainly

complex, probably much more so than the listener realizes, but complexity and highflown influences — which, according to the artist, encompass everything from free-form jazz to fetish sex — do not a compelling show make.

Moreover, just because what the artist creates is unusual does not mean that the art is somehow better than what it succeeds.

Novelty for its own sake, without real aesthetic appeal, is destined to fall flat.

Without a doubt, the artist would disagree that his noise is indeed novelty for its own sake; it’s probable that each modulation of sound Merzbow facilitates is carefully chosen for how it will play into what’s already being produced. But a layman with no experience in the genre would doubtless hear nothing but senseless droning. If there are CliffsNotes, they are locked inside the artist’s brain — and he’s not telling.

Monday’s Merzbow show was a mystifying experience, as each piece drifted undifferentiated into the next, and certain

members of the all-ages crowd nodded their heads solemnly in a pantomime of “getting it.” But did anyone really get it? For all the pretension, I would bet that the only person in the room who really knew exactly what was going on and what it meant was the artist himself. Unfortunately for the rest of us, relentless noise sounds the same whether or not there’s some deep existential meaning behind it — even if it’s really good relentless noise. As such, the members of the confounded crowd are left to stand and gape and, occasionally, cover their ears.

When Merzbow was satisfied with his set, he abruptly switched off the equipment mid-drone and walked off the stage without another word. The lights turned up, and the dazed audience members blinked at each other before shrugging and filing out. Some people smiled knowingly at each other, perhaps feeling that they had cracked the aural code, but the majority looked simply perplexed; perhaps that, after all, is what Merzbow was going for.

Kid Business Packs Hilarity, Physical Comedy into Cat Performance Lydia Rice Kid Business, the short-form improv group formerly known as Obehave, entertained a large crowd at the Cat in the Cream last Friday, Sept. 6. Dressed in an impeccable combination of loud ties and tshirts, the gang juggled mythological references and phallic jokes with ease, appealing to the intellectually immature and the immature intellectuals in the crowd.

Starting fashionably late, the performers, consisting of College seniors Peter D’Auria and Ben Garfinkel, College sophomores Ben Hyams and James Koblenzer, and Conservatory senior Rachel Iba, managed to (mostly) succeed in keeping straight faces throughout the absurd situations that their sketches, presented as “games,” placed them in, with the assistance of some very enthusiastic verbal input from the audience.

Acting as a warm up was the

always-classic “Freeze” game, where in the midst of action, a person cuts in and replaces someone to create an entirely new scene. A slight extension of the arms came to signify a fork, Atlas carrying the globe and a gauge of annoyance, among other inventions.

This was followed by “TV Channels,” with the troupe acting out some very strange fake television shows, including the mysterious “Murder? Eh, OK” and a medical

soap with the very literal title of “Heart Takes Me.” The next sketch was “Emote Control,” which allowed Iba to show off some serious acting chops as she quickly transitioned between complete joy and utter despair while describing cranberry-picking. From there, “The Show Must Go On” told the story of a trip to a chocolate factory turned morbid as one by one the characters dropped dead, leaving Koblenzer to manipulate the other

actors’ arms as he performed onesided conversations. Think Willy Wonka meets Norman Bates.

After that, we got a “Scene Thread” involving jedi knights and padawans, followed by the wonderful mad-libs of “Sex with Me is Like...” with “The New York Times” and “a carwash” being particular winners. An attempt to recreate the first meeting between a pair See Kid, page 13

Viola Takes the Spotlight Daniel Hautzinger Staff Writer Violists endure a lot of abuse. They are the butt of jokes, composers rarely write solo repertoire for them and they commonly receive unexciting parts and in orchestral music. But last Saturday, Sept. 7, the viola finally took the spotlight. With standing room only in Kulas Recital Hall, Associate Professor of Viola and Chamber Music Michael Strauss showcased the viola’s rich tone through some of the captivating works that have been written for it.

The program began ambitiously with Shostakovich’s monumental Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147. Completed only a few weeks before the composer’s death in 1975, it is his last work. Fittingly, the piece is intensely sorrowful and exhausting to listen to, let alone play. Yet Strauss, joined on piano

by Professor of Instrumental Accompanying James Howsmon, gave an utterly engrossing performance.

