21 September, 2017
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trump announces daca repeal By Janet Mock ‘21 & Lizzie Willsmore ‘20 Staff Writers
O
n August 29th, President Trump called an end to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) which allowed for undocumented Americans who were brought here as children illegally to stay, conditionally. For many, this decision does not come as a surprise. Vianey Martinez ‘21, an undocumented Scripps student born in Guerrero, Mexico, said, “When I first found out that Donald Trump was elected, I sort of already expected a lot of things to happen...as soon as I heard that they put DACA up for reconsideration, I knew for sure that it would not be renewed, and that was devastating.” According to NPR, the termination of DACA will leave approximately 800,000 DREAMers at risk for deportation, despite having lived in the United States for years. In response, the House and Senate have proposed four alternatives to DACA - three of which provide a direct path to citizenship. NPR created a brief summary of these bills. The first and most well-known of these bills is the DREAM Act, a bipartisan effort by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill). According to the National Immigration Law Center, DREAM would remove current regulations that stop DACA beneficiaries from receiving college loans, end removal proceedings for those eligible for the DREAM Act, over five years old, and attending school, and allow beneficiaries to apply for citizenship after spending eight years as a conditional permanent resident, and five years as a legal permanent resident. In the House, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla) introduced the Recognizing America’s Children Act, which, according to NPR, aims to help undocumented folks achieve a path to citizenship either through higher education, military service, or work authorization. From that point, those who qualify would need to spend a total of 10 years as a legal permanent
Inside This Issue:
resident (five under conditional status, five not) before being able to apply for full citizenship. Additionally in the House, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill) proposed the American Hope Act, which, NPR reports, has no requirements educational, military, or otherwise - for achieving documented status. However, conviction of certain crimes, mentioned in full in the bill itself, would preclude some DREAMers from eligibility, and all beneficiaries would need to have arrived in the United States by age 18. Alternatively, The American Hope Act has the quickest turnover rate of the bills: people can apply for citizenship after only 5 years, can apply for conditional permanent residency that lasts for 8 years, or can apply for lawful permanent residence status after 3 years. The final bill, also proposed in the House, is the BRIDGE Act (Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy). Sponsored by Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Co), NPR reports that the bill, which is the only alternative with no direct path to citizenship, would extend DACA into law for a three year period, in an attempt to afford DREAMers the same protections as DACA while giving Congress more time to develop a comprehensive solution. In the meantime, students like Vianey are left wondering what comes next. “I immigrated to the United States when I was one, so I really don’t know anything about my
Photo courtesy of amny.com.
junot DÍAz
speaks at scripps
By Mel Gilcrest ‘19 Editor-in-Chief
3
story continued on page 4
0 minutes before Díaz walked on stage, Garrison Theater was already full to bursting. The event, “Junot Diaz in Conversation,” had been sold out for months: on the night of September 19th, “Scripps Presents” sponsored the muchanticipated conversation between Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World, and Junot Díaz, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and many other works. The wickedly funny, often-profane Díaz quickly hit off a fast-paced and deeply moving conversation with Chang, covering topics as enormous as the power of “radical hope” in the age of Trump and as personal as the politics of love in Dominican families. Chang’s first question was based in her own experience of Díaz’s first book, Oscar Wao, which she found so cross-culturally specific she initially believed she was “the only one in the world who could understand it.” Díaz discussed the hybrid cultures of his home in New Jersey, a
Page 2 - Climate Change
Page 6-7 - DACA Rally
Read about the causes and effects of huge natural disasters
Photographs and interviews from the 5C community rally
1030 Columbia Avenue | Claremont, CA 91711 | Box 839 email: scrippsvoice@gmail.com | Volume XXI | Issue 1
place where every disenfranchised group in the world seemed to “bring their grievances.” He claimed that, as he wrote Oscar Wao, he “truly” believed that “only eight people would ever read it”--a mindset he believed gave him the freedom to write without seeking approval, which he believes is essential to the creative process (or at least his own). Díaz was quick to point out the difficulties in navigating the world as a person of color, an immigrant, and as a marginalized young student in one of many “neoliberal universities” across the country--a gesture which clearly resonated with many students in the audience. His advice to those struggling with the burdens of expectations, whether from parents, peers, institutions, or our hegemonic white society? “Remember what you are here to do,” Díaz said. “You have a Promethean task ahead of you. You are here to steal fire.” To subvert the “demoralizing and dehumanizing” demands of a society which expects young people to fear and obey the old; people of color to worship and
story continued on page 4
Page 12 - Gallery
Preview the Williamson’s “Revolution and Ritual” exhibit
2 • News The
environmental column Check here every issue
for an update on earth By Elena Lev ‘21 Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of InsideClimate News. Photo courtesy of Business Insider.
U
nless you’ve been living under a rock for the past three weeks, you’ve probably noticed that the weather in the United States, and on the entire western continent, has been far from normal. Here in Claremont, we faced two weeks of sweltering heat beyond the regular hellish temperatures the 5C’s usually endure. The rest of the world has been experiencing other, more severe natural phenomena. Wildfires have been raging across California and the Pacific Northwest, four major hurricanes have put our nation’s south and southeast, as well as Cuba and parts of Mexico, into evacuation mode, and on top of a hurricane, Mexico bore the brunt of an 8.1 magnitude earthquake. The damage wrought has caused ample speculation, by both victims and outsiders, on what is causing these varied, yet equally terrifying, natural disasters. Four hurricanes have taken their turns spinning across the Atlantic seaboard this month: Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Katia. Hurricane Harvey formed south of Barbados and near Saint Vincent, making his first landfall on the Windward Islands. It gained intensity until it made a second landfall at Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 major hurricane. The hurricane then weakened, and subsequently strengthened to make its third and final landfall in Cameron, Louisiana. Warnings were issued across the Southeast United States, as well as in the Honduras, Mexico, and various offshore Caribbean sovereign states. 83 people have so far been confirmed deceased—one in Guyana, a sovereign state on mainland South America, and 82 in the US. 300,000 people were left without electricity in Texas, 500 people had to be rescued in Louisiana, and 70-200 billion dollars were sustained in losses. The Texas flooding was so abundant that it ended the state’s drought, and the damages are so severe that over 450,000 residents qualify for federal drought relief assistance. “I don’t have any family in Houston, so I haven’t been directly affected, but a lot of my friends and family have been working with relief efforts.” Dayla Woller, a Scripps first year and Texas native said. “That’s why it’s been kind of weird being at Scripps, because everyone has been helping out and I’m not there to provide support.” Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 hurricane, has caused the most devastation of the four storms thus far. It developed on August 30th over western Africa near the Cape Verde islands, with peak intensity near the Virgin Islands. After weakening slightly, she strengthened again and made landfall in Cuba. Irma caused massive amounts of damage in the Florida Keys, whose 70,000 inhabitants have been evacuated until further notice. Many schools in the Keys closed, and one county says they won’t be reopening their schools until September 25th. Within the U.S., Irma also affected North Carolina, New Orleans, and parts of Tennessee. Outside of the U.S., damage was sustained in Barbuda, the Virgin Islands, and a number of other Caribbean islands. To prepare for the storm, a state of emergency was called for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; the Dominican Republic evacuated 11,200 people, including 7,400 tourists who were moved away from ocean-side resorts; there were struggles in Haiti over evacuation procedures and a lack of preparation. One million people were evacuated from Cuba, and resort-owned dolphins were evacuated by helicopter. One of the people evacuated was Sam Rubin, a Pomona junior on study abroad. “ Rubin was flown out over four days before the storm, and was “evacuated with clear skies.”
