Independent Student Journalism Since 1914
davidsonian.com
Issue 8Volume 121,
Artist-in-Residence: Endia Beal embarks on creative pursuits at Davidson
Women’s tennis looks towards the spring after fall successes
Emily Schmitt ‘23 opens up about what it takes to be Oops! President
The Yowl requests that you send this issue to your parents
There are currently four households of Ukrainian refugees in the Town of Davidson. After Russia invaded, refugees had to flee and some found a new home here. The community of the Town of Davidson responded to meet the unique needs of these individuals and aid in their transition; at the center of this effort is a community group called Davidson for Ukraine (D4U).
D4U “didn’t start out as an organization at all,” according to Dr. Amanda Ewington.
Ewington, the head of the Davidson College Russian Studies Department, is an expert on Russia. Motria Procyk is a Ukranian-American resident of Davidson. At first, Ewington and co-founder Procyk were simply focused on responding to needs as they arose.
“The mission of Davidson for Ukraine (D4U) has evolved. It was initially focused on awareness building and fundraising for relief efforts in Ukraine. The group began in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24,” Procyk explained.
On March 6, D4U organized a rally on the Davidson Green, which was attended by over 300 people. The primary goal was raising awareness. The event’s featured speakers included Ewington.
“I felt compelled, given my field, to stand up there,” she said. “I always feel like my presence is not just about educating because I’m not an expert on Ukraine, right? And that’s always something I feel a little wary about. I don’t mean to speak for Ukraine and somehow perpetuate the idea that they’re sort of the same.”
With her specialized experience and knowledge in such a small town, Ewington said she finds it a case of “if not me, who?”
She stressed the importance of pairing awareness and education with impact: “But I always made a point of ending with, and here are some ways you can support Ukraine, even with how you talk about Ukraine.”
Awareness was coupled with action at the
Davidson Green event. “We later distributed 350 ‘We Support Ukraine’ yard signs, and asked individuals who took the signs to make a gift to a charity that supports Ukraine. In April, we held an auction that raised $30,000 for an organization called Razom for relief efforts in Ukraine,” explained Procyk. Their capacity for impact expanded in the months following the full-scale invasion.
Ewington explained the communityoriented process of D4U: “Motria and I are kind of like the two people. People in town who were sponsoring someone would know her and would go to her, and then people who were new to town would Google the College, and they would find me.”
“As refugees began to arrive in Davidson, our mission expanded,” said Procyk. “We began to provide help to refugees and their hosts by connecting them with organizations and individuals in our area who wanted to help—folks who wanted to help donate clothes, food, furniture and later, help find jobs, provide transportation, housing, and other services [...] In Davidson, refugees include a widow from Donetsk, a family of five (a couple and three young children) from Kherson, a mother with two children from Odesa and a mother, son and grandmother from Kyiv. All have varying needs. Some speak some English, others are just beginning to learn the language. The hosts appreciate help guiding the refugees toward living independent lives in the US. All have families in Ukraine: husbands, fathers, others. Our companionship and support helps them during this traumatic time.”
At first, their work “was all very kind of ad hoc,” according to Ewington.
The D4U Facebook page is an avenue for connecting to other members of the Davidson community interested in helping. “This is a way to just let people know that we’re gathering, this is a way to say we’re doing a school supply drive for these kids, or this is a way to say if you possibly want to donate clothing or grocery gift cards, here’s how to do it,” said Ewington.
D4U is continuing to grow. Davidson Presbyterian Church is now helping collect
donations for relief efforts, Fifth Third Bank is sponsoring a Christmas tree for D4U, E2D has donated computers, and Davidson students are tutoring refugee children at Davidson K-8.
The passion behind D4U has strengthened community in the Town of Davidson as well as facilitated important connections between global events and local organizing. A recent addition to D4U programming has been gatherings during the Davidson Farmer’s Market. Procyk explained that these meetings “have been a great way for the refugee families to meet each other AND meet new American
friends…These are fun, social gatherings…we don’t typically talk about specific needs… It’s really lifted everyone’s spirits to know each other and it’s engendered great ideas about ways to help individuals.”
Procyk emphasized that the organization is open to ideas from students, businesses, and members of the Davidson community. “Any way to help our new neighbors feel acclimated, supported and have their spirits lifted.”
MADELINE RICHARD ‘26 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER
Davidson’s Mental Health Ambassadors (MHAs) are students deeply committed to raising awareness about mental health issues on Davidson’s campus. They aim to destigmatize discussions about mental health, help students in need, and create a more supportive campus environment. According to the American Psychological Association, over 60% of college students show signs of at least one mental health problem. The most common mental health conditions are anxiety, stress, and depression. Rigorous schools—like Davidson—tend to
exacerbate these struggles. Alexis Fintchre, a counselor and the MHAs’ faculty advisor, explained, “Davidson’s rigor and academic standards could be deemed inhumane at times. There’s a direct link to the consistently high productivity demands on deteriorating mental health, which can show up as inconsistent attention spans, fatigue, emotional reactivity, and frequent illness.”
