September 6, 2013

The Oberlin Review

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 VOLUME 142, NUMBER 1

Outside the Bubble News highlights from the past week U.S. Missile Defense System in Guam: Israel recently found reason to aid Obama’s strike proposal on Syria. Joining forces will give Israel a break from the assault brought on by Iran — an attack which centers on nuclear proliferation. This juncture could help galvanize support for the strike proposal that is currently causing much contention in Washington; many Republicans are pushing for a more definitive proposal, while other parties are arguing against any more Middle Eastern intervention.

San Antonio Passes NonDiscrimination Bill: On Thursday, the San Antonio City Council voted 8-3 to pass a hotly contested nondiscriminatory ordinance that will protect municipal employees from discrimination over gender identity or sexual orientation. Various influential Republican leaders who are gearing up the campaign process, including Texas attorney general Greg Abbott and state agricultural commissioner Todd Staples express opposition.

New Health Insurance Alternatives: CNN reported Thursday that in 2014, many insurers will provide an alternative to Obamacare exchanges, namely individual policies.

Armed with more choice, consumers may opt to purchase plans directly from insurers or brokers. These off-exchange policies, while divorced from Obamacare, are required to adhere to Obamacare-centric principles; they will be sold on exchanges such as maternity and mental health benefits.

Abbott and state agricultural commissioner Todd Staples express opposition.

Sources: The New York Times and CNN.

Potential Pipeline Promises Economic Growth Amid Environmental Concerns Rachel Weinstein College and community members face environmental risks as plans of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, continue to move forward. For over a year, talk of a 250-mile natural gas pipeline between Hamilton Road and Route 20 has triggered a variety of responses from the Oberlin town and College community.

In Ohio, legislatures passed a law allowing urban drilling in 2014, stripping communities of local control. Because of such

legislation, cities and towns throughout the state carry little weight in decisions on installations of drilling sites. Since the enactment of the law, over 90 wells have cropped up throughout the state.

Despite its environmental implications, the prospect of fracking in Lorain County promises economic gain for many. Supporters argue that Oberlin and neighboring communities could benefit greatly from the growth of the fracking industry, especially in staggering economic times, in

which the unemployment rate recently reached a high of 13 percent. According to a study done

by Cleveland State University, fracking is projected to produce more than 30,000 jobs and about 5 billion dollars of state revenue by 2014. In a state where energy is one of the leading industries in the creation of revenue, proliferation of well paying jobs continues to appeal to many residents who find themselves and their families in the red after the recession.

While opponents of the pipeline acknowledge that it has the

potential to efficiently develop jobs and boost revenue for Ohio, red flags have been raised in fear, due to known detrimental effects of drilling on the environment and public health. Last March, Oberlin students attended a town discussion to address concerns such as the pollution of air and water. However, because the process is in its infancy, the city of Oberlin is continuing to investigate the possibility of a drilling site near town, and has yet See Fracking, page 2

Feature: North Coast Toast of the Town Maddie Stocker News Editor A locally owned food truck is taking root in Oberlin this semester, providing college and community members with a quick and easy means to grab a meal on the go. The truck, dubbed “North Coast Toast,” is owned and operated by College third-years Casey Silverstein, Jeremy Reimnitz and Evan Zierk.

After a boisterous launch party last Saturday — boasting both a Jacuzzi and fifty-foot-long line for grilled cheese — North Coast Toast has already made a name for itself. The three owners invited both college and community members, an indication that the truck will prove to be a culinary resource for all.

North Coast Toast was initially conceived during an Entrepreneurship Winter Term project. Both Silverstein and Reimintz were enrolled in Intro to Entrepreneurship, and then submitted a sample project and resolved to take their blueprint off the page and on the road. According

to Silverstein, the two participated in LaunchU, an accelerator and pitch competition sponsored and funded by the College.

Enter Evan Zierk, who joined forces with Silverstein and Reiminitz soon after. “We’re able to fund North Coast Toast mostly through generous donations of our Kickstarter backers,” Silverstein wrote in an email to the Review, adding that he and his partners contributed the remaining money.

Aside from their “gooey,” “spicy” and “savory,” taste, North Coast College juniors Jeremy Reimnitz, Evan Zierk and Casey Silverstein lean against their new Toast’s grilled cheeses food truck. North Coast Toast offers “goey,” “spicy” and “savory” grilled cheese on the will also be made from go.

Rachel Grossman local ingredients. “I like the idea of North Coast from Tappan and one tion as a community or allow food trucks to acToast being able to pro- across from the Con- family. I really only want quire permits — their vide business to local servatory, will succeed to serve what the com- current goal is simple: food vendors while also in targeting popular ar- munity wants to eat.

“North Coast Toast serving a product that is eas of campus, upping With that said I would thinks Oberlin College farm-to-table and deli- the ante on late-night love to see North Coast and Community memcious,” said Silverstein. snacking.

Toast function as an ex- bers work hard and they “[In order to do this,] “We want to work ample of consumers de- deserve a unique lunch we contacted various with the community to manding from a business and late-night option,” food distributors includ- see what they want to eat exactly what they want said Silverstein. “We ing, but not limited to, and will be always tak- — hopefully local and de- want to [provide] the Minerva Dairy and City ing suggestions for our licious food.” community with more Fresh monthly specials,” wrote Although they may food options — especialSilverstein hopes that Silverstein. “[We] hope to have loftier ambitions — ly ones that are quick and the truck’s three future gain a customer base in working with the town to cheap.” locations, two across Oberlin that could func- develop laws that would

Ace Hardware Arrives Ace Hardware is a recent addition to South Main Street. The Oberlin City Council hopes to steer new business away from direct competition with Watson.

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The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

Ace Hardware Opens at 297 South Main Street Elizabeth Dobbins Staff Writer When Walmart opened on the outskirts of Oberlin in 2006, Ben Franklin saw a drop in business, a drop some fear Watson Hardware will also experience in wake of the recent arrival of Ace Hardware on 297 South Main Street.

City Manager Eric Norenberg says there are no city codes aimed at deterring chains. Vice President of City Council Sharon Soucy explains that, outside adult entertainment businesses and zoning concerns, the city has little control over what businesses open.

“The fundamental situation is that piece of property [Ace is on] is not owned by the city it’s owned by a private developer and you cannot interfere with very few exceptions…” said Soucy. “A city cannot really inhibit that sort of private development.”

Penny Von Alt, manager of the new Ace Hardware, which opened its doors Aug. 7, contends that the concern for Wat-

son, the downtown hardware store established in 1895, is unwarranted.

“I think we’re a good addition” said Von Alt. “We’re not here to put anyone out of business. We’re here to share our business. We’re here to learn whatever we can and work with our neighboring businesses.”

Soucy explains that City Council has been working with Ace to steer them away from direct competition with Watson and towards providing goods that have been previously unavailable for sale in Oberlin.

“We can’t say we don’t want an Ace Hardware here to compete with the store that we love so what we try to do is through the planning commission meet with a new business coming in and encourage them not to compete” said Soucy. “And we did that with Ace Hardware and encouraged them to offer… [things] that our Watson Hardware doesn’t offer. So to an extent I think they are trying to fill a niche that isn’t being filled.

But, again, we can’t control that.”

City Council employed a

similar tactic when the East College Street development, which now houses Magpie Pizza and Cow Haus Creamery, opened by encouraging the development not to rent space to businesses that would directly compete with preexisting local establishments. Soucy attributes the 2012 closing of Yesterday’s Ice Cream Shoppe to the competition Cow Haus provided.

“It’s business competition and the capitalist system and that’s what happens” said Soucy.

Norenberg holds a more optimistic outlook and points to Ace’s 15 new employees and brand recognition as a positive for the Oberlin community.

“When you think about Ace… they have a national brand name but they are also locally owned and operated, they employ local residents.” said Norenberg.

This Ace location is owned by the Buehler family, a family based out of Wooster, Ohio and known for their chain of southern Ohio grocery stores.

“Some of our local residents found job opportunities [at Ace],

A sign hangs outside the newly opened Ace Hardware located at 297 South Main Street.

Yvette Chen

provides more tax revenue for the city. We benefit from that standpoint to both residents and the city” said Norenberg.“I suspect that Ace will draw from a wider area because of its advertising and its brand recognition and maybe it will attract customers from outside the Oberlin area that may not be aware that

Watsons is here and is existing.”

Norenberg continued. “So it may be that more dollars will come into the Oberlin economy.”

Jerry Anderson, who has owned and operated Watson for the past five years, feels differently and is concerned about the community.

“I’m an independent that’s

locally owned and I feel that we’ll support the needs of the community probably better than a corporation will” said Anderson.

Ben Franklin owner Krista Long said, “They do have a lot of support from the community so that will be helpful but it’s bound to have an effect.”

New Trespass Policy Alleviates Community Concerns Maddie Stocker News Editor The College’s revisions to the No Trespass policy will be instated this semester after months of planning and research on the part of students, community members, alumni and College administration. It marks an achievement that many community organizers believe will galvanize a more cooperative alliance between the College and surrounding community. Amendments to the policy were established over the summer as well as during the 2013 spring semester, will contain several new changes as well as the creation of a Community Advisory Board.

Reshard El-Shair, OC ‘12 and founding member of the One Town Campaign, described the reform to the policy as arduous, especially when certain agents proved uncooperative. “[The reform] started out with our long-awaited acquisition of the College’s previously-current policy,” said El-Shair. “Originally that was not publicly available, it was very hard to get a hold of, and so we finally got a copy of it about a week or two

before classes got out, and so what we ended up coming up with for our proposal basically arose from the comments made by the community made in the first and second community forums that were held last February. Most of the changes were comments or proposals that the community start advocating for at both of those forums.”

The revision of these policies centered on the consensus that the policy proved too castigating for the policy’s offenders.

“We discussed ways of making the application of the trespass policy less punitive, and also trying to figure out ways that people who are affected by the policy could seek alternative routes rather than just waiting for their order to expire or for Marjorie Burton, Director of Safety and Security to decide they could come back on campus. In our talks, some of that included doing community service at the art museum, or some other organizations affiliated with the college, just so there could be a more educational aspect to it. If you’re a little kid skateboarding on campus and you get added to the list, you don’t necessarily know that by grinding down the rail you’re causing an actual

financial burden to the college,” said El-Shair.

Tita Reed, assistant to the president for community and government relations, believes another aspect of the updated policy to be equally progressive.

“Reviewing the current trespass orders to grant amnesty to those who don’t pose an ongoing threat, I would say that that is the largest and most influential change, because it makes sense, honestly, it’s just that simple. It makes sense.”

Another addition to the No Trespass Policy—the Community Advisory Board—will oversee collaborative efforts related to ongoing review of the trespass policy, youth advancement, public safety, and community relations. Through a number of nominations from local interest groups, including the One Town Campaign, schools, churches and other local agents, the Advisory Board will be constructed of a diverse group of individuals who provide a more balanced adjudication system for the offenders of the policy according to El-Shair, “The ComSee Board, page 4

Prospect of Fracking Pipeline Looms Large Continued from page 1

to draw a conclusion on the effects that fracking will have on the community and surrounding areas.

For those opposed to the installation of the pipeline, the question of fracking in Lorain County extends further than environmental risks. College junior Sam Rubin, present at the meeting last spring, says that fracking is not only an environmental issue but also one of democracy as well.

“The fountainhead of all democracy is local democracy, and we are taking control of

the place that we live and deciding what we want this community to look like.”

Rubin, along with several other students in the college, is working to extend the zone of rights for residents of the area.

Because of the 2004 legislation, the issue of fracking has failed to appear on local ballots, disabling members of the Oberlin community to control the discussion of the installation of a natural gas pipeline.

“We have these rights, and then we are banning fracking because it violates those rights,” said Rubin. “It’s important to dis-

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tinguish between banning fracking because we feel like it versus banning fracking because it violates the fundamental rights we hold as human beings.”

As of now, no wells have been drilled in Oberlin, but drilling sites can be found as close as thirty miles away in neighboring communities. City Manager Eric Norenberg explained, “The company is examining possible routes that may or may not pass through Oberlin. So at this point, it is very early in the process.”

