The Catalyst Vol. 49 No. 5 October 5, 2018

THE CATALYST The Independent Student Newspaper of Colorado College

Vol. 49, No. 5

Kavanaugh Investigation Following Dr. Blasey Ford’s Testimony

“Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense . . .

I believed he was going to rape me.”

-Dr. Christine Blasey Ford

By ABBY WILLIAMS The FBI is wrapping up its investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The committee decided to continue the FBI investigation, despite Kavanaugh’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Sept. 27, in which he vehemently denied the sexual assault allegations against him and blasted Democrats in the Senate for undermining his confirmation process in an “orchestrated political hit” and “grotesque character assassination.” The result of this investigation could determine whether Kavanaugh will get a lifetime seat on the nation’s highest court.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford came forward three weeks ago with claims that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school house party in 1982. Her allegations led to the Sen-

ILLUSTRATION BY LO WALL

October 5, 2018

“I’m not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time, but I have never done this to her or to anyone. That’s not who I am. It is not who I was. I am innocent of this charge.”

-Judge Brett Kavanaugh ate Judiciary Committee hearing on Sept. 27.

Ford remained resolute in her claims and throughout her cross examination, despite being visibly shaken and saddened by having to relive her trauma in front of the committee and in eyes of the nation.

As part of a milieu that readily dismisses and discredits female victims of sexual assault, Dr. Ford had to walk a fine line — relaying her measured testimony with precision and conviction — to make her victimhood legitimate.

On the other hand, Kavanaugh’s testimony was defensive, angry, and at times, borderline absurd. His opening testimony became a 40-minute defense of his character and his past behaviors. He referenced his high school social calendars, his membership of the Georgetown Preparatory high school football team, his various female friends, and reverence for The Constitution, all as evidence of his moral uprightness and inability to commit sexual assault.

During questioning, Kavanaugh repeatedly refused to answer Democrats’ questions

“Too often, women’s memories and credibility come under assault. In essence, they are put on trial and forced to defend themselves.”

-Senator Dianne Feinstein and instead decided to question the senators himself. Senator Amy Klobuchar (DemMinn.) asked whether Kavanaugh ever got so drunk he couldn’t remember what happened the night before. “You’re asking about a blackout,” Kavanaugh responded. “I don’t know, have you?” “I have no drinking problem,” Klobuchar responded.

Republicans had 49 votes in support of Kavanaugh’s election, one vote shy of the 50 needed to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Ultimately, the decision on Kavanaugh’s guilt came down to the swing vote of Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ.). After an emotional interaction with two female protestors in an elevator and a tense back-room discussion, Flake decided to delay the Senate confirmation vote till after an FBI investigation of Kavanaugh. “I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week,” said Flake. “We ought to do what we can to make sure that we do all due diligence with a nomination this important.”

Although the time parameters of this FBI investigation were unspecified, it is predicted Continued on pg. 2

Hacked: Facebook Suffers Another Large Loss

CC Honor Council Seeks to Increase Diversity and Representation

By RUSSELL SKORINA Currently treading in the unsteady wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook, once again, released a statement with dire news. On Sept. 28, the company announced that the personal information of at least 50 million Facebook accounts had been compromised, the largest hack in the history of Facebook.

The hackers behind the breach used a flaw in the “View As” function to bypass Facebook’s security. Once aware of the breach, Facebook took immediate action.

Facebook promptly informed users and logged the hackers out of affected accounts.

While this recent incident and the Cambridge Analytica scandal both center around compromised user information, it is important to note that these are separate events.

The impetus behind this breach had nothing to do with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which was directed by a scholar with access to Facebook’s user data who gave account details to nefarious third parties. This

By GRACE PERRY

breach was conducted by external hackers who exploited a hole in Facebook’s security.

It’s the difference between a student swiping a shady stranger into a dorm and the same stranger climbing through a second-story window.

This is yet another reminder that nothing is safe online, ever. Even if a website seems safe, there is always a chance that your account will be hacked. The best way to prevent information from being stolen is to have nothing to steal. Try to minimize the number of locations with important data.

Don’t send essential details like passwords or credit card information over the internet, or, if you have to, make sure to delete the information as soon as possible. Ask yourself, ‘what could someone find out about me if they hacked into my account?’ If you’re uncomfortable with the answer, try to delete all sensitive information.

This advice is often repeated to the point of being trite, but it’s useful to remember.

Recruitment for Colorado College’s Honor bers who see an average of 30 cases a year.

Council is currently underway, and this year Of these 30 cases, approximately two-thirds the council is ramping up its efforts to in- are found guilty. Although every case is apcrease diversity and representation among proached with a standardized procedure, the council tackles each case individually, workits members.

Since 1948, CC has operated under the ing directly with the accused student and taking into account their Honor Code, which aims testimony and personal to “promote personal reexperiences. sponsibility and academic An investigation beintegrity.” While having Since 1948, CC has gins when either a prosome form of an honor operated under the fessor or student reports system is not unique to a suspected honor code CC, we as a college are disHonor Code, which violation to one of the two tinguished from our peer aims to “promote current co-chairs, Kate institutions by our Honor Council, an entirely stu- personal responsibility Schroeder ’19 or Harrison Raine ’19. Two council dent-run organization that and academic members then take on the educates the student body case and approach people about the honor code and integrity.” individually. They address conducts all investigations the professor or peer who into potential violations. brought the allegation, any “I really think [the Honor Council] is something that sets CC apart in witnesses, and finally, the accused student. terms of how our academic world functions,” In the first meeting, the accused student is current council member Elijah Thornburg under no obligation to say anything; the two ’20 said. “[It’s unique] that we are expected investigators simply present all the informato hold ourselves and each other account- tion they have collected thus far and read the able, and we don’t have a top-down, punitive student’s rights and responsibilities. During the second meeting, investigators give the system.”

The council currently has 29 student mem- accused student a chance to share their ac-

Continued on pg. 6

Continued on pg. 4

Illustration By Annabel Driussi

News

Opinion

Sports & Active Life

Life

SOSS Sets Up Clothesline Project

How To Get By

CC Esports Team

Daniel Sarché ’20 offers advice on how to get through college. Page 14

Max Pil ’20 ranks top 30 in specific hero, placing at top 0.1% of Overwatch players. Page 8

Young Sinatra in “YSIV” Mikey Wright ’21 reviews Logic’s newly released album. Page 12

VOTE!

Intermittent Fast for Health that Lasts Carlton Moeller ’21 breaks down potential benefits of intermittent fasting. Page 10

T-shirts outside Worner tell stories of sexual assualt survivors. Page 3

John Feigelson ’19 urges people to vote because it is our duty. Page 15

Full Moon Flair CC students take over Downtown with last Wednesday’s full moon cruiser. Page 13

10 Questions The Catalyst sits down with Norberto Orellana ’20, a chemistry major from Miami, to discuss his past, his time at CC, and his spiritual life. Page 5

Find us online at: catalystnewspaper.com Facebook: /CatalystNews Twitter: /catalystnews

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October 5, 2018

CCE Day of Service Transitions to CCE Week of Action

Photo by Nick Penzel

By MEG DEMARSH Colorado College is moving towards increased student and faculty involvement in the Colorado Springs community. This transition has encouraged a mutually beneficial relationship between local organizations and the student body. The CC bubble is largely “popping” as students find local partners that meet their academic and extracurricular goals and their social and political interests.

The Collaborative for Community Engagement is an office founded on the commitment to engaged citizenship within a liberal arts institution, and they are showing con-

tinued commitment to these goals through the CC Week of Action, taking place Sept. 29 through Oct. 7.

The Annual Creek Week Clean-Up of Monument Creek, which runs alongside the CC campus, is now transitioning from a Day of Service to a Week of Action. Niki Sosa, the CCE’s Community Partnership Development Coordinator, explained that the language was changed to better support the CCE’s mission.

“The shift in language, from service to action, aligns with our values of community engagement,” Sosa said. “We are seeking to create opportunities for students, as well as faculty and staff, and broadly the entire CC community, to be doing active engagement

in and with the greater Colorado Springs community, as opposed to the service to the community.” Sosa said her desire is to not only encourage students to volunteer offcampus, but also to encourage the Colorado Springs community to utilize the resources the college provides.

The week-long program showcases multiple opportunities for the CC community to be involved with Colorado Springs, the goal being to sustain community interest beyond a single day, or even week of service.

Students and faculty can meet community organizers during the Week of Action and continue these relationships and passions through year-long volunteer commitments.

“We wanted to have a little bit more time,

as opposed to one single day, to build in diverse opportunities with different community partners, as well as invite intercampus partners to participate as well,” Sosa said. “It doesn’t also have to be cleaning up a creek or doing a specific kind of volunteer opportunity. There are a wide range of diverse opportunities that can be considered community engagement.”

The schedule of events is diverse — each day of the week has up to four volunteer opportunities that only require a Summit registration to participate. Collaborations include: the Butler Center’s “Toward a Daily Anti-Racist Agenda” Workshop, Refugee Alliance’s blockly meeting, a workshop on the gender and racial bias of Wikipedia in Special Collections, Concrete Couch Clean-Up, Council of Neighbors and Organizations Central/Downtown Neighborhood Chat, LPP Staff Experience the Springs, Mixed Match Documentary Screening, Blood Drive/Be the Match Drive, Fall Harvest Banquet, Beautification Projects with Greccio Housing, and service at the Marian House Soup Kitchen. Sosa explained that the Concrete Couch Clean-Up was one of the many opportunities she was looking forward to this week.

“The clean-up that they’re doing is on a new plot of land that they’ve just acquired, just south of downtown,” Sosa said. “They have five acres of land that they’re going to build their headquarters on — having our students go and help be the start of that, and doing the clean-up and building surrounding that land, is super cool.”

The onprofit organization Concrete Couch creates public art opportunities and experiences for the Colorado Springs community.

Many of their staff are former CC students, providing constant volunteer opportunities for the faculty, staff, and students of the college.

Creek Week was the catalyst for the week and will still be held on Saturday, Oct. 6. Although the engagement at CC is growing, the CCE remembers the traditions that started the organization’s founding. For more information on the Week of Action, visit the CCE website.

CCSGA Weekly: Get to Know Your Student Government

By ZAC SCHULMAN I’d like to clear something up: you on Full Council — regardless of how are not the only one who has abso- hard we try not to — inhabit our lutely no idea what CCSGA does. own social bubbles. This column Even some of my closest friends is part of our plan to reach the enstumble when asked about the role tire student body and increase our and work of CCSGA on campus. For transparency.

CCSGA and The Catalyst have the average student, beyond the emails you periodically get to vote partnered to provide a regular avin our elections and the funding we enue for communication from stugrant to the groups you lead, much dent representatives to students.

Every edition of of CCSGA is unThe Catalyst for known. This is unthe remainder fortunate because CCSGA and The of this year will CCSGA works feature an arscrupulously in the Catalyst have ticle written by a interest of CC stupartnered to provide member of CCdents. The idea behind this column a regular avenue for SGA. Expect to articles in is to give CCSGA communication from find this column about representatives a initiaplatform to easily student representatives specific tives taken up by communicate CCto students representatives, SGA’s work to the conversations we students we serve. have at meetings, Obviously, student government is different from resolutions and legislation we pass, other forms of government. Being along with general updates.

If an article in this column adunaware of student government activity is by no means comparable in dresses something you would like consequence to being unaware of to hear more about, be involved in, local, state, or national level gov- have your group collaborate on, etc. ernment activity. However, by not feel free to reach out to me or any giving representatives the platform member of CCSGA. As a reminder, to communicate directly and regu- our Full Council meetings happen larly, we actually compromise our every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Yaability to govern. All 25 of us on Full lich Boardroom in the Spencer CenCouncil do our best to act in the in- ter, and all students are welcome to terest of CC students. However, we participate.

