Misc.04.29.2021

The Miscellany News April 29, 2021

miscellanynews.org

Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866 Volume 155 | Issue 9

Student government Ferry House fosters community faces infighting Monika Sweeney

Assistant Features Editor

Sara Lawler, Oliva Watson

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Assistant News Editor, Senior Editor

n the past two weeks, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) has found itself at the center of controversy surrounding accusations of misused funds, a lack of transparency and misconduct during procedures. On Sunday, April 18, the weekly VSA Senate meeting devolved into chaos after a student representative made a motion for impeachment of the entire VSA Executive Board, with support from some VSA Senators. Their concerns included a lack of transparency concerning financial transactions and insufficient communication. This controversy continued into the meeting on April 25, in which the VSA eventually voted to not indict the VSA Vice President for allegedly mishandling the impeachment procedures.

According to the Miscellany News’ account of the meeting on April 18, conflict began when the College Planning Senator and a student representative came forward with frustrations

Inside this issue

that the VSA does not adequately represent the interests of the student body, disappointment in the VSA Exec’s lack of communication with the Senate and suggested the executive board had overstepped their powers.

They provided recent examples, such as the purchase of a $500 fish tank, a blue lobster and recent renovations to the VSA office. They claimed that students avoid coming to VSA meetings over fears that their concerns will not be heard. The student representative then called for the impeachment of the entire VSA Executive Board.

The VSA Vice President then defended the decision to make these purchases, arguing that the VSA budget is normally used to purchase food for weekly meetings, but since COVID-19 regulations require that meetings occur on Zoom, they instead decided to use those funds to improve the VSA office and create an enjoyable gathering space for students. The renovations were financed by the VSA Operating See VSA on page 3

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ddly shaped and adorned with hammocks strung along the exterior, the Dexter M. Ferry Cooperative House sits tucked away behind Main Building. Ferry, as the house is affectionately called,

terests vary among members of Ferry, they all strive to exercise and exemplify environmental sustainability and mindfulness, an ethos students have gradually developed since its opening in 1951.

According to the Office of ResSee Ferry on page 3

Clockwise, bottom left: Emily Lesorogol ’22, Gabby Kimbraugh ’22, Joshua Fearing ’23, Chloe Levin ’23, Jancely Arias ’24, Eliza Schiff ’23, Leo Derosby ’23, Meghan Hayfield ’22, Georgia Calvert ’23, Ella Foster ’23. Courtesy of Sari Gubar ’23.

Folk Fest balances live music with COVID safety Sashinka Poor

Are you a fan of modern rap?

Guest Columnist Ganesh Pillai ARTS explains how we have Kanye West's "808s and Heartbreak" to thank for many modern hip-hop trends.

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was the first modernist building on campus and one of three cooperative housing options offered by Vassar. It is home to approximately 20 students who come from various backgrounds, class years and academic disciplines. While academic and extracurricular in-

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ith COVID-19 precautions in the back of everyone’s minds, it’s hard to imagine that a music festival could be very successful, but Folk Fest, organized by the Vassar Outing Club, exceeded all expectations. The concert featured a lineup of 11 performers, with music ranging from traditional folk to pop to some electronic tunes, and a combination of covers and orig-

inal creations.

Needless to say, Alex Koester ’23, one of the main organizers of Folk Fest, had COVID in mind when planning the event. He wanted to take advantage of Vassar’s unique position to host an enjoyable event where students could relax and appreciate the many talented performers, while still feeling safe. “I feel like it's been hard to get people outside, even now that it’s been warm, like to get people together,” he

explained. “But there are lots of safe ways to do it. And so my idea was...to just have an event where people can be outside and feel good about seeing other people in a safe way, listening to dope music.”

The organizers used the Outing Club budget to arrange the event, funding fun additions like a glitter station and Twisted Soul catering.

Folk Fest also provided an opportunity for several new

groups to perform. Fowlmouth and Delia are both bands whose members are all first-years, something that Koester said he hasn’t seen much of this year and was excited to see. “I know last year I got here and I was just immediately welcomed into the music community, and played a lot of cool shows in houses and THs and like, that’s not a reality anymore,” Koester said. “But I don’t know, there hasn’t been a See Fest on page 5

COVID-19 Vaccine leaves students fatigued, unwell Will Sorge

Guest Reporter

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The iconic Dr. G breaks down one of the few other Vassar HUMOR institutions as notorious as he is: Middle School Mug Night.

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If you love Queen's Gambit, but never quite CROSSWORD got the rules, this week's Crossword, "Chess" by Reese Collins, is for you.

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s an increasing number of Vassar students receive vaccinations for COVID-19, a new problem has emerged: students are experiencing side effects from their shots, some of which are debilitating. These effects came to head as many students received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine provided by the college on Monday, April 12.

Though the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are all considered safe and effective by both the FDA and the CDC, each comes with the potential for side effects. The side effects experienced by vaccine recipients vary widely in severity and are sometimes unpredictable. This was highlighted in the J&J vaccine when the FDA and CDC paused its distribution, citing concerns over rare blood

clots developed by some individuals. As of April 25, the FDA and CDC have resumed distribution of the J&J vaccine.

According to the College's COVID-19 Dashboard, 72 percent of the student body has self-reported receiving one or two vaccine doses depending on vaccine type. Some students reported feeling no side effects, such as Jared Reimbeau ’24, who got his first Pfizer shot last Saturday and reported no side effects aside from minor soreness in his injected arm. For other students, such as Cael Cosby ’24, it was a different story altogether.

“The first 24 hours after getting the [J&J] vaccine had the worst side effects to deal with...about 4-5 hours after getting the vaccine, I started getting fever chills, and noticed that my body was really warm but I was feeling cold,” Cosby explained. “I tried to sleep

Courtesy of Simon Torsten via Pixabay. it off because I was also fatigued, but around 3-4 hours later my head was in feverish pain. When I did lay down and try to sleep, I was having fever dreams.” Cosby’s ordeal extended through the night and included a continuous migraine, body aches, nausea and two episodes of vomiting.

By the next morning, he felt well

enough to do his work, but had sustained fatigue over the next few days.

Another student, Juliana Sprague ’21, reported a similarly lengthy bout of symptoms. “I had pretty notable arm pain and tiredness just after the shot, and then the next day I got hit with See Vaccine on page 3

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April 29, 2021

THE MISCELLANY NEWS Ted Chmyz Taylor Stewart Tiana Headley Dean Kopitsky Olivia Watson CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Aena Khan Jessica Moss Holly Schulman Abby Tarwater NEWS EDITORS Lucille Brewster Annabelle Wang ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS Sara Lawler Alex Wilson FEATURES EDITOR Janet Song ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Monika Sweeney OPINIONS EDITOR Sawyer Bush ARTS EDITORS Nina Ajemian Leila Raines HUMOR EDITOR Isabella Migani ASSISTANT HUMOR EDITOR Madi Donat SPORTS EDITOR Alex Eisert ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Jackie Molloy SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Natalie Bober ASSISTANT SOCIAL MEDIA Alison Carranza ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS Sherry Liao Grace Rousell COPY EDITORS Jacqueline Gill Phoebe Jacoby Caitlin Patterson GRAPHICS EDITOR Juliette Pope ASST. GRAPHICS EDITOR Sandro Luis Lorenzo AUDIO EDITOR Alex Barnard ASSISTANT AUDIO EDITOR Mrin Somani VIDEO EDITOR Ian Herz DESIGN EDITOR Grace Willoughby LIVE EVENTS CHAIRPERSON Ben Scharf BUSINESS MANAGER Emma Tanner ASSISTANT BUSINESS MANAGER Logan Hyde WEBMASTER Chloe Gjoka EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR EDITORS

COLUMNISTS

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Francisco Andrade Karina Burnett Madison Caress Doug Cobb Johnathan Dean Rohan Dutta Ben Fikhman Nicholas Gorman Helen Johnson Xin Rui Ong Danielle Recco Massimo Tarridas Arlene Chen Katie Gebbia Simon Goldsmith Glenna Gomez Jason Han Sophia Jahadhmy Tori Lubin Bryn Marling Claire Miller Sashinka Poor Melissa Roybal Mia Stein Reese Collins

CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed.

The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. Staff editorials are the only articles that reflect the opinion of a two-thirds majority of the Editorial Board.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

April 29, 2021

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Students grapple with unpleasant vaccine side effects Continued from Vaccine on page 1 nausea and just absolute exhaustion.”

Though Cosby’s case and Sprague’s case are on the more extreme end of the spectrum, many students reported similar side effects. Yoshi Sanders ’24 reported chills, fever and body aches lasting a day and fatigue lasting another day and a half. Taara Ram Mohan ’23 reported a fever and a headache the day after getting the vaccine. The common denominator between all of them was that the side effects impeded their ability to attend class or complete work. Juliana recalls: “I was down for the count for like three days which was a lot longer than I anticipated.”

Vassar Health Service has long prepared for the eventuality of students receiving COVID-19 vaccines, as Director of Student Health Service, Margot Schinella,

describes: “As with any vaccine, there is always a concern for side effects, so we ramped up staffing in the department, opened up three additional exam spaces in our outdoor tent site, stocked vending machines and the bookstore with feverreducing medications, and utilized the CoVerfied app to help identify students reporting any concerning symptoms.” For all that preparation, the intake has been relatively small: “A minimal number of students have reported side effects,” Schinella reported. “Most common was a report of fever or flu-like symptoms.

A key question is how the possibility of debilitating vaccine side effects will impact productivity of students going forward, as more students get vaccinated and especially as batches of students receive their

Natalie Bober/The Miscellany News.

Courtesy of alirazagurmani9272 via Pixabay. second Pfizer and Moderna doses, which generally come with stronger side effects than the first. However, this concern may be overblown, a thought shared by Vice President for Communications Amanita Duga-Carroll. “We have not experienced any substantial effect on the flow or productivity of the campus.” Throughout the pandemic, professors have been responsive to the unique challenges and pressures of the pandemic, and, according to Duga-Carroll, vaccine side effects are no exception: “As with any medical issue, our faculty will provide accommodations if those side effects prevent a student from completing their work on time,” she explained. “From what we understand, the faculty have been very responsive to vaccine-related scheduling and health needs of students.”

The students interviewed seemed to agree. “My professors and employer at central dining have been pretty accommodating during this process,” Cosby described. “I got a chance to reschedule due dates and exams, and my teachers were understanding of the symptoms.” Ram Mohan had a similar experience: “My professors were very kind when I reached out to them.” Sprague spoke similarly: “I think I am lucky with my professors being really understanding about pandemic-related things in gener-

al and having realistic expectations, so I wouldn’t change anything about my professors.”

Still, some students had suggestions for faculty to improve. Cosby suggested the best way for faculty to deal with side effects was to simply give students as much time as possible to relax and get over them.

This was echoed by Sanders: “[Professors should] be open to extending deadlines or even canceling class on days after a large group of people get vaccinated.” Sprague thought that every vaccinated student should get a “guaranteed health advisory day.”

The rapid pace at which students have made vaccine appointments demonstrates the campus-wide push to get the student body vaccinated and restore campus life as it was before the pandemic. Vassar plans to require that students be vaccinated for COVID-19 to return in the fall, hoping to relax or possibly eliminate completely the restrictions that have defined this academic year. This policy is a microcosm of a larger push by colleges and universities across the United States, who have seen their academic calendars disrupted by COVID-19. As Duga-Carroll writes, “We see vaccination as the primary means for a return to a more routine way of life and work at Vassar.”

VSA meetings in chaos over funds, transparency Continued from VSA on page 1 Fund, which according to the VSA bylaws, the Executive Board can distribute at their discretion without approval once the overall budget is approved by the Senate. The VSA president further explained that the idea of renovating the VSA office started in the 2018-2019 school year, during which time the VSA painted their office walls and purchased its current furniture.

The renovations from this current school year included repairing furniture and purchasing more furniture.

