September 20, 2013

The Oberlin Review

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 3

Outside the Bubble News highlights from the past week Pope Francis Urges Church to Leave Homosexuals Be In an interview published Thursday, Pope Francis said that the Church has no pre-ordained license to “interfere spiritually” in the affairs of gay indivdials The Church can issue an opinion, Pope Francis affirmed in America Magazine, but he also added that opinion doesn’t imply direct involvement. In the same extensive interview, the pope also called for women to participate in church decisions and dismissed critics who claim he should admonish abortion and gay marriage.

Pope Francis urged the Catholic Church to strike a “new balance” between spiritual and political ambition, or its ethical foundation will “fall like a house of cards.”

JP Morgan Chase Bank Fined $920 Million Government authorities on Thursday saddled a group of traders at JP Morgan Chase with a $920 million fine. Regulators in Washington and London opened legal charges on the bank’s leadership following their investigation.

The regulators emphasized internal “deficiencies” in “oversight of risks” and in “financial reporting.” The regulatory orders named JP Morgan’s senior management as the principal culprits, citing their failure to notify the bank board about losses. The case subjected a once-reputable bank to scrutiny, raising concern for members and shareholders.

Sources: The New York Times and CNN.

Report Lists Ohio as Top Polluter Maddie Stocker News Editor Environment Ohio, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization, recently released a report detailing Ohio’s power plants as the second most polluting in the country. The plants are Ohio’s largest source of carbon pollution and are responsible for 48 percent of statewide emissions each year — the same amount of carbon emitted by 2.5 million cars. The report, titled “America’s Dirtiest Power Plants: Their Oversized Contribution to Global Warming and What We Can Do About It,” is

a large step in environmentalists’ efforts to create a cleaner and more sustainable Ohio.

Members of Environment Ohio hope that this report will provide an aspect of transparency on environmental issues that previous efforts have failed to address.

“Our main goal with the report is to emphasize that power plants are the elephant in the room in the sense of global warming, and right now they’re completely unregulated,” said Vivian Daly, field associate for Environment Ohio.

“We need to create standards for carbon pollution from power plants if we’re going to address the issue of global warming.”

According to the report, Ohio has six of the top 100 most polluting power plants: General James M. Gavin came in at seventh, JM Stuart at 25th and FirstEnergy W. H. Stannis at 39th.

To environmentalists such as Daly, the most alarming aspect of the report is the impact on the environment. “We’re already seeing the cost of global warming — 2012 was the hottest summer in Ohio with a record-breaking drought. The biggest cost right now will be inaction. Scientifically, global warming will cause more pollution [and] more weather events that will devastate our community and cause

destruction of property.”

Although the report frames carbon power plants as a large contributor to climate change, some of those plants view themselves as having little to do with the environmental crisis. “The recent Environment Ohio study does not take into account the size of the plants included on its list, nor the efficiency with which they produce power,” FirstEnergy spokeswoman Stephanie Thornton said in an email to the Review. “Larger plants by nature will have higher emissions than smaller plants. FirstEnergy’s See Environmentalists, page 2

City Council Passes Resolution on Guns Rachel Weinstein Staff Writer It was a less than eventful Sunday afternoon at the Slow Train Cafe, until various students spotted a customer armed with an AK-47 assault rifle in line for a cup of coffee. Last week, dozens of protesters from across the state came to Oberlin, exercising their right to carry firearms and protesting the long-debated ban on guns in the city’s parks.

“Even though it was just a protest, it seems so unreal to come so close to something [that] powerful and fatal; how could you not feel a little scared?” said College junior Devon Wells, who witnessed the armed man in Slow Train.

For weeks, gun-toting citizens from across the state have visited Oberlin to protest the City College and community members convene at a meeting to engage in the recent gun debate. The panel included Simeon Deutsch Council’s ordinance, which bans President of Council Ron Rimbert, City Manager Eric Norenberg and Law Director Don Clark. the possession of unlawful weapons in the city’s parks. Since early August, state piled into the chambers of City Hall, ea- zens of Oberlin from physical harm; my secmembers of the Oberlin community have wit- gerly awaiting the discussion on guns in city ond obligation is to protect the city from fisnessed visitors armed with dangerous weap- parks. This ordinance was an amendment to cal damage,” said Fairchild-Soucy to citizens ons walking the city’s streets and exercising section 927.07 of the Codified Ordinances of during the Town Hall meeting. their rights ensured by Ohio statutes, as well the City of Oberlin that barred the “unlawful After each council member spoke on the as alarming members of both the College and possession, use or discharge” of any type of issue, members of the community and varithe greater Oberlin community. firearm — and most weapons — in city parks. ous other city officials were invited to share “They are organized and committed to go While the city council committee unani- their voices on the matter. The majority of the from town to town to change the law. This is mously supports the ban of firearms in Ober- night’s speakers stood in opposition to guns a national, statewide and local push by gun lin City Parks, the council concurrently faces in Oberlin’s parks. The few in favor of guns owners. Suddenly they showed up in our own the restriction of state gun laws. The Ohio in parks expressed concerns that the ban is parks with guns,” explained Sharon Fairchild- state legislature permits the possession of simply unenforceable. Jeff Garvas, president Soucy, member of the Oberlin City Council. guns in state parks, effectively forcing Ober- and founder of Ohioans for Concealed Carry, Monday evening, the Oberlin City Coun- lin to rescind its ordinance to avoid any po- spoke on behalf of Ohio residents who felt cil and roughly 100 residents adjourned for a tential lawsuits. aggrieved by the city’s ordinance. Vargas city council meeting to discuss the ordinance.

“As a member of your city council, I feel City officials and residents from across the that my first obligation is to protect the citiSee Protestors, page 2

OTC with Rebecca Whelan Rebecca Whelan, associate professor of Chemistry shares her thoughts with the Review about women in the sciences See page 3

ESTABLISHED 1874 www.oberlinreview.org

ONLINE & IN PRINT

Yeomen Claim Historic Victory AMAM Gets Real Four new exhibits at the Allen trace Realism from its 19th-century origins to the present day.

See page 10

INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

The football team defeated Case Western Reserve Univerity for the first time in 28 years in their home opener.

See page 15

Arts 10

Sports 16

from the

WEB

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

Visit www.oberlinreview.org.

News

Page 2

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Environmentalists Push to Clean Up Power Plants Continued from page 1 wide carbon dioxide emissions.”

According to a report released

by Environment America, the environmental effects seen by global warming are apparent despite the debate over their causes. By the end of the century, the global sea level is projected to rise by as much as 2.5 to 6.25 inches and temperatures are projected to rise by as much as an additional 7–11 degrees Fahrenheit should global warming pollutants continue to be produced at their current rate.

A 2011 report by the Clean Air Initiative detailed another threat brought on by carbon pollutants.

In the report, the General James M. Gavin power plant is listed as causing 45 deaths each year as well as over 850 types of illnesses, including asthma, chronic bronchitis and heart attacks. Combined, these ailments have generated over $350 million in various medical bills. In 2010, the combination of all of FirstEnergy’s power plants was listed as causing 419 deaths each year as well as over 7,990 illnesses. The projected cost of treatment of these ailments exceeded $300 billion.

“We need to start acting — we can’t just continue to ignore it. Right now the best way to do that is to limit the global warming pollutants from power plants because they are the single largest source of carbon pollutants in our nation,” said Daly.

For Environment Ohio, this means going directly to the source.

Both the Obama administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have announced that they will be addressing and releasing standards on power plant pollution this coming year. The organization, operating under the broader Climate Action Coalition, plans to

send a public report to the Obama administration regarding the president’s climate plan.

“We’re collecting petition signatures from individual voters in Ohio, [and] we’ve already collected public comments from over a quarter million Ohioans who believe that global warming pollutants should be limited in power plants,” said Daly. “We’re also looking for elected officials in the area who support our campaign, and [are working on] getting this information to the president and to other legislators so that they know that people want reform.”

For the past several years, Oberlin students and faculty members involved in the fight for sustainability have undergone a similar struggle. The central heating plant, a coal-fired power plant that’s a part of Oberlin College’s Service Building, has been the subject of debate for the past decade. Although the plant is scheduled for reform in the upcoming year, there are still many challenges associated with the switch to natural gas. “[The heating plant] has been around for so long, and it’s provided a lot of jobs for people,” said Bridget Flynn, Oberlin’s sustainability coordinator. “It’s really tied to their livelihood and their well-being in some way, although it’s also tied to degradation of people’s livelihood and well-being, so it just depends which side you’re on, what you’ve seen and how you’ve been impacted. This area was so industrial for so long and has lost so many jobs to overseas; people want jobs, and I think they feel threatened that if power plants go away, well, what’s going to take its place?”

Cindy Frantz, the chair of the Committee on Environmental Sustainability and associate professor of Psychology, views the renovation

of the coal plant as a fiscal necessity.

“Replacing the coal plant is really, really expensive,” said Frantz, “and the trustees are trying to protect the institution fiscally. But the thing that put the nails into the coffin was the EPA regulations. To keep the coal plant we would need to put an enormous amount of capital into refurbishing it, and it just doesn’t make any sense.”

Despite both the Office of Sustainability’s and the Committee on Environmental Sustainability’s insistence that the switch to the natural gas will provide plenty of “green jobs,” there are some who are skeptical. One individual, who asked to remain anonymous, questioned the integrity of the College’s switch to natural gas. “I think it’s a real shame that the coal is going away and being replaced with gas boilers.

Oberlin College burns less coal in a year than a major power plant does in one day,” said the anonymous source in an email to the Review.

“Has anybody thought about anybody else like the miners and transportation and the industry for coal, or do we not care about anybody else except Oberlin?” The source, who is affiliated with Oberlin’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning department, expressed discontent not only with Oberlin’s switch to natural gas, but also with the EPA’s restrictions in general.

“We have to have balance, man has to work, and yes, we do need to clean up the environment. The auto industry has done a terrific job in cleaning up the way cars run today. Man can do the same thing with the power plants if the EPA would just get off our backs and man would open his eyes. The EPA is driving man out of work. The Oberlin College power plant could have run for another 10 years with

some upgrades. During that time we could have definitely made better decisions on how to go forward with being green at Oberlin,” said the individual.

Despite all of its challenges, Oberlin’s switch to natural gas proved to be a “best-case scenario,” according to Frantz. “Unlike forprofits who generate electricity, Oberlin has built [a sense of morality] into its core mission. We really do hold ourselves to higher standards. I think that that thread of ‘we do the thing that’s the right thing to do even if it costs us money’ was always part of the conversation, and I doubt that that’s part of the conversation with these for-profit coal companies.” To Frantz, the “right thing to do” is to protect community members whose well-being is compromised by carbon emissions from local power plants.

“There are a lot of very poor people in southern Ohio who are getting completely screwed over health-wise so that people up here can have clean electricity. I see it as a human rights issue, a social rights

issue and an economic justice issue.

I think that almost every environmental issue has this social justice aspect as well, and I think it’s really important to talk about both,” said Frantz.

Frantz also thinks that it’s important for students to get involved in the push for natural gas. She suggests that students pay close attention to the energy policies of candidates in the 2014 governor’s election and that students looking to get involved in the fight for natural gas should campaign for the candidates with the most energy-efficient policies.

“What happens in Ohio really matters,” said Frantz. “We are very much a swing state; we’re really in the heart of the nation. I think that whether it’s voting or working on regulations, or whether or not we’re the state that’s producing the most carbon dioxide it really matters, and what we do really matters. I think that any activism that’s generated by this report to make changes in Ohio [is beneficial] … it’s not just about changing Ohio.”

Protesters Descend on Oberlin in Support of Gun Carry Continued from page 1 organizations could take the city to court.

Ohioans for Concealed Carry, founded in 1999, is a grassroots organization that seeks to legalize concealed carry of firearms at the state level. Since 2004, and the enactment of state legislation that permits concealed carry, the organization has been working to expand the rights of gun owners and oppose cities and towns that do not adhere to state law.

In a phone interview, Garvas said that “the first city we had to confront was the city of Clyde just near Toledo. We argued that local governments were not allowed to pass laws that conflicted with the state law.” The organization has also entered lawsuits with the city of Cleveland.

“They are organized and committed to

go from town to town to change the law.

This is a national, statewide and local push by gun owners. Suddenly they showed up in our own parks with guns,” explained Sharon Fairchild-Soucy, vice president of the Oberlin City Council.

“The state recognizes our fundamental right of concealed carry and it is the responsibility of smaller communities within the state to comply with that … we have not discussed how we will approach the city of Oberlin yet, but hopefully the city will cooperate and we can handle this civilly,” said Garvas.

Monday’s meeting ended with a resolution: a request for the Ohio General Assembly to pass legislation, with the signature of Governor John R. Kasich, that amends the Ohio Revised Code to enable Ohio municipalities to regulate the possession of firearms in public.

The Oberlin Review — Established 1874 —

Volume 142, 140, Number 3 2

(ISSN 297–256)

September 20, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

“In Oberlin, we take great pride in our moral indignation, but for me the issue was what you do after the moral indignation and what the city and its leaders hope to do to expand the stake of this legislative situation.

