Volume XXXI Issue Four February 10 2023

Uncompromising commitment to inclusivity and justice.

Mold Exposes Greater Issues Within Residential Life

By Charlotte Blasi ’26 Staff Writer

While mold may be a common occurrence for college students in the form of laundry or food left out too long, several Scripps students arrived on campus to find mold infesting their living space before they could even unpack. The consequential mold poisoning has caused serious health consequences for some.

Clark resident Sophie Gower ’26 first noticed mold in her room two weeks before Thanksgiving. She saw black spots around the smoke detector in her bathroom that seemed to be the result of gathered moisture.

Gower’s personal air filter reported unhealthy air quality for months since arriving in August. Recently, the air quality has improved, but “that’s just from keeping the windows open 24/7,” said Gower.

For Toll resident Disha Nambiar ’26, the mold in her dorm became life threatening. Nambiar reported symptoms starting on Aug. 22 when she moved in. They have only worsened since then.

Nambiar’s symptoms began slowly, a runny nose in the morning and other common allergy symptoms but quickly escalated to frequent vomiting, hair loss, a skin infection, and difficulty breathing. At first, she attributed these symptoms to her pollen allergy, but after weeks of taking medicine with no improvement, she moved on to other possibilities.

Next, she suspected a dust issue so she and her roommates consistently vacuumed and dusted their dorm, but to no avail. Finally, she ordered a mold test in early September.

During this time, Gower and Nambiar both noticed significant improvement in their symptoms while outside of their rooms. This difference in health was exacerbated for Nambiar when she returned home for fall reak and became more certain that the problem was the mold.

At the end of October, Nambiar noticed brown moldy spots on her HVAC system which prompted her to perform a mold test immediately. The mold test she ordered included a petri dish that was held up to her HVAC and was designed to show mold after 3 to 4 days, however in her case, the mold showed up within a day of the sample being taken.

Gower returned from winter break to discover even more mold in her room along with new symptoms. “Even though we cleared out all of our fridge and counters, there was mold on the top of the fridge and on some of the desks”, said Gower. Her symptoms included sneezing, itchy throat, and a runny nose. After ruling out COVID-19, Gower suspects mold

is the culprit.

She is not optimistic about improving air quality in her room or the mold disappearing. “The air quality [in Clark] is terrible and the fact that there are mold spores in the air is making a lot of people sick”, said Gower.

Gower and Nambiar both reported the mold to Facilities immediately and received similarly unhelpful responses.

Facilities responded to Gower’s work order by scraping off some of the mold surrounding the smoke detector, but it wasn’t enough to disinfect the area. The air quality in her room was still deemed “unhealthy” by her air filter.

Nambiar asked Facilities to clean the HVAC filter, a demand they ignored for several days. Eager to live without mold, Nambiar visited the Facilities office and asked them to conduct their own mold test and thoroughly clean her HVAC. Just like Gower, they wiped the mold away and assured Nambiar the mold was gone. She has still not heard any updates about the mold test she requested.

After meeting with Facilities, Nambiar was positive the mold was still there because she continued to

experience severe symptoms, however Facilities stopped responding to her correspondence. Ironically, she said that before reporting this issue to them, Facilities had been extremely quick with their repairs, noting that when there was a clogged sink or a loose door hinge, they responded within hours.

Because of the lackluster response from Facilities, Nambiar decided to send in her mold sample for testing to determine the type of mold and pursue an allergy test to figure out if the mold was responsible. The test revealed two types of mold in her room coming from the HVAC.

Still suffering from extreme symptoms, Nambiar went to Student Health Services (SHS) for help. They informed her that her lung capacity has decreased because she had been suffering from allergy attacks for months. They insisted that her allergic reaction was a response to the trees in Claremont and refused to acknowledge the possibility of mold poisoning.

After months of being ignored and dismissed by the school, Nambiar set up a meeting with Dean Adriana di Bartolo-Beckman in hopes of finally receiving a helpful response.

Dean di Bartolo-Beckman created

a plan for Nambiar to move out as soon as possible, found emergency grants that could cover her medical costs if necessary, and forced Facilities to respond to the situation. Nambiar was very impressed with the Dean’s response, noting that Dean di Bartolo-Beckman was not even her primary contact dean.

Nambiar went home for Thanksgiving break and returned with a confirmed deathly allergy to both types of mold in her room and an asthma diagnosis. “[I’ve] never had it [asthma] in my life," said Nambiar “[I was] a three varsity sport athlete, I did not have a hard time breathing”.

Thanks to Dean di Bartolo-Beckman and her RC for putting pressure on Residential Life, she was able to move out of her room before finals to live in a mold-free space. However, after coming back from break, it has been confirmed that the administration has moved transfer students into her old room. “It feels meaningful,” said Nambiar. “I know the HVAC system is still there.”

While Nambiar is now in a new room, she is not done with this story. “[I want] more clear conversation between Facilities and the deans about how ResLife is being taken care of,” said Nambiar. “We talk a lot about the housing crisis and stuff like that. I think the school just doesn’t care about it [mold issues], once you’re in the room, you’re in the room.”

She was very disappointed with the school, specifically Facilities and SHS for their dismissive responses to her health concerns. “The amount of money you pay to this school is because of the care and the experience you get at this school…we expect more,” said Nambiar.

This has been a long and grueling process for Nambiar. “It took a toll on my physical health, my mental health. It’s just so awful it took so long to get a response.” She said that she mainly had to “rely on [her peers] to get a response,” crediting her RC and her friends for encouraging her to advocate for herself.

Nambiar and Gower are far from rare instances of mold poisoning at Scripps. Nambiar said that she was not the only one to feel sick after spending time in her room and that many of her friends felt similarly. She reported that she also has a friend who was coughing up blood as a result of mold as well as other horrible symptoms.

Throughout this incident, Nambiar has been sharing her story in hopes of helping others discover the problem before it’s too late. “I tell them and they go back to their dorms, order a mold test and it comes back with mold,” said Nambiar.

Innovation at Keck: Spotlighting

Dr. Sarah Budischak

Claremont Taiko Drumming Club Strikes Again

SAS Introduces New Members for the Spring 2023 Semester

Ellen Hu '24 • The Scripps Voice

Party Safer Scripps

Scripps Presents Comedian, Writer, and Netflix Star: Mo Amer

By Anna Peterson ’25 Staff Writer

OnFeb. 2, comedian and writer Mohammed Amer performed a comedy routine and participated in a Q&A panel as the first Scripps Presents event of the semester. Recently renewed for a second season of his Netflix show Mo, Amer’s performances focus on his identity as a Palestinian refugee and his journey to American citizenship. He was raised in Houston as an Arab American, and his stories often center generational trauma and cultural displacement.

