SEPTEMBER 30 2016

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THE GRAPE

OBERLIN’S ALTERNATIVE STUDENT NEWS SOURCE READ ONLINE AT THEOBERLINGRAPE.COM

Editors-in-Chief

Content Editors

Copy Editors

Ellie Tremayne Caspian Alavi-Flint

Hannah Jackel-Dewhurst Andy Goelzer Taylor Slay Isabel Klein

Hannah Tobin-Bloch Luke Fortney Patrick McCabe Cecilia Wallace

Production Editors Jessica Moskowitz Mikaela Fishman Leora Swerdlow Natalie Hawthorne

EST. 1999

September 30, 2016

Web Editor

Photo Editor

Caro Fernandez

Emma Webster

Staff Writer Kameron Dunbar

DOES THE GRAPE SUCK ASS? LATE NIGHT DETECTIVE AGENCY (IS THIS LEGAL?) On September 25th, Ellie and Caspian received an email to the Grape email account from an unnamed sender with the subject line, “segment idea.” Naturally we were excited, unsolicited ideas are always welcome and we love emails here.

Who is this from? We asked each other, our eyes widening to the size of bowls of watery soup. We started an investigation.

First we located the IP address by pressing “show original” in the drop down menu by “reply,” which yields something like this: bh=SECoY9oMW9bhaslkrhf+skjo78sd9: message:-state; s=2989473 d=le2004 :to; br0A== 48dUsstP0;5== etc...

subject:

Within that we were are able to figure out that the email was drafted at 2:37pm and sent to us through a series of public IP address locations in 1 second.

(Here is what the IP address looks like: Received: from [132.***66.17] (ip-66-17.wireless.oberlin.edu.

[132.***.66.17])

You can’t find out the identity of the user with this address because it is private domain, but you can find their general location.

Ok so what we get from this now is that they are forsure from Oberlin because they used the oberlin wireless system (Duh).

Is this illegal?

The truth is, we’re not mad, we aren’t even offended, we are just curious. In the long run, who sent is is not what matters. What matters is that someone is upset and we are here to address the complaint. This is how we decided to handle the situation

Now we reach the challenge. An IP address is like a gps coordinate so it should lead us to the “access point” of the internet user. The only challenge with this is that Obie Wifi is everywhere so the access point could be anywhere on the the entirety of Oberlin College (Um ok). With this IP address we were able to find the actual latitude and longitude of where the sender was when they sent emails using this particular wireless system.

On September 9th, the sender sent an e-mail on Morgan st. by the cemetery.

On September 25th the sender sent an emails from a house wedged between Prospect and Elm St and then again on September 28th.

On September 2nd, the sender sent an email from the Conservatory Library, etc...

On September 29th, we received another email from Dainty Big, this time from a location on Colony St., explaining how they felt about our response. They were very impassioned.

We appreciate that in journalism.

Thank You Dainty Big.

Ellie and Caspian are here as mediators.

We want you to feel safe reaching out to us about any complaints or ideas you might have. We will not laugh at you, we won’t report you to the school, we won’t even do this tracking thing again. The last thing we want is to make anyone feel uncomfortable or unsafe because of a piece of content we have published.

We just want to do our best to facilitate dialogue in an among the community so that we can all share our ideas and information respectfully.

If you want to see a change in the way we are going about our publishing, or you want to see an article written about a cause you’re are impassioned about, email thegrape@oberlin.edu and come to our writers meetings every sunday after the paper comes out in Wilder!

We love you Oberlin Community.

This is as far as we can go with the information provided in the header script.

Still we ask, who sent it? Who’s back yard we’re peering into when we look at google earth images of the addresses provided by the IP tracker systems? Are we creepy?

Thinking of you always, Your Co-Editor and Chiefs, Ellie and Caspian <3

PROVING ALUMNI WRONG

STUDENTS ORGANIZE THEIR OWN OPEN DISCOURSE

By Jake Berstein and Caro Fernandez Contributors

The word “anti-Semitic” has been thrown around Oberlin campus a little more than usual over the past few weeks. If you were confused as to why there were a bunch of adults wandering around campus or if you saw a poster of Jerry Seinfeld with the title “What’s the Deal with Anti-Semitism,” you aren’t alone. In order to understand the situation more fully, Jake Berstein interviewed the head of Oberlin Alums for Campus Fairness (OACF) and attended their event, while Caro Fernandez attended the student protest and interviewed members of student organizations such as Students for a Free Palestine and ABUSUA (Oberlin’s Black Student Organization). The article will be divided into those two sections–Jake and his experience with the Alums for Campus Fairness and Caro’s coverage of the student-organized protest and discussion. Note that many students did not feel comfortable sharing their names or being directly quoted in this article for fear of being reported to the Canary Mission, a website that blacklists proBDS and pro-Palestinian activists.

A few months ago, a small group of concerned alumni contacted Melissa Landa (’86), the self-proclaimed contact person for the Oberlin Alums

for Campus Fairness, and said that they’d like to have a symposium at Oberlin to discuss anti-semitism on campus. They agreed to use the money that they had been withholding from Oberlin for the past few years to fund the event. The result was a symposium entitled “Building a Hate-Free Campus Through Civil Discourse.”

According to Landa, her organization is “working towards addressing antiSemitism and the suppression of free speech at Oberlin and the intimidation of students.” Throughout my very long interview with Landa, she repeated, “We’re not here to talk about politics, ” even after I questioned whether this issue could even be separated from politics. To her and her organization, this is a conversation about the lack of nuance and lack of respect surrounding the anti-Semitism conversation. “We keep saying,” she continued, “You’re not hearing it…there’s no support on campus for the students.

They don’t feel that there’s a place that they can go where they can be supported, so they either transfer, keep quiet, or in some instances have their views changed.”

According to Landa, OACF has 64 pages of personal accounts from people who have experienced anti-Semitism here at Oberlin, and two explicit accounts of

students transferring because of antiSemitism. According to an anonymous source who spoke to one of the few administrators ever to see this document, it starts all the way back in the 1980s. She has not made this document public, and her history of distorting facts and lying

And second, SFP does not even have an official leader. Now, before we continue to discuss the legitimacy of her claims and the tactics her organization has employed, you need to understand two things.

