The Sycamore Fall 2016 by The Sycamore

THE SYCAMORE

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WELLS COLLEGEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STUDENT MAGAZINE / FALL 2016

THE

ISSUE

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

features 8 44

THE NOT-SO-AMERICAN DEBT CRISIS Understanding Puerto Rico’s economy

INTERVIEW WITH AN ART MAJOR

Getting to know some of Wells’s brilliant art students

ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Paintings that pop with color

VINCENT VAN GOGH’S LOVE OF COLOR

The artist’s passion for creation

NATURAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Beauty as far as the eye can see

INTERPRETING RED

The many meanings behind one color

A DEFENSE OF THE SLACKER 2

Not caring can be cool

EATING IN COLOR

An appetizing photo submission

SUNSET PHOTOGRAPHY

See a photo-spread unfold as the sun sets

RECLAIMING THE WORD LIBERAL Politics from an educated point of view

WHITE PRIVILEGE DECONSTRUCTED Check yourself before you wreck yourself

CLOSE UP PHOTOGRAPHY Fine details in color

ANIMAL PHOTOGRAPHY Wild thing, you make my heart sing

POETRY WITH A TOUCH OF COLOR A piece on the color blue

constants 6 78

EDITORS’ NOTES

A few opening remarks

WRITTEN WORK CONTEST Fiction and poetry submissions

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MUSIC REVIEW

Chance the Rapper and his new album: “Coloring Book”

DEAR MINERVA

Advice from Wells’s resident goddess

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VISUAL ARTS CONTEST And the winner is…

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

THE SYCAMORE is Wells Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s student magazine. This is our seventeenth biannual issue. In keeping with our mission, we print on sustainably harvested paper and use nontoxic ink.

staff RAEA BENJAMIN

EMILY MARSHMAN MINERVA ALEXANDRA CASTIGLIONE JANE FILLION COURTNEY GOOD NATASHA GRAHAM MYA PADILLA ABIGAIL RUNDLE MACY SMOLSKY

Editor in Chief Chief Design Editor Staff Writer Assistant to Editor in Chief Chief Copy Editor Staff Writer Advice Columnist Staff Writer Copy Editor Staff Writer Copy Editor Staff Writer Staff Writer Staff Writer Copy Editor Staff Writer Staff Writer

NADIA MCCARY CHRISTIAN MONTEAVARO AFTON NOHA HOPE ALRIDGE

Guest Photographer Guest Photographer Guest Photographer Guest Photographer

CATHERINE BURROUGHS

Advisor

contact Eâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;MAIL WEB ADDRESS

WellsSycamore@gmail.com Issuu.com/WellsSycamore Wells College 170 Main Street Aurora, NY 13026

FRONT COVER DESIGN BY RAEA BENJAMIN THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Editor’s NOTE W

hen I first joined The Sycamore as a Wells College freshman, I remember admiring Julie Juang (’15) for all the hard work she had put into the magazine as Editor in Chief that year. I also remember how grateful I was not to be in her position. Now, nearly four years later and in the midst of my senior year at Wells, I can honestly say that I am beyond honored and incredibly grateful to have taken on the position that once scared and intimidated me so much. That being said, I could never have done it on my own and I have so many people to thank for their help. Had it not been for Julie Juang, Melissa Brewer (’16), and Michelle Lee (’16), I never would have been prepared to take on this responsibility. All three of you are an inspiration and I’m so incredibly thankful to have looked up to you.

As for this semester’s staff, none of this could have happened without all of you either. Thank you to everyone who pitched in to make The “Color” Issue happen. Thank you to the staff writers for gracing the pages of this publication with your beautiful thoughts and words. Thank you to all of the kind souls who agreed to be guest photographers and guest writers, even on very short notice. Thank you to our Chief Copy Editor, Emily Marshman (’18), for always being there to calm me down when things seem like they’re going to fall apart. Last but not least, thank you to my wonderful friends who listened to all of my ideas (good or bad), helped me out whenever something went wrong (and a lot of things went wrong), and for spending late nights with me in the office so I wouldn’t get too lonely. I love you all and appreciate everything you’ve done to make the Fall, 2016 issue possible. I can’t wait to see what’s in store next semester!

Copy Editor’s NOTE A

s a first-year staff writer and copy editor for The Sycamore, I never could have imagined the opportunity to take over as Chief Copy Editor would be given to me. Missy Brewer (’16) and Michelle Lee (’16), from the bottom of my heart, thank you for taking a chance on me. The time I had with the two of you will never be forgotten. I have never felt more love for a publication and organization as I do for The Sycamore. It has taken my writing to places I never imagined it could go. This semester’s theme – color – is a powerful one. We have entered a new era in America, one where the discussion of color (in any context) is going to be an ongoing and altogether urgently significant one. The interpretations we received from the staff

writers this semester were so well-planned and they were executed in an even more powerful manner. Thank you to my copy editors – I truly could not have done it without you. Also, thank you to myself for creating an organized, color-coded list for the articles and to whom/when I sent them out. I am so proud of everyone who tried something new and decided to work with us on The Sycamore this year. Thank you all for making my first semester as Chief Copy Editor such an incredible experience – I look forward to working with you all next semester!

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Red, White, Blue, and Green:

Puerto Rico the Not-So-Completely Amer By Mya Padilla

We all borrow things from time to time, and if you are a college student, you practically survive off of the barter system. When you’re a country, however, borrowing money becomes a little more complicated. When your ‘country’ is not even a real country, things get a lot more complicated. Herein lies the chaos that is the Puerto Rican debt crisis. In order to address this issue as a whole, we must analyze bite-sized chunks, including: Puerto Rico’s territorial status and its role in the debt crisis, how the debt crisis came to be, and, lastly, the systems put in place to address and handle this issue. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States of America, which essentially means that it is self-governing with a constitution of its own adaptation. Interestingly enough, four states have the word “commonwealth” in their full official state names, including Kentucky, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Pennsylvania; the only difference is that these states have representation in Congress and have the right to vote in federal elections. Article II, section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America (National Archives and Records Administration) clearly illustrates that only states can participate in the electoral process; this effectively excludes Puerto Rico from having their interest represented within Congress or by their Commander-in-Chief. Another tremendous downfall to being a commonwealth is the island’s inability to restructure its debt, specifically through filing Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Stephen Mihm, a professor at the University of Georgia, and a writer for the Bloomberg View, reflects on the territory’s autonomy, “at one time, Puerto Rico, along with other territories and all states, could authorize municipalities and public corporations to enter bankruptcy. Yet a little over three decades ago Congress stripped the island of its recourse to municipal bankruptcy law” (Mihm, 2015). Although, Puerto Rico had complete autonomy to declare bankruptcy once Congress took that privilege away the Supreme Court was quick to match that decision.

rican Debt Crisis

In a 5-2 ruling, the justices said that although the government and people of Puerto Rico should not have to wait for possible congressional action to avert a financial crisis, the Constitution does not allow them to rewrite a statute that Congress enacted in 1984. While states can allow municipalities to seek such debt relief, the lower court said, Congress had not given Puerto Rico that right (Wheeler, 2016). This ruling set one major precedent: territories could no longer practice autonomy over its own economy. The Supreme Court had officially doomed Puerto Rico by making its financial crisis dependent on the decisions of Congress. It is also important to mention that representatives from Puerto Rico are technically non-voting members of Congress, which means they are constitutionally barred from voting on behalf of their people. â&#x20AC;&#x201A; Although territorial status has had its circumstances, but the island was able to temporarily benefit from its geopolitical standing. The Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to residents in Puerto Rico, but it also created the environment for investors to escape taxes that they might have faced in the mainland. Puerto Rico became an island of incentivization. Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 laid out the specific tax exemptions, which would bring a lot of monetary attention to the island, Interest income on most municipal bonds is subject to taxes by various levels of government, including federal, state and local. [. . .] Jones-Shafroth exempted Puerto Rican municipal bonds from all three levels of taxation; as a result, residents of all 50 states and other U.S. territories could invest in Puerto Rican bonds without paying interest on the income (DePersio, 2016). THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

These triple tax exemptions led to a boom in municipal bonds, which created a vibrant and stimulated economy. Investors flocked to the island incredibly willing to invest in the island, and a booming pharmaceutical industry came to the island. At first it seemed that the plan had worked, the government was able to keep companies within the United States (rather than going overseas) and Puerto Rico had the money it needed to grow its economy and increase the standard of living. But all good things must come to an end, and in Puerto Rico’s case, it was a devastating wake up call. Puerto Rico began to use the municipal bonds as a means to balance the commonwealth’s budget, with the full knowledge that these funds were borrowed and not actual revenue (DePersio, 2016). Though this structure seemed to work, the exemptions that kept big-name companies in Puerto Rico would soon leave the island as quickly as they came. Greg DePersio, explains that the non-permanent tax advantages would be an incredible stimulant for the economic crisis that Puerto Rico would face in the wake of corporate evacuation. These tax advantages, however, were not permanent. As they expired over time, many companies elected to discontinue their Puerto Rican presence. [. . .] Reduced corporate presence led to GDP declines, worsening the island’s debt-to-GDP ratio and hastening its credit downgrade (DePersio, 2016). Puerto Rico, much like Cinderella, had the magic to make their island the envy of the territories, but with at strike of 12 o’clock, Puerto Rico back sitting on a pumpkin, and no prince in sight. Puerto Rico soon realized that these companies would not stay out of the kindness of their hearts, without any regulatory measures put in place to keep these companies on the island, they simply left.

