Vol. 139, Issue 19

Sthecarlet & Black

GRINNELL IS A DRAG

ICCO faces difficulty from new budget rules

By Nina Baker bakernin@grinnell.edu

The International Cultural Cuisine Organization (ICCO), a Grinnell College student organization, has faced organizing delays and repercussions in response to new, more formal Student Government Association (SGA) funding procedures announced early in the 2022-23 year, resulting in students unable to plan events or gather supplies. In some cases organizers have spent money out of their own personal funds to put on events.

ICCO members, who received SGA funding for an April 8 event, were later notified in an email sent by Ashley Adams, associate director of student involvement, that the organization had failed to follow proper funding protocols, and it was barred from hosting future events.

Adams requested a formal meeting between representatives between SGA, Student Involvement and the ICCO cabinet, which later occurred on Tuesday, April 18. According to Nameera Dawood `23, ICCO cabinet member, no SGA representative at-

Salsa club puts a new spin on dance

By George Kosinski kosinski@grinnell.edu

tended the meeting.

Dawood and Hong (Pinkie) Doan `24, another ICCO cabinet member, said they submitted the International Dinner budget two months prior to the event. They said that Student Involvement staff did not notify ICCO of budget concerns until Friday, March 17, immediately prior to spring break.

In the meeting, Dawood said one reason ICCO events have been suspended is because members of the group do not hold food preparation licenses from Iowa, which Doan said will be a requirement for organizations next year. Neither the 2022-23 student handbook nor the spring 2023 student organization funding procedures mentions food safety training.

Doan said each member of the cabinet was willing to undergo food preparation training to host future events, but the College employee responsible for providing licensure was on leave the entire semester. Doan added that she does not know of other student organizations penalized for not yet having food preparation licenses.

Dawood also alleged that Adams told ICCO that next year, student organizations will be unable to acquire clothing, including cultural clothing,

Grinnell College students eager for instruction in salsa and bachata dancing were all out of luck — that is, until just over a month ago when Nina Ranalli `26 and Tomoyoshi Sato `23 together founded the Salsa and Bachata Club.

At meetings, which are held every Saturday from 4-6 p.m. in the Charles Benson Bear `39 Recreation and Athletic Center (Bear) dance studio, students pair up with one another and receive instruction in salsa and bachata, two dances originally from

“The Glass Castle” faces possible K-12 ban

By Taylor Nunley nunleyta@grinnell.edu

Over 60 students, educators and community members gathered at Drake Community Library to debate the fate of Jeannette Walls’ memoir “The Glass Castle” in Grinnell-Newburg community school classrooms this past Wednesday, April 19.

The committee meeting was the first of two in reconsidering the

current instructional materials accompanying the book in ninth-grade English classes. At the next meeting on May 3, the committee will deliberate and submit a proposed decision on the teaching of the book to the Grinnell-Newburg Board of Education.

>> Glass Castle continued on page 3

>> Student group funding continued on page 2

OWEN BARBATO

Tomoyoshi Sato `23 (Left) and Nina Ranalli `26 (Right).

Photo from Nov. 20, 2009 issue of the Scarlet & Black

PHOTO BY PAUL HANSEN, CONTRIBUTED BY NAMEERA DAWOOD

The International Cultural Cuisine Organization International Dinner brought together global dishes from Grinnell College students. Over 100 students attended.

Funding changes endanger future student org events

Andrea Tracy appointed to academic dean

By Molly Wilcoxson wilcoxso2@grinnell.edu

When looking at the Grinnell College student body, Andrea Tracy, associate professor of psychology, sees one predominant problem — stress. And now, as she prepares to assume the position of the associate dean of student academic life, she hopes to tackle the issue head-on.

Tracy will officially assume the associate dean position on July 1, replacing Cynthia Hansen, professor of anthropology, who stepped down from the position to take a sabbatical from the College during the fall 2023 semester. Following the opening of the position, Tracy submitted an application to Beronda Montgomery, vice president of academic affairs and dean of the College, to which she was then appointed.

using SGA-approved funds.

Removing the ability to acquire clothing and accessories would primarily impact international and cultural groups, Dawood and Doan said, because those groups comprise the majority of student organizations requesting clothing.

Dawood also said that ICCO was only approved to use a limited number of websites to purchase food, which she said might not include options for authentically made international cuisine.

In an email to the S&B, Adams wrote that, “SGA and Student Involvement are working together to streamline processes for clothing,” in response to a request for comment on if student organizations will be allowed to use SGA funds to purchase clothing next fall.

Additionally, Dawood said that because of delays in funding approval, some tablecloths and other utilities did not arrive on time, and ICCO cabinet members purchased about $60 of supplies out-of-pocket.

“We often have to buy things with our money,” Dawood said.

Prior to the fall, students in Student Educational Policy Committees and student organizations who purchased supplies for events or organizations using personal funds were allowed to request reimbursement from the College. However this year, SGA and Student Involvement stopped allowing reimbursement.

“If students are following the funding processes and procedures, they won’t need to spend out of pocket,” Adams said. “Students that could afford to go out and purchase things would go out and go around the actual budgeting process.”

Adams also alleged that allowing reimbursement unfairly disadvantaged students who were unable to afford to spend out-of-pocket, even if later reimbursed, compared to students willing to initially spend money out-of-pocket.

Sarah Toay `23, SGA treasurer, declined request for a verbal inter-

view, citing a lack of time. In a later email to the S&B, Toay wrote that SGA worked with the accounting office and the division of student affairs to craft a new reimbursement process that met fair, legal and ethical standards, and that the process is continually changing in response to student feedback.

SGA treasurers, not Student Involvement, have typically been the primary advocates for changing to funding and budget requests, including this year, according to Adams. She added that the SGA treasurer reviews budget proposals, and Student Involvement only assists in the application if there is a potential for something harmful or high-risk, including in food safety, or to assist in tax-exemption procedures because the College is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

We often have to buy things with our money.

Nameera Dawood `23

“I have an obligation within my position, professionally, to make sure that we are being compliant with state and federal laws, and assessing risk management and liability,” Adams said.

Adams said part of the rationale to create standardized funding guidelines was in response to archival records internal to SGA which revealed students receiving funds which were alleged to be using the funds improperly.

“There has been money spent not in ethical ways. In terms of a student requesting funds or a student gaining access to funds that didn’t benefit their student organization but benefited them personally,” she said, citing examples of SGA-approved funds being used for personal technology, steel bows and arrows and non-academic international travel unrelated to a student organization.

“We have a really high student activity fee at the College, so administrators, staff and the students in SGA

are concerned that students are paying so high of an amount of the student activity fee,” Adams said, referring to the $492 student activity fee for the 2022-23 academic year. “So how do we make sure again that we’re being ethical in our spending, and how do we make sure that we’re supporting all students?”

Adams said she recognized the issues that can arise with allowing SGA-approved purchases only on two SGA credit cards. This spring, both SGA credit cards were used fraudulently, according to Adams, causing each card to be deactivated at different times in the semester. At one point, zero cards were available for use.

During the interim, DSA and staff members offered other cards for usage, including when purchasing items for the ICCO International Dinner.

Adams said one of the biggest problems that have complicated the ability of student organizations to apply for funding has been SGA and Student Involvement’s lack of a central website for students to find policies and procedures. Instead, Adams said heads of student organizations have relied on accessing funding policies by either finding the policy documents from the fall semester by searching their email inbox or by reaching out to SGA or Student Involvement. Though these policies were primarily provided to student organization leaders, any student may request SGA funding.

“The only way we have to communicate this is via email, and that’s not effective, and we know that it’s not effective,” Adams said. She also said she cannot provide a timeline for when SGA or Student Involvement will release a working website.

Adams said that if students are confused about how to receive funding for events or supplies, they should go directly to DSA or email [studentinvolvement] with 48 hours notice.

“I would really appreciate feedback,” she said. “Student Involvement wants that feedback. What’s working well? What do we need to improve on?”

The role is one of three positions intended for current faculty. The associate dean of curriculum and academic programs has been Tim Arner, associate professor of English, for the past five years. The second dean position will also have a staff turnover this July — Caleb Elfenbein, associate professor of religious studies and history, will be replacing Jin Feng, professor of Chinese and Japanese.

sure of her specific duties until she assumes the position, she is confident that she will be contributing to CAS, academic advising and faculty assessments. She said that her approach to the role is to attempt to find a balance between managing student and faculty burnout while also efficiently and successfully managing the institution’s required functions.

“Prior to the pandemic, we were seeing a lot of increasing amounts of stress and mental health issues, and faculty feeling overworked in their positions,” Tracy said. “And that started before the pandemic, but it became much more evident [throughout].”

Tracy said that she chose to apply for this role because it aligned with her academic and personal interests, and she wants to see change in the way student academic life is managed.

“I have been feeling like I would want to move that work forward in a very different way,” she said.

The designated roles of the associate dean of student academic life position are not set in stone. Although each position has its own separate title, a choice made by Anne Harris during her time as the College’s interim president, their responsibilities often overlap or are dependent upon the interests of the deans themselves. The official duties assigned to the three dean positions from the 2021-22 academic year are available on SharePoint and accessible to all Grinnell College students.

During this year, the student academic life position presided over several things including, but not limited to, Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs), the Science Learning Center, math and computer science labs, independent study curriculums, peer mentoring, department assessment and academic software requests. The dean also serves as the chair of the Committee on Academic Standing (CAS).

Tracy said that, while she is un-

She also said, “What I would like to see is changes to the way we do things that can mediate some of this, and focus on what we really want to get done in terms of development. But we know that there are also all of these things we have to do to keep the institution running.”