A Class of 2021 Senator defended these decisions, saying: “The renovations project was something that had actually been started by a previous executive board, but they were not able to complete the project due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I think this current Executive Board has put in a lot of hard work to try and fix up the lounge because it was pretty nonfunctional before, and the space looks a lot better now.”

A central point of this controversy is whether or not this use of funds was brought up for discussion during the fall semester. The VSA Vice President claimed that this use of issue had been brought up to the Senate at a previous meeting. However, Mohtad Allawala ’23, a College Planning Senator, and Joe Mangan, a Class of 2023 Senator, dispute this. Miscellany News live tweets of an Oct. 25, 2020 meeting men-

tion discussion of the renovations. Specifically, that the Chair of Finance objected to repairs to the VSA office beyond those necessary to make it functional. A Class of 2021 Senator specifically remembers this topic being addressed. However, there is no specific mention of the fish tank in either Miscellany News tweets or the Senate notes from the Oct. 25th meeting, because the VSA requested that the discussion take place off the record.

According to Mangan, the fish tank controversy is representative of larger issues within the VSA. Mangan and Allawala cited a series of alleged issues including a lack of communication with both the Senate and the student body and not responding to the requests of the student body.

The controversy surrounding the renovations and impeachment culminated at the VSA meeting on April 25. According to the Miscellany News’ account of the meeting, the topic of discussion shifted from renovations and purchases to the actions of the VSA Vice President. The College Planning Senator brought forth accusations that during the previous meeting on April 18, the Vice President, who was leading the meeting, did not follow proper impeachment procedures and thus deserves to be impeached, citing violations of the bylaws which state that VSA Senate members cannot vote on subject if they have a conflict

of interest. Allawala noted, “It failed to be a conversation about if they should be impeached, it became a conversation about if we had the authority to impeach them in the first place.” The central point of the controversy is that according to those same bylaws, impeachment proceedings are undertaken by the Judicial Board, which was removed by the VSA (two years ago, according to the meeting notes from last week.) Additionally, members who are being impeached must be present for the proceedings, and several members of the VSA Exec Board were not present.

The College Planning Senator also alleged that the Vice President changed bylaws without permission of the Senate, although the Vice President countered this point and said he only altered bylaws within the Operations Committee, which at the time had permission to do so according to the bylaws. He further explained that the Committee altered the bylaws to more accurately represent the current processes of the VSA, but that nothing these changes did had any large impact. He further explained that he is trying his best to do a good job in this role, and he is figuring it out as he goes. He requested the benefit of the doubt.

The College Planning Senator continued, and said that this current impeachment is not based on breaking a few bylaws, but is

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

instead representative of how the VSA has failed to properly communicate for the past year. Although, according to the VSA President, the VSA did not at the time have a judicial board which made impeachment unfeasible, they continued with the indictment. The VSA Senate voted 13-4 to acquit the VSA Vice President of these charges.

However, several senators are annoyed with the calls for impeachment, and argued that those wanting for impeachment did not seem to have concrete reasons for doing so. A Class of 2021 Senator explained: “I think people have frustrations about the structure of VSA and with admin in general, and they want to find someone to take that out on. Even in the Senate meeting today, the individual bringing up the impeachment charge did not seem to understand on what grounds he was presenting the argument for impeachment.”

They continued, “I also don't think it's representative of the student body or fair when a couple of senators decide some exec members are ‘incompetent’ and that they should be impeached when so many people voted these members into their position and there was no consensus from the student body available as to whether they thought exec members should be impeached.”

Additional reporting for this article done

by Assistant News Editor Alex Wilson.

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April 29, 2021

George Floyd case verdict elicits mixed emotions at Vassar Annabelle Wang

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News Editor

ormer Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty for the murder of George Floyd on Tuesday, April 20, the conclusion to a case that rattled the nation’s conscious and ignited one of the largest worldwide racial justice movements of our generation. While the verdict is a rare indictment of police brutality and a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States, members of the Vassar community caution that there still remains much more work to be done in the fight for racial equity.

At the center of the case was a gruesome video that captured the near ten minutes that Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck, restricting his breathing. Pleading for his life, Floyd repeated the phrase “I can’t breathe” at least 20 times throughout the video before he eventually died of asphyxiation.

During Chauvin’s trial, after just over 10 hours of deliberations, a 12-member jury found Chauvin guilty on all three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Hours after Chauvin was convicted, President Elizabeth Bradley released an emailed statement to the Vassar community affirming the College’s commitment to racial justice and equity. Bradley also listed various opportunities for the Vassar community to come together to support Black students, faculty, staff and administrators.

The gathering spaces mentioned by Bradley were hosted both in-person and virtually in the following days These community gatherings were organized by the Campus Culture Education and Support Team, the Intergroup Dialogue Collective and the Office of Residential Education.

In a written correspondence with The

Miscellany News, Director of ALANA Center Kevin Collins described the significance of these opportunities for the campus community to congregate: “I think it's important to provide spaces for folks to get their thoughts, feelings, and questions out in community with others. I hope folks got what they needed out of the spaces.”

Collins also highlighted the importance of continuing conversations surrounding racial relations in the United States even after the outcome of George Floyd’s case.

He wrote, “The work left to be done is unquantifiable. There are still folks who haven't had any introductory conversations around difference, let alone around race. We still need to get to a point where people are comfortable talking about race and where those conversations are not framed as ‘difficult.’” He continued, “My work [with the ALANA Center] has been and will continue to be to get folks having those types of conversations and starting to learn and move from just talking about ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ to creating environments of liberatory, equitable, and just ways of being and treating one another, especially marginalized folks.”

When asked about his own reaction towards the verdict in George Floyd’s case, Collins had mixed emotions. He reflected, “My initial reaction was one of shock. I tried my best not to have any expectations, but I was not expecting a guilty verdict, based on how these cases have gone in the past.” Collins continued, “I was certainly glad that in this instance, justice was served, but I also was still sad because no matter what, George Floyd is still gone. So many others are still gone.”

Numerous Vassar students shared similar sentiments regarding the verdict. In an interview with The Miscellany News,

Co-chair of the Political Education Committee Chelsea Quayenortey ’22 stated, “In all these cases my heart always goes out to the family and the friends of the victims …

[T]hey really can’t get their daughter, their son, or brother, or mom back.” She continued, “I feel a lot of grief to be honest. At the end of the day...George Floyd is dead no matter what happens to his murderer.”

While Quayenortey praised the work of the activists who demanded justice for George Floyd, she also emphasized that this individual case is not the end-all solution to racial inequity. She proclaimed, “There’s really no reconciliation that can be had through a cop going to prison...policing will continue to be violent as it is.”

Quayenortey then cited an incident where a 16-year-old Black girl Ma’Khia Bryant was fatally shot by an officer outside of her home, the same day as Chauvin’s guilty verdict. She said, “It still hurts so much because this is the only form of ‘justice’ we can see but is there really progress being made?”

Associate Professor of Political Science and Cofounder of the African American Policy Forum Luke Harris also had conflicting feelings regarding the verdict. In an emailed interview with The Miscellany News, Harris explained, “I felt a great sense of release. But, I recognized that the verdict only meant that we had escaped what many of us feared would go unpunished: a legalized lynching.”

Historically, it has been very rare for a police officer to be convicted of murder.

According to a study led by Criminal Justice Professor at Bowling Green State University Philip Matthew Stinson, only seven officers, including Chauvin, have been convicted of a murder since 2005, which is only five percent of the officers that had

Courtesy of F. Muhammad via Pixabay.

been arrested on charges of murder or manslaughter related to on-duty shootings in the US. Citing this chronic difficulty in addressing abusive policing practices, Harris emphasized the prominent systemic issues that George Floyd’s case raises. He stated, “[Chauvin’s] removal is not the removal of one bad apple: it’s the pruning of a single fruit from a much larger rotting tree.”

Harris further reflected: “We cannot ignore the reality that an excruciating nine-minute-long execution captured on video may be the only standard by which the American legal system will provide us with even the breadcrumbs of justice.” He continued, “Groveling for the crumbs is the thing that makes me feel most raw. Seeing and understanding the jubilation [of Chauvin’s guilty verdict] and at the same time feeling — confronting our degradation.”

Like Collins and Quayenortey, Harris expressed how imperative continued efforts for racial justice are. He proclaimed, “If we allow an isolated verdict to restore our faith in an irredeemable system, then every accomplishment from last summer, or the 2020 elections will be for naught.”

Addimando's appeal argued in front of NY State Supreme Court Lucy Brewster

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News Editor

ver since Judge Edward T. McLaughlin sentenced Nicole “Nikki” Addimando to 19 years to life in prison on Feb. 11, 2020, Addimando’s friends, family and supporters have looked towards the case’s appeal hearing as the next opportunity to challenge Addimando’s conviction and sentencing. On April 22, Addimando’s appeal was argued in front of the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division by Gerrard Beeney, pro-bono legal counsel from Sullivan & Cromwell.

First Assistant Putnam County District Attorney Larry Glasser gave his oral argument in response to Addimando’s appeal points.

The Appellate panel included four judges: William Mastro, Renaldo Rivera, Colleen Duffy and Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix.

A 12-person grand jury found Addimando guilty of second degree murder in April 2019 for shooting her boyfriend Christopher Grover in September of 2017. Addimando worked at Vassar’s nursery school, Wimpfheimer, from 2011 to 2012. She argued during the trial that she killed Grover in self defense after he threatened to kill her for leaving him. Her defense displayed evidence of years of horrific physical and emotional sexual abuse tied to Grover.

After her conviction, Addimando requested to be sentenced under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), which Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law in May 2019. The act allows judges to give amended sentences for victims of domestic violence who are convicted of crimes. McLaughlin denied sentencing Addimando under the act, arguing that she had an opportunity to leave Grover.

Beeney presented five key legal errors during the hearing that he argued form the basis for an appeal. In response to McLaughlin’s sentence, Beeney argued that McLaughlin failed to follow the sentencing guidelines under the DVSJA despite the fact that Addimando met the criteria. He explained that Addimando qualifies to be sentenced under the act because she was a victim of substantial domestic abuse at the time the crime was committed. He further claimed that the abuse played a significant factor in the crimes for which she was convicted and a sentence of 19 years to life is unduly harsh.

Beeney asserted that McLaughlin made an error when considering the jury’s rejection of Addimando’s claims of self defense as evidence that she did not qualify under the DVSJA. “I don’t see how logically one can take the position that because justification was rejected by a jury, a person convicted of committing a crime is not entitled to a reduced sentence,” Beeney said to the panel of judges. “If the justification had been accepted by the jury, there would be no sentencing,” he argued. Judges questioned Beeney and Glasser about how the years of abuse should be factored into qualifying Addimando for sentencing under the DVSJA, even if the jury does not believe there was a self defense justification the night of the shooting.

Because of how recently the DVSJA was passed, this will be the first appellate panel to consider the legal implications of the act.

If the appellate court decides to resentence Addimando under the DVSJA, she could get a reduced sentence of five to 10 years. Addimando is requesting a sentence of five years under the DVSJA from the court.

Beeney alleged during the hearing that

the first consequential error of the case occurred when McLaughlin dismissed Addimando’s Dutchess county public defender, Kara Gerry, based on the prosecution’s claim that there was a conflict of interest. Gerry had been working on Addimando’s case for nine months when prosecuting Assistant Putnam County District Attorney Chana Krauss argued that because a key witness of the prosecution had been represented by the Dutchess County Public Defenders in an unrelated DUI case, that there was an unwaivable conflict of interest for Gerry to be representing Addimando. Gerry was not employed at the Dutchess County Public Defender’s Office at the time the witness was represented and had never had any contact with the witness. Beeney explained to the panel that Addimando understood the conflict and signed a waiver to keep her representation after consulting with independent legal counsel.

Beeney further explained that McLaughlin allowed misleading testimony during the questioning of a key witness when prosecutors guided a police detective witness through hearsay testimony about the murder weapon. The witness suggested to the jury that the gun used to shoot Grover had been wiped down with baby wipes, yet prosecutors knew that the forensic evidence did not show any cleaning residue on the gun.

