May 6, 2016 by The Oberlin Review

The Oberlin Review

MAY 6, 2016 VOLUME 144, NUMBER 24

Local News Bulletin News briefs from the past week SB 310 to Fund Budgets State Representative Dan Ramos announced the passage of the 2017 capital budget, Senate Bill 310, Wednesday. The budget will provide state funding for two community projects in Lorain County: the Lorain Palace Theater and Civic Center will be allotted $150,000 for building repairs and improvements, and $175,000 will be granted to the Boys & Girls Club of Lorain County Food Kitchen Program to make the program more accessible to children in need. SB 310 also allocates funding for Public Works Commission programs to provide grants and loans to local governments for infrastructure projects throughout the state. NEXUS Opponents Remobilize Opposition to the NEXUS pipeline strengthened in Oberlin following an explosion in western Pennsylvania caused by Spectra Energy’s fracking. Opponents cite the incident as something that could happen on a larger scale in the Oberlin area if the pipeline is built, because it is set to run alongside an existing jet fuel pipeline. John Elder, OC ’53, a spokesman for Communities for Safe and Sustainable Energy, said Oberlin citizens already made their decision against the pipeline in 2013 when some 70 percent of residents passed the Community Bill of Rights Ordinance. MRC Seeks Coordinators The Multicultural Resource Center will hold open question and answer sessions with applicants for the Africana and LGBTQ Community Coordinators positions today and Tuesday at noon in Wilder 208. Students will be able to fill out evaluations for each candidate at the end of each session. Food will be provided.

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College Offers Cash for Early Retirement Julian Ring and Madeline Stocker Editors-in-Chief Over the next three weeks, 177 faculty and staff must decide whether or not they want to take the College up on its offer to retire early in exchange for a relatively hefty severance package. The deal, which administrators are projecting will save the College between $1.5–3.5 million per year, is known as a voluntary severance incentive package and is the first step in the administration’s long-term plan to cut spending while slowing the rate of tuition increase. The payout is relatively straightforward. If a qualifying faculty or staff member — one who is at least 52 years of age, has held their position for 10 years or more and for whom the combination of age and service is a minimum of 75 years — chooses to take the deal, the College will pay the retiree one year’s salary and waive health insurance premiums for the first year after retirement. “The places I’m familiar with that have done it have found that it’s really been a win-win,” College President Marvin Krislov said. “It’s helped people retire in a way that preserves their dignity and gives them some extra money, and it helps the institution in that it allows for predictability.” However, one clause in the contract has a contingent of concerned faculty and staff questioning the College’s intent behind the buyout: a non-disparagement clause, which makes it illegal for anyone who takes the severance to publicly criticize the College or other signees. “I was shocked to see this included in the contract,” said Roger Copeland, professor of Theater and Dance, who called the clause a “drastic” measure to protect the College’s public image.

The College’s Voluntary Separation Incentive Plan encourages faculty and staff to retire early in exchange for a significant compensation package. This plan is projected to save the College $1.5–3.5 million per year. Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor

The clause itself was a product of “outside legal counsel,” said Michael Frandsen, vice president of finances and administration. The College affirmed that, in these types of agreements, confidentiality stipulations are best practice. Organizations typically use non-disparagement clauses to restrict employees from discussing the details of their departure, including the contents of their severance packages. While it’s rare for academic institutions to include non-disparagement clauses in voluntary sev-erance agreements, there is some precedent. New York University included a similar stipulation in a faculty retirement contract, though it removed the clause in January after a committee

See page 4

See Contract, page 2

After Grant Denial, Community Center Seeks New Path to Funding Vergil Demery After being denied a Community Development Block Grant from Lorain County, the Phillis Wheatley Community Center is exploring alternate methods to improve the physical accessibility of the center. The money would have funded a lift near the building’s front staircase as well as several disability parking spaces, which would allow disabled visitors access to the center’s ground floor and basement. The Oberlin Underground Railroad Society owns the Phillis Wheatley Center. The society wants to improve the center’s infrastructure and programming so that it can become a hub of community activity. “We are currently in the process of pulling together a collection of assets for people to use to help themselves find pathways out

of poverty,” said Tracie Haynes, executive director of the Oberlin Underground Railroad Society. Haynes, who is spearheading the project, said she is still optimistic about the potential for installing a lift, citing local churches and the Oberlin Project as organizations that have done so recently. She said the Community Center’s upgrades can be completed but only with adequate funding. “We’re also very interested in doing community development,” Haynes said. “We are relatively new, [because we] do a lot of programs. We do some advocacy. We are looking at developing a community center here that would empower people more than what is currently available to the citizens that live in the town.” With proper accessibility features, Haynes said, the center could function as a valuable resource for Oberlin residents, especially seniors.

Currently, the center is only accessible via staircase. The existing property’s size prevents the construction of an ADA-compliant ramp. “Part of the process of applying for the grant involved collecting the demographics of the town,” Haynes said. “We have an aging population — people use scooters, wheelchairs and canes. [The center] is a steep, two-story building and the neighborhood has a need for accessibility. We thought that our application would be in keeping with some of those funds for community development.” The activities the center hosts include bingo nights, barbecues and performances by community members. These activities help the center engage with its surrounding community, Haynes said. According to Haynes, the center’s failure to secure funding is not without controversy. Oberlin

Leaps and Bounds

Botanical Bonanza Residents at Kendal at Oberlin celebrate Arbor Day with a new arboretum.

of faculty expressed concern over the language’s implications for academic freedom. Oberlin’s non-disparagement clause technically violates employee protections under the National Labor Relations Act, which prevents employers from interfering with employees’ right to discuss workplace conditions or criticize their employer. These protections are only extended to staff members who do not occupy administrative positions. “Those kinds of conversations are important to protect, because they can lead to further actions as a group,” said Risa Lieberwitz, chair of Cornell University’s department of Labor Relations, Law and History

The track and field team broke records across the board last weekend.

Breaking Bard Oberlin Children’s Shakespeare Project performs Hamlet this weekend. See page 11

INDEX:

Opinions 5

This Week in Oberlin 8

See page 16

Arts 10

Sports 16

city officials encouraged the society to apply for a Community Development Grant due to the fact that no city grants existed for spaces like the center. This limits the Oberlin Underground Railroad Society’s ability to complete projects. However, the city’s Planning and Development Department also applied for the same Community Development Grant months later. Haynes said she knew the center would not receive the grant after hearing of the city’s application because there is a history of inter-governmental grant funding. Haynes was told by the grant dispersal controller’s office that Lorain County would not have considered two applications from the same city, especially one as small as Oberlin. According to an article in the See Wheatley, page 4

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The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

District Hires New Assistant Superintendent Willa Rubin

Throughout the past year, Oberlin City Schools Board of Education has been working through the process of replacing the district’s current school buildings with more efficient facilities. The current school buildings are not serving the community in healthy ways, board members say, and it’s time for a change. John Monteleone has been selected as Oberlin City Schools’ new assistant superintendent, the most recent change the school board has made. He is currently serving as principal at Washington Elementary School in Lorain and is set to take office come August. As assistant superintendent, Monteleone will organize teacher professional development, testing and monitoring and reporting on gifted students. He will also be responsible for curriculum alignment, an increase in the number of IB diplomas for

the 2016–2017 academic year and keeping the school community updated. Monteleone would also oversee the potential coupling of the Prospect and Eastwood elementary schools in addition to his other responsibilities. The Board of Education plans to place a bond issue on the November ballot for the construction of a new school facility. However, it is still weighing the pros and cons of building a new pre-K through fifth grade building first and a new sixth through twelfth grade school later or tackling the construction all at once. “There appears to be a cost advantage to building it all at once,” said Ken Stanley, president of the Board of Education. “One project costs less than two projects. If you do it in two phases, you have to figure out how you’re going to run the school in between.” Rolling the construction into a single project would save the district an estimated $3 million, according to board member Barry

Richard, but would place a more immediate tax burden on the community. On its own, the new pre-K through fifth grade school would cost about $16.5 million.

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“If you do it in two phases, you have to figure out how you’re going to run the school in between.” Ken Stanley President, Oberlin Board of Education –––––––––––––––––––––––––––——— The cost of building a single pre-K through 12th grade building has yet to be determined, though the board expects a thorough financial evaluation of the construction costs by its May 10 meeting.

Building anew is ultimately more costeffective than renovating the existing schools. Though renovating Prospect and Eastwood would be about two-thirds the cost of a new building, the district would not receive financial assistance from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. Additionally, completing renovations would do little to improve the energy inefficiency of the schools, nor would it affect the current issue of oversized classrooms. When Eastwood and Prospect were built in 1955 and 1960, respectively, the district had about twice its current student population, according to Stanley. A new building would increase energy and operational savings and the number of parking spaces. Combining the two elementary schools into one would also ensure that supplies could be more equitably distributed between classrooms. “Making the building energy efficient is a priority,” Hall said.

Contract Compromises Faculty’s Academic Freedom, Critics Say Continued from page 1 and general counsel to the American Association of University Professors. “I was surprised to see [the clause]. … I don’t understand why Oberlin wants to do this.” Lieberwitz added that the adoption of a non-disparagement clause by an academic institution undermines principles of academic freedom and faculty governance, a sentiment Copeland shares. “Academia is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, of which criticism is an important part,” Copeland said. “When faculty don’t have a say in the future of the College, everyone suffers.” Copeland said he’s concerned about the departmental restructuring that may occur if a high number of employees choose to retire. The best-case scenario, Copeland said, is that the College hires tenure-track employees to fill these positions. In a worst-case scenario, he said, the administration would hire more adjuct professors or futher neglect to consult with faculty regarding future institutional changes borne from financial limitations. Like other eligible employees, Copeland’s contract arrived at his home via FedEx April 9. After meeting with a group of faculty and staff — nearly all of whom, Copeland says, were extremely disgruntled by the wording and timing of the contract — Copeland decided to consult with a lawyer to parse out the possible implications of the contract. Of particular concern to those present at the faculty meeting was the contract’s potential effect on two pillars of Oberlin’s self-billed legacy: faculty governance and academic freedom. The contract was examined by a relatively small number of faculty members before arriving on the 177 doorsteps. Some critics remain unconvinced that they would have any say in the departmental reconstruction and consolidation that often follows mass buyouts. “Through shared governance processes, this is an area where faculty collectively should be very strong in exerting their right to participate fully in any discussion about potential changes,” Lieberwitz said. Barring the non-disparagement clause, VSIPs are relatively common among colleges attempting to save money without resorting to layoffs. Colleges who have enacted VSIP programs in the past typically see 15–30 percent of eligible employees take the offer. For Oberlin, whose VSIP program closely resembles that of Vassar College, enacting such a program could mean savings of up to $17.5 million over the next decade, depending on the extent to which the College replaces participants or reorganizes departments. Given the College’s current financial standing — Frandsen has repeatedly stressed the unsustainability of Oberlin’s present financial track — these types of programs are not only cost-effective but can often be the most sympathetic toward employees.

College and community members organize to support OCOPE during their April 29 negotiations with the College. Nearly half of the union’s membership is eligible for the College’s new buyout program, which offers employees cash for early retirement. Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor

“It seems obvious that the first place to start would be voluntary retirement,” said Chris Howell, professor of Politics and chair of Oberlin’s Compensation Committee. “Because when you ex-haust that, the next three things are forced retirement, reduced wages and reduced benefits. Those are the only things on the table.” President Krislov said these types of measures aren’t on the College’s radar, though that does not negate the possibility of institutional change borne from future cost-cutting initiatives. Because the Board of Trustees ruled earlier this semester to slow the rate of tuition increase from 3.9 percent to 2.8 percent in the 2016 fiscal year, the College will inevitably have to offset $2.1 million in reduced gross income. In cases like these, it’s not so much the “how” as the “who.” Oberlin is a tuition-driven institution, with personnel costs making up the majority of the spending. This means that when tuition revenue goes down, the College must also reign in aggregate spending on its employees. Salaries, wages, benefits and more administrative and professional staff positions could all end up on the cutting room floor should the administration need to further reduce costs. “The College will be taking millions of dollars out of the budget to offset the slowing of tuition rates, and those costs are going to be personnel costs,” Howell said. When reducing their budget, colleges often look for positions whose responsibilities can be reallocated across multiple employees. While this may not be particularly concerning to professors in larger departments — the more students enrolled in a particular depart-

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May 6, 2016

Published by the students of Oberlin College every Friday during the fall and spring semesters, except holidays and examination periods. Advertising rates: $18 per column inch. Second-class postage paid at Oberlin, Ohio. Entered as second-class matter at the Oberlin, Ohio post office April 2, 1911. POSTMASTER SEND CHANGES TO: Wilder Box 90, Oberlin, Ohio 44074-1081. Office of Publication: Burton Basement, Oberlin, Ohio 44074. Phone: (440) 775-8123 Fax: (440) 775-6733 On theOn web: thehttp://www.oberlinreview.org web: oberlinreview.org

Julian Liv Combe Ring Madeline Allegra Kirkland Stocker Managing editor Samantha Vida Weisblum Link News editors Rosemary Adam Boeglin Gittin Kerensa AlexLoadholt Howard Opinions editors editor Will Kiley Rubenstein Petersen This Week Weekeditor editor Zoë Hannah Strassman Berk Arts editors Christian Kara Brooks Bolles Louise Georgia Edwards Horn Sports editors Sarena Quinn Malsin Hull Madeleine Randy O’Meara Ollie Layout editors Sydney TiffanyBernal Fung Ben Alexa Garfinkel Corey MelanieAlanna Nepomnyaschy Sandoval Photo editors Anya OliviaSpector Gericke Photo editors Brannon Rockwell-Charland Bryan Rubin Online editor Alanna Ben Shepherd Bennett Editors-in-chief Editors-in-Chief

ment, the more likely that department will retain existing positions — smaller departments and administrative and pro-fessional staff may feel some tremors. OCOPE members have been shouldered out of positions before, said Diane Lee, second vice president of OCOPE and interlibrary loan supervisor. Lee said she has seen “far too many” instances of OCOPE members leaving their posts only to be replaced by temp workers who do not receive benefits, overtime or more than $15 an hour in wages. “We hope the College will recognize the need for these positions to remain held by hard-working staff members,” said Sandy Kanuch, president of OCOPE and computer operator at the CIT. However, if the College chooses to reclassify these openings as administrative positions, OCOPE could lose some bargaining power. Because administrative employees at private colleges can’t lawfully unionize, union members can’t occupy administrative positions. With nearly half of its membership eligible for the buyout, OCOPE may need to rely on more than just strength in numbers as it continues contract negotiations through June 30. All eligible faculty and staff have until May 23 to decide whether or not they will sign the contract. Signees may then rescind their decisions for up to seven days, after which the College will issue determinations on June 3. The contract grants the College the right to terminate or modify the plan at any time and for any reason. Neither Copeland nor Kanuch said they were aware of any plans to protest the clause or the contract as a whole.