Because of this, the pipeline groups on

Rosemary Liv Boeglin Combe Allegra JuliaKirkland Herbst Managing editor Samantha Taylor Field Link News editors RosemaryKate Boeglin Gill Maddie Alex Howard Stocker Opinions editor SophieWill 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 BrannonRachel Rockwell-Charland Grossman Online editor Business manager Alanna Cecilia Bennett Xu Editors-in-chief

campus and in the greater Oberlin community have yet to take organized action against the construction of the pipeline.

“We’re in an information-gathering, coalition-building phase, trying to figure out what we know and what we don’t know. We are trying to figure out what our next steps are,” says Rubin. Groups on campus are currently trying to establish allies inside and outside of the College community to plan to appropriately negotiate any plans of installation.

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

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The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

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Off the Cuff: Joyce Babyak, acting dean of the College Joyce Babyak is currently serving her tenure as acting dean of the College. Last year, Dean Babyak participated in panel discussions on free speech, the limits of free speech and dissent. She shared with the Review her thoughts regarding Oberlin’s policy on dissent, religious ethics and her contributions to the College.

The reason we wanted to do this, and why Dean Eric Estes invited me to do this on various speakers, is that we wanted to be sure that everyone knew what the policy was. The policy is not designed to eliminate dissent by any means. The policy is designed to say these are the expressions of dissent that are permissible under the policy. What we did not want to happen — the worst thing that would have happened — is for students to engage in an expression of dissent that is not permitted by the policy and face any kinds of consequences whatsoever.

We want students to know what is acceptable so that they can express dissent in a way that is permitted and effective. It also became important for us to be sure that anyone in a given audience knew what the College’s policy on dissent was so they would recognize that one: we have a policy; two: we were paying attention; and three: that we asked everyone in the audience to respect the fact that our policy does permit some expressions of dissent, and we wanted them to respect those expressions of dissent.

What do you most hope to accomplish as the acting dean of Arts and Sciences? How long will you have to do it?

The position lasts until there is a new dean in place, so there will be a dean appointed by the search committee sometime this year. When that new position takes effect, I will return to my position as the [associate] dean of Arts and Sciences.

What are the highlights of serving as acting dean?

Working with faculty on structuring resources and on personnel issues such as promotion to full professor, those kinds of huge moments in a faculty member’s career.

It’s also very interesting to be able to work with the Office of Development and with some of my colleagues on senior staff. It gives me a different view of the institution and what it takes to make Oberlin the place it is.

What would you like students and faculty to know about the new academic credit system?

It really is intended to help students know that they can build a schedule with four full courses or the equivalent, and if they do that successfully every semester they will graduate after eight semesters. Students don’t have to fracture their schedule every semester to get to the magical number of 14 credits. So I think we’ve come up with a system that is more logical, to be honest.

It makes sense.

We, of course, understand that students do many other things, and so the faculty built into the requirements for graduation some latitude, so that some of the co-curricular work that students do can count towards graduation — such as ExCo courses, courses in athletics, learning assistance courses and some of the practica that are offered, such as the journalism practicum, which has been such an important part of many students’ careers at Oberlin.

So the faculty want to recognize the complexity of what students do, and it all really matters for graduation, but we want to have a system that would make it easier for students to focus on what they want to focus on and what they need to focus on.

I think it’s a benefit to faculty because faculty can now roughly count on most students seeing each course as one quarter of their workload.

I’m interested in your work with Oberlin Animal Rights. You participated in a panel discussion last spring. Was this the first time that the use of animals in academic research has been discussed here?

What’s the history, and where is the College heading on that issue?

I participated in that panel in my capacity as Chair of the Institutional Ani-

Dean Babyak, who recently assumed position of acting dean of the College

mal Care and Use Committee, which oversees the use of animals in research.

There are some qualifications around that, but essentially all the animals that are used in the lab science courses have oversight if they are housed in the animal care facilities. That circumscribes it a little bit, but this issue comes up from time to time; naturally this is a concern to students and to faculty, and continues to be a concern.

There are several important things to remember, but the research we do on animals is very carefully evaluated in terms of how the animals will be treated. There are very clear guidelines that are set by national bodies that must be followed to make sure that we are minimizing the number of animals used, that they are treated humanely, that their housing conditions are monitored and are also considered by food standards to be humane. And I think we do it in a very responsible way.

The committee, which is appointed

by Marvin Krislov, evaluates every single protocol that comes forward that involves the use of animals in research.

As to where student concerns about this are going, I think it’s always important for students to be concerned and to make sure that people are paying attention.

You have a background in religious study that surrounds the ethics of solidarity and pragmatic acceptance. Can you explain what that means?

As an ethicist, my major field is religious ethics, and religious social ethics, so I’m concerned about ethical formulations that address social issues.

One place to begin ethics is to look at the human condition. We are characterized as finite and contingent beings, and we are limited in many ways. Our capacities are very limited, our lifespan is limited, and we are contingent — and that is dependent upon a variety of factors, and that is the historical acci-

dent of our birth, where we live, where we grow up, our backgrounds, our possibilities, as well as what decisions we have made in the past.

And part of what is true for me is that we are also free. How free we are is a matter of debate, but we do get to make choices for ourselves. But one of the biggest choices that we have to make is that we have to accept the pluses and minuses of who we are and the fact that we are finite and contingent. In doing that, it allows us to accept the historical characteristics of our lives and it allows us to accept the fact that who we are is in part because of the choices that we’ve made. That is what I call ethics of acceptance.

When we can do that, I think that it helps us make specific choices in our lives around social issues.

What do you think this focus of religious study will bring to your new position as acting dean?

Part of our particularity is that what we do now does depend in part on what we have done, and I think that my work as an ethicist, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about human situations, conditions and ways in which we can evaluate what we do and try to do things well.

And so I think that being an ethicist informs the way I approach all of the challenges that I face.

Last year you participated in panel discussions on free speech, the limits of free speech and dissent.

Could you talk more about that?

Specifically what the panel was on had to do with dissent, and my role on the panel was to speak to the College’s policy on dissent. I had been invited by the Dean of Students to be a moderator of sorts, to make opening statements at events where expressions of student dissent were expected and to keep an eye on how things were developing.

Do you think you’ll continue to work on this issue as acting dean of Arts and Sciences?

I think we have a reasonable policy.

The important thing is whether Dean Estes continues to have someone to continue to articulate the outlines of the policy to audiences before speakers when active dissent is expected. I think it’s really important that students know what is and is not permitted. Knowing that allows students to decide how to shape whatever expressions of dissent they think are appropriate.

The policy itself requires that it be distributed at occasions where it’s thought to be needed, and so that does happen and will continue to happen.

But I don’t know whether any different decisions will be made about how to make sure students are informed.

Nothing is ever carved in stone here and shouldn’t be. There’s always possibilities that people will ask for revisions, but for the time being I’m comfortable with the policy.

I was actually on the faculty committee that revised the policy more than 10 years ago.

What do you look forward to as the acting dean?

It’s an unusual position to be an acting dean because the length of the position is relatively short at this point.

But what I look forward to is the opportunity to work with faculty and colleagues in the administrative and professional staff to make sure that the faculty have appropriate resources to be giving the very best education possible for our students, and to create an environment in which they themselves thrive as well.

I enjoy having the opportunity to contribute to the mission of the institution in a new way for a time.

Interview by Nora Kippins Photo courtesy of Joyce Babyak

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The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

Oberlin Public School Expands Campus Kris Frasier The Oberlin Public School System recently decided to expand its facilities. OPS is seeking land currently owned by the College in order to add four more buildings to the Oberlin High School.

The nine-acre plot in question has a purchase cost of approximately $50,000, but the college is offering to make a deal with OPS to sell the land for a shockingly low fraction of the cost — a total charge of only one dollar.

Superintendent of Oberlin Public Schools John Schroth wrote in an email that there were many important considerations that factored into the expansion plan — proximity to campus, for one.

“It was important in planning for the future of Oberlin Public School facilities… keeping our schools close to the Oberlin campus was an important consideration.”

If the deal reaches fruition, it will represent a community effort between OPS, the College and the greater Oberlin Community, and there is ample potential for inter-community collaboration.

“That is why the Oberlin High School site was chosen for expansion,” Schroth said. “Oberlin Schools would like input from all community stakeholders in the development and design of the new school building.”

According to Schroth, the College owns a wealth of property, and abundance gave way to altruism. “Oberlin owns a great deal of property all over town,” Schroth said. “ The College has agreed to set aside the property for possible purchase.

From what I was told, the property was not in any of the College’s long term plans.”

In 2012, Schroth approached the Oberlin administration with a master plan: to convert nine acres of land south of the high school into a new campus. The new campus will accommodate a full range of ages: kindergarten through 12th grades.

“The master plan will consolidate all of our students into one connected building,” Schroth said.

The additional nine acres of the land will provide all of the students in the Oberlin area with the facilities they need. The College may wield financial control, but OPS maintains creative autonomy.

“The additional land will give us more flexibility in the overall site design. It was important to have the option to purchase before site design could begin,” Schroth said.

The proposal to expand OPS will undergo the democratic process and be put up for a voter referendum; OPS intends to design a financial package, ready for the ballot during the Nov. elections of next year. “We would like to have a financial package up for voter approval in November of 2014,” Schroth said. If the ballot measure passes, construction can begin as early as next spring, with the potential for completion in late 2017 or 2018.

According to Schroth, “Oberlin College has been extremely supportive of [us] during our planning process.” When asked if OPS will seek out more land for future expansion, he said, “[We] would not rule out that possibility in the future.”

A deal between Oberlin Public School System and the College is currently in the works.

Yvette Chen

New Oberlin Book Co-op Achieves Success Erin Amlicke The Oberlin Book Co-op, which launched its first trade program near the end of last semester, continues to catch the eyes of students who are tired of paying extortionate textbook fees.

Tucked away in room 109 of Harkness Co-op and open weekdays between the hours of 7 and 9 p.m., SWAP, the newest addition to the Oberlin co-operative system, is packed with textbooks, a few light novels and plenty of students.

A product of the “Cooperation and Cooperatives” ExCo last spring, the concept was initially developed by several students who sought to apply co-operative principles to pressing issues around campus. Recognizing the expensive price of textbooks, the group applied its efforts toward the creation of a cooperative system that fully functioned on the basis of trade. Starting this semester, students who donate their textbooks to the cooperative will receive a number of credits based on the co-op’s evaluation of the book. Students may also exchange volunteer hours at the co-op for such credits, which can then be applied towards the acquisition of an in-house book. Once contributed, books are separated under the departments of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and Conservatory to be traded with the students who need them.

However, this isn’t the first cooperative bookstore to grace

Oberlin. Prior to 1999, the Oberlin Consumers Cooperative housed a book co-op which served much of the greater Oberlin community. In many ways, the former Oberlin book co-op functioned as a traditional bookstore by offering textbooks at a discounted rate to students who purchased a membership with the co-op at the beginning of the year. Although many elements of the new Oberlin Book Co-op were inspired by its predecessor, Co-founder and Treasurer Sarah Johnson said that the current co-op is dedicated to “help[ing] students get their books as cheaply as we can,” which is maintained through an established system of trade. Now at its one thousand book matriculation point, Johnson has high hopes for the project. “My personal goal would be for ... SWAP to be a corner in a larger business or nonprofit ... with more community engagement.” Nonetheless, the co-op isn’t currently interested in competing with major Oberlin book providers such as Barnes & Noble. Although the idea of future competition with the book seller is at times disputed among the nine co-founders of SWAP, Johnson is clear that the group “do[es] not want to put any local businesses out of operation and ... definitely do[es] not want to put any local people out of work.”

Since most students passing through the bookstore on Monday night cited alternatives to Barnes & Noble as their textbook source, any real competition with the major book seller seems unlikely. Sophomore Cria Kay previously preferred to scan the

Classifieds for discounted textbooks, but found the co-op much simpler. “ I would much rather have a place that I can just trade my textbook rather than sell my textbook and buy a new one.”