The first is something that I, a pro-Palestine Jew, only came to really

“[LANDA’S] HISTORY OF

DISTORTING FACTS AND LYING DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR THE LEGITAMACY OF HER CLAIMS.” does not bode well for the legitimacy of her claims. For example, following the symposium, she mentioned in a Facebook status that “The head of SFP was furious and upset and asked why we didn’t invite SFP and ABUSUA to the symposium.”

First, no representatives from SFP were present at the symposium because they were too busy having a separate opendialogue about these issues with actual perspectives from students on campus.

understand a few days ago: Many Jews, as a result of their education, family, history, and tradition, express their Jewish identities through their relationship with Israel. While in a lot of ways that connection is inherently political, it has to be recognized that for some, their Judaism cannot be separated from Israel. Not the Israeli occupation, not the Israeli Continued on page 4

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THE GRAPE

Continued from page 3

government or their actions, but the shared land that some call Palestine and others call Israel. So what does that mean? When Israel is demonized beyond appropriate political critique, like it can sometimes be on this campus, some people feel like their Judaism is being attacked. This leads to my second point, there seems to be a lack of consideration on campus for those students who, right or wrong, do hold this connection to be true. That doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that critiques of Israel should be banned or labelled anti-Semitic, but it does mean that this conversation should be conducted with the nuance and respect for peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s religious identities that it deserves.

Landa, with the backing of Alums for Campus Fairness, put on this event which, at its core, is about â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;civil-discourse.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; This is problematic for several reasons if we understand our recent history with the Oberlin alumni. In December of last year, they put out a public letter signed by around 200 alumni, some faculty, and 20 Jewish students, citing written and spoken reports of anti-Semitism on campus calling on the administration to document and investigate these reports. Landa led that initiative and administered the closed Facebook group that put the whole letter together. 20 Jewish Oberlin students out of roughly 1,000 signed their names on the letter. While Landa claims that the low number is a result Jewish students fearing social ostracization and harassment, others argue that the low number is actually representative of the problem with OACF. According to Josh Koller of Student Senate, some students actually wanted to pull their names from the letter because they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t agree with it and didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like the tactics employed by the group. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Alums for Campus Fairness did not handle it well,â&#x20AC;? says Koller, â&#x20AC;&#x153;students were verbally berated and were actually harassed.â&#x20AC;?

Students immediately complained the alumni were speaking for them, and even bullying them. That sounds a lot like the complaint from the other side, doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it? Koller goes further, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The real danger is that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re unwilling to hear other viewpoints, and they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want them to be shared.â&#x20AC;? Again, very reminiscent of Landaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concerns. Where Landa falls short is that she fails to recognize that her narrative, the pro-Israel-BDS-is-Anti-Semitic narrative, is the dominant narrative here in the American Jewish community, and that her associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tactics promote neither honesty nor open-dialogue. To Koller, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The real danger is that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re unwilling to hear other viewpoints, and they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want them to be shared.â&#x20AC;?

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

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Meanwhile, student organizations such as Students for a Free Palestine (SFP) and ABUSUA organized a protest to this event. A member of ABUSUA stated that their main issue with the Alumni event was â&#x20AC;&#x153;that the student body feels this as an encroachment on student sovereignty.â&#x20AC;? The Alums for Campus Fairness has the monetary means and the political power to effect change within the sphere of Oberlin College,whether it be in the administration, funding,

Hours before the protest, the students heard that the Alums for Campus Fairness hired videographers to videotape the student protesters. The protesters decided that they â&#x20AC;&#x153;did not want to bait the alumsâ&#x20AC;? and to avoid any possibility of their protest being used by the alums to cast the students in a negative light, the protest transformed into an open dialogue amongst the students. Approximately one hundred students gathered together around the fire pit in Tappan, and

â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE ALUMNI GROUP IS POLICING OUR ACTIVISM AND THEREFORE SILENCING US.â&#x20AC;? or various events, all of which directly affect the student body. The student body feels that their values and the values of the Alumni Association are not in alignment, thus there is an encroachment on student sovereignty. The Alumni Association holds a certain privilege and influence in the politics of Oberlin; they are claiming their actions are beneficial for the student body, though the students do not feel justly represented. A member of SFP said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Alumni group is policing our activism and therefore silencing us.â&#x20AC;? Further, the Alumni Association continues to use their influence to attract national media attention, ushering in even more voices from outside of the campus. When pressed on this issue at the symposium, the speaker suggested that students who feel like they are being spoken for should simply go on other national media outlets and defend themselves. Why didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t we think of that?

The Alumni claim the event is about open discourse, but it has been so poorly advertised that very few students even knew when and where the event was being held. Also, in order to get a spot on campus to hold an event, the group needed to get student support from at least one student organization, and the Alums for Campus Fairness failed to receive this support. Yet the event still occurred. A member of ABUSUA said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;So many student groups have said we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want them here, they still came, and worse, they are speaking for us.â&#x20AC;?

had their own discussion. The protest began with several students reading the response written by SFP, ABUSUA, and Student Senate, drafted in response to the organization of the Alums for Campus Fairness event. The students then began to speak openly about their religious, cultural, and spiritual identities, and what we see as our rights to facilitate a healthy and respectful community. Several students voiced their opinion that the Alums for Campus Fairness do not respect the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; desires, yet they continue to speak for the students. A member of SFP stated, â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are branding their event as an â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;open dialogue,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; but they are not incorporating student voices.â&#x20AC;? There is an intense power struggle between the alums and the students, and a student says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be trampled over.â&#x20AC;?

While the events surrounding the symposium were wrought with tension and conflict, what came of them was campus unity, open dialogue and actual civil discourse. Had the ACF not inserted themselves into this campus conversation, an open discourse may never have been achieved. All in all, the event led to an open, insightful conversation of identity on the Oberlin campus, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Many conversations go unhad on this campus because people fear the social consequences of engaging in unpopular narratives, and that is a problem much deeper than one event, POF PSHBOJ[BUJPO PS POF QSPUFTU t

EVERY BUTT ON A BIKE

FROM THE INTERWORKINGS OF SWERVE BIKE SHOP

By Mason Krehbiel-Boutis Contributor

With the exception of those whose seats have been stolen (apparently the bike seat market is really happening), a great number of Oberlin students spend their transitory time with their butts on bicycles. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no inherent problem with this; in fact the sea of Blundstoneclad feet propelling flattening tires across a path of crunchy, freshly-turned leaves is a visual that I am eagerly anticipating with the arrival of fall. I find, though, that there are some crucial questions to be asked with regard to the bike community here at our dear college. I decided to bring these thoughts to my workplace where, as the only student, my coworkers repeatedly tell me, â&#x20AC;&#x153;These are your people,â&#x20AC;? in sarcastic disgust.