Kavanaugh Investigation Followng Dr. Blasey Ford’s Testimony Continued from the front page to conclude on Friday, Oct. 5. According to Senator Mitch McConnell: “We’ll get an FBI report soon. It’ll be made available to each senator, and only senators will be allowed to look at it. And that’s the way these reports are always handled.”

As soon as the investigation concludes, McConnell plans to go ahead with the Senate

vote and by the end of the week we will likely know the status of Kavanaugh’s position in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court started its new term on Oct. 1. If Kavanaugh is confirmed to the court, he will immediately become a deciding vote on a number of upcoming cases. He has already stated he plans to essentially gut Roe vs. Wade and backtrack several Obama-era initiatives.

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October 5, 2018

The Clothesline Project: A Powerful Reminder to Listen to Survivors

By ABBY WILLIAMS Across Worner Quad stretches a long clothesline of tshirts. Penned onto these shirts are stories of sexual assault, harassment, and domestic abuse. The shirts, hanging solemnly amid the student center commotion, are simultaneously a jarring reminder of the occurrence of sexual violence on campus, as well as a platform for survivors to share their experiences. The clothesline of shirts is the product of Colorado College’s annual Clothesline Project. The project is directed by CC’s Student Organization for Sexual Safety.

“The clothesline project is a really powerful way of standing in solidarity with survivors by giving them a platform to tell their stories and display them together,” said SOSS CoChair, Eloise Kelly ’21. “I think just seeing the huge quantity

of t-shirts and the range of stories told by them is super impactful.”

Without a doubt, the physical representation of a discourse so readily overlooked and obscured on college campuses has powerful implications for viewers.

The Clothesline Project has a long history at CC; the first display of t-shirts was over a decade ago. However, the project is not limited to this campus. The Clothesline Project originated in Hyannis, Mass. in 1990 and has since been adopted as a practice of survivor solidarity at colleges across the U.S. As we face up to, and progress through the exhausting inundation of sexual violence cases brought to light by the #Metoo movement, it is important to prioritize the voices of survivors over the defensive whines of those accused. The Clothesline Project can be viewed on Worner Quad until Sunday, Oct. 7.

Photos by Alli Moon

Holiday of the Hut: Sukkot on the Quad

By DANIEL SARCHÉ The most basic needs in life, whether you’re an animal roughing it in the wilderness or a human, are food and shelter. A roof over your head and a table to enjoy a hot meal, preferably in the company of friends, is a wonderful thing.

Sukkot is a time for Jewish families to commemorate and celebrate the many years that the Jews spent in the desert, emphasizing togetherness and humility, and reminding Jews of their connection to God. It must have at least two walls and part of a third, and the roof must be made from plant materials — the structure is open-air, and through the roof, the stars are visible at night.

Out on Worner Quad is a sukkah, a temporary, moveable structure built in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Following their exodus from the land of Egypt, the Jews wandered for 40 years in the desert, seeking the land of Israel.

During those 40 years, they spent their nights in sukkahs.

These were easy enough to build, take down, and transport: A far cry from the gargantuan skyscrapers and cement and steel structures in which people live now.

The sukkahs commemorated by Sukkot served a dual purpose, as well; erecting a sukkah by the far edge of a field made harvesting crops more efficient, as farmers could sleep at the edges of their fields if necessary. Even to this day, the practice of building sukkahs in the fields continues as Jewish history lives on in its uniquely pragmatic way.

The sukkah on Worner Quad was constructed and decorated by Kobi Chumash, Nikki Mills, Aaron Alcouloumre, and other members of Colorado College’s Hillel. Every year that it goes up, students are welcome to sleep, eat, even study in it during the 10 days of Sukkot. It is a wonderful place to rest, pray, and star-gaze, and a chance to reconnect with nature and the divine as you may experience it.

Photo by Angel Martinez

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CC Honor Council Seeks to Increase Diversity and Representation

Weekly Rundown

By Jonathan Tignor & Abby Williams

ON CAMPUS Continued from the front page

members well.

When Egerstrom joined the council his freshman year, he count of the alleged incident, although the student is again un- was one of around five students of color out of 40 members. He said there was little conversation surrounding issues of repreder no obligation to disclose any information.

The investigators then decide if it was more likely than not sentation or recruitment of underrepresented students. Howthat a violation occurred, and they issue a letter to the student ever in 2017, his sophomore year, the council began making with their finding. Once the student receives said letter, they more conscious efforts to increase the diversity of its members, can either plead guilty or not guilty. If the student pleads guilty, including creating the ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ and ‘Recruitthe investigators recommend a sanction to the professor, and ment and Retainment’ committees.

Thornburg, the current officer of the Diversity and Inclusion the case is closed. However, if the student pleads not guilty, the committee, said the council is working hard to continue incase goes before a panel.

A panel consists of seven honor council members, includ- creasing the diversity of its members.

“I really want any student at Colorado College to be able to ing one of the two co-chairs and not including the two original investigators. The panel first meets with the original two look at the Honor Council and feel confident that they will be investigators then individually again with either the professor understood and respected,” Thornburg said. “I think it’s super or student who brought the allegation, any witnesses and the important that every student group by every identifier have accused student. To issue a guilty verdict, at least four of the representation on the Honor Council. That’s really the number one thing.” seven members, the majority of the council, Beyond reaching out to student groups must find the accused student guilty based on campus such BSU and NASU, the counon “clear and convincing evidence.” They cil also hopes to attract a more diverse apthen deliberate and reach a consensus on an “I really want any pool via the nomination process. appropriate sanction. student at Colorado plicant In years past, only faculty members could Sanctions range from no credit on a single College to be able to nominate students to be on the Honor assignment to expulsion without the possiCouncil. However, this year, staff can also bility of reapplying depending on the severlook at the Honor nominate students, meaning members of ity of the violation. Every sanction from the Council and feel the Butler Center, Wellness Resource CenHonor Council is simply a recommendation, ter and other similar organizations can now meaning the professor has the final say. Any confident that they play a role in the application process. expulsion or suspension recommendations will be understood and In addition to recruiting more students are sent directly to President Jill Tiefenthaler. from diverse backgrounds during this fall’s The Honor Council consistently faces critirespected.” application process, Thornburg also said cism from the student body, with one nohe and his committee hope to better equip table misconception that council members current members of the council to serve all students. Both he are “spies” of some sort.

“People think that council members are in their class to spy and the current co-chairs have been in communication with on them and then report a violation, which is not true at all,” the Butler Center and hope to incorporate workshops on (un) Schroeder said. “Most of our potential violations come to us conscious bias into their annual training 5th block.

“I joined the council because . . . I wanted to be part of a from a professor generally. There are occasional peer reports, conversation and solution [for] making the process … more but that’s very rare.”

Folke Egerstrom ’19, another current council member, fair and reliable and consistent and strict honestly … [while] echoed Schroeder’s defense, saying members are “more public taking into account the many different layers of someone’s life defenders [for accused students] than snitches,” which, none- and experience that can contribute to doing something in their academic life that puts them in front of the council,” Thornburg theless, remains the pervasive narrative on campus.

There has also been criticism that the council is not repre- said. “Everybody should join the Honor Council . . . because we sentative of the student body, with a disproportionate number want to have as many voices as possible.” of white students serving. According to Schroeder, eight of the The Honor Council application is currently ‘live’ and can be current council members identify as people of color, which is a vast improvement from her first year on campus which Eger- found on CC’s website. Applications are due by Nov. 16. Students strom — an international student originally from Mexico — re- do not have to be nominated to apply.

• CC’s “Week of Action” started Sept. 29. Week of Action encourages students, staff, and faculty to get more involved with the Colorado Springs community. (CC Collaborative for Community Engagement) • Legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders performed in Kathryn Mohrman Theatre last week, drawing an audience of both students and Colorado Springs residents.

• Award-winning author and poet Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha was on campus for a reading and book signing sponsored by the Feminist and Gender Studies Program.

C-SPRINGS • Mayor of Colorado Springs John Suthers proposed a new budget for 2019, allocating millions for hiring new police and firefighters in addition to raising their salaries. (Gazette) • Representative Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs opposed a $855-billion defense spending package on Sept. 26 because it does not include funding for President Trump’s southern border wall and because it includes “spending priorities of Democrats.” (Independent) • El Paso county jail’s female population reached a record high on Sept. 26. The number of incarcerated women in Colorado has increased 58 percent since 2000, over twice the rate of incarcerated men. (Independent)

COLORADO • A recent poll found Democrat Jared Polis in a seven-point lead over Republican Walker Stapleton in the Colorado gubernatorial race. (Gazette) • The popular ice castle attraction will be returning to Dillon, Colo., in late December. Last year, the attraction garnered thousands of attendees. (Gazette) • Denver’s electric scooter count reaches 1400, joining dozens of cities across the country in adopting the new form of transportation. (Denver Post) • An investigation by Capital & Main uncovered that Walker Stapleton’s gubernatorial campaign was boosted by financial firms using an anti-corruption loophole. (Westword)

USA • Amazon announced that they will raise their minimum wage to $15 for all U.S. employees.

(CNN) • Closing arguments of Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke’s trial ended Thursday. Van Dyke fatally shot 17 year-old Laquan MacDonald. He is the first Chicago police officer to be charged with first-degree murder since 1980. (NYT) • President Trump mocked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee during a rally in Mississippi. (NYT)

WORLD • Construction crews begin work on a new 4-mile-long steel wall at the El Paso-Juarez border despite the protests of El Paso County Commissioner David Stout. The project costs $22 million — Mexico is not paying for it, contrary to President Trump’s campaign promise. (Democracy Now) • U.S. indicted seven Russian spies for hacking related to the Olympic doping scandal. Their goal was to undermine and delegitimize the integrity of the Olympic Games, according to federal prosecutors. (Vox) • President Trump announced the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal (USMCA) on Monday, Oct. 1. USMCA is set to replace NAFTA. (Vox) ILLUSTRATION BY LO WALL

The Catalyst

10 Questions with

Norberto Orellana ’20 is a chemistry major from Miami. On campus, Orellana is the Vice President of Internal Affairs for CCSGA and is heavily involved with spiritual life. After graduating, he plans on attending theological seminary before eventually moving on to medical school. This week, The Catalyst sat down with Orellana to discuss his past and his time at Colorado College.

Interview & Photo

by Jonathan tignor

The Catalyst: What were the deciding factors that led you to Colorado College?

NORBERTO ORELLANA: Really, the surrounding area; I visited [Colorado College] with the “Tigers on a Quest” program, and I just really liked the area, the environment. I used to live in Denver back in 2005 to 2007, so I was familiar with Colorado. It was comfortable to me and an area that overall had good memories. It was definitely about the location. Also the Block Plan.

TC: In what ways do you think CC has changed the most since you first arrived here?

NO: I feel like, definitely the college has made great strides in diversity and inclusion.

That’s been a big change on campus. I think, from a campus culture perspective, something that I perceive as just a little bit negative, politically the campus has become increasingly polarized. I think it’s a problem in general across college campuses and in our generation that there isn’t so much room for dialogue, it’s more of a “my way or the highway” sort of deal. So someone who comes in with political leanings to the right, they are often branded as something they’re not, and I feel like there hasn’t been enough room for having meaningful dialogues.