Faintly plucked notes at the outset transformed the hall into a macabre salon, a lugubrious parody of light dance music. The viola and piano traced spare themes that seemed to progress yet lead nowhere, as if a traveler were wandering through an endless gloomy forest thick with brambles, each passing grove indistinguishable from the next.

Strauss and Howsmon maintained this unsettling atmosphere throughout the lengthy movement.

The swift second movement continued this mixture of elegy and absurdity, with violent themes hovering over insistent repeated notes conjuring the image of a deranged fiddler.

Unofficially subtitled “in the memory of Beethoven” by Shostakovich, the third movement is the solemn gravestone capping the work. Quotations from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata punctuate fearsome issuances

from the grave. The remarkable work ends with the viola tirelessly exhaling a single note while the piano sketches distant remembrances of earlier melodies. The audience was left in awe.

The program slowly brightened with Maurice Duruflé’s Prélude, Récitatif, et Variations for Flute, Viola, and Piano, Op. 3. Professor of Piano Monique Duphil transformed the piano into an organ during the cosmic Prélude. Her majestic, low chords gave way to a long-breathed dialogue between Strauss and Associate Professor of Flute Alexa Still.

Eventually, lush greenery around a sparkling pond filled that world, populated by frolicsome spirits whistling folksy airs. The piece benefitted from Still’s beautiful lower register and Duphil’s crystalline accompaniments.

The slow trajectory from dark to light was completed in the last piece, Paul Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4 from 1919. The work features Hindemith’s characteristic wit and 20th century style, as well as echos from the Romantic era. Carnivalesque melodies abounded. During a fugal section, the theme jags downward to a “wrong” note in parody of a Bach fugue. Bright harmonies deceive and defy musical logic, forcing the viola to dip and dive to stay on its track.

Returning to the piano, Howsmon provided great contrast between textures, providing a kaleidoscopic backdrop to Strauss’s solid, limber playing.

Discrediting the common vituperation toward the viola, Strauss’s recital was exceptionally executed and immersive from beginning to end. Not only is the viola blessed with a unique tone, its repertoire contains some fascinating pieces. Luckily, Strauss returns to Kulas on Sept. 25 as part of the Hawkeye Trio, with Howsmon and Fenelon B. Rice Associate Professor of Clarinet Richard Hawkins.

After centuries of quietly laboring behind the spotlight, maybe the viola is finally making its way to the fore.

Michael Strauss, associate professor of Viola and Chamber Music, performed the first faculty recital of the year on Sept. 7, highlighting often overlooked repertoire for solo viola. The program featured selections from Shostakovich, Duruflé and Hindemith. Courtesy of Oberlin College Communications

Page 12

Arts

The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

Berry, Jackson Tackle Sustainability at Convocation Continued from page 10 interested in sustainable agriculture and policy, Jackson on the practical, scientific side and Berry from a lifestyle perspective.

Both are environmental activists who grew up on farms, Berry in Kentucky and Jackson in Kansas. Berry’s writing often focuses on a simple, agricultural life and reverence for the land. Jackson, he claims, has helped him in the writing process when scientific information was necessary. “I’m a scribe,” he said at the Convocation, referring to how his friendships, particularly with Jackson, have given him information to round out the precise detail in his writing.

Jackson, in turn, has profited from the keen eye of a writer and reader in order to find new conceptual frameworks for thinking about environmental science and the interaction between humans and nature. It was Berry, for example, who introduced Jackson to Alexander Pope’s “Epistle to Burlington” which deals with nature and asks the reader to “consult the genius of the place in all,” a line which Jackson saw as a commentary on how the particularities of the landscape work perfectly to fulfill the ecological needs of the area. As an example, he asked why we raze prairies and rainforests to plant soybeans when the ecology of both biomes already work perfectly with the given environment. The junction of literature and science has informed the pair’s understanding of human nature as well. Berry’s close reading of a Han Jenny passage on the random placement of a raindrop led both of them to question the use of the word “random” in the first place. This topic sparked a discussion on the virtues of ignorance, the interest in those as-yet unanswerable questions and a book called The Virtues of Ignorance: Complexity, Sustainability, and the Limits of Knowledge, edited by Jackson and fellow writer Bill Vitek. This idea has attracted considerable attention in the philosophical community.