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Corrections

Corrections: The Review is not aware of In “Campus Too Divdedthis Overweek. Discussion of any corrections Anti-Semitism” (April 29., 2016) Meredith Gadsby referred to astoanprint assistant Thewas Review strives all professsor of Africana Studies. She been an information as accurately as has possible. Associate Professor of Africana Studies If you feel the Review has made ansince 2007.an e-mail to error, please send managingeditor@oberlinreview.org.

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Off the Cuff: Charles “Chip” Hauss, OC ’69, Peacebuilder, Author Charles “Chip” Hauss, OC ’69, is Senior Fellow for Innovation at Alliance for Peacebuilding, a membership organization of about 110 peacebuilding groups. He is also the author of Security 2.0: Dealing with Global Wicked Problems, which addresses the changing nature and increasing multidimensionality of international security concerns. Hauss came to campus Thursday to give a talk, “Ending the ‘Permanent War’: Peacebuilding through Human Security.” Traditionally, security has been discussed in terms of war and peace, with at least the threat of military force being the primary means of achieving peace. What has changed in recent decades to warrant a shift in how we approach security? In 1994, the U.N. developed the notion of “human security.” [It’s the idea] that — in addition to keeping us safe from what we would call geopolitical threats, keeping us safe from ISIS in today’s terms — people can’t be secure unless they are environmentally, economically, socially, gendered secure. The U.N., in the fall 2015, developed a set of sustainable development goals, of which there are [17]. They’re all interconnected, and you can’t do any one of them without the others. It’s the first time that the U.N. has explicitly included peace as part of it. So what brings me to Oberlin, in part, is to work with the Peace and Conflict Studies program but also to work with people connected to the Oberlin Project, which is an attempt … to use the [Peter B. Lewis Gateway Center] as a hub for social-economic sustainable development in this area. What does “human security” mean, exactly? Depending on where you are, it includes having your physical security guaranteed, so the issues raised in things like the Black Lives Matter [movement] apply. You need to be economically secure — so if you are struggling to make ends meet, you do not have economic security. And so we’re worrying about what happens to your generation and my grandkids’ generation — 15 years younger than you — when industrial jobs

Thursday, April 28 1:29 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student who fell and injured their knee at Stevenson Dining Hall. The student was given an ice pack and transported to their Village Housing unit at their request. 2:13 p.m. Facilities staff reported a bagged smoke detector in a Union Street Housing Complex unit. Officers responded, photographed the bagged detector and removed the rubber swim cap that served as the obstruction.

Friday, April 29 7:39 a.m. An officer on patrol observed a stop sign wedged in the handrail of the front entrance of Fairchild House. The Oberlin Police Department was notified.

have disappeared. You can’t be secure unless you’re environmentally secure, which is going to happen around climate change, but it isn’t just climate change. When I was a student here, the Cuyahoga River burned, and that was, to say the least, yucky for the people of Cleveland. Human security brings together all of the pieces of security that the national security folks aren’t paying much attention to. However, I also work a lot with senior military officials, and the more openminded of them understand that they have a role to play, because [the U.S. military is] the third or fourth largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world. The military has a huge role to play in economic security. It also has to do racial security because in an all-volunteer army, it has had to create an institution in which Blacks, whites, Latinos [and] people of color in general hang out. So the only place I ever go where you actually have integration is on military bases. Human security is a circle that includes everything. How have the internet and the widespread use of social media affected the security landscape? Completely. I want to give you just one example. The National Security Agency is in deep trouble for having snooped on us all, and the ability to gather what’s called “big data” is there — it’s not going away. The question becomes how you use the ubiquity of data and sensors for public good. One of our members works on how you can use cell phones — if you’re living in rural Kenya — to send information back to the capitol saying, “There may be a riot happening here.” So you can use the same technologies that the NSA uses for positive social change. One of my closest friends in this work invented Zipcar, and what Robin Chase wants to try to do is to take the power that is in [an iPhone] and use the technology of iOS or other technological platforms … to build apps that produce social change. You can’t live in this world without taking advantage of what the technology offers, and the question is, “How do you use it?”

3:06 p.m. An officer on patrol observed gray spray paint covering the text of the Cox Administration Building sign. Facilities Operations was contacted and a work order was filed for removal. 7:15 p.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at Union Street Housing Complex. Smoke from cooking activated the alarm, which was then reset.

Saturday, April 30 12:06 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at South Hall. A discharged fire extinguisher activated the alarm. Custodial staff was called for cleanup and an electrician responded to check the detector. The alarm was reset with no further problems. 3:31 a.m. Officers responded to a report of individuals on the roof of the Allen Memorial Art Museum and Art Building.

Charles “Chip” Hauss, OC ’69, came to campus Thursday to deliver a talk titled “Ending the ‘Permanent War’: Peacebulding through Human Security.” He is the author of Security 2.0: Dealing with Global Wicked Problems.

In a lot of nations, citizens are relinquishing certain rights to privacy in the name of better security — the Patriot Act is just one example. How are privacy concerns related to human security? I’m trying to envision the U.N. circle. Privacy is not one of the eight that’s in the circle, but it’s in half of the [17] goals as it’s laid out. The question becomes “How do you set up guidelines, norms — regulations if you need them — to see to it that the technology can’t be abused?” I’m intrigued right now by Bitcoin, which is a way to develop safe and secure, anonymous transactions in an environment where there’s no trust. How do you build the kinds of mechanisms that also add trust-building into it? I’m not a technologist, but I am convinced that we can use the new technologies without dramatically reducing people’s privacy and certainly [to] enhance people’s capacity to solve problems. In Security 2.0, you address all these challenges to global security beyond humanto-human conflict. Can you talk a little about how we can we handle natural phenomena like climate change? It involves two things, at least, that are implicit in the notion of human security. First is thinking in the long-term. Let’s not think about simply who’s going to win the election in November. Over the next generation, let’s

The individuals, who were later identified, were instructed to come down from the roof. A work order was filed to check for damage. 9 p.m. A Mudd library staff member reported two juveniles lighting pieces of paper on fire in the loading dock area. When the juveniles saw the staff member, they ran from the area. Officers responded and checked the area but found no fire, and the juveniles were not located. 11:16 p.m. Officers were requested to assist a student ill from alcohol consumption at Kahn Hall. The student was transported to Mercy Allen Hospital for treatment.

Sunday, May 1 3:15 p.m. A student reported the theft of their black wallet from the Philips gym pool deck area. The wallet contained miscellaneous cards, a

think about what life’s going to be like not just for you, but for your kids — something you don’t want to think about yet. The second thing is to get creative. I’m reading a book right now where they’re talking about taking carbon dioxide out of the air and using it for constructive purposes. Most of the debate around climate change is how do we have to reduce our consumption in order to save the planet? And I’m not opposed to that. I do it — I drive a hybrid, I walk whenever I can. But how do we build walkable cities so people drive less? How do you get people to not have cars of their own [with shared travel]? How do you find new technologies? How does Oberlin become carbon-neutral? The [Gateway Center] building will be carbon positive, so it will actually contribute energy back in. [Handling] climate change security requires creativity too. Do you feel that affecting change about consumption at a societal level would have to come in the form of top-down legislation? Or can that be built into our society from the bottom up? I’m a political scientist by training. I’m reading a book now by a British-born, American-based conservative, and what this guy essentially says [is] you can’t wait for Washington. At this point, for the foreseeable future, Washington is not going to be ahead of the curve. While one would like there to be good legislation passed, it’s not going to happen. So how do you create alternative institutions? Again, the Oberlin Project is a good example of what could happen. My job is to [discover] what can we learn from the Oberlin Project … to accelerate progress. And so you build pilot examples. You build example projects that you hope work, and then they become attractors that bring in other ideas. If you’re a basketball fan, small ball has become the norm because a couple of teams experimented with it and it worked. Everyone in baseball now shifts when a left-handed batter comes up. One person does it, it works, then everybody else jumps on the bandwagon. So government will not be in the lead here. You will.

Interview by Adam Gittin, News editor Photo Courtesy of Althea Levine

driver’s license and approximately $15 in cash. Officers searched the area but did not locate the wallet. 8:30 p.m. A staff member reported the theft of their white iPhone 5c from the west area of Philips gym while they were playing basketball.

Monday, May 2 11:34 a.m. A staff member reported a minor vehicle accident involving a parked vehicle on Woodland Street. Members of the Oberlin Police Department were contacted and subsequently responded.

Wednesday, May 4 1:16 a.m. Officers and members of the Oberlin Fire Department responded to a fire alarm on the second floor of Langston Hall. Smoke from burnt popcorn caused the alarm, which was then reset.

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The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

Kendal Unveils City’s Second Arboretum Kerensa Loadholt News Editor Residents of Oberlin’s retirement community had the chance to show off their handiwork earlier today, when Kendal at Oberlin held a tree-dedication ceremony honoring the official opening of the John Bartram Arboretum. Over 1,100 trees have been planted at Kendal since the retirement community opened 25 years ago. The namesake of the greenery is John Bartram, a Pennsylvania Quaker from the 1700s who is considered to be the first American-born botanist. Kendal resident Larry Dunn said the planting project was his brainchild. He and a small group of other residents noticed that some of the trees on Kendal’s campus were struggling to keep healthy and were showing signs of decay, he said. The group began to lay plans for the arboretum in the summer of 2015 and have had a relatively smooth journey through the past eight months of planning and planting. “There is a lot of support among the residents and the Kendal administration to bring the arboretum to fruition,” Dunn wrote in an email to the Review. “By the end of December, we had achieved an important step when the [arboretum] was accredited as a Level 1 arboretum by ArbNet, the international network of arboretums.” For Dunn, the purpose of the tree garden is to educate residents and visitors who wish to learn more about the greenery on Kendal’s campus. The arboretum will also provide the hands-on experience necessary for residents who wish to improve the management of the community’s trees and shrubs, said Melissa Reed, chair of the Horticulture Committee at Kendal and member of the city’s Open Space and Visual Environment Commission. “[We want to] learn from what the land

is telling us to improve how we select and care for our trees,” Dunn wrote. “I had the idea that putting this effort in the context of managing our campus as an arboretum would help us to better focus our energies.” ArbNet’s Arboretum Accreditation Program is the first of its kind to accredit internationally. The organization considers any arboretum or public faunal space occupied by “woody plants” for accreditation, including botanical gardens, cemeteries, zoos, college campuses and municipal parks. There are four levels of accreditation, based on the number of species of woody plants. Various other selection criteria include a space’s specific arboretum plan, the number of employees and volunteers and a governing body. When Dunn’s band of arborists proposed their plans to the Executive Director of Kendal at Oberlin, Barbara Thomas, she was excited about the initiative and recommended that they apply for a grant from Kendal’s Charitable Fund, said Anne Helm, a Kendal resident that worked on the project. The Kendal Charitable Fund makes annual development grants to Kendal Corporation’s affiliate retirement communities, and Kendal at Oberlin has been encouraging residents to create proposals for the past couple of years. Conveniently for the arboretum committee, the 2015 grant-proposal period occurred while they were organizing the arboretum. The arboretum committee’s grant proposal was endorsed by Kendal at Oberlin’s Resident Association. The proposal suggested using the funding for some of the arboretum’s start-up activities, such as establishing a comprehensive landscape plan and improving the labeling of the trees. The proposal was funded last October, and the committee is in the process of

A new tree stands tall after being planted for the grand opening of the John Bartram Arboretum at Kendal at Oberlin. The arboretum has become a new avenue for studying and maintaining the community’s diverse flora. Photo by Briana Santiago, Staff photographer

completing the activities detailed in the document. According to Helm, some of the arboretum’s projects have included an educational collaboration with Kendal’s Early Learning Center. Environmental Studies students from the College have also been involved in the research of the arboretum, a connection the committee is hoping to continue. “We are interested in having a joint event with the College, perhaps next year’s Arbor Day or something else special,” Reed wrote in an email to the Review. “We already have a relationship with [the College’s] Environmental Studies program; for the second semester in a row, a pair of Environmental 101 students have surveyed trees.” In keeping with community engagement plans, Kendal dedicated an American Tulip Tree, the signature tree of the John Bartram

Wheatley Center Negotiates for Future Funding Continued from page 1 Oberlin News-Tribune, the Lorain County Community Development Office was unable to accommodate all grant requests because it received about $500,000 in applications, but only $314,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the grant provider. The city of Oberlin received $100,000 of the county’s grant money to conduct road repairs along Groveland Street, while the OURS did not receive funding for the center’s accessibility project. Haynes said that applying alongside the city was a “deal killer” that significantly hurt the center’s chances of securing funding. Members of OURS will meet May 16 with Interim City Manager Sal Talarico and City Council to negotiate the allocation of funding for the

center. The city wants to push funding for the project to 2017, while Haynes is adamant about finishing accessibility upgrades to the center by the end of the current year. The Lorain County Community Development department has suggested the center work with the Solid Waste Management department to obtain materials, but Haynes said she is looking to accomplish the project in one fell swoop. “We are currently installing a commercial kitchen that we already have the funds dedicated for, and we are also making energy upgrades,” Haynes said. “Surprisingly, there haven’t been any funds for that from the city. The handicap accessibility was the area that we were seeking funds for. We have started some of that work, but we do not have the funds to complete it.”