The first step was to pass this resolution of protest,” said Fairchild-Soucy.

Since Monday’s meeting, City Council and members of the community have been brainstorming ways to comply with state laws while still keeping guns out of Oberlin’s parks.

“This resolution is only an intermediary step and not what we hope to be a final solution,” said Councilman H. Scott Broadwell.

Both Broadwell and Fairchild-Soucy have considered selling the land, effectively privatizing it. With the privatization, “landowners” would have the discretion to ban firearms and weapons on park territory. “While

Rosemary Liv Boeglin Combe Allegra JuliaKirkland Herbst Managing editor Samantha Taylor Field Link News editors RosemaryKate Boeglin Gill Maddie Alex Howard Stocker Opinions editor SophiaWill Ottoni-Wilhelm Rubenstein This Week Weekeditor editor Zoë Olivia Strassman Gericke Arts editors Kara Julia Brooks Hubay Georgia Julian Horn Ring Sports editors Nate Quinn Levinson Hull Madeleine Rose O’Meara Stoloff Layout editors Tiffany MiraFung Fein Emma BenEisenberg Garfinkel Alanna DanSandoval Quigley Photo editors Olivia Yvette Gericke Chen Brannon Rachel Rockwell-Charland Grossman Online editor Business manager Alanna Cecilia Bennett Xu Editors-in-chief

we are looking for a solution, there are simply too many acres of park space to sell to an individual,” said Broadwell.

In the Review’s first issue this fall, Fairchild-Soucy wrote a letter to students welcoming them back for the year and pleading for student involvement in the town’s gun debate. According to Fairchild-Soucy’s letter, it would take 15 percent of voter signatures from the last governor’s election to enable a referendum; such initiative would put the issue directly on the ballot.

“If you could build bridges between other colleges and universities across the state to get them to solicit signatures, we could force a referendum and get people involved,” Fairchild-Soucy said. “It has been my dream to get the College students more involved and get the ball rolling.”

Ads manager Julia Curtis Skrovan Cook Business manager Savi Sedlacek Production manager Sarah Westbrook Ads managerstaff Reshard el-Shair Production Rosie Black Production manager Sophia Bamert Alice Fine Production staff Stephanie Bonner Annelise Giseburt Emma Eisenberg Nat Marcus Taylor Field Anna Menta Katherine Hamilton Kiley Julia Petersen Hubay Tracey RubyKnott Saha Noah LydiaMorris Smith AnnaErin Peckham Tesny Silvia Sheffield Drew Drew Wise Wise Distributors Eliza Kirby Distributors Joe Camper Edmund Metzold Joseph Dilworth James Sam White Kuntz

Corrections Jesus was crucified on a Friday, but not a Corrections Friday the 13th. Molly Powers is a College sophomore, The not Review a first-year. is not aware Professor of Jafar Mahallati’s any corrections name was misspelled this week. in the On the Record with Professor Kazim Ali in Thethe Review strives 6toissue. print all September information as accurately as possible.

The If you Review feelstrives the Review to print hasall made informaan error, tion asplease accurately send an as possible. e-mail to managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.

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

News

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Page 3

Off the Cuff: Rebecca Whelan, Associate Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Whelan is an associate professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Oberlin. She participated in the Women in STEM faculty panel that was held Thursday, Sept. 19 in Craig Lecture Hall. Whelan spoke with the Review about women in the sciences and her own decision to pursue chemistry.

How did you get into your field?

When I was in high school I thought that I wanted to be a doctor because I thought, like a lot of young people, I wanted to help people. I had some experiences going to the pediatrician and not having a very fun experience because the doctor [was] not a lot of fun, so I thought, ‘I want to become the kind of pediatrician that kids want to go to see.’ In preparation for that medical career I started taking as many science classes as I could, and in my sophomore year of high school I took my first chemistry class. The teacher was an absolutely brilliant explainer who clearly loved chemistry. And I remember one day he passed around a ball and stick model of sodium chloride, just a really simple model where green balls represent the sodium and silver balls represent the chloride, and passed it around and I remember holding it in my hands and looking at it from all these sides and seeing the symmetry of it and thinking this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. So I found that chemistry in particular spoke to me as being really beautiful and logical. It made sense to me. That was really the starting point and then I ended up taking Advanced Placement chemistry with the same teacher. He really brought a lot of interesting and challenging material into the class so I still give him a lot of credit for inspiring me.

You also majored in English. How does that background influence your current work?

That’s a great question. So yes, when I was at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, I pursued a double major in chemistry and English. At the time and to this present moment, I find that the two disciplines really enrich and enforce each other. The simplest way I can talk about it is that scientists need to be good communicators. If you conduct a scientific experiment and you hold the results to yourself without sharing them, you may as well not have done that work at all. So at all levels of teaching that I do, the 100-level all the way up to my senior seminar, I try to emphasize the importance of clear communication in both verbal and written ways. And we’re also readers. Scientists have to be readers because the literature is where a lot of information is stored.

How do you feel being a woman has affected your career in STEM, if at all?

I was very fortunate as an undergraduate to have the only female chemistry professor at my school. I was mentored for

Thursday, Sept. 12 9:26 a.m. Officers reported an incident of vandalism at Fred Shults Field. A six by four foot piece of sod was pulled up on the northeast corner. Several empty beer cans were also found.

4:28 p.m. An officer reported that the south window of the football field press box had been broken into. A maintenance person cleaned up and made repairs.

Friday, Sept. 13 2:27 a.m. A student requested entry to a room in Asia House for a friend who had been drink-

every year; they give out technical awards, basically awards for scientific achievement. And even though women comprise 20 percent of the ACS membership — we can say parenthetically that is already problematic because women represent around [half] of the population — they’re 20 percent of the members of this chemistry organization. They only represent seven percent of people who were nominated for awards and maybe one or two percent of the recipients of those awards. [Also,] a lot of these awards are self-nominations. So they require people to say ‘You know what, I think I deserve the award for the best analytical chemistry,’ and then they put themselves forward and they ask their friends to support their application. So if more women were to think, ‘You know what, I am really doing great work. I’m going to put myself forward for this award,’ that’s one thing that could be helpful. Fifty percent of bachelor level degrees in science are earned by women. Then if you go to the Ph.D. level, it’s about 30 percent. By the time you get to professors we’re talking fewer than 10 percent. So women are beginning to earn the degrees but they don’t persist through the profession all the way to the very highest levels. At every stage of education, women are paid less than men. That still is true. They have a harder time getting grants. They are often not getting the support and the resources … and I think there’s still work to be done there.

Rebecca Whelan, participant in the Women in STEM faculty panel and overall promoter of a greater female presence in the sciences.

pretty much my whole time as an undergraduate by Mary Blackwell. She’s the only female chemist at our school and I was so inspired and encouraged by her. Fast forward to my senior year and I’m deciding: Do I want to pursue my English degree? Do I want to pursue a degree that follows off my English major or one that follows off my chemistry major? I thought about the importance [that] this mentoring relationship had provided to me. And I thought ‘We are really a long way from achieving gender equity in the sciences,’ as evidenced by the fact that this whole fine liberal arts institution where I was a student only had one female chemist out of a faculty of five or six. So I thought a really worthwhile thing I could do with my time would be to locate myself in a place where women are still underrepresented and to do everything I can to be a great mentor and a teacher of the next generation of scientists regardless of their gender identity.

And where do you see gender equity heading in the future in the STEM field?

We still have a long way to go. The American Chemical Society is the main professional organization for chemists and

ing and was locked out. Officers responded; the lockedout student was identified, answered all questions and entry was provided.

Saturday, Sept. 14 12:25 a.m. Officers were requested to escort a student who was ill from alcohol consumption out of Wilder Hall. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Sunday, Sept. 15 12:16 a.m. Officers responded to a complaint of loud music on Elmwood Place where an unauthorized party was located.

The music was turned off and attendees were asked to leave.

12:40 a.m. An officer re-

sponded to a report of an unauthorized party with a live band at a village house on Woodland Street. The party was shut down and approximately 200 attendees were asked to leave.

12:50 a.m. Officers were requested to assist an intoxicated student on North Main Street.

A student was sitting on the ground and stated he drank too much. The student was able to answer all questions that he was asked and was escorted to his dorm room.

1:04 a.m. Officers were requested to assist an unconscious student who was ill from alcohol consumption at Asia House. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital by ambulance.

3:25 p.m. A student reported vandalism to his bicycle which was left at the cement bike rack

How do you feel more women could be encouraged to pursue a career in the sciences?

Good teaching and mentoring is a big part of it. I think there have been studies on classroom environments where teachers all the way to grade school level respond to boys and girls differently when they have questions or when they’re struggling.

Just simply being aware that teachers and other sources of authority or information bring assumptions into interactions with boys and girls. It’s so simple and cliché, but boys like to play with blocks and girls like to play with dolls. You know, simple things like that are there. Do people enforce those stereotypes when they interact with young people? [Is there] anything that we can do to remain open to that? There’s going to be people [who], with just a little bit of encouragement, really find strengths and achievement in areas that don’t fit into the stereotypes.

Is there anything you’d like to add to any of this?

The science faculty at Oberlin are a really terrific group of potential teachers and mentors, and if anyone out there thinks they might have an interest in pursuing the science field but they’re maybe shying away from it for some reason, [they should] try to have a conversation with at least one or more faculty members or try to take an intro-level science class and try it out. It’s a whole beautiful realm of human inquiry that everyone could benefit from.

Interview by Elizabeth Dobbins, staff writer Photo courtesy of Rebecca Whelan

on the west side of East Hall. The front wheel was severely bent.

9:17 p.m. A staff member reported that a prospective student was injured while playing pool at Kahn Hall. The individual accidentally hit himself in the mouth with a pool stick, chipping his tooth. The individual declined medical assistance at the time.

Monday, Sept. 16 12:50 a.m. Officers responded to a report of a woman screaming in the Woodland Street parking lot area; members of the Oberlin Police also responded. Two individuals who were not associated with the College had been arguing when they were located. The male was taken into custody by an Oberlin

police officer for an outstanding warrant.

3:15 p.m. A student reported the theft of his unattended silver MacBook Pro laptop from the third floor of Mudd. The student stated that he left to pick up a printed document on the first floor, and when he returned the laptop was gone. The laptop has a 13-inch screen, with a rainbow Radiohead sticker and a black Burton sticker, and is valued at approximately $1200.

Tuesday, Sept. 17 10:43 a.m. A grounds staff member reported the American flag missing from Tappan Square. A multicolored flannel shirt was also found covering the light that shines on the flag at night.

News

Page 4

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Administration Begins Implementation of Several Working Group Proposals Oliver Bok The Oberlin administration is incrementally implementing many of the proposals put forward by student working groups in the wake of the bias incidents last spring. Although several of the proposals have been accepted, several remain to be seen.

In response to the student proposals, the administration agreed to construct a new fitness center in the southwest basement area of South Hall. Vice President and Dean of Students Eric Estes described the new gym as being in the “planning stages” and said that he hoped the facility would be ready for use by the end of the semester.

“There were a lot of conversations last semester about mental health and wellness on campus.

Exercise is a huge part of that, so [not having] any resources for [exercise] on South Campus — that’s a problem,” said College senior Toby Irving, a member of the Trainings and Workshops working group. “The fitness center was originally supposed to be for this semester, so that did not happen, but I do think it will,” she said.

Another one of the more concrete proposals produced by the student working groups was the enhancement of the Multicultural Resource Center’s budget. According to Dean Estes, the MRC budget has been increased “significantly” to support educational workshops and trainings this year — an increase that reflected additional student demand for MRC-led events that was widely expressed at the end of last year.

Alison Williams, the director of the MRC and the associate dean of academic diversity, described the budget increase as “slight” when compared to the additional strain placed on MRC resources. “We’ve been bombarded with funding requests … and if we keep getting them at this rate we won’t have any money by December,” she said.

The student working groups envisioned mandatory trainings and workshops for all new students and faculty, and according to Dean Williams, the MRC is “super busy” trying to meet the demand for events that has arisen.

“We have 22 requests [ for MRC workshops] already,” Williams said. “They’re from co-ops, Admissions, the library, Athletics, different student groups — you name it. We’re trying to figure out how to make it all work and juggle all these different demands.”

The administration has also promised an increased MRC presence in the Conservatory. Consequently, Williams said that the MRC is planning some events and possibly office hours in the Conservatory for students. “[MRC] posters are more present in the Conservatory. That’s definitely a change,” said Conservatory senior Michelle Ellison, a member of the Conservatory working group.

The administration also vowed to create a new position in the Conservatory for an Assistant Dean and Musicology Professor with specialty in AfricanAmerican music. According to the list of proposals, the position would help “develop a program of advising and mentorship in con-

junction with the MRC to better support students of diverse cultural identities, backgrounds and experiences.”

Andrea Kayln, the acting dean of the Conservatory, wrote in an email that “the position is still in the faculty-approval process, and pending that approval, the search will take place this year with the hope of appointing someone with the start of the new fiscal/academic year on July 1.”