First-years Clara Scudder-Davis and Min Ming Chien instead were counting on renting their textbooks or acquiring them from the library, until they discovered the Book Co-op on the Class of 2017 Facebook page. The co-op opens itself to first-years, who often do not have tradable books, through the option of trading volunteer hours for books.

The only present drawback for the budding bookstore is its small inventory. Many students, although excited by the prospect of trading books, were discouraged when they discovered that the titles they needed were absent. Even so, Johnson is confident that the store has “pretty decent streams of revenue” through a successful funding campaign and potential future funds obtained from the Student Finance Committee, local foundations and individual co-ops. Once acquired, all donated funds will be applied to the purchase of the most popularly requested textbooks. While progress at such a rostrum may be slow, the co-op is determined to stick to its goal and spread its message.

“Textbooks are expensive,” said Johnson. “If we can make those less expensive for people, that is the main goal.”

Board to Oversee Trespass Policy Ajudication Continued from page 2 munity Board (is) important because it’s putting the effect of the policy in front of the eyes of more people instead of just Safety and Security.”

“The Community Board [is the] centerpiece,” El-Shair said, “because it [stands for] the separation of adjudicating and legislating powers. Originally, all of the power rested in Marjorie Burton’s hands to decide who got off and on the list and essentially all matters of enforcing the list were in her hands, and we didn’t think that was fair at all so we decided to make sure that there was a body that was separate from Safety and Security that decided who got on and off the list.”

Although the main function of the No Trespass policy is to protect College grounds from internal and external transgressors, both Reed and El-Shair believe that the latest updates to the policy will work toward a stronger alliance between College and community.

“I would say that this is a new beginning,” said Reed. “This revised policy — it’s an example of the College and the larger community’s ability to work together on issues that challenge us all.”

El-Shair elaborated similar notions, saying that the reform of the policy signifies the college’s attempts at existing more harmoniously within the Oberlin community.

“A lot of what we heard toward

the beginning of the campaign was that people in the town didn’t really feel like the College was cognizant of or willing to acknowledge the special circumstances of community members, and the [past] list was a pretty huge illustration of that. I would say that the creation of the Community Board creates a standing link between the College and the town that allows for further collaboration down the line. [It is] showing that there is a status of difference, but that we’re not beholden to our differences. The old list is a reflection of the college when it’s acting like everyone else; the new list is a reflection of the College when it is actually upholding its progressive and liberal mantras.”

September 6, 2013

Opinions The Oberlin Review

Letter to the Editors Students Should Participate in Local Gun Control Debate To the Editors: As Oberlin’s Vice President of City Council, it’s a pleasure to welcome firstyears and upperclassmen back to the campus and town.

Your Day of Service does much to build bridges between town and gown, and your continuing activities in our public schools, music programs, farms, gardens, businesses and local government enrich our city.

I invite you to attend board or commission meetings and especially

City Council meetings on the first and third Mondays of the month.

At this moment, the city is wrestling with the very dismaying dictate from both the state legislature and the Ohio Supreme Court that local governments may not limit the carrying of guns in parks and recreational facilities.

In order to prevent a crippling lawsuit, the Council may be forced to rescind our local ban, but we will immediately follow this action with a resolution protesting the state’s ruling.

One subsequent option is to force a state referendum by collecting 15 percent of voter signatures from the last governor’s election. If successful, such a campaign would put the issue directly on the ballot where voters could de-

mand greater gun control and perhaps inhibit Ohio’s disturbing “concealed carry” laws.

In the finest Oberlin tradition, from civil rights, to Vietnam, to environmental policy, students may play a significant role in passing sane gun control laws.

As in this case and others, local issues often have global implications, and your actions can create change.

Thank you again for your continuing involvement in the city of Oberlin. Welcome to our community, and best wishes for a year of learning and growth.

–Sharon Fairchild-Soucy Vice President Oberlin City Council

Interested in writing for the Review?

Have thoughts on things going on around the world or in Oberlin?

Then you should write for us!

Contact opinions@oberlinreview.org.

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.

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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.

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

Page 5

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

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

“Hoax” Declaration Mischaracterizes Bias Incidents, Stifles Productive Dialogue The College aired its dirty laundry to the nation last semester when media outlets swarmed campus to report on the rash of bigoted graffiti cropping up in academic and residential buildings. The coverage of the events focused primarily on an alleged sighting of a person in Klan robes, though evidence of hateful actions perpetrated against people of color, the Jewish and LGBTQ communities, and women, was much broader — both in scope and in form.

As the summer came to a close, Oberlin was thrust back into the spotlight. A few conservative bloggers got their hands on the recently released police reports, in which the names of the two students removed from campus last semester in relation to the hate speech are revealed and their offenses enumerated. The reports of stalking and harassment of multiple student activists do not number among them.

After analysis of (incredibly ideologically inconsistent) online profiles for Alden and Bleier, writers from the Daily Caller and Legal Insurrection surmised that because the two students removed from Oberlin — would-be upperclassmen Matt Alden and Dylan Bleier — were “privileged Obama-supporting white kids” “trolling” their peers to evoke reactions, their acts amounted to a hoax. Bleier’s brief stint as an Obama campaign volunteer is taken as evidence that the perpetrators were neither racist nor bigoted.

Ultimately, the conclusion drawn by these articles was that genuine reactions of fear, outrage, creativity and solidarity to the hateful acts are dismissible as invalid because the identity of the two censured students don’t conform to the caricature of a bigot.

On his blog Legal Insurrection, Cornell University Law Professor William A. Jacobson wrote that, “school officials and local police knew the identity of the culprits, who were responsible for most if not all of such incidents on campus, yet remained silent as the campus reacted as if the incidents were real.” * However, the incidents were real. Whether or not the participants in the hate-related incidents believed themselves to be trolling or expressing genuine prejudice, the bigoted actions caused all-too-real pain and fear for members of the Oberlin community.

But the bloggers’ claims extend beyond trolling, going so far as to label the hate-related incidents as part of a wide-spread “hoax” or “stunt” on the part of campus administrators and liberal students to provide evidence that racism is alive and well — the assumption being that those concerned about racism today would need to fabricate evidence to provide support for a claim that racial inequality still exists. Not only does this unfairly trivialize the experience of those affected, it’s frankly ridiculous.

Canceling classes on March 4 was not solely a response to the reported sighting of a KKK member on South bowl or the written harassment and graffiti, but also about larger systemic issues that have been brewing on campus for far too long and came to a head as bigoted acts continued to gain in severity and breadth.

As the incidents of bigotry continued to mount last semester, many student activists and professors pointed to Oberlin’s historic and current issues with privilege and diversity.

Anonymous posters on forums such as ObieTalk have been writing bigoted comments (often targeting the same communities as last semester’s graffiti) for years, as well as in and on campus buildings; north and south campus still remain relatively divided along racial lines; many departments lack diversity of faculty, students and curricula; and many see certain campus spaces and communities as inaccessible for a variety of reasons.

Jacobson’s critique of the administration’s lack of transparency is not without merit.

Only recently did the College release a vaguely worded statement in response to the online firestorm, saying that — under the recommendation of law enforcement — it made information public as soon as it could. In spite of the tardy explanation, it is clear the College was privy to relevant details regarding the incidents and their perpetrators and made a decision to withhold even general information. In fact, the Review reported the students’ removal on March 6 — well before the College did.

The recent online commentary has purported to delve more deeply into the truth behind the current state of race relations in the United States, but instead uses an inconclusive police report to dismiss all of the facts at hand, and ultimately serves to stifle productive dialogue in the process. Rather than getting hung up on uncovering dubious conspiracies, we should begin the work of creating lasting systemic change and encouraging a more productive dialogue — of which the Review seeks to be a part. *Emphasis our own.

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

Opinions

Page 6

Military Intervention in Syria Problematic Sam White Contributing Writer

With Congress set to vote this Monday on a resolution that would authorize limited military action in Syria, the United States finds itself yet again on the brink of a bloody, costly and entirely avoidable war that it has neither right nor reason to fight.

The resolution on Monday comes in the wake of the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, which killed over a thousand unarmed civilians. In a statement, President Obama blamed the Syrian government and President Bashar al-Assad for the attack and urged Congress to support a limited military operation that would, in the words of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, “hold the Assad regime accountable, degrade its ability to carry out their kinds of attacks and deter it from further use of chemical weapons.”

It need not be said that the attack, a flagrant violation of multiple tenets of international law, was tragic and abhorrent by any standards. Few would deny that the perpetrators deserve to feel –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The strike [the United States] proposes will almost certainly involve civilian casualties and they will, without question, provoke retaliation from President Assad’s most critical allies.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––– the full weight of justice, and the prevention of future chemical weapons attacks, especially of this scope, is a goal behind which most everyone in the world can stand united. This is precisely why U.S. military action makes no sense.

Even if the Obama administration is correct in its central accusations — that Assad’s government is responsible for the attack and that the weapon used was in fact sarin, the outlawed nerve agent — it has yet to announce to the world what it expects to achieve through military intervention.

In pitching his administration’s case to Congress, President Obama emphasized that he plans only to weaken Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities, rather than to place “boots on the ground” or engage in a long- term campaign.

Yet the supposedly limited operation he proposes will likely be led with missiles fired from five U.S. destroyers currently stationed in the Mediterranean Sea, possibly supplemented with air strikes, which begs several critical questions: How accurate can U.S.-led strikes be if they are

carried out remotely? Who and what, specifically, do they plan to target? Will the destruction of chemical weapons facilities result in further deaths, this time at the hands of the U.S., from sarin released into surrounding areas?

The humbling truth is that if the U.S. does carry out such an attack, it will inevitably contribute to further bloodshed. The strikes it proposes will almost certainly involve civilian casualties and they will, without question, provoke retaliation from President Assad’s most critical allies.

Among those openly committed to countering a U.S. strike are Russia, which has pre-emptively deployed its own warships in the Mediterranean, and Iran, whose government continues to support Assad with the assistance of the Shiite extremist group Hezbollah. Iran has additionally vowed to attack Israel in the event of a U.S. strike on Syria, dragging one of the United States’ closest regional allies into what could quickly become a full-scale global war.

Iran and Russia are merely two among the growing multitude of countries — the United Kingdom and Germany now included — pointing out that the U.S. does not have the necessary international permission to carry out a strike on Syrian soil. Because such an attack does not constitute a clear act of self-defense, the U.S. cannot legally proceed without approval from the United Nations Security Council, which permanent members Russia and China have both soundly denied. If the planned attack is, as the Obama administration claims, meant to deter violations of international humanitarian law, what message will the United States be sending to the world by defying the clearcut authority of the highest international organization?

And yet, all of the above scenarios are based on the assumption that the Obama administration is in fact correct in blaming Assad for the Damascus attack. This assumption, as many commentators, both from the U.S. and from outside, have emphasized, is an unverified and dangerous one. While the Obama administration’s statement emphasizes that Assad’s central opposition, the Free Syrian Army, does not possess the capability to carry out a chemical weapons attack, it entirely neglects the possibility of other capable perpetrators, such as FSA-linked al-Qaeda.

With the U.S. in steadfast refusal to disclose the evidence upon which it bases its accusations, and the official report of U.N. weapons inspectors not due for at least several more days, we may not know the true identity of the perpetrators until after yet another convoluted, global and misguided war is well under way. This war can and must be prevented with a “no” vote on Monday so that necessary diplomatic options may be pursued.

The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

An Unlikely Indian-Pakistani Alliance Forms Saksham Khosla Contributing Writer Media coverage on Syria over the past few weeks has been decidedly Western-centric, focusing on the roles of the U.S. and Russia and the implications of their involvement in the conflict. According to mainstream news, the military intervention, which is not backed by the U.N. Security Council, is likely to lead to global war. Given this depiction, it makes little and less sense not to consider the ramifications of the strike on countries further east.

Meanwhile, two South Asian nations with a history of being unable to agree on almost anything have united to speak out against the military intervention in Syria.

The united front presented by India and Pakistan, who have been in conflict since India’s partition in 1947, is founded on shared economic, electoral and security concerns. This mutual opposition to U.S. involvement in Syria is made all the more striking by recent clashes between the two countries.

On Aug. 5, Pakistani soldiers, operating in conjunction with armed militants, beheaded five members of the Indian military.