Photo courtesy of CNN.
“Many Cubans were surprised we were being evacuated,” Rubin stated. “because they all were super chill and well-prepared.” Rubin and his fellow study-abroad peers have been temporarily housed at Sarah Lawrence College, but are scheduled to return to Havana on Monday the 19th. He says the transition back and forth between countries has been strange. “I’m sad that we got evacuated, but it was the right call ultimately because it made it less of a burden [for the landlords of the apartments to make repairs],” Rubin said. Hurricane Jose, the least destructive of the four, began as a tropical storm off the Florida Coast, and grew into a Category 3 hurricane that stayed primarily out over the open Atlantic. It is not expected to make landfall, but could cause dangerous surf off the southeastern coast of the US, and could also hit the Leeward Islands off the South American coast, the same ones affected by Irma. Hurricane Katia formed in the southern Gulf of
“The president refuses to admit that the root of these events is climate change...preferring instead the gentler phrasing, ‘weather extremes.’ Unfortunately, these weather extremes are only going to get worse, regardless of what phrasing they are assigned.” Elena Lev ‘21 Mexico, near to where Harvey originally formed, making landfall near Tecolutla and peaking as a Category 2 hurricane. It was not nearly as powerful as Irma, but still is causing rain, flash floods, and mudslides. It’s expected to produce 10-25 inches of rain, as well as mudslides and flash floods throughout Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla, and San Luis Potosi. Although Hurricane Katia hasn’t caused much damage directly, it has complicated relief efforts for the 8.1 magnitude earthquake that hit just off the southern coast of Mexico. As of September 9th, 61 people have died. The states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, two of Mexico’s poorest regions, were hit hardest; 1.85 million homes lost electricity, but three quarters of them have had power restored. The aftershocks resulted in a tsunami, with 10-foot waves hitting the coast of Mexico, and 3-foot waves reaching Ecuador, New Zealand, and Vanuatu. On the opposite end of the elemental spectrum, wildfires have been raging across the United States. More than 640,000 acres have been burned in Oregon, a result of the Eagle Creek fire and the Chetco Bar fire, the first of which was caused by a 15-year-old lighting firecrackers on a forest trail. The latter, the state’s largest wildfire, was only 8% contained on September 13th, but hopefully higher air humidity will keep the fire from spreading further. Nobody has been evacuated yet, but residents in the area need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Photo courtesy of CNN.
Elle Biesemeyer, a first year at Scripps, experienced a close brush with a wildfire. “The ash was pretty suffocating a week ago,” Biesemeyer said.“My mom has asthma and she couldn’t go outside last week, so I was worried for her.” The La Tuna fire in LA County instilled similar fears. “Two weeks ago the air quality was very bad, and I got a warning text from Kaiser to not let [my son] outside because he has asthma,”Juli Shamash, a West Los Angeles resident, said. “We live pretty far from the Valley, but there was still ash on the car and pool.” This wildfire has scorched almost 6,000 acres of land, caused 300 home evacuations, shut down the 210 freeway, and filled the sky with smoke. Shifting winds and high temperatures quickened its speed, putting more stress on an already thinly-stretched fire department— some firefighters were in Houston helping with Hurricane Harvey. Farther from home but still pertinent, the Rice Ridge fire has burned 150,000 acres of Montana land. Glacier national Park is under an evacuation warning and the residents of Seeley Lake have been forced to evacuate. This fire is the national number one wildfire priority as of September 14th, and over 700 firefighters are working to stop the blaze. Lastly, three mudslides in Sierra Leone last month caused the deaths of 419 people, with hundreds more still missing. These nine natural disasters are a clear and pressing indication that something is changing in our environment. Harvey was the first major hurricane to make U.S. landfall since 2005; this is the first time since 2010 that three hurricanes have been simultaneously active in the Atlantic Ocean; Katia is the 6th hurricane to hit Mexico this season; the earthquake was the largest to hit Mexico in 100 years. And yet, even as he sends a personal donation of 1 million dollars to the relief effort for Hurricane Harvey, our president refuses to admit that the root of these events is climate change. In fact, the present administration has asked the Department of Agriculture to refrain from using the term “climate change,” preferring instead the gentler phrasing, “weather extremes.” Unfortunately, these weather extremes are only going to get worse, regardless of what phrasing they are assigned. As college students, there isn’t much active volunteering we can do to aid in relief efforts, but to donate, or learn about ways to help, please visit any of these sites: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ mexico-earthquake-and-hurricane-relief-fund/ https://www.helpmedonate.org/ https://www.fema.gov/newsrelease/2017/09/09/how-volunteer-hurricaneirma-disaster-relief
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue 1
The Scripps Voice Staff
faculty spotlight
Editors-in-Chief Mel Gilcrest Maureen Cowhey Advisor Christopher Dennis Design Editors Emilie Hu Rhiannon Schaub Sarah Wong
Professor Sherilyn Tamagawa, Department of Mathematics, Scripps College Interview conducted by Priya Thomas, ‘21
THE SCRIPPS VOICE: Where did you grow up?
Copy Editors Priya Canzius Rena Patel
PROFESSOR TAMAGAWA: I grew up in Hawaii on the island of Oahu.
Business Manager Anna Liss-Roy
T: A Scripps admissions officer came to my high school, and I happened to be in the room for her presentation. At the time I wanted to have a serious math degree, so I was considering Harvey Mudd, and I knew Scripps was part of the same consortium. I knew that I wanted to go to a small private school for college, because I had gone to large public schools my whole life and was tired of fighting for resources and attention. One thing led to another, and I ended up applying to Scripps [...] I received my acceptances to Scripps and Harvey Mudd on the same day, and choosing between the two was actually a really difficult decision. [...] But, a few things pushed me over to Scripps. I realized I had a lot of flexibility in the classes I could take, the campus was so beautiful that it was comforting and calming to walk around, and the students really did seem confident, courageous, and hopeful. So, I chose Scripps.
TSV: How did you first hear about Scripps College, and what made you decide to attend?