Expecting these companies to stay after these benefits had reached their term was absurd, and Puerto Rico was left empty-handed. Without the funds to properly balance the budget, and without an economy based on production, Puerto Rico was left with a giant bill to pay, but no means to pay it. People in the mainland, especially Congress, who had allowed for such a short-term opportunistic economic system, were also unsure with how to proceed. Let’s imagine that the U.S. is Puerto Rico’s parents and they leave their son for a long weekend. Seeing a golden opportunity, Puerto Rico takes advantage of his parents being gone and hosts a rager in his apartment. Halfway through the kegger, he gets a little over zealous and passes out, while everyone else wrecks the place. Now, we could spend time blaming the imaginary child and/or parent, but the fact remains: the house is completely totaled and both Puerto Rico and the United States have to help clean up the mess. With $72 billion in debt, Puerto Rico is a huge mess to come back from.

Since restructuring the debt through Chapter 9 bankruptcy is out of the question, a severely divided Congress was left with the task of creating comprehensive legislation that would save Puerto Rico from the incapable trenches of despair.Meanwhile,Puerto Rico was already in the depths of despair. Daniel Marans, author of 5 Things You Should Know As Puerto Rico Confronts Its Unpayable Debt, explores the dire consequences of the removal of the tax exemptions and the usage of municipal bonds as a monetary crutch in the budget. The government laid off tens of thousands of public employees and raised the sales tax from 7 percent to 11.5 percent. It has closed some 10 percent of Puerto Rico’s schools since 2014, driving a sharp rise in the size of classes. Even more schools are due for closure in the near future. The strains on public health infrastructure have made it more difficult for the island to combat an outbreak of the Zika virus. The relentless austerity has also stunted the island’s economy, while cutting back the very social services that are more needed than ever. Puerto Rico had an unemployment rate of 11.8 percent in March — more than twice the overall U.S. rate of 5 percent. The poverty rate on the island is now 45 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (Marans, 2016).

In the words of John Oliver, these are the “plagues God felt were too think-y for the Bible,” and with plagues as widely cast as these, it’s going to need an act of God to unite Congress around legislation. Puerto Rico, in the midst of its crisis, kept an eye out for any burning bushes, but instead found the Puerto Rican Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), whose acronym also is the Spanish word for promise (how fitting). PROMESA is an oversight board that is made up of financial experts picked by Congress and the President, some of the members of the board are Puerto Rican, in order to make sure the country remains on good track to manage its debt. PROMESA and its oversight board will be, “approving the governor’s fiscal plan; approving annual budgets; enforcing budgets and ordering any necessary spending reductions; and reviewing laws, contracts, rules, and regulations for compliance with the fiscal plan” (Duffy, 2016). These seem to be, at their core, helpful contributions, but this act is far from perfect. Puerto Rico’s government essentially becomes obsolete, since the oversight committee has the final decision on which fiscal plans to implement. The governor reserves the right to negotiate with the representatives which they owe money to, and if these two parties were to reach an agreement, the oversight board could still reject the plan, remove the Governor, and negotiate themselves (Duffy, 2016). THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

The act allows for a committee to essentially remove Puerto Rico’s only source of sovereignty, which many Puerto Ricans see as an overstepping of boundaries, especially since this board was not approved by the citizens. Another concern amongst the people is the fact that the board has the interests of the debt in mind. Instead of allocating funds to support the people, closing schools, shut down hospitals, and crashing pension plans, the focus remains solely on using money to chip away at the mounting debt. The tensions on the island are so high, I fear that if effective change to improve the welfare of Puerto Rican doesn’t comes soon that violence may riddle the streets as we saw in Greece. No solution to a problem this big will be perfect, but revisiting PROMESA is necessary. It is easy to forget, as mainlanders, that our Puerto Rican brothers and sisters are just as American as we are, and I believe that when one part of our country is in dire need of help that it is our duty as citizens to make sure it comes readily. •

WORKS CITED DePersio, Greg. “How Did Puerto Rico End Up With So Much Debt ?” Investopedia. N.p., 2016.Web. 16 Oct. 2016.. Marans, Daniel. “5 Things You Should Know As Puerto Rico Confronts Its ...” Huffington Post. Huffington Post, 28 Apr. 2016. Web. 07 Nov. 2016. Mihm, Stephen. “Congress Goofed. Puerto Rico Pays.” Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 03 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Nov. 2016. National Archives and Records Administration. “The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription.” National Archives. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2016. Wheeler, Lydia. “Supreme Court Rules Puerto Rico Can’t Restructure Debt ...” The Hill. The Hill, 13 June 2016. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

Interview With an Art MajorBy Natasha Graham

Being an art student is a huge commitment. It is a degree that is fueled purely on effort and determination. Freshman, Kat LoBello, has been interested in art all her life and has a great understanding of the hard work that she will have to put into her future career. “I’ve always loved to take pictures,” says LoBello, “I really like to travel, and I want to be able to help people by being a photojournalist. Bringing attention to the horrific things going on in other countries in hopes that more people will pay attention and try to make a change.” A very noble profession indeed. Although she seems to be very secure in her decision to be a photographer in the future, Kat has not declared her major yet. This is mainly because she believes that an art career can be very risky. “I think that if you are going to be an art major you should definitely have a backup, because it is a really hard field to do well in,” Kat says, “there afre many artist out there and although most have a deep love and passion for art, it is difficult to find buyers to sell our artwork to.” THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

One person that may understand Kat’s indecision is Thesising Studio Art Major, Kim Brighon Jr.. Kim started to have an interest in art at a very young age. “I really got into art when I was five,” Kim says, “I would always go outside and look at the sky, buildings and such. At the time I couldn’t draw, so I usually expressed myself by playing Tony Hawk Pro skater games and making custom skate parks.” “I started drawing in the 7th grade and have continued to improve my capabilities. Secondary School helped me to solidify my art style and college has helped me to work more diversely and expand my horizons.” Once I started, I just couldn’t stop,” says Kim, “there was just something about it that just attracted me. Strangely enough, Kim played sports during a good part of his high school career. He played football and baseball until his senior year. He hasn’t played on any sports teams during his four years at Wells. For Kim’s senior thesis, as an art student, he has to make series of works on a subject of his choice and in any medium. His thesis is going to be on the struggles that he’s had with his family over the years. “It’s going to be very personal. I’ve gone through a lot in the pass with my family, and I really just want to put everything out there the best way that I know how.”

During the process of completing, he hopes to find closure for the things that have happened to him in the past, and truly begin to move forward. Although he doesn’t know exactly what he’s going to do after he graduates from Wells in May, Kim is very confident in his chances when he ventures out into the art world. “I know that this is a very competitive occupation, art is, and I am pretty confident in my artistic skills,” says Kim, “On top of drawing, I know how to edit in photoshop, create video content and edit videos by myself. So, I can do a lot that, I believe, will give me an advantage when I start doing whatever I end up doing.” So, although art may be an unpredictable pathway to take on your college journey, in the end, it can only give back to you the amount of success that matches the amount of effort you put in. •

Color Mania Artwork and Photography by Nadia McCary

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

''I dream of paint paint my Vincent van Gog By Emily Marshman

A wise man once said, “I often think that the night is more alive and richly colored than the day.” Vincent van Gogh, born on March 30th, 1853 in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands, is an immensely famous and tremendously talented Impressionist painter. He is usually recognized for his use of paint as both an element of texture and of color, and is most well-known for his paintings The Starry Night, 1889 and Café Terrace at Night, 1888. In 1869, Vincent van Gogh was employed by The Hague Gallery. Shortly after, he moves to London, then Paris, then finally Brussels, where he learns to become an artist. Having been trained in the early 1880s, van Gogh had a shockingly short career as a painter. Van Gogh’s first major painting, The Potato Eaters, was completed in May of 1885, and was painted during the beginning of his career, when he was still experimenting with darker colors. Brighter colors did not come into van Gogh’s palette until he moved to Paris in March 1886 and was introduced to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He was arguably at his happiest in 1888, after moving to Arles to create a school for artists. It is during this year that he paints the sunflower still lifes, which are fondly remembered by anyone who has seen them. The first time I saw Sunflowers was in January of 2015, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It floored me; the colors are so vivid and the textures so evocative, even now, nearly one hundred and fifty years since it was painted. 20

One of Vincent’s most important influences when it came to his use of color was Charles Blanc’s color theories, derived from Eugène Delacroix’s uses of color; he was fascinated by contrasting colors and mixed them in an attempt to create as many pigments as he possibly could to work with. A lot of van Gogh’s earlier paintings, those that he created while living in the Netherlands, are quite dark, whereas those he painted in France, especially while at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole Asylum, are the bright, colorful paintings we are used to encountering in museums and art history textbooks. Charles Blanc writes, in the beginning of his book The Grammar of Painting, and Engraving, “Color being that which especially distinguishes painting from the other arts, it is indispensable to the painter to know its laws, so far as these are essential and absolute” (Blanc 145). I believe that Vincent van Gogh felt this statement to be truer than anything about painting that he had ever encountered before in his life, and so he incorporated this methodology as an artist, and more specifically (read: importantly) as a painter.

ting and then I y dream.'': gh's Love of Color

Of the rumors that have circulated concerning Vincent van Gogh over the course of the past century or so, one of the more popular is that he loved the color yellow and thought it to be the happiest color, and therefore believed that eating yellow paint would bring him unwavering happiness. During his stay at the institution in Saint-Rémy, van Gogh wrote in one of many letters to his brother Theo – with whom he kept constant contact – that he, almost absentmindedly, “picks up filthy things and eat[s] them,” and that he does not have any memory of doing so (Van Gogh Museum). According to medical records kept by van Gogh’s physician, Dr. Peyron, the painter had wanted to poison himself by eating his own paint and by drinking the turpentine he used to thin the paint. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam tells us that never has there been actual record of van Gogh stating that he ate yellow paint, but the rumor is a nice, albeit unhealthy, one. The thought of one having the ability to create happiness within, by, and for themselves simply by ingesting a bright color is comforting, almost.