The event began with a brief acknowledgement that Scripps College is in the historical homeland of the Tongva people. Additionally, the speaker noted that Scripps College is aware of and recognizes “the painful history of genocide and colonization” in the area.

Following this announcement, the speaker invited Professor of Anthropology with a focus on Palestine, Lara Deeb, to the stage. As a first-generation U.S. citizen and Arab American, Deeb discussed her relationship to Amer’s work and the impact of positive Arab representation in popular media. Then, she described how Amer uses comedy to exhibit the harsh reality of discrimination and immigrant struggles. Concluding her opening statements, she invited Amer onto the stage.

The crowd erupted into applause as Amer made his way onto the platform. Once again, he introduced himself to the audience and addressed some central parts of his identity: refugee, Palestinian, and southern.

Amer began his stand-up with the framework of a post-9/11 America,

where nationalism and anti-Arab efforts were at an all-time high. He affectionately joked about his family pushing him into the workforce at 15, where he worked at an Arab American owned flag store.

Following the attack on the twin towers, President Bush urged Americans to fly the U.S. flag and exhibit their unwavering patriotism. Amer laughed at the ironic aftermath of this call. The store sold over 10,000 U.S. flags after being flooded by America-loving Texans. Unknown to these customers, they purchased their flags from an Arab Americanowned business.

When the original American flags ran out, Amer recalled selling 500 U.S. flags with the faces of John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe plastered over them. When these flags eventually ran out too, the customers even began to buy the Liberian flag, which shares a similar design to that of the United States. At this point, Amer had the audience in tears with universal laughter.

Then, the tone of his performance shifted. Amer explained that the owner had reserved an American flag for a late customer. This inconvenience required Amer to wait an additional three hours for the customer to show up.

When he did, the customer noticed an Arabic prayer hanging behind Amer. He proceeded to call him a racial slur. The crowd was completely silent.

Amer described telling off the man, saying that the Arab American owner’s kindness is responsible for him reserving and selling the flag

to him. Then, Amer broke the tension by offering the man a deal on the supposedly premium flag: $500. With this, he said he would throw in a beautiful wooden flag pole for only $300.

The man agreed to the price, and Amer described walking to the backroom to unscrew the mop handle. The entire room laughed hysterically.

The routine concluded after a mere 25 minutes and the Q&A panel began. Randy Lopez, a local figure in the Claremont community, sat with Amer to ask some general questions and those posed by students and fans.

Lopez inquired about Amer’s storytelling process and the path toward producing a show. Amer replied by describing how he imagined the scenes and listened to different songs until he found a perfect way to retell a specific memory.

He recounted writing the first episode of his show Mo after opening for Dave Chapelle. Chapelle prompted him to save the script for a television show instead of using it for his set.

Lopez then pulled a question from the community, asking Amer about political division in America. Amer replied by saying that he stands somewhere in the middle. He advocates for people to focus on our shared humanity rather than political beliefs.

As the panel came to a close around 8 p.m., a few audience members asked further questions about storytelling as an Arab-American, growing up with the Latinx community, and discrimination in the south. The event ended with a last ques-

tion from the audience, and Amer thanked the audience for their time.

TSV Editorial Staff 2022-2023

Aanji Sin ’24

Editor-in-Chief

Alyssa Wend ’24

Editor-in-Chief

Ellen Hu ’24

Editor-in-Chief

Isabel Suh ’24

Head Design Editor

Cecelia Blum ’24

Design Editor

Alyssa Leong ’23

Design Editor

Elita Kutateli ’26

Design Editor

Ellen Wang ’25

Copy Editor

Juliette Des Rosier ’26

Copy Editor Intern

Frances Walton ’26

Copy Editor Intern

Belen Yudess ’25

Social Media Manager

Julia Cox ’23

Webmaster

Photo Courtesy of Scripps College

Innovation at Keck: Spotlighting Dr. Sarah Budischak

By Juliette Des Rosiers ’26 Copy Editor Intern

Thisis the first article in a series highlighting the female and genderqueer faculty working at the W.M. Keck Science Center. In highlighting their background and achievements in research, The Scripps Voice aims to elevate female and genderqueer voices in science. We hope that this series will get students, especially other aspiring female and genderqueer scientists, excited about the innovative science happening at Keck and motivate them to consider the opportunities to take part in research at Keck.

Professor Sarah Budischak M.S., Ph.D. is an assistant professor of biology at the W.M. Keck Science Department since 2018. She received a Bachelor of Science degree with a biology major and chemistry minor from Davidson College. There, Dr. Budischak felt a pull to research due to the opportunities provided by going to a liberal arts college.

“I got to do research the summer after my sophomore year, and I just fell in love with it, because it was like all about problem-solving and figuring stuff out and troubleshooting and analyzing data,” Budischak reflected.

As for identifying her concentration, Budischak found inspiration from her classes as an undergraduate. “My favorite class I took was called Ecotoxicology. It was thinking about contaminants in real-world, ecological systems, and how they interact with both biotic, biological, and abiotic medic factors. I just thought it was so cool. So I applied to a bunch of grad programs to do that.”

While working on her master’s degree in the fish, wildlife, and conservation department at Virginia Tech, Budischak studied ecological toxicology by conducting experiments on amphibians sensitive to pesticides. Eventually, she developed her project to include observations on how parasites and pesticides interacted. She then received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. She collaborated closely with Dr. Vanessa Ezenwa of the University of Georgia while studying co-infection in African buffalo, traveling to South Africa for field studies of community ecology.

Most recently, Budischak worked on her postdoctoral research at Princeton University, where she discovered an appreciation for undergraduate instruction and developed her skills in teaching science.

“I also got to mentor undergraduates that whole time and I really loved that,” said Budischak. “Coming from a liberal arts college, it just seemed nice to teach students who are interested in being there in small classrooms. Where you get to know your students and can do research with undergrads, not just have your grad students do research with undergrads. So that was always what I wanted to do. They had postdoc fellowships on how to

teach science writing. So each year they’d have postdocs from all over the university come into their science writing program and learn how to teach science and then teach some science writing classes. I brought a lot of those components into my class here.”

Professor Budischak teaches a collection of biology courses at Keck while working on her research in disease ecology which studies the patterns, development, and mechanisms of pathogens and how that impacts individual organisms, isolated populations, and communities.

“It’s so relevant,” she insists. “Seventy-five percent of all the emerging infectious diseases come from non-human animals, so understanding disease in wildlife can really help us for conservation or management decisions and also for human health.”