Webmaster Emma Wu Shortt Columnists & Staff Writers Leta Ames Janet Asante Priya Canzius Rose Gelfand Eve Kaufman Hanna Kim Elena Lev Luena Maillard Eve Milusich Zizzy Murphy Ittai Sopher Priya Thomas Lizzie Willsmore Photographers Emilie Hu Mel Gilcrest
TSV: How would you describe your experience at Scripps? T: I started my Scripps experience with a program called Outdoor Orientation. [...] I met some (though not all!) of my best friends at Scripps over this camping trip. My most memorable class from this year was AISS (Accelerated Integrated Science Sequence)...mostly because this class built some of my strongest friendships at Scripps. Outside of classes, I also spent my time dancing with the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company, tutoring math...giving tours for admissions... and getting to know my new friends. [...] My grades first year
Features • 3 were not as stellar as they were in high school, but I was still gaining a lot from my classes and my life was fulfilling. During my sophomore year, I took my favorite non-math class... called Women, Crime and Punishment. [...] As part of the class we went to a women’s prison every other week throughout the semester to take a writing seminar alongside the prisoners. It was really an eye-opening experience... The highlight of my junior year was studying abroad in Budapest, Hungary. They have a famous math program for students from North America, and I was told that all the best Scripps math majors go there. I enjoyed my experience - it was my first time in Europe, my classes were amazing, and it was interesting to talk to math majors from other colleges and compare my experiences with theirs... My favorite memory of senior year is actually the first dinner of fall semester. Since so many of my friends had been abroad the previous year, some in fall and some in spring, it was the first time we were all together in over a year. The rest of the year is a blur of classes, thesis, and preparing for life after graduation...Over my time at Scripps I realized I liked the branch of math called topology, so I wrote my thesis on quandles of virtual knots... TSV: How did you decide to become a math professor, and to return to Scripps? Does being a professor here make you see the school in a different light? T: Since elementary school I’ve wanted to be a teacher, and around middle school I started to get really interested in mathematics, so being a math professor combines the two perfectly. I loved Scripps as a student, and I couldn’t wait to come back. If I could have any job in the world it would be here...So, when I heard that Scripps was looking for math professors, I couldn’t not apply. I do see Honnold Gate differently. I walked pass that quote by Ellen Browning Scripps almost every day for four years, and my eyes were always drawn to that last part, about living “confidently, courageously, and hopefully.” [...] But now that I’m older and I’ve had a teaching role for a while, I realize that “the ability to think clearly and independently” far outweighs any other skill you can develop in college. TSV: What are some of your interests/hobbies, besides math? T: I love to travel, especially by airplane...planes are one of the few places where being short has advantages. I also doing enjoy puzzles (both logic and jigsaw!) and watching good crime shows. TSV: If you could give any piece of advice to your Scrippsfreshman-self, what would it be? T: Every moment of every day, do exactly what you want to be doing. You’re not going to be able to take advantage of every opportunity here - there’s just too many! So, be mindful of how you spend your time. Your time isn’t wasted if what you’re doing is more important to you than anything else you could be doing. Also, appreciate your friends more...Learn and grow from them as much as you can, because after graduation they’ll scatter to the ends of the Earth and you’ll only see them all when one of you gets married. Interview edited for length. For full transcript, visit our website at thescrippsvoice.com
the“freshman 15”
eating disorders vs. campus culture Eve Milusich ‘21 Mental Health Columnist
W
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hen back-to-school advertisements begin to pop up, so do back-to-school worries. The prospect of an awkwardly silent first class, an alarm on silent, and a 104˚ F move-in day are all cause for an anticipatory cringe. However, for those living with mental illness, typical back-to-school concerns may take on a different and damaging edge. For students like myself who struggle with eating disorders, many anxieties relating to food, weight, or body image are all worsened by diet culture on college campuses, specifically talk of the Freshman Fifteen. Since my first day at Scripps, I’ve lost track of how many times that the seemingly inevitable and damning weight gain has been jokingly discussed over meals. While these casual comments no doubt come from a genuine concern about adjusting to the meal plan, their impact is still keenly felt by those in recovery. I honestly don’t want to hear about an alleged 15 pound flux, looming overhead like a dark, meatball-laden cloud. Especially not when I’m trying to perfect my spaghetti-twirling technique. Frankly it knocks the magic out of my pasta, and instead I find my fork tangled in mounting panic, irrational guilt, and impending doom. In the face of The Fifteen, there are some truths with which I’m using to push past the fear. So regardless of whether or not you struggle with an eating disorder. I hope they do the same for you.
REMINDERS: 1.) The foods we eat, from fruits to fries, are neither strictly “good” nor “bad”. They are just necessary energy. As Andy Dwyer of Parks and Rec would say while he mightily punches the air, “Boom! That’s spaghetti!” 2.) College requires more energy than you’d ever expect. Walking from campus to campus, and class to class is significant physical work, even without the addition of any activities/athletics. 3.) Factor in your mental exertion as well. Think about everything you’ve accomplished today: physically, mentally, and emotionally. Next time your mind jumps to thoughts of the Freshman Fifteen (and its accompanying Jaws theme song), pause for just a moment. Instead of immediately voicing your concerns, be aware of what others may struggle with, and consider how a diet-related comment would impact someone living with an ED. Finally, remind yourself of the affirmations above. Everything you eat is serving its purpose, and being used for living and learning. Trust yourself, trust your body, and know that it is more than ok to “Treat. Yo. Self.”.
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue One
4 • News
CALLING ALL COLLEGE STUDENTS:TAKE STEPS TO
ReducE
By Leta Ames ‘19 Sustainability Columnist
H
ow can students reduce their energy use? You may already know the classic energy saving tips, such as turning off the lights when you leave the room or shutting down your computer when it’s not in use, but what can you do to go further? Despite 18.6% of our energy being produced by non-hydroelectric renewables (solar, wind, etc.), most of Claremont’s energy is produced through natural gas. Although the shift towards renewable energy sources such as wind and solar is necessary to combat climate change, personal reduction of energy consumption is important to make this transition easier and further reduce environmental impact. The biggest way to be conscious of your energy use is to think about the fact everything you do requires energy directly or indirectly. In your dorm room, there are plenty of small ways to reduce your energy use such as charging your phone before bed so that it is not drawing power during the whole night or taking shorter and cooler showers, the bonus with this is that you also save water as well. With some energy reduction strategies, there are misconceptions about what is the most effective. So, should you always turn off your lights even if you’re just headed to the bathroom? Is it better to leave your air-conditioner on at a constant temperature rather than letting your room heat up? Does it use less gas to restart your car rather than idling? The answer to these questions is it depends! Across all types of lightbulbs, from inefficient fluorescent and incandescent to efficient CFLs and LEDs the answers to when you should turn off your lights varies. Incandescent lightbulbs are much less common now, but you’ll still see them in the world and around campus. These lights are very inefficient and produce a lot of heat so they should be turned off whenever they are not needed. CFLs are more efficient and turning them off for
YOUR more than 5 seconds negates the effects of turning them back on, but flipping them on and off reduces their lifespan. The commonly followed standard is they should be turned off if you are leaving the room for 15 minutes or more. Also, an important thing to remember is that, albeit a small amount, CFLs contain mercury and must be disposed of properly, you can find recycling centers in the area online. Finally, LED lighting is by far the superior choice when it comes to lighting, they “use at least 75% less energy, and last 25 times longer, than incandescent lighting”. Unlike CFLs, you can turn an LED off and on to your heart’s content and not affect its lifespan. Additionally, LEDs do not contain mercury like CFLs. Making air-conditioners more efficient would make a huge dent in addressing climate change. Operating your air-conditioner in an efficient manner is also important in addressing wasteful energy use. Now that the days have started to cool off, turning off your air-conditioning might seem more feasible. Overall, it’s best if you can cool your spaces using fans, avoiding using hot appliances, and closing your windows and blinds during the day. If you must use your air-conditioner there are some things you can do to keep your carbon footprint in check. If you have control try to set your thermostat at a higher temperature, turn off your unit when you leave the room, and make sure your windows and doors are closed when your air-conditioner is on. Also, don’t forget that turning down your thermostat won’t cool your room any faster, it will only put more stress on the system, wearing it down and wasting energy. You can also consider heading to one of the many
Footprint air-conditioned communal instead of cooling your individual room. Finally, what about your car? The best way to reduce your energy use and carbon footprint when it comes to transportation is to walk, bike (scooter, longboard, etc.), or take public transportation. Driving an electric car can reduce your energy use, but if you’re plugging in outside of California your footprint may be higher than you’d expect based on how the energy is produced. If you’re driving a gaspowered car you can reduce your impact by turning off your engine when it’s not in use. California has strict regulations to reduce idling in cargo trucks, but the regulation for non-commercial drivers only apply on school grounds. Idling your car adds to carbon emissions and reduces air quality. If you are sitting for more than ten seconds (unless you are in traffic) turn off your engine. Additionally, if you want to use your heater or air-conditioning, leave your car sitting, it’s more effective to begin driving. There are many other ways to reduce your energy use that I didn’t touch on in this column, and there are many great resources on the internet. Some of the ways to get involved with energy reduction on campus or around the area are through SEED (Scripps Environmental Education and Development, scrippsgreen@gmail.com), CHERP (an organization in the community working on making homes more energy efficient, cherp. claremont@gmail.com), Put a Price on It (a group tackling policy to tax carbon emissions, tom@ ourclimate.us).