The colors van Gogh uses in his painters directly correlate to different periods in his life. When he lived in Belgium, he painted realistic, detailed, darker scenes, mainly to prove to the community of artists that he was an important painter on the rise. After he moved to Paris in 1886 and met the Impressionists and PostImpressionists, of which he soon became part of the forefront, Vincent completed his famous Self Portrait with Straw Hat, one of the first exhibitions of his use of bright blues, yellows, and greens. After he moves to Arles, creates his school, and paints the bright, blooming sunflower pieces, he starts to suffer more and more from mental problems, and uses less bright colors. For example, during September of 1888, van Gogh painted Starry Night over the Rhone and The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, both of which are set at night, the sky a deep, midnight blue, the twinkling yellow light of the stars shining through. Vincent’s Bedroom in Arles, however, is full of bright colors, suggesting that his mental state was shifting during this time in his life. Soon after the completion of the painting of his bedroom in the “yellow house” in Arles in October of 1888, van Gogh’s friendship with fellow Impressionist Paul Gauguin is ended, he (very famously) cuts off a portion of his own ear, and admits himself to the asylum in Saint Rémy. During his stay in Saint-Paulde-Mausole asylum, van Gogh seems to head back to the brighter colors he felt so drawn to before he began exhibiting symptoms of poor mental health; he paints Irises, Starry Night, and Almond Blossom in the span of less than a year, completing them in May 1889, June 1889, and February 1890, respectively. Shortly after the completion of Almond Blossom, my favorite painting of Vincent van Gogh’s, and shortly after he is released from the asylum, he dies of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Van Gogh’s death in 1890 is widely acknowledged to have been a suicide. His mental health was never very sound; in May of 1889, after cutting ties with his friend, Gauguin, and, subsequently, a chunk of his own ear off, he admitted himself to the Saint-Paul-deMausole asylum, which led to one of the most artistically productive periods of his life. He would paint every day and night the scenes which he could see from the window of his room. Starry Night and Irises were painted during his stay in what has since been renamed to Clinique van Gogh. In the letter to his brother Theo which was penned on the twenty-second of August, 1889, a time when he was still in the hospital, van Gogh says, “I no longer see any possibility for courage or good hope, but anyway it wasn’t yesterday that we found out that this profession isn’t a happy one” (Letter 797). Vincent had acknowledged his declining mental health, and knew that it was because of his profession that he felt the way he did. He used color to try to heal himself, but ultimately, color was not enough for him. One of the leading opposing theories about van Gogh’s death is that he died of lead poisoning, brought about due to the fact that he allegedly ate his own paint. One of the most devastating things about van Gogh’s desperate love of color is that some of the pigments he used in his masterpieces are now fading. Experts have been trying to decipher why exactly the colors simply will not remain as bright as Vincent painted them, but try as they might, there is no way to save these so-called “fragile” pigments. Specifically, one of the pigments van Gogh used, dubbed “Red Lake,” shines bright, but is known to fade at an alarming rate. The paints that many of the Impressionists used are now recognized to have faded quickly; paintings from the nineteenth century are not nearly as vivid now as they were once.

Vincent van Gogh, as famous as he is now, produced nearly one thousand paintings in the ten years towards the end of his lifetime that he was an active artist, but sold not a single piece while he was alive. He was a very sad man, and the only things that made him happy were colors and being able to manipulate them, and his brother, Theo. After van Gogh had shot himself in the chest, and it had become clear two days later that he would not recover, the witnesses to the trauma sent for Theo. While sitting at his bedside, just before he died, Theo was able to coax a few words out of Vincent. He says in a letter to his sister Lies, “He himself wanted to die. When I sat at his bedside and said that we would try to get him better and that we hoped that he would then be spared this kind of despair, he said, ‘La tristesse durera toujours’ (The sadness will last forever). I understood what he wanted to say with those words.” I like to think that van Gogh found peace in death. His use of color shaped an entire era of painting and has affected generations of artists ever since. He used colors and texture to express his emotions more than anything else, a controversial concept at the time. In the end, Vincent van Gogh loved color so much that he was willing to die for it. • WORKS CITED Blanc, Charles, and Kate Newell Doggett. The Grammar of Painting, and Engraving. New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1874. Print. “Did Van Gogh Eat Yellow Paint Thinking That It Would Raise His Spirits?” Van Gogh Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. “The Effect of Colour.” Van Gogh’s Atelierpraktijk RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2016. “Theo Van Gogh to Elisabeth Van Gogh : 5 August 1890.” Theo Van Gogh to Elisabeth Van Gogh : 5 August 1890. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

The Colors of Nature By Nadia McCary

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

The Diverse Interpretations of Red

By Courtney Good

Red: a color that represents Wells and all her glory. But what does it mean? Red doesn’t have one clear-cut meaning that will allow us to know what it represents every time we see it. Rather, red is interpreted through many mediums. This color exudes a warm feeling inside us, connecting it to the emotions of love. Splayed all over merchandise for one of the most popular holidays, Valentine’s Day, red reminds couples to love their significant other. But for those who are single, walking into a store surrounded by an endless sea of red near Valentine’s Day can fill you with loneliness and dread for the upcoming holiday. With love comes intimacy and sexuality. Red is the epitome of sexuality, exploring deeper passions in us that allow us to express intimacy. Studies show that it can cause a physical effect on our bodies by stimulating the sexual appetite and raising our pulse, giving the body the belief that time is passing faster with every heartbeat (“Psychological Properties Of Colours - Colour Affects”). Seeing it on our lover’s body, we may feel turned on by the color; palms sweaty and shallow breathing, our body and mind feels attracted to the luscious shade on a voluptuous body. But not all of the connotations of the color are lustfilled. It can express negative feelings, such as anger or revenge. “I get so angry, I see red” – a common phrase amongst society that associates red with the degree of anger we are currently feeling. Like a hot branded iron touching your skin and boiling your blood, tightening your hands into fists, and clenching your jaw. And when someone is “out for blood”, they are seeking even more red, allowing a physical manifestation of their anger that they can bottle up until it explodes or release at that moment with no holding back.

But what about the precaution red gives us in our society? It grabs our attention, demanding that you take notice, and alerts us of what lies ahead. Universally, red is the color of danger. Grabbing our attention and warning us of danger, red is useful for commonalities in every-day life, such as traffic lights and stop signs. It expresses femininity; the transition of being a young girl to the entrance of womanhood. The color that women bleed out for a quarter of each month. Menstruation is a normal part of life. It brings on exhaustion, bloating, headaches, and muscle pain. Trust me, I know. But without the gushing red blood women endure during this hectic time, they would not be able to conceive. Therefore, the continuation of mankind’s existence would end if not for a female’s suffering every month.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

So we see this color every day of our lives. So what? Does it really have an effect on us? The answer is yes. Red can change our behavior in an instant. The color stimulates us, in the physical sense. It explores our sexuality, stimulating our deepest passions such as love, intimacy, and sex. Many home decoration outlets, even recommend that if you need to expand the sexual aspects of your life, exposing some red into the bedroom will introduce more passion into your love life. By doing this, you will bring more passion and arousal into the bedroom, as long as red is not overbearing in the room. By using this technique of feng shui, energies of sex and love can be balanced (“5 Ways to Use Feng Shui to Improve Your Sex Life,” 2015). It also provokes a sense of high energy. It heightens our emotions and excites us. It motivates us to become more loving and sexual, following the passions of our bodies, always on the brink of pleasure. Assertive and aggressive, it demonstrates our anger and the revenge we hope is sweet. It allows see how much anger we hold within ourselves, just waiting for it to burst. No matter how our behavior changes, this hue grabs our attention, making sure we know what is going on around us and warning us of things we could have previously been oblivious to earlier.

Generally, the type of driver you are perceived as, and how potentially aggressive you could be, connects to the color of your vehicle. Urban legends say that red cars get pulled over speeding more than any other vehicle of a different hue. But, this is a false; it has been used for centuries as a cautionary tale to advise young and inexperienced drivers not to buy red vehicles since it is such an eye-catching color. Across the United States, police give out about 34 million speeding tickets a year, accounting for about $6.2 billion in fines. Complying data for various sources, a study was conducted in 2014 to see what the most-ticketed car color is. (“Do Red Cars Get Pulled over More Often for Speeding?”, 2015). The answer: white. Out of the 924 total traffic citations, 19 percent of the tickets were accounted for by white vehicles. (“Do Red Cars Get Pulled over More Often for Speeding?”, 2015). However, red came in second with 16 percent of traffic violations. (“Do Red Cars Get Pulled over More Often for Speeding?”, 2015). But with this being said, there is no evidence, except eye-witness reports of seeing cars being pulled over, to prove that the theory that red cars are the primary enemy for speeding. It shouldn’t matter what hue your vehicle because that is not what characterizes a person. Road rage is based on your behavior, not a color.