Orientation provided a microcosm for the uneven impact of the student working group proposals.

Unprecedentedly, Dean Williams spoke for an hour at new faculty orientation about how to deal with various diversity issues and how to make classrooms more inclusive. Additionally, “the MRC was very present in RA training, which was good,” said Ellison, an RA in Afrikan Heritage House.

However, aside from some slight changes to the OC — a play put on by First Year Residential Experience RAs to educate firstyears about issues relating to gender, race, alcohol, and sexuality — new student orientation went virtually unchanged from previous years.

Another project prompted by the proposals is the creation of a website that will serve as a database of information relative to incidents on campus. “In more immediate and concerning moments there will be the ability to communicate both with constituencies on campus and away from campus much more in the moment. For example, parents — I think understandably — wanted, in the spring, informa-

tion and they wanted it updated.

I think this site will help us do that,” said Estes.

The Equity and Diversity Committee is also working on a website of its own: a site that would track the progress made on a range of diversity issues over time. According to co-chair Meredith Raimondo, an associate dean of faculty development and associate professor of Comparative American Studies, the committee requested data last spring –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

‘We’ve been bombarded with funding requests … and if we keep getting them at this rate we won’t have any money

by December.’

Alison Williams MRC Director and Associate Dean of Academic Diversity ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– on diversity from every division head on campus, as well as information on their policies, practices and plans related to diversity.

“The goal of [the audit] was to get a sort of snapshot of what the institutional picture on diversity looks like,” said Raimondo. “By documenting some of these efforts in an ongoing way, in a public and transparent way, we’re hoping that that creates a more productive conversation, and also some more accountability, frankly.” The Equity and Diversity Committee is working to complete the site this fall.

A major focus of the student proposals was an overhaul of the Cultural Diversity requirement.

Many of the student working group members feel that the CD requirement is far too broad and fails to educate students about social justice issues. “I completed my cultural diversity requirement with my Spanish AP. That doesn’t necessarily address issues of privilege and oppression,” said Irving.

One idea put forward by the working group proposals was to have a new Social Justice requirement that forced students to take courses that addressed “relevant social content.” However, the proposed changes to the graduation requirements were conspicuously absent from the administration’s response to the proposals.

“The curricular stuff is the stuff that tends not to happen overnight. There is going to have to be more discussion… and I think it’s critical to make sure that the faculty are very much involved,” said Estes.

While Irving acknowledged that any change to the CD requirement would likely come out of the Education, Plans and Policy Committee, she also underscored the importance of transforming the requirement.

“When you accept your acceptance [to Oberlin], you’re committing to getting an education in privilege and oppression and understanding the way that power functions in our society,” said Irving. “So that’s a much more long-term goal but I’m excited to work on it.”

Students Adjust to New Printing System on Campus

Kristopher Fraser For the past several years, Oberlin students have grown accustomed to the Pharos-Uniprint system. Under this system, students sent their documents to the printer, swiped their identification cards at the corresponding print station and selected their desired document. As of the 2013-2014 school year, the old PharosUniprint regime has been replaced by a new program called PaperCut. With the new PaperCut system, students hit print on their computers, type in their username and password and the documents print automatically, thereby eliminating any card swiping.

In recent weeks, students have identified myriad problems with this new system, including having to print documents twice. Often, because documents don’t seem to reach the printer, students are forced to reprint and are subsequently charged multiple times.

“I’ve been having a hard time figuring out where my print quota is,” College senior Kaylee Holt said, “I’ve sent things to the printer and they don’t print. You’ve wasted credit and [your papers are] not printed ... I don’t see the point

of eliminating the card swiping.” She added, “I’d rather just have my ID with me and avoid all these other weird problems.”

The College decided to implement new printing technology last year. After a five-year Pharos regime, the Center for Information Technology decided that an update was in order.

“It was time to evaluate,” said CIT employee Chester Andrews of the upgrade. “Computer hardware gets old [and] needs to be replaced ... it was time to think about something else.”

According to Andrews, the new system is more cost effective for the College. It costs about half as much as the old system and students still receive their $40 per semester print quota. Yet their quota notwithstanding, some students find the new system more costly.

College senior Sarah Cole said, “the system [has become more expensive to me].” And while it is possible to ask for a refund, Cole noted that she is “afraid to ask for help with these problems.” Holt agreed. “It’s not worth the hassle to get my 10 cents a page back.”

Andrews, who was involved with PaperCut’s implementation, explained, “[The card swiping] was eliminated because we found it to be a posi-

tive thing, [and] more desirable, [because] it reduced the number of machines we have to maintain.” In other words, fewer machines potentially yield fewer problems. “There were periods of frustration even with the older system,” Andrews said in response to the mention of printing angst. “But with a little

bit of time we can work out any issues [we have.]”

Andrews said that CIT intends to remedy these issues.

“We are aware of some problems and issues, we are working to work those out.” According to Andrews, some 200,000 pages have been successfully printed since Aug. 18, and op-

portunities for refunds abound: Every student can request a refund for their account, or by clicking on the PaperCut links on their lab computer. “We’ve been granting refunds in nearly every case,” Andrews explained.

“You have an opportunity to explain why you didn’t get your printout. We are really very

happy to grant [refunds] as we are working through the bugs.”

Andrews, while cognizant of student frustration, said he was hopeful that “within the next week or two or so we’ll have all the bugs in the system worked out.”

Students look on in frustration as the Webb printer malfunctions once again. The new system, PaperCut, has been rife with problems since its installation in August.

Rachel Grossman

THE OBERLIN REVIEW, September 20, 2013

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Page 5

Letter to the Editors

The Oberlin Review

in contrast, our ordinance (a tiny portion of which was in conflict with the 2004 legislation) was enacted in 1998. Cleveland sued the state, not the other way around, regarding the legislature’s 2006 enactment of Section 9.68, and it’s true: Cleveland won at the appellate level, but not in the Ohio Supreme Court.

The portion of Oberlin’s 1998 ordinance that was in conflict with the Ohio’s 2004 legislation to legalize concealed handguns ceased to “be in effect” after 2004; the state would not sue us because it had already extinguished that with which it was (apparently) not pleased. Our “ban” was thenceforth on paper only; it was not posted on a sign, the police would not attempt to charge anyone with violating it — it had been nullified.

Under the circumstances, it would have to be one of our guntoting visitors who would sue us, and that would not, for one round at least, be very expensive. The wouldbe plaintiff, since he (only a couple of

Publication of Record for Oberlin College — Established 1874 —

Understanding Ohio’s Gun Control Debate To the Editors: The Review’s reporters did a better job than some in trying to understand the current controversy over gun laws and explain it to others.

Some of it was a little off, however, and it makes a real difference in one’s ultimate perception of what the City Council did on Monday night.

First of all, “Oberlin Challenges State Law on Guns” (The Oberlin Review, Sept. 13, 2013) is not what was happening. Some folks who don’t live here were complaining that our ordinance covering conduct in parks was incompatible with state laws enacted in 2004 and 2006 when it came to possession of firearms. The situation in Clyde was that their council adopted an ordinance “in conflict” after the state legislature had acted;

armed women showed up) couldn’t find a cop to arrest him and charge him under the ordinance, would have to find some other way to complain to the Court of Common Pleas that he had been wronged or mistreated.

He would certainly know that the state law pre-empted ours, and he would know that we knew; he would certainly know our ordinance (or that tiny part of it) was as dead as a piece of firewood. How was he injured by our quaint relic of a hollow “ban”? To get that answered at the county level might not have been expensive at all.

When they grow tired of assembling in our parks — which they are still as entitled to do as they were last week — the gun-toters may move on to another town. If Oberlin’s ordinance predates 2004, and the town stands its ground, both sides in the controversy might learn something.

–David R. Ashenhurst Community Member

Sunny with a Chance of Cynicism: Counseling Center’s Shortcomings Must Be Addressed Libby Salemi Columnist A few years ago, let’s say about halfway through my first year, I started feeling like there was something weird going on with my brain. I’d be sitting in the middle of class and everything would suddenly look unfamiliar and terrifying, and my chest would start hurting, and I’d just generally feel like I was either going crazy or straight-up dying.

At first these symptoms occurred very infrequently and didn’t cause me too much worry. But then they got worse, and being the (somewhat) proactive person that I am, I decided to go somewhere for help. The help I sought took me to the College’s Counseling Center, which seemed to me like the best possible route. I made an appointment, met with a counselor and described to her as best I could all of my symptoms. As I explained my case she said nothing. In fact, she almost seemed like she was falling asleep.

Then she basically told me to practice some breathing exercises and be on my way. Less than a week later my parents were taking me home on medical leave.

Once I got home, I went to a doctor and a therapist, and they both immediately diagnosed my symptoms as panic attacks, which is apparently a pretty prevalent issue on this campus. This sounded right and with about a semester and summer’s worth of recovery time and an excellent therapist, I was back to feeling like the (somewhat) normal person that I am.

But what didn’t sound right was the fact that, even though these issues come up with students all the time on this campus, and I mean all the time, we don’t have a support system that can deal effectively with students’ mental health issues. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am, since 100 percent of the people I’ve talked to who’ve gone to the Counseling Center have reported some pretty

negative experiences. And yes, the RAs have always been a helpful resource, but unfortunately they aren’t trained in clinical psychology, and the College actually steps in for the RAs’ sake before they get too involved. So why, in a school so full of kids with anxiety, depression and every other issue under the sun, would we have counselors that act like they’re half asleep and can’t even diagnose one of the most common issues amongst college-aged kids?

After so many incidents have occurred — kids literally jumping out of buildings, running away and self-medicating with illicit substances — you have to wonder what’s going on with this school.

The problem, I believe, is that our school is too focused on its reputation. The College constantly shoves information under the rug that would be much more beneficial to share with our students just so we can save face. Instead of discussing the issues, our students are uninformed.

When students get to campus, they realize something’s amiss, and I, as a concerned fellow student, end up having to help them, which then causes me to be anxious because it’s almost impossible to take on 70 first years’ feelings along with your own. It isn’t an effective system for anyone, and something needs to change. By actually admitting we have a problem and finding solutions for it, we’re not losing anything that we haven’t already lost. It’d also just be really great if the school addressed this issue so the first years and I, along with all the RAs, could stop feeling so insanely stressed and actually have the prosperous, productive lives that we’re paying $50,000 a year to have.

I think it’s about time someone did something, and if anyone has any valuable suggestions, I’ll take them straight to President Krislov myself. The student body has the power to change the system. Until then, I’ll just be here trying to keep the crazy away from the first-years and myself.

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.

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

Playboy Hoax Creates Opportunity to Discuss Sexual Violence This past Tuesday, social networkers were in awe of Playboy’s enlightened take on its infamous list of Top Party Schools. The guide spread like wildfire across the internet by college students and other supporters of the emergence of an anti-rape culture, one in which consent is verbalized “early, often and always,” collectively adopting the precept “don’t rape” rather than “don’t get raped.”

But when something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

In fact, a website masquerading as the official Playboy site was behind this promotion of safe and consensual sex. The organization FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture — also behind last year’s faux Victoria’s Secret campaign of panties promoting consent — constructed the hoax in conjunction with a slew of college students, including Oberlin’s own Sophie Hess, a College junior.

What is encouraging about this subversive and much venerated act is two-fold; not only did social networkers latch onto the hoax, but news outlets and blogs did, as well. As Hess mentions in her column on page 6 (alongside a full version of the fake Playboy guide), it is clear that readers are ready for a new take on sexual norms as perpetuated by popular culture. Even the bro-iest of bros on the website BroBible responded positively to the guide. Then came the media, more than willing to jump on the bandwagon and encourage Playboy to truly adopt its impersonator’s message.

Unfortunately, Playboy has chosen to deny its newfound opportunity to take the mantle on these issues. As with the Victoria’s Secret panty hoax in 2012, a multimillion-dollar corporation stares sex positivity and consent in the face and decides that it just isn’t worth it. These companies — that earn their lot in large part by objectifying women and determining female standards of beauty for profit — are forced to say to the world that, in fact, we as consumers should all return to our lowest expectations.

So instead of waiting for canonical media outlets like Playboy to use their influence to promote a safer, sexier world, college students must take the helm. And though Oberlin is posited in the fake party guide as an exemplar of sex positivity and consent, we must recognize that we are as much a part of the problem as part of the solution.

Last fall, President Krislov called for the creation of a Sexual Offence Policy Task Force in response to controversy over Oberlin’s high number of reported sexual offenses in the U.S. News ranking. The Task Force announced plans to revise the policy at an open-campus discussion in early May, but since then has been fairly quiet. The move to create such a group is indicative of Oberlin’s ever-progressive initiatives for change and the Task Force’s formation is certainly something to be lauded. But with the start of the new school year, the student body — and especially incoming first-years — should be able to look to policy revisions and expect a safer space at Oberlin.

It’s up to Oberlin students to push for a campus culture that promotes respect and consent, so that everyone feels safe here no matter where they find themselves — walking through Tappan, crammed in the basement of an off-campus house party, or part of the naked debauchery of Safer Sex Night. The existence of the Task Force, while a step in the right direction, is less relevant if its presence or progress is not widely publicized.