Their work blends literary tradition and scientific thought and shows their view about how the humanities and natural sciences can and must direct the course of sustainable agriculture. Jackson stated during the Convocation that compartmentalization led to avoidance of the big problems going on with the environment.

Berry said the purpose of a liberal arts education is to help people understand how to live in a diverse world with diverse problems and find a calling or a vocation, rather than focusing on one specific area of specialization and searching for a job.

This sort of education, in his view, should include what we consider the “crafts,” or the ways to truly support oneself while being respectful to the environment such as farming, cooking and shoe making. Berry

sees it as a problem that we accept mediocrity in mass-produced necessities and overlook those who put care into handcrafting those necessities, while at the same time exalting art, music and literature. Modern specialization has driven universities to focus on science, technology, engineering and math research, known as STEM. “I call it SMET,” joked Berry. Berry additionally expressed concern that the need for research to boost funding has led to a lack of attention on education. He also called for a return from the urban lifestyle to a more agrarian one that involves careful use of small, individually owned plots of land. This ideal lifestyle would involve a process of communion with the land — paying attention to nature’s signals — as well as self-sufficiency.

Orr asked both of them how one might “sell” an agrarian worldview in an urbanized world full of what Jackson calls “technocratic fundamentalists.”

Neither had a good answer, but both agreed this is an important question to keep in mind — again, Jackson said that the best questions are the difficult ones.

The consequence of not answering this question is unimaginable, yet according to Jackson, our method of using the earth has benefited us for 10,000 years, and a reversal isn’t going to happen overnight. Therefore, he drew attention to the need for defined limits on our use of natural resources. Berry stressed that we need to learn to have courtesy for the land, cultivating a relationship much like one would have with another person.

For Jackson, the existence of an environmental studies program to begin with is indicative of a failure of the liberal arts tradition, which should have long ago addressed the problems of climate change. While agriculture is the second largest source of gas in the atmosphere, environmental programs largely leave this and other problems to agricultural universities to deal with.

Meanwhile, he spoke of a gap between morality and legality in terms of how we treat nature. It’s legal to remove mountaintops, reduce biodiversity with enormous crops, use dangerous pesticides and frack — but at what cost, he asked?

“American agriculture is running a huge overdraft,” Berry said. In his opinion, the solution to that infrastructural quandary is not just for agriculturalists to figure out. It’s a question for students of all disciplines and a liberal arts education should not ignore the massive problems at hand. According to Jackson and Berry, the arts and sciences working in tandem will be an invaluable resource when tackling this subject.

Dirty Beaches Delivers Otherworldly Performance Katherine Dye The bands Dirty Beaches and Sisu brought an otherworldly flair to the ’Sco at their Tuesday show. The pair was definitely well-matched in that both acts made heavy use of synths and reverb to create a distinctive ambience as well as a strong, driving rhythm that pushed the melody forward and prevented the music from becoming too static. Sisu’s sound is pleasantly mysterious and ambient, which made it a good complement to Dirty Beaches’s electronic soundscapes.

Dirty Beaches, the stage name of Alex Zhang Hungtai, born in Taipei but hailing from Montreal, characterizes his music as an expression of his feelings of alienation — of being a wanderer and of having no home to return to. Given that Zhang has lived in a variety of cities including Taipei, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Honolulu, to name a few, it is not surprising that the theme of the wanderer is dominant in his work. Zhang is also very open about his See Dirty, page 13

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The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

Page 13

Kid Business Shines at First Show of the Semester

College senior Ben Garfinkel eliminates Conservatory senior Rachel Iba from a game of “Story, Story, Tie” during Kid Business’s show at the Cat in the Cream on Sept. 6. The newly re-christened short-form improv group included several games in its first performance of the semester.

Yvette Chen

Continued from page 11 of rather embarrassed first-year friends who were brought up on stage. The grand finale was “Story, Story, Tie,” in which the entire troupe attempted to tell a Redwall

story a few words at a time. Unfortunately, D’Auria seemed to be the only one even vaguely familiar with the novels. Those who failed to add to the storyline — which ended up involving hunting badgers — had their ties removed by Garfinkel, which

was an appropriate punishment.