Just like any other color, red influences the decisions we make and the emotions we possess, as well as our surrounding environment. With all of its variations, including maroon, burgundy, scarlet, and crimson, I feel as though red is the most important of colors for all of us. From the times I have gotten red marks slaughtered across my class assignments to a time when I walked down the street and almost ran into a stop sign, red has given me cautionary signs. But red has also made me feel love, like the time my friend brought me red roses to my graduation. For all that it represents and the close ties we, as humans, have with it, red is such a significant part of our culture. Without this pigment, we would be lost in our passions, unable to express our anger, and have no indication of danger. Visualizing a pallet of red, I will never be able to think of red as simply another color again. •

WORKS CITED Lapine, Cherise. “Do Red Cars Get Pulled over More Often for Speeding?” HowStuffWorks. N.p., 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. Papa, Ashley. “5 Ways to Use Feng Shui to Improve Your Sex Life.” StyleCaster. N.p., 09 Sept. 2015. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. Wright, Angela. “Psychological Properties Of Colours - Colour Affects.” Psychological Properties Of Colours - Colour Affects. Colour Affects, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Too Cool f Color Ass Preference, an Slac

for School: sociation, nd a Defense of ckers By Alexandra Castiglione

I’m standing in front of Macmillan Hall at 9:37 on a Tuesday morning, already seven minutes late for my American Drama seminar taking place behind one of the third-floor windows glimmering in the sun on the building’s southernmost wing. Above my head, the sky is surprisingly clear today, the same careless blue as my Apple weather app predicted. Below my feet, the grass is as resilient and green as it’s been all year, blades brushing against each other in the wind as if sharing secrets. And when I look up at the grand red banners flanking each side of Macmillan’s ornate spiral-staired entrance and think not of my fifty-thousand-dollar education ticking away by the seconds, but of something else entirely: a Nazi SS rally. I wish I could help it, but really, I can’t. When I look at those enormous banners – rippling in the lake-born breeze, framed by the stark white of the Roman columns, commanding reverence – the Wells College logo melts away in my mind’s eye only to reveal a menacing swastika. All desire to waltz through those double doors leaves my body completely. It is too easy for me to imagine peeking between the gleaming black helmets, just to catch a glimpse of a little mustached man orating angrily on a podium between those two red flags. I don’t know who would want to attend class when you’ve got to wade through a sea of fascist fear-mongers just to get there. Recently, I’ve started using the side door to get to sem. faster. THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

It doesn’t help that our dining hall’s terrace entrance is decked out with an intricate, tiled swastika design, but I digress. In a study composed in 1966, psychologist K. Warner Schaie used subjects’ responses to color in order to evaluate emotional behavior. He claimed that there was a correlation between color and personality based on the tenets of aesthetic appeal and symbolic value. These, he said, are both based on individual experience. I wonder, if Schaie were to see me standing before Macmillan warily eying its scarlet shackles, what he would claim it said about my personality. My aversion to the color red began far before I had ever stalled for time in Macmillan Circle or even stepped foot on the Wells College campus. When I think of red, I think of my high school, Elmira Free Academy, former home of the Blue Devils. I think of freshman year when we combined sports teams with our rival school, and we were given the democratic right, as students of the institution, to choose our next school mascot. I remember standing eagerly in line in the gym on voting day, bouncing on the balls of my feet, holding my ballot tight at the corners so not to crumple or tear it. The insignia of the Blue Devils grinned up at me from the waxed-wood floor. I can remember thinking as I looked into his deviously smiling face, soon you won’t be smiling, Devil, when we become the Teal Titans. That was my vote: the Teal Titans. All my friends were on board. It was the natural choice, given our options, the only one worth picking, if you asked me; I knew the next year I would be playing dodgeball in this very gym and trampling over the bluish-green façade of an obscure, bearded demigod.

I’m sure one can imagine my disappointment and betrayal when I found myself as a sophomore at Elmira Free Academy, New Home of the Red Express. Our mascot was a train. In the end, democracy was just a sham. My vote never mattered, and red was now the enemy. I’m sure you can also imagine my disbelief when I arrived to Wells College four years later only to find they, too, were Home of the Red Express. This time, the mascot was three sloppy-looking slashes, which was not much better. They’re meant either to be symbolic of the surrounding Finger Lakes or maybe just intimidating claw marks. I’ve never really been able to tell. So when I stand before Macmillan and feel nothing but an unrelenting urge to throw myself into the Cayuga Lake, who can really blame me? Red has not served me well. When I think of it now, I think of Nazis and Macmillan; or the red marks littering my papers, asking me to elaborate a little more here or maybe put some more thought into that part there, the color serving as a reminder of my incompetence; I think of the D’s and C’s that I thought would be B’s, the red text of the letterheads that don every school bill, the weight of my red backpack dragging me down into the depths of despair as I make the trek across campus to class. I think of a cloudless blue sky on a beautiful afternoon, and the brick red silhouette of the bell tower poking into it, tearing holes into the fabric of the day, reminding me of the homework and commitments keeping me captive indoors. On the last day of classes of my first year at Wells College, I find myself in the Woods parking lot, sprawled on the concrete with my head in a friend’s lap and a beerfilled mug in hand. This is “Moving-Up Day,” a school tradition beloved by all, where underclassmen come to get roasted and dissed by their senior friends, and then “move up” from their respective classes to the next. It’s my first chance to be flamed, my first exposure to the tradition, and I can’t wait to hear what they’ve got to say about me. I’m almost positive it is going to have something to do with my tendency to have loud sex in the Main 4th showers, or the Chapel, or empty classrooms, or anywhere, really. If I had to choose my most wellknown, utterly detestable quality, that would have been it.

My name is called. My hands tense, my shit-eating grin is already spreading across my face, and I know it’s coming. I’m ready to get burned. And, when the group of seniors decides my fate as a member of the community, they do not ordain me as the exhibitionist trash as I assume they will, but instead, they make a criticism that leaves me wondering for months: I am, apparently, “too cool for school.” Six months later, I’ve yet to discern what that means. The term has rolled about my brain as I pick apart my personality till it’s nothing but shrapnel, and still, I wonder what this says of me. Urban Dictionary’s most up-voted definition of the term describes a person who “thinks him or herself superior to everyone else in a given group or in general.” Does this speak to my poor attendance in classes? I can count on twoand-a-half hands the number of absences I’ve accumulated in the last month alone. Showing up to lecture – on time or at all – has never been my strong suit. But this isn’t because of a superiority complex. I’ve got Macmillan’s ominous banners to blame. Urban Dictionary’s second most popular definition, however, is a little different. In this context, someone who is too cool for school is one who had, “submerged themselves so much in the Counterculture . . . and is thus ‘so cool,’ that they are largely unfit for and unable to participate in conventional society.” This term was coined in the 1960s, when Timothy Leary’s acid children were “tuning in, turning on, and dropping out,” minds so rampant with psychedelics that they could smell sounds and taste colors and wanted nothing more than to do whatever they could to avoid supporting The Establishment. I’m not that big of an anti-institution weenie, but I think there’s something to be said about people who find better ways to spend their time than sitting in a classroom, or behind a desk, devoted to meeting expectations.

Red is considered a “warm color.” In a study where participants were asked to evaluate their response to living rooms of varying colors, the dens with warm-colored walls were more likely to elicit responses of high arousal, excitement, and stimulation. On the contrary, “cool” toned living rooms – namely those that were blue or green – happened to be less arousing but more restful, spacious, or calm. Participants sitting in the cool-colored living rooms made claims of feeling more at peace than in their warm-toned counterparts (Capagnolu). Maybe, when picking the school colors, Henry Wells looked at a palette of colors, saw the blazing scarlet and thought, Gee, there’s nothing more arousing and inspiring than genocidal blood red. Or maybe he saw a royal blue or stately green and thought, That’s nice, but it’s a little too complacent of a color for my institution. Until very recently, it has never struck me as significant that all of my favorite beverages come in green cans: Heineken, Rolling Rock, Sierra Nevada IPA, the tall boys of Genny Cream you can get at Sunoco for 97 cents. They all inundate my blue recycling bin, sprawl across the top of my wardrobe in a mob formation that looks less like a kill rack and more like the skyline of a sleepy little city I’d love to lose myself in. It also never occurred to me until just recently that my favorite place to be, when I’m supposed to be shut up in the red brick barriers of Macmillan Hall, is napping in the forgiving embrace of the front lawn’s great green quilt; or sitting at the Smoker’s Table in its grotto of emerald-colored needles; or kicking against tangles of dark seaweed as the blue of Cayuga Lake’s tide swallows me whole, spits me back out, and slurps me up once more; or simply looking out my fourth-story window into the endless sky mirroring Cayuga, deeply azure and mysterious.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

I would rather be in the nature surrounding my school than getting the education I’m paying for any day. If skipping British Literature on a Thursday afternoon translates to hours of slaving over classmates’ notes just to figure out what I missed, it is all worth it if the tradeoff is feeling my bare feet slick over the happy green algae growing in the bed of a nearby stream. Laying in the Amphitheater with a friend and a joint, watching blue-gray smoke curling from my mouth to meet with the blue-gray clouds overhead, seems like a much better use of my class time, even if it means suffering later.