She said that finding the happy medium is not easy because important aspects of doing so involve making people feel like their work is important and asking people to contribute in ways that are respectful of their time.

“We feel less stressed and overworked if we feel like what we’re doing is valuable,” Tracy said.

Tracy also said that she wanted to ensure that regular assessment of policies occur so that people feel as though they are getting something out of their education. Furthermore, she said she wants to ensure that there is a strong intersection between technology and academics so things can be done effectively.

At the end of the day, according to Tracy, the goal is for both students and faculty to feel as though they are getting the most out of their Grinnell College education.

“We want to make sure that people are moving forward through their trajectory at Grinnell in the most effective way for them,” Tracy said.

Salsa and Bachata Club brings lively, welcoming dance lessons to Grinnell Saturdays

communities in Latin America but now extremely popular worldwide. Both leaders stressed that they want the club to be as inviting as possible, and that everyone, regardless of experience or skill level, is welcome to attend.

“It’s open to anyone who wants to come, especially to complete beginners,” Ranalli said. “The majority of people who come are all new to the dances, and we welcome people from all levels of experience or with backgrounds in any form of dance.”

Though matched in their passion for the club, as well as a desire to share that passion with other students on campus, Ranalli and Sato each have very different backgrounds as dancers. “I’ve been dancing my whole life and was always involved in a lot of different forms, but salsa has been my favorite,” Ranalli said. “I used to teach salsa in Chicago before college, and I missed that a lot. The opportunity to teach it again has been really exciting,” she added.

Meanwhile, Sato said that he started dancing while studying abroad in Sweden a year ago. “Since then I always wanted to start a salsa club on campus,” he said. “I’m a CA [Community Advisor] and I hosted a workshop last semester in my dorm, which nobody showed up to. Then this semester I started dancing, and then [Ranalli and I] were dancing together,” he said.

“When our paths crossed it was clear that we both knew how to salsa, and starting a club afterward was the obvious next step,” Ranalli added.

Ranalli and Sato each said that they are quite pleased with early attendance and participation at Salsa and Bachata Club. “It’s been great. We already have high turnouts,” Ranalli said. “Every weekend probably around twenty people show up, and I think we’ve done a good job cultivating a really inclusive and welcoming environment. A lot of the people that come are regulars now who have been attending since the beginning, but there are a lot of new people, too, and many also bring their friends.” She said that instruction has

largely focused on getting participants up to speed and able to dance with one another. “We’ve taught a lot of them the basic steps and then from there we go into spins and finally how to dance with a partner. Even though it’s a lot of people’s first time, they have all caught on quickly.”

“People seem really interested since there were no opportunities to learn salsa and bachata before,” Sato added. “We think it’s been wellreceived so far. We’ve got so much good feedback and people returning each week, which has been wonderful to experience.”

Looking forward, Sato said that they were thinking about possibly hosting a performance, but right now he and Ranalli were focused on teaching people the basics and getting them comfortable with the idea of dancing. Club leaders also said that they would be eager to partner in some capacity with Grinnell’s Student Organization of Latines (SOL).

“Salsa and bachata are both important parts of Hispanic and Latinx heritage and culture which we think is really exciting to bring to the Grin-

nell College campus,” Ranalli added.

Ultimately, Ranalli and Sato want to share their passion for dance with as many Grinnell students as possible.

“I had always been interested in salsa and bachata, but for a long time I didn’t have a chance to actually learn them,” Sato said. “In Sweden

I saw an ad posted for a free salsa

trial. It was just an hour-long workshop but that has basically changed my whole life. I want Grinnellians to take one step forward, join us and maybe have a similar experience.”

“[Dance] brings so much joy to both of us, and we want to bring that to other people,” Ranalli added. “It’s also just a really good way to build a sense of community.”

EVAN HEIN Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Andrea Tracy `99 has taught at Grinnell College since 2009.

We feel less stressed and overworked if we feel like what we’re doing is valuable.

Andrea Tracy `99, Psychology

Salsa and Bachata — Continued from Front Page

PHOTO BY PAUL HANSEN, CONTRIBUTED BY NAMEERA DAWOOD

The International Cultural Cuisine Organization (ICCO) Cabinet has been barred from hosting future events due to alleged misconduct during the budgeting and preparation of the International Dinner.

OWEN BARBATO

Tomoyoshi Sato `23 (Left) and Nina Ranalli `26 (Right) co-founded the Salsa and Bachata club after discovering their shared love for the dance form.

“The Glass Castle” in jeopardy after parent files complaint

By Conrad Dahm dahmconr@grinnell.edu

Imagine Grinnell, an organization based in Grinnell, Iowa, has a project to plant 1,000 trees in the city of Grinnell. The plan to plant these trees came after the August 2020 derecho, which knocked down around 35% of Grinnell’s canopy trees, according to Imagine Grinnell’s President, Tim Ellsworth.

“We lost probably 3,500 trees in just 10 or 15 minutes,” said Ellsworth. Following the loss of the trees, Imagine Grinnell wanted to start a project to plant more trees in Grinnell.

He said that Imagine Grinnell chose 1,000 trees to start with, and a grant was received to begin the project.

Ellsworth said that Imagine Grinnell does other things, such as help the environment and assist to create new job opportunities in town. Some of these things include a giving garden to help with food insecurity and numerous bike rides throughout the year, such as the annual Prairie Burn 100 bike ride.

ists, like Grinnell College alum Bel Kugel `20, planning the types of trees planted in order to ensure a diverse ecosystem of trees in Grinnell. With this help, he said that Imagine Grinnell started the process of planting 1,000 trees around the area.

“We have run into things we just didn’t know about. We’ve learned an awful lot, but what we’ve tried to do is get high-quality and diverse species of trees,” said Ellsworth.

Ellsworth said that there have been laws in Grinnell that limit the number of trees on a sidewalk, making the task more difficult. However, he also said that Imagine Grinnell has worked with the local government to change some of these laws and facilitate the process.

So far, the program has planted 627 trees and 250 saplings in the town of Grinnell.

Lindsey Starrett, a parent of a current Grinnell-Newburg High School (GHS) student, submitted a challenge form in early March 2023 contesting the suitability of the material for ninthgrade English classes. Walls’s memoir details the narrative of her dysfunctional family and struggles growing up in poverty — controversial subjects, such as child neglect and sexual assault, are present in the novel.

After the committee reviewing the material appointed a chairperson and secretary for the meeting and discussed the agenda, Starrett gave a brief speech covering the issues she saw with the text. Ranging from obscenities to rape culture, she listed over 10 contexts she considered age-inappropriate for high schoolers.

“Think about the fact that there are 14- and 15-year-olds reading this book,” Starrett said.

Starrett also took issue with what she said was an unequal learning substitution for the students who opted out of reading “The Glass Castle.” The memoir “Educated” was used as a substitute for her child. Starrett said there were not enough copies of the book provided to students wishing for an alternative, and many had to use an online PDF text. She also said these students were “just sent to the library” without any guidance in their learning.

Following Starrett’s opening that set up the ensuing discourse, 13 community members shared their opinions on altering the course curriculum, with the vast majority — 12 speakers — expressing beliefs against altering the curriculum.

A sophomore at GHS said the at-

tempt to censor or change the learning material currently in use would only “silence Mrs. Walls and erase her story.” According to the student, reading this book in class allowed the possibility to see the realities of poverty.

“These issues are not going to go away by turning a blind eye to them,” the student added.

Loyal Terry `23 spoke during the public response open commentary to share what the possible censoring of a book meant to him. Terry said he “once aspired to live in this Grinnell community,” but due to a variety of reasons — including racial discrimination and this attempt to change the learning curriculum — he no longer sees living in Grinnell as a current possibility.

“This [is an] erasure of very real experiences to people across identity,” Terry said. “It is one of the reasons, unfortunately, I won’t consider staying in Grinnell.”

Three students addressed Starrett’s statements regarding alleged unfair teaching and grading for those students who did not participate in reading Walls’ memoir.

“We were given the option to skip the moments of sexual assault [in the book],” a freshman at GHS said.

This same freshman added that “banning books only serves one purpose — to promote ignorance.”

Despite this, Starrett reaffirmed that she had recently received an email notifying her that her daughter was failing the class where the book had been assigned despite being given an alternative learning assignment.

The committee spoke after the public response and answered questions from the audience.

One committee member, Kev-

in Hosbond, the English department chair at GHS who teaches Walls’ book, pointed out that Starrett said she had done “a speed read” when asked whether she had read the book in its entirety. Hosbond stressed the importance of nuance and taking excerpts out of context when filing a complaint on a book.

“We need to read the whole book before we pass judgment,” Hosbond said.

Hosbond said in recent years, the English department at GHS has attempted to diversify its teaching materials. On a table in front of him, he pointed to a series of books previously taught at the school, and explained how most of them were authored by white men. According to him, books such as “The Glass Castle” have been integrated into GHS’s curriculum to provide a more complex, worldly narrative that students could relate to.

Both Hosbond and Kevin Seney, principal at GHS, answered questions from those in the audience concerned over the process of alternate learning assignments. According to Seney, a permission slip sent home to parents concerning the teaching of “The Glass Castle” is not current policy, but the department is attempting to solve any alleged issues with students being required to read the novel when either they or a parent disagrees with the content.

The S&B approached Starrett after the meeting to interview, but she declined to comment.

The committee will meet again on May 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Drake Community Library. Community members are permitted to attend until the deliberation process, which is closed to the public.