Considering how Kid Business only had a week’s worth of practice to prepare, this was a highly amusing show, enlivened by the enthusiasm of the troupe. When asked about what drew him to short-form

improv, Garfinkel said, “It frees me to do whatever I want.” Koblenzer, meanwhile, said he admires the need not to “dwell on what you say.”

Iba said that she enjoyed how “you can fully embrace failure … and fail gloriously, and fully embrace the

downward spiral.” But this group didn’t fail. Quite the opposite, for their lack of self-consciousness led to a free-spirited evening that the stressed-out students, packed into the coffeehouse, very much appreciated.

Dirty Beaches, Sisu Bring Ambience and Noise to the ’Sco Continued from page 12

creative influences, citing the film directors Wong Kar-wai, David Lynch, Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino, as well as musical artists like The Cramps and the Norwegian band Suicide. Perhaps it is the presence of these cinematic influences that gives Zhang’s music its moody and highly atmospheric sound.

The evening began with a performance

by Los Angeles-based band Sisu. With dreamy, haunting, occasionally ominoussounding vocals by the band’s composer Sandra Vu floating over loud, droning guitars and electronic swells and drops, Sisu has a sound that is very reminiscent of

’80s and ’90s shoegaze and darkwave artists such as Slowdive, The Cure, The Smiths and particularly Cocteau Twins. The performance was loud and hypnotic, and the audience seemed transfixed, if not particularly energetic. The dreamy effect was heightened by the images of flowers and vintage photography projected on the wall behind the stage and the dim stage lighting, which left the band members in shadow.

Dirty Beaches started out with a more ambient piece primarily played on the synthesizer with a few unconventional acoustic flourishes. For the entire set, this ambient sound continued, while individual songs seemed to rise up out of it, creating an interesting, almost organic effect. Zhang’s vo-

cals were crooning, low and seemed oddly nostalgic. In fact, much of Dirty Beaches’ music seems nostalgic, despite the heavy use of synths and other trappings of electronic music. There is a sense of longing and a consciousness of the past as well as a striking amount of emotional intensity. At times, the music seemed like the soundtrack to an old art house film or melodies coming from a strange old jukebox. As the set went on, the slow, hypnotic pace of the music sped up to become faster and more danceable. Zhang went from singing in a slow, low manner reminiscent of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis to vocalizing in screams and in a louder, more anguished tone. At the end, the music abruptly stopped, and Zhang and

his partner high-fived onstage and nodded their heads to indicate the show was over.

This was an oddly banal way of ending such a strange and otherworldly show.

This was a fantastic show. The audience, despite being relatively small, also seemed to enjoy the performance. A few audience members danced throughout the entire set, while others seemed transfixed by Zhang’s unassuming but engaging stage presence.

The concert did not feel long at all, and perhaps this was due to the oddly transcendent quality of Dirty Beaches’ music. Their sound is at once introspective and nostalgic as well as forward-looking and innovative — the recipe for an ultimately satisfying show.

Paranoia and Art: Professor’s Film Explores 9/11 Aftermath Anna Vernon On the twelfth anniversary of Sept. 11, the Apollo Theatre screened The Unrecovered, a chaotic film that grapples with the psychological aftermath of that tragic day. Originally released in 2007, The Unrecovered is the first feature-length film by Roger Copeland, professor and interim associate program director of Theater and Dance. The film, a fictional account of the events that transpired, is untraditional in both storyline and pacing, and gets its name from the bodies lost in the rubble of the World Trade Center towers. While the film appears too disjointed at times and even borders on the horrific with its use of frightening images, the end result is worth the constant discomfort experienced while watching it.

The Unrecovered does a tremendous job of acknowledging the

impact of Sept. 11, not only on our nation but on our minds.

The Unrecovered tells the story of three very different characters: a 12-year-old girl hunting for her father, a postmodern musician looking for meaning and a conspiracy theorist waiting to ascend into heaven. Their stories take place in the period between the Sept. 11 attacks and the following Halloween.

Naturally, the viewer eagerly awaits the moment their stories will intersect. But Copeland never allows the viewer to have that anticipated moment; while connections are hinted at throughout the movie, none of the three characters’ lives ever truly cross. It is a disappointment for those looking for a movie with a happy ending, but Copeland never intended to put blinders on some of the toughest months for many Americans in recent history.