Though I am a slacker, I am not an idiot. I gamble the consequences of my actions knowingly. Every time, I choose “cool” over consequence. Maybe that makes me too cool for school; maybe that makes me yet another listless loser who’s tuned in and turned on. But I refuse to “drop out” in any sense of the word – and I think maybe that’s the one thing saving me. Once when I was on break at my retail job in high school, already five minutes over my allotted time, a woman approached the bench I was sitting on and told me I had a particularly strong aura that she could read from halfway across the parking lot. She was donning many scarves, scraps of lace, and jewelry that jangled about her thin neck like the sound of pocket change – the true picture of a Too Cool for School acidhead that probably skipped too many courses in college. It was nearly like seeing the Ghost of Christmas Future - I saw so much of my potential self in her. When I asked her what my aura was, she told me “teal” – and without any further explanation, went on her way, jingling and rattling and floating. It’s been four years since and, until now, I’ve never thought to question what my teal aura meant.

Wikihow has a comprehensive Auras for Dummies article that helps discern what different aura colors can mean. Green, it says, is indicative of growth and balance, something that leads to change. Blue indicates a caring and loving nature, but can also mean fear of the future. Teal, a mix of the two, seems oddly contradictory but somehow fitting – I always feel like I’m being dragged onward toward the great unknown, despite that fact that I am clinging to anything that will keep me in the present. Thinking of the future scares me. The connotations of my past only make it all the more petrifying. The present, however fleeting as it is, is a place devoid of big decisions and their ultimate consequences. To say I “live in the moment” is not necessarily a tribute to my ability of being present, but more an indication of my lack of foresight and my refusal to learn from my mistakes. Like skipping class to go for a swim and spending eons trying to catch up later. Or putting off homework to lay in the warm grass in spite of all the back work I’ve yet to make up. I wonder if the scarved lady who read my aura saw my slumped stature and deadened expression and thought I was another deadbeat who’d be down to drink the KoolAid and truly believe some superstitious horse hockey, or if my slacker’s aura truly does precede me. Despite what my aura says, despite my shitty school mascot, despite everything my aversion to schoolwork and my lackluster grasping at excuses to justify it say about me, I still find myself on any given Tuesday morning standing outside of Macmillan Hall, a little too late for class. I still find myself turning my back to the red to instead settle down into the grass and gaze deep into the blue overhead. •

WORKS CITED “How to Read an Aura (with Pictures): Interpreting Aura Colors.” WikiHow, September 2015, http://www.wikihow.com/Read-an-Aura. Accessed 13 October 2016. Scahie, K. Warner. “On the Relation of Color and Personality.” Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment, vol. 30, no. 6, 1966, pp. 512-534. 13 October 2016. “Urban Dictionary: too cool for school.” Urban Dictionary, 03 November 2003, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define. php?term=too%20cool%20for%20school. Accessed 13 October 2016.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Eating in color photograph By Christian Monteavaro

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Coloring Outs How Chance the Rap with his

“The whole point of ‘Acid Rap’ was just to ask people a quest project this is? If it’s all original music and it’s got this much people, is it a mixtape? What’s a Chance th There are artists in this world that will write and produce music for their own profit, for their own personal gain, for the sake of creating a product that has their name on it. In the past year, the music industry has become a way for people to make money, instead of a way to produce art. Musicians are producing work that appeals to the people that listen to it, whereas others believe that music should be made so that the people appeal to what they listen to. Chancellor Johnathan Bennett, commonly known as Chance the Rapper, was born and raised in West Chatham, Chicago, Illinois. Having released three of his own mixtapes, numerous collaborations, and his own world tour, Chance is an artist to watch. He shows his activism through his music and uses his musical stature to promote peace, eliminate racism and violence, and encourage free, stream-able music. His latest mixtape, Coloring Book, has broken boundaries by only being available via streaming, introducing a mixture of gospel and R&B style music, and speaking out on social issues.

side the Lines: pper is Making Waves s Sound By Abigail Rundle

tion: does the music business side of this dictate what type of h emotion around it and it connects this way with this many an ‘album’ these days, anyways?” he Rapper

In 2012, Chance released his first mixtape, 10 Day, titled after a 10-day suspension from his high school in 2011. His first mixtape includes a wide range of music, from jazzy beats and fluid lyrics to cathartic vocals and hype songs. His old-school beats in “14,400 Minutes”, where he raps about getting suspended for possession of marijuana, transcend to a more mellow feel in “Family”, that features Vic Mensa, another Chicago-based rapper. The songs can have you jamming or just chilling. The whole mixtape is an epitome of the Chicago rapper: upbeat, sporadic, but also clever and lyrical. Many of the beats that you hear in 10 Day can be found in his next mixtape, Acid Rap. Chance’s debut mixtape has over 300,000 downloads and was a building block of his career. Acid Rap introduced a new sound that wasn’t heard in his previous mixtape. Where his first mixtape was jazzy and mellow, his second contains various beats and styles of music. Acid Rap isn’t trying to be alternative, but is “an attempt at encompassing everything,” according to Jeff Weiss, a contributor on Pitchfork.com. This ideology is really represented in his latest mixtape, Coloring Book, as well. Where Chance has always had a psychedelic, smooth feel to his music, his new mixtape is heavy on the gospel side. He has transformed his music from drug habits to worship and praise. “How Great” relies heavily on the organs and takes you back to church with the line, “The type of worship make Jesus come back a day early”. His new music is so God-driven that it almost feels like I’m watching a gospel choir perform. Chance has created a new genre of music by combining gospel, R&B, jazz, rap, and hip hop that it’s hard to really narrow down where he belongs on the spectrum of music. Coloring Book is a turning point in the world of hip hop/rap. Chance brings to the table an incredible new aspect on what it means to be an independent rap artist. THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Alongside creating his own genre of music, Chance has also been the only independent rap artist to not sell any albums; it is all free online. More and more artists are taking their music off iTunes because they don’t get the royalties from their own music. Sources like Spotify, SoundCloud, Tidal, and Apple Music offer unlimited music to subscribers that pay a monthly fee. Tidal and Spotify are very similar despite small differences in quality, ads, and music access. Tidal is a website that is made by artists, such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and many more, to “take back” the music industry from the companies that have corrupted it. The website, created by Jay-Z, claims to pay artists higher royalties than its competitors and is driven, solely, by the artists themselves. His latest solo project, Coloring Book, became the first release to chart on the Billboard 200 through streaming numbers alone. Chance currently has Coloring Book and two of his singles, “Somewhere in Paradise” and “Angels”, available on Tidal, Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, and other outlets. In 2015, his collaborative project with Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment, Surf, became the first release to be sold for free via the iTunes Store. The idea of streaming music for free is great for the listeners, but the artists don’t really benefit from it. Streaming through Spotify only pays between $0.00121 and $0.00653 and that depends on if it’s through ad-supported or premium streaming. And after that, a song would need to be streamed well over 100,000 million times. Platforms like Tidal are benefiting the music industry and making it better than what it’s become. Chance spoke out about this subject when he collaborated with Kanye West in the song “Ultralight Beam” on West’s album Life of Pablo with the line “I hear you gotta sell it to snatch the Grammy / Let’s make it so free and the bars so hard / That there ain’t one gosh darn part you can’t tweet” and again in his own song “No Problem” saying “If one more label try to stop me / It’s gon’ be some dreadhead ni**as in your lobby”. This is his fight against the music industry’s idea that major artists need labels; Chance has clearly defied that through his music and constant activism. Chance the Rapper started a petition asking the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to consider free albums and mixtapes in their nomination and now the Grammy awards are officially open to streaming-only releases. Now artists that have streaming-only mixtapes or albums have a shot at winning at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2017. One could even make the claim that Chance the rapper has a chance at taking home an award.