daca repeal cont’d
continued FROM page 1
junot DÍAz continued FROM page 1
adore whiteness; and artists to “give up what is hard and what will bring delight” in order to seek someone else’s approval, Díaz compelled his audience to restore themselves and recall their agency. “Stop trying not to offend people who find your very existence offensive!” he proclaimed. “Nothing will devour a person of color’s soul more than the imperative to love whiteness more than you love yourself.” In a final, moving response to an audience member’s question about parental and financial expectations, Díaz talked for a while about love. The question followed Díaz’s earlier request that “we first hear from women of African and Indigenous descent” (reminding the audience that those at the “intersections of
“stop trying not to offend people who find your very existence offensive” communities” are often the most silenced); Díaz answered with a candid discussion of his own family’s trauma, poverty, and expectations, concluding drily that, “as our parents were disappointments to us, we must in turn be disappointments to them.” He continued, soberly: “At the heart of this is compassion and forgiveness.” Díaz and Chang left the stage to a thunderous ovation. “I just teared up,” Chang laughed, and she wasn’t alone. Leaving the auditorium, I exchanged laughing and awestruck glances with the people around me, as though we had just witnessed something that, these days, feels almost miraculous: genius, humor, genuine compassion, and a truly radical politics of hope.
country or about my family there... that’s kind of this weird feeling where you’re told you’re not a citizen but you’ve been living here for essentially your entire life and you don’t know anything else.” In response to DACA’s impending termination, the College Community Action Network (CCAN), a 5C club partnering with local and Consortium-based communities oppressed and affected by the Trump Administration, held a phone-a-thon on Friday, September 8th. Students from across the Claremont Consortium gathered in Pomona College’s Women’s Union, and called local and hometown representatives and senators, urging them to support one of the four DACA alternatives that have been introduced to Congress. CCAN provided a script for callers, contact information for Congressional Judiciary Committees, and a list of
resources containing information for DACA beneficiaries and allies. Multiple resources have sprung up in response to the DACA termination, notably the “Informed Immigrant” website, which focuses on providing support and resources to DACA beneficiaries affected by Trump’s decision, as well as information for allies in how they can support undocumented folks, immigrants, and people of color. The site contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions for DACA or undocumented folks regarding how to get legal advice, a “Know Your Rights” section, a list of sanctuary cities, and a guide for what to do if ICE becomes involved. Additional information on DACA renewal, health care, employment, and education is also included, as well as information for allies on campaigns and groups to support, guides for organizing, and general information on the technicalities of DACA and how it impacts access to education and jobs.
The Scripps Voice stands with our fellow students, teachers, community members, immigrants and activists worldwide in the fight for humane justice. We reject the Trump administration’s racist and xenophobic declarations. No human is illegal. We want to help. Contact scrippsvoice@gmail.com if you feel we could assist you. Juntos venceremos.
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue One
Opinion• 5
Thoughts From A Snowflake 1 ASANTE'S ADVICE
COLUMN DEAR JANET, My ex-boyfriend and I decided to break up a week before we both left to college. He goes to school on the east coast, and we both thought we would try long distance. However, at the last minute he changed his mind. I’ve been trying to let college distract me and move on. However, he’s been texting me lately. He’ll tell me he loves me still and then leave me on read for hours. I really just don’t know what he wants from me and everytime I try to ask him he avoids the topic. I still have feelings for him, but at the same time I feel like I should try to move on. I’m not sure what to do. Please help. DEAR CONFLICTED ATHENA,
Photo courtesey of Wikimedia Commons
By Priya Canzius ‘20 Staff Writer
B
efore you start judging the rest of this article by its title, let me first start by introducing myself. I’m a woman of color who has spent most of her life growing up in predominantly white communities and academic institutions. No one really needs credentials to write an opinion article, but I’m going to tell you flat out: I am privileged, and I am aware of it. There is a lot in this world that I haven’t had to deal with. And there’s some that I have: casual racism, sexism; you get the picture. Certain things have gotten better as our country progresses, and some haven’t. But this article isn’t about me. It’s about our home, the 5Cs. The Claremont Colleges have gotten a reputation as a sanctuary for “liberal snowflakes”, according to the comment sections (and articles) of both right-wing and left-leaning newspapers and magazines. We should probably question why a disproportionate amount of students who write for right-wing papers compose the majority of students quoted in publications that are read by our entire country, but that’s a question for another day. For now, we’ll talk about this past year. We’ve all been hearing how last year was a tumultuous year for the 5Cs. We had protests, sit-ins, firings, and untimely deaths. But guess what? What happened and what’s still happening on the campuses and in the “real world” isn’t new. If you are a member of Gen Z, your (probably racist) great grandparents thought that your parents were liberal snowflakes if they protested for, well, anything. We hear that the times were different back then, and they most certainly were. Oppression was even more openly tolerated; being racist, discriminatory, or indifferent was often synonymous with being white. But marginalized groups of people are still people, back then and now. And it’s time to talk about that. There are many factors as to why students on the campuses were so tense last year. It feels unlikely to me that students were just more complacent in the years prior; rather, I believe that our current political climate has so heavily treated and threatened students and people of marginalized identities with hatred, toxicity, and indifference in “the real world” that students protested so much to make our home, the Claremont Colleges, feel safer. Yes, this is also turning into an article about safe spaces. Hear me out. In 2016, frontpagemag.com christened Scripps the “most racist college in America” because, according to the article, Scripps is racist towards white people. This stance is simply untrue. All students of color and of other historically marginalized backgrounds (and allies) are demanding is the same attention and respect that is given to their white, cis, hetero peers. But when we do this, we are called racist, or “snowflakes”. If we were demanding more respect or more attention than our white peers, yeah, that would be racist. But we are not. If you think that is what marginalized students are doing when they protest or demand safe spaces, please consider this: higher education is already a safe space
for white, cis, hetero students, especially males. The comment sections on many right-wing journals are rife with people pointing out that these “snowflake” demands would never be granted in “the real world”. Their criticism is disheartening, but valid. However, it is still necessary to continue to demand. If we aren’t going to be respected in “the real world”, why not fight to be respected now? Why not find and use our voices here in our small community so that we can break that silence in the “real world” and actually make some changes in the future? All things considered, I ask that my fellow “snowflakes” reflect on the experiences that they had last year and will have this year. I occasionally felt--on and off campus--that people blindly follow and accept the words of their liberal peers. I implore that you take time to think about what you are doing and how that impacts/ reflects on other liberal students. Our actions, unfortunately, have not been enough to create change across the country. When something that we do on campus is blown out of proportion, we lose the possibility of progression. We need our parents, our grandparents, and our communities from back home to understand that we are not a group of spoiled, undeserving kids whining about their campus life. We need to take time to explain the reasons for our resistance: we are students who are appalled at what previous generations had to withstand just to bring us to a time where equality still feels far from reach. We need to let them know that we are not simply fighting for ourselves. We need to demonstrate that we are fighting for and in spite of those who believe that nothing is going to change. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that anything that happened last year was put out of proportion. But while I firmly believe that bigotry necessitates dissent, we need remember to be logical with our dissent so that when the media gets wind of our next “snowflake” protest, perhaps they won’t need to ask the right-wing publication on campus why we did what we did; rather, they’ll understand it as a rational act of resistance. Maybe it will be obvious that diversifying the population of students on campus induces more demands of a school. Maybe students will start to grasp the importance of hoop earrings in Latinx and black culture. Maybe people will understand why students protest speakers and professors who discredit social and cultural groups with deficient evidence. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll stop calling Scripps the most racist college in America. I’m not going to pretend that I went to every protest, sitin, or signed every petition that was posted on Facebook. I’m also not going to pretend that I understand everything that happened last year. I’m definitely not going to pretend that I didn’t get tired of reading all of the articles about “liberal snowflakes” both in and outside of the Claremont Colleges. But here’s the thing: we’ve influenced some change. And we’ll keep doing it. Because of us, winter came last year. That’s what snowflakes do best. .