Jenna DeLucca ‘24, president of the MHA program, shared similar sentiments to Fintchre: “So many people who I’ve talked to lately, they’re [ … ] just tired. Like, they’re just so burnt out and tired and just want to sleep. And so I can definitely see the exhaustion setting in with people at this time of the semester.” Davidson can be draining, and as finals start
approaching and students’ workload increases, mental health may become an even bigger issue.
Fintchre suggested that Queer and BIPOC students face additional mental health difficulties at Davidson. They experience “common mental health issues, but, with the intersections of those identities, may be presented with oppressive realities on a more frequent basis. Their help-seeking behaviors can appear different than those of their peers, which is common for those who hold identities that are deemed a deviation from the norm by unsafe/unhelpful environments. Finding a community that’s reflective of their values and personhood has been a commonly reported struggle,” said Fintchre. These difficulties
might confound existing mental health issues, making support systems especially important for queer and BIPOC students.
DeLucca stressed the importance of additional student support in times of transition. “If this is people’s first time experiencing this—like maybe they’re freshmen and they don’t know college is different from high school, or maybe they have a harder courseload, or something else is going on outside of their life, and this is their first time experiencing [mental health issues]—it can be really hard to understand what’s going on and
to deal with it,” said Delucca.
ABBY BRISSETT ‘26 (SHE/HER) STAFF WRITER
Davidson College’s Wildcat Weekend took over campus this past week, announced by the flurry of children, tailgates, and adoring parents. While many student organizations considered this the perfect opportunity for fundraising events, the college severely disagreed. Wildcat Weekend was full of performances, sports games, and special events; intentionally missing from the weekend was any and all fundraising events for student organizations.
Davidson College’s policy forbidding student organizations from holding fundraising events on parents weekend caused a series of cancellations and rescheduling for multiple campus groups. The leaders of these organizations felt completely blindsided. Last year they had their most successful events during this weekend.
Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity (Fiji) held a fundraiser with their partner organization Continuing the Mission (a non-profit that provides free assistance dogs to veterans).
Fiji member Atticus Hickman ‘23 said “Our ‘Slushies and Puppies’ event was a huge hit this time last year, we raised a record amount of money and helped socialize the training dogs.” He continued to express his disappointment when their Slushies and Puppies event this year was rescheduled: “we held it the Wednesday before Wildcat Weekend and attendance was much lower.”
This policy has existed at Davidson for years. Director of Student Activities Mike Goode explained that “Davidson College frequently asks much of families in order for their children to be at Davidson. So when we invite them to campus, we want them to experience the campus that their child is experiencing and not have it be another opportunity for somebody to ask them for more money.”
Many Davidson students felt frustration as the weekend was a great opportunity to showcase their organization’s hard work. Many parents wanted to see and support their children’s organizations. Others felt the college’s reasoning was silly as parents are constantly being asked to give money to the school. One angry student mentioned Doug Hick’s most recent email where he expressed his love of Davidson’s fall foliage followed by an announcement of a 5% increase in tuition.
Students were left scrambling to reorganize their events, having to resort to scheduled events at uncommon or academicallyinaccessible times, like Fiji’s Slushies and Puppies that ended up happening on a Wednesday afternoon. While it is still unclear why fundraising was allowed last year and where this miscommunication happened, these mishaps bring up a larger issue about what has been lost during the pandemic.
“We didn’t have a family weekend for one year and then last year it was just starting up
again but not in the same way,” Goode said. “This is the first big Wildcat Weekend in a couple years. I think next year people are not going to go, ‘why can’t we fundraise?’”
Much of Davidson policy, tradition and events are organized through the passing down of information from upperclassmen. Due to the pandemic, policy is being reshaped. This gap creates a disconnect between students and faculty.
“We had no idea what was going on, and we were given very little detail about why this decision had been made, I wasn’t aware this was an ongoing policy,” Hickman said.
The root of this issue and many other issues that have arisen this year seems to stem from a lack of direct and clear communication between Davidson College and Davidson students. The fraternities and eating houses were not given more explicit information about this policy.
by Beal. Following that Beal plans to have them write their thoughts about embodying spaces that have a personal connection to someone else.
Beal is an artist, curator, and author of the monograph, “Performance Review” with a background in art and art history from UNC Chapel Hill and MFA in photography from Yale University. She highlights personal experiences of marginalized communities and individuals, using them to paint a bigger picture that portrays the scale and deep-rooted nature of social and racial injustices. Her work focuses on questioning, challenging and confronting conformity, gender roles and social injustices, especially of women of color in corporate
Beal’s is no stranger to collaboration with students. She was professor of art and director of the Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University. Many of her students who were starting their careers were having the same experiences she did. She began collaborating with her students in projects such as ‘Am I What You’re Looking For?’ where young professional women of color are photographed in their homes against artificial backdrops of a corporate environment.
The main purpose of the project is to get
spaces.The stories of black women are largely absent in the history of art. Knowing this fueled her to share those everyday narratives through art and photojournalism.
Using experiences from Davidson College students, Endia Beal, the Visual Arts Center Practitioner in Residence, is curating a collection of photographs. This body of work will be commissioned from Beal with the support of the Graham Foundation. Beal has invited 30 students from all classes and all disciplines to participate in the project. The project began this August and is set to conclude in March of 2023.