While we can revel in the fact that Oberlin is a symbol of the consent and sex positivity movement on a national level, let’s not forget that we still have plenty of work to do on our own campus.

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.

Page 6

This image was released on Tuesday, Sept. 17, on the internet as a hoax Playboy Party Guide.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Consent: Our Role in the Interruption of Rape Culture Sophie Hess Contributing Writer Trigger Warning: This article contains references to sexual violence.

This week marked my weird public debut as a feminist hacker.

I’ve been working with a group called FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture since August, helping to facilitate a viral internet event in which a fake Playboy website released a list of party commandments emphasizing consent and sex positivity. Since news of the hoax hit on Wednesday, I have been given the most amazing platform to actually talk about sexualized violence. Most of the time I have trouble convincing people that this issue is important. So let me just take advantage of my 15 minutes of internet fame and preach to you now. It is really, really important.

Here is the statistic that I find blows folks’ minds. “One in four college women will experience sexual assault.” One in four.

I said this to someone the other day, and they said, “But wouldn’t that mean it would’ve happened to someone I know?” To which I replied, “It has.” This issue has the ability to affect anyone, regardless of gender, sexuality or political bent. As humans, we are capable of both being violated and of violating others. Every one of us.

I find that this is the hardest part of talking about sexualized violence. People understand that it’s terrible, but we don’t understand that it is something that we could be a part of. For me, though, it’s an issue that’s been hitting (literally) close to home for a long time. My mom works as a SAFE nurse, meaning that she does forensics examinations when a person comes to the emergency room after a sexual assault. When she first started working at this job, she used to say how shocked she was at how the majority of her cases were drunken hook-ups gone wrong.

“Don’t drink so much that you black out,” she used to say to me and my brother. “Please, just don’t do it.”

To me, my mom was absolutely not saying that if we black out we are to blame for what happens to us. She was saying, “Hey, you, my children, you are more vulnerable and more powerful than you think you are. I may have raised you relatively well, what with all the whole grain bread and respect for women, but you could just as easily end up in my exam room or my court room. This is your issue too.”

So, this is where the “tool” of consent comes in. When we think of risk factors to sex, we might think unwanted pregnancy or STIs, right? But we don’t just shrug and say, “Oh well, it won’t

happen to me.” We use a condom, take birth control or get tested.

Sexualized violence is, as much as we all hate to admit it, a risk that currently exists in sex, and so we need to start putting consent in our toolkits along with condoms.

Think of it this way: If you are having sex with another person, you are sharing each other’s bodies for physical pleasure. You need to make sure that the other person is OK with that too.

Here’s the beautiful thing about this. Consent is more than just a way of addressing rape. It’s also a way of having better sex.

It’s a way to facilitate saying, “I like that,” or “I don’t like this,” when otherwise you might have just shrugged and been like, OK, whatever, guess I’ll just let them bite my X even though I don’t really like it, and I would much rather they touched my Y or Z. You can use consent for more than just the meat of sex — you can use it for every step of the process. The logic that consensual sex makes for better sex is why the Playboy hoax was so believable. Even though it talked openly about the threat of sexualized violence in college, it framed consent as a way to have an all-around better time. It’s totally reasonable that a corporation known for dictating what is sexually appealing would hop on the bandwagon of consent as a “sexy” thing to do. It’s the whole theory of catching more flies with honey than vinegar.

I, and the folks at FORCE, can talk to you all day about why this is a serious issue, but when the infamously sexy Playboy says that consent makes for better sex, it inevitably sounds more appealing. That is what has been so powerful about this experience for me — I’ve realized that just as we are willing to accept the negative messages of the media, we are just as ready to accept positive ones. So if the media isn’t making them, we just have to make the media for ourselves.

That’s what FORCE does and what I helped to do this week. As the point person here at Oberlin, I created information and graphics and helped coordinate the story’s spread through social media.

Our message was serious and subversive, but our method was funny, colorful and accessible.

Sexualized violence has remained silent for so long, and if we need to use bright colors and pranks for people to notice it, then we’ll continue to do that.

The issue needs to be visible if we want any chance of fighting it.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Page 7

Urgent Need for Gun Control Revealed Yet Again Sean Para Columnist The recent mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard is yet another glaring reminder of the urgent need for a comprehensive and stringent reform of gun control laws. On Monday, Aaron Alexis, a Navy reservist with security clearance, gunned down 12 people in yet another deplorable act of violence.

According to authorities, he used a shotgun and a pistol purchased in Virginia a few days before the rampage.

These repeated acts of mass violence should simply not be happening and are preventable. The

Connecticut shooting last December led to serious talk of reform, but ultimately, nothing happened. I wrote an article after that shooting exhorting change, and here I am doing the same thing again. Alexis had been given a medium-level security clearance due to his work as a Navy contractor. Prior to the shooting, he was involved in several incidents that should have been warnings about his mental state, such as an incident in early August in which he called police to his Rhode Island hotel room and complained about voices speaking to him through the walls. He said that he was being followed. Obviously, the system failed at several points to prevent this

tragedy from occurring.

The basic cause of all these shootings is the same. Guns are too readily available to those who wish to cause people harm. The Second Amendment was created at a time when our (then incipient) nation did not face these problems. Although the Supreme Court does not agree, because of the phrase “well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,” I believe that the Second Amendment was created to protect the militia’s right to bear arms. However, there is no longer a militia. Even if the Second Amendment was intended to ensure the people’s right to bear arms, this is an outdated law. If the Bill of

Rights were not so sacrosanct, there would certainly be more debate on this issue.

This law is simply outdated, no matter its original intention.

The Founding Fathers would have agreed on this point. The Constitution was intended to be a malleable document, able to be changed based on contemporary needs. We need to prevent people who wish to harm others with guns from doing so.

Another major factor in our nation’s inability to pass comprehensive gun reform is the strength of the gun lobby. The National Rifle Association is one of the largest and bestfunded lobbying organizations in the country. The NRA’s great wealth

allows them to fund candidates committed to the current gun control policy. This is because the gun industry is very profitable and gun makers want to keep selling guns despite these continued atrocities.

This flagrant abuse of our wealth and power must be stopped, yet no one is willing to do so. How many more mass shootings must there be before our country can take the necessary and entirely feasible steps to prevent more deaths? Our gun control system is broken and we are faced with constant tragedy in support of this fact. Therefore, we need to reform gun control laws at a national level to prevent more senseless violence.

Washington Navy Yard Gun Violence Solution Massacre Was Avoidable Requires Leadership Aaron Pressman Contributing Writer

Murdered: Kenneth Proctor, Frank Kohler, Vishnu Pandit, Mary Knight, Gerald Read, Kathy Gaarde, Martin Bodrog, Richard Ridgell, Arthur Daniels, Michael Arnold, Sylvia Frasier and John Johnson. Twelve innocent mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, aunts and uncles. Their lives have been taken.

I only have one question in response to the tragic Navy Yard shooting that shook the nation Monday morning. Congress, why do you keep allowing this to happen? Democrats and Republicans — quit yelling at each other and start doing your jobs. According to the FBI, there have been at least 17 mass shootings in the United States since the Sandy Hook massacre. Meanwhile, members of Congress have been too focused on their own political agendas to care about these unnecessary deaths and the constant fear these shootings have caused for the American public.

There is certainly the argument that there is no way to stop every single one of these tragedies from happening. After all, what law is going to stop a crazy person from getting his hands on a gun?

There is one basic answer to this question.

How about a law that actually makes it illegal for a crazy person to get his hands on a gun? Aaron Alexis, the Navy Yard shooter — along with the culprits in many other recent mass shootings — was able to legally obtain his guns. Alexis had also received a security clearance from the Department of Defense, which gave him legal access to the Navy Yard on the morning of the shooting. And all this happened despite his known psychological problems. Less than two months prior to the shooting, Alexis called the police in a paranoid state, mistakenly thinking that he was hearing voices and that three men were trying to attack him. Between then and the shooting, he sought psychiatric treatment twice. Yet no one even hesitated to give him a gun and a key to a U.S. military base.

Current gun control laws in the United States are unacceptable. Background checks are severely insufficient and, in many states, those who would fail a background check can easily pick up a firearm at a gun show with few questions asked. Both parties in Congress need to realize that there is not one answer to the problem. There are many different approaches the United States can take to fix its broken system. A few basic principles should be followed when considering a course of action.

First of all, guns do not kill people, people do.

This phrase is frequently used by members of the Republican Party and often dismissed by opposing Democrats. Both parties, however, need to take a moment and think about what this really means. It is incredibly rare to hear about

someone being killed by a gun without a person being the one to pull the trigger. A gun is merely a tool that culprits will use in their crimes. One crucial responsibility of Congress should be to stop gun violence at the source, by making sure that society produces as few murderers as possible. There need to be way more opportunities for low-income citizens with mental health issues to seek help and receive necessary treatment. A drastic reform of the justice system is also a must to treat convicts with mental issues, rather than throwing them into prisons and then releasing them back into society in an equally bad or worse mental state.

Unfortunately, even after reform in psychiatric care, there will still be some irresponsible or mentally unstable people who seek a firearm.

There needs to be significant gun control reform to make it considerably more difficult for these people to obtain weapons. Waiting periods should be increased, background checks should be drastically more thorough and gun safety training should be required for those wishing to obtain a firearm. In all 50 states, drivers are required to carry a license, are required to register their vehicle and must pass a test to receive the privilege to drive. Guns, like cars, can be deadly weapons. The difference is that guns are designed to be deadly weapons in all cases, whereas cars are only deadly when used improperly. The fact that it is harder for many people to legally obtain and operate an automobile than a firearm is unacceptable.

With all this being said, the best way to stop a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun. Harsh gun control advocates, if you ever want to compromise, please start accepting this. Day after day, people try to deny this statement with no logic to support their argument.

Nearly all mass shooters (with the exceptions of those who take their own lives) are stopped by a good person with a gun. Often these people are police, often they are security guards, often they are armed citizens. No matter who the person is, that hero uses a gun to stop the shooter. Seeing as police often take five minutes or more to respond to a crime scene, armed citizens are often the reason why there are not even more mass shootings than those that already occur.

Banning all guns is definitely not the answer to the problem in the same way that arming all citizens would be a terrible idea. Only through compromise by both parties in Congress will the number of mass shootings start to decline.

The U.S. needs legislation that will arm good, mentally stable citizens who are responsible and trained with firearms, while disarming those who are irresponsible, mentally unstable and untrained.

Congress, this is in your hands. Put your personal and political agendas aside and do what is right for America: compromise.

Sam White Columnist We need to rewrite our gun laws, and we need to do it now.

Yes, here it is: another angry opinion piece from another self-righteous college kid following another mass shooting, amid yet another wave of the same type of reactions to which we have become so accustomed. There will be the Democrats, calling for “common-sense gun control” and “improved background checks” and “laws that keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous individuals.” There will be the Republicans, warning against knee-jerk reactions and infringement of Second-Amendment rights, insisting: “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.”

And so it continues. Columbine. Virginia Tech. Aurora.

Oak Creek. Newtown. The Navy Yard. The media-overlooked mass shooting at this spring’s Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans. Trayvon Martin. The thousand victims of firearm-involving domestic violence reported each year.

The near-daily gun murders in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland.

None of these shootings are anomalies, and they are all preventable tragedies. Whatever we may choose to see, the reality is grave: Firearm-related death rates in the United States far surpass those of any other advanced democracy. The gun-related homicide rate in the U.S. is, for instance, a full 90 times greater than that of the United Kingdom — a country where, with few exceptions, police officers do even not carry firearms.

It’s been a big week for the gun debate in the U.S. on all sides and in many different spheres. Here in Oberlin on Sunday, open-carry advocates — guns holstered at their sides — picnicked with their families in Park Street Park, dem-

onstrating against a city ordinance preventing the carrying of firearms in parks and other public areas. Oberlin’s City Council which for years stood defiant against pro-gun state laws, reluctantly overturned the ban Monday night.

In the corporate realm, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz published an open letter on Wednesday requesting that customers refrain from bringing firearms into the company’s stores. The coffee mega-chain was, in Schultz’s words, “thrust unwillingly into the middle of [the gun] debate” in August when pro-gun activists attempted to hold a demonstration — guns, again, in holsters — inside a store branch in Newtown, Connecticut, the still-grieving home of last year’s horrific elementary school shooting.

And, of course, the national rhetoric has resurged once again following Monday’s mass shooting in Washington, D.C., where a 34-year-old Navy veteran with a history of violence and escalating mental health issues killed twelve people inside a secured Naval facility with a shotgun he had purchased, legally, just two days previously. Sadly and predictably, the cries for action from President Obama’s grassroots organization and other left-leaning political action committees sound the same as ever.