“Why not find and use our voices here in our small communicty so that we can break that silence in the ‘real world’?” 1
It sounds like you need to assess what you want from your college and relationship experience. Ultimately, you’re here to live your best life before you give energy to anybody else. Your wording is very telling. When you say that “he changed his mind” at the last minute, and that he leaves you “on read for hours”, I think part of you already knows that he is independently moving away from the relationship you once had. That doesn’t mean that he isn’t being honest when he says that he loves you, but it does mean that you should find purpose in yourself and not him. My advice to you would stop asking what he wants from you, and start asking what you want for yourself. If it’s love and companionship that you want, you deserve it from someone who eagerly awaits your texts—not someone who dreads them. If his texts bring you to an uncomfortable place emotionally, perhaps you should create some distance between yourself and him. LOVE, JANET ASANTE ‘21 DEAR JANET, I’m deeply in love with my amazing girlfriend! No trouble there. This question isn’t about the relationship exactly, it’s about my own anxieties. I’m a junior, and she’s a sophomore, which means I will be graduating a year before her. I really want to go to grad school, and I also really see a future with her. I hope these two things aren’t incompatible, but--I worry that I’m going to have to move away, and that she might not be able to follow me for whatever reason. I’ve considered staying in/around LA for a year after graduation; I keep telling people it’s because I want a year off from school, which is true, but what I really want is to stay with her for as long as possible. And I can’t help but hope that wherever I get into grad school, it’ll be somewhere she could come with me. Is it ridiculous to make big life decisions based on wanting to stay with your partner? Or is that just what adults do? SIGNED, PROBABLY OVERTHINKING IT DEAR PROBABLY OVERTHINKING IT, Having a very visceral and healthy relationship can be a wonderful experience and is one of the best things life has to offer, so congratulations! I would never make a blanket statement telling you that making big life decisions based on significant others is “ridiculous”, because there is no one-size-fits-all way to navigate life. As an adult, you are free to make whatever decisions work best for you. I have two pieces of advice for you. Firstly, openly communicate with your girlfriend about the possibility of you moving away for grad school and see how she would feel about it. There’s a possibility that she has expectations for the future of your relationship that you haven’t considered. Secondly, my motto is that although sacrifice can be fruitful, do what is in your heart and best for you. Make sure that if you decide to take a year off, that it is because that is what you need for yourself. Communication with yourself and your partner is key. Best, Janet Asante ‘21
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue 1
SPOTLIGHT
6
D A C A R A L LY
Rose Gelfand ‘21 Mel Gilcrest ‘19
7
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any students, faculty and community members came and shared their personal stories, representing themselves as well as different clubs and community organizations, including the Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success club (IDEAS), the College Community Action Network (CCAN), and the DEFEND Movement in the Inland Empire. Professor Gilda Ochoa, from the Pomona College Chicana/o Latina/o Studies Department, spoke on the United States’ history of colonization and slavery; rallying the crowd, she stated that “what we’re witnessing today has long roots, but our roots of resistance are longer and stronger.” Undocumented student representatives told their own stories of survival and resistance, asking the crowd to remember and acknowledge those who don’t make it past the gates of higher education. Pomona professor Guadalupe Vacio urged the assembly to “ask yourself, what is your responsibility as a citizen of this diverse world? How are you going to use your personal resources in order to help all of us?” People came to the rally for a variety of reasons. Camila Morales-Jimenez, a freshman from Scripps College, said, “I came because I wanted to see who was an ally. Who I could really talk to about this kind of stuff on campus.
Also just to see what I can look forward to in terms of the activist community, and those who support children of immigrants or immigrant children or undocumented children...It’s definitely an issue that impacts a lot of students that you may not know are undocumented.” The crowd’s small size and lack of administrative presence was challenged by one speaker, a student from CGU: “It’s great to see students and faculty here, but what we need is the folks at the top. We need our college presidents out here. We’re not in a bubble! We are all together in this struggle.” Representatives from IDEAS and CCAN urged students to get involved with advocacy work on campus. CCAN had two booths on each side of the stage, where they were raising money to cover local high school DACA students application fees. Partnering with Uncommon Good and the Pomona Day Labor Center, CCAN is cohosting a fundraising event on September 22nd for DACA students unable to afford the $495 DACA application fee. They are also hosting two clinics for undocumented / DACA students and community members: a DACA registration clinic on September 23rd and a Know Your Rights legal clinic on October 21st. Shayok Chakraborty, co-founder of CCAN, urged students and community members to help by volunteering at events and donating money for legal aid. You can donate to the CCAN DACA fund by venmo-ing @Daca-Legal-Clinic. Ultimately, the Immigrant Justice rally called in the whole community, urging those there to both take action and to ask those who did not show up to join in the fight--not just the fight to protect DACA, but for the rights of all undocumented folks, immigrants, and people of color.
“ W H AT I S Y O U R
RESPONSIBILITY AS A CITIZEN OF THIS DIVERSE
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n September 15th, students from all seven schools, faculty, and community members alike gathered in front of the Honnold Mudd library to rally for immigrant justice. The event was hosted by the Claremont Immigrant Justice Coalition, with the intention of standing “with DACA-mented and undocumented communities on campus, in the Inland Empire, and across the country.”
WORLD?”
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue 1
8 • Features
Accessing Academic Accomodations Grace Ozonoff-Richey ‘20 Disability Columnist
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y introduction to the disability accommodations process at Scripps was undesirable, to say the least. I liken my experience to a game: how many administrators would I have to break down in front of until someone actually helped me? Two years later, I’m in stable condition and part of the leadership team for the 5C Disability, Illness, and Difference Alliance (DIDA). I’m now making it my mission that no one else has to play this game. Accommodations take many different forms and look differently for every person. Examples range from extended time on assignments to special housing. Although there are several categories of disability accommodations, today I will talk exclusively about academic accommodations given that, at the behest of the Dean of Students Office, now is the most pertinent time in the semester to request accommodations.
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3)
Schedule an appointment with Academic Resources and Services(ARS).
During your visit, you will be asked to complete the “Request for Disability Support Services” form. Then you will meet with an ARS coordinator, probably either Dean Schnyder or Dean Loppacher, for a brief interview. Be prepared to answer the following questions: a) What is the nature of your disability? b) What are the limitations caused by your disability? c) How does your disability affect your daily life? c) What accommodations will you need in order to provide you equal access? Think carefully about the last question. Both the PCDs and ARS coordinators can help you determine which accommodations are appropriate for your circumstances. Examples of academic accommodations include note-taking assistance, proctored exams, extensions on assignments, use of assistive technology, and part-time enrollment.
1)
Recognize your needs and consider if institutional support is the right option.