Her current focus is on co-infections within organisms, specifically, how parasites and diseases interact within an individual. “I’m interested in doing research that helps us understand important questions or at least another little piece of them. One of the things with infectious diseases I’ve been interested in for a while now is how different diseases interact with each other. So if [an organism] has worms, they might be more susceptible to getting a virus or bacteria, or if they have both at the same time, they might spread that bacteria or virus or stay sick longer. This is because they have different immune responses that actually shut each other off. So there’s this cool mechanism where it’s hard to fight both at the same time.”

During her research projects, Dr. Budischak frequently collaborates with other Keck scientists. In 2022, she worked with Dr. Findley

Finseth to publish a research paper exploring the association between genomic heterozygosity and parasite abundance. The study looked into the possible connection between the genetics of hosts and infectious disease risk. They used feces samples from wild deer mice since they can host multiple infectious diseases that can infect humans, analyzing the identity of their infections and the diversity in their genome. They used their data to compound trends that associated low genetic diversity within individuals with coinfections.

“We found some really interesting patterns suggesting that individuals that have lower genetic diversity are more likely to be infected or more severely infected,” Budischak said. “We’re thinking about conservation and the fragmentation of the landscape. Animal populations are getting less connected to each other. Just considering what the implications are of that for susceptibility and disease spread.” Since its publication last year, the paper has been selected as a featured paper in the Springer Evolutionary Ecology journal.

Dr. Budischak is also excited to apply genomics to her other working papers. For instance, she works with Dr. Elise Feree, another Keck faculty member, to observe co-infection and parasites in birds at the Keck field station. “Professor Feree is studying their behavior and I’m studying their parasites. Once we have enough data, we’re gonna come together and write a paper on how parasites might affect their migratory behavior or be affected by their migratory behavior.”

Especially after her work with Professor Findseth, Dr. Budischak is looking forward to applying genetic analysis to this study. “I think we can learn a lot from the host genetics and maybe even like parasite genetics to see who’s sharing parasites with

whom,” she said. At the field station, we studied two different species of birds. One stays in California yearround and the other migrates to Alaska and back. Are they spreading parasites to each other? Or do they have different kinds of parasites? They look the same under a microscope. So until we do the genetics, we can’t tell.”

When speaking to current students aspiring to a career in science, Professor Budischak emphasized the necessity of taking advantage of the opportunities at the Keck Science Center, starting with the classes.

“One thing I would recommend for students here is if they can get into it take a biostats class early,” Budischak said. “That was actually the thing that triggered me to get into this career. I did well in a bio stats class and that professor asked me if I wanted to do research with her for the summer. I am so glad that at Keck we now have these research internship classes, Natural Science I and Natural Science II, worth a quarter credit or a half credit. They’re a really great way for people to get a start on doing research. I’ve had lots of students in my lab doing these quarter-credit research classes and seeing if they’re interested in it. It’s a great way to get enough experience to then apply for summer research.”

She expresses the merits of searching for research opportunities as a method to explore science as a subject and career. “I also think summer research opportunities are really awesome,” Budischak encourages. “What if you had all day to do research and science? Would you still really like it? Would you like it more because you’re not interrupted by everything that happens during the school year? It’s worth a try to decide [if] that’s not the right topic, or not the right lab, or not the right way of doing science for you.”

Photo Courtesy of Scripps College

Claremont Taiko Drumming Club Strikes Again

By Belen Yudess ’25 Social Media Manager

If you have ever walked by the Tiernan Field House on a sunny Sunday afternoon, you have most likely heard the rhythmic yet powerful beats of the Claremont Taiko Drumming Club. Named Shogo Taiko , the club meets on a weekly basis.

Shogo Taiko was established in 2004 and was running strong until club activity was paused at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, after its return during the 2021-22 school year, the club is ready to publicly perform and carry on its impressive legacy for future generations.

Taiko drumming is a Japanese form of drumming that includes martial arts, dance, and music all in one. It originally came from China and then its influence spread to Japan where it became a larger art form and was modified.

It was originally used to signal the start of harvest and bring in good luck and celebrate festivals. That's where the large percussive sounds that you would expect at these fun occasions comes from. They would play on the fields and such, but nowadays that's not the case.

There are three types of taiko drums: the smaller shime daiko which keeps the beat, the mediumsized chu daiko which are used by performers to play the main song, and the mounted o daiko with a deeper and more powerful sound.

Club Co-President Medha Gelli ’23 noted that teaching taiko follows a traditional, yet innovative, method. “It is definitely learned and created in a unique way,” she said. “What we do is learn pieces that have been passed down from previous generations of our group in an oral tradition called coho , which literally means mouth talk.”

As a part of this tradition, beats are orally communicated before they are executed. “That's how older members teach the younger members and that's part of the tradition of Shogo Taiko ,” Gelli said. “We've been teaching our new members Hachi Jo , which is our traditional piece for the newbies to learn in their first semester.”

Gelli’s history with taiko stems back much further than her beginning with the 5C club. It’s been a large part of her life, even acting as a topic for her college application essays.

After being introduced to the art at the age of nine, Gelli jumped at the opportunity to join a group. “I loved the sound and the movement and the loud drums,” she said. “I signed up and the group was really great! My sensai was really amazing and she definitely grew my passion for taiko.”

Gelli has found that taiko has played an important role in connecting her with other cultures and acting as an escape from everyday stresses. “I think the sense of community and the group energizing or adrenaline is

something I have never experienced outside of the group,” she said. “If anyone has that one thing you do that helps you forget about all your worries, this is that for me.”

Now, after [Shogo Taiko Drumming Club's] return during the 2021-22 school year, the club is ready to publicly perform and carry on its impressive legacy for future generations.

Taiko is made of three components: the physical, the beat, and the sound itself. Movement plays an essential role – posture and positioning of hands come right after mastery of rhythm.

“If you're supposed to be doing a certain movement you have to be intentional about it, and you also want to be in sync with your group mates,” said Gelli. “I think another thing that we teach is that crescendos come from not only playing the drum harder, but moving your hands bigger to create more momentum to get those louder movements.”

Kii, the third element, is composed

of encouraging sounds made throughout the song to support fellow drummers. These sounds also serve to keep the team on track as they perform.

Gelli is enjoying and learning a lot through her role as Co-President, but she also explains the slightly difficult process of juggling the managerial aspects of her position as well as teaching taiko to students with some to no prior knowledge.

“Our senior members who graduated last year were able to teach me how to learn songs, conduct practice, answer emails, budget concerns; things that presidents should be able to do,” she said. “We didn't get a lot of time to transition leadership from last year though, so there's definitely things our leadership team is dealing with right now.”

Tasks that have not happened in years, such as buying uniforms, are areas Gelli finds the most difficult. “I've been learning as I go, and I'm trying to provide the best experience I can,” she said. As she looks towards the future, she hopes to draw from

practices held by previous leadership to guide the team.