Further, Beeney explained that McLaughlin and prosecutors wrongfully excluded evidence central to Addimando’s defense. A Pornhub profile named “Groverrespect” uploaded images of Addimando being sexually abused and physically assaulted in the house Addimando and Grover shared. While the photos were shown to the grand jury to illus-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

trate the abuse, McLaughlin prohibited the Pornhub profile, which matches Grover’s name and demographic information, from being shown during the trial on the grounds that the profile could not be authenticated as Grover’s. Beeney argued that the jury should have been able to consider the evidence of the profile and surmise from the context whether the profile belonged to Grover or not.

When Glasser defended McLaughlin’s decision to exclude the evidence of the Pornhub profile, Mastro pushed back, saying, “The [prosecutors] were suggesting throughout this entire trial that the injuries inflicted on the defendant could have been from other sources other than Grover. If that’s the position you’re taking, then the evidence we’re talking about with the identification on [the Pornhub profile] would have changed the dynamic of the [prosecutor’s] case.” Mastro then bluntly asked Glasser to explain what Addimando’s motive was for killing Grover according to prosecutors, indicating his skepticism of the prosecution’s strategy for characterizing Addimando during the trial.

The judges could overturn her conviction, resentence her or affirm her conviction and sentencing. The Nikki Addimando Community Defense Committee released a statement after the trial thanking supporters of Addimando for their support. “The hearing was intense, and for many, difficult to watch … [W]e want to express our deep gratitude to the judges, who seemed to consider the gravitas of this situation and asked meaningful, truth-seeking questions,” the statement reads. It could take months for the Appellate Division to make a decision about Addimando’s case.

April 29, 2021

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Folk Fest balances live music performances with COVID safety Continued from Fest on page 1 lot of platforms for music...especially with first-years. I think I’m really excited about tomorrow [Folk Fest], because there’s gonna be a lot of bands that I haven’t heard before.”

Miles Bader ’24, who performed as part of the duo Sound Check, revealed that this was his first time ever performing in front of an audience. He particularly appreciated the chance to share his music in a relaxed space. “I definitely have always wanted to play music in college, and Vassar has created such a supportive environment to do that,” he said. “And this seemed like an amazing first opportunity to play for an audience that’s excited to have music be back and excited to enjoy the nice warm weather.”

It was also a new experience for Fowlmouth (@fowlmouth.band). Although the band had performed before the festival, this felt closer to a new normal where anyone could drop in and enjoy the music without a crowd limit or pre-registration requirements. “[T]his was our first show, where the audience wasn’t limited to people who knew about it beforehand, who had signed up, who had gotten tickets.

So it was our first time playing where anyone who’s walking by could just stop and

listen,” Rachel Ostrowski ’24, a member of Fowlmouth, said.

Their performance at Folk Fest introduced their music to new people who didn’t already know the band. “I felt like it was a good amalgamation of people from... school that I hadn’t necessarily interacted with before,” Lauren Pacheco ’24, another member of Fowlmouth, continued.

Even some older students appreciated this event as an opportunity to play. Alouette Batteau ’23, who performed toward the end of Folk Fest, said this was her first performance of the semester. “We haven’t gotten to play a live show this semester yet,” she said. “And I just remember how hard it is to be up there and get people dancing and stuff, but it’s nice to see people just having fun outside, you know.”

Despite the name, Folk Fest featured a variety of genres, marking a fresh change from Vassar’s usual DJ dance events. “[T] here were so many different kinds of music, and it wasn’t just the big like dance bands,” Batteau explained. “VC Trad [Vassar College Traditional, a group of musicians who learn and share traditional music] played, which was really cool, and there were tons of like smaller groups and stuff. I think it was just such a beautiful day to have all this different

Sashinka Poor/The Miscellany News. kind of music.”

The event was not only an opportunity for performers to share their music, but to take in the talent of their peers. Performing bands stuck around after their performance to listen to the other groups, fostering a sense of community amongst the musicians. “It was the perfect mix of social event and music event. Because of the bigger space you don't have the pressure of feeling like you have to focus on this the entire time because otherwise, you're distracting the musicians.” Julia Maisel-Berick ’24, who plays in both Fowlmouth and Delia, said.

Musicians and audience members alike hope that this event will mark the beginning of a new normal, where good weather and student planning will allow people to enjoy music together. “I think events like this, especially ones that are put together by students, are really important right now, showing people that we can still have safe good COVID-safe events that are still really fun,” Batteau added. “And like I think live music is really important to a lot of people … At the end of the night a bunch of people were dancing up front and...it’s just really nice to see people together again.”

The impact of ‘808s & Heartbreak’ on modern-day rap Ganesh Pillai

Guest Columnist

K

anye West is hailed in the hip hop community as one of the greatest rappers of all time. A genius. West has been putting out masterpieces of albums since his 2004 debut “The College Dropout.” Each new creation encompasses his characteristically visionary and immersive production, and his uncanny ability to master any type of flow and attitude, from melodic and touching like on “Hey Mama” to bold and biting like on “Gorgeous.” Name an achievement or milestone in the rapping game, and West has probably surpassed it, or simply created it in the first place. While I need not continue describing the prowess of someone so widely recognized for their musical ability, one particular commendation that West receives is how influential he has been in shaping the current state of rap. I always understood the distinction of his beat-producing ability and sample selection—however I never knew what specific aspects of rap he affected, only that he served as an inspiration to many modern-day artists.

To speculate his influence on modern rappers, I listened to his album “808s and Heartbreak,” which is considered one of the most influential rap albums ever. Released on Nov. 24, 2008, “808s” is West’s fourth studio album, following the culminating album of West’s Graduation trilogy, “Graduation.” 808s marks a stark departure from the mood and tone of his previous work; while the earlier album is generally celebratory and hopeful, the following project is moody and atmospheric, portraying the mind of someone who is struggling. The 2008 release was his first after the passing of his mother, Donda, who played a tremendously large role in his life, considering she was a single mother. “808s” was West’s way of dealing with his internalized sadness, not only from his mother’s passing, but also from other aspects of his tumultuous personal life.

After listening to the entire album, and reconsidering the state of rap today, I can say its impact is undeniable. Context is extremely important whenever you analyze the impact of someone’s work, and West’s

is no exception. As someone growing up during the harder, more gritty rapping style of the ’90s, exemplified by groups such as N.W.A. and the Wu-Tang Clan, and individuals such as Nas and Tupac, West bridged the gap between two different worlds. Because of him, rap transitioned from something niche and hard-hitting, to something more approachable and appealing to a wider audience. Not everyone could relate and empathize with the struggles of having to sell drugs or resort to gang violence, but almost anyone could relate to losing someone you love and dealing with the consequences of such a loss. On his song “Heartless,” Kanye West seized our attention with his break-up story and the feelings of illegitimacy that stemmed from it. Using his masterful story-telling abilities, West describes the downfall of his relationship, and the emotions he dealt with in the process.

The somber subject matter such as that on “Heartless” exemplifies one of the most influential aspects of this album, namely its emotional tone and vulnerability. In the era in which West grew up, having a tough reputation was tantamount. Maintaining this edge, this chip-on-your-shoulder image, was emphasized strongly. While there are notable exceptions (“Changes” by Tupac could be one), this type of personality was the status quo, often times expressed in the songs of that era. However, West wasn’t content to stay in that box; instead, he demonstrates a meaningful emotional vulnerability on this album, the likes of which had not been seen before in mainstream rap. Rather than put on a brave face, West details the emotional weaknesses he battled and the toll that these aspects of his life took on him. On “Welcome to Heartbreak,” West discusses how his friends’ lives were developing and deepening in typical ways, while his was staying the same, not evolving. “My friend showed me pictures of his kids/ And all I could show him was pictures of my cribs/ He said his daughter got a brand new report card, card/ And all I got was a brand new sports car.”

From discussing how he couldn’t handle the stress of his godsister’s wedding, to expressing how life seemed listless and

without direction on “Street Lights,” West shows us a part of himself and his mental state that few other rappers of the time would have had the courage to do. We wouldn’t have songs like “Marvin’s Room,” or artists like Juice Wrld without this album. Kanye West paved the way for people to be more expressive and honest in their music, allowing them to share the more intimate details of their lives. Given how this general theme is so prevalent in modern rap, we owe West a great amount of credit.

Closely tied with this idea of vulnerability, West revolutionized the structure

Courtesy of Phil Romans via Wikimedia Commons. of rap songs with “808s & Heartbreak.” As opposed to spitting over a beat for the entirety of a song, West added more melodic, singing elements. On “Amazing,” West and Jeezy exchange verses between a chorus about West’s desire to be seen as an upstanding figure, a symbol of power in other people’s eyes. This song structure fundamentally changed how rap would evolve in the coming years, representing a crucial reason why the genre has become far more widespread and mainstream.

It is possible that people can identify with singing more closely than with rapping, as it is a more familiar avenue, and with this element more prevalent in rap

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

songs, more and more people have grown to enjoy the genre and what it has to offer.

So many of the biggest rappers in the game currently mix rap verses with singing choruses, including Drake, Juice Wrld and J.Cole. This melodic element is crucial to their success, and adds variety and freshness to their songs.

The other extremely important aspect of West’s melodic emphasis, and possibly the most concretely impactful, was his use of autotune. The technique was not widely-used or hip to the rap genre prior to this album, but would soon grow to be one of the most prevalent and significant aspects of the game. Most obviously heard on “Love Lockdown,” West modifies his voice to convey the shaky, hectic feeling he experienced due to the termination of his relationship then fiancee Alexis Phifer. Additionally, the autotune amplifies his sound and fits it with the beat. Because of Kanye’s style on “808s,” artists grew to see autotune as a way to meld their voices and fit them with many different kinds of moods and beats. It wasn’t a cop-out or something to be ashamed of, but a skill to conquer.

Without this album, we wouldn’t have artists such as Travis Scott, who owe large parts of their careers to the mastery of autotune. It opens the way for so many new possibilities in music that previously had not been adequately explored. The immense creativity of songs like “90210” wouldn’t have been possible without West paving the way for this type of track.

Through “808s and Heartbreak” West welcomed the rap game into a new world— one of greater intimacy, vulnerability and creativity. Without this album, who knows whether the genre would have grown the way that it did. The current state of rap would undoubtedly be incredibly different. With musicians as impactful as West, I often find it hard to pick out their precise influence on the industry. While an in-depth listen to “808s” provided some clarity, often the best way to analyze the reach of these artists is to simply consider the evolution and typifying aspects of the modern style, knowing that the way things are is as good of an indication of someone’s genius as anything.

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April 29, 2021

How two young musicians have grown during the pandemic Rayan El Amine Guest Columnist

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ver the past 15 months, I’ve had the privilege of listening to—and interacting with—two incredible young Black artists whose influence and goals differ tremendously, but whose rises have been consistent and ever-expanding.

Musti and Marc Indigo (Jason Phillip ’23) present two sonically different moments within the Black musical canon. But their youth, and the current confines imposed by COVID, suggest that they’ve yet to reach a career climax. Their influence promises to grow exponentially over the next five years or so.

I caught up with them both separately over the phone; I was excited to reconnect with two friends who I built strong relationships with over the last few years (I’ve known Musti since my youth, whereas Indigo and I just met last year on campus). I was interested in how their processes have been affected by COVID-19 and how their relationships to music have shifted with the ongoing restrictions. Managing the pandemic is difficult enough, and while we know music to be a poignantly personal expression, the reality for both of these artists’ is that music is a career—so acknowledging the realities of juggling passion and profession are inescapable. Following that, what does it look like for an artist when their dreams collide with a pandemic that seemingly limits their ability to engage in the musical process? Sonically, what comes out of it?

For Indigo, COVID’s initial pause came at a frustrating moment. He had quickly amassed a global following, with close to 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and songs that have breached nearly two million plays, the Grenadian artist was as established as any

20-year-old could be in the music business.