The Pakistani establishment, headed by the newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, washed its hands of the attack. In response, Indian opposition leaders demanded that talks between the two countries’ prime ministers — to be held in New York City — be called off.

At an international conference in Tehran, former Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar maintained that foreign interference would lead to “serious consequences for the region, [ for the] Muslim Ummah and, in fact, for the entire world.” Pakistani Advisor to the Prime Minister, Sartaj Aziz, addressed Parliament with a similar warning: “Principles of international law and the U.N. Charter [advise us] to respect the territorial integrity of Syria.” Similarly, Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid has also affirmed the U.N. Charter, noting that India will

not “support any action that is not endorsed by the U.N.” Of course, there are other significant factors at play here — the safety of the eight million or so Indian and Pakistani Gulf workers and the two countries’ sizeable Muslim populations have contributed to the unlikely convergence of interests. Additionally, the vulnerable Indian rupee has been hit hard by the rising price of crude oil to more than $115 per barrel –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The united front presented by India and Pakistan, who have been in conflict since India’s partition in 1947, is founded on shared economic, electoral and security concerns.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––– because of impending fears of a Syrian attack.

Further alienating itself from the U.S., India entered into a partnership with Iran for oil, intending to relieve some of the massive stress on its imports bill. Pakistan, not wanting to be left behind, has been working extensively with Iran and China to develop a gas pipeline that will connect all three countries, leaving the U.S. seething in frustration. Having both opposed themselves to the U.S.led strike out of necessity, the two countries risk having their resources being cut off in one way or another.

Other South Asian nations have also united in opposition to the strike; Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal have all advocated for a non-violent resolution to the Syrian conflict. Their economic concerns also arise from their dependence on Middle Eastern oil sources. This unlikely South Asian union should impress the strike’s ramifications on Washington, but likely won’t. Given this state of affairs, Western media would do well to shift their coverage further east.

Kiss My Sass: Experiencing Oberlin Culture Shock Sophia Ottoni-Wilhelm Opinions Editor Sitting in the Qatar airport on my way home from Nepal last week, I was thinking about culture shock.

After spending three and a half months in the poorest country in Southwest Asia, I knew that returning home to small town in Indiana would feel pretty weird. I was correct — people’s accents, gigantic trucks, the flatness of the land and the discounts given at restaurants to people with handgun permits — it felt seriously strange.

I thought those first few days would be the worst of it, I knew it would take some time but eventually I wouldn’t feel a deep sense of happiness whenever I brushed my teeth using sink water or didn’t have to step over a rat on the way to work. I was wrong. As I

drove my brother’s car, “The Leopard,” across the border into good old Oberlin, I felt more culture shock than ever. I’d forgotten my own people — how to talk to them and ask them about their summers, how to nod as they responded that their regular job had taught them something profound about regular people. After speaking mostly Nepali for the summer, I’d forgotten how people use big words even when it doesn’t help demonstrate their point. I’d forgotten the style of dress and how some people wear clothes more disgusting than those I’d seen on starving people. I’d forgotten the glazy eyes of kids sitting in class — donut eyes, my teacher in high school called them.

I don’t want use my first words of the year to rag on Oberlin students. To the contrary, there are some crazy, brilliant and kind people around here. Co-op knock, anyone?!! I became friends this summer with this awesome little monk who told me to imagine that everyone

I see is mero mamu, my mother, so I can truly respect and care for them. Yes, random person reading this article, I’ve probably imagined you as a 50-year-old religion professor from Detroit. And yes, I love you.

Getting back on track, I don’t believe that the experience of Oberlin culture shock is at all unique to me.

I’ve heard many people talk about the strange feelings that accompany returning to classes, being around so many people of the same age, getting older, having close friends graduate and feeling the holes they leave behind. Wow, that quickly got super sad.

Have faith everyone, it’ll start to feel normal again before long. In fact, it’ll start to feel so normal you may not even be aware of time passing as you move from ’Scoing to reading to Agave. Enjoy it, do your best to stay sane, happy and healthy this year and don’t forget about the whole rest of the world out there.

The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

Opinions

Page 7

Use of Chemical Weapons Requires U.S. Action Sean Para Columnist The question of a limited American military intervention has come to the forefront of American politics in the past week. Lawmakers have been split, not along the traditional party lines, but into the age-old divide between those ––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A government that kills its own people in an attempt to stay in power fails to provide its most basic function — the provision of law, order and security.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

who wish to see our nation intervene abroad and those who would rather not see the United States get involved in costly military adventures around the globe.

The Obama administration’s push for missile strikes in Syria in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed almost 1,500 Syrian civilians on Aug. 21 in a Damascus suburb has been met with approval by many political leaders, as well as dissent from many in and outside the government.

Although many people say it is not necessary to seek congressional approval for the attack, the president has done so, and with good reason — he needs political support for the strikes in order to avoid looking like a warmonger. The limited strikes, though they have many possible downsides, unintended consequences and not entirely altruistic motives,

missile strikes in Syria, while institutions that currently ex- done to prevent more mass are the right thing to do.

The civil war in Syria does necessary, is nevertheless a ist to prevent the atrocities slaughter. If the U.S. shows the not have a military solution. loathsome option, brought on occurring daily in Syria, and Syrian government the limits The world powers, whether by an international paralysis they are completely failing to of the horror Syria can inflict they are in support of the and an inability of the United ameliorate the situation on the on its own people, they might be more amenable to a negoAssad government or not, will Nations to enforce a peaceful ground.

The U.N. has passed many tiated solution. Ultimately, not be able to impose peace on solution. The United Nations the war-ridden nation. Only a was created in order to prevent sanctions, formed many com- peace can only come from political solution will resolve another catastrophe on the missions and filed many re- within Syria, and small-scale scale of the second World War, ports, all decrying the violence U.S. intervention might help the conflict.

That said, the recent chemi- but if it cannot solve a civil war in Syria. In the face of such bring that about. cal attacks seem to have been in one country, can we rely on ineffective action by the only conclusively perpetrated by the U.N. to solve larger intern- legitimate global peacekeeping organization, the United the Syrian government. A taional conflicts?

The human rights treaty States must step in to impose government that kills its own people in an attempt to stay in body system theoretically boundaries on the cruelty of power fails to provide its most governs the way people are to the Syrian government. If it basic function — the provision be treated around the world does not, the Syrian Civil War of law, order and security. A and was enacted specifically will continue to spiral out of limited, retaliatory U.S. missile to prevent large-scale civil- control.

With 100,000 deaths and strike in response to the use of ian casualties like those hapchemical weapons would show pening in Syria. These are the counting, something must be the Syrian government that there are boundaries to the level of violence the international community will accept.

The ban on chemical weapons is one of the few internationally recognized protocols of war. Chemical weapons are an ineffective weapon against organized military forces and are used, as they were in late July, to kill and terrorize civilians. The Assad government is attempting to cow its own people into submission by using fear to regain control of a populace that has risen up because of the Syrian regime’s continued oppressive and anti-democratic nature.

If the United States does not make it clear that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, it will set a precedent for their continued use by the world’s various pariah regimes and any government attempting to rule through fear instead of justice and popular Syria, where recent use of chemical weapons has prompted international reaction and varied student opinions. legitimacy.

Courtesy of Nations Online Project The prospect of American

Summer Party Anthem “Blurred Lines” Bores Libby Salemi Contributing Writer A couple of months ago, a friend offered me a ride home from work and immediately put on a song she’d been dying to show me. She’s a couple years younger than our coworkers and I, so when she finds something new she usually feels the need to show it off and gather our opinions.

When I listened to the song I felt pretty neutral about it. Sure, it was catchy, a little silly and a pretty typical find from a Top 40 station. Whatever, it was a song.

I told her it was fine and moved on with my life.

Next thing I know, this song is blowing up everywhere with my friends. They love it. They want me to love it. I’m forced to listen to it about 50 more times, and sure enough, I’m loving it, too. Wow, could it get any catchier? Man, it sure makes us feel like we’re having a good time. Whatever, we’re all having fun. Everything’s fine and I move on with my life.

The next-next thing I know, I’m back in Oberlin. I’m talking to my friends, saying, “Hey, have you heard this awesomely catchy song that everyone’s talking

about? It’s so fun and flirty. You’ll all love it!” I start singing it, and people cringe... this time not just because I’m a terrible singer. “That song? Libby, you like that song? Don’t you understand how misogynistic it is? Don’t you see the sexism?

Don’t you see that you should be strongly offended that someone would make a song about objectifying women in such a way?”

At first I don’t, but then 50 more people share their opinions with me, and sure enough I’m seeing the error of my ways. What a gross song. It’s making all my friends uncomfortable. Whatever, I can live without this song in my life. Everything’s fine and I move — Wait, no I don’t. No, no, no. This is ridiculous. I suddenly realize that my entire view of this song has gone from completely neutral to overly ecstatic to overly sensitive in a matter of mere weeks, and all I want is to go back to completely neutral instead of just relying on my friends’ opinions. Why? Because this song is so unimportant, so bland and so ordinary that I can’t even understand why it matters to anyone, regardless of whether or not it’s politically correct. Why are we even giving it airtime? There is absolute-

ly nothing special about this song. The misogyny isn’t even special.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––

...this song is so unimportant, so bland and so ordinary that I can’t even understand why it matters to anyone, regardless of whether or not it’s polititcally correct.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––– I’ve heard much more offensive lyrics in plenty of other pop songs that just went completely under the radar. Take Macklemore’s “And We Danced,” a song in which the artist (who, mind you, is currently beloved by many for his “profound” song about marriage equality) sings about whipping out his penis at a party and later about how all the men should grind their junk into the behinds of every woman at said party. Did anyone lose a wink of sleep over this song? Was my Tumblr dashboard filled with complaints and deeply irked posts about how crude this song was?

Nope, none of the above. And I’m glad, because despite how offensive it is, it’s just a crappy song and I don’t think it deserves any attention whatsoever.

This is how I feel about Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” This song has stirred up so much controversy among the people who love it and want to defend it and the people who think it’s sexist and should never be played again. Yes, I get it, it’s catchy. Yes, I get it, it’s totally misogynistic and sexist. And what else is it? Not much.

All my friends have spent their time getting nit-picky about a song that is completely mediocre and I just couldn’t care less about it. I’m tired of the debates and the kids who think that it’s the greatest song ever and the kids who think it’s the most offensive in the world. And then I remembered that I can tune out the debates and opinions and listen to myself instead.

From now on, I’m just doing me: continuing to listen to music that is actually good and hoping that everyone will stop telling me how to feel about a song that isn’t all that great anyway.

This Week: !"# $ "

Chill out to music while enjoying a beer in the all-tootemporary sun at TGIF. Every sunny Friday at 4:30 p.m. in Wilder Bowl.

Live DJ and half-price pitchers of beer during Splitchers at the ’Sco every Wed. from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Exchange old textbooks for new ones at the book co-op in Harkness room 109, open 7 p.m. to 9 p.m Sunday to Thursday until Add/drop ends.

Seniors: Make sure you know what it takes to graduate.

Attend The Senior Briefing, Wednesday Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. in the West Lecture Hall, in the Science Center.

Remeber what love feels like. Swoon over kittens located at the Ginko Gallery on Main St. The best part of Stevie breakfast is definitely cinnamon pizza. It’s pizza with cinnamon!

How crazy is that?

When you get sick of Stevie and Dascomb, PB&J will always be your friend.

Join an excellent and very informative student publication, like the one in your hands.

Email edsinchief@ oberlinreview.org.

Beware of the bats!

Multiple sightings in village houses on Main Street and East College.

No need to smoke under the Wisdom Tree. Safety and Secuirty is not looking at you. No one cares.

It’s always good to have a fan in your room — for those hot nights or smokey situtations.

Always wear shower shoes.

Always. I mean it.

Get out of that boring class while you still have time! Add/ drop ends Thursday Sept. 12.

Fall in love with a smoothie from DeCafé.

Try this combo: strawberry, banana, raspberry, with half yogurt and half grape juice base.