A steep staircase leads up to the entrance of the Phillis Wheatley Community Center. Oberlin’s Underground Railroad Society was recently denied grant funding for a construction project to make the center more physically accessible. Photo by Bryan Rubin, Photo editor

Arboretum, to the city following Friday’s grand opening. The tree was planted today in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park at 2 p.m. Children from the Early Learning Center, members of City Council and members of the arboretum committee were involved in the dedication. “One of our central ideas is for the arboretum to be a new avenue [ for] Kendal’s engagement with the greater Oberlin community,” Dunn said. “Trees are important and beneficial to everyone, and we believe our arboretum effort can help us all to care for our trees more effectively. The idea of donating trees to other Oberlin institutions was a key element funded by our [Kendal Charitable Fund] grant. The city of Oberlin is a Tree City USA participant, so it seemed a perfect first recipient of one of our tree donations.” The tree-dedication ceremony will serve as the city’s observance of Arbor Day.

Opinions The Oberlin Review

May 6 , 2016

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Letters to the Editors

The Oberlin Review

Besides her teaching, Professor Karega’s scholarly work and research is distinctive. I call on members of the Oberlin community to address the issues surrounding the recent controversy regarding Professor Karega with objectivity, rational discourse and analysis, integrity and fairness. Professor Karega’s work and standing as a professor at Oberlin College must be evaluated based on her [position] as a teacher and scholar. Professor Karega’s scholarly work and research, and other endeavors — including several postings on Facebook which resulted in the controversy — are fully protected by Oberlin College’s own adherence and commitment to the values of academic freedom and free speech. I also pose this question: Were the postings on Facebook just part of the archival research that Professor Karega’s scholarly work encompasses? Let us remember: Professor Karega is a professor of Rhetoric and Composition. Professor Karega’s research interests and teaching includes rhetoric and composition historiography, social justice writing and writing pedagogy. I trust that cool heads will prevail regarding this controversy. Let us temper our passions with rational thinking. Let us be mindful of not only our belief in the values of academic freedom, free speech and intellectual inquiry but also the tenets of the American Association of University Professors regarding these values. I also call on all of us to remember that discussions of different social, policy and political issues are vital to the Oberlin College community. Discussions of issues such as divestment from corporations doing business with Israel, criticism of Israeli government policy regarding Gaza, the West Bank,

Publication of Record for Oberlin College — Established 1874 —

College Should Remember Commitment to Intellectual Freedom To the Editors:

This has been an intense school year at Oberlin College. Such is not a surprise. Oberlin is renowned and highly respected for its tradition and legacy of encouraging intellectual inquiry, free thought, rigorous debate and exchange of ideas. I wish to offer my perspective regarding the situation and controversy surrounding Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition Joy Karega. I acknowledge the strong passions and feelings of the individuals and groups on both sides — those who strongly support and defend Professor Karega, and those who denounce her. First and foremost, we must show Professor Karega the full and complete respect that she deserves as a professor at Oberlin College and for her teaching and scholarly work and research. We must also remind ourselves that Professor Karega’s work and standing at Oberlin College is protected by Oberlin College’s adherence and commitment to the ultimate values of academic freedom, free speech and intellectual inquiry. I understand that Professor Karega is an amazing, brilliant and outstanding professor and teacher. Isn’t that the ideal that students and professors at Oberlin College strive for: the full engagement between students and professors, significant and meaningful learning and discovery by both and — if fortunate and lucky enough — lifetransforming experiences?

Palestinians and any other issues that may confront us as members of the international community are beneficial and should never be squashed. Different members of the Oberlin community may have varying opinions on these issues. But we can, and we should, strive to be respectful with each other and also remember why we are at Oberlin College in the first place. I call on community members at Oberlin College to remember that a critical analysis of certain aspects of Israeli government policy should not elicit a knee-jerk reaction of labeling the critic as being “anti-Semitic.” Individuals and groups of people should not be labeled “anti-this” or “anti-that” just because they hold a certain opinion. I appreciate and thank College President Marvin Krislov for his leadership at Oberlin College. Let us heed President Krislov’s sharing with all of us these words: “I am … the son of a tenured faculty member at a large research university. My father instilled in me a strong belief in academic freedom. I believe, as the American Association of University Professors says, that academic freedom is ‘the indispensable quality of institutions of higher education’ because it encourages free inquiry, promotes the expansion of knowledge and creates an environment in which learning and research can flourish.” May we continue to grow as scholars and human beings in a common and shared search for understanding, sisterhood and brotherhood, unity and humanity. My family and I send our warmest and best wishes to the students, faculty and staff members of Oberlin College and to the townspeople of Oberlin. – Anh Lê Parent

Internet Activism Can Flourish Without Trauma Andy Goelzer Contributing Writer About two weeks ago I published a blog entry on my website, GQzine, called “Dear Diary, Humiliation, Grief, and a Call to Action.” I wrote about an experience I had at a meeting about privilege and oppression in the Oberlin Dance department because I felt I had the right to publicly share my point of view of an event that made me feel unsafe. Here is an excerpt from the original post: “I brought up that as a trans person I have personally felt excluded from the dance department’s programs that work with the Oberlin community, Girls in Motion and Boys in Motion. The [chair] of

the dance department, [Professor of Dance] Ann [Cooper Albright], told me that I was welcome to join either of the groups, and when I responded that as a non-binary person I would feel uncomfortable in either of the groups she began to lecture me. … In the middle of her speech I began to cry. I was insulted and humiliated and felt powerless because she is an authority figure. When she was done yelling I told her that she was making me feel attacked and unsafe and I was going to leave. She continued to yell after me as I rushed out of the room, sobbing … I cannot believe that a faculty member felt it was acceptable to treat a trans student like garbage at a moment like this See Trans, page 6

SUBMISSIONS POLICY The Oberlin Review appreciates and welcomes letters to the editors and column submissions. All submissions are printed at the discretion of the Editorial Board. All submissions must be received by Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. at opinions@oberlinreview.org or Wilder Box 90 for inclusion in the following Friday’s Review. Letters may not exceed 600 words and columns may not exceed 800 words, except with the consent of the Editorial Board. All submissions must include contact information, with full names, for all signers. All electronic submissions from multiple writers should be carbon-copied to all signers to confirm authorship. The Review reserves the right to edit all submissions for content, space, spelling, grammar and libel. Editors will work with columnists and contributors to edit pieces and will clear major edits with the authors prior to publication. Editors will contact authors of letters to the editors in the event of edits for anything other than style and grammar. In no case will editors change the opinions expressed in any submission. The Opinions section strives to serve as a forum for debate. Review staff will occasionally engage in this debate within the pages of the Review. In these cases, the Review will either seek to create dialogue between the columnist and staff member prior to publication or will wait until the next issue to publish the staff member’s response. The Review will not print advertisements on its Opinions pages. The Review defines an advertisement as any submission that has the main intent of bringing direct monetary gain to the author of a letter to the editors. Opinions expressed in letters, columns, essays, cartoons or other Opinions pieces do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of the Review.

Editors-in-Chief Julian Ring Madeline Stocker Managing Editor Vida Weisblum Opinions Editor Kiley Petersen

Campus Must Support OCOPE Negotiations The remainder of this month is all about countdowns. Six hours until reading period begins. Six days until the first day of finals. Eleven days until the majority of our student body makes a break for it, and eighteen days until those graduating pack their things and hit the road that, for many, will not lead back to Oberlin. Once students leave, campus inevitably quiets. Not only do dorms and classrooms shut down, but dozens of faculty and staff head elsewhere for the summer, reducing Oberlin’s employee pool to a fraction of its calendar year size. For the employees who remain on campus, running the school is a year-round job. For one faction of those employees, the countdown continues. Thirty-eight days after Commencement, the union that bargains for improved wages and benefits for nearly 190 of Oberlin’s administrative assistants will conclude their contract negotiations with the College, a process that began April 5 and repeats every three years. Although we are rightly focused on our own, that is one countdown Oberlin students — including graduating seniors — must pay attention to. Student support for OCOPE, the Oberlin College Office of Professional Employees, has been inconsistent at best. This is not to say that any particular organization or organizing body is at fault, but simply a reality of institutions whose largest demographic cycles out every four years. This is further compounded by the issue of institutional memory among activist communities. It is either due to the fact that many alumni choose not to weigh in on the issues they were involved with while students, or because of the sheer difficulty of aggregating a database — one that would need to contain past obstacles, successful strategies for victories and other organizing tactics — comprehensive enough to use as a resource for actual change. When it comes to modes of action, a “right” way does not necessarily exist. Attending actions organized by student labor activists is perhaps the most common and straightforward way for us to show our support. However, the legacy of student organizing in higher education shows us that we can do more. In 2014, Northwestern University students who were monitoring the layoffs their administration were making mobilized to ensure that a worker suspended for protesting a colleague’s mistreatment could retain his job. The next year, the same student body came together to collect 1,000 signatures on a petition demanding that their food service employees receive a 40-hour work week, benefits for part-time employees and increased wages. Last year, Fordham University students circulated a petition in support of their food service employees. Earlier this year, students at Stanford University formed a coalition to support janitorial workers on campus. These two contract negotiations are still ongoing and the students showing support are not backing down. Now it’s our turn. As OCOPE resumes contract negotiations with the College, which is greatly concerned with cutting costs, we must stand in solidarity with OCOPE’s demands. When union members table across campus collecting email addresses of students so that they can ask for our virtual support after we leave campus, we should do them one better. We should mobilize our faculty to take part in our demonstrations or to put internal pressure on the administration. We should use Oberlin’s alumni network as a phone-banking pool to recruit the support of past Obies, many of whom were labor advocates themselves. As we hit the grindstone that is finals, those of us who are able to should join together to form a network of solidarity. Current students should always be communicating with all communities of workers so as to better understand their grievances. Many of us know what it feels like for our demands to be ignored by the administration, who have silenced, delegitimized and often dehumanized student voices. We have no excuse not to know how we — as those who benefit every single day from workers’ time and energy — can help ensure that they receive the types of compensation they deserve. That extends to graduates. As soon-to-be alumni, we are these communities’ resource, at least in some respects. We will soon have the power to show our support with our words — writing letters of solidarity or circulating virtual petitions of support — as well as our funds, refusing to donate until stipulations are met or declining to pay our way to reunions unless those staffing the events are being not only heard but empowered. As tempting as it may be, we cannot afford to let our solidarity slip as soon as we leave the boundaries of campus. Because while we’re counting down the days until we get to leave, our extended Oberlin community counts down the days until they must fight for the right to stay. Editorials are the responsibility of the Review Editorial Board — the Editors-in-Chief, managing editor and Opinions editor — and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the Review.

Opinions

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The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

Mercy Endangers Patients with Religious Ideals Cyrus Eosphoros Contributing Writer Editor’s Note: This op-ed contains discussion of medical malpractice, ableism, transphobia and homophobia. In February of this year, The Guardian acquired a leaked report describing how a single Mercy Health Partners hospital in Muskegon, MI, endangered the lives of five pregnant women in 17 months (“Abortion ban linked to dangerous miscarriages at Catholic hospitals, report claims,” Feb. 18) when its healthcare providers refused to induce labor in women who were going through a miscarriage on the grounds that it would be tantamount to abortion. These five women almost died. Our closest local hospital system, Mercy Health — unrelated to the one in Michigan — is comprised of Catholic hospitals. It takes some digging on its website to confirm that it follows a Catholic ethical code, but it’s there. Because of this, Mercy Health hospitals will refuse to provide a significant amount of potentially life-saving reproductive healthcare. This issue is specific to religious America. All staff at Catholic hospitals in the U.S. must obey a set of mandates determined by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services — the very same code Mercy Health follows. Among them, the bishops forbid Catholic hospitals from providing abortion care — including in cases of miscarriages — until the parent’s life is in danger. They do not provide a definition of how much danger is enough to warrant an abortion. They also prohibit voluntary sterilization. This alone is a good reason to avoid Christian-affiliated hospitals — if you can. But for students at Oberlin, that isn’t an option. The only hospital in the city of Oberlin is Mercy Allen Hospital, which means that students are referred there for everything from blood tests to X-rays; it’s also the only emergency room available if you don’t have a car. The directives contain no statements on queer people or psychiatric treatment, so the Mercy Health system appears to be making its own decisions there.

However, in my experience, it consistently and dangerously provides sub-par treatment on those grounds as well. Last year, the College forcibly institutionalized me at Mercy Regional Center in Lorain. When I gave them my list of prescribed medications, including Ativan for frequent panic attacks, I was told, “We don’t have anxiety medication on this floor. We take pride in it.” Similarly, in Oberlin’s ER, I went in with a wound that had been bleeding for the past 12 hours and was sent away after being assured that fainting on the way to the hospital was not due to blood loss but from being “anxious.” When I passed out in a dining hall at the end of –––––––––––––––––––––––––––————————

Last year, the College forcibly institutionalized me at Mercy Regional Center in Lorain. When I gave them my list of prescribed medications, including Ativan for frequent panic attacks, I was told, “We don’t have anxiety medication on this floor. We take pride in it.” –––––––––––––––––––––––––––———————— 2015, I was again taken to the Mercy Allen Hospital ER, where they decided I hadn’t suffered an asthma attack or a seizure — both of which I also experience regularly — but a panic attack. I was there when my fiancée, my main medical surrogate, made the doctor confirm that the anxiety diagnosis meant they wouldn’t treat me for anything else and that they would also refuse to provide anxiety treatment. While hospitalized in Lorain, the psychiatrist on call asked me what I had to look forward to; I excitedly told him about my plans to propose to my girlfriend. He informed me that I was suicidal due to “anxiety” — this time provoked by “being in a same-sex relationship.” I am a man, but he didn’t believe me the fourth time I told him, either. That Lorain hospital is the one Safety and Security takes anyone who is considered to be a danger to themselves.