“I want to prioritize more individual support, which is everyone works on their own thing and other people come around and correct or help them,” she said. “Taiko requires a lot of feedback in terms of continually correcting and there's always room to improve.”

That being said, Gelli has already seen a lot of improvement. She is excited about the future of the club as she watches her fellow performers advance.

“Seeing the students from last year who used to be new students, I've definitely seen them grow,” she said. “That was my first year as part of leadership so now they're having to figure out how they learn things and teach them to someone else.”

The Claremont Taiko Drumming Club is scheduled to perform Feb. 18 at 12 p.m. on the Scripps Lawn for Family Weekend and March 30 at 7 p.m. at Big Bridges Auditorium for the Benton Museum’s exhibit, “5 Indices of a Tortured Body” by Wardell Milon.

Belen Yudess '25 • The Scripps Voice

M3GAN: The Revival of Spoof Horror and the Yassification of AI

By Anna Peterson ’25 Staff Writer

Searching to numb my brain after a long day of classes, I was scrolling through the slew of repetitive content on TikTok when I came across a video of a robotic girl with eery glass eyes singing David Guetta’s hit song “Titanium.” At this moment, I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of whatever godforsaken movie this was. What out-oftouch Hollywood producer decided to invest in this Ex Machina x Child’s Play reboot? However, the sheer comedy, innovation, and horror provided by Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN soon disproved my initial reactions.

M3GAN’s appeal is not in her violence but in her creepiness –her ability to make the audience uncomfortable with her sheer existence.

The movie begins with Gemma (Allison Williams), a talented toy designer and engineer at the Funki company, becoming the caretaker to her recently orphaned niece, Cady (Violet McGraw). Engrossed in her work, Gemma struggles with parental responsibilities and managing Cady’s unimaginable grief. As problems arise with family welfare services, Gemma gifts Cady with a prototype of her newest creation. Standing four feet tall, the blonde, robotic nightmare of my dreams appears: M3GAN (Amie Donald, Jenna Davis). The plot quickly devolves as M3GAN’s AI capabilities and bloodlust grow stronger.

Going into this film with no other information than TikTok gags, I expected the worst — a lazy social commentary on the advancement of technology. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more this

movie offers for the viewer. Dashed in with raw acting and suspense, M3GAN produced many moments of intentional comedic relief. This element of “spoof horror,” widely regarded in earlier delineations of the “scary movie” genre (Scream, Scary Movie, Child’s Play), eased any preachiness around an anti-technology stance. In this way, M3GAN asserts that it does not take itself too seriously and acknowledges its ridiculousness as inherent.

Dashed in with raw acting and suspense, M3GAN produced many moments of intentional comedic relief.

However, for a movie past the 90-minute mark, I have some technical criticisms with the story-telling and speed of the plot. With Cady’s parents suffering an unexpected and traumatic death, Gemma seems relatively unphased. The audience does not often see her genuinely grieve over the loss of her sister

and respective brother-in-law. At points, this made it difficult for me to understand the relationship and character development of Gemma and Cady as a family unit. Additionally, the beginning is painfully slow. M3GAN takes its time to establish the background before introducing anything violent (which happens offscreen). It seems that the PG-13 rating is responsible for the abundance of fluff and lack of true horror.

While the storytelling of M3GAN is nearly perfect, the design choices and costume execution also deserve recognition, as they are central to the film’s success. Costume designer Daniel Cruden dresses M3GAN in a mid-length beige dress, striped undershirt, and a stiff bowtie. While the movie is set in the current era, M3GAN simultaneously exhibits both on-trend and outdated elements. Despite appearing so life-like, her clothes distinguish her as an “other” amongst the presence of the real. In

addition, M3GAN’s structural design further drives this effect. While her lips and nose are realistic, M3GAN’s eyes are large, ice-blue, and doll-like. In a way, her appearance creates an “uncanny valley” phenomenon, where the line between reality and falsehood is blurred. Thus, M3GAN’s appeal is not in her violence but in her creepiness — her ability to make the audience uncomfortable with her sheer existence.

As I left the theater, my adrenaline was pumping, but my laughter was relentless. If you’re seeking to indulge in a non-scary scary movie, M3GAN is the way to go.

As I left the theater, my adrenaline was pumping, but my laughter was relentless. If you’re seeking to indulge in a non-scary scary movie, M3GAN is the way to go. For what she lacks in gore, she makes up for in hilarious dance scenes and aesthetic allure.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

SAS Introduces New Members for the Spring 2023 Semester

By Belen Yudess ’25 Social Media Manager

Introducing this semester’s Scripps Associated Students (SAS) team! Last semester, Scripps students were invited to apply to certain SAS positions in order to fill vacancies within the team caused by resignations and students studying abroad. These positions included Vice President of Student Affairs (VSPA) formerly held by Kaitlyn Chen ’24, Diversity and Inclusivity Chair formerly held by Scotland Carter ’24, Student Organizations Commissioner (SOC) formerly held by Destiny Rivera ’24, and 5C Events Chair (5CEC) formerly held by Trinity Walker ’24.

On Jan. 23, SAS sent out an email announcing Melina Durre ’25 would be taking over as VSPA, Simran Sethi ’26 as Diversity and Inclusivity Chair, Tara Zhang ’24 as SOC, and Alexandra Hamilton ’24 as 5CEC. The email also came with the news that SAS President Megan Chow ’23 would be stepping down from her role while SAS Executive Vice President (EVP), Tsion Mamo ’23, would take over as President.

With three years of SAS experience under her belt, Mamo understands the commitments of her new position. “It’s a lot of work, but I’m excited to finish out SAS and to do all the things people like about SAS while adding new things,” said Mamo.

Mamo is a politics major and media studies minor, who apart from SAS, is involved in the 5C Ethiopian Student Association, Watu Weusi, and is a Community Coordinator. She had previously served as Sophomore and Junior Class President.

When it comes to brainstorming and planning events, Mamo’s goal is for SAS to host activities that give students a chance to come together and enjoy one another’s company. “I don’t think there is one type of Scripps student so we have to have events that are about showing love to one another,” she said. “Hopefully one that’s just going to be more fun and just us celebrating, and definitely one around academics like another study hall.”

Durre echoes Mamo’s hope to

create spaces that facilitate uplifting environments and are centered around unifying the Scripps community through events. “I think we want to do a few Scripps-only parties and I think that we can all work together to put on something that everyone will enjoy,” said Durre.

“We’re also planning on bringing back the Valentine’s Day hearts that we had last year,” she said. “That’s something I’m really excited for because, as a non-SAS member my freshman year, that was something that really meant a lot to me.”