This Week Editor: Olivia Gericke Characters created on Habbo Hotel. Bike by Jaebum Joo. Remaining icons from Fuck Yeah Pixels. I made the caution sign

— very impressive.

Rent a bike for the year from the bike co-op in Keep on Sunday Sept. 8th at 4 p.m.

Check out a show. Dirty Beaches at the ‘Sco on Tuesday Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. Tickets are $4 with OCID, $8 without.

Gaze at the stars in hopes that your path after college will be revealed.

Check out the Observatory in Peters on Friday Sept. 6 at 9 p.m.

Don’t trust the albino squirrels.

They will steal your food.

Search at Ratsy’s for that one-of-a-kind treasure.

They have a lot of unicorn art at the moment.

Call RideLine to avoid strenuous activity like walking across campus. They will drive you anywhere on campus, except when they are inexplicably not running.

Actually understand the new credit system. Info sessions in Wilder 101 Monday at 12:15 and 4:30 p.m.

Life without a TV is hard.

Thank god for Netflix and Project Free TV.

Welcome to the Oberlin World. A flat land scattered with seductive hippies, barefoot composers and scholarly circus performers.

This week you begin your quest for knowledge and lifelong success.

Are you prepared?

Poop for a cause.

Drop one in the AJLC to feed the Living Machine.

Make use of the dorm pianos, but please refrain from the hours 12 to 9 a.m.

Must get beauty sleep.

Christen the year with a dip in the Arb. But before, check to make sure you have no open wounds. The Arb is a pool of bacterial mystery.

Mend your first day of school stress with a discounted relaxation massage. On Sunday Sept. 8 from 1 - 4 p.m., Oberlin Student Wellness will be offering 30- or 60- minute massages in Wilder room 314.

This Week needs an intern Position obviously unpaid Duties include: fetching coffee, researching, giving constant compliments and taking iPhone photos. Not required but highly recommended: knowledge of street magic.

Contact thisweek@oberlinreview.org with cover letter and résumé.

Arts The Oberlin Review

Page 10

September 6, 2013

Paul de Jong Embraces the Absurd at Fairchild Chapel Julian Ring Arts Editor The whole scene had a fauxgothic, Frankenstein-esque quality about it: dual candelabras and the sound of moaning — rather than fluorescent lighting and polite silence — greeted attendees to Paul de Jong’s intimate evening concert in Fairchild Chapel Tuesday.

De Jong, a multi-instrumentalist formerly of avant-folk duo The Books, made his first appearance at Oberlin since 2006 and his first solo performance at the College.

Falling somewhere between ambient classical showcase and bizarre film screening, his hour-long set of funereal cello music and its corresponding images were a meditation on the darkly tranquil side of all that is ordinary.

De Jong’s artistic appeal lies in his ability to coax unique sounds from common instruments. He eliminated any need for an accompanist, building most of his progressions by playing along to prerecorded chamber tracks or by looping glassy chords on the electric bass. The warm, swelling tones created by just one man, two instruments and a volume pedal were startlingly beautiful. De Jong took every liberty to solo over these sublime creations, solos amply deserved.

In essence, he was scoring his own video project. Before beginning each song, de Jong selected tracks from a DVD to play in the

background. These visuals tended to shift the audience’s attention away from the lone cellist with quick cuts of animals, landscapes and portions of human faces. One particularly serene piece, “Age of the Sea,” presented a familiar ocean horizon made sterile when it juxtaposed separate clips of water and sky running independently of one another (“I’m in the sentimental part of the program,” de Jong quipped). “Dirge” was set to a dismal poem recited by the inanimate mouth of an elderly woman that gradually transitioned to the voice and visage of a man. Any sense of theme between these short films, even a loose one, failed to materialize, though often-menacing narration and onscreen text seemed to hint at some connection between normalcy and madness. A few transition segments broke up de Jong’s otherwise seamless performance; these clips managed to find humor amidst ridiculousness. One consisted of the same three-second intro to a televangelist program featuring “Reverend Smith” pouring the same cup of tea each time but dressed in a different pastelcolored suit.

All the onscreen absurdity remained engaging without overpowering the audio component of de Jong’s show. His songs, many of which featured Eastern-inspired melodies performed on what looked like a viola da gamba, were See De Jong, page 13

The appeal of Paul de Jong’s experimental instrumentation accompanied by bizarre video projection filled Fairchild chapel — a concert venue that doesn’t frequently draw a crowd.

Yvette Chen

Artist Recital Series to Feature Yo-Yo Ma, Other Talents Daniel Hautzinger Staff Writer The next nine months are crammed with over 500 concerts performed by students, faculty, alumni and guest artists, spanning classical, jazz, electronic, rock and world music. The 20132014 Artist Recital Series is a rare opportunity to see some of the world’s most well-known performers demonstrating their craft. To aid in planning a year of concerts, here are some of the highlights.

The Series kicks off on Nov. 5 with an all-Oberlin program, based around a new recording titled Ravel: Intimate Masterpieces by Assistant Professor of Harp Yolanda Kondonassis.

The concert features performers from different departments at Oberlin. Fenelon B. Rice Associate Professor of Clarinet Richard Hawkins and Associate Professor of Flute Alexa Still join Kondonassis as representatives of the faculty. Soprano Ellie Dehn, OC ’02, pianist Spencer Myer, OC ’00, and violist Liz Freivogel, OC ’00, all three of whom also made appearances in the 2012– 2013 concert series — are playing with Oberlin’s quartet-in-residence, the Jupiter String Quartet. Last year, Dehn excelled as a soloist in Mozart’s Great Mass with the Oberlin Musical Union, Myer gave a solo recital, and the Jupiter Quartet put on three recitals — their performance of Britten’s String Quartet No. 2 was a highlight of the season. A single concert with all of these forces marshaled together should be exceptional.

Nov. 20 brings the first non-Oberlin artists. Pianist Kathryn Stott joins frequent collaborator Yo-Yo Ma, the musically versatile cellist. Though their program has yet to be announced, chances are high that some Latin American music will be performed. Ma and Stott, who first played together in 1985, have received Grammys for their 1997 album Soul of the Tango, which featured the music of Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla, and for the 2003 recording Obrigado Brazil.

The Cleveland Orchestra makes the short trek to Oberlin on Dec. 3, led by Marin Alsop, the music director of the Baltimore Symphony, with pianist and rising star David Fray.

More Oberlin alumni return for the second semester on Feb. 9. Imani Winds, featuring Toyin Spellman-Diaz, OC ’94, on oboe and Monica Ellis, OC ’95, on bassoon, will give a recital with acclaimed pianist and teacher Gilbert Kalish.

Imani Winds, which has played with legendary jazz musician Wayne Shorter in addition to premiering Middle-Easterntinged works by composer Mohammed Fairouz, shares with Kalish an inventive, progressive approach to classical music.

The collaboration is sure to spawn an intriguing program.

The youngest performer of the Series arrives March 1.

18-year-old pianist George Li won Oberlin’s inaugural Cooper International Competition in 2010 and performed with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall as a result. Now he returns to Oberlin with a solo recital.

The vivacious mezzo-soprano Susan Graham brings her

voice and wit to Oberlin on April 6. Expect French song and contemporary American works, both of which are dear to Graham. And look forward to humor and verve; in her recent tour with Renée Fleming, Graham slunk onto stage for an encore, a cigarette dangling from her lips, and sat down at the piano to play and sing Edith Piaf.

The season closes with the Takács Quartet on April 13, playing Webern and Beethoven. Coming only a week after Susan Graham, the heftiness of this all-German program will be an interesting contrast to Graham’s potential levity.

In addition to these concerts, there are two other large, non-classical concerts associated with the Artist Recital Series. On March 9, so-called “progressive bluegrass” band the Punch Brothers will hold a barnstorming performance and improvise through dense compositions with virtuosic panache. Featuring Chris Eldridge, OC ’04, on guitar, the band performed in Oberlin last year as well, and will take up the mantle of artists-in-residence to hold master classes this year.

Finally, on April 2, pianist Chick Corea and banjo player Béla Fleck join forces for a jazz jam session. Like Ma and Stott, the two collaborate frequently and received a Grammy in 2007 for their album The Enchantment.

Such is the eclectic, inventive, genre-pushing lineup for the 2013–2014 Oberlin Artist Recital Series. And, of course, there are still some 495 other concerts to attend.

The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

Arts

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On The Record: Professor Kazim Ali on His Feature in The American Poetry Review Logan Buckley Staff Writer Associate Professor of Creative Writing Kazim Ali graces the cover of this month’s American Poetry Review. It’s hardly his first time gaining national exposure: his work has appeared in more than eight national poetry journals and eight more self-penned books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. He is also the co-founder of an independent press, Nightboat Books. Ali spoke to the Review about his creative process, impressing Emily Dickinson and the poets he most admires.

Can you start by telling me about your profile in the September issue of The American Poetry Review?

I’ve been in The American Poetry Review several times in the past, but this is the first time that I’ve been on the cover, of course.

They’ve also included a feature of my work inside, five new poems.

I just had a book of poems come out in March, actually, called Sky Ward, and this is one of the first publications of work that’s newer than that. And then there’s a scholar named Christopher Hennessey who did an interview with me. He’s doing a book of interviews called Our Deep Gossip — it’s a book of interviews with gay male poets. So he did these extensive interviews… it’s pretty cool to be in that book because he put me in really — it’s humbling, actually — in really good company. There are interviews with John Ashbery, Richard Howard, Dennis Cooper, Aaron Shurin, Wayne Koestenbaum — all of these really amazing writers. It’s a little intimidating and frightening, in a way, because… well, now people are going to be paying attention. So I can’t be a complete lunatic all the time. But it was really fun, and I’m really excited that they printed the new work, including a long poem called “The Astronomer,” which is about, among other things, my travels when I was on sabbatical during the 2011–2012 academic year. I traveled to Haifa in Israel, which is this very ancient Arab city, but very multicultural always, from the beginning. And it still is. ...

You have a body of work that’s quite diverse, between your novels, collections of poetry, essays, autobiography, translations and other things in between. I was reading your book Fasting for Ramadan…

Which is not really essays, not really poetry…

So has that diversity across genres been the result of conscious exploration, of pushing yourself, or has it been something driven by the specific things you ended up writing about, more by accident?

Well, it’s definitely both. My memoir, which is called Bright Felon, is very cross-genre, somewhere between poetry and prose.

And I’m really interested in prose

forms that use a lot of poetry or the structures of poetry. Very experimental, lyrical prose. I like reading that stuff, too, so as I was trying to write my memoir, I had a lot of difficulty in terms of approaching subjects and being really personal and autobiographical, since I’m not very autobiographical in my own poetry. I found that experiment of that prose form, a very nonlinear — fractured approach to the sentence and paragraph — really helped me to write it. So in that case, it really was driven by the subject matter that I was approaching. But definitely informed by a relentless, kind of restless approach to form. One of the poems in this issue of the APR is also in prose. So I have this excitement and interest in writers like Jeanette Winterson, Virginia Woolf, Carole Maso, Salman Rushdie to an extent, Anaïs Nin. I actually wrote a book of criticism on Anaïs Nin. I’m interested in prose writers who use the resources of poetry in their work. So I found myself writing that kind of book. And in the case of Fasting for Ramadan, it’s both; the first half of it is a blog, and the second half is this notebook I was keeping, and I really like that idea of the notebook as a literary form, where you’re not really trying to turn these notebook entries into essay or poetry but allowing it to be that third thing. And I’ve often thought about teaching a course in the notebook, as a form. The notebook and the diary as a literary form.

Do you feel like your approach to form has changed or developed over the years, or is it something you approach work by work — finding the shape of a new project?

It’s always work by work. And the reader has a lot to say about what something is. My first novel, Quinn’s Passage, is very narrative, to me, but it’s broken up into little pieces, and there’s a lot of white space on every page. So people say it’s cross-genre, but I don’t really see it that way. I just see it as a novel. It tells a story of a person who has this conflict, and he resolves it… It seems very traditional to me, you know? And it’s the same thing with my second novel, The Disappearance of Seth, which is about New York City after September 11. It’s nonlinear, it goes backwards and forwards in time, but besides that, it’s very normative.