Now with that notion in hand, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to take a moment to point out that I am not at all separating myself from the Oberlin community. I simply want to bring into view the perspective of a few people who work closely with many students in providing bikes, our beloved methods of transportation.

1. WHY CANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? IF WE CANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T, WHY CANâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T WE JUST ALL LOCK OUR BIKES? One of my teachers in high school lived by the notion that he trusted our community enough that he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to lock his bike, as he thought that action alone defeated the purpose of communal space.

Although this idea is supposedly idyllic, it may not be the most rational, or, as many of you know, the most realistic. The hopes of living in an intentionally honest community are extremely valid, but unfortunately many of us have found ourselves walking out of class, running out of our dorm, or peacefully exiting the Local to find that our

two-wheeled best buddies have vacated the premises. We then proceed, post-frantic searching, to slump to our next destination, or simply decide that today is not our day and go back to our rooms to hide from all of humanity.

There is a simple solution to this desperate odyssey. Put a lock on your bike! Preferably a Kryptonite U-lock (the really strong ones that wire cutters canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get). Kryptonite locks allow you to register your specific lock on their website for insurance in the offchance your bike gets swiped anyways.

2. WHEN WILL WE LEARN EVEN THE SMALLEST THING ABOUT OUR BIKES? I am truly not intended this question to be rude, but the way I see it is if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re entrusting your timeliness (and safety) to a piece of steel or aluminum, it would be handy to know a few things about it first. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean to say everyone should become a bike expert. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m certainly not.

I do, however, envision a future in which students donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come into Swerve with backwards handlebars saying their bike is broken, or potentially even one in which I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to explain that tubes are not the same thing as tires.

So with that being said, if you roll over broken glass and get a flat tire never fear, Swerve is here! Most likely all you need is a new tube (the inflatable doughnut that lives inside your tire â&#x20AC;&#x201C; trust me, you have one).

3. WHY DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T PEOPLE FOLLOW ANY RULES OF THE ROAD WHILE BIKING? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll admit it. I truly love walking through Tappan and seeing how many people are out riding their bikes (even if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just go-

ing from place to place). What I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t love, however, is seeing the mobs of swerving wheels intermingled with scurrying feet moving across the road in between speeding cars. I can guarantee you that even though it would be nice for all vehicles to stop and let us pass with a friendly wave, cars and trucks donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t actively want to hit you. They will though if you assume that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re invincible and roll right into their way. I promise you that your Fjallraven backpack is not a force-field and is no defender against the 35mph speed coming down West Lorain.

Similarly, as a cyclist, the laws you should be following are much more closely tied to those of auto traffic than of pedestrians. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in the road, you wait for the light to change. Also many of our streets have bike lanes, which are most certainly a wonderful privilege to have! Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re like the megaslow version of a carpool lane. Last but not least, the amount of lights I have seen on student bikes is so minimal. Unless you legitimately find joy in scaring the life out of someone driving (or even walking), please get lights for your bike. Cyclist visibility is all the rage these days.

If you do get into a wreck, be it with a car, another bike, a pedestrian, a squirrel, or really anything that could send you tumbling over your handlebars, come into the bike shop or go to the bike co-op to get a check-up. Just like you take care of your body if it gets hurt, you should also pay mind to your sweet bicycle that more than likely took the brunt of the impact for you. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always happy to look it over and re-adjust your brakes, true your wheel (make it spin on a straight trajectory), and anything else that might need a little TLC. So to all of you bike-friendly people out there, go forth and cycle. Wear a helmet, put some air in your tires, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to visit us at Swerve, even if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just UP TFF UIF TIPQ EPHT t

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THE GRAPE

ELECTION CONNECTION 2016

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

By Emma Davey Contributor

Hello, my name is Emma Davey, and I am already sick of this election. I was sick of the election about a year ago, and we have a couple more months left. Why is the presidential election cycle so long? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know, but what I do know is that there is still a whole lot left to discuss, and I have deemed myself worthy of doing so in this public forum. Why me? Great question, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still working out with my therapist! Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a Politics major, so I hopefully have some idea of what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m talking about. Right now, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in three Politics classes, INCLUDING one about American elections, which means Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m already spending a good chunk of my time thinking about this stuff anyways. Sex and the City has given me the expectation that by writing just one measly column I will be able to support a thirst for Manolo Blahniks, which means Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m counting on The Grape to sustain my American Apparel addiction.

Enough about me. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what you need to know about how much longer you have to hear about the candidate whom my Italian friends have referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Little Orange Mussolini.â&#x20AC;? Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re pretty much in the home stretch at this point. Election day is November 8th. We are all lucky to be in Ohio for this election because for the past bazillion (ok, twelve) elections, no one has won the presidency without winning Ohio. We have 18 electoral college votes. To put it in perspective, California has fifty-five, and Rhode Island has four. There are a total of 538 votes. A candidate needs 270 to win. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spent Labor Day Weekend in Ohio; Hillary in Cleveland,

â&#x20AC;&#x153;FOR THE PAST BAZILLION (OK, TWELVE) ELECTIONS, NO ONE HAS WON THE PRESIDENCY WITHOUT WINNING OHIO.â&#x20AC;? the Donald in the Youngstown area. Polls show a close race between them, though the Trump campaign has certainly had some recent Ohio stumbles. The relationship between Donald Trump and governor John Kasich has been somewhat acrimonious, with The Donald failing to receive an endorsement, or even campaign help, from Kasich. This is on top of an Ohio-based RNC staffer leaving due to a conflict with Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ohio campaign manager. As for Hillary, it appears that her campaign is opening up an office in downtown Oberlin.

But itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just the presidential election that we need to focus on. There is also a congressional election that we need to pay attention to. Although the presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s job is obviously pretty important, they have an easier time getting things done when their party is in control of Congress. Currently, 16 of the 33 representatives Ohio has are up for reelection. We are a part of Ohioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fourth district, which is represented by Jim Jordan. Wikipedia informs me that in the third season of Glee, Sue Sylvester ran against Kurtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dad for this seat. Tbh, I might rather have Sue Sylvester represent us than Jim Jordan. He is a member of the Freedom Caucus, aka the Tea Party. This district is a great example of the kind of wackadoo borders we get thanks to gerrymandering, a fancy word for the political process of handing politicians markers and having them scribble all over the map like two-year-olds. Basically, districts are redrawn every ten years, and politicians draw the borders to best favor a particular party or group of people. Jordan is running against Janet Garrett, who says sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for creating green jobs, promoting debt-free education at all public universities, and protecting voting rights. We also have a senator, Rob Portman, who is up for reelection. He seems to be your average conservative dude. Former Democratic governor Ted Strickland is his opponent, and he is currently trailing Portman in the polls right now.

Well, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all the time I have for this week. Time for me to head on over to Mudd and finish readings that also involve politics because I Love PoliUJDT 'FFM GSFF UP TFOE TPNF EBSL DIPDPMBUF UP 0$.3 t ART BY HANNAH TISHKOFF

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

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THE BIBLE SAID â&#x20AC;&#x153;ADAM AND EVE,â&#x20AC;?

SO I DID BOTH

By Sydney Livingston Contributor

Note: The phrase â&#x20AC;&#x153;bi+â&#x20AC;? typically refers to the bisexual community, as well as related sexual orientations such as pansexuality. It is sometimes used interchangeably with the broader label of â&#x20AC;&#x153;polysexuality,â&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;the attraction to multiple genders.â&#x20AC;?

When I walked into the Multicultural Resource Center on September 21st, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expect to see so many bi+ people in one place. Neither did the coordinators of the Oberlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first bi+ social gathering in recent years. Based on the amount of pizza they purchased from Lorenzoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s for the event, they expected around twenty people. Roughly fifty showed up. It was a noveltyâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;fifty bisexual, pansexual, and similarly identified people in the same place! I had never experienced anything even remotely similar.

Usually we just skulk around in solemn anonymity.

However, this past week was Bisexual Visibility Week. For a glorious seven days a year, bisexual people come crawling out of the woodwork, proudly proclaiming their love of multiple genders and making bisexual puns. Our week of recognition usually is acknowledged within the bi+ community through a few Facebook posts and messages of affirmation, but rarely is it deemed relevant to the straight and gay communities. But for the first time in years, someone took the initiative to organize a social for the wandering, unconsolidated flock of bisexuals.

Packed into the MRC, we formed circles and discussed topics that are relevant to the bisexual experience at Oberlin. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What labels do you use?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;How inclusive do you feel the LGBTIA+ community is of bi+ people on this campus?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your celebrity crush?â&#x20AC;?

Side note: Discussing celebrity crushes with bi+ people is fun because nobody is off limits. Mine is Angelina Jolie, who also happens to be bisexual and now single. Statistically, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a chance that will happen. It may be small, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technically possible.

To the monosexual bystander, this niche interest pizza party may not seem particularly special. Identity solidarity groups on campus gather all the time, and Oberlin itself is renowned for its queer-friendly culture. But even though queer groups occasionally mobilize on campus, polysexual groups rarely organize events for bisexual, pansexual, and other polysexual orientations. The LGBTIA+ culture on campus seems geared toward gay and lesbian people, without consideration for the bi+ community.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not necessarily anybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fault. Rather, this erasure of identity commonly called â&#x20AC;&#x153;bisexual invisibilityâ&#x20AC;? is more of a societally ingrained oversight of the entire queer community.

No, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a superpower. Bisexual invisibility, also known as bisexual erasure, is the pervasive and regular denial of the existence of bisexual people. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the basis for stereotypes about polysexual people, of which there are a plethora. But while this problem of erasure plagues a variety of polysexual groups, it has gained notoriety as the primary method of degrading and eliminating the bisexual community in the public eye. This bias also fuels the problem of both straight and queer communities

â&#x20AC;&#x153;FOR A GLORIOUS SEVEN DAYS A YEAR, BISEXUAL PEOPLE COME CRAWLING OUT OF THE WOODWORK.â&#x20AC;? questioning the legitimacy of bisexuality as a sexual orientation.

This denial of the existence of bisexual people is particularly bizarre considering how many of us exist. According to a study released in 2011 by the Williams Institute, anywhere between 0.7% and 3.1% of Americans identify as bisexual. For just one segment of the queer population, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a large percentage. We are not uncommon, just unrecognized. Many of us pass as straight or gay, so much so that often polysexual people can pass each other on Wilder Bowl and not know that they have something in common: the people they love.

Perhaps thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why the bi+ social was so well attended. In addition to the novelty of a social event exclusively for polysexual students, there are just so damn many of us looking for each other. Bisexual and pansexual students alike emerged to witness the first bi+ event held at Oberlin in years. Hopefully itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the first of many to come. The bi+ community would benefit from the validation of further communal events and productive discourse on how to fight biphobia. It would be a step in the right direction toward eliminating bi+ discrimination from both the gay and straight communities, or, at the very least, it would allow us to come together and take off our metaphorical invisibility cloaks, even if just for an hour while we eat pizza and NFFU FBDI PUIFS t

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THE GRAPE

REVIEW OF FLORIST

A â&#x20AC;&#x153;DREAMY POP-PUNK FRIENDSHIP BANDâ&#x20AC;?

By Eliana Carter and Casey Redcay Contributers

On September 16th, a Sunday evening, we met Emily, Rick, and Jonnie of Florist in the back room of the Cat in the Cream. We first became acquainted last spring, laying by the water at the Arb, high, passing a speaker back and forth between us to feel the vibrations of their music under our chins, staring up at the starry sky, and thinking of our childhood memories and about being all grown up now and far away from home.

Florist is a Brooklyn-based band originating in the Catskills who came to us on a three-day weekend tour around Ohio. Their thoughts on Ohio include, as the charming lead singer Emily Sprague put it, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never played here before so now we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to for another four years!â&#x20AC;?