TC: How has your role in CCSGA impacted your experience at CC? NO: It’s allowed me to see what the student body is capable of doing when they mobilize around a movement, and I’ve learned more

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Norberto Orellana

about how the finances work behind how clubs are funded and programmed. From an internal perspective, since I’m internal affairs and I do the elections, [I’ve seen] the lack of student involvement in student government, so I’ve been trying to fix that.

TC: What is the greatest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

NO: There are a lot, haha. I feel like just getting to CC was pretty difficult in itself. I’m here as a QuestBridge Scholar, which is students on full-ride scholarships. Throughout high school, chronic homelessness was a problem, so moving from shelter to shelter or sometimes no shelter. And it’s difficult to maintain studies, especially when things are very digitalized, so access to internet was extremely important, as was transportation.

I was dealing with all these things throughout high school. And I was also going to a unique high school at the time, where basically we all worked toward getting associate’s degrees upon graduation. I had to juggle all of that while applying to CC also, so I feel like that was definitely a big challenge. And I feel like when I got to CC, finding my place, like a support group, and not having that at first was definitely mentally taxing. I think that was definitely difficult: managing academics while also managing finding my place here and finding a group that’s supportive.

TC: Last year you spoke at the Colorado Springs TEDx Conference; what was that like?

NO: That was actualy my second TEDx event. Basically, they reached out to me because they saw that I had given the TED talk before. So I applied, auditioned, and was selected to talk. In that talk, I gave a very similar talk to the first one; the first TEDx talk was because I had been published in a local magazine, and that caught the eye of someone from TEDx Youth in Miami. So I was selected to speak at that. In both of those talks, I was talking about my life story and the homelessness and that journey of getting to CC, as well as my career aspirations. One half of that is becoming a pediatric orthopedic surgeon because I was born with cerebral palsy. I had a lot of surgeries, and they were all done by pediatric orthopedic surgeons. So since I was like four, my mind was set on that very specific career. And then, I gave a third talk here

on campus, in which I dove into more recent events and how my spiritual life grew and how that basically encouraged me to pursue becoming a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church on top of becoming a surgeon.

TC: Do you think it is important to balance spiritual life with academic life? Why? NO: I definitely think it is, whether it’s a belief in a higher being or belief in self — some sort of spirituality no matter where it’s centered — because I think it adds meaning to what we’re doing, whether it’s aspiring to the kingdom of heaven or aspiring to just be a good citizen and believing that you are having an impact far beyond just yourself. While some people can exist with a lack of that, I think it can be really taxing at times, especially during times of struggle because there’s no way to really rationalize things that are going on, things that happen. But when you put in that spiritual aspect, all of a sudden it becomes more of a reason and more of an understanding as to why things happen and what the path forward should be.

TC: Where do you see yourself in  years?

NO: In 10 years, I see myself probably as an ordained priest in the Orthodox Church, probably finishing up medical school. Probably have a family by then, I’m currently engaged. Probably be a deacon or a priest; seminary is the first thing that I’ll be doing after CC. It’s a three-year program, and coming out of that I may or may not be ordained at that point. I’ll be getting a master’s in divinity and then going to medical school. So 10 years from now, probably in residency at that point.

TC: If you had to change your major from chemistry, what field of study would you choose?

NO: Probably political science. I really enjoy politics and the study of why nations and entities make the decisions that they do and all the reasoning that goes into that.

It really enlightens you to understand why, like, Trump makes the decisions he makes.

He wants to be a pragmatic realist, whereas Obama was more of a liberal in political theory, though he became a realist at the end of

his presidency. And I think, [political science] lets you understand why decisions are being made the way they are, the rationale. And beyond that, I’m interested in politics in general. A secondary career path for me, if other things failed, would be to go into politics.

TC: Who has been your favorite professor at CC? NO: There’s like three that come to mind.

I’ve had really great professors here. It would have to be either Andrew Price Smith in the political science department or Dan Miska in HBK. Both are really great professors; they care and are really devoted to making the learning experience both challenging and interesting. With APS, for example, I took Conduct of American Foreign Policy, and at the end of the class we did a sort of mock UN simulation with North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, and the United States.

That was a really fun way to use our knowledge and to also demonstrate how difficult diplomacy can be. And then with Dan Miska, I took Human Physiology with him. He’s an overall really funny professor, lots of jokes, and you could tell he was passionate about the subject. It was probably one of the most enjoyable classes I’ve ever taken here.

TC: If you were to write an autobiography, what would the title be and why?

NO: I have actually been slowly drafting an autobiography. But titles, I’ve had multiple titles in my mind. I think the title that is currently at the top of my list is “Something Bigger.” I think that reflects my own spiritual journey and my belief in general, since as long as I can remember, that what I do and the things that I struggle for and strive for are far beyond me. And I think that all connects to my journey to becoming Eastern Orthodox.

But yeah, believing in something higher and that I’m really working towards something bigger in the end. I don’t remember who in the Orthodox Church, but he said when he first visited an Orthodox church — and I had a very similar feeling — that when he went in, it was something bigger than him, and that the service wasn’t about him ... I think that’s certainly the experience I had entering the Orthodox Church. And now I’m just really living my life with the creed that what I do and the reasons I struggle are because there is something bigger to aspire to.

The Catalyst

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News

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October 5, 2018

Racism No Longer Exists?

Incarcerated Writers Series

This series features writing from inmates at the El Paso County Jail. The articles stem from weekly programming facilitated by the Colorado College Prison Project. Through contact between the CC community and Colorado Springs, this series aims to simultaneously broaden the CC perception of incarceration issues and provide a platform for incarcerated writers. The El Paso County Sheriff ’s Office requires approval of written material prior to publication and the removal of authors’ last names.

By DAVINCIREAL As I sit on my bunk, incarcerated for the third time of my life, I’m saddened by not only the segregation of our country but the segregation behind the walls.

Early on in life I was taught that I would have a rough life for two reasons that thus far have rung true, though at the time I did not understand why. These two reasons were that I was a male and that I was black.

Racism no longer exists.

I was 10 years old in Mr. Ralston’s honors math class in middle school. I had an A+. Math had never been my best class, but I enjoy numbers and I’d discovered that if I focused and gave my all, I would do well. Two weeks into the class, I was removed to a regular math class. I was frus-

trated, so my mother inquired why I was moved. Mr. Ralston told my mother I only had an A+ because the class had just gotten started and that the curriculum would get significantly more difficult. I was the only African American in the class, and I was the only one who was moved. Whether I would have maintained an A+ or not, we will never know, but this was a taste, but a taste nonetheless, of what was yet to come.

Racism no longer exists.

I was 24. I was not a bad man, nor was I a good man, but a man seeking his place in the world, still searching for who I was and wondering who I would become. My sister and I had not seen each other in two and a half years through unfortunate events. It was May 22, her 21st birthday, and she had just had my nephew. We decided to get a drink at a local bar, but

From Allies to Comrades

By JOSIE KRITTER In conjunction with the Encounter Lecture Series, Thursday Sept. 27, Colorado College hosted Jodi Dean from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Her talk, inspired by the anniversary of the October Revolution, focused on the word “comrade” as a term of address, figure of political relation, and carrier of expectation for action. Dean’s passionate talk was not intended to push views of socialism, but rather to examine new ways to achieve equality within our society.

The talk was held in the Cornerstone screening room and featured various slides depicting how early movements for equality were heavily influenced by the Socialist Party, as it was one of the first groups

Jenny Ross ’18 attended the Thursday night talk.

“Jodi Dean really shed light on a side of socialism I had never seen,” Ross said.

“Never before had I heard about the strides in equality from this party. Her talk as a whole really made me reevaluate my language and understand the deeper meaning behind my word choice.”

The Encounter Lecture series of our school focuses on individuals whose work spans disciplinary boundaries and are not merely academic conversations, but are ways of being engaged in and by the world.

According to CC, “By definition, an encounter does not leave the self intact, but pushes the self outside of its comfort zones. In our politically, bewildering times, an openness to the encounter can incite new ways of thinking and being together.”

she herself enjoyed.

Racism no longer exists.

I’m 28 sitting on my bunk in county jail after making the same mistake I made in 2009, contemplating wise words spoken by a wise woman, Viola Davis. She is a prominent African American actress, who, as she accepted an award that was well deserved, said that although African Americans have come a long way, the fact that we are still having the first black anything is a testament to how far we still need to go. Treyvon Martin, Mike Brown, and the events of Ferguson should be the best example of how segregation destroys.

Unity is the only remedy in a society that shuns anything on anyone different. We are not defined by our past but by our current actions.

Racism no longer exists.

Hacked: Facebook Suffers Another Large Loss Continued from the front page

vors prominent on the contemporary left.

“Anyone, but not everyone can be a comrade,” Dean said.

The comrade is not kin, neighbor, citizen, or friend, and identity has nothing to do with it. It is not kin, as one is not born a comrade, and it is not a neighbor, as comradeship does not depend on proximity. It is also not a citizen, as comrade disrupts identificatory state logic, and it is not friend, as comrade is collective, not singular. If one thinks of themselves as an individual within identity politics, then “where’s the work done that will lead to political change?” This coincided with Dean’s third point, which was that the individual — as a locus of identity — is the “other” of the comrade.

Illustration By CATE JOHNSON

to promise equal representation of its members. According to Dean, attachment to identity is pathological, and ally-ship is a disposition.

“Allyship is a symptom of displacing politics into the self-help techniques of communicative capitalism,” Dean said.

Her biggest issue with the term “ally” is that it has classist foundations: It was traditionally meant for privileged people who wanted to combat oppression.

“Comrade cuts through the determinations of capitalist society,” Dean said. “It is generic, egalitarian, and utopian.”

Can a change in labels have a political effect? According to Dean, it is possible. With comradeship, identity vanishes, and there is a “sameness that comes from being on the same side.” This genericity provides a way through the impasse of systems and survi-

I placed my I.D. at the bar to start a tab and went to play pool as my sister took a smoke break. After she started the jukebox, 50 Cent was playing. The bartender, who I found out owned the bar, was a middle-aged Caucasian woman. She walked up to me and said, “I bet you put this on,” speaking about the music. I of course did not, but I was interested to see where this was going. I responded, “Yes, why?”

She then went into a rant about how her mother had fought for African American rights and how she would turn in her grave if she saw what we had become. She said that we didn’t deserve the rights we were given. What I failed to mention was that I had just gotten out of prison. I was about six feet tall, 200 pounds, and the only I.D. I had at the time with my birthday on it was my prison I.D. Because I was a big, tattooed African American just out of prison, I was verbally attacked and, in her eyes, unworthy of the same amenities

This most recent hack does have a silver lining. Facebook informed its users of the breach almost immediately and, consequently, suffered the public backlash. This isn’t always the action taken by companies. Other companies, like Equifax, try to solve hacks behind the scenes. It can be months after the break-in happens that word gets out to the public. By being prompt, Facebook helped users keep their data safe, despite hurting their public

image at a key moment. Facebook chose to rip off the band-aid, a decision that demands some respect.

If we want one takeaway from this story, it’s this: Facebook may be a bloated social media titan exploiting user data and leaking private information like it’s going out of style, but at least now they know enough to tell their users when something goes wrong. That may not seem like much, but in the age of opaque profit-first companies, it’s got to count for something.

Sports

October 5, 2018

Tigers Break Records in Oregon and New Mexico

Colorado College cross country ran sensationally this weekend, recording one of the best group performances the program has seen in some time. The team broke up into separate groups with the majority of runners traveling to Salem, Ore. to compete at the Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational. Competitors at Willamette were largely made up of Division III schools, but squads from Division I and II schools were also present.

The Tigers pounced on their opportunity for a lower altitude race as several of the men’s runners set new personal and season records. Tony Calderon ’20 kept his exceptional start to the season going as he recorded a time of 25:36:2 in the 8K, enough to earn himself a 31st overall finish and the fastest of all CC runners.