Through his music and lyricism, Chance has become a voice for those who aren’t being heard. His activism has started movements in his hometown and have spread to a multitude of platforms where people are constantly spreading his messages. In November 2014, Chance fought to combat gun violence in Chicago and promoted the “#SaveChicago” campaign alongside his father. This campaign sought to stop gun violence over the Memorial Day weekend and succeeded by stopping gun violence for 42 hours. In a place where there have been more deaths by gun violence than American deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq combined, ending gun violence for 42 hours is not a small thing. The #SaveChicago event included community sports, spoken word, leadership classes, and “positive loitering”. His attempts to end gun violence continued through 2015 and into this year, through a Twitter campaign Chance started with the hashtag #May23, which again ended gun violence in Chicago for another 42 hours. That’s three years in a row that gun violence has been halted in a city that has one of the highest crime rates in the United States. Chance also met with President Obama in April of 2016 to discuss and promote the “My Brother’s Keeper Challenge,” a United States Federal Government initiative “to promote intervention by civic leaders in the lives of young men of color to address their distinctive challenges and promote racial justice.” Alongside Chance the Rapper other musicians, including Alicia Keys, Busta Rhymes, Janelle Monáe, J. Cole, and many more, have worked to promote the initiative nationwide. Chance is also an activist for education in Illinois. Back in February 2016, Chance took to Twitter to ask Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner not to veto the Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant. He tweeted “Give Us Back Our Education” and “Leave Chicago State Alone.” The MAP Grant provides grants, which do not need to be repaid, to Illinois residents that are attending approved Illinois colleges and demonstrate financial need based on FAFSA information and also helps determine eligibility. The tweet received almost 1,500 likes and 900 retweets within hours alongside many other notable tweets. Chance’s activism stems from his father, Ken Williams-Bennett, who is the deputy chief of staff for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He has also worked for Harold Washington and Barack Obama. Along with these campaigns, Chance also hosted the Magnificent Coloring Day Festival, a music festival comprised of many A-list entertainers in US Cellular Field, home of his beloved Chicago White Sox. It was the first of its kind on the South Side of Chicago. Among the performs stood Tyler, The Creator, Alicia Keys (the only female performer in the line-up), John Legend, Lil Wayne, and a crowd-roaring appearance from Chi-town native Kanye West. There really is nothing that can stop Chance the Rapper from spreading love and light through his hometown.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Chance the Rapper is a force to be reckoned with. He’s changing the music industry, fighting against violence in Chicago, and creating free music under a new genre. His is one of the most influential people this generation has ever seen and he still has so much to offer. As someone who experiments with new music, Chance will always be an artist I turn to. His lyrics speak to the people and, after all, he is creating music for us. He is a young Kanye West and is breaking into the music scene the same way in which his mentor did. This is only the beginning for him and the success of Coloring Book will only grow. “No Problem” is the first of his songs to be aired on public radio and he is also the first independent rap artist to perform on Saturday Night Live. His connections with top-dog artists in the music industry only grow stronger, pretty much telling us that there are great things to come in 2017. He preaches peace, love, and faith, and is becoming a voice for the people, as well as a voice that people can respect. “The people’s champ must be everything the people can’t be,” he raps in his song “Blessings (Reprise)”, and he honestly couldn’t be more right. He is what the people need, what Chicago needs. •

WORKS CITED Chandler, D. L. “Chicago’s Chance The Rapper Helps Stop Gun Violence In City For 42 Hours.” News One Chicagos Chance The Rapper Helps Stop Gun Violence In City For 42Hours Comments. N.p., 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. Geffen, Sasha. “Chance The Rapper Finally Has A Shot At That Grammy.” News. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. Hanssan, Charlotte. “Reasons Why Some Artists Absolutely Hate Spotify... - Digital Music News.” Digital Music News. N.p., 2016. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. Heath, Alex. “Everything You Need to Know about Tidal, Jay Z’s Streaming Music Service.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 2016. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. McGhee, Josh. “Chance The Rapper Promotes #SaveChicago Weekend Events to Quash Violence - Downtown - DNAinfo Chicago.” DNAinfo Chicago. N.p., 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. Schuba, Tom. “Chance the Rapper Calls Out Rauner Over MAP Grants.” NBC Chicago. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. Staff, Fsd, and Andrew Barber. “FSD Feature: Productivity & Social Activism behind Chance The Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’.” Fake Shore Drive. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2016. Stevens, Joe. “[REVIEW] Chance The Rapper – 10 Day.” The West Review. N.p., 2016. Web. 8 Nov. 2016. THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Setting sun By Afton Noha

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

An Overrunning of Red? An Academic Reclaiming the Word Liberal By Jane Fillion Last week, my roommate showed me a picture of the current United States electoral map. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it’s consistent with every such map published for the last couple years: a bright red smear with small, sad splotches of blue splashed hodge-podge around the midwest, tipped with cobalt on each coast. After reading that Red represented conservative and Blue liberals, she was…concerned. Does this mean Trump is winning? Are the liberals dying out across the country? After assuring her that no, the Electoral College is structured in such a way that though the red does seem to take over the country, the blue states tend to generally hold more sway, or electoral votes. Fear not, though; this is not just another news story about the state of the 2016 presidential race, or even politics. You are tired, I am tired: America is tired. Her question, however, and her concern at seeing the overwhelming amount of red on the page in front of her, got me to thinking. To answer to my friend’s question, no, the liberals are not dying out across the country; as the millennial generation grows, liberals, especially social liberals, are stronger than ever. The word liberal, however, in and of itself, is a tricky one. The term “Massachusetts liberal” was coined by the George H.W. Bush campaign, and has been used ever since as a political slur against those who go against the mainstream, much like the state of Massachusetts usually does when it comes to socio-economic politics. As a result, even those who identified as liberal shied away from the label. As students at Wells College, be you Red or Blue, Independent or Undecided, I urge you not to.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Many people, including those of an older generation, still view the term as potentially, and politically, dirty. However, if you were to simply type into Google the words “definition of liberal”, a box would pop up stating that to be liberal means to be “open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values,” or “made without holding back, unstinted.” As Wells College students, who will ultimately be let loose on the world with a liberal arts education, I hope that in our years here we will have been exposed to “new behavior and opinion” that has made us “discard traditional values”, unrestrainedly and boldly. This, I would say, is not controversial. I’m not making any bold, argumentative statements. It almost begs the question: why write an article on it? Well, in a study done by the Wall Street Journal, it was found that graduates from the top 50 liberal arts schools in the country make substantially less, specifically $20,000 less, than those who graduated from the top 50 research-based institutions (Fuller). As someone who needs the extra $20,000 to pay the steep price that normally comes along with a liberal arts education, and as a young adult who has grown up in a world scared by the very word itself, what is the value of being educated “liberally”? The University of California at Los Angeles found that 77% of students at said research institutions who are apparently making more money than us rank training for a specific career as the most important reason to attend college, while only 46% consider going to college to become a more cultured human being even remotely important (McNutt). I’d say the beauty, and the value, of a liberal arts education is that it allows one to do both. Forget, for a second, the blues, the Democrats, the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and Gary Johnson liberals. If, at your time at Wells, you embrace the true definition of the word liberal, leave yourself open to new ideas; break barriers, explore without holding back, and you will leave with not only a degree, but as a better, more culturally aware human being.

What does that mean? A liberal arts education isn’t about exactly what you learn (though that, obviously, is important); it’s about learning how to learn. At Wells College, rather than being given tools and told how to use them, you are given tools and told to explore them. In every class in the three years I’ve spent at Wells College, from math to poetry, science to Modern British Literature, I’ve been challenged to think critically, ask questions and seek information, and dive into research so as to develop an analytical mind. No, I am not saying Wells is perfect, by any means. In order to be fully successful in utilizing your critical thinking and analytical skills, it’s important to have the right professor, interest, and mindset. I can confidently say, however, that it’s impossible to get through your time here and not run into the professors that, when you walk out of class, you walk out with a view on life that’s slightly shifted and a thirst to find out more, and why. By all means, call yourself a liberal. By the very definition of the word, and being trained at a liberal arts institution, you’re willing to take what you learn every day and utilize it to broaden your own experience and knowledge.

I have good news for you, too, if that’s not enough. These skills you’re developing, these decidedly liberal skills, have more than just a vague, fuzzy-sounding life value. While everything I’m saying is decidedly important, simply being a cultured student doesn’t pay for your student loans or (gasp) life on your own after college electricity bills. According to a study done by US News, “employers readily identify the creative, communicative and problem-solving acumen traditionally associated with liberal arts majors as the most valuable attributes of new hires”. In 2015, college seniors at liberal arts institutions who received at least one job offer increased by 2% to nearly 48% (McNutt). The CEO of a top Boston consulting firm (a history major) divulged that he hired almost exclusively liberal arts majors, and a study done by several foundations showed that employees value applied skills including “oral communication, critical thinking, creativity and teamwork”, skills they find most in those with a liberal arts education.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Check it out, people. We’re marketable and hireable and being liberal, open, and questioning has made us so. I won’t guarantee you a job right away, but I will guarantee that you continue to push and to think and to innovate. It will do more for you than my brain, which is currently craving Netflix and pizza, can possibly imagine. Just a couple weeks ago, one of my professors deviated from his usual lecture on liberalism to tell us a story. It was the late eighties, and he was chair of the Political Science department at a large university in Liberia. The country had been experiencing years of social unrest which had been steadily building, something the Liberian government blamed on the political science department at the university. The country broke into war, and our professor had to go into hiding, waiting for his chance to leave. When the danger finally escalated to its highest point, he was taken to the United States embassy. When asked by an ambassador why he had been so confident he would get through this experience alive, he gave him the same rousing speech he gave our seven person class sitting in a Macmillian seminar room: “I came to Liberia because I believe in the power of education. Not only in the skills in knowledge, but I believe it makes people free. Myself, I am a free man. My life will not end in Liberia, because of my education.”

“Check it

We’re marketable

being liberal, open

has mad

While perhaps (or hopefully) this story doesn’t apply to our own lives, every day we sit in class, be they the three hours seminars or the inspiring discussions, we are immersing ourselves in the power of education to become free thinkers. Does this sound horrifyingly cheesy? Absolutely. But, the rather abstract meaning of the word, whomever defines it, states that it’s the experience we garner, by being open-minded and willing, that makes us liberal. By opening our minds to STEM and Keats, politics and calculus – by experiencing a little bit of everything – we are effectively being set free from the rest of those who do not. So, identify as one of the millions of conservatives that makes up the red part of Upstate New York, or as one of the blue specks that makes up New York City. Be green, or grey, or undecided. But most of all, be liberal, and do so unabashedly.•

out, people.

and hireable and

n, and questioning

de us so.”