Our first question, prompted by their name, was what their favorite flowers were. After some thought, Emily told us that she likes babyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s breath, and then proceeded to enthusiastically describe them to Jonnie, who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what they were. Every question we asked them was greeted with sweet excitement and endearing awkwardness (or maybe the awkwardness was our own, but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to think it was mutual).

They are described as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;dreamy pop-punk friendship band,â&#x20AC;? which seems appropriate, because they remind me of a group of neighborhood kids whom you might see riding around on their bikes or kicking rocks into the creek by your house.

The deeply personal lyrics of their songs, all of which are written by Emily, are equal parts endearing and evocative. They are overwhelmingly sincere, sweet, relatable, and often heartbreaking. In the past year they have released both a six-song EP (Holdly) and a full-length album (The Birds Outside Sang).

Even though the EP was released first, the full length was recorded before it. Emily describes the EP as a more fleshed-out portrait of the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sound dealing

Illustration by Eliana Carter and Casey Redcay

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

8

with themes of childhood and simply trying to figure life out. The album is a more personal reflection on a specific time in Emilyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, a meditation on pain, death, and recovery, where rays of hope also shine through.

The audience seemed mesmerized as they played their dreamy tunes; a comforting wave of nostalgia slid over the crowd. People were seen holding hands, leaning their heads on each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoulders to emotional lines like â&#x20AC;&#x153;please remember to feed the cat / please remember Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m never coming back.â&#x20AC;?

For their song, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank You,â&#x20AC;? the three set down their basses and guitars and Emily recited the lyrics backed by sparse synth accompaniment. The song recounts an accident that left her badly injured, the haunting synth beats reminiscent of a heart monitor.

The heavy, tragic lines (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really grateful for the people Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met but that wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make me die any lessâ&#x20AC;?) are balanced by moments of hope (â&#x20AC;&#x153;This beautiful thing happens every day / Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s called the sun, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s called my blood, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only thing making us want to be aliveâ&#x20AC;?).

Despite the intensity of some of their subject matter, we left the concert feeling lighter than before. With their sense of childlike wonder, Florist successfully brought us back to a time â&#x20AC;&#x153;when a swimming pool BOE B IPUFM SPPN XFSF B HJGU GSPN (PE w t

WOBC SHOW SPOTLIGHT FEATURING: VERKLEMPT!

By Olive Sherman and Matt Loreti Contributors

To kick off The Grapeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s WOBC Spotlight this year, I thought, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whom better to talk to than the station manager herselfâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the one and onlyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Arcadia Rom-Frank?â&#x20AC;? Arcadia is a seasoned station vet, having had a show every semester since the second semester of her freshman year. (Fun fact/shameless plug: Arcadia and I once had a show together! If you feel up to it, go scour through old Radioactivity logs and look for DEMOlitionâ&#x20AC;Ś) However, with such a long tenure at the station, this semester Arcadia found herself in a programming rut. Did she really want

to host another punk show? Did WOBC need another punk show? Maybe. But that was no longer Arcadiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jurisdiction.

Entering senior year she decided to strike out for uncharted waters, and in time she found something greaterâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;she found klezmer. Why klezmer? Because it makes her happy; because she wants to leave WOBC with something fresh; because a klezmer band performed at her bat mitzvah. Catch her show, Verklemptâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;perhaps WOBCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first-ever entirely klezmer radio hourâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;at 7 PM UIJT 4BUVSEBZ t

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT DANCER, NATE BOLDYGA

By Marissa Maxfield Contributor

Nate Boldyga, a third-year at Oberlin, is the head of Koreo Freestyle. When heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not slaying the dance floor, he can be found solving math equations, making saves for the club soccer team, and skating in the few parking lots on campus where itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s allowed. He first started dancing in the eighth grade, when listening to music led him to discover his natural sense of rhythm. After watching videos on YouTube of specific dancers and moves he liked, he taught himself the skills and incorporated them into his freestyle.

Nate freestyles to a few songs every day, as well as additional weekly sessions of Koreo practice, where he works on sharpening his old moves and mastering new ones. EDM is his favorite genre to dance to, as it compliments his robotic style. His best performances, however, flow from moments of inspiration. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I want to clear my head or do something creative or fun, then Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll dance. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really

â&#x20AC;&#x153;WHY KLEZMER? BECAUSE IT MAKES HER HAPPY; [...]

BECAUSE A KELZMER BAND PERFORMED AT HER BAT MITZVAHâ&#x20AC;?

cool, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cause I can do it at parties and at the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sco. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s when Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just grooving and really having fun with it.â&#x20AC;?

Freestyle, as opposed to traditional choreography, has several advantages.

Learning choreography can be rewarding, but it is only one dance to one song. The creativity factor is what initially drew him to freestyle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have this natural ability to feel the beat of a song in my body,â&#x20AC;? said Nate. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Freestyle is convenient. Why learn the choreography of a song when you can feel the music on your own?â&#x20AC;?

Now that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the leader of Koreo Freestyle, Nate hopes to pass on his expertise to some of the newer members. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m teaching one of the new kids my style, and learning a new style with another kid.

For my technique, I focus on isolations, and for the other one, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m learning to breakdance.â&#x20AC;?

His favorite memory with dance was the first Koreo show of his freshman year.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was the first time I performed in front of more than, like, fifty people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; [I think it was] about 100. It was a new experience, and it was really cool that so many people were impressed with something thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just part of my everyday life.â&#x20AC;?

Nate plans to build up a solid portfolio and a possible fan base, with the hope of dancing professionally after graduating. Fans can stay updated through his YouTube channel (Nathan Boldyga), which features new content weekly or biweekly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m at a point where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m good enough to create content that people will want to Photo Credit John Seyfried (taken from The view.â&#x20AC;?