But the reader says something is experimental, something is crossgenre, or whatever. There are some definitions of what a novel’s supposed to look like, but that’s just a physical appearance, as far as I’m concerned.

What impact has your teaching experience had on your work?

You teach here, and formerly also in the Stonecoast MFA program?

For me teaching is really exciting because it means that I get a chance to bring writing that I really admire to the students, and

[Laughs.] but we’re really interested… we do what we do for poetry… for poetry itself. You know?

If I want to impress anybody, I want to impress Emily Dickinson.

Or I want to impress Agha Shahid Ali. They matter to me. They’re not alive anymore, but, that’s my paycheck. If Emily Dickinson visits me in my dreams and says, you know, good job, then I’ll feel like, “Oh my god, it was amazing.” [Laughs.]

Kazim Ali, associate professor of Creative Writing, is the featured poet in this month’s edition of The American Poetry Review.

Photo courtesy of Tanya Rosen-Jones

then what the students create also feeds my own work. It keeps me working as a writer, too, because I feel like if I’m not turning out pages, you know, and my students are turning out amazing work…

[Laughs.]So I don’t want to lose my mojo or anything. But I’ve been fortunate to work with some really amazing students, both at Oberlin and at the University of Southern Maine as well. I go around and do a lot of guest teaching things as well, and it’s always fantastic. It’s a gift to be able to go to different places around the country because I feel like the landscapes of these different places are so beautiful, and they feed you so much. And all the students are writing so many amazing things. It’s a fresher way of being in literature.

In addition to teaching, you cofounded Nightboat Books, and you’re still a founding editor.

How does that side of literature interact with your work? ... I’m very self-absorbed in my own writing, actually. It’s really, really personal. So it helps to give me the whole picture, basically. And I like supporting younger writers, and I like when I come across poems in a journal or something and write to that person, or something comes over the transom to me. We’re publishing a book by Laura Moriarty, who’s a writer I really admire. I approached her and said, “Can we publish one of your books?” And now I’m able to work with her really closely, and I’m editing her work. Not very much, she doesn’t need a lot of editing — she’s amazing — but this is a writer whose work meant something to me, and now I’m actually working with her on her books. So it’s kind of a gift, in a way. I’ve really enjoyed it.

It seems like the world of poetry, to the extent that there is one, might be moving more in that direction — all the poets are teachers, publishers…

Well, we’re not really interested in money. We don’t really care about selling a million copies.

We’d like to sell a hundred, maybe

Your writing frequently engages issues of conflicts and contradictions between identity, faith and culture. Your novel The Disappearance of Seth, as you mentioned, deals explicitly with the aftermath of 9/11. Can you tell me more about how politics or current events influence and inform your work?

I always progress from the experience of the body. I’m really interested, as a practitioner of yoga, in how a single person exists in the world, in society, and how we can coexist and support each other in our own development and growth, and I think one of the questions that spiritual inquiry has led us towards is, “Who am I? What’s my role?” Fanny Howe has a little quote that I love… Fanny’s a writer who’s meant a lot to me through my life and we’ve also published her through Nightboat. She has a quote that goes like this: “Little word, who said me? Am I owned or free?” So she’s addressing it to the word — whomever the word is. I mean, in a sense, Fanny Howe is Catholic, so she could be referring to Jesus or God, but it’s not capitalized in the quote, so it’s a little ambiguous. I’m interested, especially as someone who comes from a more traditional cultural background… South Asian cultural background… and of Middle Eastern and Iranian descent, and a Muslim background, that you know, what are your obligations to the larger social unit around you?

What are the expectations on you as a member? How does gender affect the experience of the individual body in society, how is your body read? I’m interested in all of that: how the spirit functions, how the mind functions, how the body functions. And politics governs how bodies are treated, how law affects bodies. So we have this case of these guys who are being held in Guantanamo prison, and they’re being force-fed. To me, politics always breaks down to what’s happening to individual bodies. We think about it in abstract terms but it’s not abstract. It’s an individual body and what happens to the body, and bodies are frail and fragile things. They can get beaten, they can be killed, and that fear is what’s used to control people. We think about violence as these things that happen very far away, but… in summer 2012 there were two terrible mass shooting incidents, and then just a couple months later in Connecticut another. The Batman theater shooting, the Sikh temple, the elementary school. So you have three incidences: evening at the

movies, religious services at temple, elementary school classroom.

These safe spaces don’t exist anymore in America. In 2012, we cannot pretend… it’s a complete idiocy to imagine that violence doesn’t go in a circle. We think about the circle of abuse in a family… physical abuse that maybe is passed on in a certain way. Violence in the air is like that radioactive water from Fukushima that goes into the ocean… the violence is radioactive.

When you act on it, it’s going to be in the air, it’s going to be in the water, it’s going to be in your food, and it will draw you into behaving in certain ways, too. It can make you crazy. We want these people to be crazy, and sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren’t.

Are there any other influences that you’d like to mention, whether poets, or outside poetry?

I’m definitely influenced by a number of poets. I’ve talked about Agha Shahid Ali, Lisel Mueller, Lucille Clifton, Fanny Howe, Mahmoud Darwish, the great Palestinian poet who passed away a couple years ago. But I’m also influenced by visual art, by performance and dance in particular. I’ve taught the work of the Japanese butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, and the visual artist Agnes Martin. I’m also influenced by music… I’m very interested in the music of Yoko Ono, who we brought to campus a couple years ago. That was great fun. But her music is fantastic.

Is there anything you’re reading and loving right now?

I’m reading a chapbook right now by this guy named Ben Fama, which I’m really enjoying. I’m reading things for my class, getting together all the poets that I’m going to be teaching [this semester]. I’m bringing some really exciting poets to campus this year, including Jean Valentine, Gerald Stern, Anne Marie Macari, and then a young poet who’s published his first book with McSweeney’s. His name is Zubair Ahmed, and his book is called City of Rivers.

Last question: do you want to tell me anything about what’s next for you?

I have a book I just finished translating with Libby Murphy, who’s a professor in the French department, a novel by Marguerite Duras, so that came out this year.

And then Joffern Melodi from the Religion department and I just did a translation of an Iranian poet named Sohrab Sepehri, and that’s coming out in November. I had a book of essays that came out in 2010 called Orange Alert, essays about poetry, and I have a followup volume of essays that’s going to be I hope coming out in 2014. And I’m just working on new poems, as always. Publishing some in APR, some in Tin House, a couple of other magazines. And I’m writing new poems in this notebook here with the whale on the cover [pointing].

I’m always writing poetry.

Arts

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TwoSpaces,OneStory: Audra Skuodas Seeks Archetypal Parallels Oliver Levine Staff Writer For 50 years, the visual artist Audra Skuodas has been diligently producing artwork that confronts and connects internal and universal themes. Incredibly prolific and constantly evolving, Audra has built up a body of work that contains dozens of series of drawings and paintings — not to mention an extensive collection of handmade books and collages. It’s no surprise, then, that an accurate representation of her artistic journey might take up more space than most. This is why, from July 21 until Sept. 12, Skuodas has filled up

Artist Audra Skuodas posing in front of one of her paintings reminds us of the age-old question: Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?

Oliver Levine

both the Baron Gallery and Firelands Association for the Visual Arts Gallery spaces with mirroring shows.

These “archetypal parallels” serve to highlight specific moments in her career, and denote a certain growth in her work from a very personal place to a more universal and spiritual status. Interestingly, similar themes arise

in a shift from figurative works to her more recent paintings, which have become purely geometric abstractions.

The clarity and purity of Skuoda’s progression is a unique element in her dual shows. It’s fascinating to watch her artistic objectives change and grow over time, building on her previous work and then experiencing a complete breakthrough into a new series. This was the case with the untitled figurative paintings from the late 1970s and early 1980s, which depict figures locked into symbolic geometric configurations. These earlier works combine the figure with elemental themes by placing silhouettes of a woman, or sometimes a man, in a cloudfilled sky or an ocean scene. While there have been few constants in terms of subject matter throughout Skuoda’s career, her figures — with their stringy hands and feet that often intertwine and tangle — consistently appear throughout many of the series. These ghostly figures are a metaphorical embodiment of what she refers to as “the violation of universal soul or the brutalization of Mother Earth” — an idea that occasionally enters her paintings.

As time has passed, Skuodas has shied from painting figures, focusing more on composing the geometric shapes and patterns in which they interact. This transition in her work took place during the 1990s, and was a move toward a more honest and universal period, one in which she flourished and began to explore the role of humanity within the universe. For Skuodas, a successful piece is one in which a certain balance is achieved — what she calls the “laws of limits,” a balance of tension and attraction.

Paintings titled “Cosmic Distillations,” 2008, and “Cosmic Connections,” 2000, along with the Energy Patterns Series, 2012, are examples of the balance Skuodas is able to achieve through repetition and accurate, carefully executed lines. On a tangential path, Skuodas has explored the possibilities of collage and, more specifically, the reappropriation of sheet music in her work. This all began in 1994 with her breakthrough, “Broken Melodies Discordant Fragments,” a collage that served to explore the spirituality of music through a visual process. Most recently in the Heart of the Matter Series, 2013, her work has featured sheet music cut into teardrops, some painted red.

It is rare that an artist can amass such a large body of work that two simultaneous shows can accurately depict the same exact journey. Skuodas, curious and diligent, is always pushing herself in new directions to search for what it means to feel and experience the world around us. Her books, which are displayed in the Baron Gallery portion of the show, incorporate the Japanese Zen Buddhist idea of satori, which Skuodas defines as “a symbiosis of image and text; the special moment of awareness in which the infinite and the finite become one.”

The closing reception for Skuodas’s show is Sept. 12 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Artistic Escape Proves Essential to Survival Julia Hubay Arts Editor Living in Oberlin, we are uniquely privileged to be part of a community that claims to value the arts and supports that statement with funding — a rare thing in small-town Ohio. But as much as the arts are already emphasized here, I would assert that the arts are of vital importance to the preservation of our very well-being and sanity, especially in a place like Oberlin, with all of its peculiarities.

Since returning from a semester abroad, I have been particularly struck by the uniqueness of a culture created through the coalescence of academic rigor and a fervor for the arts situated in a hotbed of liberal and progressive thought. Although this is a place of commendable diversity and global awareness, the nature of our education, which challenges our worldviews and understandings of ourselves, can be markedly isolating. Learning to understand the world in ways that we have never considered — while obviously valuable, can destabilize or even destroy the foundations on which we construct our senses of

self, leaving us to wander in the dark.

My own involvement in artistic communities on campus and in town, and their role in my re-acclimation to the sometimes overwhelmingly small bubble that is Oberlin, has never been more important.

Living in South America and speaking a different language challenged me to learn how to handle the intense isolation that a cultural exchange may provide, and I see many similarities in the effects that the collective consciousness at Oberlin can have on an individual.

Intense intellectualization of experiences previously taken for granted, plus the ego-smashing realizations of one’s own smallness and ignorance, create daunting emotional and philosophical challenges which can often lead to struggles to find meaning and connection. Having been personally lost in this kind of mental labyrinth, I know that it can seem impossible to find an escape.

But my repeated experiences of isolation have affirmed that a consistently effective tonic is the surrender of the self to the mindset of another: in other words, the appreciation of art.

From an exhibit of paintings and

surreal installations by JapaneseAmerican artist Yayoi Kusama in Buenos Aires, to the dystopian canvases of Roberto Matta in Santiago, experiencing the arts provided relief from my own narrow perspective while I was abroad, even as I felt particularly trapped in my own mind by the barriers of language and culture.

Art in all its forms opens a window into the lived and imagined experiences of people whom we may have next to nothing in common with, creating vital connections to the world outside of our own headspaces.

So, as the semester begins to absorb our time and attentions in earnest and we start to lose the summery feelings of connection to the people we recently enjoyed spending time with, let art be a respite. Allow yourself to break out of the tiny sphere of you own consciousness, to feel and experience the world through the lens of another’s creative expression. This is a kind of holistic nourishment that can act as a reminder: that the world an Oberlin education exposes us to is infinitely complex and beautiful. And amid all the pressure, sometimes we all need to remember.