In addition, Indigo had just finished headlining the Misc Music Festival. All of this had quickly solidified his place as one of Vassar’s premier artists.

Yet when faced with this disastrous timing, Indigo’s reaction was as laid back as ever: “Adjusting to COVID has been pretty fine, honestly,” he explained. “This is still the internet age, so I can still do everything I was doing for the most part in terms of gaining traction. The one thing that I wish I could do soon is perform. Hopefully if the situation starts to improve.” Truth be told, this kind of response is not surprising for the talented artist, who—in my view—has always chosen music over written word to express his truest feelings. His focus on his musicality is a clear reflection of the typically reserved figure whose passion is radiated through voice.

Much of our conversation shifted naturally to Indigo’s quickly changing style. Speaking on the relationship of COVID to these artistic changes, Indigo was quick to indicate what the time alone allowed for him. “I’ve been grateful for the time I’ve had to reflect,” he recalled. “To figure out what I want to do with my life and with music. I think that’s resulted in a really interesting sound that I’m going into soon.” A kind of sound that he harped on more than once, he described it as, “ [A] pretty big shift in my sound. A sound that isn’t going to be out for a little bit, but I’m going to be releasing much more this year. Starting on the 28th, then once a month.” Indigo was fairly shy about his plans for music release, but it’s my understanding that this new music seeks to bring in more elements of Hip-Hop for the traditionally alternative artist, with an ultimate plan to release an EP showcasing this

significant change.

The humility and passion that radiate from Indigo, even via phone interview, are clear.

This is somebody who not only takes music seriously, but whose expressive outlet for expression has become almost entirely musical.

It’s the reason that COVID didn’t impact his creative consciousness or his desire to make music; rather Indigo became like a wave, shifting with the life changes and nurturing a new sound that he seems much more proud of. His growth has been a blessing to observe.

Where Indigo has thrived on the back of wildfire popularity, Musti’s rise has been quieter, a foundation built on the back of a rapidly growing reputation that has placed the Sudanese artist at the forefront of the region’s premier creative thinkers. For one, Musti was featured on “A 249 Experience, Vol. 1” an album highlighting Sudan’s most important rappers—headlined by none other than platinum-selling artist Bas. To put it shortly and with some cliché, Musti has become one of Sudan’s premiere musical voices in the 21st century.

How that particular nuance of popularity manifests itself within the confines of COVID is something that reflects the budding rapper’s own personality. Similarly to Indigo, Musti made clear that while the pandemic was a brutal reality, it did little to stifle his motivations or his ever-growing popularity. He said, “Seeing over the past year, seeing everybody go through the worst of things, lose loved ones, it’s been a time to count my blessings, and be thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given and have…Musically I’m at a great place. Ideas are starting to grow more effortlessly. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect, and have been experimenting with different

styles, different sounds.”

It’s funny—knowing both artists personally, I would not have expected their responses to be so similar. Even the content of their music reflects a very different focus and consciousness. Much of Indigo’s hybrid, indie-influenced records settle on mellow grooves that discuss everything from love to loneliness, whereas Musti’s more punchy, aggressive, auto-tuned back rap become anthems for revolution, change and individual fame. Musti’s music carries itself with the largest of chips on its shoulder, whereas Indigo’s is more solitary.

That their reaction to struggle is so alike—to dive deeper into their music rather than step away from it—and their mutual understanding that their work must grow alongside their characters, is perhaps the clearest indication of creative promise. Artists who gain success, whether that be slight recognition or fame, do so because they act like sponges, soaking in the world around them and seeping out tracks that elicit a whole spectrum of emotions.

Ultimately, I set out to write an article that explored struggle and intimately investigated how music manifests itself within that struggle. The reality, however, is that for these artists, music can never be struggle. When they rope melodies over instrumentals, the result becomes an opportunity to escape, not engage. Musti told me, “I don’t wanna hold nothing back, because I realized that the regret of not dropping something because I’m overthinking it. That ends up just making me think, “What if?” and I don’t wanna feel that. So I’m dropping everything and seeing what sticks.” He entered the musical space as a child, and left it an adult, no longer afraid of his insecurities, and understanding that with music by his side, he cannot fail.

‘Shadow and Bone’ brings beloved fantasy universe to life Leila Raines Arts Editor

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first fell in love with the Grishaverse when I read “Six of Crows” in high school. I remember getting a hardback copy of the book for Christmas four or five years ago, and being the bookworm that I am, I immediately dove right into it, without even glancing at the premise on the dust jacket. I read the original “Shadow and Bone” shortly afterwards; I was so engrossed in the story that I started and finished the book in less than a day. Even when I reread the “Shadow and Bone” trilogy at the beginning of this year, not only to prepare myself for the show but to also escape from the endless void of time that was winter break, I was instantly drawn back into the world and the characters’ captivating stories.

Like many others in the book community, I had been counting down the days until April 23, when Netflix released the first season of its adaptation to the fantasy series, titled “Shadow and Bone.” So when I logged onto my Netflix account this past Friday and saw the poster for the show advertised on the home page, I was filled with excitement as I immediately clicked on the first episode.

The show is based on the bestselling fantasy series written by Leigh Bardugo. Named after the first installment in the fictional “Grishaverse,” the show features characters and storylines from Bardugo’s debut “Shadow and Bone” trilogy alongside those of her “Six of Crows” duology. In this world, some people, known as Grisha, have certain powers that allow them to control the elements; some Grisha can summon fire or wind while others can heal or stop someone’s heart.

The show mostly takes place in Ravka, a country inspired by Tsarist Russia. Hundreds of years prior to the events of the show, Ravka had been split into two by an ominous region known as the Shadow Fold, a long strip of

land brimming with darkness, shadows and scary, winged monsters called Volcra. Now, people struggle to cross the Fold without being killed by the Volcra, while also fighting in a war with neighboring countries.

The events of the show revolve around the story of Alina Starkov, a cartographer for Ravka’s First Army and protagonist of the original trilogy. While trying to cross the Fold, Alina, played by Jessie Mei Li, discovers that she has the unique power to summon light, a power that could destroy the Fold and reunite her country. While many had speculated about the existence of a Sun Summoner for years, Alina’s newfound power sparks the hope that the reign of the Fold will finally end.

Alina then meets General Kirigan, the leader of the Second Army of Grisha fighters, who is better known as the Darkling in the books.

Kirigan, portrayed by Ben Barnes, is the only other person who has power as great as Alina’s, except instead of sunlight, Kirigan summons darkness and shadows. Kirigan whisks Alina away to the safety of the Little Palace, where she meets other Grisha and hones her power under the mentorship of the stern Baghra, portrayed by Zoë Wanamaker. However, this new journey in Alina’s life separates her from her childhood friend, Mal Oretsev (played by Archie Renaux), which causes a lot of emotional turmoil for both Alina and Mal, who tries to find a way to reunite with her.

The news of Alina’s power spreads across this fictional world; it eventually finds its way to Kerch, the home of the beloved Crows from Bardugo’s “Six of Crows” series. The leader of the Dregs gang, Kaz Brekker (portrayed by Freddy Carter), takes up a job from a wealthy merchant willing to pay someone a lot of money to kidnap the new Sum Summoner, an endeavor which would require crossing the dangerous Fold and breaking into the heavily-guarded Little Palace. Kaz brings two other

vital members of the Crows crew along with him: Inej Ghafa, a spy skilled with knives and acrobatics played by Amita Suman, and Jesper Fahey, a skilled sharpshooter portrayed

by Kit Young. While their heist to kidnap Alina was not a part of the original book series, the show weaves these characters into the new storyline almost effortlessly. The show acts as a prologue to the main events in “Six of Crows,” so the creators incorporated some key details about the characters and their personalities and life stories into the adaptation.

We also see the storyline between Nina Zenik, portrayed by Danielle Galligan, and Matthias Helvar, played by Calahan Skogman; Nina and Matthias are two other characters who join the Crows in future heists. For now, we see the beginning of their enemies-to-lovers relationship, as they struggle to put aside their hate for each other (Matthias helps hunt Grisha, and Nina is a Grisha) in order to survive after they end up in a shipwreck.

The show has a nice balance of staying true to the original series while also exploring new details and plotlines. It retains a lot of the major plot points from the “Shadow and Bone” book, including most of the moments in Alina’s storyline and her journey discovering her new power. Some of the scenes resemble their book counterparts almost word-for-word, especially with Nina and Matthias’s story.

The show adds other new elements to the story as well. In this adaptation, Alina is halfShu (Shu Han is one of the countries neighboring Ravka and is based off of Mongolia and China), which influences a lot of the interactions she has with other soldiers in the army as well as with some of the Grisha. “‘Shadow and Bone’ was my first book, and I think I was unconsciously echoing a lot of the fantasy that I had grown up with, which sets a kind of default for straight white characters. And that's something I've tried to improve on as I

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

write, to write more authentically and reflect the people around me in the world, around me more realistically,” Bardugo commented.

“Shadow and Bone” boasts a talented cast who excelled in bringing their characters to life. Many of the actors read the books as they took on their roles, and their dedication shined through in their performances and ability to capture the nuances of their characters. For example, Barnes notably conquers the darkness and moral ambiguity of his Kirigan. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of the “Six of Crows” characters, especially Jesper; Young dazzles in his role, perfectly capturing the humor and charm of his character.

Leading up to its release, I was excited and nervous for the show. Book-to-screen adaptations, especially of popular YA books, can either be amazing (as with “Perks of Being a Wallflower,” “The Hunger Games” and the plethora of “Little Women” adaptations) or disastrous (we don’t talk about the “Percy Jackson” movies). So, while I was eager to see all of my favorite characters on the screen and witness this world that I love come to life, I still hoped that it wouldn’t be a disappointment.

Following the show’s development made it impossible to not get excited; from all of the initial casting announcements to the trailers and clips released during the weeks leading up to the show’s premiere, even just seeing these bits and pieces of what was to come, these glimpses into this cherished fictional world built up my expectations for the final product.

“Shadow and Bone” provides a beautiful example of a book-to-screen adaptation that captures the essence of the fictional universe that it stems from while also adding new elements that only strengthen the storyline. The first season establishes the world and the characters, while also opening up for future stories within the Grishaverse (I may be foraging the internet for any details about Season Two).

April 29, 2021

FEATURES

Page 7

Finding family and friends in the Ferry House Fishbowl Continued from Ferry on page 1 idential Life, Ferry House was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1950 after a generous donation was made by Dexter Ferry, a businessman and owner of one of the world’s largest seed companies at the time. The Ferrys, who also donated the funds for the construction of the Alumnae House, had numerous family members attend the college throughout the twentieth century. The construction of Ferry in 1950 took place under the direction and approval of Sarah Blanding, Vassar’s first female president.

Ferry’s unique T-pattern shape and floorto-ceiling glass sliding doors are guaranteed to catch the attention of any onlooker, especially those enjoying a poke bowl outside of Retreat or making their way to Sanders Classroom for a 9 a.m. English class. According to the Vassar College Encyclopedia, Ferry’s eccentric layout was designed so that noise would not travel from the first level up to the bedrooms. Additionally, sliding doors and panels were installed to create a more flexible living space that could adapt to the wants and needs of students living there. In the upper level of the house, Breuer ensured the wings would face east-west to allow direct sunlight to shine into all the bedrooms during the day.

Over the years, Ferry House has adopted many names, some of which include: the “Ferry Fishbowl” (its architectural transparency allows anyone to sneak a peek inside the home) and the college’s “little experiment” (in reference to its experimental nature since its 1951 debut). Ferry’s proximity to Main earned the buildings a joint nickname of “David and Goliath.”

Like any other dorm or apartment on campus, Ferry’s internal dynamics frequently change from year to year as different residents cycle through. These lifestyle shifts have not always merged into the successful and self-sustaining environment present today.