The inspiration came from an idea of building connections. Students can sign up for listening sessions with Beal to share places on campus where they feel a sense of belonging, or places of personal liberty, and spaces they don’t frequent because of silent forces that make them choose not to go.
Beal wondered, “how do I create work that connects and brings people with different perspectives, backgrounds and races together?” She came up with the idea that after the listening sessions are completed around mid November, students will be paired with a participant they don’t know. Paired students will be photographed in their selected spaces
to know someone in familiar or unfamiliar settings through your own lenses. Beal wants to give them “a sense of reimagining places on campus” and at the same time have “audience members question who belongs in those spaces.”
Why might some things feel strange or out of the norm, especially in photographs? “I’m having the students trade places, because I want them to not only learn about the other person, but learn about themselves in the process,” said Beal.
Beal’s project at Davidson traces an enduring theme in her work: role reversal. Past work’s such as Mock Interview or “Can I touch It?” continue the motif. The film, Mock Interview, which was featured in Van Every/Smith Galleries in 2020, depicted young white men being asked discriminatory questions that women of color were asked in real job interviews. It illuminated the racism and misogyny rampant in the workplace. ‘Can I touch it?’ displayed portraits of young women who wore hairstyles of Black women. It prompted audiences to grapple with these uncomfortable experiences.
Beal believes participants of the projects gained a different perspective. For the people being photographed, they might feel
discomfort in being immersed in someone else’s environment but we can be “comfortable being uncomfortable.”
“The relationships we build in the process,” she says, “are the most important part of my practice.”
The students trading places with each other feeds into the act of role reversal. Portraying human connections in this way allows us to see how similar or different we are. The feeling of empathy that emerges when we connect to
something that we feel does not belong to us is powerful. When it comes to social advocacy, Beal explained that “we have to see each other as human beings and understand that we are connected and that we have similarities as much as we have differences. And those differences are the ones that really help us to grow in a lot of ways.”
Feeling lost or confused could amplify mental health struggles, so seeking support is crucial for these students.
MHAs offer additional support alongside Davidson’s Counseling services at the Center for Student Health and Wellbeing. Since all MHAs are Davidson students, they have valuable perspectives and can sympathize with many student struggles, particularly in regard to heavy workload.
Peer-to-peer support, DeLucca explained, can make mental health conversations more approachable. “I think sometimes it’s hard to get professional help. And so if you have someone who’s the same age and going through the same kind of things and just kind of gets what it’s like to be a college student, especially a college student at Davidson [ … ] that’s really helpful and convincing,” shared DeLucca. Connections destigmatize conversations about mental health and make students more open to getting help.
The MHA program is based on Kitchener’s Five Moral Principles: autonomy, beneficence, fidelity, justice, and nonmaleficence. MHAs are guided by these ethics with every decision.
Once accepted, students who applied to be MHAs must undergo significant training. All MHAs are “Question, Persuade, Refer,” (QPR) trained, which is a suicide prevention strategy. They also participate in Mental Health First Aid training, which helps them to support students in need.
There have been multiple MHA events this fall, with more on the horizon. Earlier this semester, the MHAs introduced themselves to the Davidson community by hosting a tabling event, complete with informational fliers and mini Bundt cakes. They recently organized a pumpkin painting event, which allowed students to step away from a stressful week and engage more mindfully. David Graham, the Director of Counseling, believes these breaks are crucial: “moments when we pause can do wonders for us” and help us “reset.”
The MHAs are also planning events for World
Kindness Week this November to encourage students to embrace each other and celebrate their community.
MHAs work closely with Davidson’s
challenging situations.
MHA efforts are always evolving. As DeLucca explained, the group is “constantly planning” diverse ways to discuss mental health. For instance, they have a committee working on mental health and relationships as well as a group focused specifically on anxiety. The MHAs also hope to organize a solidarity event with Students Against Sexual Violence next semester, reminding students that they are not alone in their struggle and creating a supportive environment. These topics are diverse, but united by a common commitment to mental health.
administration and are currently collaborating with Title IX coordinator, Carley Dix, to best support victims of sexual trauma. These relationships expand their reach and help the MHAs support students throughout
The MHAs hope to normalize conversations about mental health, offer support throughout the challenges of college, and reassure students that they matter. All of their efforts contribute to their ultimate goal; as DeLucca emphasized, the MHAs are “trying to keep going, pushing for advocacy, and hoping to make some sort of difference” in whatever way they can.
Beal wondered, “how do I create work that connects and brings people with different perspectives, backgrounds and races together?”Endia Beal. Photo from Davidson College Van Every/Smith Galleries website
“There’s a direct link to the consistently high productivity demands on deteriorating mental health.”
-Alexis Fintchre
In recent months, students have questioned and confronted the College’s priorities as they relate to student life with increasing frequency. The Perspectives section of The Davidsonian has been one of several outlets whereby students have expressed vexation, confusion, anger—as well as demanded that their concerns be heeded. Namely, Anaya Patel ‘25, Samantha Ewing ‘23, and Mattie Baird ‘25 among numerous collaborators have written on issues surrounding increased presence of campus police, apparent lack of regard for student well-being, and the divisively-named Fagg Field. In keeping with Davidson’s purported virtue of student discourse, these publications have engendered responses and discussions among students— something also evident in Perspectives with Drew Patterson’s ‘24 follow-up to Patel’s coverage of the September 29 protest of the DCI. While student discourse is valuable in its own right, it will not meet students’ expressed needs.