Student Dance Showcase Facebook page) What Nate loves most about dance is its freedom and creativity, and how it can be done anywhere need is music. Dance is about interpreting and anytime. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My favorite hobby is super music for yourself, and channeling your accessible, which is awesomeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all you PSJHJOBMJUZ BT B DBUBMZTU GPS FYQSFTTJPO w t

9

THE GRAPE

A CONVERSATION WITH AMI DANG OBERLIN ALUM, TIMARA MAJOR, PERFORMS AT THE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;SCO

By Nick Vachon Contributer

Last Thursday, Ami Dang, OC â&#x20AC;&#x2122;06, played an intimate and all too brief show at the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sco. She mesmerized those in attendance with her sitar playing, and at one point even descended into the crowd. Featuring her digitally processed sitar and a backing band composed of the traditional rock setup (guitar, drum kit, bass), Dang has created a truly unique sound. While the accompaniment of a rock band seems to suggest that her work is a simple fusion of East and West, Dang stressed that â&#x20AC;&#x153;everything is the Other, and nothing is the Other; there is no East and there is no West.â&#x20AC;?

Amrita Dang herself is an alum of Oberlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Technology in Music and Related Art Program, or TIMARA for short. Born and based in the Baltimore area, she has recently released her debut album, Uni Sun. Dang, by her own admission, didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come from musical stock. Neither of her parents are musicians. Besides her solo project, Dang also plays in the post-punk band Indole, experimental folk duo Silk Slag, and electroacoustic group Raw Silk.

a instrument. My mom was the kind of mom that would at 10:30 at night would say to me â&#x20AC;&#x153;have you practiced yet?â&#x20AC;? and I said â&#x20AC;&#x153;noâ&#x20AC;? and she would say â&#x20AC;&#x153;you need to practice for half an hourâ&#x20AC;? and I would fall asleep playing sitar. I took private instruction for a few years at that age. At a certain point she was pretty clued in to the fact that I was not that excited and she asked me if I wanted to quit, and I was like â&#x20AC;&#x153;yeah.â&#x20AC;?

N.V.: Finally!

A.D.: Yeah, exactly. I stopped for another three years and then I kind of came back to it on my own â&#x20AC;Ś I was at that point getting into making and writing music.

[When I] came to Oberlin, [I] didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really study sitar formally. I did do a semester abroad in Delhi and have a guru who Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve studied with over the last few years kind of intensively but in an episodic way whenever I went to Delhi.

Nicholas Vachon: When did you start playing sitar?

N.V.: So sort of on the topic of Oberlin, how do you think Oberlin in general but the TIMARA program specifically influenced you musically? Were you planning on being an independent recording artist before?

Ami Dang: I grew up outside of Baltimore, I started playing when I was about twelve. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come from a musical family, but my mom always wanted to play music and study Dance but that wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really something she had the option of doing. She found out that there was a sitar teacher in the Baltimore area, and she said to me, â&#x20AC;&#x153;do you want to play sitar?â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;Ś and I said yes. It was always an uphill battle from there. I really didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like it, not so much that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like the instrument itself, but the discipline and rigor of playing

A.D.: Not really... all of it kind of was happenstance for me. I got into Oberlin off of the wait list, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t apply to the conservatory, although I was looking at music schools in high school â&#x20AC;Ś Unlike I think a lot of people come here from high school and are already sort of punk or in a counter culture, but I was honestly just a preppy choir girl in high school. I came here and I was like, â&#x20AC;&#x153;whoa, this feels right, this feels like the kind of place I want to be.â&#x20AC;?

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really know how it happened, I got really lucky in that I got into

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

10

the TIMARA 200 level class which is where the freshmen start out their first semester. I auditioned for it and I already had some experience with pro tools and recording music. I talked up the world music thing. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really hard for non-conservatory students or nonTIMARA majors to get into classes, and I was very lucky because I basically started the major even though I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t in the major, and that my freshman year I applied to be in the major. As far as influences, I was definitely not exposed to contemporary composition or experimental music until I got here and was immediately exposed to conceptual music and really groundbreaking work and was really affected by it in a way I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know before that.

N.V.: What do you think some of your influences are?

A.D.: Growing up, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get away from the soundscape that was in my household which was Bollywood on vinyl, Indian classical music on vinyl, particularly vocal classical music, or whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s referred to as classical light in the Indian music world, which is what my parents were into. When I started playing sitar, I was, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to say forced, but very encouraged to listen to instrumental music. I grew up in a Sikh family, so I grew up singing religious music so that definitely has been a huge influence on my music. And like everything else along the way, 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house music, pop music, and coming here and being super influenced by all the minimalist composers you can think of, of course Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass, I feel like this is the cannon â&#x20AC;Ś I think when I left Oberlin I was kind of going the route of multimedia art installation. I collaborated with

dancers a lot when I was here. I kind of decided to make pop music. I was way more influenced by going to concerts and connecting with a band on a stage.

N.V.: Going forward, you very recently released an album, are you even thinking about a next project?

A.D.: Oh yeah, so this album kind of took way too long to come out, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m close to having another album finished.

So Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pretty excited to get that one out. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been performing these songs for a little while. My previous album came out in 2011 and most of the songs on this current album were mostly finished by 2013 or 14 so â&#x20AC;Ś Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also recently this year been playing music with a lot of other people, and all of a sudden I find myself in four bands.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in a band right now that sort of a post-punk fem band with five of my girlfriends. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like five thirty to forty, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sorry six thirty to forty-year-old women, I should say 29 to forty-yearold women. And my partner and I have an experimental folk duo, bass and sitar with two vocalists. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m also in a more experimental electronic acoustic project with my friend Alexa who plays cello and I play sitar and sing. Sort of more long form head trip jams kind of thing.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been really exciting to be playing so much. My project with the cellist is called Raw Silk, my project with my partner is called Silk Slag, and the band with a bunch of my girlfriends, women friends should I say, is called Indole.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just really exciting to be playing a lot of music, it also is really hectic; I have a full time job so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like kind of PWFSXIFMNJOH t

A NEWFOUND LOVE

FINDING HAPPINESS IN THE SILLY WORLD OF PUPPETS

By Sally Slade Contributor

This semester Margaret Brock’s “Puppet Cabaret” ExCo is changing my life, and I want everyone to know.

I’ve realized in my time at Oberlin that it’s really hard for myself and other students to find outlets to be creative and silly. But after just one class it

Photo Credit Sally Slade

became very clear to me that puppets are the most incredible outlet for creation, performance and general silliness. On the first day of class, I could barely contain my happiness watching a bunch of college students practice making paper bag puppets breathe, cough, sneeze and laugh. We build puppets, perform with them, talk about the elements of performance and essential rules of puppetry (i.e. always know where your puppets eyes are, never let your puppet “die” by ending its movement).