Copeland’s film is purely an examination of the American

psyche post-Sept. 11. His use of imagery in the film makes it truly stand out. Laced with clips of threatening images and people, the film weaves together reality with the extreme paranoia experienced by many people post-Sept. 11. The more unrealistic the film becomes, the further the characters go in their attempts to understand or make meaning of the events of 9/11.

Copeland is clear that his film does not have a “message” in the traditional sense of the word. Rather, The Unrecovered “will induce a particular state of mind in the viewer. … It’s really an attempt to reproduce on film my own state of mind as I watched endless hours of television on Sept. 11: the vertiginous sense that anything can happen to anyone at any time, that there were no longer any limits of any kind to what might actually occur,” he said.

Sports

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Editorial: Many Miscalculations in Cleveland Draft Picks Continued from page 16

The Oberlin Review, September 13 , 2013

Athletes Choose Between Varsity, Club Sports Continued from page 16

Before joining the Rockers, Taylor played in the Women’s National Basketball League, the highest level of basketball for women in Australia. As a member of the Dandenong Rangers, she led the league in scoring and steals in the 2000-2001 season. After joining the Rockers in 2001, Taylor helped the team reach the Conference semifinals in the 2001 and 2003 seasons. Unfortunately, just as the city of Cleveland saw a WNBA championship in sight, the team was disbanded.

initial commitment,” said men’s Ultimate Frisbee senior captain Quinn Schiller.

That is not to say that club sports don’t require time and commitment, however. “The thing about [our team] is that we do take it seriously. We do encourage people to be in the gym, and we do practice a fair amount. We have tournaments that are really physically grueling,” Schiller said.

Despite their differences, the two levels of competition

do have one thing in common: the camaraderie that exists between team members.

“I felt very welcomed and like part of the team right away,” said Skrovan. Murnen expressed a similar sentiment about the rugby team’s culture. “It’s a really good environment; [team members] are all very close,” he said.

Though both are unique, club and varsity sports each provide opportunities for students to stay physically active and be a part of a team environment.

3. LeBron James, Forward – Cleveland Cavaliers – 2003 – Round 1, Pick 1 “The Decision” LeBron James joined the Cavaliers as the most hyped high school prospect in NBA history. “King” James didn’t disappoint, earning Rookie of the Year honors in his first season. Over the next seven seasons as a Cav, James solidified his standing as a superstar. He led the team to five playoff appearances and won numerous awards. He was Cleveland’s hero, but still hadn’t brought the city an NBA Championship. With the stinging letdowns of Penny Taylor and Tim Couch fresh in their minds, Clevelanders nervously awaited James’s 2010 free agency: Would LeBron stay loyal to his hometown team or take his talents to another city? When the time finally came, James had no choice but to announce his decision during a live, primetime television broadcast. In the end, James betrayed the city that made him “King” and joined the Miami Heat.

IN THE LOCKER ROOM Andrew Follman and Matthew Kendrick This week the Review sat down with junior Andrew Follmann and senior Matthew Kendrick, members of the Billy Goats Gruff, the men’s club rugby team to discuss the upcoming season, what makes rugby special and unique Gruff traditions. The team’s first home match will be Saturday, Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. on North Fields.

MK: Beer.

AF: Helping old people cross the road.

What is your relationship with the women’s rugby team?

MK: We are trying really hard to build a good relationship with them. We definitely want to be partners and active community members with the Rhinos.

You are starting this season in a new league. What opportunities do you think that will bring?

Matt Kendrick: Starting [in] this new league [the Small Universities League of Ohio], I feel like we have a good chance to get into the playoffs. We also have a ton of first-years. This year reminds me of when I was a firstyear. There was a lot of talent in the older players, but a lot of good-looking first- and secondyears. A lot of rookies are going to have some great game time.

Andrew Follmann: I’m really excited with the new players on the team, and how the team is building itself up under my watch. With this new league, I feel like this team will be making history. This is my first wave of recruiting, and I see a lot of potential.

Give me a recap of last semester’s season.

MK: We were very successful.

We won two out of three games.

[Senior] David Brandt was an anchor on that team and kept everyone motivated.

AF: Last season was our social

Are there any unique Gruff traditions?

MK: We have a pre-game chant about eating babies and behaving like a Viking. It doesn’t make any sense, but it gets you super pumped. Sometimes a guy plays the bagpipe before our games.