According to the Vassar College Encyclopedia, the College temporarily shut Ferry down in 1994 when students failed to take care of the living space in a way deemed sanitary and safe. However, Ferry reopened the following semester, this time with a more clear vision for what sustainable and cooperative living should look like.

A constitution created for Ferry elaborated further on this vision. It declared that the efficiency and wellbeing of the house is entirely in the hands of its residents. This document also renews the wellness and sustainability commitment adopted by the house, but this time in a concrete and established manner.

After this constitution was introduced, a further screening process for applicants was added to ensure that students moving into Ferry were aligned with the same ideals of sustainability and collaboration that members of the house aim to live by.

Currently, Ferry students partake in sustainable living practices such as recycling and composting. Members of the house are also conscious of their energy use, encourage eco-friendly clothing options and emphasize limiting food waste by sharing all their food and reinventing leftovers to be eaten for multiple meals.

Although dynamics are constantly shifting in Ferry, an emphasis on community has remained. Each year, a unique combination of students come together and learn to function as a family unit. While these individual people come and go, the source of community this cooperative living situation provides stays.

Sari Gubar ’23 says she thrives in the community Ferry has provided her with this past year. “People here are passionate about their community and always have creative thoughts on what we can do better or how to make this place a better home,” Gubar stated.

While students living in dorms had to wait weeks for an approved podding system, members of Ferry house have been podded since arriving on campus. This year, Ferry’s 18 residents formed a “mega-pod,” which has only amplified the house’s community-focused ethos. “I think the community this year is especially close; it's just really fun and joyful and artistic and creative,” Gubar explained. Most often, Ferry folks can be seen at any given time either sunbathing, playing Settlers of Catan or cooking.

Eliza Schiff ’23, one of Ferry’s newest residents who transferred to Vassar this spring, is thrilled with her new living situation: “Everyone is always down to have fun; We play games, make forts, have movie nights and

even cuddle in the hallways.”

To Schiff, joining Ferry meant becoming part of a close-knit, energetic group of people.

“I knew before stepping foot on campus that I wanted to live in the sort of collaborative and community-based living situation that Ferry provides and since being here it has really fueled my extrovert energy in the best way,” she commented.

Schiff’s favorite part of Ferry is the house dynamic. “We’re just a bunch of silly loving goons who care about community and creating an active space for love, growth and sustainability,” Schiff noted. “We’re just learning how to be adults together,” she added.

While there are mostly sophomores living in the Ferry Fishbowl, a handful of seniors and juniors are living there as well. One lucky first-year even has a seat at the unusually long dining room table this semester. Jancely Arias ’24 moved into Ferry at the beginning of this semester. “I was really intimidated at first that I wouldn’t fit in among upperclassmen, but everyone was incredibly welcoming,” Arias shared.

While Arias had planned to move to Ferry at some point during her Vassar career, she did not expect to move in her second semester. She was originally assigned to Davison House, where she quickly realized dorm life was not for her. “It felt really lonely there at times and I was really looking for a family unit, something I came to realize only Ferry could provide,” Arias explained.

Ferry’s policies and student selection processes were originally heavily controlled by administrators until the early 2000s, when the Vassar Student Association (VSA) supported Ferry’s petition to become independent from other on-campus housing options.

Since then, all decisions regarding the house have been solely in the hands of the students living there.

Additionally, since Ferry is an egalitarian community, all decisions are made as a group and there are no elected positions within the house. As a result, members of Ferry host a meeting every Sunday to have a casual conversation about upcoming events, any house issues and continuing an ongoing discussion about how to live sustainably. “We’re a big fan of [Google Forms] during these meetings,”

Schiff joked.

House responsibilities, including taking out the trash, ordering toilet paper and scheduling house events, are assigned to an individual at the beginning of each semester. In addition to individual jobs, members of the house also take turns cooking and cleaning in groups.

Schiff and her dinner group have taken their weekly chore to a whole new level by assigning a theme to their meals. Last month, they cooked a western murder mystery themed meal, complete with chili and cornbread, followed by a sauce night and a dinner in which they cooked potatoes in every way possible.

Most members of Ferry agree that their favorite part of living together is eating dinner as a family five nights a week. “I live with a lot of people back home so it’s really nice to have that environment here, especially because I know I wouldn’t get it in any other housing option on campus,” Arias said. Although being vegan or vegetarian is not a requirement for living in Ferry, all communal meals are vegan. “It feels really good to have people care about you enough to cook you a lovely meal and then clean up after,” Gubar commented.

Arias, who is part of the Wednesday group, often makes pasta or soup as her go-to meal for their quick cook times and simple recipes.

“There was a time when almost everyone was making soup so we had to have a talk about that,” Arias joked.

Currently, members of Ferry House are reviewing applications for next year’s residents. Each member is tasked with reading and taking notes on the 25 applications before sharing their thoughts at their next meeting.

Since all applications have to be submitted anonymously, student’s names and class years are only released once an individual is selected to live there. This ensures everyone is guaranteed an equal opportunity to live in Ferry.

With this process well underway, Ferry House is preparing to welcome a new community into its doors, a mix of returning students blended with newcomers. While the faces may change, the unique environment Ferry provides will remain centered on sustainability and community for years to come.

Ferry House at night, as its residents quietly sleep in the house's cozy architecture. Alex Eisert/The Miscellany News.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

HUMOR

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April 29, 2021

Breaking News From the desk of Izzy Migani, Humor Editor The habit of flashing a fake ID carries on into your late 20s, studies show Best friend's best friend meets best friend Blair Webber

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Social psychologist extraordinaire

riends: We all have them. I certainly do.

But what happens when someone who considers you their best friend meets your best friend? That is the exact predicament sophomore Casey Diletto found herself in just this week.

It all started when Diletto’s best friend, Arianne Hankovitch ’23, finally got out of a grueling semester-long quarantine.

“It’s been really hard on her this semester being in quarantine for so long. I wanted to do something special, so I called up four of my friends and this new friend I made at the beginning of the semester, C.J., to come hang out on the quad, eat some individual-

ly wrapped cupcakes and welcome Arianne back,” Diletto shared. “We’re meeting up tomorrow night but there’s already some drama about how it’s going to go because of C.J.” According to sources close to the friend group, C.J. Colmes, another sophomore, met Diletto in Spanish class. They hit it off right away.

“C.J. was going through a rough time when she met Arianne,” an anonymous informant told me. “Her other friend group ditched her at the end of last semester. I’m not really sure on all the details, but they pretty much just decided they were done with her. So Casey became her best friend pretty quickly because she just didn’t have a lot of people to talk to.”

Diletto enjoyed Colmes’s company as well,

to the point that they have a standing bubble tea date each Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. after Spanish. All of this was going on as Hankovitch was isolated from the world.

“It was pretty shocking to rejoin society and have my best friend stolen,” Hankovitch commented. “I mean, who is this person? I don’t even know her. She could be a full-fledged rando for all I know.”

Hankovitch let Diletto know she was uncomfortable with Colmes’s presence at her “welcome back” party.

“I texted her and asked ‘Who are you inviting to this party?’ and she texted back the list of people she was inviting and I said, ‘Oh ok,’” Hankovitch stated. “How much clearer could I be that I don’t want this person I’ve never met

Courtesy of Mauricio Delgato via Flickr.

“It was pretty shocking to rejoin society and have my best friend stolen.” hanging around? I mean, I don’t know what I’ll do when I meet her. I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”

Colmes declined to comment much, but did offer, “I just hope Arianne likes me. All I know is Casey thinks the world of her and it’d be cool to be her friend too.”

Hankovitch, on the other hand, has done extensive research on Colmes “I know her dog’s name, I know when her dog died, and I know her mom’s boss’s daughter goes to Smith,” Hankovitch detailed. “I’m ready for whatever she has to throw at me. It might not be pretty.”

Diletto, stuck in the middle, feels nervous about her new friend meeting her old friend.

“Arianne’s been kind of quiet and sometimes that means she’s jealous,” she worried.

“But I think she’ll really like C.J. Who doesn’t like C.J.? I’m sure they’ll get along.”

Diletto was not entirely incorrect. While the evening started with an intense staring contest between Hankovitch and Colmes that lasted upwards of 15 minutes, the two got along swimmingly after a light breeze made Hankovitch blink. As of press time, Diletto was reportedly feeling “left out” of the gathering she planned due to Colmes and Hankovitch’s banter.

Going to JCPenney was the most exciting part of my year Carly D’Antonio

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may or may not have trespassed

t is no secret that these past couple of months have been difficult and the ongoing global pandemic is causing most of the world deep fatigue. Luckily, Vassar’s students have had opportunities to have a COVID-safe semester with a closed campus. It's not an ideal situation, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I, however, was lucky enough to take a little trip off campus in order to get my first dose of the COVID vaccine. Now this was exciting for many reasons. I mean, some are more obvious than others.

I will admit I was pretty relieved knowing that I probably wouldn't have any serious side effects and it was exciting to be a part of history. OK, I take that back, we have all lived through enough history in the past year. But, overall the most exciting part of this venture was going into an old JCPenny. While I understand that this sounds like a very odd thing to be excited about, let me set the scene.

You have waited a year for a shot that will basically cure all of the anxieties you have been dealing with for the past year. You show up to your appointment … and it is in a closed JCPenney. I mean how could you not be excited about that?!?!

Walking in, my eyes were drawn to the broken clothing racks and abandoned

changing rooms. The leftover cash registers were my favorite part. It was amazingly apocalyptic. Watching volunteers doing hard work while wearing shirts that managed to sneak in the JCPenney logo was easily the highlight of my year.

Now maybe this hyperfixation on JCPen-

ney is due to being stuck on Vassar’s campus for well over two months straight, but I would like to believe this store just has a special connection with me. When it came time to leave, I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit melancholic. JCPenney at the Poughkeepsie Galleria and I had spent a

very special 20 minutes together. Luckily, this hiatus won't last too long when I get a second dose.

Overall, I think we can all learn a good lesson from JCPenney. There are little things in life that you can get excited about … even if it is a closed JCPenney.

Courtesy of BrokenSpear via Wikimedia Commons.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

HUMOR

HOROSCOPES

April 29, 2021

Page 9

Madi Donat

Astral Projector

May is just around the corner and so is SPRING CLEANING! Time to rearrange all your stuff or ARIES just shift things around enough for a change of March 21 | scene.

Vacuuming is good too! Take before and afApril 19 ter photos to motivate yourself. I believe in you.

TAURUS

April 20 | May 20

I’m gonna be honest; being at Vassar is kinda funny because I just like KNOW that at least one of you is gonna end up being famous and that’s super weird to think about. In the interest of taking advantage of this, send me an autographed card that I can tuck away for later.

Do you ever think about the fact that we are made up of bones? Basically fancy rocks just September 23 | inside of our bodies and they move and groove about. What’s up with that? Without them we October 22 would just be all floppy and gross. Crazy. Treat your bones well this week! Whatever that means.

LIBRA

SCORPIO

October 23 | November 21

What’s your favorite word? I’m partial to “acquiesce” but to be honest I’m not picky. If I had to pick a part of speech I’d pick adjective, because there are so many of them! I remember learning that articles are technically adjectives, and that blew my whole mind. Learning is fun.

I am not a chemist but you might be. If you are, I simply must know: Why does cold water in the middle of the night taste so. Fucking. Good????

Cold water in the day just tastes regular, alright, fine. Cold water at 2 a.m, could wake the dead. I need an explanation.

Lofty goals are great but you know what’s better?

Borderline impossible goals. I want to sit in SAGITTARIUS every chair on campus. Will it happen? Probably November 22 | not.

But every time I sit in a new chair I tick off a December 21 little box in my head. The rush is so good, it’s like free drugs.

When I run out of ideas for these sometimes I use a tarot generator online and I kept getting the CANCER Cups suit but here’s the thing: I don’t actually know June 21 | anything about tarot so all I can tell you is that there July 22 might be a lot of cups in your future. Drink water, I guess.