Mostly, we just have a good time dedicating ourselves to an art form that combines silliness, creativity, and performance all while creating a dynamic energy. Margaret has introduced us to all sorts of puppet work like rod puppets, hand puppets, finger puppets, and shadow work, and we watch all sorts of videos of puppeteers like Ms. Pussycat, Sandy Spieler, Laura Heit, and more.

The teacher of the class, Margaret, told me about how around ten years ago she was

living in rural Minnesota and had been experimenting with her own figure making process, and a puppet company called Heart of t h e Beast happened to do a two week residency in her community. That’s where she got involved in the professional side of things. She met her long-time friend, Sandy Spieler (the artistic director of Heart of the Beast), around this time, and she showed her how powerful working with puppets can be. For Margaret, a lot of the power comes from the creative problem solving process of bringing a performance and characters together. Starting from a small personal story and physically building characters, sets, items, songs, and making it all work into a performance is an incredible journey. Margaret told me a lot of her work becomes autobiographical and stems from her own personal stories into much bigger and more elaborate narratives. Something unique about working with puppets in our age group is the potential for complex, relevant, and adult

stories. I’ve been having a great time exploring all of my puppets idiosyncrasies, habits, voices, and backstories and I’m so excited to see the ways in which we involve our lives at Oberlin into the puppet world.

This class is like nothing else I have done at Oberlin, and I feel so grateful to Margaret and our class to have found a space to be playful and creative. I’ve even started to make my own puppets outside of class and collaborate with some other students who aren’t in the class but are equally interested. It’s really the most time I’ve dedicated to being creative since I’ve been at Oberlin and it’s truly making me so happy! Some of the puppets I’ve made are beyond anything I could have imagined, and it’s all thanks to this class. I’m hopeful that this EexCco is going to turn into a lot more for me and that others will be compelled to delve into the sometime strange world of Puppets. Be sure to look out for some projects and performances in the upcoming months!

Thank you Margaret and the 1VQQFU $BCBSFU DMBTT t

THE GRAPE JUICE THE GRAPE HAS A PODCAST?! WHAAAAT?!

By Hannah Tobin-Bloch and Nick Ginsburg Copy Editor and Podcast Hosts Hey! We have a podcast now.

What?!?!? The Grape is happy to welcome its new podcast companion, The Grape Juice! Hosted by Hannah Tobin-Bloch (a copy editor) and Nick Ginsburg (a cool dude Hannah roped into this), The Grape Juice covers anything and everything you wanted to see The Grape print but it couldn’t because it made more sense in audio form. Some segments you might hear include “Things That Are Soups

That Should Not Be Soups,” “That One Time I Slept Through XYZ,” “WebMD My Whole Entire Life,” and so many more that we’re too ~juiced~ to bring to you. Hit us up at thegrape@ oberlin.edu to contribute ideas (we hella want you to!!) and check out our first episode, “Y’all Is The Most Unproblematic Fave” at soundcloud. com/thegrapejuice. Don’t forget to have a #Grape day! t

Photo credit Hannah Tobin-Bloch and Nick Ginsburg

11

THE GRAPE

YOU DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T UNDERSTAND, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;M COOL LIKE I AM A FIRST-YEAR TRIES TO MAKE FRIENDS AND ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S REALLY DIFFICULT

By Olive Sherman Contributor

On Saturday I went to that art show at 56 Walnut and it was really stressful. I had been to events resembling Saturday night before, like the various MOCA Teen Nights I got through, and that one time I went to LACMA After Dark and there were just too many people there.

(And they for some reason served mashed potato sundaes??) Those were really overwhelming, but this was different.

I went to 56 Walnut to see art and I did. I really liked the zines and prints but I was so distracted by everyone there because they were intimidating and I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tell if I felt out of place or not. Five different groups of first-years I knew abandoned me at the show, and I kept getting into that situation where I was in the middle of multiple conversations but somehow not included in any of them, like I was watching people talk to other people right in front of me but no one was actually talking to or addressing me specifically or even generally. That didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen to me at the museum teen-nights.

I keep going to these arty events because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a gregarious girl and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m curious to see what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like and then I always end up feeling like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m suffocating in a smoky haze of cigarette-y kids who act like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re too

SEPTEMBER 30, 2016

cool to care about me or anything else (in reality, everyone cares about everything).

This kind of social scene is interesting to me because I love to stare at peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outfits and haircuts and tattoos but is also difficult because I really donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how to be aloof, or at least in this context I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. My college admissions essay was about how involuntarily obvious I am with my emotions. My body physically rejects a blank face, and that has always been a problem for a long time, especially when I was in charge of my high school newspaper and everyone teased me and I reacted because I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how not to.

Making friends has been hard because there are a lot of commonly-practiced Oberlin-specific social habits that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come naturally to me but I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think it would be as big of a problem as it is.

Smoking and drinking are a couple of things I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do very well because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m still afraid of whatever I was told in school especially in relation to physical health and the law. Being on a generally normal a.k.a. wake-up-at-9-go-to-bedaround-midnight kind of sleep schedule is important to me. I have a tendency to overshare. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m tough or committed enough to get a tattoo or a

12

piercing and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t foresee ever bleaching my hair or shaving it all off because I like it the way it is, ok?

People donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t contact me to hang out or go to shows or eat very often and I often worry if that is because of the aforementioned habits. I do ask other people to do things, which I understand is necessary to some extent, but also it gets to be pretty demoralizing. I want to know why am I not a sought after person? Or at least why canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t I see that I am?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;SUFFOCATING IN A SMOKY HAZE OF CIGARETTE-Y KIDSâ&#x20AC;?

The thing is I do consider myself to be a cool and, like, intellectually-aware person for the most part, like I am by no means a worthless friend. I was going to list all of the arty stuff I know about but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m socially-aware enough to know that that would be probably pretty tacky and

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to give people a reason to not like this article. But I AM cool, like you just have to trust me, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m good. And also being emotionally vulnerable and open is in a lot of ways valuable because I think about feelings a lot and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really good at talking about them.