Imagine Grinnell purchases trees at a wholesale cost, plants them and takes care of the problems that may follow such as tree upkeep and maintenance, said Ellsworth. He also said that the organization acquires the permits associated with growing new trees.

President

Ellsworth said he did not have much experience with trees, but he said that he received help from arbor-

During the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023, Imagine Grinnell allowed residents of Grinnell to apply for a tree, which will then be planted by the organization. After applying for the trees, Imagine Grinnell will help plant the tree on the applicant’s property, but the owner of the property needs to ensure that they follow all city guidelines. After planting, the tree must be cared for long-term by the property owner. Ellsworth said that the long-term goal of the program is to have trees that will be alive for 50 or even 100 years. He also said that he hopes to plant the 1,000th tree this fall.

The funding for the project comes from multiple sources such as grants and private donations, Ellsworth said. He also said that many private citizens started to donate money, especially after seeing new trees in the city. So far, according to Ellsworth, Imagine Grinnell has spent almost $100,000 on trees. He also said that 49 trees are left to be financed, and people wanting to donate should visit their webite at www.imaginegrinnell.org. People also can sign up to be volunteers for Imagine Grinnell on their website.

Sapphire Lake plans are underway

warmer parts of the year, it would provide a beautiful Midwestern retreat for anyone in the area, including Grinnell College students.

“They talked to a lot of the farmers, and they got agreements on a good chunk of the land. But this is a big project, and they didn’t get some outside money that they were hoping for to make it happen. And they didn’t get all the farmers to buy in at that point for a variety of reasons. So they kind of dropped it, you know,” said Bly.

By Oliver Wolfe wolfeoli@grinnell.edu

Sapphire Lake is a proposed 400-acre public lake that would be located south of Grinnell in Poweshiek County. The lake would provide a host of recreational activities such as water sports, boating, fishing, recreational trails, biking, beaches, camping, natural areas and parks that would be completely open to the public. Sounds great, right? But do not get your hopes up yet, the project is anything but a done deal.

Local developers began the Sapphire Lake project almost 20 years ago, and throughout that time, the Sapphire Lake project has suffered a number of starts and stops.

According to Rachel Bly, city council member and director of conference operations and events at Grinnell College, the developers completed several of the project’s first steps, but eventually they were not able to get all the resources that they needed. After running into some logistical issues obtaining the land, they dropped the project.

The lake would also offer public and private housing options for those interested in owning or renting property on the lake. Sapphire Lake would also encourage tourism — current projections estimate a 4,000-person daytime increase to Grinnell’s population, which would in turn positively impact Grinnell’s economy. Especially during the

Due to logistical and technical issues that are sure to accompany construction projects of this size, progress started to slow, and the prospect of Sapphire Lake appeared less and less likely. That is until recently, when the development of the project was taken over by McClure Engineering, a reputable and successful engineering company that is known for its extensive work in water studies, and it also recently expanded and added a developmental branch. “They saw this as a really interesting early project for them with this new development arm,” Bly said.

Bly continued by saying that this move brought some life back to the project, and McClure has been working with the Grinnell City Council to make Sapphire Lake a reality.

The next piece of the puzzle is the funding, said Bly. McClure has

had their eye on Destination Iowa, a grant program for tourist activities in Iowa, which has funding available for projects like Sapphire Lake.

According to Bly, McClure recently submitted a funding request and is waiting to hear whether the project will receive funding for the lake’s construction. In addition to Destination Iowa funds, McClure will look to receive available city and county tax dollars. If these sources of funding do not work out, especially the Destination Iowa funding, it seems unrealistic that Sapphire Lake will actually be built.

“The other piece that isn't done yet is the fact that there's not a lake there. Right now, it’s farmland,” said Bly. “They still have to get all these farmers to agree because if the farmer in the middle of the lake says no, they’re kind of screwed. So you know, they have to go in and have in-depth conversations with these farmers about, ‘Hey, would you be willing to sell your land so we can do this amazing project?’” she explained.

Even after all of this work, the project would still not be cleared to break ground. If McClure does receive all of the necessary land and funding, they would then need to work with the Grinnell City Council and county supervisors to obtain their approval. “We have to be really

thoughtful about large development projects and projects that take a lot of water because it's a finite resource. That is one thing we’re looking at really, really closely,” Bly said. “There are all these pros and cons that need to be taken into consideration.”

According to the project’s website, “Efforts will be taken to ensure Sapphire Lake uses best available environmental practices to achieve the highest level of water quality. These will include environmental buffers, stream bank erosion control measures, natural areas, sediment basins, storm water structures to capture debris and sediment and a host of other practices.”

It is hard to say how long it might be until we know more about the future of this project. It could easily take over a year before the project is cleared to begin construction if it even reaches that point. If it does, the construction of Sapphire Lake could take another 5, 10 or 15 years from that point. The official website of the project readily admits this as well, saying, “There is much work to do before this project can become a reality.”

Despite all of the potential challenges, the project has made more progress in recent history than it has had in its near-20-year lifespan. The future has never looked brighter for Sapphire Lake.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

Mary Binzley `22 and other members of the Grinnell community gathered at the Drake Community Library to discuss the place of "The Glass Castle" in GHS’s curriculum.

We have run into things we just didn’t know about. We’ve learned an awful lot but what we’ve tried to do is get high-quality and diverse species of trees

Tim Ellsworth

of Imagine Grinnell

Farm House leads discussions on anti-racist agriculture

Lucy Suchomel `24 brought up the disparity in access to organic or locally sourced food determined by who can afford to live off campus and opt out of the meal plan. Access to a vehicle could also determine a student’s access to any groceries, and choosing to shop at McNally’s or Fareway is dependent on a student’s financial situation.

Tyne noted that any discussion around the effects of pesticide use on campus could not be conducted without involving facilities management and acknowledging the frequent disconnect between students and staff on Grinnell’s campus. Frequently throughout their discussion, participants returned to how these topics could be approached with a dedication to antiracism.

Unzicker pointed out how important it is to utilize the resources and infrastructure already available when organizing around sustainability. She noted that often, just putting in time and labor are more important than generating more ideas.

Students Speak: Up in the air about tornadoes

By Nadia Langley langelyn@grinnell.edu

“But how can we connect this to antiracism on campus?” Sophia Unzicker `26 posed this question to the five other students attending the antiracist agriculture reading group on Wednesday afternoon in the Humanities and Social Studies Center. The group comprised several Farm House residents and two other Grinnell College students.

This really was just a start on our end to make sure that we are engaging with this material and recognizing that agriculture and farming is an inherently white-dominated space.

Phillip Tyne `24

Phil Tyne `24 got the idea for an anti-racist reading group after going through the Farm House email account and finding an email from the National Young Farmers Coalition with a racial equity toolkit attached. This toolkit is composed of readings exploring racial equity in farming as well as suggested assignments and discussion questions for facilitating group conversation.

“This really was just a start on

our end to make sure that we are engaging with this material and recognizing that agriculture and farming is an inherently white-dominated space,” said Tyne. “For those things to be deconstructed and changed, we have to make sure that we are aware and engaging with those uncomfortable discussions.”

The first two reading groups were held on Feb. 22 and March 8, the dates chosen to best accommodate the other events happening on campus. Tyne and fellow Farm House resident Tristan Davis `25 selected a main reading for each meeting as well as other optional readings related to each day’s main topic. The first meeting aimed to introduce participants to antiracism and agriculture, the second focused on engaging with theory around the topics. The third reading group was held on April 19 and aimed at tackling the question — What’s next?

“Whenever, as Grinellians, we engage in these really hard topics, oftentimes it comes away feeling like, ‘well, now what are we going to do?’” said Tyne.

The reading selected for the April 19 meeting was “4 Not-So Easy Ways to Dismantle Racism in the Food System,” by Leah Penniman. Conversation shifted from initial responses to the reading to a broader discussion on the use of pesticides on campus, where food in the Dining Hall is sourced and how these issues affect different groups on campus in distinct ways.

Participants listed multiple student and community organizations as potential collaborators throughout the discussion, including the Student Environmental Committee which is affiliated with the office of sustainability at the College, the Center for Prairie Studies and Imagine Grinnell, a partner program of the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation.

“There’s so much stuff going on, but we’re kind of disconnected,” said Unzicker in reaction to the many sustainability-oriented organizations on campus and in the town of Grinnell.

“Is there a way to collate all the environmental activity happening at the College and in the community?” asked Hemlock Stanier `25, who also lives in Farm House. Participants considered creating a newsletter or social media page to facilitate communication between these organizations. The group settled on compiling a list of organizations to connect with and encourage attendance at the Eco Campus regular meetings open to all students, faculty and staff.

Is there a way to collate all the environmental activity happening at the College and in the community?

Hemlock Stanier `25

Tyne and the other organizers said they hope to continue the reading group and related programming next year, and that using Farm House as a meeting space open to all students interested in farming and antiracist work is a priority.

By Oliver Palmer palmerol@grinnell.edu

Attending Grinnell College offers students from around the world the opportunity to experience something distinct — tornadoes and

William Donaldson `23

William Donaldson `23 is from Silver Spring, Maryland. The first time he heard a tornado siren was at Grinnell. Despite living in the Northeastern United States, Donaldson has some knowledge of tornadoes. Donaldson wanted to be a meteorologist when he was younger, which led to an interest in the TV show “Storm Chasers.” It was from “Storm Chasers” that Donaldson picked up on cues for when a tornado spawning was likely.

“The Grinnell experience with tornadoes has been hilarious because now all my friends know about that, and they always consult me when we have the watches and warnings,” Donaldson said. “I like to consider myself an amateur storm watcher.”