As tensions have arisen between student leaders and the administrators subject to their challenges, some members of the College faculty and staff have contributed their voices. They have lent wisdom, offered suggestions and support, and some have endeavored to meet students where they are in efforts to relieve said tensions. While valued and appreciated, such efforts are disjointed and largely passive due to the greater administration’s failure to comprehensively
address student grievances. For every professor or organization leader who engages with students in earnest, there are those who dismiss, diminish, and patronize. It should be the obligation of all faculty and staff members to elevate student voices, especially when students detail ways in which they have been let down and can be better supported.
I offer yet another area in which questions to Davidson’s priorities should be raised: academics. Currently in my third semester, I have taken precious few classes that I would recommend to others or choose to take again
and I may more ably navigate academia and life. For the greater portion of my academic experience at Davidson, I have not learned in this way, but rather according to the first definition, wherein I force myself to know material only for it to leave my mind with no trace of its having been there. Moreover, my work ethic in such classes suffers as a result, which is poor luck as they typically assign far more homework than classes I do learn in. Responsibility for this issue falls variably on the student, the instructor, and the curricular parameters established by the College. While
For a school which upholds its honor code as the cornerstone of its existence—we lie a lot at Davidson. Students at Davidson are known to be overcommitted, and the over-stressed, high achieving, Davidson archetype is not worth deconstructing again. However, our student body propogates a collective lie—that we’re all just happy, dandy, and fine. In reality, the range of daily emotions and experiences stands in stark contrast to the image we put forward on our Facebook page.
I’ve learned throgh recent conversations that even people I would consider dedicated and passionate members of this community—ones with seemingly limitless close friendships and incredible time management skills—feel inferior. This fear is based on the comparative standards we set for ourselves—standards that play out most abundantly in the classroom arena.
On entering college, I believed that I was not intelligent. This didn’t occur to me as a problem—doubting, undervaluing, underestimating my intellectual faculties— until I heard the same thoughts from a friend
myself, given hindsight. That is not to say that I regret taking all those besides: not all have been bad experiences, per se, but all have left me with the unfortunate feeling of not having learned anything worthwhile. Of course, passing a class entails knowing enough of the material designated to be learned; though, I propose a perhaps more romantic definition of learning. When, as a professor lectures, I make conjectures and think on ways I might apply the knowledge to various areas of my life, I learn. Even when I often inevitably forget the facts of that knowledge, I retain the influence it had on my ways of thinking,
oftentimes no party is blameless, the degrees of subordination between them ultimately place the onus on the administration to cultivate long-lasting change. While college has been an enriching experience thus far— and I expect it will continue to be—I wish I took more away from classes. Davidson should consider what its true aim is with regard to academic life, and whether it is rigorous for the sake of education or prestige. As I have seemingly lambasted the administration of the College, I must clarify that I do not hold any leadership positions within the organizations that have challenged
it of late. While, for this reason, I might be deemed unqualified to write as such, I merely attempt with this piece to paint a picture of the sentiment I am surrounded by this semester. These past months have been permeated with frustration and exhaustion: obstacles student advocates must overcome in addition to the injustices they tirelessly combat. My work as editor has shown me one theater of their fight, and I would take heart if I saw from collective administrators some measure of commitment at least equal to that of the students I’ve worked with. It may be true that the administration is planning to mount an interdepartmental initiative to address student concerns, or something of the like—but, as no such intention has been communicated to the student body, there is little room for positive attitude in those for whom the College has failed to ensure a sense of security and belonging. If committed action is not taken to repair the souring relationship between students and administration, chronic discontent will relegate the merits of this institution to aspirations rather than realities. Numerous students have published, emailed, demonstrated. Excuses and flimsy promises on behalf of the administration no longer suffice.
David Sowinski (he/they) is an intended History major from Chicago, IL. David can be reached for comment at dasowinski@ davidson.edu.
of mine. “I’m dumb. The professor thinks I’m dumb. I don’t know why I bother participating in class. Ugh,” said a friend who had given what I perceived to be a very prfound series of statements in class. If you could fashion a colective mantra out of the voices in Chambers post-class, I conjecture to say this might just be it.
I have witnessed wide-eyed disbelief at a dissenting opinion voiced by a professor, started a shameful hand raise, and then lowered it quicker than it shot up. The nervous question, “did I sound ok?” has echoed out of both my mouth and those of my friends. These reactions are caused by a bigger probem on campus.
Students here are afraid of vulnerability, of even the most minor of failings perceived or imagined—and unfortunately this seems to be most true, in my experence, of the female student body.
I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve peppered in the word “dichotomy” and the phrase “problematic fragile masculinity” to try and sound semi-coherent in a classrom setting. I barely kow what those words MEAN much less how to use them. This being just a minor example of the grander issue of “performing” outwardly to mask an inner feeling of
comparative inadequacy.