The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

Before Midnight: A Mature, Satisfying Conclusion to Linklater’s Trilogy

In Before Midnight, the director’s artistic growth over nearly two decades is reflected in the maturity the final installment of Linklater’s trilogy. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Logan Buckley Staff Writer (Note: this review contains spoilers to the previous movies in the trilogy, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.)

Director Richard Linklater first garnered critical attention in 1991 for the distinctive style established by his film Slacker, a low-budget production consisting of vignettes set in Austin, TX. The defining aspects of that style include long takes with minimal camera movement, a compressed timeframe with little or no plot and an overwhelming focus on character and dialogue.

This summer’s Before Midnight, the sequel to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, concludes Linklater’s romantic trilogy and continues the trend established by the previous two movies: A compressed timeframe and an almost uninterrupted conversation between the two lead characters, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy). Hawke and Delpy also helped Linklater to write the movie’s script, which comes through in Jesse and Celine’s onscreen chemistry and the ease with which they converse.

Arriving 18 years after Before Sunrise and nine years after Before Sunset, Before Midnight feels more mature and developed than its predecessors; while the first two movies in the series had the potential to connect deeply with viewers and featured some of the best-developed characters in film, the standards set by those two films are raised by the work that Linklater, Hawke and Delpy present in Before Midnight. The film juxtaposes the struggling relationship of Jesse and Celine, now married and with twins, against the stunningly beautiful landscape of a Greek villa where the two are vacationing. The movie also provides Delpy’s and Hawke’s characters with more social context than the previous two films allowed: in addition to conversing and interacting with one another, the two eat dinner with

friends and guests, and Jesse’s son Hank (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) plays a crucial, albeit brief, role.

Linklater develops the film’s themes, namely, the difficulties of sustaining romantic connections in the face of mundane and quotidian realities, in a couple of ways.

Throughout the first third of the film, the themes are introduced and developed explicitly through a dinner table conversation — the closest the film comes to being heavyhanded. This frankness with which the characters discuss love’s beginnings and ends is balanced by the exquisite subtlety of the conversation between Jesse and Celine that runs the last hour of the film.

Both of their characters have grown and changed since the last installment, but at the same time the viewer recognizes in the 41-year-old Jesse and Celine the same quirks, facial expressions, flaws and charms that were present when the two were starry-eyed 23-year-olds in Before Sunrise.

Delpy especially shines in portraying the difficulties with which Celine struggles as a woman — the ways that patriarchal expectations and assumptions continue to haunt and oppress even independent and successful women, the double standards under which women live and work, and the subtle forms of sexism that men can demonstrate even when they are sensitive and sympathetic to feminism.

What makes Before Midnight stand head and shoulders above its admirable predecessors is the way that Linklater is unafraid to raise the stakes for his characters. In previous installments, romantic tension was essentially the only source of conflict in the movies — would Jesse and Celine stay together, keep in touch, get back together? Here, though, the complexities of family intervene, and when Jesse and Celine’s conflicts come to the fore, the depth of anguish and harrowing intensity that Linklater, Hawke and Delpy portray belong in the upper echelons of cinematic achievement.

The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

Arts

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Orientation Recital Introduces Class of 2017 to Oberlin’s Musical Tradition Nicole Gutman On Aug. 27, the first day of orientation, the Conservatory presented a recital to introduce first-years and their parents to Oberlin’s musical tradition. Before the concert started, Acting Dean of the Conservatory Andrea Kalyn introduced the recital’s performers, and she explained how the student performers are enrolled in the same institution as the new Conservatory students in the audience. All the performers were rising juniors and seniors, meaning that just a few years ago, they too were sweating in Finney Chapel listening to this same concert.

The first piece was Variétude Op. 28 by Einojuhani Rautavaara, a violin solo played by Conservatory junior Yuri Popowycz. It was an energetic piece with mostly angry and anxious expression that came from the dissonant intervals and crunchy tones Popowycz made on his violin, as well as his dynamic physical performance.

The next piece, Suite pour bassoon et piano by Alexandre Tansman, was performed by double-degree junior Benjamin Roidl-Ward on bassoon and Conservatory junior Joseph Williams on piano. The piece contained many sudden changes in the texture and relationship between the instruments. In one moment, there was a soft, almost flute-like timbre on the bassoon, immediately followed by a loud and chaotic piano passage. They covered a lot of stylistic ground with their changes of texture, harmony and their musical relationship to each other.

Conservatory senior Elly Toyoda and double-degree senior Jennifer Carpenter showed a great dynamic relationship in Duo for Violin and Cello Op. 7 by Zoltan Kodaly. The piece was structured so that both instruments played together the whole time, instead of having one instrument occasionally perform alone. Their dynamics, harmonies and articulation were so in sync that they often sounded almost like one instrument. This piece, unlike the obvious and sudden textural changes of the previous piece, employed more gradual shifts.

Conservatory junior Jung Un Suh performed Paganiniana by Nathan Milstein on the violin. Un Suh showed amazing technique in her playing. Paganiniana is a set of variations on a nautical-sounding theme composed by the violinist Nicolo Paganini. The variations utilized a variety of musical styles, including ornamentation, multiple voices and double stops. The piece ended with the same sea shanty theme introduced in the beginning.

Double-degree fifth-year Eric Fischer showed expression both in his musicality and in his stage presence when singing Odins Meeresritt Op. 118 by Carl Loewe. He was accompanied by Conservatory junior Farshad Tahvildar-Zadeh on the piano.

Most of this song was sung in a recitative style, almost as if Fischer was talking to someone.

Next, Conservatory senior Re Zhang performed two movements from Etudestableaux Op. 33 by Sergei Rachmaninoff on piano. The first movement was very energetic and colorful. Zhang’s hands were all over the keyboard. The second movement was much slower; it started out with a few long block chords that were then

gradually broke into many tremolos.

The performance concluded with two original jazz pieces. The first was “Mr. Task” by double-degree senior Stephen Becker, and the second was “Waiting On You” by Conservatory senior Jake Silverman.

These pieces were performed by double-degree senior Carl Mitchell on saxophone, Conservatory juniors Lawrence Galloway and Zachary Jay Warren on trombones, Becker on guitar, Silverman on piano, doubledegree senior Ethan Philion on bass, and Conservatory senior Miles Labat on drums. “Mr. Task” had a very strict tempo and a set form with everyone taking their turn to improvise the head. There was a huge drum solo to follow “Mr. Task.” “Waiting On You” followed shortly after that. The musicians often soloed simultaneously while maintaining far more flexibility of rhythm than in “Mr. Task.” It was a truly large contrast.

As a whole, the concert was a wonderful way to showcase the skills of Conservatory musicians to the incoming students. Everyone who performed represented Oberlin Conservatory’s strengths and stylistic variations.

De Jong delights with si m p li c ty and beauty Continued From page 10 Conservatory junior James Vitz-Wong works the controls to bring concerts at Oberlin to a global audience.

Yvette Chen

Live Stream Webcasts Expand Audience for Conservatory Performances Anne Buckwalter Never fear if your greatest study abroad opportunity falls during the same semester as a recital you’d love to see, or if your family cannot travel to see you in an important performance. It is now possible to watch many Oberlin performances from anywhere with an internet connection. Last year, five of the main performance spaces on campus were outfitted with webcast capabilities. Many concerts in Finney Chapel, Kulas Recital Hall, Warner Concert Hall, Clonick Hall and Fairchild Chapel can now be viewed online.

According to Paul Eachus and Ryan Miller, director and assistant directors of Conservatory audio services, cameras and other video equipment hasve been added over the past five years in order to facilitate streaming. Additionally, student engineers who work for Conservatory audio have expanded their skills to include camera operation and video transitions.

Currently the webcast program is used for faculty and guest artist recitals as well as chamber music concerts; performances by large student ensembles such as the Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Contemporary Music Ensemble and Oberlin Jazz Ensemble are streamed, in addition to other select events.

One stipulation of the webcast service is that the webcasts are only available concurrently with the live performances. According to Eachus and Miller, “hosting and producing ‘on-demand’ recordings of concerts involves more complicated copyright and mechanical licensing issues, as well as additional resources for archive management.” The limit on these webcasts’ availability, however, is a minor drawback to a program that is dramatically expanding the audience of every performance. Eachus and Miller said that the large ensemble concerts typically draw 100–400 viewers. Audiences of notable size are especially common for Musical Union and orchestra performances.

With the webcast program in place at five performance venues (and, upon the completion of Stull Hall, a sixth), many concerts will continue to be streamed from miles or continents away. There is one important source of untapped potential, however, that would likely draw additional viewers: the students of Oberlin. Attendees of individual or small group student performances can expect to see friends of the performers sitting on an aisle, video mechanism in hand. Often these video jobs convey only the basic gist of the performance and may have poor audio and/or video quality, as well as a significant amount of audience noise. However, Eachus and Miller said there are currently no plans to add student performances to the webcast program.

Access remains the key issue. For now, students have the chance to see some amazing performances via webcast. However, the Conservatory may someday break out of the mainstream with its live streams.

Upcoming live concerts are listed online at www.new.oberlin.edu/conservatory/listenlive.

embellished with agitated bows and furious plucking, as if to place the audience on edge. When things became just uncomfortable enough, de Jong broke the tension with a ringing harmonic or sampled scream. He invitedCollege seniorValerie Perczek to join him onstage on trumpet toward the concert’s end, and the pair lilted through a lazy pseudo-jazz exploration, much to the audience’s delight.

Perczek worked with De Jong on organizing his sample library after she met him when The Books played at Oberlin a few years ago. Elements of Americana and harsh industrial music also permeated the mix, though only briefly. It would have been fascinating to hear what new territory de Jong could explore if he borrowed a bit more from these genres.

Complexity is almost always the mark of an accomplished classical musician, but Paul de Jong reminded his listeners of the beauty in simplicity.

Perhaps not fitting the classical stereotype works to his advantage: if his tenure with The Books was any indication, pigeonholing de Jong’s emerging solo career will be next to impossible.

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The Oberlin Review, September 6 , 2013

Find the Fall Fitness Course That’s Right for You ATHL 100 Fitness for Life Instructor: Jason Hudson, Head Track & Field Coach Coach Hudson will be offering Fitness for Life this fall for the ninth consecutive year in his 12-year tenure at Oberlin College.

The primary goal of this class is to raise an overall awareness of what fitness entails. The course educates students about the value of maintaining a healthy diet as well as teaching anaerobic, aerobic and strength training. Though Coach Hudson promises a challenging workout, he assures us that the class is open to everyone. “The class is for anybody from varsity athletes to faculty members. Over the last four years the largest concentration of students have come from the Conservatory,” he said. Students will have the opportunity to track their progress by taking pre- and post-class fitness tests. These assessments will provide the opportunity to properly self-evaluate fitness levels before and after the completion of Fitness for Life.

ATHL 110 Waterfront Lifeguarding Instructor: Betsy Bruce, Director of Club Sports

This course includes American Red Cross Lifeguard Training, Waterfront Lifeguard and CPR for the Professional Rescuer/ AED. Upon successful completion of the course, students are certified to lifeguard pool and waterfront locations. However, the class does not cover surfing or waterpark lifeguarding. The class provides the opportunity for students to gain employable skills while maintaining a healthy exercise routine. Students must know how to swim in order to enroll in the course.

ATHL 145 Core Training

Instructor: Adrian Abrahamowicz, Head Baseball Coach If you’re in search of a core-improvement class that involves both a yoga mat and sit-ups, this is the place for you. Students have the opportunity to improve their core by utilizing a variety of different techniques. Through dynamic movement and challenging routines, the class guarantees development in overall fitness that goes beyond solely improving core muscles. The course explores exercises that involve both floor and non-floor work with medicine balls and weights. Core Training is open to all students; however, the course promises to be a difficult workout experience.

by Tyler Sloan

Football Team to Attend Conservatory Events in Effort to Gain Fans Continued from page 16 nior tight end Gideon Reiz, one of the team’s much ballyhooed walk-ons. To compensate, players are being conditioned to play full games, since some do not have backups. As a result, practices are tougher than ever.