Donaldson said that he does not always take shelter when he hears the tornado sirens.

“Sometimes I know that it [tornado siren] is sounding for a tornado that's to our east, and the storm is

tornado sirens. When tornado sirens go off, students react to them in a variety of ways, as many have never seen a tornado before. Some students choose to seek shelter immediately, while others more used to the sirens brush off the warnings.

moving east so it's never gonna hit us,” Donaldson said. “But I definitely think it's the best practice to default to sheltering.”

Ty Jones `26

Ty Jones `26 is from The Bronx, New York. The first time Jones heard a tornado siren go off was also at Grinnell.

“I didn’t know they [tornado sirens] existed originally,” Jones said. “I thought it was the purge, to be honest. It terrified me. I was like, ‘what is that?’”

While Jones went to the basement, a few of his friends went outside to see the incoming storm, but he didn’t join them.

“I know my mom would have beat me if I did that,” Jones said.

CONTRIBUTED BY TY JONES

Shloke Maresh `23

Shloke Meresh `23 is from New Delhi, India. Meresh explained that while there have been a few rare tornadoes in Delhi, none have occurred in his lifetime. In his four years at Grinnell, Meresh estimates that he has heard the tornado sirens go off twice.

“The first time, I'd say I was a little more scared because it was the first time I was experiencing anything like that,” Meresh said.

Despite it being Meresh’s first encounter with a potential tornado, he chose not to take shelter because it occurred during finals week.

“I just kind of stayed in my room with my work, but I was really cautious, and I kept checking my phone and if anyone texted me saying it was getting really bad I would've gone down and taken shelter,” Meresh said.

Meresh explained that his second experience with tornado sirens occurred when he was hosting a computer science tutoring session in Noyce.

“Honestly, it was again probably

CONTRIBUTED BY SHLOKE MARESH

a little careless of me, but I wasn't too alarmed,” Meresh said. “At the beginning when the alarm went off, I went down [to the basement] for, like, a couple minutes, but then I was back upstairs and tutoring kids for CS.” While Meresh does not always take shelter when tornado sirens go off, he does make sure to stay indoors.

PAUL HANSEN

From left: Hemlock Stanier `25, Lucy Suchomel `24 and Phillip Tyne `24 discuss ways to collaborate with community organizations.

PAUL HANSEN

From left: Tristan Davis `25 and Corinne Fox `26 attended the third anti-racist agriculture reading group meeting hosted by Farm House.

The Grinnell College Drag Show

with alums, she remarked that many “have been thinking about these performances … year after year of their lives.”

“People always love Drag Show,” agreed Rivera, who teaches a tutorial about drag and regularly speaks with students attending the show.

The Drag Show has never existed in a vacuum. In the early years of Drag Show, the spring performance took place during Pride Week. In autumn, it marked the crowning event of “Love Your Body” week — a series of events hosted by the Feminist Action Coalition that included naked yoga, discussions around body positivity and “masturbation workshops.”

In March 2008, a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ hate mail rocked campus. The next month’s Drag Show responded to the vitriol with joy, seeking to undermine it with a celebration of pride and free expression.

Then in 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a rule against same-sex marriage. As one of the first states to legalize gay marriage, Iowa seemed ahead of most of the country in accommodating LGBTQ+ students.

14 years later, the situation has changed.

As the S&B has reported, bills passed by the state legislature have attacked the rights of trans and nonbinary Iowans, particularly children. According to Purcell, the about-face stems from both the Republican Party’s “consolidation on one-party rule” in the state, and the “ascendance of social conservatism to the extreme.”

By Carter Ottele ottele@grinnell.edu

Drag Show ranks among Grinnell College’s most prominent traditions, occupying a place next to time-honored customs such as 10/10, TitHead and Relays. But when did students host the first Drag Show on campus?

To answer this, I spoke with two alumni-turned-professors, Fredo Rivera `06, art history, and Sarah Purcell `92, history, as well as Sarah Smith-Benanti, who works for the department of alumni relations. Each offered a similar answer — all evidence suggests that the first Drag Show took place in November 2006. However, Purcell remembered Grinnell students driving to gay bars in Des Moines and Iowa City in the 1990s. She emphasized that students have been largely accommodating of the LGBTQ+ community throughout her time at Grinnell, particularly in comparison to the country at large. Additionally, the annual Mary B. James party — hosted since 1988 — involves elements of cross-dressing. Rivera cautioned against equating Mary B. James with drag, though, explaining that the former is a “fun party” where students can play with their gender,

while Drag Show represents “an opportunity on the stage for queer students to express themselves.”

years highlighted the success — an October 2007 piece referenced the school’s excitement for the upcoming “third semi-annual Drag Show,” the newspaper claimed in April 2008 that the show had grown “bigger and bigger” in the prior two years and in November 2008, an anonymous student complained that the Drag Show had grown “too crowded” for its own good.

“It’s a cherished memory,” said Smith-Benanti. In her conversations

The organizer of this year’s Drag Show, Jenny Rodrigues Santos `23 spoke about the relationship between today’s political climate and Grinnell’s tradition. “I’m not sure if I can live here in a few years,” said Rodrigues Santos.

As Purcell explained, drag has always responded to politics. Unique to this moment, though, is that politics are responding to drag.

At least 15 states have introduced

laws aiming to restrict drag performance, resting on the notion that drag enables pedophilia. Purcell attributes this backlash to the fact that drag has become mainstream, with shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race achieving widespread popularity. “[Drag] is not causing the anti-gay or anti-trans sentiment,” said Purcell, “but it is a convenient cultural target for people who wish to express those sentiments.”

The organizers of Drag Show said that they plan to counter these threats with hope, joy and spectacle. “It makes me feel like this year's show has to be as big as possible,” stated Rodrigues Santos. “It’s gonna be so beautiful, and queer and just such a beautiful moment of expression.”

The power of Drag Show does not fade at the curtain call. If anything, it grows with time, solidifying in the participants’ memories. For instance, Rodrigues Santos highlighted a nude performance of Radiohead’s “Creep” from her first year as an empowering image. Likewise, Rivera recalled a “Benjamin Franklin lingerie look” that has stuck with them since its original debut. Drag Show has the potential to wedge itself into the school’s conscience — its institutional memory, in other words — and inspire future Grinnell students.

This semester’s show continues and adapts the traditions of activism from previous shows. As Smith-Benanti told me, “you’re living history right now.”

In 2006, Queer People of Color (QPOC) held the inaugural Drag Show. Spearheaded by Isaac Vasquez `07, the event donated proceeds to HIV testing on campus, according to an S&B article published on Nov. 3, 2006. The original Drag Show organizers looked to hire professional performers, but when those efforts fell through, they decided to feature students instead — a tradition that continues today.

Drag Show immediately resonated with the Grinnell community. S&B articles in the following

CONTRIBUTED BY COURTNEY MOORE, S&B ARCHIVES

Courtney Moore `09, a.k.a. Marissa Beverly, performed in Grinnell's first Drag Show in November of 2006

PHOTO BY LAWRENCE SUMULONG, S&B ARCHIVES

From left: Sarah Black `10, Brock Webb `09 and Julia Meisler `09 practice their performance of "Ooh" by the Scissor Sisters for the Drag Show in April of 2009.

[Drag] is not causing the anti-gay or anti-trans sentiment, but it is a convenient cultural target for people who wish to express those sentiments

Sarah

Purcell

Professor of history

[This year's Drag Show is] gonna be beautiful, and queer and just such a beautiful moment of expression.

Jenny Rodrigues Santos `23

Drag Show Spring 2023:

By Krista Spies spieskri@grinnell.edu

A spaceship piloted by some gay glittery aliens sends down a beam to pluck up a cowboy — who is wearing six-inch-heeled, bright pink spurred boots — from everything they know. This is the energy that came from the extraterrestrial-Western experience also known as the Grinnell College Drag Show of the spring 2023 semester, put on by the Queer People of Color organization (QPOC) this past Friday night, with the theme of cowboys versus aliens.

Jenny Rodrigues Santos `23, a.k.a. Sancho Stardust, is the president of QPOC and was the main organizer of Drag Show. Because this Grinnell tradition is so important to her and no one else had expressed interest in leading the event this semester, she stepped into the role.

“I remember my first year going to Drag Show. As a queer person, it was really good to see familiar faces up there just owning it. It's a really empowering thing, I think,” Rodrigues Santos said, saying that drag provides spaces of empowerment and freedom for queer people without re-

strictions and stigma. “It’s important to me as a gender-variant person.”

Both Rodrigues Santos and co-emcee for the night, Evelynn Coffie `24, a.k.a. Cosmic Cunt Wrangler, spoke on how the theme originated from the gay imagery prevalent in both cowboy and alien aesthetics. Coffie said that though they are very distinct things, media, such as movies, unites the two themes together.

Rodrigues Santos also spoke on the significance of QPOC’s role in hosting the event. She said that QPOC’s purposeful creation of space for queer people of color addresses

the fact that many queer spaces become white-dominated, and many spaces for students of color become straight- and cis-dominated. While Drag Show is QPOC’s largest annual project as a student organization, the event also gives the club a reason to continue and receive resources, Rodrigues Santos said, in addition to it being a crucial space for queer students of color. In both advertising for and putting on Drag Show, QPOC spreads awareness of its presence to the rest of the campus along with leaving an institutional mark with each rebirth of the event.