If there is something you’ve been avoiding CAPRICORN (laundry, dishes, cleaning out the moldy raspDecember 22 | berries in your fridge, ok maybe that last one January 19 was just me), now is the time to DO IT! Spending even five minutes on a task is often enough of a push to get you to finish it.

GEMINI

May 21 | June 20

Everytime it rains and there are worms on the sidewalk I CRY. I literally cry because I keep stepJuly 23 | ping on them and there’s no way to fix it!! Treat August 22 your emotions like worms on the sidewalk: don’t step on them because then you will feel bad<3 That makes sense right?

LEO

AQUARIUS

Sticks and rocks and flowers that are apparently “weeds” are LITERALLY the best things in the enAugust 23 | tire world like I can’t believe anyone would look at September a dandelion and go “gross ew get away” 22 LIKE. She’s literally just chilling and she is so bright yellow. I love her.

PISCES

VIRGO

January 20 | February 18

February 19 | March 20

I put zinc on my face every morning but to be honest I really don’t know what it does. This is a reminder to be inquisitive and slightly skeptical about everything, because even though the zinc is probably fine and good it’s still nice to know what it’s supposed to do to me.

Sometimes the universe gives you a sign. Sometimes you only THINK it’s a sign but actually you are just learning and processing normal boring information and finding patterns where there aren’t any. What’s the difference? No idea. There’s probably math involved.

FROG AND TOAD ARE FRENEMIES

by Frog

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 10

HUMOR

April 29, 2021

The Mug: New steamy thoughts on an old tradition Dear Dr. G, I’m a first-year and I keep hearing things about “The Mug.” I went to Middle School Mug Night this weekend but I don’t understand why it was called a “Mug Night”. Care to explain?

-Matthew’s Mug Dear Matthew, The Mug is a well known Vassar performance space, sex club, dance party, liminal space and creepy basement. Located in the basement of the Main Building, it actually used to be a full-service bar on campus back when that was legal and fine for whatever reason, but since then has been transformed into a space of incredible sexual tension, sweat, flashing lights and funny paper wristbands. I’m glad you asked about the Mug because I’ve been worried that the institutional memory of the Mug is slowly fading, but this weekend has shown me that being messy at a school-sponsored event is an innate aspect of the Vassar experience.

During a normal year, there are a series of Mug Nights, sometimes as many as three a month, usually on Friday or Saturday nights. There are a number of Mug Nights which are essential to attend in your time at Vassar, and likewise almost always result in about 400 sweaty people all in one small room with a brick floor and not a single window. For example, “First Mug Night” usually precedes the first day of classes, in which just about everyone has spent a summer not at Vassar and forgot that it’s fun to dance with your weird drama major friends. This Mug Night has especially high attendance from first-years who are trying to figure out what a Mug Night is, and by House Team members who have not yet realized that you’re not supposed to make out with three strangers in front of your fellowees, and that this commitment may be a challenging one. Another staple is “Middle School Mug Night,” which many

of you just attended. This Mug Night is always well-attended, always plays “Toxic” by Britney Spears and attendees always end up making messy choices they regret in the week to follow (if this sounds like you, good job and I wish you luck). The third absolutely essential Mug Night is affectionately called “Last Chance Mug Night,” hosted just at the end of finals the Spring semester of each year, and this is always where you can “accidentally run into” that hot senior in Fly People or in your seminar that you’ve always wanted to get with but worried it would be awkward. Generally, other Mug Nights have spotty attendance; sometimes you go to one that has a random theme and is absolutely packed, and sometimes you head to the Mug at a peak time to find it totally empty.

On the subject of time, the Mug has a carefully crafted routine which is an unspoken rule at Vassar. The pregame always starts far too late, by 9 p.m. at the latest.

Personally, this has always irked me, but

this is part of the Vassar temporal/social calendar; if you get to the Mug before 11 p.m. it will most definitely be empty. Pregames are a good way to get your fill of the typical American college experience of drinking a lot and deciding to make bad decisions for the night, and your pregame group will depend heavily on your social circles. Perhaps your pregame will be in your friend’s weirdly large double in Lathrop featuring your fellow group and that one guy your friend has been hooking up with. If you’re on a sports team, you’ll probably have a pregame and a postgame, with live commentary provided by that one senior who loves to gossip. This is also part of another lost art among COVID times, which is the Facebook event invite you get leading up to the pregame and Mug Night.

The theme of the event is always something weird, like monochrome, costumes, frat party or even the classic “just dress kinda sl*tty.” The Mug is typically open until 1 to 2 a.m., so the Mug is an all-night event.

B’S CORNER

BY B GOMEZ

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News.

You always want to leave the Mug before they turn on the lights. If the lights come on, you’ll have to see how sweaty you and your friends have gotten, and it’ll make you rethink some choices.

Finally, the Mug is a functional f*ck spot on campus. No, you won’t be having sex in the Mug itself (well, okay, let me say that this does happen but please don’t do it), but one second you’re in the Mug just hanging out with your friends, and then suddenly you’re giving some sophomore twink the largest hickey you’ve ever seen. The Mug is a slippery slope, and it’s exactly the place where Vassar students go cruising to find someone to share their twin bed in Jewett with. Your hookups in the Mug will not always be pleasant—you’re both probably drunk and sweaty, and the odds that one of you has a single is pretty low if you’re a first-year—but this is still a universal Vassar experience. And hey, if you can’t find a place, there are always plenty of places to bang on campus.

April 29, 2021

OPINIONS

Page 11

Consolidation of the media industry has severe consequences Helen Johnson Columnist

This is the third article in a five-part series about the military-industrial-media complex. The first article, “Why you should care about the Military-Industrial-Media Complex,” can be found here. The second article, “The disastrous rise of misplaced power: The modern day military-industrial-complex,” can be found here. hen President Dwight D. Eisenhower coined the term “military-industrial complex” in his Farewell Address to the nation on Jan. 17, 1961, he did more than warn against the “acquisition of unwarranted influence” and the “disastrous rise of misplaced power.” In fact, he alluded to how we might avoid such a dangerous threat: “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Eisenhower was right to emphasize the importance of an “alert and knowledgeable citizenry.” Without this key aspect of democracy, the people are unable to hold their government accountable or influence its decision-making—including, and perhaps especially, decision-making regarding war. In the United States, our free press is entrusted with keeping us “alert and knowledgeable.” The freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy.

The First Amendment is meant to serve

W

the opposite direction.

In 1983 there were 50 dominant media corporations. Today there are five. These five conglomerates own about 90 percent of the media in the United States, including newspapers, magazines, book publishers, motion picture studios and radio and television stations. As of 2020, the five media giants are AT&T (Time Warner, CNN, HBO), Comcast (NBC Universal, Telemundo, Universal Pictures), Disney (ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel Studios), News Corp (Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Post) and ViacomCBS (CBS, Paramount Pictures).

Many of the mergers that allowed for the consolidation within the media industry happened after winning antitrust approval from the Justice Department. An extreme lack of regulation regarding media companies has resulted in the media giants managing to secure major holdings in all forms of media, including newspapers, radio and television stations and movie studios. In his book “The New Media Monopoly,” Ben Bagdikian writes that “[t]his gives each of the five corporations and their leaders more communications power than was exercised by any despot or dictatorship in history.” The benefits of consolidation for company owners and shareholders are clear: the fewer the owners, the larger each one’s share of the billion-dollar media industry. Additionally, the larger the media giants grow, the more impossible it is for smaller, independent outlets to stay afloat.

“The United States was founded on the principle of government by consent of the governed; a free press that keeps the citizenry informed of the happenings in government is what allows the “governed” to give their consent and make informed decisions when voting for elected officials.” as a check against government control over the marketplace of ideas and dissemination of information. The American press prides itself on being independent and unbiased, which is meant to ensure that the public gets fairly neutral reporting and a truthful account of the news regardless of who may be involved. Justice Brennan summarizes this notion in the majority opinion of New York Times Company v. Sullivan: “[D]ebate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wideopen, and [this] may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.” The concept of free media is intrinsically tied to democracy. The United States was founded on the principle of government by consent of the governed; a free press that keeps the citizenry informed of the happenings in government is what allows the “governed” to give their consent and make informed decisions when voting for elected officials.

For debate on public issues to be uninhibited and the marketplace of political ideas to be free, the logical conclusion is the more the better—more newspapers, more television stations, more editors, more writers and more independent, local media owners. This ensures that as many people’s voices as possible are heard, and that those in charge of media outlets are more likely to be locally based and familiar with their areas and communities. However, the consolidation of media conglomerates over recent history has moved us in

The consolidation of media power extends beyond just mergers and monopolies. The big media giants oftentimes have interlocking directorates—which is when the same people serve on the board of directors of more than one company. According to a study by Aaron Moore in the Columbia Journalism Review in 2003, News Corporation, Disney, Viacom and Time Warner had 45 interlocking directors. The dominant five media conglomerates in 2004 had a total of 141 joint ventures. Although there is no recent compilation of data for the interlocking directorates of the big five media conglomerates today, Moore’s study is indicative of a constant pattern within the industry.

No analysis of the concentration of media power and the corporations that control today’s messaging would be complete without a close look at big tech and the internet. The huge tech companies of today have produced another form of power concentration and broadened the reach of major media conglomerates. Because of the internet, today’s news media reaches more Americans than ever before, while being controlled by the smallest number of owners in history.

The rise of the internet has also led to the tech giants accumulating an obscene amount of power over which media we consume. Unlike the conglomerates like AT&T, Comcast, Disney, etc. (and the news outlets they control), tech companies don’t produce the content we see—they control what we view. The market power

of platforms like Google and Facebook is obscene: Facebook and Google combined account for over 70 percent of users directed to the websites of major news publishers. On its own this may seem trivial, but the rise of fake news, intense polarization and increased acceptance of conspiracy theories imply otherwise. The power held by huge tech giants only serves to magnify the impact that media conglomerates have over messaging.

The implications of the extreme consolidation of media power are extensive.

First, the largest source of political money comes from corporations, and the media conglomerates are some of the largest corporations in the world. In the Forbes 2020 ranking of the world’s largest public companies, AT&T came in 11th, Comcast 27th, and Disney 36th. ViacomCBS and News Corp trailed the top three, at 472nd and 1737th, respectively. The tech companies are also at the top of the list. Alphabet (Google’s parent company) comes in 13th in the world and Facebook sits at a comfortable 39th. The market values of these companies range from $5.8 to $919 billion.

These billions upon billions equal more influence in political discourse and elections. Money determines the winning issues and candidates in American politics, so the larger the corporation, the stronger the influence. But no other industry is as directly linked to voting patterns as the media industry. Their product is the messaging that dictates the issues and candidates that dominate the national arena.

What this means is that not only do the media giants contribute money to campaigns, they also cover them. They report, record, narrate, document and broadcast them. Consequently, the political power of media conglomerates grows exponentially with their size and wealth; the larger the corporation, the greater its political influence through both monetary power and messaging. The greater the political power of the media giants, the more easily they lobby and influence the government to slash regulations, grant antitrust approvals and pass laws that increase their corporate domination.

One such law is the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The Telecommunications Act amended the Communications Act of 1934 and was the first major overhaul of telecommunications law in over 60 years. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the goal of the law was to “[l]et anyone enter any communications business––to let any communications business compete in any market against any other.” In effect, the legislation deregulated the broadcasting and telecommunications markets. The media giants benefited immensely from the Telecommunications Act and lobbied extensively for its passage—which is why it should come as no surprise that major news outlets completely failed to cover the legislation.

Concentrated media power not only affects which issues take the spotlight in the news, but their power in the entire realm of politics. Political parties and elected officials are keenly aware of the almost-absolute control of media giants in the news.

Big money in other industries already holds gross power over elected officials due to campaign financing—add to that the fear of unfavorable news coverage, and it is no surprise that bills like the Telecommunications Act are passed easily.

The consequences of concentrated political influence among the media conglomerates is more far-reaching still.