Durre is a media studies major and biology minor who is also an avid Pokémon Go player, sports enthusiast, and self described film nerd. Aside from her new position on SAS, she is an Admissions Ambassador, a Sponsor for the Asian American Sponsor Program, and a member of the CMS Games Management Team.

Durre decided to apply for VSPA due to her positive experiences with student government during her senior year of high school. “I was in student government in high school when I was a senior and I really liked it, and my one regret was that I didn’t join it earlier,” said Durre.

Similarly, Sethi decided to join SAS because of her desire to become more engaged with the Scripps community. With the majority of her classes being taken off campus, she felt a disconnect from her home campus.

Sethi is a potential neuroscience major and computer science minor who has published a book entitled Bioethics— Conduct with Conscience. She is a current LASPA Fellow, a member of the Sikh Student Association, and a writer for the Claremont Journal of Medicine and Social Justice.

The diversity role immediately stuck out to Sethi because Scripps is a primarily white institution (PWI). This would later become an important motivating factor for her while applying. “I love the school, but I know there’s other students of color who are feeling the same thing as me,” she said.

Sethi noted that she has many ideas to showcase the work and creativity specifically for POC students at Scripps.

One of these ideas is the creation of an art exhibition. “There’s so many talented students at Scripps,” she said. “If it ranges from art to writing to whatever it is, just to showcase that, especially students of color.”

Mamo applauds this year’s SAS team for their dedication to one another and enthusiasm to collaborate. “I think this year’s group is really good and people are very understanding especially with the transitions,” she said. “They step up and make sure they’re there for each other when planning for different events. I know a lot of the presidents are collaborating on different projects because a lot of people have similar interests.”

Due to the upcoming SAS elections for the 2023-24 school year in April as well as the high number of new members, it was decided that Mamo would retain her position as EVP while also acting as President.

As President, Mamo has the additional responsibilities of leading SAS meetings and directly working with administration. “I’ve also led meetings before and I think

right now SAS is just trying to support one another and help each other out and do things that would overall be beneficial to the Scripps community.”

Durre is grateful for the SAS team’s support and kindness throughout her transition into this new role. “I’ve found [SAS] to be extremely welcoming, just right off the bat,” she said. “Everyone is extremely nice and I feel like it’s a very safe space. It’s a very diverse group of people and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know everyone.”

Sethi encourages students, specifically students of color, to reach out to her with any concerns or ideas, and she looks forward to being a system of support within her position. “My goal coming out of any conversation is knowing that I’ve actually done something to better myself, my friends, [and others] who might be going through the same thing,” she said.

Similarly, Mamo and Durre encourage students to reach out to them via email or attend their weekly office hours on Mondays 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Student Union.

Frances Walton ‘26 • The Scripps Voice Simran Sethi ‘26

Tsion Mamo ‘23

Frances Walton ‘26 • The Scripps Voice

Melina Durre

Frances Walton ‘26 • The Scripps Voice

Scripps College and Pitzer College Extend Science Center Through The Nucleus

By Ellen Hu ’24 Editor-in-Chief

Construction on The Nucleus, a new addition to Keck Science Center, is underway. Establishment of the new building began in May of 2022 with the expectation that the facilities will be opened for the fall semester of 2024.

The joint $70 million project between Scripps College and Pitzer College follows 58 years of sharing the W.M. Keck Science Center with Claremont McKenna College. The center currently offers 15 majors and serves approximately 6,300 students

between the three colleges.

On Sept. 30, 2022, Claremont Mckenna announced that they would depart from the cross-college science department to establish the Robert Day Sciences Center. Construction on this project is set to begin during the summer of 2023.

The Nucleus aims to address “the need for additional faculty and the expansion of classes and cocurricular offerings to meet student demand and increase the Colleges’ capacity for cutting-edge, grantfunded research,” Scripps College wrote on their webpage explaining

the new project.

This initiative will add 70,000 square feet to the current science center along the border between Scripps College and Claremont McKenna College on East 9th Street. The new space will include more labs, meeting rooms, a computer lab, faculty offices, and a rooftop greenhouse.

All structural foundations for the building were completed in January and further work on the second floor of the building is currently underway. On Jan. 27 students received an email from the college

acknowledging consequential construction noise.

“This may cause increased noise levels compared to normal construction activities,” the Scripps College Facilities and Auxiliary Operations team wrote in the email. “You will see concrete trucks and concrete pumps with increased quantities of workers onsite.”

Updates on the status of the science center and current plan can be accessed through the Scripps College website at https://www. scrippscollege.edu/scripps-pitzerscience-initiative/.

Gym-clusivity: Tiernan Field House Opens to 7C Community

On January 17, Scripps students received an email from Assistant Dean Deborah Gisvold announcing that Tiernan Field House (TFH) will now be open to the larger Claremont Consortium community.

The Sallie Tiernan Field House is a health and wellness center created to foster students’ physical and emotional well-being. In addition to a strength training room, aerobic studio, and 25-meter swimming pool, TFH also has a wellness room for students that need a place to relax and focus on their mental health. The Field House hosts bingo nights, crafting activities, and snack-making events as well.

Prior to this announcement, the gym was open only to Scripps affiliated students, faculty, and staff, while the pool was limited to CMS students, faculty, and staff, since they all share other athletics facilities.

Starting this semester, the building and pool are accessible to those affiliated with Pitzer, Pomona, Keck Graduate Institute, and Claremont Graduate University. However, non-

CMS individuals must purchase a membership or day pass in order to use the facility.

Day passes are $5 for Pomona and Pitzer students and $10 for Pomona or Pitzer faculty and staff and Keck or Claremont graduate students, faculty, and staff. For all non-CMS students, faculty, and staff, a semester membership is $150, an academic year membership is $275, and an annual year membership is $450.

Many students have expressed confusion about these prices. “I would love to go to the pool with my Scripps friends, but I think it’s kinda silly to make non-CMS people pay,” said Angela Trinh PZ ’25. “Especially because the Pitzer pool is open to everyone!”

Those who want to use the TFH building, which includes the gym and wellness room, have to make a reservation through the new portal: wellness.scrippscollege.edu. Using the pool does not require a reservation.

In addition to making a reservation, students, staff, and faculty can sign up for FitScripps classes, register a bike on campus, or view

a live occupancy report for the gym through the portal. FitScripps classes are group fitness classes held weekly or biweekly that include body sculpt, HITT, kickboxing, pilates, yoga, and Zumba workouts.

Since Scripps is a historically women’s college with a genderdiverse student body, it is important to many students that some Scrippsonly spaces are maintained on campus to ensure that students feel safe and comfortable.