One more unsaid reason for Drag Show comes from its fundraising efforts via tips, which in the past have traditionally benefited organizations that help LGBTQ+ people, according to Rodrigues Santos. This semester, the money raised in bills that the audience members rain on the performers will go to the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund.

“Drag has its roots with queer people of color,” said Coffie. “I think it’s important that no other group on campus should be doing this because what is your stake in it? I think for us, there is history behind it. It’s critical.”

PAUL HANSEN

Sancho Stardust and an adoring fan

PAUL HANSEN

Sushi Salmon.

PAUL HANSEN

TBoy & Co.

EVAN HEIN Country Spice.

PAUL HANSEN

Prinxess Pisces and Princex Venusia.

PAUL HANSEN

Black Star Rivera and Chan-Haru (above)

Cowboys vs. Aliens

“QPOC going back to the roots of drag to present something that needs to be said is very much at the root of why we are involved in this. With all the performers coming together to demonstrate this need to say something about trans lives, about queer people of color, et cetera, it’s very critical that we note all these elements because, at the end of the day, who’s going to say it for us?”

Cosmic Cunt Quixote

PAUL HANSEN

La Coocaracha.

PAUL HANSEN

Galaxandria from the House of Glam.

PAUL HANSEN

Dayana Phallactic Shock (left) and Bella Louise VanDem Fontayne.

PAUL HANSEN

Co-emcees of Drag Show Spring 2023: Cosmic Cunt Quixote (left) and Cosmic Cunt Wrangler.

PAUL HANSEN

Auntie Fa.

Farrah Way (left) and Ms. Jen Dermé.

Himbo Hoedown.

By Cadence Chen chencade@grinnell.edu

The Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX), showcasing the artwork of third- and fourth-year students, is currently on display at the Grinnell College Museum of Art through May 22. Studio art Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC) members Jillian Bhuyan `24, Georgia Carbone `24, Philomena Frasca `25, Stella Lowery `24 and Karis McCaskill `24 worked with Milton Severe, director of exhibition design at the museum, to organize this extensive exhibit of student work.

To be featured in the showcase, third- and fourth-year students who have taken or are currently taking classes in the studio art department were encouraged to submit their art, consisting of anything from paintings to sculptures to films. The SEPC members then evaluated their work and decided what would be included in the exhibition.

According to Carbone, the pool of applicants is limited to those who have taken a class in the department in order to highlight work being done in the College’s studio art classes.

For the 2023 exhibition, applicants were invited to submit up to five works, compared to the maximum two works allowed last year. Lowery said that each artist showcased at least three pieces on average in this show. This year, there are “more pieces by fewer students,” she added. Everyone who submitted is featured in the exhibition.

Every year, jurors chosen by the SEPC members present awards to the featured artists. This year’s jurors are Jonathan deLima, a Des Moines-based art collection manager for the Krause Group, and Jill Wells, an Iowa-based artist and accessibility advocate. DeLima was a juror in 2022 and suggested co-juroring with Wells this year. The only awards not chosen by the jurors are the third- and fourth-year prizes, which are awarded by the department to the third and fourth years with an outstanding portfolio of 8 to 10 pieces.

The 25 following individuals’ works are on display: Karis McCaskill, Zoey Nahmmacher-Baum `24, Jenara Kim-Prieto `24, Chase Holdener `23, Emma Hastie `23, Sarah Oide `23, Aubrie Torhorst `23, Sunny North `23, Clare Newman `23 , Philomena Frasca, Stella Lowery, Ivan Kwei `24, Celia Meagher `24, Andrew Thompson `23, Kelly Banfield `24, Noel Fernandez-Reyes `23, Harper Crosson `23, Georgia Carbone, Luca Blankenship `23, Maya Gardner `23, Lisa Shen `24, Mordecai Gonzalez- Rodriguez `23, Sophia Youngdahl `24 , Josephine Blumenthal `23 and Jillian Bhuyan.

The opening reception and awards ceremony was held on April 21 from 4-5:30 p.m. The exhibition will be open for viewing in the museum in Bucksbaum Center for the Arts until May 22. Those featured in the exhibition will present their artwork in three Twenty Minutes @11 talks in the museum on May 2, 3 and 5.

2023 Bachelor of Arts Exhibition

Best in Show: Kelly Banfield `24, "Sisterhood of the Traveling Spoons"

“I go to spoon carving almost every week with Jon Andelson and Chris Bair. I started last year in the fall, and it’s just a really nice community there. But every break I go home, I always bring my spoons with me. Even though there’s no use to me bringing them home, they just travel back and forth. So, I was thinking about The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. And I was like, ‘Oh, that would be a funny name,’ because I wanted to submit my spoons. It’s kind of off the cuff, but I think it’s a fun name, and it does kind of get at the community of spoon carving here.”

Banfield said he used reclaimed wood from the 2020 derecho’s fallen trees found in Grinnell. Spoon carving club is on Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m. in the white church located a block east of south campus at 1127 Elm St.

Sculpture:

Clare Newman `23, “LOOK! PLEASE TOUCH!”

“When I was a kid, my mom would take us to art museums, and she really liked them. But I was six years old, and I didn’t know what I was looking at. I thought it was boring and smelled weird. So she turned it into a scavenger hunt for us ... I wanted it to evoke that. I wanted it to be a scavenger hunt,” said Newman. “Even if you don’t know how to look at art, you can still find something to enjoy in it.”

Luca Blankenship`23, “Späti sitzen”

“Actually, all of these are from my time in Germany, which I was really fortunate to be able to do ... This is a photo of my good friend. This is kind of like after a night of being out, and having fun and doing stuff. A lot of the time with these nights out, we would end in front of a späti, which is a 24-hour deli type thing. Just like drinking, laughing, smoking, stuff like that. And I took this photo.”

Third-Year Art Prize: Fourth-Year Art Prize:

Stella Lowery `24 Andrew Thompson `23

“In BAX, these are all different collagraph prints. I was focusing on using two figures in this space to explore relationships that women have with each other and relationships that can become exploitative or hostile. So I was trying to go for a more subdued color palette than some of the other works in my portfolio, and using sort of baby-looking animals, and always using two figures in the foreground and experimenting with mark-making.”

“My work in this exhibit and my work, generally, is — with the exception of my film work — is all printmaking. I’m very interested in the layers through which we perceive the world around us. And for myself, layers such as anxiousness, disassociation and the mask that we put on to talk to other people. I find that very fascinating — capturing those emotions and my pieces, but then also reflecting those layers in the process of printmaking.”

Louis Glenn Zirkle Memorial Prize for

OWEN BARBATO

OWEN BARBATO

Tammy J. Zywicki `93 Memorial Prize for Photography:

OWEN BARBATO

Stella Lowery with Matthew Kluber, professor and chair of studio art.

OWEN BARBATO

Andrew Thompson `23 with Matthew Kluber, professor and chair of studio art.

Writers@Grinnell welcomes Distinguished Author Raven Leilani

By Millie Peck peckcami@grinnell.edu

Raven Leilani writes with fervor, her sentences cascading sometimes for entire pages broken up only by commas, allowing her prose to transcendentally capture the subconscious of a Black woman trying to maintain her sanity while also trying to survive and make sense of a world ruled by unjust systems of oppression. Her masterful 2020 debut novel “Luster” garnered critical acclaim, with the book winning a multitude of awards as well as glowing praise from authors and publications spanning from the New Yorker to National Public Radio to Vogue. Writers and readers alike found themselves enraptured by Leilani’s confident voice and ability to confront issues of race, class and gender with wit and honesty.

When Dean Bakopoulos, associate professor of English and director of Writers@Grinnell, read an advance copy of “Luster” in 2020, he knew immediately that he had to bring Raven Leilani to Grinnell College. On Thursday, April 20, the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 author finally made her journey to Grinnell to host a reading and roundtable discussion as this year’s distinguished author.

The Writers@Grinnell Distinguished Author award is made possible by an anonymous alumni donor, and has previously brought authors who have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, among others. Bakopoulos chooses the author each year, with the only stipulation provided by the donor being that it must be someone who inspires the students. Bakopoulos said he could not think of anyone better for the award than this dazzling young debut novelist.

When Leilani arrived at the roundtable discussion hosted in a Humanities and Social Studies Center classroom, she had a composed and elegant presence. Her voice was soft, measured and ardent during her reading, her pace increasing as the passage progressed, her words modulated to match the speed at which her protagonist thinks. “I didn’t realize what a curse this text is in terms of reading out loud,” Leilani said at the roundtable. “I have no natural stops really. And so as I’m reading, it just sort of accumulates even if I'm trying to slow down.” Leilani said.

The protagonist of Leilani’s novel, 23-year-old Edie, is a liberated young Black woman led by her id, who roams New York City keenly

observing the world around her. She’s an aspiring painter working a job in publishing that she, self-admittedly, is not very good at. “She is kind of like a wish fulfillment of a free Black girl even though that freedom is complicated when it’s acted out,” said Leilani.

once. The first-person present point of view allows readers to be privy to not only the riveting plot but the many anxieties and physical realities of the main character — receiving messages from a lover with whom she has a complicated relationship, figuring out how to make rent, needing to use the restroom, noticing the smell of rotting garbage and observing scrappy New Yorkers on the street — all while simultaneously thinking about wanting to feel loved and desirable.

Leilani always wanted to be an artist, and while her first love was painting, she turned to writing as a source of joy. Growing up, Leilani’s family held the Sabbath, and while she was not supposed to write during this time as it was considered work, she began to do so in secret, creating exciting worlds for herself to escape her boredom.

“It was the first secret I held in the world, that I would write on the Sabbath,” Leilani said.