Many Oberlin students are transgender, attracted to people of their gender, or both. More suffer from anxiety disorders, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, which are exacerbated by the stressors of attending Oberlin. Accessing care at Mercy hospitals means getting healthcare — or getting denied healthcare — from people who will put them in danger. The College is choosing to facilitate this endangerment. The perceived convenience of going to Mercy Allen, reinforced as the best option by the College, means nothing when Mercy staff denigrates its patients or fails to provide adequate treatment. It is not reliably a medical facility at all; it is a money sink. It’s bad enough that the Mercy system offers subpar, prejudiced services without the College forcing students away from alternatives, sometimes physically. The Oberlin ER refuses to treat urgent, acute cases, which makes it worse than useless. The College should do something better with students than shepherd them into medical abuse — instead of automatically going to Mercy Allen, Safety and Security should offer to take students to the Cleveland Clinic in Elyria, a 15-minute drive away. Since Mercy’s staff has decided that its outdated biases surrounding queerness and psychiatric disorders — not to mention views surrounding reproductive healthcare that even Catholics around the world –––––––––––––––––––––––––––————————

Accessing care at Mercy hospitals means getting healthcare — or getting denied healthcare — from people who will put them in danger. The College is choosing to facilitate this endangerment. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––——— disagree on — color the decisions it makes about its patients, it cannot be trusted as a healthcare resource. Seeking the services of a hospital that fails to provide adequate medical care is, at best, a bad choice. Thanks to Mercy Health and the College’s enablement, for Oberlin students, it’s not a choice at all.

Trans, Nonbinary Activists Need Support Beyond Slacktivism Continued from page 5 at Oberlin. An extremely valuable member of the trans community and a friend of mine just died and she is acting as if the college feeling unsafe for trans people is unimportant. She is acting as if these are things that we can deal with later because there is no sense of urgency. These are people’s lives. This is my life.” Within 24 hours of publishing, my post had over 2,000 views. It was all over Facebook, people were stopping me in the hall to ask about it. Professors and students I had never met sent me emails and Facebook messages offering support and advocacy. Although I was happy to hear from people who agreed with me, I was overwhelmed and a little off-put. Some-

thing felt wrong, and it has taken me a couple of weeks to put my finger on why. Around the same time that I published my blog post, I was trying to put together the next issue of my zine, GQzine. Despite multiple Facebook posts and personal messages, I only received two submissions. I am doing my best not to take these things personally, because I understand that people have their own lives and I cannot expect them to put my projects ahead of their work, but it is hard. The whole reason I created GQzine was to create positive content that showcased different trans and genderqueer perspectives. I can’t and don’t want to do it alone. That one blog post, discussing a really horrible moment in my life, has gotten more views than content I have spent

weeks putting together with submissions from multiple different authors. I understand that outrage is an effective rallying tactic, but it upsets me that people are more likely to read a story of trauma than positive work made by a community of trans people. This is a phenomenon I have seen in a lot of activist communities. People feeling that unless they share personal trauma that relates to the cause, they are ignored. I am exhausted by the lazy activism that makes trauma go viral with no follow up. It is too easy to call out an injustice in hindsight, especially when you’ve been told it was an injustice by someone who it was perpetrated against. It is too easy to click the share button or tell someone after the fact that you’re glad they stood

up for something. I do not mean to condemn social media activism, because I think it can be useful. What I’m trying to say is: I’m glad you shared that video or article or status — now go do more! Now go create your own content! Go talk to your friends, family and classes about it, go make art about it, go hug your friends and encourage them to make art about it, go educate someone who needs it, go be a part of the positivity! Don’t listen only when someone is talking about their pain; be constantly lifting them up, not just patting them on the back when they are down. That is how we change things. That is how we keep these injustices from happening before someone has the chance to blog about them.

International Political Situation Calls for Democratic Values Sean Para Columnist I’ve written about a range of topics over the past four years, from international affairs to domestic politics to half-baked political theory. This is quite a week on which to end my column for the Review. With Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich dropping their presidential bids, Donald Trump has done what seemed unthinkable and has all but clinched the Republican nomination for president. The past two decades have seen a peaceful liberaldemocratic world order give way to authoritarian regimes in Russia, Hungary and Turkey — to name a few — where democracies were once in development. Wars have broken out across the Middle East, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Great powers have returned to open competition as Russia, China and Iran seek to change the balance of power and end a

period of unquestioned American hegemony by supporting violent proxies and establishing their own spheres of influence. This week, the U.N. Security Council passed a measure reaffirming the international commitment to protecting medical facilities and workers. This would have been a less hollow measure had the U.S. and Russia, two permanent members of the Security Council, not recently bombed hospitals — Russia in Aleppo, Syria, and the U.S. in Kunduz, Afghanistan. It seems unlikely the measure will be enforced, given that the nations charged with enforcing it have violated it so recently. It is hard not to be a cynic these days. But perhaps there is another route. We live in a world where more people have access to education and healthcare than in any other time due to rapid economic development. Democracy is, for the most part, a sham as oligarchs exert an undue influence on the electoral process and limit the candidates one can vote for in “free and fair” elec-

tions. Nonetheless, for the first time in human history, governments around the world are committed, at least on paper, to respecting human rights and dignity and working for the people rather than the elite. As deeply flawed as our system may be, this is an enormous improvement over previous systems of government that served only the ruling class. In short, there is some hope for the future. We should not abandon the possibility of a better world, because despite all the problems in the world today, we are better off than we were before the modern era. Little actions can change the world. Be kinder to others. Think more about your friends and smile at strangers rather than blankly walking past them. Act as if you live in the world you wish for rather than the one you live in right now. Hopefully when our generation leads the world, we will do it with more compassion and far-sightedness than the current crop of leaders. Para out.

Opinions

The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

Blame Monsanto, not GMO Technology Chloe Vassot Contributing Writer By now, it’s commonplace to hear diehard Oberlin food justice activists, and even mainstream Americans, talk about the agricultural company Monsanto with anger and hatred. Its name has become synonymous with “genetically modified organisms,” and the term GMO has come to signify “harmful” in the minds of many because the produce is believed to be nutritionally inferior or even dangerous to organic varieties. Unfortunately, Monsanto’s corporate malevolence has tainted a form of technology that is not inherently harmful — like anything else, it’s how you use it that matters. Genetically modified foods have the potential to be grown sustainably and to vastly improve people’s lives, but not if they are grown under the Monsanto model of monoculture and fossil fuel-dependent additives. The problem isn’t the science, it’s the corporate power Monsanto uses to take advantage of federal policies that give it subsidies and undue power in the market over certain crops. Companies that produce their own

varieties of GMO seeds can determine how those seeds must be grown to give the farmers using their product a minuscule profit. If you buy Monsanto’s seeds, you also need to buy its herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, and to be successful, you need to grow and harvest a massive amount of the crop. Monsanto profits by forcing farmers to adhere to a monoculture system that it knows will eventually decrease the nutrients in the soil. This forces the farmer to buy more fertilizer and pesticides to remedy unhealthy soil. Genetic modification is not the most unethical part of Monsanto’s system. Though it does allow the company to patent a seed’s genes and claim ownership of that variety. Despite “genetic modification” sounding like the tool of an evil scientist, it is not a horrible thing. Evolution is just genetic modification over time, influenced by a variety of factors. Change is natural. But now, humans are dictating how this genetic modification is playing out in an abridged timeline. But genetic modification still isn’t new. Animal domestication for consumption and even dog breeding are forms of genetic modi-

fication by humans, and these animals therefore fit the definition of “genetically modified organisms.” The technology of modification, especially for crops, has the potential to improve quality of life if it can be decoupled from Monsanto’s constraints. Due to climate change, many plants and foods will be grown in areas unsuited to them, and in places where droughts are common, this could be devastating. When other species of pests become dominant in different ecological niches and pose a threat to staple crops, the ability to quickly engineer resistant seeds could save whole communities. Many people still rely on subsistence farming, and if their food is threatened, so are their livelihoods. It is worthwhile to use technology to counteract an overuse of fossil fuels, but subsistence farmers have not been the drivers and creators of this environmental devastation. The Monsanto model of food consumption is no way to react to our changing climate, but developing ways to make genetically modified organisms viable for everyone just might be.

Can You Teach an Old Essay New Tricks? Adam Gittin News Editor When I was walking through Tappan Square the other morning, not at all minding the puddles, I stumbled over a disembodied marble hand. All around in the grass there were broken pieces of statuary. Half a torso, a hunk of thigh and the noseless face of a bearded man joined me in the shadow of an elm. No plaques were needed to identify whose knee or elbow joint lay there, for I recognized these relics as the fragments of our predecessors — the cracked faces from history books, the arms that swaddled us in layers of insulating education. I wanted to shatter the disunited body parts on the ground and pave new paths for us to walk with their gravel remains. Unfortunately, I hadn’t the heart to do so. Besides, I was running late for brunch. I know people don’t often write like this anymore. I recognize that it is contradictory to use, as I have, an outmoded form to argue for the demolition of outmoded forms. But if you gathered anything from my metaphor, then you’ve proven that we can still make meaning from old sounds. And is that not the activity in which we engage every day at this college? As students, we are taught the established methods, the traditions of societies and the ideas of previous generations — all of which are well worth learning — and then we are tasked with making the new methods, traditions and ideas. I ask that we not forget this second step, that we not stop at merely knowing, but revise what is known through our actions. This is easier said than done, but self-reflection can initiate the process. For most of my time as a student here, I’ve kept an

essay in the back of my mind that encourages questioning and renovating your own thinking: Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Circles.” I read the essay in my first-year seminar, and it seems appropriate that in my final semester, I am again studying “Circles” for a class — taught by the same Professor of English, T.S. McMillin. In “Circles,” Emerson understands both the natural world and the individual self metaphorically as sequences of circles within, encompassing and abutting one another. The essay is frustratingly abstract and preachy at times, but also humorous and insightful. Though we lack space for adequate context, here is a passage in which Emerson mockingly sums up — with 19th-century flair and gendered language — a good deal of what the essay addresses: “There is no outside, no enclosing wall, no circumference to us. The man finishes his story, — how good! how final! how it puts a new face on all things! He fills the sky. Lo! on the other side rises also a man, and draws a circle around the circle we had just pronounced the outline of the sphere.” Once again, it might seem contradictory for me to try and provoke forward thinking by referencing a 175-year-old essay. However, I don’t think making progress involves disregarding past thoughts, but instead using those ideas to pave new roads leading onward. We can and should actively consider how we draw our circles and how we look at our work and at each other. There’s much to prospect for in Emerson and in all of our studies, but if the goal is to somehow affect change in the world, then it is up to us to make what we learn here relevant to how we want to lead our lives. I wouldn’t dare tell you how to do that for yourself. I don’t want anyone reading this to be satisfied with these ideas, but as we move toward finals, we should instead consider: How do I make what I do matter?

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Video Journal a Chance for Reflection CJ Blair Columnist When I left to go to college, my mom made a simple request. She told me to record a onesecond video on my phone every day and send it to her. She said these videos could be of absolutely anything, from the most exciting events to the most mundane. What mattered was that I sent them consistently so my family could get a glimpse of my life while I was away. I’d be lying if I said I’ve held up my end of the deal, but in failing to follow through with the videos, I came to understand the importance of making them. My choice to record or not record on a given day told me which parts of my life I wished to remember and which I wanted to forget. At first, I didn’t miss a single day. Whether it was starting my first class or playing Cards Against Humanity with my hallmates, I was sure to record all the little moments of my first semester. Every so often, I would look back through the videos I’d taken and marvel at what had changed. A guy who appeared in the first video was now my best friend. That chair in the back of the library was now my favorite study spot. Even before I had many to watch, I was gaining a sense of my own personal progress. After my first semester, became less consistant. The videos became a weekly occurrence, then monthly and then seldom. Some days, I forgot to record. Other times, when I encountered something I didn’t care to remember, like a failed relationship or a depressive episode, my finger was less likely to press record. At first, I didn’t see an issue with choosing to omit these moments for the journal, but before long, I realized that skipping one day was a slippery slope. Two weeks ago, when I was running the last mile of the Boston Marathon, I smiled to myself and thought this would be a rousing addition to the video journal. Then I realized: What video journal? When you make something habitual, you run the risk of forgetting why you do it. For this reason, I started to grow tired of the videos, especially when I didn’t like what I was seeing. I came to view them as a chore that constantly reminded me of what was going wrong in my life. What I realized during the race, though, was that they were giving me a chance to both experience something and codify it as memory. Where other daily routines provide no indication of what comes before or after them, a video journal cements each moment as part of a whole, and that’s why it’s so critical to document each day. When I started skipping videos when I had a bad day, I was left with little reason to believe the next would be worth recording either. In selectively omitting the bad from the journal, I inadvertently omitted the good. I was afraid the things I didn’t want to remember would define me. But in choosing to hide them, the journal felt less like a record of my life than a string of pleasant events that didn’t reflect reality. The journal was most effective when it captured the natural highs and lows I experienced, and this helped me realize I needed to start it again — this time, without missing a day. From completing three marathons to learning to dance blues and write code, I accomplished a lot this year, and I failed to document any of it. That was a mistake. Whatever happens in my future, whether it’s bumbling first dates, failed chemistry tests or the worst of bad hair days, I want to be a part of it and remember it as something I lived. If I don’t, I’m sure to miss all the good that happens at the same time. That’s why I’ve resolved to start again — taking a candid look at the world, one second at a time.