Your struggles and needs are valid. Period. It is important, however, to think deeply if: a) intervention in the classroom will address your problems b) if you’re willing to go through this overwhelming bureaucratic process. For example, I independently approached my Intro to Arabic professor as a first-year started to explain that I have a learning disability and would likely struggle with certain aspects of the class. He offered me suggestions on how to navigate the textbook (and empathized with me as a fellow dyslexic!) to the extent that I felt like I didn’t need learning disability-related accommodations for his class.
4)
Get documentation from mental or medical health care professional.
The most important thing to understand about disability accommodations is that the Dean of Students Office is not obligated to provide any kind of assistance without proof of documentation. An ARS coordinator will provide you with guidelines on how to ask your doctor letter explaining your limitations. While there is legitimate power in self-diagnosis and obtaining documentation can be a financial and emotional burden, the Americans with Disabilities Act only prohibits discrimination against “qualified” individuals with disabilities. According to the Academic Resources and Service website, “qualified” in this context means a “person who meets the academic and technical standards requisite to admission or participation in the education program.” This jargon is their disclaimer; they’re only obligated in assisting students with documented disabilities.
Obtaining academic accommodations is undoubtedly a bureaucratic and strenuous process. However, once in place, they can make a world of a difference in your classroom experiences. Academic accommodations apply to all courses you take in Claremont and, unless modified, remain year to year. If you’re looking for a community of other disabled students, join our Facebook group, https://www. facebook.com/groups/ClaremontDIDA/. Please reach out to me via the 5C Disability Mentor Network email, fivecdmn@gmail.com, with any questions.
P.O.C. Issues: Hanna Kim ‘21 POC Columnist
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or many adolescent children of Asian descent, Hello Kitty seems to be an emblem of childhood. I was definitely no exception. When I was 4 years old, I loved Hello Kitty. In fact, I was obsessed with Hello Kitty. My most prized possessions were my Hello Kitty stuffed animals. They were about five inches tall and each had a different costume. Each week for show and tell, I would use my short and fleeting block of time to share each Hello Kitty from my flourishing collection. One day I was coloring in my Hello Kitty book at the counter while my mom prepared dinner for me and my siblings. While searing a cast iron pan full of tofu, my mom turned around and said, “why doesn’t Hello Kitty have a mouth?” At first, I was puzzled. Why was Mom questioning my favorite character? Why is she attacking her? I tentatively flipped through my coloring book and saw that she was right. Hello Kitty might have walked to school, hung out with friends, ridden horses, and eaten ice cream, but she did all of this without expression. I decided to take matters into my own hands. With a black sharpie, I drew
2)
Meet with your primary contact dean.
The primary contact deans (PCDs) are well versed in the accommodations process. They will help you carefully review your options, provide advice, and ultimately direct you to Academic Resources and Services, a subset of the Dean of Students Office. PCDs are assigned by last name: A-F Christopher Dennis G-L Leslie Schnyder M-R Julie Loppacher S-T Jenn Wells U-Z Deborah Grisvold
5)
Wait...but not for too long!!
Accommodations are decided on an individual basis. ARS staff will review your request form and supporting documentation in order to identify reasonable accommodations, then discusses the options with the student. Depending on the severity and urgency of your condition, you may experience a quick turnover. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and show up in person to ARS (on the north side of Kimberly) to ask about the status of your request! Note that requests can be rejected.
6)
Reach out to your professors.
Time and time again, my professors emphasize that they’re willing to work even with informal (non-documented) accommodations requests as long as the student communicates clearly with them. While they’re not obligated to uphold informal requests, most are flexible within reason. Once your request is approved, ARS will ask your permission to notify your professors via email. Strict confidentiality rules apply. While you’re not required to disclose details or identify your disability to professors, I’ve found through personal experience that they’re more flexible when they know the nature of your limitations.
Hello Kitty
mouths on all my dolls, every page of my coloring book, my backpack, my lunchbox, and, lastly, my pillow. As an eighteen-year-old Asian-American girl, I now can truly understand why my mom was concerned with the portrayal of Hello Kitty. Throughout grade school and high school, my peers thought they knew me because they had internalized the stereotypical prototypes of Asian people: shy, emotionless, passive, and quiet. My mom saw Hello Kitty as an encapsulation of all these stereotypes and felt uncomfortable that her young daughter idolized her so much. Surrounding myself with all things Hello Kitty could have led to my own internalization that I should embody the role of the Asian girl who has never spoke aloud. For my mom, Hello Kitty was not a risk worth taking. Hello Kitty has continued to flourish into an empire. Jewelry, comics, music, video games, TV shows, merchandise, even credit cards, have Hello Kitty’s face on it. In 2014, Avril Lavigne released a song entitled “Hello Kitty” with a music video alongside it. In the video, she parades around with four identically dressed expressionless and robotic Asian women in the background as she plays guitar, eats sushi,
and goes to the candy store. The monotony of the submissive background dancers make them seem to be interchangeable, forcing the viewer’s attention to Lavigne in the foreground. She made it pretty clear that she doesn’t share this view. She took it to Twitter, posting “RACIST??? LOLOLOL!!! I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan.” For me, this is the equivalent to someone saying” “I love Korean culture. I love K-POP”. Familiarizing oneself with a culture’s surface level stereotypes by no means makes someone an expert on that culture. In conclusion, I want to thank my mom for being mindful of these harmful stereotypes at such an early age. Media, like the Hello Kitty shows and movies I constantly used to watch, possesses the ability to form young minds’ understanding of the world around them. My mom, took it upon herself to protect my highly impressionable four-year-old self against the detrimental effects of cultural appropriation before it was even a coined term. Now it’s my turn to do the same.
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue 1
Lue
ASK By Luena Maillard '20 Sex Columnist
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ello Scrippsies, and welcome back to another exciting year! I hope all your respective transitions are going as smoothly as they can. As always, in this column you will find answers to anonymous questions from Scripps students. Submissions can be posted to a google doc shared on the Scripps Current Students FB page, but if you’re willing to type it out, here is the link: https://goo.gl/forms/iAxsMgsvVTL1LUl32 Also a quick reminder that I will unfortunately not be able to respond to every question I receive as I do have a limited amount of space. If you do not see your question in this issue, look for it in the next!
Q.
I go down on guys without a condom, and I think the large majority of people do the same when giving head. I want to be safe but at the same time can’t imagine using a condom. I think using a condom would take away most of the pleasure (for both of us) and for lack of a better word, weird. Advice? -Head over Heals
Hey ‘Head over Heals’! Your question is actually very similar to another I received this week.
Q.
What percentage of college students actually use condoms/dams for oral sex? Nobody I know ever has and I'm wondering how risky it is to follow the standard of not using them. -Anonymous
A.
To answer ’anonymous’ (since I know we’re all in college and all love statistics), in a recent study completed by YouGov of all US adults, 34% responded with “never” when asked how often they use protection during oral sex, the second-highest percentage after 38% responded ‘prefer not to say’. To narrow this down even further to college students, in an annual health survey done on Harvard students, 10% of students reported “mostly” or “always” using a barrier method for oral sex. Now, while this was a survey (which can be unreliable) and was Harvard-specific, it does seem to reflect the national low statistic for US adults. Both ‘head-over-heals’ and ‘anonymous’ have observed that no one they know uses protection when giving oral sex, which when taking into consideration the percentages, does make sense. There are only two options: use protection or don’t. However, this does bring us into a bit of a grey area. We have to remember that risk can vary from scenario to scenario. The option that someone in a two year, STI-free monogamous relationship might take could be vastly different than the option someone who is just meeting a casual hookup would take. The best solution would be to have a conversation with your partner about history and testing, but let’s be honest; that’s not always the nature of every sexual encounter. So here’s what I will tell you. There is NO risk-free or low-risk way to give oral sex WITHOUT a barrier method. However, risk can be situational, and the right answer for one person could not be the right answer for someone else. But, if you are able to have an open, honest, and trusting conversation with your partner about STIs and risk, DO IT! And to answer ‘head over heals’, it is possible to give nice head with a condom. here are some tricks that can help to make it more pleasurable for both parties! This next part deals specifically on oral sex with a penis as that was a part of the question, however there will be a section after on vaginas.