“Tony is continuing to run really fast,” Paul Olsen ’21 said.

“He has been really big this season so far.”

Jack Williams ’20 ran the second fastest time of any Tiger, putting up a personal best 25:58:0 to finish 45th overall. “Jack really stepped it up this weekend,” Olsen said. “He is getting back into really good shape after being injured all of last year.”

Olsen had himself a day as well, recording a personal best of 26:29, good for an 81st overall finish. In total, CC had five men’s runners who finished under 27 minutes and accomplished either a personal or season-best time in the process.

However, Olsen focused on the team as a unit and the overall performance over the weekend.

“Everyone did really well, we had everyone under 30 minutes and our top 5 were under 27 minutes,” Olsen said. “And that hasn’t happened in a quite a few years, so it’s really exciting.” CC finished just three points behind Willamette as the second-best Division III team present.

The women’s cross-country team also had a stellar weekend of racing and finished as the top Division III team at the meet. Allysa Warling ’19 had a career day as she ran a season-best 5K time of 18:03:01, finishing 27th overall. With that time, Alyssa put her name into the Colorado College record books and is now the third-fastest 5K runner in CC history.

Warling’s accomplishment didn’t go unnoticed, and teammates such as Alexia Preston '21 was very complimentary. “Alyssa really killed it this weekend,” Preston praised. “She ran a fantastic race.”

Brier Youngfleish '20 came in as the second fastest runner on the women’s side for the Tigers posting a season-best time of 19:06. Despite some very stellar individual performances, the emphasis from Preston was on the team effort to come away with the top spot from the weekend. “Everyone’s times were really tight, and everyone ran at a very high level,” Preston stated.

“As the season progresses and we get more workouts in, we are all coming together as a team.”

While the competition in Oregon went on, several Tigers took part in the Highlands Cross Country Jam in Las Vegas.

Runners in Vegas also set records, as Preston herself set a personal record of 20:04 in a fifth-place finish. Sarah Pokewaldt '21 also set a personal record and on the men’s side,

7 The Catalyst

By Hayden Cogswell

Photos courtesy of CC Athletics Adam Mahler ’20 set a season record for himself.

Both teams are feeling confident as the season progresses and are confident in taking home some silverware this season. “We are looking pretty good for contending for the top team in the conference this year,” Preston said. “Trinity took the title from us last year and we are looking to take it back this time around.”

If this past weekend is any indication, the CC cross country team is looking primed to reclaim their conference throne.

Colorado College Forms Esports Team, Members Rank Internationally

By Arielle Gordon As a first year, Josh Lauer ’19 was looking to meet other students who played video games. He lived in Loomis Hall and left his door open when he played, hoping that someone else would recognize the sound and join him. His plan worked: he met Lilly Chen ’19 and together, they have started Colorado College’s first Esports team. The club is in its one-year probation period in hopes of becoming an official club sports team.

CC Esports currently has two official teams — Overwatch, with 14 members, and League of Legends, with 10 members. They have four prospective teams — Super Smash Bros., Fortnite, Hearthstone, and Rocketleague. Members often commit upwards of 10 hours per week to practicing and playing their game.

“This group of friends is just as tight as any other group on campus,” Chen said. “I care about them and I try to let them know that.”

Chen has many different responsibilities as a co-founder of the team, ranging

from team and lab management, including scheduling practice time for everyone and helping to clean the lab, to public relations work, and working with prospective members. Before their first game of the season, they organized a team bonding event at Trampoline World.

Last year, members of the Esports team practiced and played in the GIS lab in Tutt Library whenever it was not being used by a class.

At the beginning of this year, they received their own lab — Palmer 1, complete with 12 new computers, paid for by a donation from Logitech. Since the library reopened and more computer lab space was created, the computers from the general use lab in Palmer have been moved to the library and the space became avail-

able. Members have 24/7 swipe access, and Chen schedules dedicated time for different teams to practice.

“I really like playing with other people at the school in the lab, especially given how nice our program has become in the last few years,” Max Pil ’20 said.

Pil is a member of the Overwatch team who recently made it to the top 500 in the global leaderboards and became one of the top thirty players in his specific hero, Hammond. According to Chen, it places him within the top 0.1% of Overwatch players.

“It was a lot of validation in terms of the time I’ve put into improving, but it’s also just really cool to play with professionals every game,” Pil said. “I want to try to hit Top 100

[Pil] recently made it to the top 500 in the global leaderboards.

by the end of this season, and hopefully our team can find broad tournament success as well.”

Upon his accomplishment, Pil became one of the best in the game and the team rewarded him with a shirt that had his hero — which looks like a hamster — printed on it.

“When he plays his hero, he is one of the best in the game,” Chen said. “We have to play him. He brings confidence to the team.”

Looking towards the rest of the year, Chen wants to continue to spread the word and grow the Esports program at CC. They are working with Admissions to host prospective students who are interested in Esports as well as putting information about the team in admissions literature. Interested CC students should reach out to them for more information about how to join!

In their first matches of the year on Sept 30, the Overwatch team defeated Indiana-Purdue University 2-0 and University of South Carolina 2-0. Their next games will be Oct 7.

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The Catalyst

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Sports

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October 5, 2018

Photo by Alli Moon

Tigers Second in Mountain West After Three-Game Win Streak

By Michael Gorman The women’s soccer team has established itself as a force to be reckoned with, with, sitting at second in the Mountain West standings. The Tigers won both of their games last weekend, beating the University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2–1 on Sept. 28 and taking down the University of Nevada 1–0 on Sept. 30.

The wins were supported by a strong defensive front in the face of significant pressure. Against UNLV, the Tigers endured 13 total shots, with five on target, and goalie Jade Odom ’21 saved all but one.

The only goal that UNLV managed came in the 19th minute on a penalty kick, but the Tigers stayed strong, only allowing one more shot in that first half. The Tigers came out strong in the second and leveled the score on a penalty kick from midfielder Lauren Milliet ’19. The game-winner came in the 75th minute, as defender Tayla Wheeler ’21 headed her second goal of the season on

a perfectly placed assist from forward Kiley Suter ’22. “The weekend was huge for our confidence and reputation as a program,” Wheeler said. “Defending Stewart field and getting points at home are our main priorities. The Mountain West is tough, all the games have been super close, and so the fact that we are ranked second is exciting.”

On Sept. 30, the Tigers hosted Nevada in the lower-scoring match-up. Each team’s defense was sharp, but Nevada just couldn’t handle the Tiger pressure, and Milliet scored for the second time over the weekend in the 56th minute.

Milliet’s aggressive presence in the midfield was huge for the team, and she placed emphasis on the effect of constant offensive pressure.

“This year we have placed a lot of attention on work rate, starting with the front three.

I think we pressured UNLV and Nevada’s defensive really well, which lead to opportunities in the attacking third,” Milliet said.

Although Milliet’s goal is what officially won the game, the Tiger defense was even more crucial. The defense only let up seven total shots, and when they were on target, Odom was able to keep Nevada out. She was announced as the Mountain West defender of the week for her performances, with six saves, several of which came at key points of the match.

Defender Camille Weaver ’21 noted several strong aspects of the Tiger defense over the weekend.

“The defenders did well with communicating with one another about the opposing team’s forwards, and I think we defended them well,” Weaver said. “We made sure to keep our feet and slow the forwards down until we got cover and other people behind the ball. We were going for a shutout in Sunday’s game, so it was really great to see that result as well.”

The Tigers now look ahead to matchups on the road against the University of Wyo-

ming on Oct. 5 and Colorado State University on Oct. 7. Although she’s happy with the weekend’s results, Milliet still wants to see improvement if the Tigers are to continue their conference success.

“Looking forward I think it’s crucial for us to finish our chances when we get into the offensive third,” Milliet said.

“We have been generating a fair amount of chances, but have only been scoring one or two goals a game. So, I think the challenge for us is to finish those opportunities and put teams away early.”

Wyoming is ranked fifth in the Mountain West, and they will sport a 7–3–2 overall record coming into their matchup against the Tigers. Colorado State hasn’t been as this season, with a 1–2–1 conference record and 4–5–3 overall.

Because the conference is still so close, with only two wins separate first and sixth place, the Tigers will have to collect points and goals in each match.

Vollyball Suffers First Loss, Still First in SCAC

The Colorado College women’s volleyball team traveled this past weekend to St. Louis for SCAC crossover matches. The Tigers put their 15-0 record on the line against the Trinity Tigers, with Trinity coming away victorious in a thrilling five-set match.

CC took an early 2–1 lead thanks to outside hitter Haley Harris ’20. Harris quickly did work for the Tigers, recording seven kills with zero errors in the first set. All-American setter Lizzy Counts ’20 and libero Caitlin Larence ’20 also posted strong performances early, as Counts produced 16 assists, and Lawrence was responsible for eight digs.

Trinity rebounded from CC’s hot start, but again lost, digging themselves into a 2-0 hole. Then, Trinity went off. They decisively won the third set 25–16 and never looked back. The fourth set was a battle, coming to a peak with both teams tied at 15. Trinity then exploded Courtesy CC Athletics for 10 straight points Photo and leveled theof match to two sets

apiece heading into the fifth and final set. The set was back and forth the entire way through, with neither squad holding more than a two-point lead. Eventually tied at 13 all, Trinity managed to snag the last two points to seal the victory, handing No. 2 CC Tigers their first loss of the season.

With two games the following day, the Tigers had to quickly bounce back after the tough loss. The Tigers swiftly replied to their loss with a three-set victory against Schreiner University.

Marguerite Spaethling ’20 led the Tigers, hitting .500 and recording 13 kills. Harris was heavily involved once again, raking in 12 kills and just two errors, finishing the match with a .370 hitting percentage. Defensively, Rachel

By Mikey Wright

Krutz ’21 and Laurence did the heavy lifting, recording 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

Less than an hour after their win against Schreiner, the CC Tigers faced Texas Lutheran University. The Tigers again came away victorious. Leading the attack again were Spaethling and Harris, each recording 13 kills. After dropping the first set, the Tigers battled back and forth with TLU to take the second set. FindPhotos by Alli Moon ing their stride in the third, the Tigers caught fire, hitting .571 in the third set and .441 in the fourth. Counts was again a major team asset, recording 47 assists.

After finishing the weekend on a high note, the 17–1 Tigers head to St. Louis for the Washington University Invitational. They will face the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Augustana College on Friday, Oct. 5, and take on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and No. 11 Washington University in St. Loomis on Saturday, Oct. 6.

The Tigers swiftly replied to their loss with a three-set victory against Schreiner University.

Active Life

October 5, 2018

Featured Ritt Kellogg Expedition: Arctic Dreams and the Gates to Paradise

By Melanie Mandell

Photo Courtesy of Sophie Redpath

As a tribute to Colorado College alumnus Ritt Kellogg ’90, a skilled outdoorsman who tragically died in an avalanche, the Kellogg family established the Ritt Kellogg Memorial Fund in 1993. Each year, this fund provides students with the means to carry out incredible backcountry trips in the U.S. or Canada for 12 days or more. Through a rigorous application process, students may propose virtually any trip they can dream up — from rock climbing in the Cirque of the Unclimbables in northeastern Canada, to sea kayaking off the coast of Alaska. This semester, the Active Life section will feature a group of fund recipients and their journey every week.

In late July, Sophie Redpath ’19, Rachel Fitch ’19, Nora Holmes ’18, and Caleigh Smith ’18 began their 15-day expedition in the Brooks Mountain Range in the North of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.