“I write because it feels good,” Leilani said. “It’s like time travel. You sit down with your draft and, when it’s going well, the sun is up and then it’s not anymore. You’re just in it. You’re in that land of make-believe, and nothing is better.”

Leilani knew she wanted to be a writer, and she tried to work jobs that would not sap the energy she needed to write. When she started her master’s of fine arts at New York University, she found a job working at a publishing house. While that time in her life provided much of the material we see in “Luster,” Leilani has complicated feelings about that period.

“I feel adamant about never talking about that time in a way that sort of omits that it was hard. That it was exhausting. And that is not the ideal place to take art from. That’s so much what this book is about is, like, what gets lost when you’re caught up in having to pay the bills and my anxiety about that.”

sexualization of Black girls, but also like the complete sexless or undersexed or dissection of Black women. I think there's this vast middle ground that I wanted to write toward that was just about feeling, it was about trying to undo the kind of reflexive appeal for one’s safety and respectability. So there are parts where there’s abjection, and kink and, you know, mistakes, but also pleasure.”

Leilani said she could not have created this superbly structured novel without the help of Zadie Smith and Katie Kitamura, two of her professors at NYU who taught her invaluable lessons about the craft of writing.

Leilani has continued this legacy, now teaching writing at NYU as she works on her second novel. The glittering response to “Luster” has only made her more confident in her abilities to write a stunning second novel.

“I feel so affirmed by the response to that book. Because it feels so … it’s kitchen sink, it's my whole thing. It’s everything that's in me. There are glimmers of everything that I care about and am obsessed with. And so that is affirming on this new project, that I can delve more deeply [into] these things that I’ve written about technically already, but that I kind of want to go deeper into,” said Leilani.

Leilani’s journey to becoming a nationally acclaimed writer, joining a long line of distinguished authors at Grinnell such as Marilyn Robinson, Alexander Chee and Terrance Hayes, was anything but linear. At the end of the question-and-answer section of her evening reading in the Joe Rosenfield `25 Center, she urged young writers who aspire to one day write a breathtaking debut to continue to write about the things they feel passionately, to not worry about something being too specific to them or their own experience or conversely not write because of worries that what they want to say has already been said. “If you are writing it, then it will be different because you are writing it,” she said.

Edie finds herself involved with an older man in an open marriage which leads to equally heartwarming and gutwrenching relationships between Edie and his wife as well as their 13-yearold adopted Black daughter. The book is fearless, depicting sex and desire in the messy and chaotic way that many humans experience it. Leilani captures what it is like to live in one’s subconscious, her rambling sentences encapsulating the condition of having to hold so much in one’s head at

After graduating from Marist College where she studied English and psychology, she was in enormous debt. She ended up working odd jobs, including Postmates delivery, as a submarine archivist and librarian for the Department of Defense and as a barista, in order to make ends meet and pay off her student loans. She found herself turning to writing as a source of sanity during this time, writing as soon as she got off work and continuing to do so well into the night.

When Leilani writes, she focuses on feelings, writing about the things in life she feels hung up on, and letting the plot and ideology of the book come to her through the physical process of writing.

Growing up religious, Leilani wanted to write about a Black girl who experienced desire with contradiction. “It was important to me that I was writing a sort of sexual narrative that isn't about respectability,” Leilani said. “Considering there’s the hyper-

“I’d have wins and then I would have serious losses. Don’t feel discouraged by that, and when you’re feeling kind of tapped out, or exhausted or bored, sometimes it’s because you need to ask yourself if it’s time to take a break and sometimes it’s because you need to write something else that you actually care about,” said Leilani. “And so in that moment that you feel kind of deadened into the endeavor, it doesn’t mean that you should stop, it doesn’t mean that you’re not a writer. It just means that you’re a human being who is grappling with this craft.”

Spotlight on Latin American Ensemble

By Oliver Wolfe wolfeoli@grinnell.edu

When walking through the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on Tuesday evenings, you may hear bright and catchy melodies emanating from room 102. It is the Latin American Ensemble, directed by Gabriel Espinosa, music lecturer.

Espinosa has been leading the ensemble for the last 18 years. He said that his experience with music began when he was very young in Merida, Mexico.

lege in Pella, Iowa for his undergraduate studies, receiving a bachelor’s degree in music. Afterwards, he got a master’s degree in arrangement from Berklee College of Music and a master’s degree in jazz studies from the University of North Texas. After a stint back at Central College, he came to Grinnell College, where he has been since 2004. He emphasized, “I’m an educator who learned from the books, but I’m also a professional musician who learned from life from being in the trenches.”

Espinosa specializes in transcription, or listening to a song and translating it onto paper for musicians to play from. He asks the students in the Latin American Ensemble if there are songs that they wish to play, listens to those songs and writes the music for the musicians. He said, “I play the music, and then I get out the music paper and I just write. I can hear the chords, and I can write them.”

“There is a major difference between American music and Latin American music,” he explained. “The rhythms, from the samba, the chacha, are different from the rhythms in American country or pop music.”

“I started playing music when I was like five years old. By the time I was 14, I had a band. And by the time I was 20, I knew that music was the only thing that I could do for a living,” he said. “Sometimes, people like music and they like computer science, psychology, medicine or law. For me, it was very simple to say I only liked music.”

Espinosa attended Central Col-

The mission of the group is to perform Latin American music in both Spanish and Portuguese. Some of the music they play is by Latin American pop artists such as Clara Valverde and Chitãozinho & Xororó.

The group has 18 members.

A vocalist in the ensemble, Samantha Morrison `23.5, said, “I think the opportunity to make music to-

gether in a group is so much fun, and everyone gets really involved in their role. Latin music, especially, has this filled vibrance to it which comes to life in the group.”

Morrison joined after hearing about the group during New Student Orientation. “It really called to me. I ve always just loved Latin music and the energy of it,” she said.

Espinosa emphasized that the ensemble is open to any student who would like to explore Latin music. “I would like people to come, and experience relaxing music and give it a try. It could be just for your own

liberal arts education, and you could experiment singing in a different language. The door is open, and that applies to instrumentalists and to singers,” he said. “I love it because I give all my life and all my heart to them. And they re responding. And they re really embracing the culture of music. They sing beautifully in Spanish and in Portuguese.”

“I’m extremely proud of the members of the ensemble for their time and work. Our momentum is the best it has ever been,” Espinosa said.

To witness this momentum in person, come to the Latin American

Ensemble’s next performance on April 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Sebring-Lewis Hall in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts.

Latin music, especially, has this filled vibrance to it which comes to life in the group.

Samantha

Morrison `23.5

Vocalist in Latin American Ensemble

I write because it feels good. It's like time travel. You sit down with your draft and, when it's going well, the sun is up and then it's not anymore. You're just in it. You're in this land of make-believe and nothing is better.

Raven Leilani

PAUL HANSEN

W@G Distinguished Author Raven Leilani speaks at the roundtable discussion about her novel Luster.

I'm an educator who learned from the books, but I'm also a professional musician who learned from life from being in the trenches.

Gabriel Espinosa Director of Latin American Ensemble

PAUL HANSEN

Led by Gabriel Espinosa, the Latin American Ensemble sings music in both Spanish and Portuguese.

QAA is queer and here to stay

athletes have a shared experience.”

Kade Dolphin `24, another swimmer, expressed a similar sentiment, having joined QAA to feel more comfortable with his own identity and to surround himself with accepting and understanding friends. Despite a lack of direct experience with queer advocacy, Dolphin draws from previous experiences with community building through leading youth groups.

“It’s given me more sense of overall community, like a broader sense of ‘oh, there’s a lot of people at Grinnell who kind of understand what I experience,’ and, I don’t know, it’s, dare I say, life-changing,” Dolphin said.

Several of the organizers view the student group as a way of providing guidance and support to their peers. Annie Filkins `24 formerly played on the basketball team and felt isolated in her queer identity on the team.

By Marcy Cassidy-Mapp cassidym@grinnell.edu

Queer Athletes and Allies (QAA) is queer and here, creating a space for LGBTQ+ athletes and allies to connect and build community on campus.

A student-run organization, the QAA leadership team works to promote an inclusive athletic environment for queer athletes at Grinnell

College. A previous iteration of the group existed prior to the pandemic — following its recent revival, the group hopes to offer a space where athletes can feel comfortable expressing themselves and building a community outside of sports.

One of the club’s organizers, Sophia Carroll `25, a swimmer, emphasized the importance of the organization in creating a

welcoming environment for queer athletes. She said that if she could have joined the organization when she first arrived on campus, she would have had a different trajectory in college, becoming more accepting of herself and her identity.

“I’m from Texas, and I committed myself never to be out or anything, and that was able to change,” Carroll said. “I just think a lot of

“My first year, there wasn’t anybody on the team that was queer, and I felt fairly alone even though I had outside friends,” Filkins said. “One of my goals is if there’s someone out there that you know, younger me, trying to try and provide some support and guidance.”

Filkins’ two years of experience as a co-minister for Student Athletes Leading Social Change (SALSC) have contributed heavily to her organizational mindset and leadership skills, she noted.

“Working with [SALSC] and being a co-minister has been super helpful to get this thing off the ground, by having that organizational mindset and trying to bring some of that here,” Filkins said. Moving forward, the QAA leadership team is working on finalizing its constitution, and hopes to obtain Student Government Association approval — and a budget — by the start of next year.

To create a visible presence for queer athletes on campus, Filkins, Dolphin and Carroll also plan to expand their reach and impact through tabling and more events in collaboration with other student organizations.