Andrew Follmann (left) and Matthew Kendrick, members of the Billy Goats Gruff men’s club rugby team season, and we had some players go abroad. We were unexpectedly short-handed, so we didn’t have great numbers, but we did play pretty well. There was a solid group of players that were pretty dedicated.

What makes rugby unique from other sports?

MK: You can play it anywhere in the world. I’ve played rugby in China, South Korea and South America. There’s the same rugby culture everywhere.

If you move around the world, you’ll be in the same company of people as you would be in

the United States on your own team.

AF: There’s no other sport where you can hit somebody and then an hour later have a beer with them. Everyone who plays rugby is of the same mindset. You get through the games together, and afterward, you’re friends.

How do you think the team compensates for not having any head coaches?

MK: There’s not one central workhorse on the team. Everyone on the team is a workhorse and pulls 110 percent.

We all teach each other things and benefit from our collective knowledge. It’s easier to pick up rugby by just playing than by being coached.

AF: Dedication from the players. It’s all on our shoulders, and everyone does everything they can to help out. We have good drills and that really compensates for the lack of a coach. [ Junior] Conor Narovec does a great job as captain of the forwards.

What is the rugby team’s favorite group activity (other than playing rugby)?

AF: Zulus. After you score your first try, you take a lap around the rugby pitch bare naked. Everyone sings “It’s a Small World After All,” and you have to run through a tunnel of guys on the team at the end.

If you could be one famous person, who would it be?

MK: All of my favorite famous people are dead Asian emperors. I’d like to be King Sejong of Korea.

AF: I want to be me, man.

Interview by Nate Levinson Sports Editor Photo by Effie Kline-Salamon

The Oberlin Review, September 13, 2013

Sports

Page 15

— Volleyball —

Volleyball Rebounds After a Tough Start Tyler Sloan

First-year Molly Powers serves the ball on her home court. Powers and junior co-captain Christine Antonsen led the young team in a turnaround.

Courtesy of Oberlin College Athletics

After an unsuccessful beginning to its season, the women’s volleyball team has started to turn things around.

The Yeowomen began the fall season with five consecutive losses against notable competition like Carnegie Mellon University and Penn State–Erie, The Behrend College (both 0–3 losses for Oberlin). Later matches against The College of Wooster and Baldwin Wallace University each produced close 2–3 scores, but Oberlin fell just short.

Putting the rocky start behind them, the team had a successful weekend at the La Roche College Volleyball Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Pittsburgh, PA. “Although we started off the season with a few losses, they were some very tough teams. This past weekend in Pittsburgh, we really saw our consistency come together, and because of that we ended the weekend with some nice wins,” said Head Coach Erica Rau. The Yeowomen finished third in the tournament, and with a new batch of firstyears, there is only room for improvement.

The roster for the Yeowomen this fall boasts six first-years, making up nearly half of the team. First-year Jillian Hostetler is already making an impact as an outside hitter. The Algonquin, IL, native made her contribution at the La Roche tournament by scoring 20 total points in games against Washington and Jefferson College, Carlow University and Waynesburg University.

Hostetler expressed high hopes for the season and believes that the team will get into a groove soon. “I think it’s been going well. We have a lot of team chemistry. We have a lot of potential.”

Coach Rau seconded this notion. “I’ve never seen a team come together this quickly, especially with so many firstyears in starting positions.”

Rau claimed that the first-years have the capability to significantly aid the team this year. “Our first-year class is amazing.

They are all seeing significant playing time, and four out of six start. Most of the time I forget they are first-years, which is a good thing,” she said. However, with such a young team, there come challenges too.

First-year Maggie Middleton shared that there has been difficulty in acclimating to the high level of volleyball. “My goal for this season is to close my blocks. I’ve been having difficulty adjusting to the pace of the game,” said Middleton.

The young team is led by junior powerhouse captain Christine Antonsen. This season alone Antonsen has tallied 100.5 points as an outsider hitter. Originally from Potomac, MD, Antonsen will provide the Yeowomen with talent and experience, having played in 96 games as a sophomore. Sophomore Molly Powers, a Chicago native, acts as co-captain with Antonsen and will look to produce quality results after a successful 2012 season.