The rhetoric, on both sides, defies not just common sense but reality. The U.S. sees gun violence at rates on par with countries that lack functional bureaucracies, yet our police forces and regulatory institutions are, for the most part, strong. Surely bolstering these bureaucratic structures — whether by instituting more regulatory systems, by increasing security presence, or by arming more officials (such as teachers) — would fail to treat the issue at its roots. And if it were true that only people, not guns, killed people, then coun-

tries like the United Kingdom would have similar homicide rates to the U.S. Such is the gridlock: Red and Blue both know that the other side is wrong, and thus neither side sees their ideas become reality. Yet change, and safety from gun violence, is in the best interest of everyone.

The Navy Yard shooting proved — as did every shooting preceding it — that the time for this change is now, and, as ever, we aren’t seeing it.

There is no excuse for this.

There is, however, a reason: lobbying money. This year alone, the National Rifle Association, the National Association for Gun Rights and other pro-gun groups have channeled close to $9 million into pushing federal officials to block gun control measures. Their opponents, by contrast, have spent just under $1 million.

There are many possible ways to reverse the tide of gun violence in the U.S. Most lie outside the realm of what’s been proposed here. But we can and must learn from our neighbors around the world. As BritishAmerican satirist John Oliver detailed on The Daily Show this spring, Australia — itself once a nation plagued by gun violence and mass shootings — found one such way: in 1996, its then-conservative government enforced a compulsory buyback of several kinds of high-capacity firearms, including pump-action shotguns like the one used in Monday’s Navy Yard shooting. And, as Oliver made very clear: in Australia, a nation whose sociopolitical history is not dissimilar to our own, the effects of this buyback were overwhelmingly positive.

Comparable change in America will require exactly what it did in Australia: strong, courageous leadership in the face of fierce opposition.

Surely, the United States, a nation that deems itself “exceptional,” can deliver this leadership, can’t it?

THIS WEEK GIMME PIZZA Obies really love pizza. Stevie and Dascomb both make an average of 60 pizzas a day. That’s roughly 6,500 pizzas a semester.

Everyone loves pizza. There is a type of pie for every form of consumer: plain pizza for picky eaters, T-Rex pizza with a pile of protein toppings for the meat lovers, Hawaiian pizza for the adventurous eater, and veggie pizza with gluten-free crust for vegetarians and vegan pizza fanatics.

S al tu ize

Pizza was invented in the 16th century in Naples, Italy. The city’s crowded and impoverished working class bought flatbreads with a variety of toppings from street vendors. The inexpensive food included classic toppings such as tomatoes, cheese, oil and garlic. The dish grew in popularity after Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita traveled to Naples in 1889. According to Italian legend, during their visit the royal couple feasted on an assortment of pizzas from the city’s most popular pizzeria. The Queen loved one particular pie, which included mozzarella, tomatoes and basil.

Consequently, the pizza was renamed the Margherita and initiated the country-wide obsession with the dish.

The Illuminati always make sure to have pizza at their gatherings.

A spotlight on a true pizza lover.

Options on Top of Options

Ac

Why is pizza so beloved? It’s fast, inexpensive and customizable.

Technically, pizza is full of salt, fat and sugar, which causes our brains to go cuckoo for the stuff. Additionally, Americans were raised to love pizza.

How many pizza parties did you go to as a kid? Pizza is a symbol of having a great time. It’s a dish that is used to celebrate any occasion and that every guest can enjoy.

In the 20th century, Italian immigrants from Naples brought their pizza to the United States, originally opening shop on the East Coast. Lombardi’s, the first pizzeria in the U.S, opened in 1905 on Spring Street in Manhattan. The restaurant is still open today in a new location with the original oven.

This Week Editor: Olivia Gericke Sources: History, San Diego Reader, Serious Eats, Etsy, Amazon

CALENDAR

During Dascomb’s infamous fourth meal, vegan pizza is particularly popular.

Pepperoni is the traditional favorite among students, while cinnamon, buffalo chicken and the tomato-feta-pesto combo pizzas are a close tie for favorites among the specialty pizzas.

Oberlin College regularly hosts important guests, intellectually stimulating lectures and entertaining cultural events. Though the subject matter of these events brings in a substantial crowd, there is often an additional lure: free pizza. If a free slice of hot, cheesy, delicious pizza is included with an event, a handful of students will happily come listen to a riveting talk on constructing an annotated bibliography.

Pizza Merchandise Available on Etsy

There are eight places in Oberlin where you can pick up a pizza. For the good old-fashioned dish, Lorenzo’s Pizzeria and Restaurant offers a classic traditional pizza along with 15 different variations. If you’re in the mood for more expensive artisan pizza with seasonal local ingredients, Magpie is the place. Their Pryus pizza covered in caramelized onions, pears, gorgonzola, mozzarella, fontina cheese and field greens is top notch. Need pizza ASAP? Give Domino’s or East of Chicago Pizza a call. They will be in front of your dorm in a jiffy.

Black River also offers a pizza of the day, and Aladdin’s offers a variation on pita bread. If you’re on campus, you can always grab a slice at the dining halls during any meal or stop by the ’Sco on Wednesdays during Splitchers, when they have a pizza and Glow in the dark pizza beer special. slice pasties for those wanting to heat things up.

Pizza is great no matter what it is made out of, especially when it comes in sugar cookie form.

This choker just screams, “I am a style queen with a taste for pizza.”

There are so many variations of “pizza slut” clothing, it could be an art movement.

Rest in pizza. This little slice of heaven can be yours for just $200. Money well spent.

International Blues Express: Sidi Toure and Cedric Watson

An Evening with Toni Morrison

Kevin Drumm

U.S. Monetary Policy and Financial Crisis Five Years On

Winter Term in Guadalajara, Mexico

Nat Baldwin from Dirty Projectors

OC Dems Meeting: Elections and Pizza

Lucy Wainwright Roche

Friday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 12:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 9 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.

Grammy nominated artists perform a blend of traditional creole music and blues-inflected vocals at the Cat in the Cream.

Nobel Prize-winning novelist gives a special convocation in Finney Chapel.

Overflow seating will be available in the Science Center’s West Lecture Hall.

One of the world’s preeminent prepared guitar players, Kevin Drumm, will be performing in Fairchild Chapel.

The second lecture of a three-part series given by Visiting Professor of Economics Ed McKelvey. The lecture will be held in King 306.

Come to Spanish house to learn about an intensive language study at Instituto Mexico-Americano De Cultura.

Bassist and singer Nat Baldwin from the bands Dirty Projectors and Vampire Weekend will be performing at the Cat in the Cream.

Join the OC Dems in Wilder Hall to elect several officer positions. Oh, there will also be free pizza. OC Dems clearly know how to throw a meeting.

Folk singer-songwriter and Oberlin alumna Lucy Wainwright Roche will be performing at the Cat in the Cream.

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

September 20, 2013

Four New Exhibits Trace Realism at the Allen Odette Chalandon Nineteenth-century French artist Honoré Daumier once said, “One must be of one’s own time.” Indeed, the Allen Memorial Art Museum’s newest exhibits honor the words of the Realist movement’s founding father. Their four new exhibits were conceived when Associate Professor of French Libby Murphy approached the museum about curating an exhibit of 19th-century French lithographs in conjunction with her class “La Comédie Humaine,” which explores the social movements that gave birth to Realism.

As an institution that’s part of an academic setting, the museum derives its exhibits from actual curricula.

Murphy’s project served as the impetus for the creation of four new exhibits: Regarding Realism, Modern and Contemporary Realism, The Human Comedy: Chronicles of 19thCentury France and Harold E. Egerton, Seeking Facts. The museum was able to pull from the more than 14,000 works in its collection to provide visitors with a deeper understanding of Realism in its various forms.

The Review was able to view Regarding Realism and Mod-

ern and Contemporary Realism as they went on display.

The two exhibits, taken as a whole, trace the genesis, history, evolution and continuation of the movement from the 19th through the 20th century.

“They form a cohesive unit,” said Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Denise Birkhofer. “There is a historical narrative, but each exhibit is also self-contained.”

Walking into the first gallery, one begins to understand the historical narrative. Curatorial Assistant Sara Green, OC ’12, begins the story in the mid-1600s with works that represent the predecessor to Realism: Naturalism. A lobster still-life and sweeping landscapes of rich, dense colors greet visitors. The artistic interest for Naturalists, and later Realists, was to oppose idealization, and the pieces demonstrate the style of the time: smooth brush strokes and realistic proportions.

The exhibit, like the movement, starts with French works. Armand Charnay’s “The Park of Sansac, Autumn” is a romantic painting with a simple subject. A woman dressed in black walks along a path reading a book. She is surrounded by the burnt orange,

brown and grey of a fall day.

Similarly, Gustave Courbet’s “Castle of Chillon, Evening” presents a serene tableaux of an unassuming sailboat approaching the castle.

There are also etchings in the exhibit. “Knife Grinder,”

by Charles-Émile Jacque, is a quintessential Realism piece.

It portrays a man at work, bent over his knife-grinding machine. He is looking down at the little girl next to him, who offers up another knife.

The two figures are outside what appears to be his workshop; there are some old machine parts on the floor. In the background, a woman and another child stand together.

This is an example of the sort of everyday activity that became the new ideal subject of the Realist artists.

The show reflects the movement’s influence on artists from other European countries, such as Holland’s Hague School and artists such as Jacob Maris, as well as those from the United States.

The spread of Realism to the United States in the 1930s and ’40s is exemplified by Thomas Hart Benton’s lithographs of agricultural life. His See Realism, page 11

“Token Booth with Nude Commuters” by Red Grooms is part of four new exhibits on Realism currently on display at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. The exhibits trace the movement from its roots in 19th-century France to the present day.

Courtesy of Megan Harding

Zoe Muth and Co. Make Good Despite Rain

Shlohmo’s, Kuh-Lida’s Beats Envelop ’Sco

Anne Pride-Wilt

Wearing a baseball cap and a button-down shirt, L.A. native Henry Laufer, aka Shlohmo, played a packed show at the ’Sco on Friday night. Looking much like any Oberlin College student, the 23-year-old played a crowd-pleasing set of low-key electronic music while students rallied around the stage, dancing, swaying and gyrating.

With a musical style that can best be described as a blend of synth-funk, hip-hop and heavy bass, Shlohmo’s set made for a sweaty night at the ’Sco. Laufer’s interest in electronic music started when he was about 14. He grew up listening to artists like DJ Shadow and M83, and became inspired to start making his own beats at a young age. Yet without much direction, Laufer’s interest in pursuing electronic music didn’t start until a few years later. At 17, he and his friends discovered “Low End Theory,” the weekly experimental hiphop and electronic music night that takes place every Wednesday at the Airliner in Los Angeles. Inspired by the fusion of musical styles that he encountered there, Laufer began making his own beats in earnest, drawing upon the influences of renowned producers like Fly-

Not many Obies trudged through the downpour to hear Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers’ countryinspired jams at the ’Sco last Thursday night, but the few who did were well rewarded. It was a great show.

Muth and Co. took the stage with a fairly long set, playing from 10:40 p.m. until after midnight and hardly seemed to notice the relatively empty venue. Their mellow, contemplative country-blues tunes were lowkey enough to seem appropriate to the small but appreciative audience, giving the whole affair the feeling of an intimate private concert.

The blue jean–clad quartet, equipped with three guitars and a drum set — not to mention Muth’s charming Patsy Cline-style vocals — kept the evening moving with a healthy mix of covers and original material on traditional country subjects, which ran the gamut from bar fights to wayward lovers. In a subversion of country music expectations, however, Muth does not hail from Texas, or Tennessee, or any of the other traditional incubators of the genre. On the contrary, Muth grew up in a Seattle suburb listening to Buddy Holly and the Beatles, giving her music a popular edge that endears her not only to established country fans but also to those who would typically plug their ears at the first hint of a country twang.

Muth’s stage presence, however, was not confined to the music itself. She peppered the set with snippets of charming, self-effacing stage banter that revealed a sweet shyness not obvious in her confident musical performance. She noted her wariness of the black lights shining onto the stage — she didn’t like them, she said, because they made her self-conscious about a missing tooth. This and other similar humanizing See Muth, page 12

Dessane Cassell

ing Lotus and J Dilla.

Several EPs later, Laufer is still honing his atmospheric sound. For his most recent EP, Laid Out, which he is currently promoting on tour, Laufer looked to New Order for influences. He refers to their stark, gothic sound as one of the main places from which the EP draws its mood, while the melodies of Laid Out also owe a great deal to rap and R&B. Although the fusion of such radically different sounds might seem counterintuitive at first, their compatibility was evident on Friday night, as dark but smooth and melodic tracks like “Bo Peep (Do U Right)” — Laufer’s collaboration with R&B crooner Jeremih — enveloped the ’Sco. Sensual and ethereal, Laufer’s set was characterized by a certain sense of wistfulness. Influenced by the chopped and screwed sound of Southern hip-hop production, Laufer’s music puts the original tracks it incorporates into halftime. Sampling slowed down versions of pop and R&B favorites like Christina Aguilera and Aaliyah, Laufer’s music struck a special chord with some of the audience, most of whom grew up singing along to “Genie in a Bottle” and “One in a Million.”