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Arts The Oberlin Review

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May 6, 2016

Fang First Femme of Color to Win Howell Poetry Prize Louise Edwards Arts Editor College senior Dana Fang won this year’s annual Emma Howell Memorial Poetry Contest, awarded by Oberlin’s Creative Writing department. Fang is both the first femme of color and the first Asian-American poet to win the prize, which honors Creative Writing and Comparative Literature major Emma Howell, an Oberlin student who died during her sophomore year in 2001. Howell’s father, poet Christopher Howell, judges the submissions along with Creative Writing professors, and the winner is awarded $1,000. Fang said receiving the prize validated their decision to major in Creative Writing and the narratives they write in both prose and poetry. “Winning the prize … affirms that the stories I want to tell, the poetry that I want to write, means something to other people,” Fang said. “That my stories actually do matter, and stories like mine can matter, and that hopefully, the Creative Writing department will continue to value those stories and poems.” Fang and their work were celebrated at a reading in Wilder Hall Saturday, along with honorable mention awardees: College seniors Orly Vermes,

Maxime Berclaz, Madeleine Dorner and College sophomore Brielle Hutchinson. College senior David Savarese, who won the English department’s William Battrick Poetry Fellowship and Ross Roberts, who won the English department’s Lucy Pope Wheeler Poetry Prize, were also honored. Fang’s poetry is attentive to sound and the music in language. They describe the poems as both quiet and fierce, filled ––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Winning the prize … affirms that the stories I want to tell, the poetry that I want to write, means something to other people.” Dana Fang Winner, Emma Howell Memorial Poetry Contest ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– with unusual juxtapositions. “I tend to string some pretty weird phrases together, because English idioms and sentences — even though I’m practically a native speaker — are still difficult to me. The nonsense of the English language is made apparent to me,” Fang said. Fang also remarked that their

relationship with English is complicated. Although it is the language in which they write, they feel it does not fully express their own identity. “[A] crucial part of where my poetry comes [ from] is my knowledge that the English language is completely inadequate in actually expressing the depth of my experiences, especially my experiences as a migrant, as a young queer Asian-American, trying to find my home and a world where I can belong,” they said. “But at the same time, the English language is all that I have.” Though Fang pursued visual art for a long time, they got interested in writing after reading Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried in ninth grade. “Also, during the summer that I read that book, my family went back to China for the first time in 11 years,” Fang said. “I was experiencing so many things — strange, unfamiliar and deeply unsettling things. I had all these truths that I wanted to say, to scream, and I had no idea how to say them. I began to write because I thought it might help me say some of those things.” Though Fang wrote short stories after their trip, they only began writing poetry during their junior year at Oberlin. They said guidance from Associate Professor of Creative Writing

College senior Dana Fang won the Creative Writing department’s Emma Howell Memorial Poetry Contest this year. They are the first femme of color and the first Asian American to win the $1,000 prize. Photo Courtesy of Dana Fang

Sylvia Watanabe and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Shane McCrae was integral to their success. “They’ve done so much for me, and without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today,”

Fang said. Fang will continue writing after graduation. After taking a year off from school, they plan to enroll in a creative writing graduate program.

“Fun Rock” Pioneers See Path to Fame Beyond Oberlin Isabel Klein There’s always that one college band everyone knows has a chance to make it big. At Oberlin, that band could be T-Rextasy. The band has already received prominent media attention from outlets like MTV and boasts a significant fan base. Singer and College sophomore Lyris Faron and bassist and College sophomore Annie Fidoten, who attend Oberlin, are joined by drummer Ebun Nazon-Power from Green Mountain College, guitarist Lena Abraham from Hampshire College and guitarist Vera Kahn from Grinnell College. All the band’s members are feminist punkers, saucy lyrical masters and pioneers of a new era of music: “fun rock.” Fidoten said she put in a lot of effort to join the band. “I basically begged to be a part of [Faron’s] rock band even though I didn’t know how to play bass at all,” she said. “And spent a lot of sweaty nights ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“I basically begged to be a part of [Faron’s] rock band even though I didn’t know how to play bass at all.” Annie Fidoten Bassist, T-Rextasy –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– watching bass tutorial videos so that I could keep up.” T-Rextasy has released work on its Bandcamp since 2014’s Dino Demos. Its

single “Ms. Dolores” portrays the chaos that erupts after an underappreciated school lunch lady quits and stops serving meatloaf to hungry children. This May, T-Rextasy released its album Jurassic Punk, with tracks like “Chik’N” and “Gap Yr Boiz.” In “Chik’N,” Faron rejects cutesy nicknames often given to women, declaring, “Don’t call me cupcake or honey pie / Pet names make me want to fucking die.” “Gap Yr Boiz” hilariously mocks privileged, liberal arts college boys (with names like “Seafaring Steve,” “Eco-Terrorist Eric” and “On-the-Road Ronnie”) who take a year off to “leave to find themselves in the goddamn forest.” After long descriptions of their appropriative and hypocritical behavior, Faron concludes emphatically, “And they all had dreadlocks!” College sophomore Sophie Kemp, a fan of the band, said its music is special in part because its political goals and style are juxtaposed in a unique way that results in an unexpected sound. “It’s not punk in the way people want to associate feminism with punk music,” she said. “I think the way they match their feminist lyricism with their weird trippy ska/ rockabilly sound is where they are really different.” Though members of T-Rextasy hail from New York, Faron said it’s difficult to integrate into the New York punk scene while attending Oberlin. “[Being at Oberlin] pretty much only hurts us,” she said. “Ideally, though, our absence from the outside world gives us an air of mystery and leaves people wanting more.” Fidoten added that she and Faron have considered taking a semester off to perform and record in Brooklyn. “But then

Lyris says that thing about an ‘air of mystery,’ and ‘we need to finish school and not be like those dumb boys who drop out to make sick beats,’ and I feel temporarily placated,” Fidoten said. Kemp is convinced that the band’s location may help to highlight the differences in T-Rextasy’s music compared to New York punk. “[Their music] really doesn’t sound like what is coming out of [the New York punk] scene right now,” she said. “It’s not that kind of lo-fi bedroom pop that is coming out of Brooklyn.” While in Oberlin, the band is taking advantage of opportunities on campus. In October, it opened for Girlpool, and

the group has played many house shows. Faron has also performed on WOBC’s Live for Studio B. The surrounding cornfields have not slowed the amount of media attention T-Rextasy has recieved. In April, NPR Music featured “Gap Yr Boiz” in a “Songs We Love” post, Pond Music Blog did a spotlight interview with the band and MTV compared the band to groups like PWR BTTM, Frankie Cosmos and Tacocat, deeming these artists influential to the new “fun rock” genre. Fidoten said the group is proud of how See Oberlin, page 12

T-Rextasy has recently garnered national media attention as pioneers of a new genre, “fun rock.“ The band’s whimsical and insightful lyrics promote powerful feminist messages. Photo Courtesy of Andrew Piccone

Arts

The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

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On the Record: Jennifer Hoock, OC ’83, Cat in the Cream Founder Jennifer Hoock, OC ’83, aided in the re-establishment of the Cat in the Cream with roommates Charissa Smith, OC ’82, and Cheryl Serrone, OC ’83. She graduated from the Duke University School of Medicine and earned her MPH at the University of Washington. In addition to being associate director at Group Health Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, she is a founding member and director of development at Guatemala Village Health, a nonprofit organization that promotes education, better health care and economic development in remote Guatemalan villages. The Review contacted Hoock for a phone interview to talk about her experience with the Cat in the Cream as well as the influence her time at Oberlin has had on her work.

the Vietnam War was over and that sort of thing, and that was the winding-down, perhaps. But I guess we hoped it would continue to be a place for students who identified with performance. … It was a place where — whenever people had something they wanted to perform that they couldn’t find a place for — it was a nice venue for that. But it was under our control, and I think that made it much more accessible. If you played in the Conservatory or what have you, you had to have a very polished, professional performance, and this was much more informal. I think it allowed people who weren’t as advanced or as sure of themselves to participate.

Jennifer Hoock, MD MPH, took over the Cat in the How did the Cat in the Cream begin? We actually didn’t start the Cat in the Cream. Cream with two friends and moved the venue to It was actually originally in the basement of its current home next to the bowling alley. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Hoock Asia House. … It was a very informal gathering [place], mostly around folk music and maybe a little bit of poetry reading. I don’t think most We didn’t really have a stage, and we got the Conpeople even knew it existed because of where it servatory to donate an old piano. … We had a lot was located, and from wherever it had started, it of fun with it. … I was blown away to go inside [rewas winding down and about to close. cently] and see how remodeled it had been. … It’s Somehow, we had gone there for some event amazing that it stayed there. and found that out … so we started hunting around on campus, and [we found] this room What was your vision of what the Cat would next to the bowling alley. It was full of stuff when be like going forward? we found it, and we were like, “Can we clean this I don’t think we really had that sort of vision. room out?” … We had to find a place for all the I think we did ensure that we passed it on to stuff, and in the process, we discovered a tandem folks who we thought would keep it going, but it bicycle with banana handlebars, and that be- wasn’t like we had a sustainability plan. It was an came sort of our “Cat in the Cream mobile.” We on-campus student organization, so it had that used it to carry flour and sugar and what have structure in terms of continuing, but other than you across the street, because we actually did all that … I don’t think we had any clear, “Let’s make our own baking. We would get the flour and sugar sure this keeps going” kind of thing. I think it was through the Rathskellar, and then we would truck more the social experience of sharing something it across the street by carrying it on our bike. we liked with people that we got to know.

Is that where the famous cookies started? Yes, that is where the cookies started. And at that time, Jazz was not a part of the Conservatory. My roommate Charissa played in the Conservatory — she was a French Horn [student]. And then my other roommate Cheryl, we all were jazz aficionados, and the jazz folks were like, “Oh, we need a place to play.” … We were actually probably more jazz than folk music, even, as we got started. We never had anything that formal — it was all just chairs and tables that we had scavenged.

Do you think student ownership was an important part of what made the Cat in the Cream successful? Oh, yeah. I think it was a great opportunity because we had the ability, unlike many of the other things on campus, to decide what we wanted it to be. It would be interesting to find out how far back the Cat went as a folk club, but I think that during the ’60s, that [scene] was much more prominent. I came in 1979, and jazz was much more a part of that age group. Because you know,

What was a day at the Cat in the Cream like? We’d go in, and we had an old coffee percolator, and we’d put apple cider in it to heat it up. And we had the cookies that we had baked — I don’t know how we had time to do all this — but that we had baked the night before. It was very much a community activity. There were usually four people there running the place. … We clearly sold drinks and sold cookies, so I guess that was the revenue that ran the place, but I don’t remember much about that part of it. And people would come in. It was very much sort of a coffeehouse. Whoever was performing was performing, and people would sit around watching or chatting or what have you. I think, by and large, it was more come-to-watch-theperformance than just hanging out and drinking coffee, but there were certainly a lot of conversations that went on there. We would often stay, it seems, very late at night, just hanging out and then closing the place down. It was an alternative — I mean, at that time, Oberlin was a dry town, so there wasn’t a whole lot of drinking going on anyway, but the [Rathskeller] and the ’Sco were loud and boisterous and active, and this was a lowerkey place to hang out and just be with people. What was your experience with Oberlin as a whole? I had a wonderful time at Oberlin. I grew up in Gary, IN, and I had really never been much of anywhere besides that. I knew it was a pretty big world out there, and I came to Oberlin to find it. I had a blast trying out all sorts of things, so it was a very fundamental experience for me. I’ve always remained close to it, although unlike a lot of

people I knew, I didn’t have other family members who were there. I was an incognito pre-med student. [It was] very much not a good idea to be pre-med at Oberlin at the time. I studied Psychology and Biology, and I was trying to decide between whether I wanted to be a clinical psychologist or go to med school or do research. I really had the flexibility to try out all those things. I loved the fact that at Oberlin you could wear whatever hat you wanted at whatever point you wanted, and I went between a lot of different worlds, which was a great opportunity for me to figure out which ones I wanted to stay in. And I left with a pretty solidified commitment to social service. I now run a nonprofit in Guatemala which, I think, came directly out of my experience there. Could you talk more about your work in Guatemala? I have a daughter adopted from Guatemala, and I’m a family physician with a degree in public health, and I had sort of got residence in family medicine throughout my career. I had always wanted to — ever since I left Oberlin — to do some work abroad, and that presented the opportunity. We started our work in 2008, and I lead at least two teams a year of medical people but also all other kinds of people. We’re collaborative with the villagers to improve the health of the people in their community. We have about 15 or 20 villages that we work with regularly, and we provide clinical care, but mostly give a lot of health education and preventive care and public health projects and education. We’ve dabbled a little bit in microfinance and economic development projects. I hope, at some point, we’ll run into somebody with the energy to help it fully develop, because our mission is to do all three of those things. Trying to improve health without improving education levels and [the economy] doesn’t work very effectively. I’ve never actually put it out there to the Oberlin community, but we’d love to have students come and join us. We take students all the way from high school through medical school, so it’s definitely an opportunity. … It’s been a really great learning experience for all of us, and I’m still at it. Interview by Christian Bolles, Arts editor

Children’s Shakespeare Project Brings Hamlet to Wilder Main Julia Peterson Production Editor This year may mark the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, but the Oberlin Children’s Shakespeare Project has set out to make his plays young again. On Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Wilder Main, the OCSP’s cast of elementary and middle school students will be performing Hamlet, directed by Annie Rasiel, OC ’15, who founded the project during her senior year at Oberlin. “I did children’s theater growing up,” Rasiel said. “I was a weird kid and theater was my refuge. I specifically did Shakespeare growing up. I know how powerful it can feel to perform something when you’re very young that’s considered to be super weighty, and the power of realizing that it’s silly and fun and not necessarily as serious or as difficult as people say it is. Through demystifying Shakespeare, I feel like it opens a lot of doors to questioning elitism in general.” 13-year-old Daria Martz said that playing Hamlet allowed her to understand that the character’s erratic behavior is a result

of the situation he’s put in. “All people make mistakes, and they have stuff to deal with,” Martz said. “The way that I play Hamlet, I believe that [he] is perfectly normal, but under the circumstances that he’s put under, he’s portrayed or seen to the audience as crazy or going insane, when he’s really just a normal person.” Ryley Steggall, a 12-year-old who plays Rosencrantz, said that as he got to know the characters better when preparing for the performance and imagined parts of their stories that extended beyond the play’s plot. “I wish that everybody knew how unique all the characters are,” she said. “Some of them have secrets you can only assume, and [the play] doesn’t exactly answer all of them. It always keeps your mind going, with all the secret plots and all the things you can infer about these characters. It’s fun to think about the stuff that could have happened, but didn’t. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle.” Rasiel said the array of characters in Hamlet worked well for the young cast. “Hamlet has a lot of really vivid characters and a lot of young

Daria Martz, 13, and Alison Chan, 14, duel as part of Oberlin Children’s Shakespeare Project. The group will perform Hamlet on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Wilder Main. Photo Courtesy of Naomi Langer

characters,” Rasiel said. “Really watching kids get into the character work, writing diary entries from their characters, writing letters to other characters, knowing, as soon as I ask them what their character’s favorite color would be or what they were like

when they were little — watching them inhabit their characters ... is really exciting.” Beyond building the characters, Rasiel emphasizes that the actors interact with the text on a deeper level than just memorization and recitation.