There is an ever-present feeling of impending scrutiny caused by the ten other eager hands waiting for me to drop the ball and say something dumb, so everyone else’s “incredibly complex” insights into the meter of Beowulf look a lot better in comparison.
What all this seeming inferiority boils down
own shoulders. And when I see people who I admire and respect doubting their own ability time and time again, I have to wonder if there’s not something we present ourselves and how we connect to one another.
What I’m asking for is vulnerability. At the risk of sounding crass, no one here has their life together, but we certainly do a wonderful
to is that as everyone looks around at this school of talented, high achieving impressively credentialed adolescents, and they see a dearth in true, blue, self-deprecating vulnerability. A lack of vulnerability that isn’t punctuated by an air of purposefully ironic self-exposure.
I have watched my friends break down because they feel isolated by the veneering self-aggrandizement here. Even the people who are the beacons of “involved” and “outgoing” feel the enormous ressure that we have as a student body weighed upon our
job of convincing each other otherwise. So why bother with all the pretense?
What too few students here seem to realize is that admitting your own failings and weaknesses is not akin to failure, because ultimately vulnerability is a measure of strength—strength that creates the space for genuine connection and growth.
Katie Walsh ‘20 was an English major from Jupiter, FL.
“It should be the obligation of all faculty and staff members to elevate student voices, especially when they detail ways in which they have been let down and can be better supported.”
“At the risk of sounding crass, no one here has their life together, but we certainly do a wonderful job of convincing each other otherwise. So why bother with all the pretense?”
Davidson women’s tennis has had a solid start to the 2022-2023 season.
The team has competed in three matches this fall, all of which had positive results in terms of team improvement, grit, and performance.
They opened up their fall schedule at UNC Greensboro where they battled tough opponents such as Appalachian State University, Gardner Webb University, Elon University, Eastern Carolina University, and Campbell University. Josie Schaffer ‘23 and Emma Heiderscheit ‘23 competed against Big Ten schools Penn State University and University of Iowa, as well as the ACC powerhouses Clemson University and UNC Chapel Hill at the Charlotte Invite. All performances were impressive and showed continued improvement over the course of the two day invitational.
In early October, they competed in the seventh annual North Carolina Central University Invitational. The team was able to implement the systems they had been practicing into on-court performance. All eight Wildcats played well, with some advancing into further rounds. Heiderscheit in particular stood out, and it is clear that she is going to be a player to watch out for as her senior season continues.
Less than a week later, the ‘Cats then battled it out at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Regional Championships. Performances to note were Daniela Porges ‘25 and Savanna Kollock’s ‘26 doubles play, as they advanced to the semifinals after an impressive 8-2 victory over Presbyterian College in the quarterfinals. On the singles side, Kavya Patel ‘25 won an 8-6 match against an impressive opponent from Wake Forest University, which allowed her to advance to the semifinals. Kollock also found victory in the singles round, picking up a 6-4 and 6-1 win against Charleston Southern University. The Regional Championships showcased the ‘Cats’ grit and aggression. More than anything though, it revealed that Davidson’s women are a force to be reckoned with this year on the tennis court.
Finally, the girls took one final trip to UNC Wilmington to compete in their last fall tournament. Linden Patterson ‘25 described her thoughts looking forward:
“Heading home from our last fall tournament, I think everyone is looking forward to the spring. We all played a lot of competitive matches this fall, and each of us were working on something different with our games. We were investing in our games now, even if it was uncomfortable, to be prepared and ready for the spring.”
Patterson’s belief and respect in her team showcases how well this group of eight girls
support and love each other, whether they’re playing together or against one another. The tennis team is a true example of Davidson College Athletics done right.
The ‘Cats have spent this fall working hard,
building their mental game, and preparing for the future. They will be back in action on January 28 as they take on Appalachian State University on their home court!
Ishowed up at Oops auditions the fall of my freshman year, not expecting much of myself. I did some scenes and left thinking “that was fun, but I’ll probably never do that again.” I had recently been cut from two a cappella groups, so a rejection from the improv group would be a good turn of the knife. I was very surprised when I made it into the group and happy something was finally going right.
That happiness lasted until my first rehearsal. Improv was a lot harder than I initially thought. I felt very out of place, and I didn’t know anything about improv. That may feel veryanti improv to say, because of course anyone should be able to do improv since it’s just off-the-cuff thinking. But once you get on stage and are expected to generate random ideas, the pressure is on. My freshman year, I was constantly stressed about Oops and muscled through the improv. Sophomore year, we barely met in person because of Covid, but we did do online shows—you can still find those Zoom performances, they’re quite entertaining. It wasn’t until my junior year that I started looking into improv more seriously.
There are three kinds of improv: short form, long form, and narrative, though Oops mainly focuses on the first two. Improv games like what you see on Whose Line Is It Anyways? and in our Live Thursdays are typically short form. These games are usually a means to an end. ABC game is a great example of short form improv. In ABC game, two people do a scene and each sentence in the scene must start with the next letter in the alphabet. If they mess up or pause for too long, another person switches in and continues the scene. Another great short form game that audiences love is interrogation where we send the “interogee” out of the room and two detectives determine who they killed, what they killed them with, and where they killed them. The interogee comes back in and the detectives subtly hint at the crime they committed until they guess correctly. These games are usually under five minutes and require little to no character work. It’s all about sticking to the parameters set by the game.