“I really value having a safe, supportive place to exercise, so I hope that the opening doesn’t take away from that,” said Elle Propp ’25. To honor this, Tiernan provides Scripps undergraduate only hours and Scripps student, faculty, and staff only hours for both the building and the pool.

Through the Field House, 7C students and staff also have access to day bike rentals, sports equipment, and lawn games. These reservations can be made by visiting the TFH front desk by speaking to a Customer Service Associate.

Ultimately, students feel that this is not a true 7C-wide opening. “I really love Tiernan and all the resources

available to us there,” said Quincy Solomon ’25. “But I wish that it was open to all of the 7Cs without charge because I want to go with my friends.”

Spring Semester 2023 TFH Operational Hours

Building Hours* (Reservations are required)

Mon–Fri: 7 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sat–Sun: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

*Note: 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. the drop-in facility use for Scripps students, faculty and staff only.

Pool Hours (Reservations are NOT required)

Mon–Thurs: 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Fri: 7:30 a.m. – 9 a.m., 12 p.m. –5 p.m.*

Sat–Sun: 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.*

*Note: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. access to Scripps undergraduate students only. Pool Hours are contingent upon staffing.

Photo Courtesy of Scripps College

Abby Barahona ’25 Staff Writer

Nina’s 2023 List of Banned Words

By Nina Howe-Goldstein ’25 Deloitte Analyst for Human Capital

Across the country, Republican legislatures have led efforts to ban books and educational content, including accounts of the Holocaust and AP African-American Studies. Having been rendered a reactionary conservative by recent events, TSV Chief Satirist Nina Howe-Goldstein has decided to embark on some censorship of her own. These are the words and terms that she will be banning from Scripps College until you weirdos can be trusted with them.

The Cisgendered “Partner”

Nina’s verdict: Anyone who uses the word “partner” in the year of our Lord 2023 at Scripps Fucking College is cloutfishing and I will not stand for it. People will be like, “Oh my partner and I-” and it’s CHAD from the CMS FOOTBALL TEAM. You cannot possibly have enough of a moral objection to legal marriage that you must call the world’s most special boy your “partner.” I can guarantee that he calls you his “girlfriend” whenever you’re not around.

“But Nina, it normalizes gender ambiguity if other people might be in an unsafe-”

I don’t give a normativifuck. This is Scripps College. You say, “I think perhaps asexuals are less actively persecuted than Tumblr made them out to be,” and a pack of Core 1 students are dispatched to beat the shit out of you. Gay or straight, the use of “partner” to describe the person with whom you have maybe held hands, traumadumped upon, and had one lackluster sexual experience with is plainly an effort to seem cooler and more mature than you are. You are not imminently going to be hate crimed for dating Joey the environmental studies major from Santa Barbara.

Please get so real.

“Mutual

Aid”

Nina’s verdict: “Mutual aid” is everywhere in Claremont, typically featuring varying degrees of proximity to both the historic anarchist origins of the term first articulated in Petr Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution and the formal modern definition, which envisions a pooling of resources and skills to meet the needs of one’s own community. In the true spirit of college students, one typically encounters it through Instagram infographics requesting money for individual students.

(The Claremontian style has some delightful quirks, not in the least the inclusion of a cornucopia of marginalized identifiers in order to best emphasize the struggle of students in need — but which risks doxxing them in the process. There cannot possibly be that many, say, nonbinary lesbian neurodivergent disabled FGLI water sign international students who need $200 for a new laptop.)

As you might imagine, I have a few quibbles. Most specifically, it seems a little weird to apply the term “mutual aid” to a very specific, very normal act — namely, giving money to people who need it. Rarely, if ever, do we see other applications of the format: requests for rides to the airport or tech support or the like. We’ve reinvented charity donations with a cutesy anarchist veneer, and so the word must be canceled.

But more generally, I think that this speaks to the same phenomenon as “partner”: a desire to apply revolutionary dialogue in order to inhabit a fully-fledged identity of maturity and societal marginalization which (I repeat myself) by virtue of attending Scripps Fucking College one is basically denied from the get-go.

Yet “mutual aid” in its most reductive, infographic-iest form persists unobstructed! Are we so afraid of “charity” that we develop another problematic structure and call it revolution?? It’s like replying to someone’s Instagram story with, “wow, pretty problematic smh,” and then saying “it’s not my job to educate you,” when they ask why. (I actually do this all the time, just for the lulz.)

“Cat!”

Nina’s verdict: If you gasp on a Zoom call and exclaim at the sight of a furry tail, you are the weakest link. Yes, your classmate has a cat — because they have that special kind of nonbinary teenager depression that can only be cured by a poorly-trained ESA and talk therapy their insurance doesn’t cover. We don’t need to stop class for five minutes to recognize that fact.

“Altered my brain chemistry” and its ilk

Nina’s verdict: There are a lot of phrases that, despite being fun and ~quirky~ on the internet, are just a mouthful to say out loud. “My brother in Christ,” is another good example, as is “bee-eff-eff-are.” You’re not being cute.

“Valid”

Nina’s verdict: I’m going bite bite kill destroy on “valid.” It’s gotta get ditched from our generational vocabulary. A couple months ago I saw a tweet that was like, “Cardi B said bi people are valid as fuck #slay #weexist” and at that point I just knew the word was dead. It was simply too cutesy to live — too demanding of external, ahem, validation, and altogether uninterested in anything but confirmation of one’s specialness.

“Valid” is buried in an unmarked grave in a French estate’s rose garden, folx! Pack it up!

And finally, the most bannedest word of all: “Chaotic”

Nina’s verdict: No Scripps student has ever accurately described herself as “chaotic.” It’s a made-up identifier that actually signals she was sheltered in high school and now, with her unlimited adult freedom, overfills the washing machine and scampers around campus doing side quests in lieu of going to class or growing as an individual.

Some examples:

A Scrippsie will post, “happy birthday to the craziest most chaotic girl I know!!!” and her friend is literally just standing ankle-deep in a Pomona fountain at 9 p.m.

A Scrippsie will say, “This semester was chaotic but not as chaotic as MEEE” and her only evidence is a picture of the squad at Collins brunch in their pajamas. I had a roommate who was so #chaotic that she left her scooter unused in the middle of the room, kept rotting food in the fridge, turned the lights on at 1 a.m., and ALLEGEDLY hotboxed our substance-free dorm. We no longer live together.

Anyone who uses the term “chaotic” to describe themselves adopts this unique expression of mania — like unmitigated glee, lighting up your eyes, but for when you’re about to annoy the shit out of everyone around you. We can’t help the fact that you and two other friends split an Uber to Target and bought a “Bisexual Finger Guns” shirt from the Pride collection because it’s the funniest thing you’ve ever been exposed to in your short life.