QAA meets in the Humanities and Social Studies Center room N2118 every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. to study, watch movies, play games and bond over activities together.

David

Bluder `25 is in the family business

Badminton Club rallies with tournament

By Ellianna Cierpiot cierpiot@grinnell.edu

Badminton at Grinnell has a complicated history. Established in 2007, revived in 2013, another time in 2017 and, finally, revived once again in 2022, the club has lived in sporadic iterations as Grinnell College students have come together to volley, compete and enjoy the sport of badminton.

Tae Hyeong Moon `23, one of the club’s badminton experts, has been playing the sport for 16 years –– since he was only 7 years old.

By Mohammad Igbaria igbariam@grinnell.edu

From Darby Gymnasium to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, David Bluder `25 and his mother, Lisa Bluder, have found a common love for basketball.

Head coach for the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball team, Lisa Bluder’s passion for basketball traces back to her childhood. She said that when she was a kid, her father put up a basketball hoop in their backyard for her older brothers. While they never used it, she wore it out.

“I had an instant love for the game,” she said. Bluder’s basketball career began in the third grade, and she later played at the University of Northern Iowa from 1979 to 1983. She began coaching women’s basketball at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa the next year. In her 6 seasons at St. Ambrose, they only lost 36 out of 205 games.

David Bluder `25

After 10 successful seasons coaching the Bulldogs at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Bluder began serving as the head coach of the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball team in 2000. In the 24 seasons since, Bluder has earned a win-loss record of 463-242 with the Hawkeyes and has become the highest all-time winning coach in their program’s history.

Just this year, she led the Hawkeyes to become champions of the Big Ten Conference for the fourth time in her tenure and later to the finals of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I women’s basketball tournament for the first time in program history.

David Bluder’s career in basketball began similarly to his moth-

er’s. He first got into basketball as early as kindergarten after his parents got him a little hoop to attach to the backs of doors. He said he would always shoot in the kitchen while his parents cooked or worked there. He also began playing competitive basketball in the third grade.

“We grew up shooting in the driveway a lot,” David said. “She would always make me make five free throws in a row before we ended the workout.”

Growing up, David and his two sisters, Hannah and Emma, accompanied their parents to each tournament the Hawkeyes played in. On weekends, he would go with his mother to her team’s practices.

“She would have practice, and I would be running around Carver-Hawkeye Arena,” he said.

He eventually joined the men’s basketball team at Grinnell in 2021. In his two seasons with the Pioneers, Bluder has scored 470 points over 49 games. His father, also named David, has been to almost every single one of his games.

Watching her son on the court, Lisa said, “When he’s out there smiling and having fun, and when the joy is there, that’s what I enjoy more than anything.”

And for David, when his mom is able to attend his games, he said that her being there helps keep him centered. “Just having her presence in the gym definitely makes me feel calmer.”

When their roles are switched and David watches his mother’s team take the court, he said that the Hawkeyes’ victories have been amazing to watch.

“I remember when they went to the Sweet 16 for the first time, and I thought that was the best thing ever,” he said. “Then we went to the Elite Eight in 2019. And now a Final Four and a national championship game, and it has definitely been crazy. It doesn’t feel real.”

He added that when Caitlin Clark made that game-winning 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded against Indiana University Bloomington, he and his family “just started going crazy. It was the best moment ever.”

“I got introduced to it [badminton] by one of my childhood friends who just gave me a racket and a shuttle,” Moon said. “I had no idea what it was. I didn’t know the rules. I kind of just played it. It was fun to hit the shuttle back and forth with my friend and just [be] like, ‘hey, I’m doing a sport.’”

Having grown up with the sport, continuing to play badminton at college helped Moon feel at home, especially since he had even considered playing badminton professionally. When Moon joined the badminton club in the 2017-18 academic year, he said it created a welcoming community for those who loved the sport.

I think that’s the best part about Badminton Club is that it’s literally all levels there.

Isabelle Kolleth `24

“I think that’s the feeling I’ve gotten anywhere with badminton is, once you get on a court, people sort of just play and enjoy each other, and there’s a lot of sportsmanship behind it. I’ve never had a bad experience playing badminton as of yet,” Moon said. “And I feel like it’s always a welcoming sport to go anywhere.”

Moon said he found that badminton offered a community regardless of experience or location, and was something he also

sought out when he was away from home in the Korean military.

“I was in Korea, but I never lived in Korea before, so I didn’t have any friends. And so I decided to join a badminton club somewhere, like just pay and participate in it, and the people there were just really welcoming … I just love badminton, wherever I’ve played it,” Moon said.

The 2022 Badminton Club is different from the one Moon was active in before. Since the club’s leaders, Zoey Nahmmacher-Baum `24 and Isabelle Kolleth `24, registered Badminton Club as a student organization with a budget last year, the club now has access to funding that allows them to host events like their recent tournament on Saturday, April 15.

The April 15 tournament consisted of five categories — male singles and female singles (one-on-one matches), male doubles, female doubles and mixed doubles. Although the gendered division in categories was a concern for organizers, it was organized this way by the club’s tournament committee to make it so as many students as possible could participate. That way, it was as close to an official regulation tournament as possible, according to Nahmmacher-Baum.

“They [the club’s tournament committee] did want to make the tournament as professional as possible,” Nahmmacher-Baum said. “And so they made sure that our nets were the right height and things like that, and so we did have to use those five categories. But we did really encourage all of our participants to go in whatever category they felt most comfortable.”

The tournament was open to all skill levels of players, something that Kolleth said made it difficult to seed the bracket but led to surprising matches.

“I think we were a little bit surprised at how many more casual people came — in a good way — that it wasn’t everybody who was super competitive and super experienced,” Kolleth said. “I’d like to think that everybody had a good time.”

The club leaders reserved the

Charles Benson Bear `39 Recreation and Athletic Center’s auxiliary practice gym for the tournament, and were able to use their budget to purchase supplies, snacks and trophies — something that they had been unable to do in the past. Kolleth and Nahmmacher-Baum both recalled entering a supply closet upon reviving Badminton Club to find a dusty, snapped in half badminton racket.

“Last year in the spring semester, I think we officially became an organization, and that got our budget approved through SGA,” Nahmmacher-Baum said. “So with that, we could completely revamp our supplies. We got all new rackets, we got feather birdies, plastic birdies, we got a super cool cart to hold all the rackets. And since then, everything has been a lot easier.”

play and enjoy each other, and there’s a lot of sportsmanship behind it.

Tae Hyeong Moon `23

Both club leaders anticipate the coming years of Badminton Club as a re-established campus institution. According to Kolleth, the club’s skill diversity and welcoming atmosphere is a high priority for the club.

“I think that’s the best part about Badminton Club, is that it’s literally all levels there, especially because we have such a diverse amount of people coming because, especially in international countries, [in] a lot of places, badminton is more popular than it is here,” Kolleth said. “So there are some people coming in who are so good at badminton, played professionally, super competitive. And then we also just have a ton of people who literally played it for one week in gym six years ago.”

CONTRIBUTED BY LISA BLUDER

David Bluder `25 (left) with his mother, Lisa Bluder (right).

She would have practice, and I would be running around Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Andrew Park `23 (left) and Kevin Qiu `24 (right) playing badminton during the

OWEN BARBATO

Three of the organizers for Queer Athletes and Allies. From left: Sophia Carroll `25, Kade Dolphin `24 and Annie Filkins `24.

It’s given me more sense of overall community, like a broader sense of ‘oh, there’s a lot of people at Grinnell who kind of understand what I experience,’ and, I don’t know, it’s, dare I say, life-changing.

Kade Dolphin `24

I think that’s the feeling I’ve gotten anywhere with badminton is, once you get on a court, people sort of just

Office Hours: Elias Saba, Religious Studies, History, SAMESA

By Raffay Piracha piracha@grinnell.edu

In Office Hours, Raffay Piracha `25 sits down with faculty to learn how their scholarship provides them with equipment for living.

Grinnell is full of haters. And by that, I mean a bunch of people who seem to hate themselves. Really, you can’t walk fifty feet without overhearing someone here talk about what a “terrible person” they are for not balancing their school and work life, or falling behind in a class, or forgetting their dog’s birthday, or forgetting to apply for a summer internship or waiting to pick up four packages at one time from the mailroom.

Look, I don’t want to undermine the severity of any mental health crises, but if there is one thing my history classes have taught me, it’s that humans have always felt like shit, have always self-loathed and are always in crisis, and it really isn’t their fault. We’re no exception! So, yes, let’s acknowledge that capitalism is wreaking hell on our work lives, and that the cost of attending college (and this school in particular) is way too much. Yet, despite all of our super cool and hip faculty reading bell hooks and preaching Marx, the workload here doesn’t seem to respond to the reality of our financial burdens as students and workers.

This installment of Office Hours isn’t meant to cudgel you into submitting to your lack of agency over your life. Instead, this is about methodically surviving the pressure of inflexible demands and making sure you don’t internalize the academic myths that shame you for not having the time you need to feel good about your work ethic. You are not worthless for not mastering all twelve or sixteen or eight of your credit hours. And sometimes you just need some guy with a Ph.D. to tell you not to hate yourself. Since I vaguely mentioned something about history and school and hatred, I asked two-time Ivy League superstar, self-proclaimed hater (although crucially, not a self-hater) and scholar of

premodern Islam, Assistant Professor Elias Saba, religious studies and history, and chair of studies in Africa, Middle East, and South Asia about time management. ***

Elias Saba, how much time should one devote to preparing for class?