Long form improv is the other type we do in Oops. These scenes usually run longer, maybe 10 - 15 minutes, and incorporate different characters and hopefully comedic problems to be solved. If you’ve ever seen Middleditch & Schwartz, that’s very extended long form improv. We’ve adapted our own game that helps create longer scenes: Roadtrip game. In Roadtrip, two people start out in a car, boat, or plane headed to a location (something we pull from our audience). Along the way, they run into some crazy characters that we make up, whether that’s the gas station attendant who insists on tagging along for the rest of the journey or the ghost of Babe Ruth who’s delivering an important message to the two travelers, people just jump in when they see an opportunity.
There are a few essential things that make improv easier to do and make our practices run well. First, and this is probably the thing I’ve tried to work the most on with Oops, is listening to each other. When you’re on stage, it’s easy to get a bit jittery and want to steer the scene in the direction you have imagined. It feels safe to stick to your own ideas. This doesn’t work for a lot of reasons, but most notably it shows that you don’t trust your scene partner. Trusting the other person on stage to set you
up with jokes and create scenarios allows for great chemistry on stage. If everyone is focused on helping others excel, rather than focused on getting the loudest laugh or making joke after joke, the entire team will thrive. Listening to the person you’re on stage with allows you to create characters that mesh well (or have a comedic rivalry), make callbacks, and keep the scene from running into the ground.
When I tell people I’m headed to improv rehearsal or that I’m president of the improv group, they usually are pretty confused. Improv rehearsal sounds like an oxymoron, and to a certain extent, it is. There’s only so much we can do in practice in terms of knowing the games, being ready to hop in, or having an idea of other’s strengths and weaknesses on stage. When I was a freshman, rehearsals were a lot sillier than they are now. No one really wanted to get on stage and the president had to pull teeth to get us to do improv. It felt like a group of people who liked hanging out together, more than actually doing improv. Last year, the presidents started a great precedent of putting all our phones away during rehearsals —this completely changed the way rehearsals ran. People started to see more opportunities to jump into scenes because we all weren’t just on our phones. We had suddenly honed in. For the first time in my Oops career, it felt like people actually wanted to do improv.
This year, I run a pretty tight ship. We rehearse twice a week, usually in Hance, and we practice like we perform. It’s difficult to not just use rehearsal time as a social hour because we all like each other, but I try hard to make sure rehearsal is about improv and not about us hanging out. This year, I’ve suggested not having a rehearsal and for the first time, maybe in Oops history, I got pushback. When I suggest a game and it’s one someone likes, they groan if they aren’t called up to do it. It’s a whole new Oops, and I think that’s reflected in how our Live Thursday went the other week. I’ve never had a Live Thursday where people laughed as much as they did in our last performance. This isn’t meant as a diss to Oops of the past— it’s just evident of a completely different group on campus.
While improv itself is goofy, as is Oops, at the heart of this group, and I believe creative outlets like this, is a genuine care for each other and a desire to make others laugh. Getting to come together to work towards a goal like that is something I’d gladly devote hours of my time to.
Emily Schmitt ‘23 (she/her/hers) is an English major from Atlanta, Georgia. She can be reached for comment at emschmitt@davidson.edu.
into what it takes to run asuccessful comedy group. From left to right: “Birthday Gift,” 11x14” oil on canvas, 2021; “Clouds over Stinson Beach,” 18x24” oil on panel, 2022; “Bon Tempe II,” 22x30” oil on paper, 2021. Naomi Kessinger ‘25 (she/her/hers) is an art major and art history minor from Kentfield, CA. She can be reached for comment at nakessinger@davidson.edu. Follow @artbynkess on Instagram to see more. Oops! at Union Board’s Live Thursday on October 27, 2022. Pictured from left to right: Emily Schmitt ’23, Emma BegleyCollier ’25, Amelio Aragona ’25, Ramsey Chaaban ’24, Julieta Lessne ’24, Grace McGuire ’25, Avo Reid ’26, Peter Rock ’23, Willie Breen ’25. Photo by Grace Gardella ‘23
If you’re a Davidson student or faculty member, you probably love Nummit. There is simply no better place to grab a snack and drink and then pretend to work for two hours while you really just talk to all your friends who end up coming in. Even if you don’t love Nummit (yet!), I sure do, and I would love to give you, my dear reader, an order recommendation. Continue reading at the risk of your dining dollars.
First, we all know you must have had a different favorite coffee spot at some point-which cafe did you used to spend all your time in?
A - Starbucks. They may be overpriced but damn are they good.
B - You weren’t super picky. Whatever was nearby was fine with you.
C - Some indie place where the baristas were mean to you and it was almost too dark to see anything and honestly, you don’t really know why you kept going now that you’re thinking about it.
D - You used to make your own coffee… you now mourn the many dining dollars lost to this new obsession.