Coach Rau has faith that her team will succeed this year. “So far this season, our play has improved each time we have stepped on the court. We try to focus on doing the little things really well and know that when we do the little things well, the bigger things like wins will come,” she said.

The Yeowomen are coming off a twogame winning streak and will play at home on Friday, Sept. 13. The game will take place in Philips gym against Augustana College.

— Women’s Soccer —

Coach Palmer Ushers in New Era For Yeowomen Rose Stoloff Sports Editor With 12 new players, a new head coach and a rediscovered excitement for the game, the Yeowomen are an entirely new team this year. Three games into their season, the Yeowomen have already scored more goals and won more games than they did throughout the entire 2012 season.

“We’re playing completely different soccer,” said junior Abby Weiss, who attributes much of the team’s newfound success to the expertise of new Head Coach Dan Palmer. “He’s giving us completely different ideas, and the entire way that we play has been changed because he’s brought in this new vision.”

With 23 years of experience in coaching collegiate soccer, Palmer comes to Oberlin after having great success with Case Western Reserve Uni-

versity’s men’s team.

“To be able to shape a program and help a group of players get noticeably better than before is a challenge that I’m attracted to,” said Palmer.

“In many ways [the soccer program] is very similar to when I started at Case. We had a lot of success, and I was able to build that program up.” Palmer said he hopes to achieve the same sort of transformation at Oberlin as well.

–––––––––––––––––––––––

“We’re playing completely different soccer.’

Abby Weiss Women’s Soccer Player ––––––––––––––––––––––– Senior captain Sarah Andrews emphasized that one of Palmer’s strengths is the preparation he puts into designing drills. “His practices are a lot more

planned. He does a really good job explaining things,” she said. “Everything has a purpose which makes you really motivated to work really hard in practice.”

Furthermore, Palmer has instilled a restored sense of competition among the Yeowomen. “He told us from day one that he wants us to ‘compete, compete, compete with each other,’ which has been kind of atrocious, but really effective,” said Weiss. “Every practice we are competing for spots, we’re competing for playing time. He can’t favor anyone because he doesn’t know us, he doesn’t know our playing [styles].”

This is a drastic departure from last year, during which each player knew her standing on the team. “This year there’s a lot more unknown, which, for a female team, can be really challenging,” said Weiss, “but it’s making us stronger, and making us fitter, and making us fight more, which is really what we needed.”

Head Coach Dan Palmer has drawn nothing but praise since his hiring in March. Women’s soccer hopes he’ll lead to more success.

Courtesy of Oberlin College Athletics

Page 16

Sports The Oberlin Review

September 13, 2013

— Men’s Soccer —

Team Veterans Lead Yeomen to Early Success Sarah Orbuch Staff Writer

Rose Stoloff Sports Editor In the last 15 years, Cleveland’s major sports teams have been blessed with a great number of high draft picks. Many of these top picks have brought more than just talent and potential to their teams; they’ve brought hope, excitement and the prospect of better times to a financially depressed city. In reverse order, here are the three most promising, and ultimately disappointing, draft picks in modern Cleveland sports history.

1. Tim Couch, Quarterback – Cleveland Browns – 1999 – Round 1, Pick 1

tention to detail is definitely something for us to improve upon, and no matter who we play, we need to concentrate on our game and do the things that will allow us to be successful attacking or defending.”

The Yeomen will look to return to their winning ways while playing at home for the next three games. Their next game is this Saturday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m., when they play host to Muskingum University.

Varsity, Club Sports Offer Athletes Varying Degrees of Commitment, Coaching Nate Levinson Sports Editor

of the track and field team and the men’s club rugby team. “At Oberlin, the coaching staff is really good both at teaching you the sport and teaching you the finer points but also helping you balance your schedule and classes,” he said.

Yet, despite the coaching opportunity gained through varsity sports, many students

2. Penny Taylor, Center – Cleveland Rockers – 2001 – Round 1, Pick 11 “The Fizzle” See Editorial, page 14

the trash — r in e r p

e or compost ycl it ec

athlete when their schedule dictates.