“The kids understand every word they’re saying,” Rasiel said. “We probably spend as much time analyzing the script as we do any kind of acting work, and they really know what it all means — See Hamlet’s, page 13

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The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

Students Play Bonang, Rebab Pieces in Gong Concert Jacob Narin Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and Anthropology Jennifer Fraser introduced listeners to a blanket of unique sounds at Sunday’s End-ofSemester Indonesian Gong Ensemble Concert in Asia House’s Shipherd Lounge. The audience was treated to the only concert in the country where gamelan and talempong style music could be heard together. A student gamelan ensemble, which plays traditional music from Java, opened the performance. At first glance, passers-by might have mistaken the group for an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine, and in some ways it was. Each player acted as a section of a multi-part contraption, playing an integral role in creating the finished piece. The core of the ensemble was composed of percussion instruments including a variety of gongs, mallet instruments aesthetically similar to a –––––––––––––––––––––––––––

At first glance, passersby might have mistaken the group for an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine, and in some ways it was. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– marimba or xylophone (though aurally distinct), drums and a series of bell-like instruments known as bonang. In the first piece, “Tropongan,” the melodies of the mallet

instruments and the countermelodies of the bonang played close to one another. After several cycles of the melody, though, the nuances of the instrument parts came through. The repetitive nature of the music allowed one to appreciate every facet of the piece before the thumping pulse of the drum increased the tempo to indicate the beginning of a new repeated section. Like a conductor in a traditional orchestra, the central drum emphatically altered the tempo at crucial points to ensure the piece remained engaging. “Tropongan” was surprisingly short in light of the peaceful and carefree atmosphere it established. What followed was easily the most intricate and lengthy piece, “Pangkur,” at well over nine minutes. It featured impressive coordination. A pair of performers played the piece’s main melody on two separate sets of bonang with accompaniment. The shrill drones of the rebab — a bowed string instrument — and the piercing melodies of the suling — a bamboo ring flute — complemented the firm sounds of the bonang players. At times, however, the rebab was barely audible, despite the fact that it was mere feet from the audience. This stilted the flow of the music. Happily, the size of the audience increased as the program transitioned to talempong pieces. Talempong, the traditional music of West Sumatra in Indonesia, requires similar types of instruments as a gamelan ensemble, but far fewer performers. The five musicians in the

Oberlin Band at Forefront of “Fun Rock” Continued from page 10 the media has portrayed them. “It feels really cool to read something people wrote about you and realize they get it, which is something that I didn’t think would happen,” Fidoten said. “I … feel really lucky.” In addition to the band’s danceable tone and whimsical, insightful lyrics, T-Rextasy often infuses underlying feminist messages into its songs. While many all-women bands struggle with media outlets and fans perceiving their gender as the band’s defining attribute, Fidoten was pleased that media outlets haven’t labeled them that way. “We noticed recently that all of the press we’ve gotten so far hasn’t referred to us as ‘all-girl band’ or ‘female band,’ etc., which has been really exciting,” Fidoten said. “Even though being a band comprised of women is important to us, we had seen so many articles cashing in on the ‘girl’ aspect and selling bands as gimmicks, and I’m really happy that we haven’t dealt with that yet.” Fidoten and Faron said that they find it cathartic to write songs about their frustrating experiences with men, yet Faron said she hopes to spend less creative energy on them in her songs. “Even though the songs are always a critique of boys and/or have some feminist spin, the art is still about them,” she said. “This attention, though negative, still gives them a kind of power. I’ve decided to write less songs, if any, about boys.” Fanon says the band’s plans for the distant future are “world domination.” Fidoten added a resounding, “Word.”

Senior Emma Pfeiffer plays the bonang panerus while first-year Morgan Thomas plays the bonang during the Endof-Semester Indonesian Gong Ensemble Concert at Asia House’s Shipherd Lounge on Sunday. The concert also featured a talempong ensemble, which performed rhythmic and festive songs. Photo by Yingran Zhang

group played a medley of short pieces from different villages in the province of West Sumatra. These pieces were more rhythmic and festive than the gamelan pieces, though the core repetitive structure and its effect remained intact. The smaller group’s sound seemed more organic, as none of the music was written down. Between pieces, Fraser shared humorous anecdotes to lighten the already casual mood. The setting was very relaxed, characteristic of performances in Indonesia in which audience members often talk to each other and move about the room while

the music is played. A student familiar with talempong, having played it during a 2014 Winter Term trip to Sumatra, unexpectedly passed by and was swiftly summoned from his seat in the audience to play. His work with the botol — a soda bottle played by striking its side with a fork — was one of the highlights of the concert. To conclude the event, the large gamelan ensemble rematerialized to perform Ki Nartosabdho’s “Pujiku.” Unlike the folk music that dominated the concert, “Pujiku” combines the traditional gamelan music of

Indonesia with Nartosabdho’s interpretation of popular music. The result was enthralling. Vocalists superimposed a contemporary melody atop the ensemble. The group was balanced; both the melody and lyrics were clearly audible and complemented each other’s tone despite different styles. Sunday’s gamelan and talempong concert was a worthwhile experience. The compelling music featured at the event was unique and created a one-of-akind atmosphere that deserves attention upon the ensemble’s return next year.

Dâm-Funk to Invite the Light at ‘Sco Paul Mehnert “If we invite the light, it will surely come to us / If we invite the funk, it will never let us down.” These words comprise the interlude to DâmFunk’s “Junie’s Re-Transmission,” a track off of his latest LP Invite the Light. Spoken by ’70s funk star Walter “Junie” Morrison, the lyrics are fuzzy yet confident and almost spiritual, like a divine message. Though only 18 seconds of the massive 90-minute record, this brief clip is a sort of encapsulation of Dâm-Funk and the music he makes. It’s abstract and maybe even a little hard to understand, but there’s something endearing in the message. Dâm-Funk, who will perform at the ’Sco tonight at 10 p.m., is one of the most prominent outsider artists in funk music. Singer and producer Damon Garrett Riddick has been active under the Dâm-Funk moniker for over a decade. He signed to esteemed label Stones Throw in 2008 and has since established himself as one of its most prolific artists, releasing dozens of singles, EPs and compilations, as well as two massive studio albums and a full-length project with Snoop Dogg. 2009’s Toeachizown, a two-hour-long album, established Riddick’s patented sound and style, a mixture of vintage funk and synthworship with a modern sheen. The album sounds like a cross between Michael Jackson and Ariel Pink and

presents Dâm-Funk as a sort of time capsule, full of enticing sounds from a long-past era of music re-examined through a psychedelic, slightly absurdist lens. With his most recent effort, 2015’s Invite the Light, Riddick further solidified his spot in a lane of his own. Receiving praise from both Pitchfork and The Needle Drop, the album has garnered him a whole new level of popularity. Although Invite the Light sticks closely to Riddick’s already established sound, it is a beautiful testament to his ability to conjure up new song ideas within that mode. The show was organized by College senior Alisa Yamasaki. She has been booking shows for Oberlin since her first year, and has introduced audiences to a variety of notable under––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Although Invite the Light sticks closely to Riddick’s already established sound, it is a beautiful testament to his ability to conjure up new song ideas within that mode. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ground and independent electronic musicians including Soichi Terada, Mike Huckaby, Pharmakon, Aaron Dilloway, Aurora Halal and Via App. “I’ve really wanted to do a funk show

in the ’Sco for a while,” Yamasaki said via Facebook. “And [Dâm-Funk] is probably the most relevant/popular in that genre who the ’Sco can still afford.” She also said Riddick’s electronic-tinged style and the music’s danceability should appeal to an Oberlin audience. Yamasaki cited “I Wanna Thank You (For Stepping Into My Life),” “10 West” and “When I’m With U I Think of Her” as some of her favorite Dâm-Funk tracks. Yamasaki said audience members should be ready to show off their dancing. “You will never see shows this cheap after you graduate,” she said. “I want to see a whole lot of dancing, so please come prepared! Practice those moves in a mirror, wear your sexy shirt and wear shoes with good traction because the floor’s gonna get sweaty.” The show will also feature an opening performance by electronic music producer Stefan Ringer, known as Black Suede and REKchampa onstage. An exciting new name in the underground of electronic music, Ringer creates oddball melodies that expertly straddle the line between mechanical and soulful. It combines cold, calculated, repetitive beats with warmer live instrumentation. The result is a unique and dizzying amalgamation. Ringer’s music will pair well with the equally unconventional crooning of Dâm-Funk in one of the biggest shows of the semester.

Arts

The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

Hamlet’s Complexity Inspiring for Youth

Page 13

Feature Photo: Terra Incognita

Continued from page 11 every word, every metaphor.” Steggall talked about how this priority has translated to her acting. “There’s a lot of things in this play that you really have to pay attention to,” Steggall said. “There’s a lot of details that at first I didn’t pick out. Annie had to talk about them so we could figure it out. Sometimes they’re major, and sometimes they’re not so major, and as you get more in-depth into a play, you realize how complicated it is.” All of the actors agreed that the atmosphere created by the program and their fellow cast members has helped make Shakespeare a positive experience. “I’ve had days when I’m feeling sad, and I’ll come in here, and I’ll just leave the place laughing,” said 14-year-old Nicholas Bertoni, who plays Polonius. “There’s a really great energy.” 11-year-old Victoria Adair, who plays Guildenstern, also said her fellow cast members have influenced her experience with the play. “It’s a really fun play to put on, even though it’s pretty depressing,” Adair said. “With this group of people doing it and ... our surroundings, it’s just really fun to do. The most fun things have been the costumes and just hanging out with people.” Bertoni said that acting in the play changed his perspective on it and has made him appreciate all the work actors put in to each small move. “One of the things that I know about this play that I would never have guessed before is that Hamlet is not just a serious and intellectual play — it is that, it can be that — but it can be a really funny play as well,” he said. “And one of the things that you don’t get when ... you haven’t been in a play is that you see 10-second glimpses of cool things that the actors do, but that joke or special effect or moment took an hour of work just for that one thing. It’s insane the amount of work that you have to put into it, but it’s great when you do it right.” One of Rasiel’s goals for this production and for the Oberlin Children’s Shakespeare Project as a whole is that the actors take their experiences with them off the stage. “I hope the kids take a confidence in their academic abilities, a confidence in the way they take up space, speaking loudly and clearly — a comfort in just standing still is something we work on a lot,” Rasiel said. “[We are] just breaking down any kind of reverence for canonical texts. They’re too young to know what the literary canon means, but they’re not too young to feel it. We’re breaking any kind of distance or elitism — [I want them to know] that they can read whatever they want, do whatever they want.”

College senior Benjamin Miyamoto dances in Oberlin Dance Company’s Terra Incognita in Hall Auditorium Saturday. Choreographed by Assistant Professor of Dance Alysia Ramos, the multimedia show illustrates how it feels to delve into the unknown and find the unexpected. Conservatory musicians accompanied the dancers, improvising to coordinate their sound with onstage movement. Inspired by Miles Davis, Omar Sosa, Joni Mitchell and Christian Scott, the spontaneity in the music fit with the show’s theme of exploring unfamiliar experiences. Ramos based her vision on Davis’s album Kind of Blue as well as Rebecca Solnit’s book The Field Guide to Getting Lost. Themes in the book, as well as students’ writing, meshed with the dance and music in this hybrid performance.

Text by Louise Edwards, Arts editor Photo by Emma Webster

Ori a Gorgeous Platforming Odyssey

Avi Vogel Columnist

A lush forest sways in the breeze like a moving painting. A gentle creature called Naru finds a small ball of light on the ground that uncurls into an adorable animal of light. The following minutes are spent watching Ori, the light creature, and her surrogate mother Naru growing closer, exploring the forest and living a simple life. It’s a heartwarming story. I instantly grew attached to these characters — right as their lives came crashing down around them. This is the opening sequence of Ori and the Blind Forest, originally released in March 2015 and now being re-released as a “Definitive Edition” on Xbox One and PC this month. The game, which recieved critical acclaim and widespread adoration — with an impressive 93 percent positive-user rating on Steam — was lovingly crafted by Moon Studio, a small team of developers living around the world. Ori is a two-dimensional platformer with combat, exploration and secrets galore for players that are willing to put in the time to find them. The game is part of a subgenre called “Metroidvania” after famed titles Metroid and Castlevania. The player unlocks more areas as they gain access to new abilities. Some are platformer standards — double jump, glide, shoot — while others are incredibly unique, such as redirecting yourself off projectiles and enemies. By the end of the game, Ori has a plethora of movement options. Finding a groove while gliding in the air and jumping between enemies is some of the most fun I’ve had exploring in a game. Ori is one of the most visually stunning games I’ve ever played. Many contemporary games represent experiments in visual design, with some developers going for minimalistic art, such as in LIMBO,

and others opting for photorealistic threedimensional modeling, epitomized in The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Still others go for the nostalgic pixelated art style prevalent in independent games as of late, as in the popular retro jaunt Shovel Knight. Ori seems like it came from a universe devoid of 3D art, where two dimensions have been pushed to their absolute limit. The movement of the enemies is fluid, the world feels alive and the environments, although varied, feel unified in their design. But visuals cannot be the only standard by which a game is judged. It matters how the platforming controls. Fortunately, Ori’s movement is incredibly tight. This precision is important because the game gets very difficult. The play areas are full of puzzles and traps that cause instant ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ori seems like it came from a universe devoid of 3D art, where two dimensions have been pushed to their absolute limit. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– death. Each room is a two-fold challenge: figuring out how to get through and then actually braving the danger. This process of deliberation and action allows the pace of the game to slow down without feeling stagnant, then move fast without feeling rushed. The game’s puzzle-like design grants the player an even greater sense of satisfaction at completing any challenge, and I never had to go find help to figure out a solution. You may, however, get stuck on the execution. Ori’s save mechanic is unique. Instead of saving only in certain rooms — as is the norm for Metroidvania games — you can save almost anywhere. However, this comes at a cost. Saving uses an energy bar.