You probably have a bad coffee addiction and can’t even imagine getting anything not insanely caffeinated, but honestly, give your body a break. It needs it, and the Nummit hot chocolate is an absolutely delicious place to start.
Mostly B’s:
A really, really hot black coffee and a chocolate chip cookie
You have very nice, chill energy. Those who live in Little love it, but most everyone else couldn’t find it on campus.
Mostly C’s:
What are your ideal pizza toppings?
A - You’re a cheese purist.
B - Whatever has the most meat.
C - Veggie delight!
D - Classic pepperoni.
Do you listen to music while you do homework?
A - Oh yeah. You cannot function without it.
B - No, but you definitely have noise-canceling headphones on. You need it absolutely silent.
C - Yes, but only instrumental.
D - No, but you’re fine with any sort of ambient noise in the background.
How long does it take you to shower?
A - 15-20 minutes.
B - No more than 5 minutes.
C - Really, it depends on the day.
D - You’re not sure—it’s not like you’ve ever timed yourself.
And finally, how well did/do you and your freshman room mate get along?
A - SO well. You guys are still best friends.
B - You didn’t really talk that much, but really that’s how you preferred it.
C - You guys were the perfect combination of friendly but not friends.
D - Oof. Next question, please!
Iced caramel latte and two slices of avocado toast
My personal favorite recommendation for my favorite people based on this quiz. The Nummit caramel latte has truly changed my lifeprepare yourself.
Mostly D’s:
A weekend brunch with your coffee of choice
You seem like a person with some strong opinions, so I’m giving you the choice of drink. Pair it with a nice breakfast of eggs and toast with some friends for a Sunday debrief - what could possibly be better?
DAVID SOWINSKI (HE/THEY) ‘25 & ANAYA PATEL (ANY PRONOUNS)‘25
In the spirit of being thankful, we want to take this opportunity to spotlight some recent moments of queer joy around the globe.
In Thailand, media mogul Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip just bought the Miss Universe Organization. Jakrajutatip is a trans activist, and has expressed her aims to grow the pageant’s diversity and evolve it for a new generation.
While TikTok has seen its fair share of lesbian drama, we bring news to celebrate: after 4 years of dating, queer South Asian influencers Anjali Chakra and Sufi Malik are now engaged.
In Latin America, Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico have announced their marriage. After meeting as contestants of the 2020 Miss Grand International competition, they dated for years in secret until marrying in October in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Additionally, Mexico’s most populous state, the State of Mexico, has legalized same-sex marriage. It is the country’s 29th state (of 32) to do so, and represents an important step in the departure from Mexico’s historically constrictive governance.
According to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a national organization committed to electing queer and trans candidates, the United States has seen a record 1,065 LGBTQ+ candidates running for office in 2022. For the first time ever, there is at least one LGBTQ+ candidate running for office in every state. Despite queer/ trans-phobic rhetoric from conservative legislators, the LGBTQ+ community has remained resilient and empowered in the face of hate.
Being queer is exceedingly difficult, but if we leave room to celebrate moments and wins like these, it’s easier to be grateful for such a beautiful community that spans the world over.
This past Wildcat Weekend, Armfield was visited by an atypical demographic on Friday and Saturday nights: parents. They seemed to enjoy themselves well enough. Many played pong, danced to “Mr. Brightside,” and stood around aimlessly under the influence. In fact, on Saturday when asked for comment about visiting parents, a campus police officer told me about one father from the previous night who elected to stand with the officers all night long, midnight to F’s 2 A.M. closing. Apparently, this guy was only there to spy on his ex-wife who accompanied her son on his Friday night festiv ities.
My question is: WHY? What could possibly mo tivate a parent to want to see their child drunk, high, or both? What positive gain did these par ents expect to gain from a night out at F with their college-age child? My canvassing of par ents at F on Saturday uncovered a wide range of answers to these (and other unasked) questions. Here are some highlights:
One couple, gripping red solo cups of flat and untouched yellow liquid, told me about how they worried for their son, a first-year student who used to spend his high-school weekends at home playing Scrabble with Mom and Dad. Nowa days, he spends every Friday, Saturday, and Wednesday at F. The mother told me, “He handed me this cup about an hour ago. He said it was his new favorite drink, some beer called Keystone. I took one sip and couldn’t down anoth er drop, but I don’t have the heart to pour it out.”
While I was interviewing the campus police officer on Sat urday, they pointed out the
creepy ex-husband from the night before. How ever, before I could approach the man for a few questions, he tapped the shoulder of an older woman who was standing next to a male student outside SPE. I assumed this was the man’s exwife and his son at first, but when he began to chew her out, I discovered that the student was instead just some random SPE brother hoping to “network.” Thankfully, the conflict did not go further because the SPE brother used his skills as a risk manager to deescalate the situation.
Finally, there was a horde of five blonde children running wild on the premises. I asked the old est-looking one, a fourteen-year-old girl, where their parents were. But before she could answer, one of her brothers complained, “Hey, I’m the oldest! You should be asking me that. She can’t even drive yet! I at least have my learner’s per mit.” A brawl ensued, a classic sibling response. All five kids got involved including a little boy who couldn’t have been more than five-yearsold. And he was succeeding too! He pulled hair, bit earlobes, screamed glass-shattering war cries. That little monster was ferocious. I never did find out where their parents were.