Yet it wasn’t as easy for the au-

dience to hum along this time around, as Laufer’s slowed down style of production created an aura of suspense. By incorporating gradual climbs in tempo, he would prompt the audience to expect a heavy bass drop at its peak, only to switch over to another gradual rise in tempo and repeat the process again.

Opening the evening, Chicago-based producer KuhLida played an energetic set of his own brand of electronic music. Bumping, swaying and full-on dancing behind his soundboard, Kuh-Lida delivered an engaging set that had some students arguing that he played a better show than the main act. The solo project of Conservatory senior Myles Emmons, Kuh-Lida was a familiar face to many of the students at the ’Sco. His particular brand of electronic music fuses R&B vocals, world music and homemade beat production into an infectious sound that prompts listeners to get up and dance. And that was just what the audience did on Friday night. When Emmons first took the stage, the crowd was smaller and consisted mainly of his friends and some others milling about, but by the time he left it, the room was packed to the brim with people — and

no one was standing still.

Watching Emmons perform is a unique experience; his on-stage persona resembles that of a mad scientist as he exuberantly spins, scratches, shimmies and shakes about, making it impossible not to smile and start experimenting with some moves yourself.

Emmons spun a mix of old school samples and original recordings, with his use of the beloved R&B classic “My Boo”

by Atlanta’s Ghost Town DJs sending the audience into a frenzy, and his original track “So Sweet,” which features vocals from Novelty Daughter ingénue Faith Harding, also proved to be a crowd pleaser.

In many ways, the two artists were well matched; both supplied their own blends of R&B vocals and infectious beats that had heads nodding and hips moving. Yet what KuhLida brought to the table was something that Shlohmo didn’t quite deliver: energy. While Shlohmo’s brand of slowed down, screwed electronic held the audience captive in nostalgia, Kuh-Lida’s vibrancy felt more appropriate for a Friday night.

Shlohmo played his music for himself, while Kuh-Lida played for the audience, laughing, smiling and dancing right along with them.

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Arts

Page 11

Calvin Johnson Eschews Conventions at Cat Show Anne Buckwalter Calvin Johnson is many things: guitarist, singer, producer, disc jockey and founder of K Records.

But during his show on Thursday, Sept. 12, he tried to make it feel like he was just another person at the Cat in the Cream. Eschewing performance conventions in favor of a cultivated intimacy with his audience, Johnson played a set that, by its end, simultaneously puzzled and enraptured those in attendance.

Johnson is often noted as a major influence on the modern independent music movement. He established K Records in 1982, according to the label’s website, and founded the Dub Narcotic Studio in 1993. That facility still exists, and in the spirit of DIY music-making, has helped many artists record, particularly those local to Olympia, WA. Johnson’s show at the Cat in the Cream reflected his longstanding reputation for casting aside mainstream methods.

Johnson’s performance involved vocals, guitar and occasional tambourine. His distinctly deep voice had a droning quality that he sometimes distorted using effects, producing a warbling timbre like that of a didgeridoo. The unpredictable nature of Johnson’s voice was reflected in the variety of his show, too. Interspersed throughout his set were several songs performed a

cappella. During these songs, Johnson displayed strange moves loosely resembling dance that involved many flowing hand gestures. One of his a cappella songs had a spoken word quality to it.

More striking than Johnson’s performance, however, was his method. Johnson performed an acoustic show in the most literal sense of the word. He chose to sing and play guitar without any microphones and even asked for the air conditioning system in the venue to be turned off during his show.

The acoustic nature of Johnson’s show by itself is not new to Oberlin; however, a few other aspects of his performance combined to create an intense listening experience. One can expect to find traditional stage lighting at most Cat in the Cream shows. Johnson, however, performed with the entire venue brightly lit. He made very focused eye contact with audience members, since his sight was not obscured by stage lighting. Johnson also chose not to pause for applause or audience recognition between most of his songs. This unsettling choice may have contributed to Johnson’s initial struggle to establish a connection with the audience. Audience members and latecomers to the show moved precariously about the room. It felt impolite to even munch on a Cat cookie, lest one create the background noise Johnson worked so

Calvin Johnson performs at a benefit concert in Seattle. Johnson brought a strangely intimate feel to his show at the Cat in the Cream last Thursday.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

hard to eliminate.

As the show continued, however, the audience adjusted to Johnson’s method. When given the chance, audience members responded to his songs with enthusiastic applause. Johnson punctuated every few songs with friendly banter. He highlighted the benefits of open mic nights and entertained audience questions. One audience member asked Johnson about his first meal of the day — a light-

hearted question that afforded him an opportunity to appear less standoffish, which he succeeded in doing.

Overall, audience members appeared to have strong reactions to Johnson’s unconventional style. A number of people left the venue in between songs, but just as many stayed transfixed for the entire show and applauded loudly. Furthermore, fans swarmed Johnson’s merchandise table after the show,

purchasing records in a display of conspicuous consumption rarely seen at an Oberlin show.

Johnson’s show was at times unconventional and unsettling. By the night’s close, however, he was warmly received by devoted — or perhaps newfound — fans. Johnson eventually managed to cultivate a working rapport with his audience, producing a show that was strange but ultimately satisfying.

New Exhibits at Allen on Realism Coincide with Curricula Continued from page 10 lines are curved in a way that tampers with perspective, foreshadowing the Surrealist movement to come. His subjects are real, but their portrayal is not realistic. Separate from agricultural landscapes was Urban Realism, which focused on cityscapes and, unexpectedly, women. Instead of the domestic, docile images of women portrayed in earlier works, these women are pictured as independent: They’re lusty, partly undressed and purposeful. Look at Douglas W. Gorsline’s “Brooklyn Local,” whose subject is a woman riding the subway and fixing her hair. Her jacket is open and her shirt is partially unbuttoned.

The second exhibit, Modern and Contemporary Realism, deals with the concept of realism with a lowercase “r.” Like the early Realism movement, realism concerned itself with the representation of real life, but the expression was moving farther and farther away from a given reality. “Although the Realism with a capital R was a finite movement, the realism as defined in my exhibit follows the evolution of the desire to represent tangible, real objects,” Birkhofer said.

The influences are so far-reaching and so varied in both style and country of origin that extra walls were constructed in the Ellen Johnson gallery to accommodate all the works and better organize the exhibit. “The large walls would have swallowed the pieces if they were installed in the original space; the new walls create a sense of intimacy that draws the viewers to take a closer look at each piece,” Birkhofer said.

It is easy to see that each new corner of the gallery is its own subworld of real-

ist art. Each new development and submovement reflects the original Realism in its glorification of the mundane.

Two examples represent the Pop Art movement. One is James Rosenquist’s “Nails.” His acrylic painting of nails, a subject we would normally consider uninteresting and unworthy of a work of art, takes on significance through his use of brilliant colors and the implication of tally marks. The other, Roy Lichtenstein’s “Craig,” depicts a woman presumably looking up in anticipation into the eyes of an unseen man.

In contrast with the Rosenquist piece, the reality here is not related to a common object, but rather the depiction, or implication, of the common reality of a male-female heterosexual relationship.

All the pieces in the exhibit belong to the Allen’s permanent collection which includes a few new acquisitions, including works by Elizabeth Murray, Roger Brown and the Chinese painter Xiao Xie. The last was donated by Driek and Michael Zirinsky, OC ’65 and OC ’64, in honor of Edith and Naham Zirinsky. There are plenty of recognizable artists represented as well, including Giorgio de Chirico, Joan Miró and Dorothea Lange.

When visiting this incredible survey of the Realism movement, the transition from Neoclassicism to Realism movement occurs subtly, but by the time you reach the 20th century, everything erupts. Although it is tempting to dash straight to the Modern and Contemporary Realism exhibit, with its incredibly diverse and celebrated artists, be sure to take time in the Regarding Realism exhibit; it will greatly enhance one’s ability to understand and appreciate the modern Realists.

Arts

Page 12

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

On The Record: Kuh-Lida Chats on the Creative Process, Opening for a Hero As a Conservatory senior majoring in Composition and minoring in TIMARA, Myles Emmons has still found time to record and perform as solo project Kuh-Lida. Emmons opened for Shlohmo at the ’Sco for a jazzed audience last Friday. The day before, he released a new mixtape, High Adventure, on the Stereocure digital record label, an art collective of which he is a founding member. Emmons spoke with the Review this week about the charms of cassette tapes, his influences and really big speakers.

Can you begin by talking about your new mixtape and the process you went through creating it?

Yeah, it started on a trackby-track basis; this was a collection of things I was working on last year and through the beginning of the summer.

A lot of the early stuff came around the same time that Stereocure was doing the fall tour last year. But the material I was working on at the time really did not seem like the type of stuff I would like to be playing out live, so I had it just sitting on the backburners as I was generating all this more party [appropriate] material, [which] culminated in the last thing I put out before this tape [High Top Blazers].

After I got back from [the tour and] put this last thing out, all this other material was still sort of building up and being worked on without any real project in mind for it — just the act of liking to make music and sitting down and doing it. So it was around spring last year, I was like, ‘Well, I’ve got a bunch of stuff just laying around, maybe I should think about formulating that into some type of release.’ Even though it is backcatalogue stuff, [I thought] I should really evaluate what’s actually going to go out and reach people. With all of the other artists releasing their music, I wanted it to be to that standard, if possible.

So I spent this spring until the first couple weeks of summer just working on material that would supplement the best of the stuff that I had, and once I had really pulled it all together and could say, ‘This is definitely the material that’s gonna be in there,’ it was just a matter of sitting down mid-summer and plotting out what the order of that would be. [But] the process for working on a lot of these things was actually mostly hardware-based, which is pretty out of the ordinary for this particular project. Most of the [previous] Kuh-Lida material was more production in software, and this was a big step into grabbing samples from cassette tapes, working with hardware effects and things like that.

Trying to really create something that would really be hands-on and having that work in a mix format, I decided that would be a nice way to return to the medium and release it on cassette — something physical. Because there was a lot of hands-on physicality to the process of making the music. Beyond that, it gives me a chance to incorporate the really cool artwork of Eugenia Loli, who is from Cargo Collective and did the cover art. For me and for a lot of physical music culture, it’s nice to be able to hold a culmination of all these different artistic efforts in this one unified object.

Conservatory, although there are certain things [ from the Conservatory] … that challenge me in one way or another that I have definitely held onto and retained. But just the culmination of years around really amazing musicians and people makes you really want to push what you’re doing. Keep it to the standard that you see around you all the time.

Are you interested in performing for a living?

Maybe. As long as there’s an opportunity [to perform] I’d like to think that I’d be taking it. There’s a team of sorts of new media artists who I’ve been working with this semester, called Real Boy Digital, definitely in many ways related to work I’ve been doing with Stereocure — just a lot of visual endeavors. It’s me, [Conservatory senior] Charlie Abbott, [College senior] Dan Friedman and [double-degree senior] Devin Frenze. This year we got [College seniors] Tom Kearney, Regina Larre Campuzano and [Conservatory senior] Charles Glanders involved, so it’s just really amazing people and artists. It’s been operating where everybody’s doing their own things and projects and labeling it Real Boy Digital as they see fit.

We’ve been really curating events involving set design, live music, digital art and unconventional projection art. I think we’re all just interested in the idea of a little bit higher level of new media work, in an artistic sense, on campus and on a global scale.

High Adventure sounds MF Doom inspired… what are some of your influences?

Well, I love skits in music.

Hip-hop and skits and stuff like that, it’s absolutely massive. MF Doom, without a doubt, Mad Lib and the Mad Villain project between the two, I’m really into Jeremiah Jae and the stuff he’s been doing with Young Black Preachers. Oliver the 2nd and Jeremiah Jae put out a Conservatory senior Myles Emmons, operating under the stage name Kuh-Lida, opened for eleccassette called RawHyde tronic and hip-hop musician Shlohmo at the ‘Sco last Friday. Emmons melds retro samples and that I was all about; it has all original recordings to create a distinct, R&B-influenced sound. types of cool pseudo-narratives inside of it. that if they’re doing it, what’s hero. That’s so special. you?

I really like the engag- to stop me?