The group was advised to be conservative with their planned hiking route, so they originally intended to hike about 80 miles; after discovering that the ground was made of what they affectionately referred to as “applesauce,” they actually ended up hiking around 35 miles in total. Despite walking on mush, the cancellation of their bush plane on the way out, and the air consisting of mostly mosquitos, these ladies had a killer time in the Arctic and experienced quality bonding while surrounded by gorgeous views.

The Catalyst: What inspired the trip?

Caleigh Smith: Last fall when we first met to collaborate on ideas for a grand Ritt trip, we all had differing dreams of what our ideal adventures would look like. Some wanted horses, some wanted Alaska, but we all wanted to do it together, so deliberations centered on how we could compromise everyone's ideals into one overarching goal. This is what we got!

Sophie Redpath: I had been planning a trip to Gates of the Arctic for basically the entire summer, and I just needed a group to go with me. After living in southeast Alaska for the summer, my interest was piqued about the rest of the state. The group shifted around a bit but eventually I convinced everyone to abandon all other plans and head north.

TC: What was the most challenging aspect?

Most rewarding?

SR: The biggest challenge was definitely the terrain. We were told while planning the trip to be conservative in our mileage, but even with

our low estimate we were high. The ground was marsh — if not full pond — and tussocks never fell the way you expected them to. Also the stove breaking … A personal challenge for me was figuring out how to fall asleep in a land where the sun never set — turns out it’s not as easy as just imagining that it’s night time. But we all had very stylish sleep masks.

It's hard to pick a “most rewarding” point, as it kinda feels like the whole trip was its own reward. We had to adapt to adversity at almost every turn, but just being out there was as much a prize as anything.

Nora Holmes: The most challenging part for me was definitely hiking in such complicated, unsteady terrain with a healing broken ankle.

I sprained my non-broken ankle on day three out of 15 — two sad ankles and unstable ground don't exactly pair well together. This was certainly a physical issue, but for me it was also a significant mental challenge. I'm pretty used to being fit and capable in the outdoors, so navigating a backpacking trip while having to hike at a slower and more painful pace was really frustrating for me. Luckily, my expedition mates were great about it and very supportive without me even saying anything.

When I was particularly upset about it one day, Caleigh whipped out some peanut M&Ms — my favorite snack ever — to cheer me up.

The whole trip was really rewarding! Even though so many things went awry and so many of our plans had to change, living in and walking through the Arctic mountains and river valleys was an unreal experience.

We had to adapt and change our plans so frequently (namely being forced to switch route plans approximately 11 times), which was sometimes a hard conversation or hard to let go of a goal, but I'm proud of all of us for making those decisions and still having an incredible time on the expedition.

TC: Do you have any personal highlights?

Rachel Fitch: There were many highlights, but one sticks out particularly. We had a night where we camped on a huge lump that overlooked two river confluences nuzzled into the mountain behind us. The sun never set but it had rotated so that it dipped behind a mountain and the light was more golden.

We walked up the hill to our tent and the wind picked up. The wind was elusive and vital to our existence because it blew away the mosquitoes. I can confirm the rumor that there are mosquitos in Alaska. We wore hooded bug shirts whenever we were out of the tent and the noise from their buzzing often sounded like a highway. We dubbed them

Satan's Spawn and killed approximately 2,000 a day without making a dent in the population. The coming of the wind was a special treat because it was the only time when we didn't have to wear our bug hoods.

That day, the wind came. We hiked up to our tent overlooking all the majesty and started running in circles around the tent. The wind picked up. We took off not only the bug shirts but all our clothing.

We nudely frolicked around until we came together in a group hug, still laughing.

Sophie yelled, "Not today, Satan!" at the mosquitos … we all sprinted around in circles once more. It ended with the wind dying and all of us diving nakedly into the tent.

TC: Do you have any funny stories

9 The Catalyst my bug net, and all I hear is silence behind me. Sophie barely gets out a "You okay?" — I realize they laughed themselves into silence.

CS: Some of the funniest moments consisted of pure delirious laughter and disbelief that the trip actually happened. We have a theory that the blueberries we found and ate on day two just took us out, and we'll wake up on day three in the arctic any day now.

SR: My personal one came from trying to jump across a small pond and not realizing that the "solid grass covered ground" on the other side was actually just floating moss and did not hold the weight of a human.

TC: Do you have advice for those applying for a Ritt Kellogg Expedition?

NH: Just do it. Seriously, I wish I'd had the foresight to apply for one every year. It is an insane opportunity that we are able to access.

If people considering the Ritt Grant are worried that it might interfere with summer jobs or internships, I'd say ignore those (if it's financially possible for them) in favor of doing the expedition. There aren't many other times in your life that you'll be able to do an extended wilderness trip like this again, and these trips will give you really valuable skills and teach you a ton about yourself and your abilities.

orcamping mishaps?

RF: It was on day four, so our packs were still pretty heavy at that point. We had a pretty long day, and I was in the front of our hiking line.

We weaved in and out to avoid large marsh puddles. We came upon a stream and pond.

I looked across and it was just far enough that you could not step over. It was mud on the other side. I thought there were two options: One, it would be solid and I could safely make it across. Two, it was the knee-deep sinking mud. I looked behind me at Sophie, Nora, and Caleigh and mumbled, "Moment of truth." Then I leaped. Now there was a third option that I didn't foresee: the mud was solid enough, but the top of my foot slipped, drawing a perfect line as my backpack pulled me back into the water. The water sinks into

TC: If you could do it again, would you do anything differently?

CS: Bring tent stakes and a working, extra stove.

SR: And more Nutella.

NH: Don't buy dried beans ever, buy dehydrated beans. Game-changer. Review my Whisperlite repair skills extensively before the trip.

Be sure to catch the presentations of all Ritt grant recipients on Oct. 9, 7 p.m. in the Cornerstone Screening Room!

Sweating it Out in the Springs: Eagles Peak Trail

By Emily Ng Sandstone and limestone debris crumble underneath thundering footsteps.

Exhaustion sucker punches you in the gut, and the only thing louder and more palpable than your labored gasps for air is the sound of forceful intentional steps powering up the ascent. Welcome to Eagles Peak.

Nestled deep within the rolling hills of the Air Force Academy across from the visitor center, the trail winds through tall aspen and pine trees, marked by bright blue spray paint. Native wildlife welcomes hikers on the trail from deer to fox, and some might even see the occasional bear.

Not only does Eagles Peak provide a difficult hike, but it also doubles as a moderate obstacle course, with large rocks, some slippery with years of wear, and fallen trees shrouding the trail. As you climb straight up the mountain to the rhythm of heavy breaths and heartbeats, the trees break to reveal a rock scramble leading straight to the peak.

Grueling grasps of gravel are tossed back down the mountain as your draw yourself up

further and further until you reach the peak.

The summit reveals a view that reaches to the points where atmospheric blue turns to white, bending at the slight curvature of the horizon. Wind blocks out all sound.

Colorado Springs sinks amongst a sea of red rock, green trees, and blue earth. Turning around reveals a forest full of golden aspens, dense pine trees, and the steep slippery slope below.

The hike back down is technical; however, it takes half of the time as the ascent, as you frantically attempt a controlled free-fall, desperately bracing to rocks and saplings along the way.

Overall, the trail is temperamental and difficult, yet worth the view at the top.

Difficulty: Hard Length: 4 miles roundtrip (estimate from my Fitbit) Do it again?: If dragged, sure.

The Catalyst

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Catalyzing Solutions: What exactly happened in Flint?

By Jose Monge Castro Many phenomena that we observe in our everyday lives can be explained with scientific concepts. Similarly, many challenges that we observe in areas such as the environment or medicine are addressed using these ideas. The goal of this weekly column is to inform readers on some of these scientific concepts and illustrate the research that is currently being done at Colorado College to address these problems.

Flint’s water crisis is a harsh reminder of the vulnerabilities within the current structures on which modern life relies, aside from the problematic power structures that lead to them. The crisis also highlights the complexity around providing communities with essential services and how highly specialized knowledge is necessary to ensure appropriate delivery.

The money-saving switch from Detroit’s water supply to locally treated river water toppled the dominoes. In general, water supply systems go through rigorous and years-long evaluations before determining ideal protocols of treatment. In Flint, the switch took mere months.

Additionally, rivers are among the most complicated aquatic chemical systems; mobile compounds, micro-organisms, and pollutants are usually present at high concentrations. For example, the high concentration of corrosive chlorine, largely from road salt, is a complication of North American bodies of water.

This element, along with oxidants such as dissolved oxygen, reacts with metals such as iron and lead in the pipes, yielding the toxic soluble compounds, which are also responsible for color and odor.

To combat this, water engineers add coagulants: compounds containing orthophosphate that form solid insoluble complexes to capture and deposit the otherwise mobile metal ions on the walls of the pipes.

This common-sense measurement was neglected during Flint’s switch, saving the city about $140 per day.

Without these compounds, iron and lead immediately started leaching into the water supply. To further complicate the issue, leached iron from some of the pipes reacted with the chlorine ions, impeding chlorine from acting as a disinfectant. With the consequential spike in bacteria, the city was forced to increase chlorine concentration, which led to even more corrosive water. Furthermore, though it controlled bacteria, the addition of more chlorine led to higher concentrations of trihalomethanes, known carcinogens.

In short, stopping the addition of orthophosphate led to the corrosion of pipes, which, given the complex nature of the system, led to a series of other problems. Permanent solutions are costly and not in sight.

It is also worth noting that although Flint made the headlines, similar problems are present and unnoticed in many places around the U.S. and the world.

Home kits to detect common water pollutants are not too expensive but are limited, and it is ultimately the cities who receive taxes and public trust who should ensure that water, a universal right, is safe to use.

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Active Life

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October 5, 2018

Fasting’s Physical and Psychological Effects is considerable similarity between how cells respond to the stress of exercise and how cells respond to intermittent fasting.”

Studies with mice have demonstrated that intermittent fasting doesn’t just foster weight loss through fat, but also increases lean muscle mass by roughly 13 percent without any extra exercise or change in diet by increasing levels of growth hormones (Endocrinology). Mice who are IF have also been seen to “improve metabolic homeostasis through adipose thermogenesis” (Cell Research). Adipose thermogenesis is when adipose tissue, otherwise known as fat, gets metabolized by the body and burned to create heat energy. Apart from burning fat and increasing muscle mass, IF also may promote gut bacteria diversity and richness.

IF has psychological benefits as well. Multiple studies have found an increase in the protection of memory and “learning functionality" while following IF (Canadian Medical Association Journal). IF also increases insulin sensitivity by dropping insulin to lower levels during your fasting period. Insulin is a hormone that facilitates the process of storing fat in the body and acts as an appetite stimulant. Every time you eat, your body releases insulin to store the energy you are putting in your body, but insulin has to drop to a low level to release the hormone glucagon, which retrieves and uses energy stored by insulin.

If one were to eat roughly every two hours, insulin levels would never drop low enough to release glucagon, meaning energy stored in cells would constantly accumulate and never get used (PubMed). Psychologically, this means that if you go roughly four hours after eating a meal without spiking your insulin again via snack, your body will start running on the glucagon-provided stored energy and you will become less hungry.

Short periods of fasting are beneficial, but even longer fasts have greater effects. When mice fast for a 16-hour period, for example, their levels of norepinephrine in the brain increase by roughly 60 percent. This makes sense because norepinephrine is a concentration and focus neurotransmitter. After 16 hours of no food, the brain has a greatly increased need to focus, so norepinephrineevolutionarily helping a creature find food more efficiently (Endocrinology).