Every year, hundreds of students who really never intend to leave the con tinental United States (except for maybe a week a year at a Cancún resort)/ interact with the sizable Spanish-speak ing population within the United States find themselves falling over the last hur dle between them and that beautiful Ways of Learning checkmark on DegreeWorks: Spanish 201. Consistently shocked to find themselves asked to put in more than 10% brain power to this class, professors and AT leaders count themselves lucky when students string a full sentence together. However, for all the students who normal ly complain about the way in which they would never be able to use the Spanish they’re using in their daily lives, the Span ish department has been cooking up a new curriculum.
“Normally, after the personality trait unit, we move straight into future plans and goals, like what you want to be when you grow up,” said Sally Sunday, ‘24, an AT for 201. “But this year, my professor handed me a new unit: Expressing Deep Grief and Suffering in this Seemingly-Apocalyptic Time.”
When polling current 201 students, it seems that the Spanish department might’ve been on to something–while mo rale is way down, when asked “How applicable is this topic to your life?”, the average stu dent response was a 4.5 on a scale from 1-5, 5 being “most applicable.”
“When telling my roommate about having to go to my grandpa’s funeral, I was able
to talk about how I was ‘sufriendo el duelo’ [grieving] en español,” student Lila Erick son ‘25 said. “She didn’t know what I was saying, but I was glad I had the words to express myself.”
Some students did note the morbidity of the images that were going along with the Qui zlets they found to study the vocab terms. “I wasn’t anticipating ‘The Scream’ painting to show up, but I will say it pairs pretty per fectly with the term ‘crisis existencial’--al though who really needs that hint consider ing it’s a homonym,” Erickson said.
For others, this new unit has actually prov en to totally change their outlook on lan guage learning and commitment to Spanish. “Nunca había pensado que tenía un futuro con español,” said another student, James Jenkins, ‘24. “Pero este capítulo ha cam biado mi punto de vista–ahora, veo que el idioma ofrece otras formas de expresarme y tocar a la emoción profunda que siento en mi espíritu.”
It seems that the Spanish department’s at tempt to keep itself current and applicable in changing times through teaching stu dents how to talk about the overwhelming despair we all feel has been a huge success.
¡Felicitaciones!
Iknow exactly what you’re thinking. This past weekend was pretty alright: raging with dad at F, hauling pee-paw’s wheel chair up and down the hill, and hearing your mom say “I remember when this song was popular back in my day” during every single acapella performance as if retro music hasn’t become mainstream again. But still, there’s something that could’ve made this weekend a thousand times better if only you could just put your finger on it. Chances are that missing thing was my parents, Dave and Kathy. They unfortunately were unable to make it to Wild cat Weekend and are unlikely to be in atten dance at any future Davidson events besides, fingers crossed, my graduation, but don’t let
their absent parenting style fool you—they’re the life of the party. Since everyone, includ ing myself, missed out on their presence, I’ve imagined some situations so you’ll know ex actly what you’re missing.
POV: You’re wearing cute, artsy earrings, holding an iced oat milk latte apple crisp cin namon bun other fall buzzwords frappucci no, and your girlfriend is standing right next to you. “Wait a second,” Kathy falls into a sharp whisper, “are you a…homosexual?” Af ter gasping and then pausing for a very awk ward amount of time, Kathy then decides that you’re not, you’re just a Studio Art major from a wealthy New England family and when you
say “girlfriend” you’re actually using the 1863 version of the word in which you simply mean a friend who is a woman. Dave, on the other hand, wasn’t paying attention this entire time and wants the conversation to end so he can talk about a book he only read the first couple chapters of.
POV: You’re looking sharp, real sharp. Starch white three piece suit with a straw hat sharp. Kathy is excited. Your suit harkens back to the rich colonist history of Southern Louisi ana which she holds so dear. She immediately spews out heartfelt stories of homemade beig nets, sugarcane harvesting, and segregation. Dave has completely wandered off away from
Fallin’
the family, but if he were here, he’d hand you a cigar and give you a good, strong handshake.
POV: You’re another set of parents. Unfortu nately for you, my parents lose all their inhi bitions when meeting other people their age. Dave walks up to your dad and immediately goes, “Hey there, Bubba,” while slapping him on the back as hard as possible. He then talks about the three main male interests: World War II, Roman gladiators, and what’s for din ner, in that order. Kathy is ecstatic to discuss postmenopausal bodily happenings with your mom. Once that conversation is over, she’ll then begin every sentence afterwards with, “In the 70s…”
Picture this: you walk into the gym one morning, and you notice a phone resting on the cubbies, unlocked and open to Spotify. Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” is play ing. You immediately look around the gym to see who might be getting a pump on to this epic soundtrack. You narrow it down to one of the professors (unlocked phone). Your money is on the greying dude cruising on the elliptical next to you. But you’ll never know for sure. The mystery of life!
Note: The Yowl is a satirical supplement to The Davidsonian Hence, nothing in it should be taken as truth.