I think in general it was The Oberlin community ing elements of listening to maybe a good entry point [has] so much facility among these mini-stories inside of for people who weren’t fa- its students in creative and things. Every time I had to What was it like to open for miliar with my music to be artistic realms. A lot of the drive anywhere in the past Shlohmo? able have a venue and space work that I see going on all year I’ve just been putting on Oberlin’s community just where people who are listen- over the place, in the Conradio dramas in the car, lis- came out with the love. I ing to the things I’m listening servatory without a doubt tening to those and just get- was so excited to be able to to can check out the things — the new music and Jazz ting old stories from before go on and have a crowd full that I am doing. It’s funny departments, TIMARA and television and really trying of friendly and homey faces. how rare opportunities like Composition — it kind of to soak in those aesthetics. They were supportive, but that are. It’s not always so set feeds in just from the expoIt’s all done through sound. they also brought their own up. It’s really awesome when sure, it’s almost just through Interview by Julia Hubay, I really like Dimension X. energy to what I was trying it is. osmosis. My eyes and ears Arts editor High Adventure is actually to bring. I thought it was one were definitely opened up Photo by Laura Shriver the name of a radio drama, of the best performances I’ve How does studying in the through being a student here. that’s where it comes from. ever had because I was able Conservatory influence It is not just specific to the There’s Lux Radio Theatre, to connect in such a positive that’s a little cheesy, but it’s way to everybody who was fine, sometimes it’s about be- there. The general enthusiing cheesy. Well, most of the asm for being in a space with time. [Laughs.] your friends, listening to the things they’ve been working Continued from page 10 to the pervasive sense of camaraderie that Has growing up in the Chi- on — it’s really special to be accompanied the band’s set. cago land area influenced able to share that through qualities that made the performance an Country music has never been everyyour work? really big speakers [Laughs.], interactive experience rather than a one- body’s cup of tea. Many would-be music I don’t think it shows up and to be able to receive the sided event. One had the sense that Muth enthusiasts refuse to entertain the genre on the last release, but some love. It’s super humbling, it’s was not reciting canned one-liners in- at all. But Muth’s winning combination of things I’m always keeping in not a common thing for me. tended to charm the audience, but rather the traditional country vocals and subject mind are the juke and foot- It was amazing to be able to engaging in a room-wide conversation. If matter, and the new echoes of outside work scenes coming out of embrace that at that show. It an audience member had responded to influences hearkening to Muth’s Seattle Chicago, as well as the Chi- was nuts. one of her blithe comments, it would have upbringing, is enough to seduce even the cago house scenes. The atAnd Shlohmo is such an seemed natural for Muth to put the set on diehard genre elitist. Capable musiciantitude and spirit that a lot influence. He’s a really cool hold in order to carry on a conversation. ship and undeniable charm is a combinaof these artists take toward guy; he’s really friendly. He Fortunately, the rainy night did not tion that can’t be denied — one that Zoe their music — they’re all very had the stomach flu in the wholly restrict Muth and the Lost High Muth and the Lost High Rollers have in community-based — [is] a morning, and he almost Rollers’ audience to those present when spades — even if the meteorological odds very important element of didn’t come, but he was like they began the set. More than once, peo- are unfavorable. the Stereocure vibe and the ‘I want to go and do the show ple walking by Wilder Hall were lured During a break between songs as the things that we do. It’s really because people are expecting out of the drizzle by Muth’s crooning or a show was beginning to wind down, Muth more about the crew. I think me to, and it would be a bumparticularly cool guitar solo, to the point introduced a song, co-written with a that’s really important to mer if I didn’t,’ and so he came that there was a steady, if slow, trickle of close friend, by mentioning that the band hold onto. There’s also just out and played anyways, and people into the ’Sco over the course of the was “stuck in an age where you can still some really awesome and I thought that was really awenight. A substantial portion of the audi- get a song in a jukebox for a quarter.” As creative folks doing music some. It was more about [the ence was made up of locals who earned a statement of the band’s thesis, Muth’s here at Oberlin that are more show] than his own health at almost as much admiration from the rest phrase works very nicely: Muth and the from Chicago proper — peo- the time, which is great — it’s of the crowd as Muth did with their self- Lost High Rollers may indeed be stuck in ple that are involved in the crazy. Man I hope he feels assured partner dancing. If nothing else, the past, but so long as the song playing scene right now. It’s certainly better. [Laughs.] But it was it was in keeping with the Lost High Roll- on the jukebox is by Muth and her band, inspiring to be looking at definitely awesome to be able ers old-fashioned aesthetic, contributing nobody’s complaining. people like that and to think to play on the same bill as a

Muth and the High Rollers Get Mellow

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Arts

Page 13

Nuanced Poetry Addresses Nuclear Issues Logan Buckley Staff Writer

Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken hosted a reading on Tuesday in Wilder 101 of her latest collection of poems, Plume, published last year.

The poems in Plume, which Flenniken said started as “a few poems about growing up” that she couldn’t stop writing, center thematically on the Hanford Nuclear Site.

Hanford is the site of the first full-scale plutonium reactor in the world and is also where the plutonium was manufactured for the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Lyric and expressive, Flenniken’s poems explore the new moral dilemmas and failures of the atomic age and the human and environmental costs of the nuclear program.

Flenniken is wellsuited to take on these themes. She grew up in Richland, WA, a town close to the Hanford site.

Her earliest memory, chronicled in a poem from Plume, is of going to see

President John F. Kennedy dedicate the nuclear power plant at Hanford on Sept. 26, 1963. In another poem, she recalls lining up during kindergarten to go through a “whole body counter,” testing for radiation.

In the 1980s, declassified documents revealed that for years the plant emitted pollution into both the air and the water of the Columbia River. Many of the people from Flenniken’s childhood developed health problems stemming from radiation released by the plant. Some — including the father of one of her friends — died of cancer caused by radiation poisoning.

Yet Flenniken’s poetry does not entirely condemn the Hanford site.

She worked there — first Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken holds a copy of her latest collection of poetry, titled Plume. Flenniken read during a summer job af- selections from the volume, which meditates on the effects of nuclear power, Tuesday in Wilder Hall.

Simeon Deutsch ter high school and then for three years as an engi- of outsiders who they felt done by the misguided cating an air of lost inno- by a measured mix of apneer after college — and did not understand them. and secretive scientists cence without becoming prehension, acceptance remembers the “tribal This duality of perspec- at Hanford, but strive to world-weary, the lines and understanding; as the Hanford mentality” held tive, insider-supporter understand rather than imbued with an under- poem remembering Kenby plant workers. They and outsider-witness, simply condemn. Flen- standing of the horrors nedy’s dedication of the were protective of the lends Flenniken’s work niken treads a careful that science has wrought Hanford Nuclear Plant economic, scientific and a sensitive, elegiac qual- path through the com- without descending into reads at its end, “This is military benefits of their ity; her poems despair at plicated morality of the outright condemnation. the future. / My dad holds power plant and skeptical the irreparable damage nuclear age, communi- Plume’s works are typified me up to see it coming.”

Sunday Object Talk Explores Complexity of Robert Venturi’s Postmodern ‘Ironic Column’ Katherine Dye Sunday’s Object Talk at the Allen Memorial Art Museum was given by College junior Mallory Cohen about the “Ironic Column,” an ornamental element of the Allen Memorial Art Museum ad-

dition designed by renowned postmodern architect Robert Venturi. The column, located in King Sculpture Court just beyond the main courtyard, is a tall wooden structure which encases one of the supports of the modern addition to the museum, with circu-

lar flourishes toward the top that resemble the capital of an Ionic column.

The column is a postmodern commentary on both classical and modernist architecture.

The column’s qualities, such as its comically large and distinctly

phallic capital, and the fact that it is made out of wood — a very light material — allude in a tongue-incheek manner to the metaphorical and literal weightiness of antiquity in visual art. The column is primarily decorative and has no real structural purpose, which

College junior Mallory Cohen presents Robert Venturi’s “Ironic Column” during Sunday’s Object Talk at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. The piece is intended as a commentary on both classical and modernist architecture.

Simeon Deutsch

serves to further subvert the architectural status quo. This lack of a structural need for the column also serves to poke fun at modernist architecture, in which every element of a structure has a functional purpose. The grotesque playfulness of the column is set in direct contrast to the cold functionality of modernism.

The column also represents an effort to bring together old and new. Located at the meeting place between the original 1917 building and the 1977 addition, it behaves as a kind of marker, while embodying this fusion in its very design. Venturi, in his design of the column as well as in his design of the addition, also eschewed the idea of the museum as a kind of pretentious institution for the housing of art, making both his addition and the column playful and approachable. Due to the placement of the column, students who have classes in Venturi Wing are forced to physically interact with it on a daily basis, having to confront it and walk around it to reach the entrance to the building. The column is treated like a work of art in and of itself, framed by a window in the main contemporary gallery in such a way that it becomes very much a three-dimensional image.

Through this structure, Venturi manages to unite and comment on such complementary ideas as the old and the new, as well as architecture and art in an irreverent and thought-provoking manner.

Sports

Page 14

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

The Oberlin Review, September 20 , 2013

Brandt Rentel and Oidie Kuijpers

This week the Review caught up with senior Brandt Rentel and junior Oidie Kuijpers, the two goalkeepers for the men’s soccer team, to discuss what life is like in the net, strange rituals and Gumby.

front post. I stepped back, and clearly I had to catch it, [so] I jumped up and I caught it. But as I was coming down, I felt the ball completely slip out of my hands, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh no, this is going to be terrible,’ but it didn’t fall out of my hands, I caught it, but it was still definitely the most nerve-wracking moment.

BR: I have really, really bad vision, and I was playing a pretty serious game back in high school, and one of my contacts fell out, and I had to play the whole game with one contact. I was pretty much just closing one eye.

Why is being a goalkeeper better than playing on the field?

Brandt Rentel: Well, because you can use your hands.

Oidie Kuijpers: The diving thing is real fun.

BR: I think you have to be a little bit crazy to be a goalkeeper though.

There’s a lot of pressure on you not to let the other team score. It’s not necessarily always your fault, but at the end of the day it’s your job to keep the ball out of the back of the net. You’re essentially just throwing yourself in front of a ball that’s moving really fast.

If you could play one position on the field, what would you play?

OK: I wouldn’t want to play any other position. I’m so bad at them.

BR: When I was in high school, there were two goalkeepers that were juniors and seniors, and I was good enough to play on the field, so it made sense for me to play on the field. I played holding-mid. For my club team I also played striker; I was good enough to play on the field, but they put me at striker because it was the least liable position. Between the two of those, if I had to choose one, I would choose striker.

Who would play goal keeper if both of you were injured?

BR: [Sophomore] Remi [Schneider] or [senior] Joe Graybeal.

OK: Although, Remi says he’s scared

Since you know each other so well, if you could give each other a nickname that is descriptive of your personalities, what would it be?

BR: I got it.

OK: I think I can guess what it is.

BR: What?

OK: Gumby?

BR: Yep. I don’t know if that’s necessarily how I would describe Oidie, but, actually yeah, that’s it.

Brandt Rentel (left) and Oidie Kuijpers, goalkeepers for the men’s soccer team of the ball so probably not Remi. It’d have to be Coach Blake [New].

Do you ever get bored back there in the goal?

OK: Definitely not. There’s always something to think about. Either you’re thinking about what you just did and what you could have done better, or you’re just full of adrenaline.

You’re also always just looking at people and telling them what to do.

BR: At the end of the day, out of everyone on the field, you have the best view of what’s going on, so you act as a sort of director.

OK: It’s so mentally challenging because after you do something, you have 10 minutes to think about what you just did, and you’re standing there by yourself, just completely in your head and analyzing what you just did.

Do you have any lucky rituals?

BR: I always tie my left cleat before my right.

OK: I just constantly spit on my gloves. Also, I think this is something I developed this season, but as the ball goes out wide, and as I track wide with it, I have to touch my near

Do you want to Study Away?

post. I don’t know where that came from.

What was the most nerve-wracking moment you’ve had as a keeper?

OK: The first time I played here, against Notre Dame [College], I was subbed in for the last bit of the game.

It was on our home field under the lights. Back home I had never played in front of a crowd so it was my first time playing in front of people, too.

Literally five seconds after I subbed in, there was a corner kick, and it was a real high one, lofted to the

Tuesday, September 24, 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Science Center Craig Auditorium

Study Away Fair

Thursday, September 26, 4:00-6:30 p.m.

Peters Lobby

Study Away Information Session Tuesday, October 1, 7:00-8:00 p.m.

Science Center Craig Auditorium The deadline to apply for academic leave for fall 2014, spring 2015 or academic year 2014-15 is March 15, 2014.

What are you looking forward to most this season?

BR: Winning.

Interview by Rose Stoloff, Sports editor Photo by Yvette Chen, Photo editor

Football Team Rides Strong Ground Attack to First Win Continued from page 16

Study Away Information Session

Is that because of his tall height?

BR: Yeah, and he’s lanky. And also because, you know how Gumby sometimes goes in a high pitched voice, “oh no!” Oidie sometimes will yell, “No!” really loudly.

OK: Yeah, when somebody shoots the ball, and I don’t think I’m going to get it, I just talk a lot.

This defensive momentum powered the Oberlin offense through their final touchdown of the day. With 2:45 left on the clock, sophomore Blake Buckhannon ran the ball in from seven yards out for a touchdown.

The Yeomen defense finished with 49 tackles. Senior Kyle Kessler led the way with six tackles, while sophomore C.J. Ihle followed with two. Sophomore Gabe Edwards also recorded his first career interception.

“Defensively, C.J. Ihle had a great game,” said Head Coach Jeff Ramsey. “Our coaches named him defensive player of the week.

Edwards, Danko and Kisley also played well defensively. This was a great win for the program and for all the former Yeomen as well. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to see the dominant performance by both our seniors and our younger players.”

Senior captain Moses Richardson agreed. “I felt that it was a solid team performance overall. I am proud of the way we fought for the win, but there is always room for improvement,” said Richardson.