One final potential psychological benefit of IF demonstrated in mice is its ability to decrease anxiety. After a 16-hour fast, mice showed diminished longterm memory of frightful events. This is probably the strangest symptom of IF, illustrating that IF’s mental and physical benefits may span a broad range.

Fasting can be a dangerous practice if done incorrectly, and these effects by no means indicate that everyone should start fasting themselves. However, research shows that eating within a smaller window of time does promote healthy weight management, individuals must determine the right balance of when to eat and what to eat.

By Carlton Moeller Intermittent fasting is not a diet, it is an eating pattern; while a diet prescribes what one can eat, intermittent fasting prescribes when one can eat. The goal of intermittent fasting is to increase the time between dinner and breakfast. The first food or drink you consume during the day breaks your nightly fast. Our bodies run on cycles, and the first thing you put into your body that isn’t water — anything that needs to be metabolized — sets off a roughly 12-hour cycle of hormones and metabolic enzymes that promote proper digestion. Eating outside of this window without the help of metabolic enzymes increases fat production and decreases insulin sensitivity, which makes you crave more calorie-dense food, like pasta and fries, and deteriorates muscle mass. Conversely, eating within a window of fewer than 12 hours increases muscle mass and improves endurance (Satchin Panda, Ph.D.).

Many people may be drawn to intermittent fasting (IF) because of its weight-loss effects. However, several studies have concluded that weight loss, specifically fat reduction, is only a symptom of other profound physical benefits (Canadian Medical Association Journal). According to Mark Mattson, senior investigator for the National Institute on Aging, when cells are in a period of fasting, they are experiencing a stressor. Counterintuitively, mild environmental stressors such as this are good because cells “respond to the stress adaptively by enhancing their ability to cope with stress and, maybe, to resist disease.”

Mattson continued that “there

Short periods of fasting are beneficial, but even longer fasts have greater effects.

Illustration by Cate Johnson

Acknowledging the Risk of Rock Climbing Printed on the back of membership tags and posted on the walls at many climbing gyms is a simple phrase; climbing is dangerous. Simple, true, but it’s an idea that often escapes the mind of climbers getting ready to climb, especially once they feel they’ve gotten comfortable with the routine. However, there is a reason that the message is put out as a reminder in the gym and verbally spread when climbing outdoors; climbing really is dangerous.

In 2013, the last year that the American Alpine Club published their accident reports online, there were 143 climbingrelated accidents reported, with 100 injuries and 21 fatalities in the United States. Of these, 26 injuries and seven deaths occurred in Colorado. Although it may be easier to rationalize climbing when one doesn’t consider the risk, there is a very real risk that comes with choosing to go climbing.

There is a public climbing community at Colorado College, whether student climbers are pulling plastic at the Ritt Kel-

logg Climbing Gym or taking trips to get their hands on some real rock outdoors. These climbers bring the risk associated with climbing onto campus. In fact, many of these CC students have their own experiences with climbing injuries.

Ben Sokol ’22 described a common injury climbers face: he sprained his middle finger after attempting a route too many times without enough rest. “I didn’t [take time off climbing] but I probably should have,” Sokol said. “I thought that it would go away and that it wouldn’t become worse if I kept climbing. If I’d taken time off, it would have probably healed quicker.”

While Sokol’s injury is mostly frustrating, not every climbing injury is as simple, nor as easy to explain.

Delaney Kenyon ’22 has managed to escape the injuries that come with climbing, but has witnessed a number of accidents that have occurred while other people were

By PJ Heusted

climbing. Kenyon recalled stories of a friend being bitten by rattlesnakes while climbing and another friend having his ring finger degloved because of his wedding ring.

“A camper of mine ripped out her vaginal piercing during a team building exercise [where] you have to get everyone over a 12-foot wall,” Kenyon said.

Not every climbing injury involves massive falls, ropes breaking, or crack climbing gone wrong, but the extent of the possible injuries is endless. Although there is no stopping people from climbing despite horror stories from the crag, there is something to be said about the tendency of climbers to disregard the risk and seek the reward, regardless of what may happen. For this reason, it is always important to stay humble, double- and triple-check your climbing systems, and acknowledge the danger — especially in light of “Creek Break” this coming Block Break.

October 5, 2018

Life

Rebel Music: A NASU Screening A small group of people trickled into the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center screening room on Sept. 30 to watch the first of many film showings put on by Colorado College’s Native American Student Union.

The lights went off, and the screen sprung to life with the first episode of a 2014 MTV show — “Rebel Music Native America.”

The welcome-to-my-crib style of the film, complete with hip-hop music and staggercuts, was an accessible entry point to Native American Studies. The show did not play around; its first moments contained a montage of the violent colonial settlement of North America, told in the subjective “I” perspective by an unseen indigenous narrator. The music was indigenous hip-hop and pop, the subject was indigenous artists and communities, and the production was also indigenous. This unabashed spotlight on Native art is a rare and beautiful thing in modern pop culture — activism in and of itself. I had trouble putting down my pencil from the moment the montage appeared: everything the narrator said was profound.

The show followed four indigenous activist musicians, all of whom used their craft to speak to something greater than themselves.

The focus was not on their music, but on how their music can impact the community.

Artistic expression has become their way to spread a message and push a movement forward.

A quick sampling of the issues addressed in the 40-minute episode include the rate of suicide on reservations (seven times greater than average), the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women, the reclamation of sexuality, and the destruction of the environment.

Frank Waln, a rapper whose proclamations echo those of 60s activist John Trudell, was particularly interested in combatting environmental destruction. He put his body on the line at Standing Rock in protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline; he also walked with Cree, Dene, and Métis peoples to raise awareness of the devastation of the Alberta Tar Sands.

For him, “hip-hop is just a new way to tell our stories.”

11 The Catalyst

By Charlotte Schwebel The protagonists, admirably, maintained hope when confronted by massive issues.

They had faith not only in themselves, but in their contemporaries. It is predicted in many indigenous traditions that the seventh generation will be the one to heal the wounds inflicted on the planet and the people. A certain age range of young indigenous people today, which includes the individuals featured in “Rebel Music,” are members of that seventh generation.

The second showing centered on a larger group of indigenous youth around the country who are making a difference in their communities. The show called them “Generations Indigenous.”

They were brought together by an Obamaera White House initiative that encouraged youth to start a movement in their communities that addressed a problem and then invited the most impressive of these young people to a yearly conference. During a week of meetings and talks, federal officials at the

top of our government agencies listened to indigenous youth to learn how to support them in their endeavors without impeding native sovereignty.

Zunneh-bah Martin '19, a member of the Diné and Modoc Nations, had a small profile in the show. When she came on screen, people cheered. She attended the conference in 2015 and 2016 for her work with various native youth organizations, including We Are Native and the Urban Native Youth Association. She was also the Gallup InterTribal Indian Ceremonial Queen, a year-long ambassador role for Indigenous communities in the Southwestern United States, across Indian Country, and internationally.

If you were unable to attend this event, you can watch Rebel Music on YouTube.

"AWAKE—A Dream From Standing Rock," a film screening and panel discussion on environmental justice, divestment, and indigenous rights will be held in Cornerstone 131 on Oct. 8 from 6:30–8:30 p.m. Look out for more screenings and events on the NASU Facebook page.

Photo Courtesy of Native American Student Union

Tr y to Breathe: A Green Theater Production of "LUNGS" Addresses Difficult Concepts By Sierra Takushi

Photo by Daniel Sarché

Solar-powered light bulbs are strung from the ceiling of Taylor Theater at different heights, serenely swaying and waiting to be illuminated. A row of chairs encircled the performance space, and the audience sat still in darkness, vaguely grasping the image of two figures who entered the circle. A single bulb is reached for, then turned on. The bulb’s soft light brightened its pendulous neighbors and the two human figures, who slowly navigated the space, gently reached for and turned on each bulb. The show began.

This past weekend, senior actors Emily Gardner and Theo Merrill starred in a production of the play “LUNGS,” originally written by playwright Duncan Macmillan. The Colorado College performance was directed

by Associate Professor Andrew Manley as a fAIL bETTER pRODUCTION and was supported by Theater Workshop.

“LUNGS” is a comedic and thought-provoking two-person play that discusses the massive carbon footprint of having a baby in the midst of the impending climate change crisis. The characters “M” and “W” grapple with this concept through witty and acces-

sible dialogue. Portrayed by Gardner and Merrill, they navigate the complexities of a modern-day relationship while also wrestling with their fluctuating opinions on having a baby.

“You have two timelines,” Gardner explained. “One is the timeline of the relationship: the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows. Then you have the timeline of the climate getting worse and worse. Even as the climate gets worse, people are still people and are making decisions and having relationships.”

Gardner was first introduced to “LUNGS” in a play reading group two years ago, and she was immediately drawn to the parallel narratives about relationships and the climate.

“The script really resonated with me, with the whole concept of having a child as a decision and the climate and the planet as factors in that decision,” Gardner said.

Recalling her attraction to “LUNGS” last spring, Gardner contacted Manley and addressed her interest in putting on the play for Theater Workshop this year. Excited, Manley emailed Gardner over the summer

asking if she and Merrill would act in his production of the play. Both gladly accepted the casting positions.

With countless hours of extensive memorization and rehearsals last block, Merrill and Gardner tackled tough concepts within the play. Merrill contemplated the idea of placing environmental responsibility on either “global” action or “personal” decisions.

“I think that’s a question that recurs when thinking about the environment: how much of climate change is personal and how much of it is ultimately dependent on a few policy-makers and corporations? I don’t know the answer to that,” Merrill acknowledged.

“Where is the play trying to put the responsibility? Is it on the characters for having a kid? Is it on everyone else for having kids?

Is it on everyone else who didn’t plant forests? Or are we, as individuals, actually resolved of this responsibility, and should it be placed on lawmakers and corporations?”

Despite his uncertainty over global versus personal responsibility, Merrill confidently supports the sustainable impacts of producing “LUNGS.” The production was classified as “green theater,” utilizing sustainable light

sources, limiting energy usage, and recycling props and costumes.

“It’s all about modeling things for others,” Merrill said. “Taylor Theater probably wasn’t going to use large amounts of power to put on the show, but I think it’s important to model green practices, even if the substantive effect isn’t that much.”

Gardner agreed: “There were still lights on in the lobby and water running the bathroom, so the net energy that we saved probably wasn’t absolutely huge, but making the play green theater still made a statement and could encourage others to take it even farther.”

Both Merrill and Gardner concluded that while green theater may not be conducive to all shows, they would love to see the theater department continue to exercise the sustainable practices utilized in “LUNGS.” At the end of the show, when Merrill and Gardner gently reached for and turned off each hanging solar-powered light bulb, they left their audience in lingering darkness, with many big questions, but a very small carbon footprint.

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The Catalyst

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Life

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October 5, 2018

Poetry, Pain, and the Present: Diane Seuss Visits CC

By Mahea Daniels “Let’s light a fire and sit around it and talk,” Diane Seuss, the latest guest in the Visiting Writer series, said in a lecture last Thursday, Sept. 27. She created this type of intimate conversational setting with the crowd as she talked about her renowned work as a poet and answered questions regarding her collections, including “Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open,” “Four–Legged Girl,” and her newest work, “Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl.” Her work has made appearances in “The New Yorker,” “Poetry,” “Brevity,” and “The Missouri Review,” and she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2016.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Seuss’ “fevered lines get under your skin until reading becomes a visceral experience.” The sublime experiences that pervade her work were something that the audience clearly experienced while reading her poetry. However, this type of experience did not exist only within the pages of her poetry. As a speaker, she breathed life into her words, describing how creating poetry was “like the mountains ... both overwhelming and terrifying.”