American individualism was a mistake.

Aanji Sin ‘24 • The Scripps Voice

Crossword: How Well Do You

Know the Scripps Campus?

Anne Friedman ‘25 Staff Writer

ACROSS

3. Malott loiterers

6. Symbol of energy and vigor in France

9. Drink in the name of a weekly Scripps event

11. Opens on Feb. 10

13. 5C campus newspaper

15. New president

17. Tool that sounds like the mispronunciation of a dining hall

20. Offers HIIT, zumba, yoga, and kickboxing classes

23. Home of Scripps’ identity CLORGs

27. Commonly known as RAs at other schools

31. Dorm with a tower

33. What GJW lacks

35. Not to be confused with Steele

DOWN

1. Type of room most freshman have

2. Shared science department between Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont Mckenna

3. Highest Latin honor awarded upon graduation

4. Scripps’ athletic rival

5. Two types of these trees grow on Scripps campus

7. Conjoined dorms without an elevator

8. Fountain reptiles

10. What the animals in Seal Court actually are

12. The average number of students in Scripps classes

14. Where to access COVID-19 Updates

16. Editor-in-Chief, Copy Editor, and founder of Scripps

18. Tradition for Scripps’ graduating classes

19. Home of the color printer

21. Scripps’ library

22. Award winning aspect of Scripps’ sustainability initiative

28. Salvia officinalis

29. Outdoor space that can hold 500 people

30. Scripps’ school color

32. School mascot

34. Saturday brunch at Malott

36. Margaret Fowler _______ and Rose _______

Party Safer Scripps: How to Take Care of Your Drunk Friends

Aviva V. Maxon ’24 Staff Writer

It’s a Saturday night and you want to party, but you are in Claremont and nothing is happening. So you and your friends decide to have your own party; you put on some music and start drinking.

Recently, many students have noticed an excess of ambulances driving through campus on the weekends and heard horror stories about peers being taken to the hospital. Referred to as ‘being transported’, having alcohol poisoning or other alcohol related injuries and sicknesses is not a light matter. This behavior has become normalized in college, and Claremont is not immune to it. As a student body and responsible citizens, we need to take care of ourselves and each other.

While it is a fun time, you also should be aware of how much you are drinking. Alcohol poisoning and abuse are no joke. There are many ways to drink responsibly and have a good time.

Before you drink, eat a full meal and set a limit for yourself for how many drinks you will have that night. Let some sober friends know you are drinking, where you are, and who you are with, in case of an emergency. Be aware of how much alcohol a drink has, whether it is beer, wine, or hard liquor. Do not drink alone. It can become dangerous and is less fun. If you are planning to go out, make sure your phone is fully charged and you have a predetermined meeting spot with your friends, in case you get separated. If you plan to drink and smoke, know how you react to both substances individually since they can have a stronger effect when consumed together.

While drinking, there are things you can do to regulate your intake and still have fun. Only have one drink per hour. Take a screenshot of your lock screen every time you take or start a drink so you have a record of when you drank. Finish one drink before beginning another, preferably after waiting 30 minutes to feel the full

Across

3. Malott loiterers

6. Symbol of energy and vigor in France

9. Drink in the name of a weekly Scripps event

11. Opens on Feb. 10

13. 5C campus newspaper

15. New president

17. Tool that sounds like the mispronunciation of a dining hall

20. Offers HIIT, zumba, yoga, and kickboxing classes

23. Home of Scripps’ identity CLORGs

24. Faces Columbia Ave.

25. Scripps’ athletics affiliation

26. New life

27. Commonly known as RAs at other schools

31. Dorm with a tower

effects. Between alcoholic drinks, have a glass of water, juice or a non caffeinated sports drink, and have snacks. Finally, do not get behind the wheel. Drinking and driving is never okay.

There are some things to remember if your friend or someone else in your care had a little too much. Ask them what they need and do not leave them alone. Ask before touching them or helping them move. Get them safely to bed, making sure they sleep on their side, and stay with them. If you think they need more help, or medical attention, call Campus Safety. You will not be punished, even if you were also drinking. You can contact the RC-On-Call, the Dean-On-Call, or have Campus Safety come to you. All are trained, will know what to do, and how to help.

Scripps has a medical immunity policy, which says that for the need of any medical attention, other rules are suspended. In practice, this means that if a student calls for help for themselves or another student for a medical emergency, alcohol related

or not, they will not be punished for breaking the college rules or laws. The fear of punishment from the institution often prevents students from calling for suitable help for themselves or their friends, and can put their life at considerable risk. However, the priority is to maintain health and safety, not to punish students.

Remember, just because you are in college, you do not have to drink. There are many other ways to have fun and socialize. Additionally, do not be afraid of alcohol.

If you find that you are drinking more than you have in the past or more than your friends, you should stop to consider why you are drinking. Is it to have fun? To seem cool? To take the edge off? How often are you drinking? How many drinks do you have during a weekend? Are you drinking during the week? Is drinking affecting your school work, job, or friendships? If you feel uncomfortable with your answers to those questions, it might be time to take a break or quit

Crossword Answers

33. What GJW lacks

35. Not to be confused with Steele

37. Named after Scripps’ first president, Ernest

38. Where to find avocados

39. Schow's other name

Down

1. Type of room most freshman have

2. Shared science department between Scripps, Pitzer, and Claremont Mckenna

3. Highest Latin honor awarded upon graduation

4. Scripps’ athletic rival

5. Two types of these trees grow on Scripps campus

7. Conjoined dorms without an elevator

8. Fountain reptiles

10. What the animals in Seal Court actually are

12. The average number of students in Scripps classes

14. Where to access COVID-19 Updates

16. Editor-in-Chief, Copy Editor, and

Photo Courtesy of CDC

alcohol altogether.

If you or someone you care about is struggling with alcohol or other substances, there are resources available to help.

Mounsour Counseling - tel:(909) 621-8202

Alcoholics Anonymous Claremont Meetings: https://aainlandempire. org/meetings?tsml-day=2&tsmlregion=claremont

Alanon (for those effected by someone else’s addition)- al-anon.org Chaplains - tel:+9096218685 mailto:chaplains@claremont.edu

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHS): tel:1-800-6624357

A local AA contact on campus - +1 (805) 358-5722

founder of Scripps

18. Tradition for Scripps' graduating classes

19. Home of the color printer

21. Scripps' library

22. Award winning aspect of Scripps’ sustainability initiative

28. Salvia officinalis

29. Outdoor space that can hold 500 people

30. Scripps' school color

32. School mascot

34. Saturday brunch at Malott

36. Margaret Fowler _______ and Rose _______

Leather Coat Sale

By Rebecca Allen ’25 Staff Writer

We walked around With iced drinks in The breezy Californian winter:

I thought of When we danced in The tides

Right off the Pacific Coast Highway, Scurrying like crabs

In the surf

And then the sunset: Watching as it sunk below The ocean with Our glasses off. Our hair as weightless In the wind and we climbed To the top of a hill And looked at the Fog rolling in While crows circled. We talked about Pioneers and a Cambodian nun Who rode a motorcycle. And we laughed all the way Up the hills, Getting lost easily.