Junior Julia Skrovan, a member of the varsity track and field team, however, feels Fall varsity sports have been back in action that her team’s rigorous schedule is actually for several weeks now, and with the return of advantageous. students last week, club sports are starting back “I was definitely, in the beginning, worried up, too. about the commitment being too much on top Varsity sports — cross country, soccer, volof my school work, but it turned out to be a re–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– leyball, football and field hockey — have all ally nice part of my week, and I liked delineatplayed their first game of the season after arriv- “At Oberlin, the coaching staff is ing part of my day to being more physical and ing on campus early for preseason practice. active,” said Skrovan. Though many athletes On the club sports front, men’s and women’s really good both at teaching you the share Skrovan’s sentiment, others welcome rugby, Ultimate Frisbee and soccer have all be- sport .. [and] helping you balance the opportunity to decide when and how often gun practice in anticipation of their opening your schedule.” they want to participate. matches. Hundreds of Oberlin students will par“What I like about [club sports] is that evticipate in those forms of athletic competition Connor Narovec eryone involved still cares about the sport, as the year goes on, and a handful of students Track & Field Member but it’s not as much of a commitment as varwill even play on both a varsity and a club sports sity sports,” said junior rugby player Patrick ––––––––––––––––––––––––––—————— Murnen. team.

Junior Conor Narovec, who competes in both Making the jump to get involved may be a varsity and a club sport, has unique insight still choose to join a club team over a varsity easier with club sports, too. “What I like about into the differences between the forms of com- team. One reason for this is that the time com- club sports is that you’re not scared off by that petition. “The great advantage in varsity sports mitment in club sports allows student-athletes is the coaching staff,” said Narovec, a member the opportunity to be far more student than See Athletes, page 14

Couch was drafted number one overall after putting up incredible numbers at the University of Kentucky. At the time of his departure, he held NCAA records for completions in a season and career completion percentage. Cleveland hoped Couch could spark the Browns’ offense and turn the team around.

His chance came early, as he was given the starting job in only the second game of his rookie season. Couch held the job for the next four years, but never lived up to the high expectations the city and team had. His tenure was defined by injuries and poor play, and he is now considered one of the biggest draft busts in NFL history.

t this new t pu sp o a n

shots and a 6–4 in shots on goal.

Senior goalkeeper Brandt Rentel played in the net for all 110 minutes, finishing with four saves.

“In some ways I think we underperformed, but I think the game as a whole was good. This game showed us that we are going to meet tough competition throughout the season, but more importantly that we need to play to our standard of play regardless of the opponent,” said sophomore Remi Schneider.

Graybeal agreed, saying, “At-

o

Yeomen did not give up fighting, and just two minutes later Graybeal scored a beautiful header off a well-executed set piece.

“On any type of set piece you try to put yourself in a position where you can attack the ball.

It was a great service from Ingham and the header was more instinctual than anything else,” said Graybeal.

Unfortunately, this goal would be the last for the Yeomen. The team finished the game with a 12–9 advantage in

“The Bust”

ead! Please d

Oberlin men’s soccer celebrated after a goal against Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. They began their season with two wins and a hard-fought tie.

Simeon Deutsch

t ins

The Yeomen soccer team started their season with two hard-earned victories over Hope College and Concordia University in Michigan. In the first game, sophomore John Ingham scored the first goal of the season off a cross from junior Dylan Tencic, and sophomore Slade Gottlieb quickly followed suit, netting the game-winning goal. Gottlieb wasn’t done for the weekend, though, and tacked on his second goal of the season in game two against Concordia. Senior Joe Graybeal and first-year Adam Chazin-Gray each had a goal in the second victory.

While dominant on the road, the Yeomen soccer team had to settle for a tie in its home opener this past Friday night against the visiting Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Lions. It was a competitive match, with a final score of 2–2 after two sets of overtime and a total of 25 fouls and three yellow cards between the teams.

Senior captain Ari Schwartz said, “I thought we played really well. We executed things that we had been working on at practice and we didn’t stop fighting, which is a huge improvement from years past. Every single person played a large role.”

The Lions netted their first goal off a free kick from 18 yards out in the first five minutes of the half. This was their only goal of the first half, and the two teams remained neck and neck until the 60th minute mark. The Yeomen’s first goal came from Ingham off a free kick from 25 yards out. The Lions quickly responded with a goal off of a penalty kick in the 70th minute. The

Cleveland Haunted by Poor Draft Picks