Seuss explained that much of her work is inspired by personal experiences. “We all have two or three subjects, and we keep working on them throughout our lives,” Seuss said.

“There's something about working them through life and tracking that work through language.” For her, one of these core topics is pain and grief because this is an emotion she has been dealing with since a young age.

She emphasized that poetry does not resolve

Photo by Angel Martinez heartbreaking experiences, nor “change what happened or lessen the grief,” but, writing those feelings into her lines allows the emotions to “become a part of the world.”

Seuss’s father died when she was seven years old. Her mother coped by regularly visiting the gravesite, but Seuss dealt with her grief by channeling it into her writing.

“My mom attends the graves. She is the most loyal grave tender ... but I don’t do that,” she said. “Rather, my poems are my version of

"YSIV": Sinatra Has Evolved The Maryland rapper Logic went back to his roots with “YSIV,” a rap album that reflects on the records that inspired him throughout his triumphant rise to fame.

Logic always seems to create projects that speak to a diverse set of fans. Following the success of “Everybody” and the second iteration in the “Bobby Tarantino” series, “YSIV” is a victory lap. It’s an album that pays homage to his beginnings but also feels refreshing.

Illustration by Annabel Driussi

grave tending.” She went on to say that writing is another way to have a relationship with the experiences that have caused such pain.

Throughout the entirety of the lecture, Seuss often redirected questions at the audience. After she was asked how she writes about painful experiences, a participant in the audience responded by noting that they often avoid writing about what is most painful. Seuss said that at her age, she is not able to ignore the pain, so “just to write

about it openly is something,” regardless of how personal the subject matter may be.

In the final moments of the talk, Seuss was asked about the current events surrounding the Kavanaugh hearings and how they have affected the topics she is currently writing about in her poetry. “Poetry is a form of testimony,” she said. Seuss’s writing not only testifies to her own life experiences but also transcends the pages, attesting to what others felt as well.

By Mikey Wright

Logic establishes his versatility at the beginning of the album with “Thank You.” It has a smooth and effortless melodic beat that is reminiscent of old Logic. The rapper has always talked about wanting to explore his singing abilities, and he does so on this song. The eloquent beat is a great warmup for the rest of the album, establishing Logic’s love and appreciation of his fans.

Two of the four singles that were released

before the album — “Everybody Dies” and “The Return,” — follow “Thank You.” The two singles are quality and did a fantastic job of getting fans excited for the album.

“The Glorious Five” is a punchy, triumphant return to the Young Sinatra persona.

The J. Cole ad-lib at the beginning adds a nostalgic touch that really exemplifies the entire album. It’s a tribute to the persona that got Logic to where he is today.

“Wu-Tang Forever” establishes Logic as a die-hard hip-hop fan himself. Every true hip-hop fan will be in love with this track: over eight minutes of pure Wu-Tang flow is as overwhelming as it is special. Somewhere, Drake is crying because Bobby successfully got the whole clan on a track.

“100 Miles and Running” is, without a doubt, the most lighthearted and impressive track on the album. Jon Lindahl adds a fun high-pitched, ’80s-like chorus, while Wale comes back from the grave and kills his verse. It’s only fitting that the D.C. native is on the track, and Logic nods to that in the title with the name of Wale’s third mixtape. The song takes an unexpected turn at the end thanks to Logic’s signature mind-blowing, tongue-twisting flow. In Logic’s last verse, he manages to rap at an insane pace of eight syllables per second.

Logic touches the hearts of many on “YSIV” thanks to a moving Mac Miller tribute.

The track reworks the freestyle that he released when the project was announced. The six-minute song switches beat halfway, after which Logic delivers a heartfelt tribute to the late Pittsburgh rapper, who inspired Logic’s Young Sinatra persona in the first place.

“Street Dreams II” is a sequel to

an old track from Logic’s first Young Sinatra tape. With four minutes of pure storytelling genius, it’s a track that reminds fans of Logic’s hard upbringings, while also solidifying his storytelling abilities in a world where many rappers would much rather talk about drugs and alcohol.

“The Adventures of Stoney Bob” is an-

"YSIV" just shows a new Logic, one that still throws it back to the roots, while also pointing towards new possibilities.

other lighthearted, weed-centric ballad. It’s a fun, flowy song with plenty of clever lines that fans know and love.

“Legacy” is a track that tells another great story, in which Logic questions who he is and how he wants to be remembered.

“ICONIC” is arguably the hardest song of the album. It’s four minutes of Logic rapping over Jaden Smith’s “ICON” beat. It is an awesome throwback to Logic’s old mixtapes, where he would rap over other rappers’ beats.

The final song of the album is “Last Call.”

The song is essentially a 10-minute ballad about Logic’s come up. Despite the length, it’s a heartfelt track that further proves how much Logic’s life means to him and how much he appreciates his fan base.

In the end, die-hard Logic fans that were expecting “YSIV” to be an album similar to “Welcome to Forever” are going to be disappointed if they were expecting an old, raw Logic. “YSIV” just shows a new Logic, one that still throws it back to the roots, while also pointing towards new possibilities.

With production quality at an all-time high, it’s safe to say Sinatra has evolved. He’s still the same Young Sinatra that fans know and love, but one that appreciates his comeup and is looking toward the future.

The Catalyst

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Life

Cucuru Gallery Café: A Cozy, Casual Hideaway in Old Colorado City

By Becca Stine A crafty sign with blue block letters hangs above the blue-rimmed entrance of Cucuru Gallery Café in Old Colorado City. Sounds of live jazz music drifted down the street as we approached the location, filling Sunday night with a calm and familial energy. The quaint entrance to Cucuru brings you into what feels like the first floor of an old house, broken up into a series of rooms connected by small entrances and open windows.

With small, round tables, hanging ornaments, images of Latin culture, and yellow walls, the café has a warm atmosphere. The main space was empty and looked as if it

could be closed, but we were soon greeted by the owner, a man of incredible energy and genuine hospitality. He immediately led us past the kitchen and bar, out a small entrance in the back, and into a quaint outside patio area, complete with hanging lights and potted plants. A three-man jazz band filled one corner of the space. There was no choice but to sit close to the sound, and the experience of listening to the music became a shared one between customers, staff, and the musicians themselves. We had arrived just in time for their last summer Sunday jazz event.

Photo by Daniel Sarché

The Full Moon Cruiser is a monthly Colorado College tradition that follows the cycles of the moon. Scheduled on nights as close to the full moon as possible, the ride has a typical turnout anywhere from 20 or so students on the coldest nights to over 50 on nights such as last Wednesday, the first cruiser of the year. Alternately called cruuz, crooooooze, crooze, or even crüz, one of the organizers of the event, Adam Jolly ’19, explained that “the etymology is complex, but all modern variations are derived from the formal title ‘the Full Moon Cruiser.’”

While not affiliated with the Outdoor Education Center, emails about the cruise typically egin coming out on its listserv several

October 5, 2018

The organization of the tables and chairs in the outside space facilitated the music listening; instead of facing the table, my chair faced the music at the front. The owner sat at a table next to us, enjoying the music himself while regularly checking to make sure we had been helped. The waitress seemed to have mastered the balance between giving her customers space, while arriving at the table exactly when you needed something.

The menu at Cucuru has a variety of delicious Cuban food and other Latin-inspired cuisine, such as their classic Cuban sandwich, gambas diablo, taquitos, and patatas bravas. The menu offers a beautiful balance between fresh salads and heavier, meaty food. The gambas aquacate, a salad with chopped cucumber, poblano pepper, red onion, tomato, and cilantro, is served pouring out of an empty avocado skin, with fresh grilled shrimp on top, and sliced avocado by the side.

After we picked our order, the waitress told us, “Good choice!” Each time she passed us

Croozing by the Light of the Moon It was a chilly fall night under the full moon, and at the north entrance to Worner, Halloween arrived a month early. An energetic crowd of costumed students on bikes bobbed along to blaring pop music, shouting to new arrivals, while members peeled off to pop wheelies on the side. It was “flair” at its best: every type of bright clothing imaginable was on display, from sequined tops to fluorescent tights to painfully loud Hawaiian shirts. There were capes and Christmas-light adorned bikes and full-face helmets, hair ribbons and knee socks and even a laser pointer. Two full-suited Pooh Bears walked through the crowd, adjusting their snouted headpieces.

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Photos by Evan Foster with dishes that she was delivering to other customers, she would lower the dish to our eyelevel so we could admire the gorgeous presentation, and the delicious aromas that floated from the plate. “It was such a nice surprise, with a really vibrant atmosphere and lovely fresh food,” said Emily Klockenbrink '19.

Cucuru is a family-owned business that opened about 12 years ago. Its many years of operation are evident in the casual and welcoming dining experience. The smooth flow of service gives the feeling that the restaurant functions on its own with ease. Although the summer Sunday jazz has ended, Cucuru offers live music inside the restaurant space every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening, showcasing talented and eclectic musicians from all around Colorado.

Whether seeking a glass of wine, live music, or a fresh and flavorful meal, this precious space on the corner of Colorado and 24th St. is endlessly welcoming, and perfectly casual.

By Heather Rolph

days before the event. “The cruiser has been going on for as long as I can remember, though it was probably started by either the ORC or the bike co-op,” Jolly said. “[Now] there is a small group of bicycle-oriented people who manage the cruise,” Jolly says.

The crooz started biking down Tejon from Worner at 10 p.m. Cars honked their horns, pedestrians yelled in support, and in the middle of downtown, people stepped into the street to get videos. The group made its way to America the Beautiful Park, putting bikes on the grass and scrambling around the Julie Penrose fountain. Perched by the swirled metal structure, people began a rhythmic thumping, howling for the full

moon rising over the city. An impromptu dance party broke out at the base, centered around an enormous boom box strapped to the back of a rider.

“I think people like the cruiser because it both brings people together, and because it helps offload some of that block-schedule stress,” Jolly said. “It’s a lot of fun to dance around with a bunch of people in flair while howling at the moon.” From the way people sprinted for the swings and slides after reaching the nearby Fantasy Playground, quite a lot of Block Plan stress must have accumulated by the first Wednesday of Block 2. As a mild mosh pit developed in the center of the park, students climbed onto the top of playground structures to show off their dance moves.

Suddenly, back into town they went, up to the top of a parking garage in the middle of downtown for a last dance and howl, plus a Conga line so energetic that the entire pavement parking lot of the garage started to bounce. Several skateboarders and rollerbladers, pulled by their friends this far, arrived and took the elevator up. There was even a student on a PikeRide.

“It's not a full-moon cruiser without mishaps or funny stories. I've seen people Uber to the park, someone once rode a tall bike in their birthday suit, and absolutely random people from downtown have joined in on various parts of the cruise,” Jolly said. “Every single time something different happens, which is what makes it so unique.” Perhaps this time it was the random citizen who appeared on the edge of the crowd, on top of the parking garage in the middle of the night, to tell everybody how cool it was. Or perhaps it was the girl who struggled uphill on her one-speed, suffering through honks of passing cars, or a rollerblader who was tugged down Tejon by a friend on a bike.

Or maybe it was just the energy emanating from the neon, howling, wheelie-popping group of CC students on their first cruiser of the year.

14 October 5, 2018

When the word “mindfulness” is dropped, people sometimes picture a hypothetical human lightly pressing their middle finger and thumb against each other as beaming lights surround them.

This person’s eyes are closed, and their legs are likely folded like a pretzel, too.

While meditation exists as one practice of mindfulness, the concept of being mindful actually encapsulates a larger idea.

Being mindful means being aware of your body and its surroundings. Frankly, mindfulness should be a practice that every professor and student attempts in the classroom.