That’s a good question. You know, we’ve talked a lot about that as faculty. I was always under the assumption that for a four-credit class, you would do one hour in class and three hours outside of class. And I assumed that that’s literally where three of the four credits come from, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, it’s interesting given the emphasis on subjectivity in the humanities, and obviously because the amount of time everyone spends on something is going to yield different results. People often speak about workloads as if they’re comparable. Like someone can spend four hours reading twenty pages. Someone can spend two hours on one hundred pages, etc.

Yeah, and part of that is also like, what do you consider for work to be “done?”

I guess that’s the question. Like, when do you tell a student to just “throw it?”

I would never tell a student to throw it in, and I don’t think that’s a productive way of thinking about things. I think if you’ve gotten to that point then you haven’t thought about what you’re doing in the ideal way. Because I think instead of thinking about, like, throwing it, you should think about the tasks you have to do in terms of their importance. So, for class, if you are working on a paper, what percent of the grade is it? And then that’s on one level, and then on another level, like, how important is it to me personally? And so, if it’s something that’s both very important to you and worth a lot, you should devote a lot to it. But if it’s not, then good enough is “done.”

How do you resolve the contradiction between wanting to complete the work and practical considerations like, say, working on and off campus to make ends meet?

I think part of that is thinking about what it means for work to be done. I think students don’t talk about it amongst themselves very much, but I think they have very different ideas of what the phrase,

“I finished all my reading” means. And similarly, like, “oh, this paper is finished.” And so I think in some kind of extreme situation, with a student who works a lot of hours, who maxes out their time on campus, and who works, you know, an ungodly amount of hours off campus — they might still be able to do all of their tasks if “doing all the tasks” means do them to the minimum amount necessary to move forward. And sometimes if that’s all you can do, there’s nothing wrong with that. I think that we in academia, but particularly at Grinnell, really try to emphasize that things should be done as good as we can, and I don’t think that’s a smart way of thinking about things.

Okay, you have a family, teach several courses, how do you respond to the necessary conflicts that arise from these commitments?

Yeah, sometimes things just aren’t that good. There’s not a conflict there. Sometimes life turns out a way where I don’t prepare for class that well, and then class isn’t that good. Sometimes it works out differently, where I have to do a research thing, but I don’t have enough time to devote to it, and so that’s lackluster. Sometimes I can’t give my kids the time they need. I don’t find a conflict there. That’s just like the tradeoff of life.

So, you’re telling me you don’t hate yourself? No. That’s part of the importance of setting up expectations: “how much care should I put into this?” Part of that is not that you’ll care very little with a great result at the end. You’ll care little, you’ll get a result that reflects that. Not necessarily in a negative way, but then it’s like, “oh, that’s good. It wasn’t worth very much. I didn’t put that much time into it. And I got to move forward.”

So, why don’t faculty tell us all of this from the onset?

Because I think that in some way we’re all competing, right? I want all

your time. Not all of it, but I want your time and attention. I want you to care about the class the way that I do. But there’s nothing wrong with you not caring in the same way. I think for me part of what I hope to get across is how much I love the stuff that I teach. And I think talking about how you shouldn’t do the work, or that it’s not that interesting undercuts the thing that I’m trying to sell.

Yes, but it isn’t necessarily a question of whether a student wants to do the work, it’s a matter of whether they can. Why don’t syllabi make it feel safe to sometimes forgo preparation?

I’ve always approached things by thinking about, “what benefit will I get if I do that?” and “what consequences will I have if I don’t do that?” And if you are happy to accept the consequences, then you should be happy to not do anything. So, on my syllabus I have a policy that you have to do every assignment to pass the class. And one reason why I have it in there is because I know that if I were a student and that wasn’t in there, there’d be nothing [from me]. It might be a good idea to do enough work so that I have achieved a C, take the class pass/fail and then stop, because it’s done. I think the other thing is there’s like a real magic in assigning yourself X amount of time to do a task and then stopping when the time stops. And so, you have a reading and give yourself an hour to do it. And then after an hour, you only make it two thirds of the way through. That’s it. It’s okay. You did it.

To bring it home, the question is, what would medieval Islamic legal scholars say about managing time?

They seem to have had endless time in a way that I don’t quite understand. They certainly seemed to have thought that sleep wasn’t very important. Really, that five-ish hours of sleep per night is good. I try to get seven or eight. But they seem to have had jobs that let them focus on nothing but the production of new texts.

Food For Thought: What a burger should be

By Gabby Hernandez hernande6@grinnell.edu

It is on days where the only other options are heinous arrangements of pizza toppings or disturbingly mushy Plat Du Jour entrees that I grab a cheeseburger from the Honor G Grill (this is usually because D-Hall is choosing to experiment). Those days are the saddest because even when being compared to pizzas smothered in buffalo sauce or dubious “fresh” fish, D-Hall cheeseburgers are underwhelming. I wish I was exaggerating as I say this: most times, D-Hall burgers make me wish burgers didn’t exist at all.

Let me put you in my shoes, although I am sure many of you have experienced something similar, if not worse. I stand at the entrance of the Dining Hall and, in unison with other concerned peers, crank my neck backwards like a hatchling hoping to be fed by its mother. Instead of food, we are hoping for the sight of something appealing on the menu. We are hoping for one dish that D-Hall can do well.

Disappointed at the tiny words on the screen but hopeful that there are some hidden gems within, we expend a meal swipe –– sometimes valued at $12, but other times valued at $18 –– and walk in. The humidity hits me like a truck. The air

is thick with moisture and a strange scent that seeps into one’s clothes.

I take a lap. The names of the pizzas being served are unrecognizable, the specialty burger has wasabi smothered on it for some godforsaken reason, chicken that looks anything-but-fresh is being dried out under the Plat lamps, and the stir fry station is closed. “Cool, cool, maybe the standard issue cheeseburgers

The Scarlet & Black Staff Spring 2023

Nadia Langley

Allison Moore

Nina Baker

Ellianna Cierpiot

Eleanor Corbin

Lilli Morrish

Mohammad Igbaria

Jandry Perez Garcia

Millie Peck

Samuel Bates Nora Kohnhorst Maddi Shinall

will be safe and chewable today,” I think to myself.

A sharp pain hits my chest when I see those misaligned buns. Nevertheless, I grab one. I tear off the top bun and apply ketchup to it. As I bite into the protein disc, the burnt edges send sonar shock waves throughout my skull as if I was chewing on lit Black Cat firecrackers. I put the cheeseburger down, lean back in my

chair and take my consciousness on a trip down memory lane.

Hidden in the mix of S&B staff writers is a cheeseburger-chef-extraordinaire. This staff writer occasionally blesses me with an undeniably tender, juicy and flavorful cheeseburger. The specific burger that came to mind had soft buns that made the burger feel lighter than air in my hand. Between the buns were two patties; the meat was slightly pink in the middle and secreted burger grease that I found myself repeatedly dipping the cheeseburger back into. The patties were seasoned well with pepper and paprika and complemented nicely by two slices of American cheese.

My nose captured the glorious and unbeatable hints of flavor out of the air and advised me to squeeze Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce onto the plate. I obeyed. Before I took my first bite, I dipped the burger into the sauce, mixing the grease which had fallen onto the plate into the sauce. I bit. I chewed. I was overcome with flavors, textures and emotions that immediately took control of my senses.

As I recalled dipping the staff writer’s burger into Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, I was teleported into a memory within a memory. Californians have their In-N-Out. Texans have their Wha-

taburger –– which trumps In-N-Out in quality in many ways, but that is a debate for another time and place. On the Whataburger menu is the divinely blessed Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich. Between two toasted Texas toast slices and two slices of Monterey jack cheese lay three chicken strips smothered in honey barbeque sauce. I never fail to salivate at just the thought of that most beloved creation.

I must return to the cheeseburger of my daydreams before longing for Whataburger’s divinely blessed Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich envelops me completely. Just a drop of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce was sweet, baby. The sauce added another layer to this double-decker cheeseburger that made the American cheese stand out all the more. Just like Remy in “Ratatouille,” I saw the colors of barbeque and cheese dance behind my eyelids.

I wish I could say that it was me eating that cheeseburger. The truth was far darker. Overcome with the savory flavor, my body went on autopilot. I dipped, chewed, and swallowed in rapid succession and before I knew what happened, the burger was gone and, disgruntled, I was back in the Dining Hall with this sad excuse of a cheeseburger before me. I ate it out of spite.

PIRACHA Elias Saba, a self pronounced non self-hater.

HANNA AGPOON

Beauty of Nature

STANIER

HEMLOCK

Mini By Allison Moore `24

The Snedge

This week, Nora Kohnhorst `25 and Charlotte Krone `25 polled 100 students, asking the HOT topic question: Forced Triple or Pierced Nipple?

Across:

1. A head for candy?

4. Hi and bye

5. Harsh reflection

6. Director Michael

7. Kerfuffle

Down:

1. Soft, or something you can play softly

2. “Atlanta” lead, to friends

3. Puzzle creator’s sister, or one of Elmo’s friends

4. Attired

5. Place to hear Robin in the

NOYCE

32% 68%

Like what you see? /thescarletandblack

Rants & Raves:

check us out: thesandb

The Scarlet & Black

So I just found out that the earth concert is inside.

- Hot Boxing the Concert

Boo to the grill worker who wrote “happy 4/20” on my breakfast sandwich but didn’t put weed in it.

- Not High

HSSC The Scarlet & Black

This college needs to work on its pacing. Three days go by with no events and then there are 11 on the same day, where’s my time turner?

- Wishing I Was Hermoine