I

Why is this Sticking?

By Julia Abate ’24 Staff Writer

Food is the best when it tastes of inexperience. One morning over the summer, my Dad and I went for bagels in East Hollywood. We ordered toasted bagels with butter called hotties. Each bite was like a step on the first walk I took alone through my neighborhood. I wondered whether I was brand new or if I’d never looked at the scenery closely. This bagel asked me questions about bread and butter that I couldn’t answer after the last bite. Or after my second bagel, even if I had a few more words for it.

The dining hall is a kitchen where watermelon is relentless. The sandwich station is decorative. Stick out a couple of lines at Malott Commons and balance a plate on your forearm. Taste variety at every meal.

Saturday morning, I headed to brunch in the tank top and shorts I slept in. The January day felt soft and yellow like buttercup petals. I walk across campus, wave at the orange trees. Girls sit across the lawn in front of Malott. I see my friend playing solitaire.

The cantaloupe and honeydew and oatmeal are irrelevant at brunch. On Saturday, people fill the brim of their plates with chicken and waffles and sliced peaches and cream, acai bowls, and spinach frittatas. I make my plate: two chicken tenders, a neat Belgian waffle square, maple syrup and berry compote on the side. I grab an acai bowl.

The waffle feels as dense as my breasts. Pressing my fork into the waffle reminds me of pressing my fingers into my

See Where It’s Coming From

By Belen Yudess ’25 Social Media Manager

There are feelings that are indescribable. Not because they’re beautiful, but because they’re undesirable. I never want to tell you I would be mortified if you knew But I crave the ways in which you torture me, and my ability to secretly wage wars against you.

Haunt my memories darling

breast while in bed. Two of my friends on the men’s water polo team note that the waffle isn’t as dense as their breasts. At first, the waffle felt soft. I can only enjoy the taste of warm vanilla for a few seconds. The waffle is so chewy it starts to remind me of sand on my feet. I can’t figure out how to make it go away.

These chicken tenders hold their own. The meat is juicy. The batter is crispy. I chose pieces that looked more heavily battered. The chicken is the strongest element of the greasier tenders.

The key is to cut the waffle up into smaller bites. I pick out the blueberries from the berry compote, push them around with my chicken and waffles. The edge of bitterness in a blueberry can endure a sugar syrup bath. The waffle, the chicken, and the blueberries make a decent meal. I would go back for more chicken fingers if it weren’t eleven in the morning.

My acai bowl has chunks of frozen mango, chia seeds, cacao nibs, coconut flakes, and granola. The acai melts in my mouth like a snowflake on my tongue. The acai is sickly sweet. My mouth is stinging. The toppings nurse the sting, cut the sweetness and add a crunch. I eat a spoonful of granola and cacao nibs. I might as well have scrubbed my mouth with my exfoliant. I want to rinse the taste out, so I swallow another spoonful of acai. Sting. The acai taste sticks to my tongue like salt water dries on my skin.

Brunch ends with black coffee this morning. I’ll confess that I drink coffee I make in my room.

Destroy the giddy nerves and leave the self-deprecating humor in my view, Wash away your legacy so I can bathe in the rejection too.

By Izzy Silva ’24 Horoscope Columnist

Aries (March 21 - April 19): Aries, you will win an oddly specific award soon. I sense it will have to do something with your 15th new hobby you’ve picked up recently.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20): Taurus, you should invest in some new skincare. Specifically, eucalyptus scented items. I know you like to spend money… so do it.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20): If you see a scroll in a bottle in the ocean, pick it up. In there you will find the answer to a riddle that you didn’t even know you were looking for.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22): I hate to break it to you, but your dreams aren’t actually a sign you should reach out to that one specific person that really hurt your feelings last year. Stand up.

Leo (July 23 - August 22): Go thrifting next Friday. You will find a shirt that really speaks to you. You will go on to tell everyone about this shirt and believe you are the most accomplished thrifter ever.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22):

If you see a rainbow… follow it. At the end you will find a pot of gold and also a lifetime supply of journaling supplies. You need to start journaling.

Libra (September 23 - October 22): If you receive the opportunity to paraglide… take it. This adventure will change your life and is coming sooner than you think.

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21): Reveal that one talent you have. The one you think no one would applaud for. The thing is they would applaud and your life would be changed. Take that as you will.

Sagittarius (November 22December 21): Like Taylor Swift (a Sagittarius) once said, “I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey”... invest in a dart board. Become an expert dart player. You will go onto the championships.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19): I know you secretly want to take up improv. Let loose! Enjoy yourself. The improv world needs more of you.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18): Aquarius, as the water bearer you must go on an underwater adventure soon. They say there are plenty of fish in the sea… but make it a goal to find yourself an octopus to befriend.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20): If you see a rock on the ground that is calling your name… take it. Paint a little face on it. I can sense your room needs a little sprucing up.

Valentine’s Puns

By Belen Yudess ’25 Social Media Manager

Love and mid-semester grades are in the air, meaning one thing and one thing only: Valentine’s Day is approaching! Whether or not you have been struck by Cupid’s arrow this year, you will be struck with another round of my catastrophically crush-ing puns. These puns are just like a classic Valentine’s Day rom-com — you know you shouldn’t engage, but if you do it’s with a bag of chocolate and a side of pitiful laughter!

Why did the Motley staff receive Valentine’s cards in the shape of Seal Court?

Because it’s the heart of Scripps.

Which candy was Professor Novy’s Core students’ favorite?

Herschel’s [@herschel_lacat] kisses.

Where did Cecil the Sagehen ask the Stag to meet for their bro-mantic Valentine date?

In the Pit-sir.

BONUS PUNS!!

Why was Nina Howe-Goldstein ’25 (our swell satirical writer) responsible for setting the Dorsey fire alarm off at 2am? Because her smile lit up the room!

If you got through these heartbreakingly horrible puns, I wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day! The Hub and kisses!

Which song do Mudders use to serenade Scrippsies on Valentine’s Day? My Hoch Will Go On.

When did the Scripps squirrel know they were in love with the Pomona squirrel? Every time they Seaver running by.

What did one Motley barista say to her astonishing Motley coworker?

You’re just my cup of tea! (Pun brought to you by Aidan Trulove ’24).