Being mindful in a classroom can be as simple as being present. While computers and phones are easily at our disposal, learning and communication would

Opinion Mindfulness Beyond Meditation

By Caroline Williams improve by putting these away for three hours of our day. Perhaps it may not feel like course material is always the most pressing or intriguing, but allowing ourselves to focus on the situation at hand, even if it is not thrilling, is beneficial to our minds. It can allow us to be fully present in a moment, as opposed to attempting to multitask.

Furthermore, most professors will give students time for a break in the middle of class. Students may take this break to get snacks, go to the restroom, or finish incomplete homework. It is even more common, though, for students to use this time

to engross themselves in their devices. It often feels like we have been without our technology for a long time, after a mere hour and a half. What about simply taking that break time to speak with classmates?

I have found that blocks are much more beneficial when I feel comfortable with the students in my class. As such, being mindful of those around us and speaking with peers is an incredibly easy way to practice mindfulness throughout the day.

Classes are often fast-paced. As students, it is hard to take a moment to catch our breath. However, paying attention to the pace of our breathing, the length of

5 Tips on Getting By and Staying Fly

The Catalyst

our breaths, or the consistencies of our inhales and exhales can aid in regulating moods. Sometimes I do not even realize when I am acting frantic until I take a moment to examine my breathing.

One last way students can practice mindfulness during a class is by checking in with our thoughts. Try to pay attention to where your mind is. Are you thinking about the course material in front of you? Are you thinking about plans later in the evening? Are you thinking about the amount of work you have yet to complete?

As I said, mindfulness is the practice of being present. The educational experience we are attempting to have in class may be completely lost if we cannot be present with our thoughts.

Meditation, being present, and being aware are often ideas we associate with spiritual activities and people. Yet that does not mean it is not beneficial for the greater population. Practicing mindfulness is a way to relieve stress and anger, as well as to improve general emotional health. It is simply an acquired habit of being aware of your body and its surroundings throughout each day.

I hope you all take a moment today to practice mindfulness.

By Daniel Sarché Before I begin, I must acknowledge that I write this from a place of privilege, a fact that plays into how my opinion likely will — and probably should — be read. That being said, I also acknowledge that, especially during a time like college, we all go through struggles that may be brief, or may be ongoing. What I want to do is share one perspective on ways to approach those struggles; these practices have helped me, and I hope they’ll help others too.

I am a junior, a few courses into my major, and while I’m still trying to figure out my thesis and extracurriculars, learn how to make friends, and generally get my feet under me, I finally feel like I’m starting to figure out this whole school thing.

Last year was a different story; I spent most of last year an anxious wreck, calling home six times a day, barely leaving my dorm room. I had no idea what to do or how to get help.

Thanks to a great deal of outside support from friends, family, counselors, and dogs, I have learned a few things about getting through the muck. I’m a big believer in paying good things forward, so I’m taking this opportunity to share some of the best advice I’ve gotten.

1: Relax!

3 hours of class a day, plus work, homework, and hopefully socializing means there seems to be no time to slow down.

It’s tough to get out of the mindset that you need to be productive every waking minute of every day; but honestly, that’s how you get neck cramps, that’s how you become sleep deprived, that’s how you forget to eat three square meals a day. Every day, try to set aside even just an hour to relax, maybe with a close friend or a pet.

Good music, a book, a cup of tea, or even a little shut-eye can work wonders to slow a racing mind. The discipline needed to slow down is the same discipline it takes to speed yourself back up.

Illustration by Lo Wall

4: Know you aren’t alone!

These are just a few strategies that I’ve picked up and been taught as I’ve sought out ways to cope with my own anxieties. They don’t always work, and what’s good for one person will not always be good for another, but these tips have been helpful to me, and it is my goal to spread the love. So, to whomever might be reading this, I hope they help you too. And if they do, don’t forget to pay that help forward.

2: Ask for help!

There seems to be a widespread stigma against asking for help, but there is nothing wrong with seeking assistance. Your own mind can often be your worst enemy — you send yourself negative messages, tell yourself you aren’t good enough, think you can’t handle things you absolutely can. When your mind turns against you, look for outside resources to tell you the truth: you matter; you are capable; you are loved. The Colorado College counseling center is an incredible resource, and you get six free sessions a year — take advantage! I promise that you will be better for it.

Anxiety, depression, and social phobias are widespread mental illnesses; but, despite being so common, each person’s experience can be totally isolating. There’s always that little voice in the back of your head nagging you, “You’re the only person who feels this.

You can’t get help. No one else knows what this is like.” That is total crap. You are not alone. It’s strange, but for me at least it has been comforting to hear from friends and family who have dealt with the same things I have — they have found ways for themselves to cope and are always willing to share those methods.

3: Figure out who your friends are!

5: Exercise gratitude!

With regard to social scenes, my biggest lesson in high school and college has been to learn who is really there for me. I’m not great at making friends, so I sometimes wind up in places I don’t want to be because it’s convenient. Just like there’s nothing wrong with asking for help, there’s nothing wrong with seeking out people who you like and who like you back. It can be tough, and will take time, but surrounding yourself with the people that are good for you and for whom you are good, too, will make your world a little brighter.

Sounds cheesy, I know, but it’s a good practice. When you have good days, think about what made them good, even write that down. On days that go badly, you’ll now have tools to fall back on to boost your mood and improve your experience.

Furthermore, show people that you appreciate them and you’re grateful to have them around. Give love and more often than not, you’ll get love back.

The Catalyst

Romance on the Block Plan

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and a game of risk that people seemed to find rather enjoyable. Consequently, modern dating was back on track, and it seemed as if romance wasn’t dead after all!

So why does it seem to be dead on the Colorado College campus? Now, I don’t have the numbers here, but I find my peers and I congratulating couples on making things work on our little campus like they’ve won some kind of award. What is it about CC that makes commitment so difficult? Let me posit a scenario: It’s a first Monday — you looked up your

Voting Is Your Duty — Do It!

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classroom number and the names of the people in your class, and you’re off to a new month of learning. You find the room, take your seat, pull out a notebook, and you see them: that person that makes your throat catch a little and who you know will be a constant topic of your inner dialogue for the next month. Maybe you become friends with this person, maybe some kind of sexual relationship ensues, and then “hey-o,” it’s next first Monday and you’re in a different classroom with a different group of people and a whole new schedule.

How can we be expected to have great commitment skills when our system trains us to commit for only a month and then switch gears and move along?

I’m not totally knocking the Block Plan.

I actually think it’s great, in every way but this one. I find myself wondering if it’s our little bubble that has these issues or if it is young people everywhere, so I reached out to my friends at other universities about how they “date.” I also talked to

some first-years about their high school dating experiences. The overwhelming response was that the 18-year-olds aren’t all that afraid of labeling someone their S.O.

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By Annie Bronfman

Illustration by Lo Wall

With the rise of technology, people have complained that interpersonal relationships and social skills have become increasingly lost in translation — you can’t read tone in ones and zeroes. So a group of people got together and said, “Let’s be translators!” and attempted to bridge the gap with — you guessed it — Tinder.

Online dating had been around for a while, but with Tinder, we got an added bonus of the game-like format that many were so addicted to. The swiping motion and limited profiles combined fruit-ninja

October 5, 2018

Opinion

How can we be expected to have great commitment skills when our system trains us to commit for only a month and then switch gears and move along?

if they enjoy the person they are “dating,” and that Tinder has brought about a lot of committed relationships on other more “traditional” campuses.

So is it us? Has the Block Plan added to the non-commital epidemic among the younger millennials and older Gen Zs? Sure, not everyone is ready for a commitment in college, and some people would rather be single or have multiple partners, but I get the sense from campus that a lot of us are searching, and none of us are committing.

By John Feigelson

We’re a few weeks out from Election Day. sulted in 800,000 new registered voters.

For lots of folks, this might be a day that’s This number seems paltry compared to been circled on their calendar for the last the wider population, but given that only two years. For others, it might be a chance about 40 percent of the electorate tends to to reaffirm their faith in their party. Voting, vote in midterms, this is no small figure. and by extension democracy, is the whole And it is given its significance by the fact basis for government in this country. that election victories come down to votes, The machinery that grinds the gears of which rely on registered voters. The more government is ofpeople that are regten questionable. istered, the more It’s easy and temptdemocratic elecing to adopt the tions become. mindset that your Being registered The history of this country has to vote is a simple vote is unimportant or that it isn’t Google search been marked by the struggle worth the time to away, and even of those who tried to give you, if you’re a firsteducate yourself about issues and however you identify yourself, year, you’ve been candidates. Beyond in Colorado long the power to have some say in enough to establish that, it’s easy to feel as if your personal residency and thus the direction of the nation politics are comeligibility to vote plicated by those in this state. Voting of your family, and is especially easy voting outside of a here — you don’t familial norm is an even have to go unconscionable, aberrant action. anywhere. Often, voting is complicated by 800 words in a college newspaper won’t inability to take time off work, reluctance fix voter apathy or people’s personal feel- to travel to a polling location, or discourings surrounding political action. What agement from registering. Your ballot here they will do, hopefully, is provide food for shows up in your mailbox, you check off thought on why you have an absolutely your votes, and you mail it right back out. essential duty to cast your vote and do so Additionally, researching candidates responsibly. and knowing where they stand has never To be frank, voting is easy. We just passed been easier. Their platforms, for the most National Voter Registration Day, which re- part, are laid out in black and white on

their campaign website. Look for as long or decide voting was too much of a hassle. as short as you like, as long as your choice Voting isn’t that hard, and it’s an incredof candidate is an honest one. ibly precious right to have as a citizen.

Not voting is an America is deepabandonment of ly flawed; that’s civic duty. Guilt tripa fact. There is ping is by no means room for upward the best way to engrowth and imcourage someone to provement. This do something, but — has always been We are, undoubtedly, in a let’s face it — there and always will be are people who died the case. moment of crisis. It is the after dedicating Looking at the their lives to mak- optimal time to take a step back news on a nationing voting easier for al and global scale and do something. people. This strugmakes it seem gle for enfranchiselike the world is ment has persisted burning down from the American in front of our Revolution to the eyes. Our politimodern day, where cians are imperpeople of color and fect, our planet marginalized communities still experi- is warming, and our president doesn’t ence rampant voter suppression and in- seem to have any idea what he’s doing. We timidation. are, undoubtedly, in a time of crisis. It is The history of this country has been the optimal time to take a step back and marked by the struggle of those who tried do something. You don’t have to become to give you, however you identify your- president to fix everything. You don’t have self, the power to have some say in the to become a campaign worker or governdirection of the nation. They fought so ment employee to alleviate the ills of the that we could look around us and decide United States. All of those are incredibly that if something needed to change, we important jobs, but all you have to do is could change it with our ballot. Nobody vote if you can, if you care. crossed the Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. or marched through the streets for the right to vote so that future generations could

Rainbow Rooster by Riley Starling ’20 Want your photo featured on the back page of the paper? Submit to The Catalyst’s Photo of the Week!

Weekend Happenings: Friday, October 5 »Beautification projects at Greccio Housing, 1 - 4 p.m., registration required »Men’s Soccer vs. Austin College at 7 p.m. on Washburn Field »Veronika String Quartet at 7:30 p.m. in Packard Performance Hall, free with CC ID!

Saturday, September 29 »Creek Week Creek Clean-Up, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., meet at the Van Briggle building, registration required

Sunday, October 7 »Volunteer at Marian House Soup Kitchen, 7 a.m. - 11 a.m., registration required »Men’s Soccer vs. Dallas at 12 p.m. on Stewart Field