When asked about preparation for games, Reiz said, “We take it a week at a time with opponents. We play in the present, and we prepare each week for that team based on film we watch on them from previous games.”

In addition to enthusiasm for playing, the Yeomen are hopeful that students will support the team more than they typically have in the past. Many players

are concerned that Oberlin students have unfair misconceptions about athletes in general.

“I think we have a bunch of really good guys who are just like any other Oberlin College student. You know, maybe they’re bigger,” said Coach Ramsey.

“We’re nice guys. A lot of us are a lot shyer than typical Oberlin students,” said Kaip, adding, “We’re not just dumb meatheads.”

This year, the team will actively support various College and Conservatory events such as concerts and dance recitals.

The Yeomen await their home opener against Case Western Reserve University on Sept.

15.

— Field Hockey —

Strong Chemistry to Carry Field Hockey this Fall Ellie Huizenga With the addition of eight first-years to the 10 returning players, the field hockey team is ready to start their 2013 season. Sophomore Dyaami D’Orazio stated that she is “most looking forward to the increase in wins over last year.”

With four wins and 11 losses last year, the field hockey team is excited to improve its record this season through hard work.

The season started for the Yeowomen long before classes began, when the entire team arrived on campus on Aug. 17 to begin preseason training. Throughout that time, the field hockey team worked on improving its fitness level as well as its technical ability on the field. Preseason consists of two practices a day in the scorching sun and humid air. It wasn’t all brutal work, however.

Sophomore Taylor Swift said her favorite parts of preseason were, “being able to focus solely on playing the sport I love, not having to think about classes and singing and dancing to Beyoncé.”

The team has grown in many ways, especially with the addition of new members. “I think we are headed in a solid direction in terms of our stick skills and preparation to compete against other teams,” said D’Orazio. With many first-years who hail from California to North Carolina, the Yeowomen are a young team. They refuse to let that scare them.

“From the start, the first-years have adjusted and blended in with OCFH, bringing a lot to the team both on and off the field. They’re all very

skilled, which has helped push the returners to really step up our game. The level of play at practice is already way past where we started last year, so I’m very hopeful about the season,” said Swift.

The team will certainly be different than last year, but Swift is still optimistic about the season.

“We lost a lot of players from last season for various reasons, which has been hard for the returners in terms of the team dynamic and play,” she said. “But at the same time, we’ve gained eight talented freshmen that have upped our competitive level, and even just from spring season everyone has come out stronger and more skilled, setting us up to be a bigger threat in the NCAC this year.”

D’Orazio feels as though the team is “growing in terms of competitive spirit, which is important to win games and also growing in understanding field hockey more through game film analysis.”

“I’m really excited about the team this year. Last year we had a lot of one or two goal losses, and I definitely think we’re stronger this year and can win those games,” says Swift. “But aside from winning, I’m most looking forward to just bonding and spending countless hours with the crazy wonderful OCFH family.”

There is no doubt that the unity of the team will help carry the ladies through their season.

Women’s field hockey is a team to watch this fall. With Head Coach Anna Baeth leading the team, the Yeowomen will not settle for anything less than victory. The next home game is on Saturday, Sept. 21, against DePauw University.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, September 6, 2013

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Page 15

Christine Antonsen

Christine Antonsen, junior and captain of the women’s volleyball team This week the Review sat down with the captain of women’s volleyball, junior Christine Antonsen, to discuss grueling workouts, the new season and Old Spice Swagger.

What was your favorite moment of preseason?

I don’t know, but can I tell you what my least favorite moment was instead? It was doing a pool workout with field hockey. It was really tiring, and I almost drowned.

What did you have to do?

So much hard stuff. They threw us in the pool, and we were sprinting, but in the deep end, and we couldn’t touch, and we couldn’t stop.

I’m not a swimmer.

What are you looking for-

ward to the most this season?

I’m just really excited for pretty much every game because I love playing, and the team’s really great, and it’s gonna be good. I’m really excited for all of our conference games, especially any game against Kenyon [College].

What makes the volleyball team unique?

The volleyball team is unique in that we all are so incredibly different, have different passions, dress differently, come from different backgrounds, etc., yet we mesh so well together.

What’s your favorite OCVB memory?

Last year at the conference tournament versus Allegheny

[College], I served and hit one of the players in the face and it bounced off her face and hit her teammate in the face.

When did you start playing volleyball?

I first started playing volleyball in high school. I went into high school tryouts my freshman year having never touched a volleyball and never seen a game.

Do you have any pre-game rituals?

When I play volleyball I wear men’s deodorant. I wear Old Spice Swagger. I’ve never not worn men’s deodorant.

What’s your favorite song on your team’s warm-up playlist?

Editorial: College Athletes Underpaid Continued from page 16 Expecting a teenager to take a full courseload of classes while also spending time on what amounts to basically a full-time job during the season is downright ridiculous.

It’s time for schools like Ohio State University, University of Michigan and University Texas to stop pretending that their student-athletes are equal parts student and athlete. It simply isn’t the case.

For athletes at big-time Division-I schools, getting compensated for their work on the field would finally recognize their status as important cogs in the moneymaking machine that is the NCAA. I don’t believe that “student-athletes” should

be compensated as if they have a full-time job, but they certainly deserve some small percentage of the massive amount of revenue that their university makes directly off of them.

One might note how many Division-I athletes go on to make millions of dollars and that paying them in college isn’t even necessary. This is a moot point, though, since only baseball has more than two percent of its college athletes go pro, and it doesn’t take away from the fact that college athletes help generate enormous revenue for their schools.

Every Division-I school in the United States would tell you how much they appreciate their student-athletes, and now it’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is.

“Tootsee Roll” [by 69 Boyz] and Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass.”

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? 235.

If you could improve one thing about your playing, what would it be?

To not be so awkward when I move. I’m pretty uncoordinated.

What do you think is the team’s strength this year?

We’re so strong, I don’t know. Everyone on the team is incredibly dedicated and committed. Either that or that everyone’s just awesome.

What do you plan on doing differently this year?

I am not planning on doing anything different. The main difference is what my focus is on and that is to stay healthy so I can last through the season this year.

If you could be the best athlete in the world at any other sport what would it be?

Probably rugby, because I really miss contact sports and I want to just tackle people.

But I wouldn’t want to be tackled, so I’d have to be really good.

Interview by Rose Stoloff, Sports Editor Photo byYvette Chen

The Oberlin Review

— Soccer —

First-Years Impress Early in Season Women’s Soccer Spotlight: Camille Sacristan

— Football —

After Busy Preseason, Yeomen Ready for Fall Kevin Sloan

off,” he said. “By NCAA rules we lose a practice day if we do that, but with a bye the first week of the season, they deserved it.”

Since the start of classes, the Yeomen have continued training at a high level. “We’re working extremely hard,” said Ramsey.

“We’re focused, and we have our ups and downs like everyone does.”

One obstacle the Yeomen will have to overcome this season is their small team size. The team

is comprised of far fewer players than the 100-player squads against which they compete. The Yeomen have only 36 players, 10 fewer than last season.

Though their small team size can sometimes limit the effectiveness of their practices, the Yeomen are directing their attention elsewhere. “We try not to dwell on the numbers,” said seSee Yeomen, page 14

See Editorial, page 15

the trash — r in e r p

e or compost ycl it ec

After a rigorous preseason training camp, the Oberlin football team is ready for the upcoming season. The team has developed various new plays and formations under Head Coach Jeff Ramsey, who is enthusiastic about the team’s growth thus far this year. The Yeomen have the first official week of their season off, which allows them extra time to prepare for their first game

against Case Western Reserve University on Sept. 15.

The workload during training can be extremely strenuous, and that hasn’t been lost on the team’s players. “Generally, your schedule [during training camp] is from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” said junior offensive lineman Rory Kaip.

“It’s intermittent with meals and meetings.”

Coach Ramsey commented on the busy schedule as well. “We actually gave them an extra day

t this new t pu sp o a n

The Yeomen are off to a 2–0 start in this 2013 campaign which combines a very talented group of upperclassmen with an equally potent group of firstyears. One college first-year already starting to draw praise from Head Coach Blake New is Nick Wertman, a midfielder from Westlake, Ohio.

Wertman has played in both games for the Yeomen and earned a start in the 1–3 victory over Concordia University. Coach New described Wertman as, “a very technically gifted player that has a nose for the goal.” Though he has yet to notch his first goal, he has threatened a few times, and it is only a matter of time before he scores.

“We are going to see him score some goals this year,” continued Coach New. “He has played well enough through the first few games and preseason training that he will certainly be in the mix for playing time with our talented upperclassmen.”

“My experience so far has been amazing,” said Wertman. “As soon as I arrived, the team made me feel right at home.”

This mounting chemistry off the field is carrying onto the field as well. “I picture the soccer team doing huge things this year. Coach New is pushing us to always strive for more, which is instilling the right attitude in our team as we approach this coming year.”

Outside of soccer, Nick is looking forward to the opportunity to make new friends from all walks of life. “I am excited to learn more new ideas and concepts that you would not get anywhere else,” said Wertman.

The team’s next game and home opener will be on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. against Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.

o

Men’s Soccer Spotlight: Nick Wertman

It’s high time the NCAA puts an end to one of the most serious injustices in all of sports.

A 2013 report showed that in 40 states, the highest paid public employee is the head coach of a sports team. I’m sure that statistic disgusts many of you, but in reality, all of those head coaches help bring in enormous amounts of revenue for their respective universities.

From 2011 to 2012, 11 schools had athletic departments that generated over $100 million in revenue, while many more Division-I schools made millions in profit. That revenue helps fund many non-athletic activities around campus and its importance should not be understated.

I won’t disagree with you if you still think that college head coaches are overpaid, but there’s a more serious injustice at work here.

Though revenue goes up every year, the most important pieces of this moneymaking process—the athletes that play on the fields, courts and rinks— continue to be uncompensated for their hard work. The head coach of any team would gladly tell you that their job would be meaningless without the effort of the players who actually take the field.

I’ll stop short of saying that athletes here at Oberlin should get paid, since I think we all can agree that athletics come second to academics here. The same isn’t always true at big Division I schools, though.

For many athletes at bigger schools, their athletic career is expected to be their number one commitment, and as long as that’s what they decide to do, it’s fine by me. College sports entertain millions, and college athletes often get to showcase their skills on national television and in front of tens of thousands of fans every week.

What isn’t fine by me is a university treating athletes as it would any other student.

ead! Please d

Sacristan, one of 12 first-years on the Women’s soccer team, is excited for her first season as a Yeowoman. She has already scored two points this year.

Courtesy of Oberlin College Athletics

Erickson Andrews

Wertman impressed coaches early in the season with his strong offensive playing.

Courtesy of Oberlin College Athletics

Pay Time for Student Athletes Nate Levinson Sports Editor

Erickson Andrews

The Yeowomen took two games to find their stride, but after a dominating 5–0 win over Hilbert College last Monday, they brought their record up to 1–2. This win ties their entire win total from last season when they tallied only one victory. Under new Head Coach Dan Palmer, however, they are competing with new drive and have stepped up their play.

To help facilitate this more successful season, the Yeowomen brought in 12 first-years. Camille Sacristan is one who will definitely contribute from the get-go.

Hailing from Napa Valley, CA, Sacristan has earned a start in each of the first three games. Originally a defender, Sacristan has had to adjust to an attacking midfielder position after fellow first-year Megan Herrmann broke her collarbone. “[Sacristan] facilitates the ball movement through the middle very well and uses her speed to quickly get a step on the opponent,” said Senior Captain Sarah Andrews. Sacristan has tallied six shots and two points in the first three games, scoring a goal in the recent victory over Hilbert.

“We are a young team, but I can see the team chemistry is helping a lot already this year,” said Sacristan, “Every person on our team is working hard to play the best soccer we can.”

Sacristan is very happy to be in Oberlin, and said, “Oberlin has been unbelievably perfect for me. I’m immersed in the sport that I love, while meeting wonderful people and taking classes that interest me.” Outside of academics, this semester Sacristan is excited to make new friends and get her groove on at the ’Sco. The women’s next game will be Sept. 8 at home against Medaille College.

September 6, 2013

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