This energy can be replenished throughout the world, but that leads to some interesting dilemmas. Do you save halfway through a platforming section because you don’t want to deal with what you just went through again, or do you hold on to your last bit of energy because you don’t know what’s in store? Maybe there’s a secret door that you’ll need energy to open. This riskreward style of saving might cause frustration at first, but it’s never overly intrusive. I found myself enjoying the omnipresent decision of saving or moving on. Musically, Ori stands a head above the rest. It has an original orchestral soundtrack that pairs perfectly with the environments and story beats. Whether you’re running through a volcano to escape a giant owl with chase music playing in the background, or being treated to soft strings and vocals while exploring the calmer parts of the world, the soundtrack is never overpowering. The Definitive Edition comes with two new areas, each one using a unique mechanic to explore. The zones explore the background of Naru, the creature that finds Ori in the opening cinematic. I haven’t made my way through the entirety of the optional areas yet — only finding them after I finished the game — but from what I have experienced, they live up to the quality of every other zone while still feeling fresh. All the while, the story ties the game together. Music, visuals and controls are all great, but without the narrative of the forest’s fate, it would all feel flat. Instead, twists and turns kept me interested all the way to the end. When I completed the game, I instantly launched it up again to see what else I missed. I cannot recommend Ori and the Blind Forest enough. Its tight controls, wonderful aesthetic and touching story all come together to create an experience that is quite unlike anything else on the market.

Sports

Page 14

The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

Sports Editors

This week, the Review sat down with itself — well, with Sports editors Randy Ollie and Sarena Malsin — to discuss their favorite parts of the job, their ideas for the future of the Sports section and their plans after graduation. What made you want to be a Sports editor for the Review? Randy Ollie: I was friends with the previous Sports editor, Nate Levinson, last year, and I also wrote for the Sports section for the entire year. I really enjoyed writing a lot, so when I saw an opening for next year — and I was looking for another job as well as a way to get more involved with Oberlin athletics — Nate really encouraged me to apply, and I took his advice. The rest is history. Sarena Malsin: I wanted to be a Sports editor because I’ve been interested in journalism since high school, and I’ve been a sports writer since my sophomore year. I wanted to continue that and to be more involved with the Review. I always liked writing for the Sports section because it kind of gave more attention to a part of Oberlin that people don’t usually give much attention to. I love sports and I love writing, and they’ve both been a big part of my life, so it was a good combination of my two favorite things. What has been your favorite thing and your least favorite thing about being Sports editor? RO: My favorite part about being a Sports editor would have to be a tie between writing editorials and interviewing people like coaches and other athletes. It’s been a cool experience for me. Although I did some interviewing last year when I was just a writer, this year I’ve gotten the chance to speak to a lot more coaches and a bunch of athletes, a lot of whom I would always see around the gym but never really got a chance to talk to. I love editorials because it’s a chance to write about what interests you most. I got to do a lot of topics about the NBA and FIFA, which are two things I follow passionately. [My] least favorite thing would have to be a person: my managing editor Vida Weisblum. I can’t really go into the details as to why, but anyone that knows her should be able to get it. SM: I would have to agree that the interviews and the editorials are the best part of the job. I love doing the “In The Locker Room” interviews because it’s so fun talking to people about what they’re passionate about. Having a conversation with someone and watching them get excited about something they love doing is

tention, too, because they’re a great part of Oberlin’s campus. So making an organized connection between captains and the editors would be super cool and helpful.

Sarena Malsin (left) and Randy Ollie awesome. For the editorials, I’m really passionate about women’s soccer specifically and societal issues in sports, so it was cool to combine those two themes and go on the occasional rant in the paper. I don’t really have a least favorite thing besides Randy being the worst, of course. Randy might be the most annoying person I’ve ever met, although I do respect his skills playing Bloons Tower Defense 4. Sitting next to him 14 hours a week is pretty tough to get through. RO: I wouldn’t want to sit next to me for 14 hours a week, either. Editor’s Note: Randy secretly loves Vida more than life itself. What has been your most memorable moment in the Review Office? RO: We have a wall of quotes, which are full of funny and memorable quotes from past editors and staff members. For someone who prides himself on consistently saying outlandish things, I almost went the entire year without getting anything on the wall. Finally, like, two weeks ago, I struck gold, and one of my quotes was unanimously voted to be put on the wall. I got to write it, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment for the rest of my life. SM: My most memorable moment was definitely writing my first editorial. I get pretty nervous and self-conscious about my writing, and I was writing about my past concussions playing soccer — a personal issue I have had in sports. I was really intimidated because it was my first week there. But a couple of coworkers came up to me and said it turned out to be a great editorial, and that made me feel awesome. It was a really great feeling to put [myself] out

Oberlin Sprints Past Ashland Continued from page 16 ing the race with a time of 27.73 to finish 19th overall. In the women’s 800-meter, senior Kate Stevens earned a top-10 finish with a time of 2:23.78. The Yeowomen also earned back-to-back finishes from first-year Abigail Bellows and junior Alyssa Hemler in the women’s 5,000-meter race. Bellows completed the race in 19:13.74, and Hemler finished less than a second behind,

there and realize that the office is a great, supportive place. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not in the Burton Hall basement? RO: Ideally, when I’m not in the basement, I would be in a warm bath with a box of strawberry bonbons within reach. Unfortunately, there are not any bathtubs at this school that can fit me, or in life, for that matter. So I would have to say my go-to is shooting hoops or working out, hanging out with my friends and playing videogames. Just like most college students, a lot of my free time is spent not doing the ridiculous amount of work that I probably should be doing. SM: My favorite thing to do has to be just being outside and moving my legs, jumping around and getting out some energy. It’s pretty rough when you’ve been sitting down there in that basement all night, underground, and you look up through the window and see only the legs of people walking past. I like going for runs, playing soccer, drawing and making comics. My newly discovered passion is Disco Zoo. I now spend most of my time doing that, and it’s been a great 24 hours so far. I look forward to a bright, beautiful future with Disco Zoo. Editor’s Note: Sarena was playing Disco Zoo during the entirety of this interview. What are your plans after graduation? RO: My plans after graduation are not totally clear yet. Either I will move back to Chicago to continue working out and preparing for potentially playing basketball overseas at some point in the near future, [or]

clocking in at 19:13.90. Sophomores Annie Goodridge and Rayna Holmes also performed well in the triple jump, leaping to a mark of 10.92 meters and 10.25 meters respectively. In the women’s discus, Richardson earned another top-10 finish with a mark of 41.23 meters. Richardson said Saturday was a great tune-up for this week’s North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. “I looked at the last meets to instill some confidence [in myself ] and feel prepared for the conference meet,” Richardson said. “In general, I like to be consistent, but sometimes you have dips and inconsistencies in performance. I do not think that will be reflected at the confer-

I also might stay in Oberlin and do something similar. If I went back to Chicago, I would resume working for Northwestern [University] Sports Camp as a summer camp counselor. If I stayed in Oberlin, ideally I could find a temporary job for the Athletics department or somewhere in town. SM: I have a job working with Ohio Citizen Action, so I will be living with my friend in Oberlin. I think next year, I’m going to apply to grad school, but until then, I would like to figure some things out. A wise economics professor once told me that I should not jump into anything after graduation and spend some time in a place I enjoy around people I enjoy, so that’s pretty much my plan. If you could improve anything in the Sports section, what would it be? RO: Ideally, I would have loved to have more writers. Having a wide range of writers interested in consistently contributing would mean that Sarena and I could be much more flexible in the variety of content we put into the section. We could cover varsity, club and intramural sports, as well as any other wacky athletic things that we Obies get into on a sunny day. SM: I’ve recently come up with an idea [to] create a network of stats and info with club and intramural sports captains so that Sports editors could have a resource to rely on when writing non-varsity articles. It’s really a shame, because we have some awesome club sports programs, but it’s harder to track down stats and info because they don’t have easily accessible stats on GoYeo or anything. But they deserve at-

ence meet. I feel strong and ready to compete at conference.” The lone Yeomen highlight Saturday came courtesy of junior Nick Care, who ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“I feel strong and ready to compete at conference.” Ana Richardson Sophomore –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– finished in seventh place in the men’s 5-kilometer run at 16:39.90. Even with the conference meet this weekend, Appenheimer said the team’s

What would you say is the most important thing you’ve learned playing sports? RO: I would probably say the lesson of perseverance. There’s that old expression that whenever you play anything, the only real opponent is yourself. Results may not always be favorable, but at the end of the day, you have to reflect on how you personally performed and what you gained from the experience. I hate losing — I’ll lock myself in my room for hours after a loss — but every game has resulted in some form of personal growth for myself. It’s just a matter of recognizing it. SM: I definitely have a similar feeling. I played soccer and ran track for years, and the value of mental focus and commitment to accomplish something for yourself and no one else is a great feeling. Seeing the direct payoff in your strength improving or in winning a meet or game is super important. It’s an important lesson that you can directly impact how you perform and play in any scenario based on the work you put in and the mindset you choose to have. What are you looking forward to during Commencement? RO: I am most looking forward to doing nothing. I can’t wait to wake up every day to a blank slate of possibility and wonder. I will definitely be jumping into the Arb [pond] at some point, spending a good deal of my nights at the Feve and stumbling home from Agave a number of times. SM: I’m really looking forward to being outside when it’s sunny, as well as also jumping into the Arb [pond]. I’m basically looking to do everything that I was unable to do in this crazy senior year. I’m going to make my own playdough and break out some temporary tattoos I’ve been meaning to use. It’ll be wild. But really, having free time where I can breathe for a second and not constantly have things to do will be great. Also, [I’m] looking forward to petting mad dogs. RO: Indubitably. Interview by Randy Ollie and Sarena Malsin, Sports editors Photo by Jessica Moskowitz

mentality hasn’t changed. “We don’t change our message at all throughout the season,” Appenheimer said. “So the things that we were telling them back in January are the exact same things that we tell them right before the conference meet.” Appenheimer also said there is not much left for the coaching staff to do. “The hope is that everyone is really confident in their preparation,” Appenheimer said. “At this point, the coaching staff is really left with little to do, except really help put the student-athletes in the right mindset.” Oberlin’s track and field teams hit the road for Granville, Ohio, this weekend to compete in the NCAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Sports

The Oberlin Review, May 6, 2016

Editorial: Don’t Change that Channel Continued from page 16 female athletic icon. She stepped off the soccer pitch for the last time as the top international goal scorer for both men and women with 184 career goals. Now, she’s tackling the ESPN newsroom — a male-dominated atmosphere — as a woman known for fighting for equal rights for female athletes, especially with regard to unequal playing conditions and pay between the men’s and women’s national teams. There’s a reason why the sports world is commonly perceived to be unwelcoming to non-dudes, and it’s because dudes’ voices are heard the loudest and the most and are in total control of commentary and news delivery. It’s a good thing that athletes on the USWNT and Serena Williams have garnered enough grudging respect and popularity from the nation to swing their fair share of advertising campaigns, or male athletes would be universal in those as well. Despite my focus on women’s sports in editorials, most of the quotes, statistics, reports and articles I’ve found have been written by men. So Wambach is the best candidate I can think of to make waves in sports entertainment’s gender imbalance. Beyond advocating for gender equality in sports, she’s also an activist for LGBTQ rights, which I doubt is a concept some of those ESPN guys have wrapped their heads around yet. It’s 2016, but whatever, guys. It’s fine (it’s not fine). I don’t think it’s overly optimistic to speculate that Wambach is going to make an important difference and bring a lot to the table in August. Fittingly, she’s also working on a podcast called “Fearless Conversation with Abby Wambach,” in which she has promised to confront controversy in both the sports world and her own life. Even though it’s exciting that she’s infiltrating bro headquarters at ESPN, Wambach isn’t a pure-of-heart role model. Unfortunately, she made another typical post-retirement athlete move and was pulled over for a DUI near her home in Portland, OR, last month, to which she responded by pleading guilty and joining a diversion program for first-time offenders. She also made some pretty shady comments to Men’s National Team Head Coach Jurgen Klinsman about bringing in “a bunch of ... foreign guys” in December, arguing against the presence of foreign players on a U.S. national team. Yes, Wambach has made mistakes, but she’s owned up to them. I’m not trying to excuse a DUI, but Wambach publicly apologized and made a committed step toward improvement immediately after her offense, which is far more than one can say for most other professional athletes with alcohol or drugrelated charges. On her podcast, Wambach will address her comments to Klinsman and the question of foreign players on a national team, which she willingly agreed to revisit. Her quote on the issue says it all: “Why not [revisit my comments]? I think people tend to steer away from stuff that has caused controversy in their lives. For me, what better place to start?” This attitude is rare, especially in a celebrity. Wambach is not only positioned to give ESPN a facelift with her politics but with her personality and values as well. I grew up watching professional soccer and the Olympics on the couch sandwiched between my dog and my dad, hearing male commentators, seeing males discussing games at halftime and watching male-driven talkshows in between game broadcasts (before I got too bored with those and returned to my GameBoy before the next game). I can’t wait to sit on that same couch and watch Wambach between broadcasts this August.