WORKS CITED Fuller, Andrea. Parents’ Fears Confirmed: Liberal Arts Students Earn Less. The Wall Street Journal, 3 Nov. 2015. McNutt, Mark I. There Is Value in a Liberal Arts Educations, Employers Say. US News, 22 Sept. 2014.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Check Yourself Before You Deconstructing White Privile By Raea Benjamin

In order to understand white privilege, one must first understand racism. Racism, as defined by the MerriamWebster Dictionary, is “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” Aside from this definition, racism is a way of teaching that, while not being based on any scientific support or explanation, does three specific things that have a large effect on society and society’s views as a whole. First, racism claims to find racial differences in things like character and intelligence. Second, racism asserts the superiority of one race over another or others in general. Third, racism seeks to maintain the dominance of specific nationalities through the use of a complex system of beliefs and behaviors as well as language and policies (“On Racism and White Privilege”). As stated before, racism takes place on both an individual and an institutional level. Whereas individual racism refers to an individual’s racist assumptions, beliefs, or behaviors and is a form of racial discrimination that stems from conscious and unconscious personal prejudice, institutional (or systemic) racism is a form of racism expressed through the practice of social and political institutions and expectations which are governed by behavioral norms that inherently support racist thinking and encourage active racism. Institutional racism is reflected in imbalances regarding wealth, employment, housing, healthcare, education, the criminal justice system, political power, as well as many other variables (“Forms of Racism”). Whether implicitly or explicitly expressed, institutional racism occurs when a certain group of individuals is targeted and then discriminated against based solely on their race. Although it is incredibly common in American society, institutional racism often goes unnoticed as it is continuously overlooked due to racially driven societal norms that are widely accepted and implemented, thus making them seem unquestionably “right” or “correct.” 64

Wreck Yourself: ege

â&#x20AC;&#x201A;On both an individual and institutional level, racism is used to reflect and enforce the powerful ideology that the individuals of Western, white dominated U.S. culture and societies are superior to individuals from other areas in the world. However, this ideology is often attributed to non-white individuals regardless of where they were born, raised, and have spent the majority, if not the entirety, of their lives. Racism can manifest itself in terms of individual behavior through actions such as hate crimes, or in institutional behavior through actions such as employment discrimination. Racism also often manifests itself through the language of individuals as well. For example, the use of racial slurs works to further enforce the ideology that white individuals are superior to those who are not white in that they dehumanize the individuals to whom they refer by applying a racially motivated stereotype to an entire community based on no other doctrine than the appearance of said individuals. Even in instances in which a racial slur is applied to someone who does not identify with the race to which the slur refers, the usage of the slur still motivates the dehumanization and discrimination toward a specific group of people by identifying certain races with certain (usually negative) behaviors and thus reducing said race to only those behaviors described by the slur. â&#x20AC;&#x201A;The use of racial slurs is just one of the many ways in which white privilege is advocated for by society. White privilege (or white skin privilege) is a term for societal privileges that benefit people who identify or are identified as white in Western countries. These privileges surpass the common experiences of non-white individuals under the same social, political, and/or economic circumstances.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

White privilege, however, is not something that white people necessarily do, create, or enjoy on purpose, though they do consistently benefit from it. White privilege and the akin preference for whiteness that saturates our society, though not always intentional, serves several functions for white individuals in Western regions. To start, white privilege provides white people with certain “perks” that we do not have to earn and that do not equally benefit non-white individuals. Just one example of the perks that come with being white and thus having white privilege is the fact that both clothing and beauty products are manufactured and sold (at least in the U.S.) mainly with white people in mind. Where there might be up to fifteen different makeup options for a person with white skin, there are generally less than a quarter of the amount of options available for individuals of color. The same goes for items such as pantyhose which are meant to blend in with one’s skin tone but, for the most part, are only representative of white skin. A broader or more general perk of white privilege is related to representation. White individuals of Western societies never come face to face with the very real lack of personal representation that is experienced by non-white individuals. Whiteness is represented to such an extent in the media that this alone leads it to be considered a societal norm or expectation, whereas people of color are represented far less, leading non-white races to be considered “different” or “other.” This otherness created by unequal media representation makes up half of the binary between white individuals and individuals of color. By othering a specific group, society creates and “us versus them” binary in which the “us” refers to the white individuals who dominate the media of Western cultures, and the “them” refers to those individuals who are not white and are thus othered due to the societal expectation enforced by whitewashed media.

In addition to the us versus them binary and the numerous perks associated with white privilege, it also gives very real advantages to white individuals such as myself. White privilege essentially allows white people to be immune to a number of challenges from which people of color are not. For example, the skin color of white individuals on its own does not work against them in terms of how people perceive their financial responsibility, style of dress, public speaking skills, job performance, or other areas of life. During situations in which a white person is not judged, a non-white person commonly is based on nothing other than the color of their skin. This white advantage is often exemplified by law enforcement officers and other authority figures in that they do not harass, pull over, or follow white individuals simply because of their race, though individuals of color continuously face and struggle with racial profiling. Although our privilege often goes unnoticed by us, non-white individuals are very aware of the privileges that are continuously denied to them. People of color consistently see privileges being given to white people, the dominant societal group, but do not see the ways in which they have actually earned them. For members of the out-group, the less dominant contributor to a binary such as this one, this privilege being given rather than earned is a constant reminder of their second-class citizen status (“White Privilege: The Invisible Advantages & Apparent Disadvantages”). Despite its inclusiveness, white privilege shapes the entire world in which we live. It largely affects the way that we, as a society, navigate and interact with one another. The persistence of both individual and institutional racism and discrimination within Western society only further encourages the ideologies that construct racial barriers such as white privilege.

Addressing the ways in which white privilege is able to persist and educating students and others about injustices associated with white privilege are key steps to balancing privilege among all groups. Teachers who think critically have the ability to challenge societal inequalities and should be encouraged to teach about white privilege in the classroom. Education is the first step in addressing issues such as these in that it encourages white individuals to try to understand and acknowledge their privilege as well as the oppression of people of color that takes place as a result. The ways in which racism, oppression, structural inequality, and ignorance in general affect individuals and families should also be included in curriculums in order to help teach students about cultural diversity and social injustice. •

WORKS CITED “Forms of Racism.” Calgary Anti-Racism Education, 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. “On Racism and White Privilege.” Teaching Tolerance. Southern Poverty Law Center, 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016. “White Privilege: The Invisible Advantages & Apparent Disadvantages.” enotes, 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

macro: fine details in color By Hope Alridge

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Real Red By Greg T. Miraglia

“I’m not an artist,” he said. “Neither am I,” I answered. I wanted red paint. I’m new at this, and I’m not taking any formal classes, but you’d think finding a colour would be simple. The canvas was set up next to Stan’s wooden work bench in the garage. The bench had several outdoor paint buckets of different colours open on it. “Honey, red paint is not that simple. They range from constant coral to dragon fruit to real red. There are a lot of reds,” he said. Stan waved his arms about as he spoke. His light brown hair shifted with the movement of his hands. I dabbed my orange covered paint brush at the canvas. My paint brush was meant for deck painting, but my attention to proper tools and paints was very little. The painting had a ways to go. It would be quick, if my husband could have simply picked up the paint. “They have real red, pick up real red. It shouldn’t be that hard,” I said. Maybe I was being particular, or in this case, not particular enough, but it was a month away from our anniversary. Stan’s parents weren’t happy when we got married. They wanted their boy to marry a woman. Seventeen to twenty-eight and his mother still thought it was just a phase. A paint speckled green tie sat between two of the paint buckets on the workbench. I carefully marked the canvas with the hopes that I could manage a masterpiece on the first try. Red was and wasn’t the problem. Yes, I needed red paint. No, I wasn’t this annoyed because of the paint. I was this annoyed because of a phone earlier this week. “Mom, mom, yes I know. Can I talk? Mom…”Stan tried. The phone pressed against his ear and the brown phone cord wobbled around as he paced the kitchen. I could see him and the cord tightening and loosening through the doorway as he moved. “We were hoping to have some time to ourselves. Fine, fine, fine, I’ll tell Benny.” Stan got off the phone, unwound the brown cord, put the phone on the receiver, and found me in the dining room. I sat at the dining table with the good China on the shelf behind me. The China was a wedding present from my parent; Stan’s parents gave us a refusal to help out with the cost of the wedding and a toaster. I was looking for images in his boating magazines, trying to decide what I would like to paint. I ripped out this picture of a depressing light blue sky above a lake in one of them. The orange and red bright colours of a boat from another magazine also struck me. My thought was to combine the cloud sky with the brighter colours. Stan’s marketing career left us well-off, and I often found myself putting projects together to pass the time. He interrupted my scouring, sat in a chair next to me, and put his hand on my lap, as if he was going to tell me that a close friend had died.