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think that the people who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t engage with me arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t engaging with me because they think theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re cooler than I am or because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re terrible people, I just think they are (like I am) afraid of rejection. I think we all feel stressed in social situations so we use our clothes and detached attitudes to indicate that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re sophisticated and with it. Being just devoid enough of emotion and passion is a way to protect ourselves from judgement and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really not a new concept, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still really dangerous I think because emotion is healthy and sharing ourselves and our experiences and feeling validated for that is â&#x20AC;&#x153;good for the soul.â&#x20AC;?

There is a way to care about the arts while still being a messy, loud, emotional person, I think. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not saying everyone here has to do so, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s starting to feel like there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t space for me to pursue that kind of life and I truly hope thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the DBTF ɨBOLT QMT C NZ GSJFOE t

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

By MARY FIScHER Contributor

If you visit the Oberlin College website and go to the Fast Facts Section, you will find that according to Oberlinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statistics, the current enrollment of international students, â&#x20AC;&#x153;representing almost 50 countries,â&#x20AC;? is 7.2% of the student body. That is remarkably high for a school the size of Oberlin. One wonders why so many international students choose to go to school abroad, especially when the costs for a good education in the US often considerably surmount the fees in the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; countries of origin. The reasons can be manifold, and will vary depending on where a student is from. During my international freshman orientation about four years ago, most of the international students stated reasons such as: poor education systems at home, little functioning infrastructure, little to no individual support, or even a political system that made a domestic liberal education impossible.

Whatever the reason(s) may be for an international student to chose to come to Midwestern Ohio, most would agree that both the college and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;nationalâ&#x20AC;? students are happy to welcome foreigners on campus. For the college it is important to maintain cultural diversity as an asset to its liberal and open-minded reputation, and for fellow students it provides an exchange, and maybe even a first encounter, with cultures they have not yet experienced or learned about.

What is often forgotten in conversations surrounding the international student body is how varied their experiences before becoming part of the Oberlin College community are. Firstly, in terms of the application process, but also in terms of getting to campus, traveling alone, and often times setting foot in America and, more importantly, on a college campus for the first time.

Most international students werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to visit Oberlin, and/or other colleges, before starting their application. They did not go on a college tour with their parents, perhaps have only seen their future home online, and most likely will not have been able to talk to former Oberlin students about what they can expect, unless they happen to have relatives or friends already living in the US. Choosing a college can thus be a bit of a shot in the dark. Moreover, international students need to provide results from various English tests, such as the IELTs, as well as, of course, the SATs (which are not often offered at high schools outside the US, aside from international schools). So on top of taking these tests in a foreign language, many also have to spend a lot of time and money getting to a place where theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re offered in the first place.

Setting all of this aside, being accepted by a college does not guarantee entry into the United States. The process of applying for a student visa is independent of applying to colleges, although you can only start the process once you have been accepted and enrolled at a specific school.

The chosen college then provides you with documents that you need for your visa application, but whether you get your visa or not, quite frankly, depends on the officer that processes your application and your country of origin. I wanted to believe for a long time that the case was otherwise, but the sad truth is that the political relationship between the United States and a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s country of origin most definitively affects the likelihood of getting a visa.

I have helped a number of my American friends in Germany with their visa applications. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but juxtapose my experiences with the American bureaucratic apparatus with that of Germany. When you apply for a visa in Germany, you go to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Buergeramt,â&#x20AC;? a large building with many offices and no security whatsoever, where you stand in line with people from all across the world. You can keep your bag, and you can use your phone, laptop, or whatever else.

The American Embassy is guarded by both police and military officers; you cannot take anything with you inside the embassy apart from your sheets of paper and your passport, and you have to pass a metal detector twice. Fair enoughâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the US is more likely to be the target of terrorist attacks, but the image of the U.S. that is portrayed to other countries through its embassies still amazes me. This also goes for the kind of questions the American officers have the liberty to ask you, such as your familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history, your health, your financial background, etc. Of course, a country should have the right to inquire about the financial means of a person seeking to spend more than a few months in their country, but I think that the documents you already need to submit in order to prove financial stability should suffice. It is extremely uncomfortable to be questioned by mostly male officers about things that go beyond mere facts.

But I have little reason to complain. As a white, female German it would clearly be offensive to people from other countries to claim that I had a particularly hard struggle before coming to Oberlin. This year I had some issues for the first time and thus was able to witness some of the processes that go on in the waiting rooms of the custom checkpoints in the US. I was asked to wait for about an hour when going through customs in Detroit and, within that short time span, witnessed three girls being told that they had to travel back to their country of origin. Funnily enough, it seems to me that these kind of

immigration processes enhance, rather than work against, the existing world order of which countries are deemed â&#x20AC;&#x153;safeâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;unsafeâ&#x20AC;? by Western countries. My friend from Turkey had to apply twice for her visa and was only able to receive one by agreeing to return to Turkey right after she would finish her studies in May. As a German citizen, my visa only expires a year after my proposed graduation date. A student I knew from Iraq had to go through a year long program in Syria before she was even eligible to apply for a student visa. When I tried to explain this a little while ago to another student, they thought I claimed that the visa application process is racist. No, the process is not racist, but it is most certainly not objectively fair nor removed from the United Statesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; international affairs.

Ignoring the complicated selection process of who is granted access to this country and the regulations that are posed on anyone seeking to come here as a student means ignoring a harsh reality that any foreign student in the States has to face on a yearly basis.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I DO THINK THAT THERE ARE FAR TOO FEW VOICES FROM NON-WESTERN COUNTRIES HEARD ON THIS CAMPUS.â&#x20AC;?

I am not trying to make a political point, I have far too little political knowledge to be able to do so. But as someone who wants to believe in the good of the world and of political systems, I am always taken aback by the many cultural stereotypes and pre-judgements that have been institutionalized over centuries in most Western countries. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think international students should receive more â&#x20AC;&#x153;recognitionâ&#x20AC;? or respect for being here, nor do I think that it makes us in any way special. But I do think that there are far too few voices from non-Western countries heard on this campus, and far too few stories told by people who have come here from countries that are deemed â&#x20AC;&#x153;unsafeâ&#x20AC;? by the United States, all of which are essential to understanding how international politics affect the people you might be sitting in a classroom with FWFSZ TJOHMF EBZ t

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