Q. A.
Features • 9 You asked, Luena answered.
Sex tipz 4 you: • Get your partner hard first • Choose a condom that is a bit looser on the tip and shaft -This is v important • Squeeze some lube into the condom before putting it on to decrease friction-Choose a condom that is flavored! This is more fun for you, however, the flavors can be gross. NEVER put a flavored condom anywhere that isn’t a mouth.
Extra sex tipz 4 vagina:
• You can make your own dental dam by cutting off both ends and down the side of a condom to make a latex sheet (DIY day, anyone?) • Just like before, put lube between the latex and the vagina-proceed with caution with flavors, because the sugar in the flavor can cause yeast and UTIs.
Are there any clubs on campus about health and sexuality? -Curious Freshie
Yes!! There is the newly-minted Human Sexuality Society (HUSSY), the wonderful Planned Parenthood Club, and Family the Queer Student Union! All of these organizations have FB pages for more information!
The Big Sick: A Comedic Exploration of Love, Tradition and Alienation in the 21st Century
By Ittai Sopher, Pitzer College ‘19 Film Columnist
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ichael Showalter’s The Big Sick, written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, and based off their real-life experiences, chronicles the collapse of Kumail Nanjiani’s balancing act of lying in the face of his traditional family’s martial and religious expectations, while restraining his deep love for his white girlfriend, Emily. In the first scene of the film, Kumail, the film’s protagonist, says that playing cricket, praying five times a day, and arranged marriage are the three most crucial differences at the heart of his family’s Muslim and Pakistani culture. Within the first twenty minutes of the film, Kumail disregards all three of these things; ditching his prayer-rug and cricket bat, watching fail compilations on YouTube, and later dissing his mother’s matchmaking skills. From the beginning, the film introduces the audiences to an extremely complex protagonist for a romantic-comedy in the 21st century. However, Kumail transcends the stereotypes of the diasporic heretic, by demonstrating an intense love for his culture and heritage, even investing his time and resources into a two-hour autobiographical play about the his
relationship with the culture and history of Pakistan, which includes segments about the Indo-Pakistani wars and the anatomy of a cricket bat. The comedy of The Big Sick is born out of the ridicule Kumail faces from his family for straying away from the expected path, as well as the bigotry that Kumail experiences. In his family life, Kumail mumbles about how he’s considering dropping stand-up to become a lawyer, while Kumail’s mother tells him that Malala Yousafzai has more potential for a career in stand-up comedy. In the face of prejudice, Kumail jokes about 9/11 and is very quick to reassure onlookers in a coffee-shop who are suspiciously eyeing Kumail and his brother, “it’s OK, we hate terrorists”. When Kumail is with his friends, they roast each other constantly. In fact, Kumail’s roommate, the only comedian not prone to negativity or dark humor, is the least successful of the bunch and the source of most of the group’s mockery. Later, when Emily enters a medically induced
“The film introduces the audiences to an extremely complex protagonist for a romantic-comedy in the 21st century.”
coma, and Kumail falls more deeply in love with her, Kumail is forced to meditate on his brother’s classic line: “There are one billion Muslims in the world, and you are the one who has it right”. These pieces of Kumail’s life serve as a testament to the strength of his convictions, and creates serious internal explorations for Kumail in a movie that is also extremely funny. At its heart, The Big Sick is a movie about the obligations of its protagonist Kumail’s difficulty in finding his footing in both the intense meaning and responsibility of his identity and his deep and restrained love for his girlfriend, who is emblematic of his wish to live a life outside the regulations of his family and his tradition, is at the heart of this film. In addition, the supporting performances, like Zoe Kazan as Emily whose evoked presence while unconscious is only possible by her strong on-screen presence in the early phase of her and Kumail’s relationship, provide strong on-screen support for Kumail as he meditates his act of love and rebellion. The Big Sick is probably the best romantic-comedy in recent years, and it’s thanks to the strong character construction, terrific acting, and comedic timing from the films leads and supporting actors, as well as how seriously the film takes Kumail’s familial and romantic crisis.
21 September, 2016 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue One
10 • Features
media
ana
lyst zizzy’s take:
naz & maalik By Zizzy Murphy ‘19 Media Analyst
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i, I’m Zizzy, a junior at Scripps and the Voice’s media analysis columnist for the 2017-18 school year! While similar columns to this have generally focused on new and hot releases, I am shifting the focus to lesser-well-known pieces of media, particularly those featuring diverse stories and storytellers. While I still may go for some more newsworthy movies on occasion, the new motive for this column is to highlight for the Scripps and broader 5c community narratives they may have missed or not even know existed. There is a caveat to the intention of this column: I am not interested in reviewing films simply because they are “good” or their budget means they were able to have a certain standard of cohesion throughout the entire filmmaking process. I want to look at imperfect works that did not have the chance to necessarily reach their full potential and probe why that might be. I also want to run the gamut of the kinds of media reviewed here in terms of genre and style. This means B horror comedies, anime shows, and cult classics are all up for review. My first order of business before getting to my inaugural review is an ask for you, the readership of the Scripps Voice: are there specific titles you would like to see highlighted and pieced apart here? Send them my way by emailing suggestions to emurphy1288@scrippscollege.edu. This week’s title is the 2015 American film Naz and Maalik, an introspective piece looking at a single afternoon in the lives of two black closeted gay Muslim teenagers living in Brooklyn. The watchworthy elements of the film have most to do with its beautiful camera work and the developing relationship between Naz and Maalik. Though the script manufactures obscure reasons for the two to fight that seem to stem largely from a need to advance the narrative drama, the strength of the film comes from the easy familiarity felt between the boys as they wander through streets, parks and everyday conversations. This is the first credited feature film for both of the leads, Curtiss Cook Jr. and Kerwin Johnson Jr., who
deserve much credit for the willingness with which they allow the camera to observe them in absence of dialogue or major action. Credit is also owed to the clear beauty that the film sees in both boys. Their black love forgoes the usual tropes of over-sexualization in favor of embracing the softness of a first romance and the timid touches which go along with the evolution from friends to lovers. The ease with which religious identity permeates the film - in greetings of assalāmu ʿalaykum, in questions of whether Muhammad ate mangoes - offers a rare opportunity for Islam to be taken as a given in the lives of these protagonists. There is some shoehorned islamophobia in the form of an FBI agent with seemingly too much time on her hands, but the surveillance she represents pales in comparison to the self-surveillance taking place in both Naz and Maalik’s careful navigations of the closet, a result not of personal reckonings with conflicts of sexuality and religion but the fear of judgment by outside observers and family members. Though Naz and Maalik obviously understand the precarious intersection of identity they hold, they are refreshingly allowed to breathe within that space rather than be crushed by it, offering a gentle hope that their internal progress can eventually be met by external change.
Image courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.
“Their black love forgoes the usual tropes of oversexualization in favor of embracing the softness of a first romance and the timid touches which go along with the evolution from friends to lovers.”