Page 15

Cool or Drool: Space Jam II Dan Bisno Columnist

Film sequels are often met with criticism, because how can the sequel be any better than the original? Critics call rare, improved sequels such as The Godfather: Part II or The Dark Knight anomalies. Despite the knowledge that a Space Jam sequel can almost certainly not hold up to the original, it has been one of the most anticipated sports films of the last two decades. For those of you who forgot about Space Jam, it is a 1996 film starring basketball legend Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters. Jordan saves the characters from being kidnapped by aliens who want to hold them captive at an amusement park on the aliens’ home planet. Over the years, Space Jam has become an icon of sports entertainment, immortalizing other stars like Shawn Bradley, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing. The conversation surrounding a Space Jam sequel has been underway for a long time now. During Kobe Bryant’s NBA reign, he was expected to take on Jordan’s role in a 2000s version. After denying rumors for years, Bryant has since retired, while a new player worthy of the role has expressed interest in bringing back the Looney Tunes-basketball extravaganza — LeBron James.

Reports began to surface this past week that James will, in fact, star in a Space Jam sequel written by Andrew Dodge and Fast & Furious’ Justin Lin. Warner Brothers is also reportedly in negotiations with Lin to direct the film. Perhaps a Fast & Furious edge is exactly what a Space Jam sequel would need to compete with its predecessor. James is no stranger to acting. He was recently featured in Trainwreck alongside Amy Schumer and Bill Hader. Seeing James outside of the basketball arena for the first time was awkward but enjoyable. His acting skills can’t match those of a veteran performer, but he certainly has some chops. Unfortunately, he has yet to comment on the reports regarding his involvement. This is, of course, a dreadful byproduct of “Zero Dark Thirty,” which is what he calls his personal media blackout during playoffs. Is it May already? James and his Cleveland Cavaliers are currently in the second round of playoffs in the eastern conference, which means James is unavailable for anything more than another run at a third championship. This year, however, he was indecisive, saying, “If I’m on social media, if I’m off social media, I’m going to be locked in anyway, so I’m not worried about that.” But sure enough, on April 16, one night before the first round of the Cavs’ playoff run, James posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

saying, “Zero Dark Thirty-#23 activated #StriveForGreatness,” along with a pitch-black photo. He has remained silent since then. Despite the 20-year wait for a Space Jam sequel, fans may have to wait a little over a month to hear James’ thoughts on the new film. However, another lesserknown attempt at reviving a beloved basketball film may ultimately parallel this story. In 2002, 20th Century Fox released Like Mike, a film featuring an adolescent Lil’ Bow Wow stealing the basketball powers of Michael Jordan using Jordan’s shoes. The film has earned a massive cult following, achieving a commendable 57 percent on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer and bringing in $51 million in domestic box office grosses. While not a literal sequel, the story of Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant in Warner Brothers’ 2012 Thunderstruck follows a strikingly similar narrative. In Thunderstruck, a high school basketball player borrows Durant’s basketball powers, rendering Durant unable to compete at the NBA level until his powers are returned. Unlike Like Mike, Thunderstruck earned a meager 20 percent on the Tomatometer and less than $600,000 in domestic box office grosses. While the films were not marketed on the same scale, Like Mike is the clear favorite. Perhaps Thunderstruck couldn’t compete because of Durant’s lack of on-

court success — unlike Jordan and James — or his somewhat monotonous voice. More likely, however, fans were unwilling to fall for a less enjoyable copy of the original, especially a decade after the hype surrounding Like Mike’s release. The same concerns apply to the Space Jam sequel. James is extremely marketable, but has any athlete ever been as marketable as Michael Jordan? The only billionaire athlete ever essentially made his fortune marketing himself through his shoes. Warner Brothers is expected to include a number of other basketball stars seen in the original Space Jam. If this film were to compete with its popular predecessor, it would be best to include current players with Jordan’s popularity, like Russell Westbrook or Blake Griffin, in order to maintain its flare. Ultimately, very little is known about this project. Warner Brothers seems committed to reviving the basketball classic, but how and when are still ambiguous. As much fun as it may be to see the 6-foot-8-inch James hanging out with Bugs Bunny, it is hard to imagine an improved Space Jam. This will more than likely be a fantastic marketing opportunity, while the film itself will be decent at best. For the moment, this project is a DROOL, but we look forward to seeing fans in their LeBron James Tune Squad jerseys soon. Does the NBA get to advertise on those, too?

Injuries Keep Yeowomen from NCAC Playoffs Continued from page 16 After the Yeowomen’s four-goal streak, the Fighting Scots found the net on two more occasions to bring the score to 12–9. The Yeowomen continued with goals from Rauchle, junior Sloane Garelick and Mullard to tie the game at 13–13 with just 7 minutes, 30 seconds remaining. A low Wooster shot found the back of the net as the Fighting Scots reclaimed the lead. After regaining possession, the Yeowomen threw everything they had at Wooster goalie Isabel Perman but were unable to sneak a goal past her on multiple attempts. After surviving Oberlin’s late-game push, the Fighting Scots kept the ball out of the Yeowomen’s reach as the final seconds ticked off the clock to earn themselves an NCAC tournament bid. Rauchle said that a slow start and the lack of both Yeowomen senior captains held Oberlin back from victory. “I think that we emerged as a team a little too late in the game,” Rauchle said. “I think that what really let Wooster jump ahead was how nervous we were. We had most of our starters out due to injuries during the game, on top of it being senior day with both our senior captains out as well.” The impact of Barlow’s and Doak’s absence cannot be understated. In less than a full season, the pair contributed a combined total of 90 points to the Yeowomen offense in addition to providing crucial leadership for the team. Puterbaugh said Doak and Barlow were important to the squad as both leaders and players. “I can’t say enough how great Zanna and Grace were as captains this year, both on and off the field,” she said. “It was a tough adjustment when they both got hurt.”

Rauchle also said that the team’s plethora of injuries forced them to turn to many young faces in weighty situations. “This year was such a crazy year in terms of injuries,” Rauchle said. “We started off the season with two people out due to injuries and ended it with seven. Every single person on the team really stepped up, and I’m really proud of how the season ended. Not many teams would be able to perform the way we did with half of our starting lineup on the bench.” With the loss, the Yeowomen finish the 2016 season with a 10–7 record overall and a 4–4 conference record. While a fifth-place NCAC finish is not as great as the runner-up position of last year, Doak said the season is still a testament to the team’s progress over the last four years. “When I first joined the team, I remember how small we were in numbers and how we

couldn’t get through a practice without multiple dropped balls,” she said. “It’s crazy to look back at that having now gone to the NCAC championship game and been in a competitive position for conference play the last few years.” Doak also praised the work of third-year Head Coach Lynda McCandlish in improving the team’s cohesion and gameplay. “I also credit [Lynda] with really transforming the team when she first arrived,” Doak said. “Seeing this trajectory and the hard work everyone has put in, I believe the program is only going to get better.” With another season in the books, the Yeowomen will look for a new crop of players to fill the shoes of the 2016 senior class. Whatever its form next year, the team hopes to build off of its hard-fought season finale to crush its 2017 season.

Seniors Emily Kipling, Taylor Swift, Suzanna Doak and Grace Barlow stand with their families during the women’s lacrosse team’s Senior Day celebration. The Yeowomen ended their season Saturday, losing a nail-biter to The College of Wooster 14–13. Photo Courtesy of Erik Andrews

Sports The Oberlin Review

Page 16

May 6, 2016

— Track & Field —

Track and Field Races Toward NCAC Nile Godfrey Oberlin’s track and field teams saw plenty of action last weekend with both the Yeomen and Yeowomen competing in two different meets on Friday and Saturday. Only select members of the team were in action on Friday, with senior Geno Arthur running at the 50th Annual Hillsdale College “GINA” relays and the rest of the athletes competing at the Ashland University Alumni Open at Ashland University. Arthur stole the show in the GINA relay’s 5,000-meter run, beating his previous school record of 14 minutes, 36.09 seconds by 17 seconds, setting an impressive new time of 14:18.92. Arthur was already nationally ranked in the top five for the 10,000-meter run prior to the GINA relays, but his new mark also makes him the sixth fastest runner in the nation among DIII athletes in the 5,000-meter run this season. Arthur said tha competing on the national stage is what drives him to compete at such a high level. “Qualifying for nationals is what keeps me motivated to best my own performances,” he said.

“It’s fun to see how hard you can push yourself, and it’s also fun to see how fast I can get. [Head] Coach Ray [Appenheimer] was a great runner, too, and he knows how to get people to be fast, which helps me a lot.” At Ashland University, Oberlin’s field athletes also delivered strong performances. For the Yeomen, first-year standout thrower Hank Sinn came out

Sarena Malsin Sports Editor

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“It’s fun to see how hard you can push yourself, and it’s also fun to see how fast I can get. [Head] Coach Ray [Appenheimer] was a great runner too, and he knows how to get people to be fast, which helps me a lot.” Geno Arthur Senior ––––––––––––––––––––––––––– on top in a field of 13 competitors, registering a shot-put toss of 12.92 meters. On the women’s side, sophomore Ana Richardson

— Women’s Lacrosse —

Fighting Scots Best Yeowomen

Sophomore Lisa Carle throws herself over the bar for the high jump Saturday. The track and field team traveled to Granville, Ohio, to compete in the 2016 North Coast Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships this morning. Photo Courtesy of OC Athletics

bested the 12-person field with a toss of 12.3 meters, concluding the shot-put sweep for Oberlin. Richardson went on to place second in both the discus — with a mark of 42.16 meters — and hammer throw, in which she threw a distance of 45.40 meters. Junior Jillian Hostetler capped off Friday by placing second in the javelin with a mark of 32.33 meters. Oberlin continued to impress

at the Ashland University Alumni Open on Saturday. First-year Imani Cook-Gist had an excellent day on the track, starting with a 15th finish overall in the women’s 100-meter dash with a time of 12.88 in a field of primarily Division I and II athletes. Cook-Gist added another impressive finish in the 200-meter dash, completSee Track, page 14

P l aye rs o f th e Wee k Praying Manti

Harrison Wollman Staff Writer The air was filled with tension as the women’s lacrosse team took the field against the College of Wooster Fighting Scots Saturday, as both teams had a North Coast Athletic Conference playoff bid at stake. In a back-and-forth contest that featured plenty of offensive output and some drama, the Fighting Scots overcame a late-game comeback from the Yeowomen to win the contest 14–13. Before the game, Oberlin honored its four senior team members, midfielders Grace Barlow and Suzanna Doak, defender Taylor Swift and team manager Emily Kipling. Unfortunately, injuries kept both Doak and Barlow — two of Oberlin’s top players — from playing Saturday. The Yeowomen came out of the gate with a goal from junior attacker Maggie Mullard just 1 minute, 44 seconds into the contest, followed almost immediately with a goal from Oberlin’s top scorer Natalie Rauchle to put the Yeowomen up 2–0. The Fighting Scots answered back with a vengeance, scoring three straight goals and propelling themselves into the lead. After a game-tying goal from junior midfielder Hannah Heinke-Green, Wooster again mounted an impressive offensive attack, netting four consecutive scores to put the team up 7–3. A late first-half goal by Rauchle sent the Yeowomen to the locker room down 7–4. Coming out of the half, the Yeowomen fell behind the Scots 10–5 after a flurry of Wooster goals. However, the Yeowomen mounted a furious comeback, netting four straight goals to cut the deficit down to just one. Junior midfielder Michaela Puterbaugh described the four goals as the most pivotal moments of the game and an effort that highlighted the team’s resilience. “That moment showed us that we were still in the game and could not give up.” Puterbaugh said. From that point on, I think we fought the hardest we ever have until the end of the game and did not let them have an easy win.” See Injuries, page 15

New on ESPN: a Woman

Sophomore Maya Howard-Watts jumps to make the grab against Swarthmore College Saturday. In Oberlin’s first Ultimate Frisbee tournament in decades, the Preying Manti faced teams from Haverford College, Swarthmore College, Xavier University, Ohio Wesleyan University and Lehigh University. During the qualifying rounds on Saturday the squad went 2–2. On Sunday, the team didn’t lose a game heading into the championship match against Haverford College. With the score tied at 6–6 on a universe point — a game-winning point in an Ultimate game — and a nationals bid at stake, it looked like the Manti’s season might be wrapping up early. But double-degree first-year Abby Cheng had other ideas, knocking the frisbee out of her opponent’s hand and making a diving grab to snatch the disc before it hit the ground. She landed in the end zone, scoring the winning point for her squad and sending the Manti back to nationals for the first time since 2013. The play, also known as a “Callahan,” is extremely rare. Senior Manti player Joelle Sostheim described the play as “one of the most exciting and shocking moments of my life.” Ultimate Frisbee nationals take place during Commencement weekend from May 21–22, meaning that none of the Manti’s senior members will be able to make the trek to Raleigh, NC, due to familial and personal obligations. However, with a crop of talented underclassmen, the Manti’s prospects look promising heading into the competition.

Photo by Benjamin Shepherd, Photo editor

For a player with a standout legacy and athletic career, Abby Wambach is following a pretty traditional post-retirement path for a professional athlete: She’s becoming a contributing analyst for ESPN. Wambach, who announced her retirement in October 2015 and played her last game with the Women’s National team in December, said on Wednesday that she will be kicking off her time with the network by covering the European Championships in France in June and the Rio Olympics in August. According to ESPN, she’ll also be working with ESPN Films and other shows, like E:60 and Outside the Lines, which is an investigative show delving into sports controversies, societal issues and athletes’ personal stories. From the unbiased perspective of a female athlete in sports media, this is pretty awesome news for sports entertainment, and, it seems, for Wambach herself. She told the Associated Press, “Talking and reporting on things that I’m passionate about really, really was the selling point to me, because I don’t want the rest of my life to be based on the fact that I played soccer. I want to be able to venture and learn about different things.” This really resonates with me, especially as I reflect on my time at the Review. Even on the comparatively tiny, inconsequential scale of Oberlin’s athletics (sorry, everyone) and the Review’s sports section, the opportunity to write and publish about a topic you’re truly passionate about and the chance to learn about the broader sports world beyond personal experience is one I wouldn’t have traded for the world. Wambach’s choice is also exciting because she’s breaking yet another barrier as a See Editorial, page 14