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Media giants have the power to not only shape public debate, ensure the passage of favorable legislation and bend elected officials to their will, but also to bolster entire ideologies. One must look no further than Fox News. The American cable news television channel was spawned by Austra-

“The greater the political power of the media giants, the more easily they lobby and influence the government to slash regulations, grant antitrust approvals and pass laws that increase their corporate domination.” lian-American Rupert Murdoch, i.e. media mogul and creator of the empire that includes News Corp and Fox Corporation.

Fox News was launched on Oct. 7, 1996, as a conservative news network and is now the dominant cable news network in the United States. At the end of 2019, it averaged 2.5 million primetime viewers and was the top-rated network in all of cable for the fourth year in a row. According to a study published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, there was a significant effect of the introduction of Fox News on the vote share in Presidential elections between 1996 and 2000, and Republicans gained 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points in the towns that broadcast Fox News. Fox News exemplifies the dramatic effect the news media has on the electorate and what happens when one media mogul with a political agenda builds an empire that becomes one of the largest media corporations in the world.

With the consolidation of media power, the pool of people that control the vast majority of the industry is ever shrinking.

The smaller the pool that controls the news media, the narrower the information reported. Not only is the news oftentimes duplicative and always bound to the outlet’s parent corporation, but the media giants’ cartel-like relationships mean that the differences in reporting between each conglomerate are minor as well. These narrowed choices will themselves be biased by corporate interests. As noted, the political power held by the dominant media firms is readily used to make conditions more favorable for their growth and profits; likewise, they use their messaging power to enhance the social and economic values that are favorable to the corporate world.

Additionally, media giants are not only global corporations themselves, but are invested in other million- and billion-dollar industries. They are not stand-alone companies with isolated interests. Media conglomerates make money off of advertising, which holds influence over reporting and broadcasting. Beyond even this, however, the media giants have physical and financial ties to other industries. Interlocking directorates, revolving doors of personnel and financial stakes and holdings connect the corporate media to the state, the Pentagon, defense and arms manufacturers and the oil industry. Our free press, which assures “government by consent of the governed,” is in bed with the captains of industry and profiteers of war.

OPINIONS

Page 12

April 29, 2021

Social media discourse produces more agitation than substance Ben Fikhman

P

Columnist

olitics take up more of our collective conscience now than during preTrump presidential administrations. The country just underwent an election cycle and presidential term so divisive and consequential that voting turnout ballooned and curiosity in political processes has enveloped much of the country’s population, even affecting those who would otherwise consider themselves apolitical. There is no sign that the division is waning. Amid these developments, social media, a realm that is a large part of people’s daily lives and oftentimes even serves as people’s main source of information on political issues, depicts a troubling picture of how people approach political discourse on virtual platforms.

Unfortunately, social media agitation that often features ad hominems and heated language has become so prevalent that politicians now weaponize this rhetoric to delegitimize those on the other side of the political aisle. Democrats, for example, are now seen by many conservatives as the party of “cancel culture” in cahoots with “Big Tech” to push their agenda forward; therefore, Republican politicians have portrayed their own side of America’s political system as that which champions free speech. As a result, the propagation of issues bearing miniscule importance may have a role in actually switching people’s votes, given that a whole plurality of those polled in a POLITICO survey believe that “cancel culture” threatens civil liberties. Present-day perturbation in today’s agitated online world and how that atmosphere is exploited play a role in diminishing healthy discourse. Why is this happening?

America’s white supremacist history is a significant factor in people’s tendency to be aggressive on social media. In a country where many tout nationalistic exceptionalism and might, systemic inequities of class, gender, race and sexuality linger. It is good that these issues are brought into the limelight in think tanks, the halls of Congress, classrooms and casual in-person discussions. Activity on social media from people representing different issues takes on a more mixed image. It is true that worthwhile, substantive content is shared and discussed on social media through informative threads, helpful resources for information, and conversations that may leave users with more knowledge and perspective. However, since people are more likely at a given time to interact with complete strangers in the comment sections and therefore can opine with seemingly more anonymity, some turn to the vast division in people’s beliefs as to what America should become and feel more safe in facilitating tension. Users release flurries of heated remarks and mockery towards one another concerning trivial issues that fail to represent much greater and ongoing problems in society but instead mirror the content of their online echo chambers. This is unsurprising, considering that according to a Pew Research survey, 84 percent of social media users believe that the statement, “People say things when discussing politics that they would never discuss in person,” describes social media sites well. Despite the fact that some people want to express beliefs in good faith, social media has become a platform of increasing vulgarity and frustration.

Another reason for the absence of substantive discussion in social media politics is the boring nature of traditional political discourse. There is a special thrill in spending time on social media looking at hypocrisy among news anchors or what politician drank water mid-speech or which activist humiliated that college student. We naturally enjoy seeing content that reaffirms our moral sanctimony, and we have social media to partially blame for reinforcing that tendency. Social media algorithms are designed to keep users drawn, not informed or satisfied. In fact, algorithms can be the determinant factor in how people see the world, so much so that the line between fact and fiction may blur.

This is where radicalization can fester. If one were to view a few Facebook posts about a conspiracy theory about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the algorithm may understand firsthand that this is the kind of content that appeals to the user.

It makes the pattern of content a curious user scrolls through self-reinforce, and it builds a more constricted understanding of reality, regardless of whether it reflects the truth or not. When people are increasingly pushed into hyperpolarized filter bubbles of thought, they find a sense of community and develop a strong animosity toward the “other,” which is psychologically invigorating.

These elements of thrill and bitterness in social media controversies have corrupted what would otherwise be substantive discourse. It curiously puts into perspective why QAnon accelerated in popularity throughout the last few years, notably among those who have not been as exposed to politics before. In a time when the current political struggles in America are viewed as moral crusades, connecting Chrissy Teigen’s use of pizza emojis to her alleged association with high-profile Democrats and Jeffrey Epstein in acquiring adrenochrome from children in the basement of a pizzeria becomes psychologically appealing. Yet, it means nothing. Chrissy Teigen just likes pizza.

Why is this lack of substance harmful?

Since the middle of the previous decade, a sea change in politics revolutionized online political interaction. As former President Donald Trump changed the character of the Republican Party and further augmented the negative image of conservatism, liberals became increasingly disgusted, yet determined to advocate for change when granted the opportunity.

Many of them have taken on responsibilities such as conversing with those in disagreement, posting important updates about political developments and even calling voters in swing states during the 2020 election cycle. Social media, however, is a more prevalent hotspot for people to fulfill their desires for validation or to affirm their moral sanctimony. People on opposing sides of the political binary are much less respectful to each other on social media than in real life for this reason.

Since the state of affairs under Trump’s presidency had inflamed division more than in previous years or possibly even decades, people frequently unfriend or block one another because of something one may have said about a certain politician or some other measly nuisance not worth the attention it is being given.

This further fed into Trump’s ability to garner a political base because he only empowered the uproar against “cancel culture” as a pugnacious consequence of “liberal tears.” It allowed him to embrace

Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News. his overt misogyny and non-traditional mannerisms as a bulwark against the liberal sensitivity falsely generalized by those who oppose liberals. This is an important example about how anger, especially when exploited and weaponized by influential figures, consumes Twitter feeds and self-perpetuates.

Furthermore, it is counterproductive to civilized discourse and the prospect of progress when people consistently block or unfriend others for differences on trivial issues. Many who are passionate about politics but block users in disagreement are left with a constrained social media circle that only consists of people with similar ideas and values. This further worsens the atmosphere of agitation because it makes those who narrowed their field of acceptable viewpoints more likely to condemn others’ moral judgement for the slightest differences. It becomes a feedback loop. And it isn’t solely focused between liberals and conservatives. For example, it is not unusual for Biden voters in comment sections to curse out leftists who wanted to vote for a third party, and vice versa. This vitriol is a story vastly different from what happens in person, and blocking others on social media turns a space for potential discourse into an unproductive echo chamber that puts rare dissent at risk of swift condemnation.

Disinformation also plays a crucial role in magnifying frustration and hostility in different social networking platforms. Bots and fake accounts take social media vitriol to a greater level by elevating content that warps the truth.

They function as technological sleeper agents, hashtag hijackers and “trolling.”

The sources of fabricated accounts tend to be both foreign and domestic, though there is a growing awareness of their dissemination by foreign sources in the wake of election interference revelations, particularly Russian interference.

Disinformation does something much worse than just elevate rudeness according to political differences. When lies, “alternative facts” and situations taken

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

out of context conjure up multiple realities, they become psychologically effective in pitting people against one another through emotions of anxiety and rage. A video of then-candidate Biden in October circulated among conservative networks and social media accounts, in which he slipped up and said, “We have put together I think the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.” Those who were in denial about Trump losing the 2020 election referred to Biden’s quote as a Freudian slip, and despite how unimportant that moment was, it became part of a campaign of lies that eventually drove an angry mob to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

It’s one thing when political differences create tension; it’s another thing when social media manipulation makes basic reality disputable. As technological advancement makes media manipulation easier and more attractive, the societal detriments grow.

Diversity of thought is essential to a functional democracy. But democratic discourse has been significantly corrupted and made into a platform of animosity by elements that factionalize perception of reality. While social media should ideally produce beneficial interactions, participation or accumulation of knowledge, the element of thrill behind trivial issues and prevalence of anger have had a negative impact on people’s mental health.

Also, isolating oneself from adherents to a different political train of thought will never fuel change. My hope is that in the future more people can be kind and understanding, but also wary as to how different kinds of social media engagement affect their mental health. It’s important to ask oneself whether engaging in combative argument with somebody on Facebook who randomly comments, “Commie Dumbocrats want to RAISE GAS PRICES!! TRUMP 2024!!” is really worth it. People occasionally share concerns about spending too much time on social media, yet maybe it is also important to concern oneself about the return value of that time.

April 29, 2021

OPINIONS

Page 13

Johnson & Johnson recall is proof that science is working Sufana Noorwez Guest Columnist

F

or many people, the announcement that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was being temporarily pulled from use in the United States was a jarring reminder that modern medicine, with all of its marvels, is not infallible.

On the morning of April 13, 2021, a joint statement from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the two organizations were recommending the pause “out of an abundance of caution.”

Reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) along with low blood platelet levels (thrombocytopenia) in six women between the ages of 18 and 48 first raised alarms. That number has since risen to 15 women, three of whom have died.

The CDC and FDA have since lifted this recommended pause, reaffirming that the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should be resumed, and that the “known potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks.”

While it is frightening, especially for young women, to think that this vaccine could potentially have serious adverse effects, the CDC and FDA’s brief pause shows that our public health infrastructure is working.

In the days since the recommended freeze, some have accused the two agencies of fear-mongering; publicly admitting that a vaccine could have such adverse effects, even potential death, would surely

affect public perception and trust in the vaccine. However, the alternative case, in which our top public health officials ignored these adverse side effects, would have been even worse. In a country where misinformation, specifically surrounding COVID-19 and the vaccines intended to prevent it, is rampant, it is important for the government to be clear and honest with its citizens. If the agencies had instead ignored the reports of additional side effects, or had affirmed the safety of it upfront and without thorough medical review, the public would have deemed our government irresponsible and reckless.

Such actions would have sown even more distrust into a country that has always been (in many cases, rightfully so) wary to trust its government.

Without professionals constantly and consistently monitoring these vaccines and their performances, we would have virtually no way to affirm their safety. All vaccines would be 100 percent effective and harmless in a perfect world. But as this pandemic has proven in the past year and a half, our world is far from perfect. The fact that the CDC and FDA were able to so quickly and efficiently identify these adverse effects and issue a statement recommending a pause is proof that our top public health officials are doing what they are supposed to do as scientists, not just politicians. More impressive still is the speed with which the vaccine’s safety was reviewed and affirmed. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with it’s one-dose and more agreeable storage temperature, is crucial

to getting the country and the world vaccinated, as it is much more accessible than its two-dose companions. Although in the United States, the current vaccination rate outpaces the new infection rate, COVID-19 continues to terrorize millions, both in the country and around the world. Countries such as India are breaking daily records for new infections, and as such, lack access to affordable and transportable vaccines.