“Honey,” he said. He averted his eyes, as if afraid, but remained close. I stopped and looked directly at him, gave him my full attention. “I’m not sure how to say this. But… My parents are coming down the weekend of our anniversary.” “No, nope,”I answered. I turned away from him and went back to looking at pictures in his magazines.The thick cushion on the seat twisted beneath me as I shifted. Stan sat up. “I told them it was fine,” he said. Fine, fine is like the neutral white colour one would paint a wall if they had no intention of doing anything else with it. He was in handmode, where he uses his hands to talk, waved them about at each spoken word. If we argued he would argue like that. “Next weekend’s fine, or the weekend before that week is fine. Our anniversary weekend is not fine,” I said. I flipped through a magazine, however this time I was not actually looking for images; I was merely burying my eyes in the pages, hoping Stan would end the conversation. “That’s the weekend they chose,” he said. “That’s the weekend we chose last year,” I responded. Stan got up from his chair and crossed his arms for a short moment. I kept my gaze in the magazine. It’s colours and images were both large and limited to the realm of boating. The black and white of the pages blended together. The advertisements did a better job of grabbing my attention, than the pictures of women in bikinis on ships, different sky-views of waterways, the articles on fishing, and articles on boat owners. There were no articles on getting one’s way in an argument. Well, this wasn’t really an argument. “You’re so passive aggressive. How am I supposed to talk to you?” he asked. See what I mean, passive aggressive people don’t argue, so it wasn’t an argument. I flipped through the magazine dramatically. Stan circled around the dining table, now in front of me, rather than to the side. He leaned down putting both of his hands on the cherry table top. I kept dramatically flipping the pages, even ripping a few of them in the process. “Really?” Really, really is like the colour purple; we use it and it’s there, but we hardly realize it’s there until we have to emphasize it. What was the sense of talking? If he couldn’t see reason then, what was the chance he would see reason after a verbal volley? Stan does this thing where he stands and stares at me when he thinks we need to talk, and he thinks I am being too stubborn to talk. He did. He stood there with his hands on the table, staring at me until I put down the magazine. It might have been seconds or minutes. I couldn’t tell because I had my eyes buried in the magazine, waiting to hear his footsteps walking away. They didn’t.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

I put down the magazine, and his dark eyes were peered at me. I ignored them, stacked the boat magazines in a pile, and picked them up. I carried them through the kitchen and brought them to a shelf in the living room. Stan followed me for a moment and then retreated back into the kitchen. His shoes were furiously clacking against the tile floor. I made-up the couch with a sheet and left blankets for him. He slept there that night. The next morning, I wouldn’t even kiss him goodbye, before he left for work. The next night I carried on as if the previous conversation was a dream. Not a nightmare, but a black-brown puddle of a dream, a dream nonetheless. I asked him to pick up some red paint. Stan reached for the doorknob, and then turns back to me. He shuffled his hands a bit, even took a step away from me. “Mom wants to bring the cat when they come up. I told her I had to talk to you first,” he said. “Never mind, we can talk about it when I get back.” Cat, cat is like the grey-blue colour of gravel and they infest like gravel in a quarry. Our house will not become a farm. First, she wanted to come on the worst weekend, then she wanted to bring her hairball of a cat. I would have to vacuum twice daily for two weeks after her visit, if she brought her cat. I almost locked him out of the house after he left, however I used that time to calm down a little. By calm down, I mean that I took his favorite green tie used it as a rag to take care of runs on the canvas. I even tried mixing colours with it. The paint didn’t mix well at all. Throughout our conversation about red paint, he saw his green tie, paint covered, on the work bench, but he dared not ask why. Stan knew when he saw what I did he was in trouble. He had this look of defeat in his dark eyes when he went to leave. His light brown bangs had even fallen into his face. I felt bad. My man was all defeated and such. “Babe. Stop,” I said. I put down my paint brush, laying it like a bridge across the top of the orange paint bucket on the workbench. He turned back to me. I looked up at him. I wanted to hug and hit him at the same time, but instead offered a compromise. “Your mom can bring her cat,but they cannot come the weekend of our anniversary.” “Alright honey. You said, real red?” he asked. “Real red.” I answered.

Yellow By A.S.L.

I wonder how much bleach it takes to turn white I sit and scrub hoping the stain will come out the more bleach I add harder I scrub turns the water pink then red my mother finds me asks what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m doing I lift a bloody arm to the florescent lighting of our bathroom and answer

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Between Equinox and Solstice Katelin Pierce

Sometimes the tree in my backyard likes to hold all its chlorophyll in until the very last second and then drop it on me all at once. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m covered in red and orange and dusty brown, my laugh rings like the geese who say goodbye to me from above as I build a blanket of leaves and debris to keep my toes warm in the breeze. Winter will come, in all its shades of white and heavy-handed blues but I will have leaves and hot cocoa and letters from the geese to read.

To the Man in the Red Hat By Allen Tapia

To the man in the red hat I see you under their ego Through the orange of the southâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sunsets And the sad blues you cry We know the devil we've made you But it's sad that even the man The million procreator loan The forsaken child by father You were obviously fucked up Enough our children have seen We now descry a real democracy The one built by the hands of our brothers And yes my mother's tears do burn your soil And yes my uncle's cries wake the real patriot And yes my grandmother's screams scare the housewife two counties away But our children They will wake tomorrow not in fear Your legacy is now dead Because tomorrow we stand All the angels you have let go Their metamorphosis begins the day you set foot A ripped seal that has not felt hooves I among them now stand So fear us because our sirens now blow Man in the red hat You messed with our one race And because you insisted on its divide We will make what never was Great

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

Into the Wild By Nadia McCary

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

cyanometer

By Macy Smolsky

Eyes like beach tar. Not their usual denim. But how can I color navy? A mother lost her son today. In 1789, fifty-three shaded sections are held up to measure the blueness of the sky. Scrawled deep in my copy of the blue book, "Pain cannot be quantified." At night, knives of worry carve. It is a soreness that permeates sleep. Hot blue bolts of others' pain I can witness and acknowledge, but cannot know or help. I am a composite of hurt for these people. The pain is refractory. I dream of aquarium walls. Pigmented light and jelly. Maggie, I am worried about hurt colors. What Eileen Myles says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Need each other as much as you can bear.â&#x20AC;?

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

WELLSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S RESIDENT GODDESS ANSWERS YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS.

DEAR MINERVA, How do you feel about the sudden loss of your long time friend, the willow tree? I’m pretty upset myself. Sincerely, I Want the Willow Back Dear Weeping Willow, I am weeping with you. I miss the willow tree terribly and wish more than anything that the wind hadn’t blown her over on that regrettable evening. Although I’m quite sad, it does make me smile to think about all of the years in which the willow was still here, basking us all in her beauty. Long live sister willow.

DEAR MINERVA, Do you have any advice for the graduating seniors to take into the real world? Sincerely, Advancing and Anxious Dear Stressed Senior People tend to think of the “real world” as a negative thing. This should be the time where your life is just beginning. Since Wells is such a small place, a graduating senior should be ecstatic to explore the gritty beauty the real world has to offer. Take advantage of opportunities presented to you, both career and personal wise. Most of all, always make room for adventures and spontaneity. The real world craves people like you to grow and develop.

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

DEAR MINERVA, How do you stay warm in the winter? Sincerely, Forever Freezing Dear Chillin’, Killin’, Goddesses don’t get cold. Be sure to bundle up!

DEAR MINERVA, What should we do now that Donald Trump has been elected as our president? Sincerely, Female Scared for her Future Dear Fearful Female,, As a woman myself, I completely understand why you would be fearful of what the future holds. The best advice I can give to you is this: Wake up each morning feeling as empowered as you would have had Hillary Clinton won the election. Don’t let misogyny, racism, sexism, or any other form of ignorance stop you from being the nastiest woman you can be. 96

DEAR MINERVA, I just feel that all of my classmates around me are doing better than me. It really hasn't been good for my already low self esteem. What do I do? Sincerely, Debbie Downer Dear Down in the Dumps, Don’t allow others to dictate how you feel about yourself. You never know what someone else has been through in order to get into the position they are currently in. Instead of looking at your fellow classmates being detrimental to your self–love, use them as a motivational factor to do better for yourself. Find the time and resources to work harder. If anything, you can always ask them for help, if your pride doesn’t get in the way of course.

DEAR MINERVA, What’s your snapchat? Add me! Sincerely, Social Media Sweetheart Dear App Angel, Unfortunately, I do not have a snapchat. It's a shame because I'm sure I'd be a selfie queen, better yet, a selfie goddess!

THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

DEAR MINERVA, When did Wells start letting men attend school here as well as women? Sincerely, Curious College Student Dear Curious about Co-Ed, Wells College, which since 1868 had educated only women, began accepting men in 2005 in hopes of bolstering its dwindling enrollment. For many students and alumnae, it was, at first, a crushing decision.

DEAR MINERVA, What do you call a group of pigs who play music together? Sincerely, Class Clown Dear Clownin’ Around, A porkestra. I’ve heard that one before. 98

DEAR MINERVA, All of my friends keep transferring, how do you handle seeing so many people come and go? Sincerely, Sad to See You Go Dear Saddened Student,

DEAR MINERVA,

It’s true that people come and go from Wells College quite often, whether it be that they graduated or decided Wells wasn’t the right fit. As hard as it is to see someone you’ve grown close to leave a place as close-knit as Wells, you just have to do your absolute best to stay in touch. Just because someone is gone from Wells doesn’t mean they’re gone forever.

Why do drunk students keep hanging things from your body? Sincerely, Weekend Warrior Dear Weekend Wonder, I’m not sure why they do this, but I don’t mind. I enjoy being included in the fun! THE SYCAMORE / FALL 2016

100

NADIA MCCARY ‘20

“A TRUTHFUL VISION”

VISUAL ARTS CONTEST WINNER