Image courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue One
ANYA COOPER Part Three: Under Water
Creativity • 11 A Serial Story by Elizabeth Willsmore
A
Pun Column
nya blinked slowly, registering the uncomfortable tug in her stomach, the “Now what can you do about that?” Here Susie shifted a little; her black curls gentle burning in her eyelids as a single tear began to gather in the corner. shivered in anticipation, and she had imperceptibly leaned in to Anya, intently “I owe it to him,” she whispered, overcome with the image of Gramps’ searching her face for answers. steely gaze as he told her to take the job with Butcher Engineer’s Corp., his “Well based off the numbers we used for the Sea Wall,” Anya began, “I’d pupils stark and intense against the sky blue of his irises. Squeezing her eyes guess the compilation of all the glaciers, including the increase in rainfall the shut, Anya felt her shoulders tighten as she remembered the roar of the sea that past few years, would have left Miami submerged. At best, it would stop there, day, Gramps’ weathered body bowing under the crushing weight of the waves but more realistically speaking Boston and New Orleans will have experienced like tree branches in the wind. The familiar knot twisted in Anya’s stomach, partial, if not full flooding as well.” Anya wound a single curl around her finger, and she felt her pulse begin to race as her breaths grew quicker and quicker. the curl resembling the copper wire she so often used in structures and designs. Suddenly, her mind became eerily quiet, her chest falling up and down in a Furrowing her brow, she glanced back up at Susie Shipton, who remained normal rhythm, as she heard Gramps’ voice echo in the depths of her memory, eerily still, waiting with baited breath for the final puzzle piece to click. “Well then Anya, you’ll just have to pick yourself back up and start again.” “I don’t understand,” Anya said, “there’s nothing we can do about it now, Anya opened her eyes and, with a renewed sense of calm she’d never before those cities are already underwater. Aside from building a modern-day Atlantis experienced, turned to Susie Shipton, who was still standing there, dark curls I’m not sure what else to d-“ Anya paused, doing a double take as she realized poised in anticipation of Anya’s next move. a smile had crept across Susie’s features and she’d slowly began to nod. “What do you need me to do?” Anya stated simply. “A modern-day Atlantis,” Susie repeated, her grin “I assume you are aware of the rising ocean levels Taking a deep breath, Anya growing exponentially larger by the second. “This is crisis?” Susie Shipton’s echoed out behind her as Anya why we called you, Anya Cooper.” closed her eyes and began followed the clicking of her nude pumps down a series “But, I . . . the last thing I built . . .” Anya’s voice of hallways in the basement of the building. trailed off uncertainly. Taking a deep breath in, she the once familiar routine of “Of course,” Anya replied, “water levels have been glanced, perplexed, at Susie. steadily increasing since 2017, that’s a well-documented imagining an ocean, the deep “I don’t understand, I failed. The Sea Wall, it broke. fact.” died. And Gramps . . .” Anya broke off, her turquoise waves slapping the People “Yes, but do you know what the news hasn’t been voice too thick with grief to continue. sand in a rhthic motion. telling you?” Here Susie came to an abrupt halt, turning “That’s why we want you, Anya,” Susie whispered, to face Anya with her piercing brown gaze. “Think, her gaze unrelenting. “Because you failed. Because we Anya,” she said fervently. “You built the Sea Wall, you all have failed. Humanity has razed the earth with our of all people should know the ocean is unpredictable.” Susie’s voice softened so-called genius, and now, we must live underwater to survive. You are no for a fraction of second, but her eyes remained fixed, unwavering. different from anyone else, Anya, except that you have the power to change Taking a deep breath, Anya closed her eyes and began the once familiar our fate.” Here Susie paused, leaning back against the harsh concrete wall. routine of imagining an ocean, the deep turquoise waves slapping the sand in “Look, I can’t promise the nightmares will stop, I won’t lie and tell you it a rhythmic motion. As the frothing foam washed in and out, the sea itself came will erase it all. What you can do is take that pain, that fear, and channel it into focus – the current, gentle and warm, enfolding Anya like one of Gramps’ into this new Atlantis. Millions have already lost their homes, and will die, hugs. Lulled by the soft hum of the tides, Anya didn’t even notice when the just like your Gramps, if you don’t do this.” first icy gush swept in. Suddenly, she was plunged into a vortex so cold it made Anya felt her eyes sting at the mention of Gramps, and felt a lump of shame her fingers ache, her spine arching angrily against the polar run-off invading rise in her throat as a single tear escaped down her cheek. the once cozy waters. Anya’s eyes flew open. The air seemed heavier as Anya “Fine,” Anya replied finally, her eyes downcast. “Fine,” she repeated, abruptly turned apprehensively back to Susie, who remained still, eyes unblinking. jerking her chin up, forcing her angry, tear-soaked eyes to meet Susie’s “The glaciers, they’re not just melting, they’re already gone.” unflinching gaze. “I’ll do it.” “Very good, Anya,” Susie replied, the shadow of a smile grazing her face.
What do you call an embarrassingly shallow hole? Pitiful. My wife told me to put white mosaic in the bathroom. but I wanted something more versatile. Two stalks of maize were fighting to style someone’s hair. By Elena Lev ‘21 It was a cornrow. Staff Writer
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue 1
12 • Arts & Entertainment
REVOLUTION & RITUAL
The photographs of Sara Castrejón, Graciela Iturbide, and Tatiana Parcero
By Eve Kaufman Staff Writer
Photographed by Emilie Hu ‘21
D
arkness and sacrifice are two integral aspects to revolution. Despite the great necessity for rebellion in terms of social progression, communal loss is inevitably tied with revolutionary change. Working with these themes of tragedy and rebellion, the Williamson Gallery presents Resistance and Ritual, exhibiting the works of three Latina photographers: Sara Castrejón, Graciela Iturbide, and Tatiana Parcero. The exhibit highlights singular members of a community acting on their own within the context of change, portrayed through a photographic lens. From the dates of 1910 to present day, the photos of these women explore various revolutions, whether political, ecological, or philosophical. Sara Castrejón, chronologically first of the photographers, examines people alone, on their way to execution, juxtaposed to group photos of armaments. She presents a force often overlooked in the recounting of war: the part women play in battle. Many of the women in her photographs acted as soldiers, choosing to defy social norms in the face of change. Photographer Graciela Iturbide operated during the Teacher Rebellion in Oxaca, capturing photos of indigenous people faced with the looming presence of colonial control. In place of photographs of protests and violence, Iturbide depicts images of women from many different cities and locations. individually, they represent the social structure of their communities, distinct as the discs in one’s backbone but acting in unison for support. Her photographs challenge colonial power, calling for progress in a way that bears witness to indigenous culture. Iturbide also integrates images of death and life, questioning how death bears life, and how a revolution can encapsulate both primal forces. Finally, the work of Tatiana Parcero layers photos of her body printed on acetate over various background images. These layers consist of colonial maps, anatomical diagrams drawn in the 1800’s, and ancient codices from different cultures. Parcero’s work is a continual re-questioning of her identity; these colonial-era images mesh with her own features, seeming to define the artist by the intermingling of tradition, colonial violence, scientific and ecological forces, and the physical reality of the body. Each of Parcero’s backdrops signify revolution, whether in defiance of political forces, in colonial oppression, or in re-imagining the oppressed body. The three women featured by the Williamson Gallery may have worked independently, but their portrayals of female bodies marked by oppression and revolt are artfully woven together by the exhibit Resistance and Ritual, creating a unique experience of three artists linked through a century of revolutions. “Revolution and Ritual: The Photographs of Sara Castrejón, Graciela Iturbide, and Tatiana Parcero” will be open to the public from August 26, 2017 to January 7, 2018 at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery.
21 September, 2017 • The Scripps Voice • Volume XXI • Issue One