In order to combat the continuing global rise of the pandemic, it is imperative that we are able to utilize all of the vaccinations that are available in our arsenal, provided they have been proven safe to use.

The truth is that no vaccine comes without its negatives. For my family and friends who received the other two widely available vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, the second shot, and even sometimes the first shot, was often followed by a fever, chills and other symptoms of general malaise. Symptoms such as these may mean taking days off of work to recover—something many people are unable to afford, especially in an economy ravaged by the pandemic. I myself have experienced fatigue and aches after other vaccinations in the past. Vaccines are not, and have never been, the perfect medical invention, designed to take away our greatest illnesses without any consequences, and it is irresponsible to present them as such. Hailing vaccines as perfect marvels of modern medicine does nothing but sow fear and distrust in people such as those part of the anti-vaccination movement, and those on the fence about the risks versus the re-

wards. What is needed is accessible education to teach that while vaccines are not perfect, the rewards greatly outweigh the dangers. The rise of Facebook and other online platforms has made it deceptively easy for people to believe claims that are entirely unsubstantiated by science. In order to get closer to a reality mirroring life before COVID-19, it is important to get as many people vaccinated as possible. And this can only be accomplished by affirming public trust in science.

In the case of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, when the CDC and FDA lifted the recommended pause, it came with an addendum. An additional warning was issued for women under the age of 50 taking the vaccine about the potential risks surrounding blood clotting issues. The two agencies once again affirmed that the risks surrounding COVID-19 and potentially contracting the disease far outweighed the potential risks of the vaccine, and that anyone who was eligible should get the shot.

People in the risk category concerning the vaccine are able to take an alternative vaccination if they wish.

Although the announcement of the potential side effects and the pause may seem at first glance to be proof that modern science is not effective, it actually proved the opposite. Science is working. Scientists remain, as always, vigilant and willing to protect the public. It is our responsibility to listen to their expertise and to participate, if we are able, in the current effort to get the United States vaccinated and closer to a new normal.

Five hundred doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were provided for students at Vassar's first vaccine clinic, which took place prior to the pause instituted by the FDA and CDC. Natalie Bober/The Miscellany News.

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

SPORTS

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April 29, 2021

European Super League falters, showcasing power of fan activism Jackie Molloy

T

Assistant Sports Editor

here had been rumors for years. A whisper here, a behind-closed-doors offhand comment there. A new American ownership group at this club, rising debts at that club. A call for change in format for one tournament, reform in another. And then COVID-19 hit. After a year of empty stadiums, disruptions in schedules and the reality that no sporting event (and the income that comes with it) is ever guaranteed to come to fruition, the shadowmen behind the rumors were finally ready to step into the light. In the late evening of April 18, The European Super League, or ESL, was announced. And

by April 20, the ESL was dead.

The 24 hours following the announcement of the ESL will go down in Twitter history. Soccer communities around the globe erupted as anger, shock and memes flooded the timeline—soccer as the world had known it would cease to exist. Backlash, jokes and disbelief were shared by fans, players and managers alike on Twitter—from comical comparisons of the league to singing competition shows, to pressure to continue illegally streaming games and predictions of the United States as the next World Cup winners—the tweets were relentless, cruel and purely entertaining. After scrolling through only a few tweets from Trending, it was clear that it was the ESL vs. everybody else. Not a great PR start for any launch.

But, Twitter was right. This new league wasn’t simply a re-creation or offshoot of a previous league like the XFL or the NBA G League. This would be a complete restruc-

Copa Del Rey in Spain, the format is also open, where any club can enter and advance through the rounds. Finishing high in the top national divisions and tournaments has advantages beyond allowing a club to retain its place: Winning or finishing high in their respective leagues and tournaments allows teams to participate in the UEFA Champions League, a cross-continent tournament that sets up the best teams across all leagues to participate against each other. Participating in cross-continent leagues earn clubs prizes and recognition, both of which are critical for maintaining the lives of clubs across Europe. In these open and pyramid competitive formats, the ideology dictates that no team is guaranteed top competition;you have to play and earn it. In reality, the biggest and richest teams such as Manchester United, Juventus and Bayern Munich can easily maintain their standing in the top placements, but the sheer possibility that any team has a chance to earn those top prizes is what makes all of it so meaningful.

Of course, this is in direct opposition to how American professional sports are set up. For the NBA, NHL and NFL, for example, it is a closed format where the same teams compete every year no matter their record, and if a new club is to be introduced, it must be approved by all the current teams.

These teams find incentives to participate in other ways, like qualifications for league playoffs, their own type of tournament that teams compete for.

This American sports logic became the basis for The Super League—which is why soccer fans were unhappy. The Super League

France, but they all initially rejected. These clubs would compete in this League as their priority competition, and of course, would have a place in it every year. The existence of the League directly opposes the survival of the Champions League and the rest of national leagues because it draws media power and streaming rights away from these competitions. It would also create subsequently even larger financial gaps between smaller clubs and the clubs involved. Many clubs would no longer be able to sustain themselves.

Fans and skeptics quickly figured out that this proposition was not just for generating more exciting “entertainment” by setting up the top teams more frequently, but was a back-stabbing ploy for more guaranteed profit. What the owners (almost all billionaire finance groups) of the largest clubs don’t like about the open format is that it doesn’t guarantee them access to the huge markets like the American sports format does. It is possible that their team does not qualify for the Champions League and the subsequent access to those globally-screened games in any given year. One smaller club like Sevilla or Leicester City could sneak in and knock a Real Madrid or Chelsea out of the Champions League, which would mean a loss of games and profit for that bigger club.

That mere chance of a smaller club besting a bigger club for qualification (the possibility that makes European soccer so exciting) was just enough to push these billionaire-backed groups over the edge.

The kicker was that these huge clubs had just finished negotiating new reforms with

Courtesy of Peter Glaser via Wikimedia Commons. turing of European soccer—and because of its implications—the global soccer industry.

European soccer, both leagues and tournaments, are composed of an open competition format in which no one is guaranteed participation in the top flights. All national league systems, like the English Football League and Italian football league system, are set up like a pyramid with a top division (Premier League for the English, Serie A for the Italian) and multiple divisions below. In order for clubs to stay or advance in these leagues, they have to win, so if a club places first in the second division, it then advances to the top division. If a club performs poorly and places last in a division, it is relegated to the division below. For national tournaments, like the FA Cup in England or the

proposed a Champions League-like competition, but with a closed format of 15 founding member clubs and five new clubs invited each year. These 15 founding clubs were said to be the best across the continent and the attraction would be the frequency with which these top clubs would play against each other. When the League was announced on that fated Sunday, it had only confirmed 12 of its founding members—the “Big Six” of England (Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham), the top three of Spain (Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid), and the top three of Italy (Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan).

The three additionally invited teams were Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund of Germany, and Paris Saint-Germain of

UEFA’s President, Aleksander Ceferin, which would allow a new expanded tournament format for the Champions League.

The reforms would include more teams and more games, with these new spots more likely to go to the bigger clubs. The increase in the number of games would generate more income and media attention. Everything that these clubs were seeking was provided in these reforms—they would continue to cement their place in the top tournaments and line their pockets with cash. Apparently these new changes were not enough, because before UEFA could even announce the new reforms, Andrea Agnelli of Juventus, who was the lead negotiator, and Florentino Perez of Real Madrid went forth and dropped the bombshell of The Super League.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

I’m not sure if it was arrogance or stupidity that prompted Agnelli and his fellow leaders to drop the release of a league that would shake the soccer world to its core without the needed preparations to survive. But either way, they went with it, and the ESL was dead within 48 hours. All hell broke loose.

Fans across the continent immediately revolted on Twitter, and in front of their own stadiums. Chelsea fans flocked to Stamford Bridge to protest hours after the release, and even blocked the team from entering the front gates in their bus. Players and coaches, who were kept in the dark about the whole thing, publicly opposed the formation. Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson called for an all-league captains meeting. Harry Maguire of Manchester United confronted the club’s vice chairman Ed Woodward. Liverpool coach, one of the top managers in the world, Jurgen Klopp has been openly critical of a super league format in the past and reiterated these criticisms about the ESL. UEFA announced that any player that participated in the ESL would be banned from any of their competitions, and FIFA warned clubs involved that there might be repercussions if they went forward with the new league.

Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain (the three proposed

“Hopefully, the actions fans forced will allow them to see how important they are in controlling the future of soccer and will lead to other changes as well” teams to join alongside the 12 announced founders) all declined their invitations. And within 24 hours, word leaked that Chelsea was looking to pull out.

So, the launch of ESL was followed by drastic backlash, three fundamental clubs declining their invitations and the almost immediate withdrawal of one of the founding clubs. I am not sure how Perez and Co. thought that releasing this bombshell without locking all the teams into a contract and hiring desperately needed public relations help would allow their enterprise to survive, but ultimately, they failed miserably.

If anything, they garnered more consolidated support for the current system and face sharper opposition they did before. Their actions empowered a new generation of fans who truly believe that they saved soccer as they know it with their protests over the two days. It is frustrating that fans came out in such force for this announcement, when the calls to dismantle the racism so present in the sport are not answered. Hopefully, the actions fans forced will allow them to see how important they are in controlling the future of soccer and will lead to other changes as well.

Tweets of headstones reading “RIP ESL: April 18, 2021 – April 20, 2021” were found across Twitter after the league was officially shelved. The idea of the super league might be dead for now, but fans are wary that another scheme like this will pop up again in the future. Yet, if the ESL has taught us anything (or perhaps the owners anything), it’s that sports cannot be played on paper—the magic of sports lies in the cinderellas, the underdogs, the teams that remind fans of themselves. No one wants to see Messi vs.

Ronaldo every other week. We want the upsets, the miracles and the teams with heart.

Not the teams with money.

April 29, 2021

CROSSWORD The Miscellany Crossword “Chess”

By Reese Collins

ACROSS

DOWN

1. Actor Mineo 4. Religious bigwig 14. Story 15. Emergency exit 16. Singer Fitzgerald 17. White coats 18. New Zealand natives 20. Gripped 21.History channel show 23. Campaign topic 28. Type of text 29. Title for Paul McCartney 30. Blues guitar legend 31. Time-share unit, maybe 33. Actress Seyfried 34. Cusco empire 37. "This land _____ land..."

39. Saturday morning character 40. First-year 42. Asp or python 44. Seem 45. Prior to year 1 46. Bat wood 49. Can't live without 50. Working time, usually 53. Sportswear company 54. Psychic's deck 55. What a Marist student might belong to 61. "You crack ____!" (LMAO) 62. Exchanged 63. Movie locations 64. RuPaul and Pabllo Vittar, for example 65. Requires Naloxone

1. Dar es ______ (largest city in Tanzania) 2. Lets 3. Get knowledge 4. Slangy intensifiers 5. Nixon, Pryor, and Wright 6. Ye olde announcer 7. Wrestling villains 8. Curve 9. Suffix for ideal or real 10. ___ fi (futuristic genre) 11. Owns 12. Go for 13. Technical term for foot 14. Office fill-ins 19. "This ____ sudden!"

22. More eensy 23. Corporation that once tried to build a graduate center on campus 24. Hit the ice 25. Chinese prefix 26. Mac’s command-Z 27. Author Jennifer 30. Michelle's husband 31. Hardened, as mud 32. Agents like Bond?

34. Khameni's country 35. "Nah" 36. Deal with 38. Hasn't lost 41. "___ in Iowa" 43. Superman surname 46. Consented 47. Yells 48. URL starter

50. Squint in pain 51. 1% 52. "Are not!" retort 53. German lady 55. Bouquet delivery service 56. Teaching trio 57. Skinny battery

Answers to last week’s puzzle: “International Studies”

By Reese Collins

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

58. Star Trek series, for short 59. Lawyer title, abbr.

60. Stat alongside TDs

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