He played a big role on Sunday, leading the offense with 84 yards on 23 carries. Poggiali and Buckhannon rounded out the Yeomen offense with 97 yards and 53 yards rushing, respectively.

The Yeomen have a quick turnaround to prepare for their game against The College of Wooster Scots this Saturday. Every player knows that there is a lot of work to

be done. Poggiali commented, “I think it is important to build off our game against Case. We cannot take any team lightly. Respect every opponent and fear no one; that is our motto.”

For Coach Ramsey, the key to success against Wooster will be controlling the line of scrimmage. “We won the turnover battle against Case. Wooster is going to be aggressive and move the ball well both offensively and defensively. If we can control the line of scrimmage on both sides, we will be set.”

“We are a small team,” said Poggiali.

“Case had 100 players, and I am sure Wooster is a large team as well. We have 35 people on our team. Because of our numbers, we will have to overcome adversity later in the season, but I would rather go to battle with these guys than anyone else.”

Despite small numbers, the team’s chemistry helped them start the season with a win. “We are a tight-knit group, and we are all motivated to achieve our goal to win conference. Our coaching staff is unbelievable; Coach Ramsey is one of the best football minds that I have ever come across. We have all the things we need to be successful for the Wooster game and the rest of the season,” said Kisley.

The Yeomen will travel to Wooster this Saturday to take on the Scots at 1 p.m.

They then return home for homecoming weekend, Saturday, Oct. 5 to battle the visiting Kenyon College Lords.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, September 20, 2013

Page 15

— Men’s Soccer —

Men’s Socccer Mounts Strong Offense to Defeat Muskies Erickson Andrews Staff Writer The men’s soccer team struck twice within the first 15 minutes against the visiting Muskingum University Muskies and held on to win in a 2–1 thriller this past Saturday night.

Sophomore Slade Gottlieb got the team off to a strong start by netting a right-footed goal off a pass from first-year Sam Weiss.

This is the fifth goal of the 2013 campaign for Slade, who is in the midst of a breakout season.

The score quickly changed to 2–0 as sophomore John Ingham shot the ball past Muskingum’s goalkeeper five minutes later on a pass from senior captain Joe Graybeal. The Yeomen continued to threaten the weary defense of the visitors as they amassed a 9–2 shot advantage in the first half and 5–0 in shots on goal. “We really controlled the pace of play,” said Graybeal. “It was one of the best starts to a game that I have been a part of.”

As impressive as the Yeomen offense was in the first half, the Muskies rose to match them in the second half. They came out in the second half and began to impose their own tempo and style on the game.

Despite their early ball control, the Muskies were only able to manage one shot on the goal. Senior goalie Brandt Rentel was easily able to stop the shot. The Muskies did break through, however, as a loose ball bounced to the waiting foot of one of the Muskies’ players at the top of the goal box, and he managed to slip it past the diving Rentel.

The Yeomen quickly increased the intensity of their play and were rewarded with a penalty kick on a handball just two minutes later. Gottlieb took the shot and laced the ball toward the lower left corner, where, unfortunately for the Yeomen, the Muskies’ diving goalie was able to push the ball aside.

“Despite not capitalizing on the penalty kick, we still were able to capture the momentum,” said junior Sam Winward. “Our great conditioning contributed to us having more left in the tank toward the end of the game, and we were able to fend off any scoring chances they had.”

This conditioning helped the Yeomen outrun their opponents as the game became more physical in the waning minutes. In total, there were 21 fouls in the game and three yellow cards.

Editorial: NFL More Proactive with Concussions Continued from page 16 was incidental. If there’s any doubt about intent, then the league should err on the side of disciplining the player.

Evidence of the adverse long-term health effects of concussions has only come to light in more recent years, so it’s no surprise that there are a large number of players harmed by postconcussion symptoms.

A number of players, including 10-time AllPro Junior Seau, have committed suicide after the end of their playing days. Autopsies found that many of them suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a type of brain damage that stems from repeated concussions.

Football is a violent game and injuries are an unavoidable byproduct, but that was no excuse for the league to stand by idly and accept that fact. It has always been up to the league to ensure that every player has the best possible chance of avoiding concussions.

Though it appears that the NFL is taking steps in the right direction, it may be years before we see if what the league is doing now is truly going to help players avoid the pain and suffering they experience in the aftermath of concussions.

Football is America’s most-watched sport, and though the NFL is improving its player safety policies, it’s high time the league does right by the players who perform in front of millions of fans every week. The obvious next step for the league is implementing a three-strike system to better deter players from hitting with their helmets. Until legislation like that is put in place, the NFL will continue to have one of the biggest issues in sports on its hands.

Sophomore John Ingan winds up for a shot. The Yeomen continued their winning streak on their home field, defeating Muskingum University 2–1 on Saturday.

Courtesy of Sarah Kaufman

— Cross Country —

Women’s, Men’s Teams Finish First, Second at Pre-Conference Meet Sarah Kahl Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams proved strong early in the season this past weekend at the Allegheny College Invite. The women’s team won the five-team race, and the men’s proudly finished in second, right behind Allegheny.

“Given the showing, we had a lot of really solid performances,” said senior captain Jimmy Taylor. “We’ve been training really hard these past couple of weeks, so slowly but surely we’re getting back to full strength.”

The Yeowomen, ranked seventh in the nation, continued their dominance on the course, winning the meet impressively by posting a 1-2-3 finish. Junior Carey Lyons was the first of her teammates to finish the 6k course, doing so in a time of 22 minutes, 49 seconds. Right on her heels, finishing two and three seconds later, respectively, were juniors Kyle Neal and Sarah Jane Kerwin.

“I was overall really happy with how this weekend went,” said Lyons. “While being a really low-key meet, we still got to run our future conference course. It’s nice to know what to expect.”

Lyons was also impressed with the performance of a first-year walk-on who had joined the team only a week prior. “Newcomer Brooke Ortel finished with a smile on her face. It was really nice to see [her] enjoy it.”

Rounding out the scoring five were junior

Erica Morelli in seventh place with a time of 23:51 and senior captain Hannah Wolfe who finished 12th with a time of 24:23. The Yeowomen won the race handily, beating the nearest team by a margin of 25 to 51 points.

“Overall, I would say it was a pretty relaxed effort,” said Wolfe.

“We challenge each other while we run.

It’s nice when your teammates are at the same pace,” added Lyons.

In the men’s 8k race, the Yeomen had a great showing and finished in second place.

Sophomore Geno Arthur led the team, finishing third overall with a time of 26:16, right under the pace of the two lead runners from Allegheny.

Junior Leo Harrington and sophomore Joshua Urso finished 11th and 12th respectively, with times of 27:15 and 27:17. “I was really excited to see both of them do well.

Josh especially just went out aggressively but kept it up the whole time,” said Taylor.

The rest of the top five for the Yeomen were sophomore Robert Moreton and junior Matthew Jefferis, who finished 16th and 30th respectively. “Moreton also put together a good race. I think he’s going to have a great season, especially with that race,” added Taylor.

Host Allegheny College, which had five runners in the top seven, outpaced the Yeomen for first place, winning by a large margin of 45 points. “Allegheny has always been a tough team,” Taylor said. “They’ve always

been able to one-up us. However, this season I think we can be more competitive with them come conference [time].”

Taylor was optimistic about the rest of the Yeomen’s season. “We want to be in the right mindset right now,” said Taylor. “Generally, at conference we compete for third –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

‘We challenge each other while we run. It’s nice when your teammates are at the same pace.’

Carey Lyons Member of Women’s Cross Country Team –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

place. This year we have lots of young talent and we want to take on that level. Go out, be aggressive and on a good day we can knock off top teams in the nation.”

Wolfe, too, was positive about upcoming races. “Regionals, Nationals — it’s what we train for. I think we’re going to do really well, while making sure, at the end of each day, to challenge each other and have fun,” she said.

The Oberlin cross country teams will be in action next Saturday at the Saint Vincent College Open in Latrobe, PA.

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

September 20, 2013

— Football —

Yeomen Start Season With Historic Win

NFL Confronts Player Safety Nate Levinson Sports Editor

See Football, page 14

— Swimming and Diving —

New Coach Brabson Has High Hopes for Future of Swimming and Diving Program Emma Lehmann

To Winkelfoos, Brabson demonstrated these characteristics by going out of his way to learn the names and personal records of the Yeomen swimmers.

Brabson said he was drawn to Oberlin because of its “excellent academic reputation, welcoming coaches, staff, students and administrators” as well as “the opportunity to build a great swimming and diving program from a strong core of student-athletes.”

In Brabson’s time as assistant coach at Hood College in Maryland, his team saw marked improvement, including the accomplishment of 23 new school records at the Middle Atlantic Conference Championship meet. He swam for Denison University in college, giving him a unique perspective on competition within the North Coast Athletic Conference.

“I have seen firsthand what it takes to become a national championship-level team. This insight, as well as my familiarity with the conference, will be instrumental in the development of the swimming and diving program here at Oberlin,” said Brabson.

The captains have high expectations of Brabson and the future of their program. “A lot of us would like to make some national cuts, placing better at conference,” said Pickens.

Brabson echoed the same sentiment. “I want to find out what [the team] responds to and get them excited about the great performances that they are all capable of,” he said.

The team begins its season on Oct. 19 at Transylvania University in Lexington, KY.

See Editorial, page 15

the trash — r in e r p

e or compost ycl it ec

New swimming and diving head coach Andrew Brabson has only had a month to plan his move to Oberlin. His first day on campus will also be his first day coaching the team, but for Brabson this is something to look forward to. Athletic Director Natalie Winkelfoos and senior captain Chris Pickens agree — his excitement for the program made him the strongest candidate.

“From the beginning, Andrew had a lot of enthusiasm for Oberlin,” said Winkelfoos. “He understood this place.”

Brabson’s move to Oberlin came under unusual circumstances. This summer, the swimming and diving team received some startling news: Their head coach had decided to move to a

different school. The long swim season begins in September, and the search for a new coach had to happen quickly.

“Timing was not on my side when it came to finding a new swim coach,” said Winkelfoos. Despite the time crunch, the application process proved to be fairly competitive. The school received about 60 applications, which were eventually narrowed down to two outstanding candidates.

“The Athletics department did a really good job of getting on it right away,” said Pickens.

According to Winkelfoos, Brabson’s enthusiasm set him apart. Given Coach Mark Fino’s departure, Winkelfoos wanted to find a coach who “understands the value of the Oberlin education [and] sees this place as a destination.”

t this new t pu sp o a n

on the board came at the start of the second quarter, but their offense was no match for the Yeomen defensive line.

The Yeomen held on to the 7–0 lead until the fourth quarter when Poggiali added to the scoring. He ran the ball for an eight-yard gain, giving Oberlin a 13–0 lead. Following the touchdown, senior defenders Kirby Livingston and Jake Danko thwarted the Spartans’ final offensive efforts with a strip-sack forced fumble.

o

The Yeomen started their season on a high note with a 19–2 victory over the visiting Case Western Reserve University Spartans in their home opener this past Sunday. It had been over 30 years since the football team last upended the Spartans, when they beat them 17–6 in a season-opening triumph in 1982.

“This was a great team victory,” said senior captain Zach Kisley. “I was really proud of ev-

eryone. We are a really young team, and it was great to see the underclassmen step up. Every aspect of our defense and offense worked, which is why we were successful.”

The Yeomen defense limited the Spartans to 11 first downs and 195 yards of total offense, while their offense totaled 219 running yards on 52 attempts. The first scoring drive of the game came in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Lucas Poggiali found fifthyear Adam Niec on a rollout from nine yards out. The Spartans’ first attempt to put points

ead! Please d

Sarah Orbuch Staff Writer

t ins

Junior Jake Fannin celebrates a groundbreaking victory; the last time the Yeomen defeated the Spartans was in 1982. The Yeomen triumphed over Case Western Reserve University 19–2 on Saturday.

Simeon Deutsch

The NFL season started back up a few weeks ago, which means it’s time to return to a controversial topic that hovers over the league every year: concussions.

For many years, the NFL was lax in dealing with the issue of concussions, but the league has done a better job in recent years.

The NFL announced in 2010 that it would start suspending players for illegal helmet-to-helmet hits, and though it’s difficult to tell if this action has helped reduce these hits, it was a move the league had to make. Furthermore, on Aug. 29, the NFL agreed to pay almost $800 million to thousands of retired players who have suffered from various health issues in the wake of their playing days.

After an illegal hit in a game last week, Dashon Goldson, All-Pro safety for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is facing a fine of up to $100,000 for repeatedly violating the rules put in place to ensure player safety.

Goldson has been flagged 15 times for personal foul penalties since 2010, and my only issue with his punishment is that he hasn’t been suspended.

Repeat offenders like Goldson need to continue to be strongly disciplined for their actions, and not just after 15 offenses. The first helmet-to-helmet offense should be a hefty fine, the second a much greater one, and the third an automatic suspension. These hits are, at times, unavoidable, and it is important for the league to carefully decide if players had the intention of leading with their helmet on a tackle or if the head-to-head contact